Concert banner

Hello there

I'm rather excited at the fact that I'm going to the Children in Need Manchester Rocks concert tomorrow night with my daughter and my mum. There's a host of stars appearing including Michael Buble, whom I've tried to see several times, especially with an old friend Sue but it always seemed to be sold out by the time I saw anything about it. I only found out about the concert last week as I got an email from Ticketmaster saying that there were still some tickets available, so I had to make a very fast decision to buy two. Later on, after talking to mum I managed to book her a seat on the same block and row as us. We can only hope that people won't mind moving along one seat, so that she can sit by us. Maggie's keen to see JLS despite the fact that she's seen them before. I'm not sure why mum said she was keen to see Lady Gaga (I'm dreading it)?!!

Anyway, to get into the fun of it all, I've made a banner for us to hold up when we're there. Unfortunately I haven't got any fusible web to cut the letters out on my Cricut, so I had to hand draw the letters and cut them out and then sew them on, which has taken me two and a half hours, which is far too long considering the use the banner will get. I had other things to do in that time but it's still far longer than I would've liked. I really could do with a machine that can do freehand embroidery as that would've made going round the letters, so much quicker.

Let's hope he sees it and blows me a kiss!!

Take care out there

I'm not a happy bunny

Hello there

Monday mornings when it's damp and grey and has been for days and the dogs have chewed and dug their way through a few things are quite trialling. I needed a break from the chores of clearing up after them, so I made this card for my step-dad whose birthday it is this Thursday 17th November. It was made using the 'You're never too old' cd-rom with artwork by Sue Janson. She's Australian, so the slant is wrong really but I like a few of the elements and pictures in there for the more mature of my card recipients, so I bought it in February at the Manchester Craft fair at the G-Mex or whatever they're calling it now.

It was so quick to do, even the design just seemed to happen for me which is just as well, because I would've lost my rag completely if it hadn't. It has made my morning and I'm now feeling alot calmer with myself and relieved that I can get it in the post this afternoon.

I'm off to meet Jenny now as she has two cocker spaniels too, so we're going to compare nightmare stories about them whilst we go on a long walk. It's not raining, so long may that last.

Take care out there

What a day!

Hello there

Oh yes, what a day indeed! My first big news is that my Expression now works, courtesy of assistance from Cricut who suggested downloading Design Studio and updating my Expression's firmware from there and it all went tickety boo i.e went well. As a result I've also made two cards using the free cartridge on the Cricut craftroom software which was revealed to me by Melanie from Everyday Cricut. The card she displayed was the inspiration for these two.

The card on the left, I created the backing paper myself with the help of CraftArtist; I'm afraid I'm rubbish at remembering which digikit the items came from. I also created the green banner on CA but it was just a rectangle shape as I couldn't find the shape I wanted, so I just cut the triangle out of the end - I've left the right hand side loose so that it adds a tiny bit of 'life' to it. Please see Melanie's post for cutting sizes of the topper. The card on the right has backing paper I got from a magazine which I thought was just the job. The trees could possibly do with some bling to look like decorations but that's for another day as I'm shattered now.

My second big news is (I must stay awake to tell you this) that just tonight, I've booked for myself, my daughter and my mum to go to the Children in need concert in the MEN arena on November 17th. I wasn't expecting it at all, I just got an email from Ticketmaster around 6p.m and it sounded brilliant so I went for it. It has loads of stars appearing but the headliner for me will be Michael Buble, whom I've been dying to see for years but keep missing out on tickets. Maggie's keen to see JLS despite the fact that she's seen them before - "oh but mum, they've had at least two new albums since then!" - silly me for not knowing that. My mum will just love the whole thing as I'm sure we all will. It'll  be a brilliant family event and I can't wait! I'm a very lucky girl.

Take care out there

I need sandpaper!

Hello there

I've had a delivery (well, that's half a truth, as I was out when they tried to deliver it last week, so I've just been to the depot to collect it) and I'm rather excited. Look, look!!

I've finally got my hands on some of this infamous paper. Crafter's Companion had a special deal on for their birthday. The Kraft Core paper pack was free and I got a little Humphrey's Corner stamp collection free too; which has a nice 'handmade with love' stamp in there which I might use.

I now need to find some sandpaper and get my embossing folders out and try these babies out. If only my blinkin' Cricut expression was working, then I could cut something straight away. Unfortunately on that note, I still haven't had a reply about another question I asked them, about the firmware update instructions they sent me. That's very upsetting/annoying but I'll use this little high of the paper arriving to cheer me up.

Let's hope I can create something nice with this. Non-Crafters won't understand how I can get excited about paper but it's the potential it holds for making good stuff that excites me. I've always loved colour and I think my crafting enjoyment stems alot from that.

Anyway, take care out there

Men!

Hello there

Yes, the male of the species rears it's head again, as a friend of mine has a son who turns 18 this week. The thought of making a card for that age and genre would normally fill me with dread  but since Alex was 18 last year, I'm on the ball! I've used the same layout as I did for Alex's card but used slightly different embellishments. This time I've used my tiny bubbles embossing folder on the beer froth, which I really think helps bring the beer glasses alive. I've also used a banner I found on the 'Stars' digikit from Craft Artist. I didn't have any troubles with the envelope with this card as it's a simple A5 design - I use my Ultimate Pro for making 90% of my envelopes. The beer glasses background paper comes from a digikit I bought on 'printable heaven' called 'one for the boys'.

He's a lad, so probably won't look at it for longer than 10 seconds but I feel good about it and hopefully his mum will keep his cards for a few years, so that he can look back and remember the people who sent them to him, when he's old i.e 25!!

Take care out there

Solutions are amazing things!

Hello there

You'll be glad to hear that I've recovered from my midweek crisis and not only did I get that card sent off with the present, hopefully in time but it has also prompted me to go one step further in the search for an envelope template for a 20cm/8in card. I've made my own! It's not rocket science but maybe somebody out there, one day, will be in the same boat as I found myself and they'll do an internet search and there my little blog might show up to help. I need this template for a card my daughter needs to give to a friend tomorrow, so I'm extra chuffed that I worked it out in time for that large card. I know they're a bind but I do like the square cards.

Firstly, here's the template:

You'll probably need to click on the photo to see it in more detail and see the measurements I've put on there. I started off with a piece of A3 paper and then did the flap section on it's own. You could always change the shape of the flap to suit your taste. Before I took the photo I forgot to mark the score line across the flap but hopefully that'll be pretty obvious once you've got this far, as will the fact that you glue the flap onto the inside of the lower part of the envelope.

The card I've done for Maggie's friend is my first Tinkering with Steampunk, courtesy of a MyCraftStudio cd-rom I got recently. I love the querkiness of Steampunk. This card is prettty tame in Steampunk terms. I made a couple of mistakes with laying it out as I forgot to cut out a section of the gramophone and I used the wrong frame stamp (the correct one is another one in the Stampin' Up Vintage labels set I won at Helen's crafting class). I like the way the bird and the gramophone stand out due to colour contrast and raised by Pinflair glue.





The finishing touches

Right, I'm off for dinner and to make the envelope for the card.

Take care out there

Crisis

Hello there

Yes, I feel it's a crisis when in the last couple of weeks, my Gypsy has broken beyond repair or replacement as Cricut won't touch it with a barge pole because I didn't  buy it from Ideal World. I then downloaded a new software from Cricut called Classroom which gives you all the functionality of the Gypsy, without the portability which wasn't any use to me anyway. Last night, that said that my Expression needed a firmware update and (cut a long story short and hopefully less boring) now I have an Expression which doesn't work. These tools have been at the forefront of my creativity for 18 months and I'm now feeling rather uptight and stressed, frustrated, annoyed and many more things besides. I was on holiday last week, so I didn't 'craft' at all and this week I haven't done a thing besides try to work the Cricut issues out and I'm craft starved and it's driving me insane!!! Grrrr

Ok, after taking a calming breath, I will continue. I have so many birthdays this month and Christmas of course and I'm feeling way behind. Just quarter of an hour ago I decided that I had to do something, so I got some magazines out and just made two little very basic 'paper' cards as I call them to try to make me feel a bit better. I do, although the cards will only go to Maggie's friends who don't care about cards really. The only vaguely interesting thing I did was spray 'Spray and Sparkle' glitter on the sentiment tags.

I now also feel a tiny bit  better because I've found out that Maggie's brand new 'made by me' pyjama bottoms were found at the cottage where we stayed last week and he's going to post them back. Big relief although they're not fancy pyjamas but it's all part of me feeling useless and if they had been lost for good, then I'd be depressed that my efforts are all coming to nothing.

The card below is one I made a few weeks ago for my step-daughter's son's first birthday. I've had so much hassle trying to work out how to make a 8in/20cm square envelope and all the Cricut nonsense that I still haven't sent it and his birthday is on November 10th and he lives in N.Z. I also like to make the interior nice but even my software items (seeing as I can't do anything with my Cricut!!!!) are causing me bother but I think that's because I'm getting too wrapped up in it all and not concentrating properly.





Thanks Melyssa Connolly for the inspiration anyway in the Cricut magazine but boy will I be relieved when this card is sent.

Right, off I go to take the dogs for a short romp before I get my hair cut and basically on with the day.

If you've managed to read through all these 'mutterings' of mine; thanks.

Take care out there.