This is my kinda housework

Hello there

I've been tidying up! Aren't I a good girl? :-)

Maybe not as good as all that, as all I've tidied up are some paper pieces from my desk.

I told you in yesterday's post about a little pile I still had left of a digi kit I had printed. 

Well this morning I have put them to good use and no longer have any left.

I got the last piece into the inside of this card

Couldn't resist the opportunity to use some spray
to create another circle on the envelope 

Tidier desk; time spent enjoying myself and two pretty cards at the ready = RESULT!

Take care out there 

p.s. I got 51 views on my blog yesterday. It might not sound alot to many of you but it's brilliant for me. Many of them were from some site called yandex.ru, so I can only hope that Russian site/company is a reputable one!
I often don't share the cards I make these days as it just adds too much time onto the actual making of the cards themselves but I hope that someone out there enjoys seeing a few occasionally.

Scary stuff

Hello there

Tonight I've spent some happy times with my crafty girlfriends using a pack Catherine made up using elements of the Stampin' Up Afternoon Daydreams simply scrappin' kit. There are some really lovely elements in there and the papers are pretty gorgeous too.
Catherine had designed three cards for us and a scrapbook layout. I didn't get to start on the layout but I can do that tomorrow. 

The scary part was the brayering, which I've only done once before. Once you get the need to be gentle with the brayer though; roll from off the cardstock and roll off at least once before using it, it's quite an easy process really. You need to know which colours to use together to get the invisible link between them and Catherine is excellent at that and oh, so patient, hence I was able to get great effects. 

This is just such a moody image but the embossed 'pool party' card and the colours of the patterned papers and the sentiment with the ribbon, all help to bring 'it out'.  The twine help to 'ground' the trees too. Catherine's a very clever girl.

I think this is my best one with the sun in exactly the right place.
My brayering was rather heavy handed on this but I still love the
effect.

Look at the way that sun sits so well behind the branches-
pretty as a picture! 

I am so pleased with these cards and I'm so lucky to have talented friends who don't mind sharing their skills with me.

Take care out there

Welcome to Europe

Hello there

Now here's a card I doubt I'll be sending again anytime soon with a sentiment like that but the card and the papers are lovely. The card is for my Australian friend who I haven't seen in over 13 years. She's currently spending two weeks in Italy partly 'studying' an Italian method of early childhood teaching although Lu- Ann has been teaching for a long time now. Unfortunately I still won't be able to meet up but I feel the need to send her a little card.

I got my initial inspiration from the Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine which supplied the paper pad as a freebie along with the gorgeous matching die cut embellishments. The paper is from Pink Paislees 'Spring Jubilee' collection and it's gorgeous with a capital G! This pad is good as there's just 6 designs but 36 sheets, so you get loads of options of what to do with each sheet. I usually get in such a lather if there's a paper I want to use but I'm scared of ruining it since there's usually only one of each design.

I've made the card my own by using my own die-cutting designs. The scalloped circles behind the butterfly circle were cut from 'Sweet Treats' Cricut cartridge at 4.5cm; flower1 with the shadow/blackout feature key. The butterflies were cut with the Paisley cartridge using the umbrella key with layer 2 function key at 8.5cm (the size is so large as it's a design which is meant to be used as a layer not a main feature). I've had that teal coloured organza and raffia ribbon for over two years now and never used it as I forget about it. I was given it as part of a huge box of crafting goodies I was given when I finished work.

Now all that's left to do is hope that Lu-Ann has a great time.

Take care out there

Date of writing- April 11th 2012