Christmas Blocks

I made these blocks to go on my table at the 'evening gala' I'm doing next month. I figured I'd aim to make more Christmas stuff as most people seem to be starting to think along those lines by now.

They're 2in blocks from Opitec, which I have given a couple of coats of white acrylic paint. I've used papers from a 6x6 Christmas pack, but I can't remember which brand - I'll try to remember to look next time I go to the craft shop and update later. I stamped the letters using the Plain Jane alphabet stamp set from See D's in white with white embossing powder. I wasn't completely happy with how they turned out, which I think is because of the ink... it was a bit patchy. These were glued on with PVA, and once they were dry I used a snowblock (like those used in nail bars) to sand the edges. They're finished off with a layer of acrylic sealer.

Thanks for looking

I've received an award

...although I don't deserve it! I was given this back in April and completely neglected to put it up on here and pass it on. So, sorry to Toni who gave it to me.... that will teach me to pay more attention! Thankyou!






I'm to pass this Artey Pico award on to five other bloggers and here they are:

Lauren, Liz, Amy, Nettie, and Jak.

Another Girly Birthday Card

This card is similar to the last one I posted. It's the same size, and I used the same papers. This time I covered the entire base with the pink piece, and cut two triangles from the black. I matted these onto white card. The triangular pieces weren't particular sizes and they weren't matted centrally, just to make it a bit less formal. The whole thing was matted on black, and finished off with the centre piece. This was a cuttlebugged layer that Dimps sent me (thanks!), layered on black, then onto silver and onto black again. I popped it up on glue dots to add a bit of dimension.

Thanks for looking

Girly Birthday Card

I used a white base for this A5 card, with a slightly smaller piece of black matted on top. I cut four rectangles of the two papers - not sure what brand they are, it doesn't say anywhere on them - and made one large rectangle. I think if I did it in future I would cut one full sized piece and stick the two contrasting pieces to it - a bit of a waste when you're as short of stash as I am but definitely easier. I'm not sure if you can see it properly from the photo but some of the flowers on both papers are outlined in silver, so I wanted to carry that on in the other layers. I cut the middle layer from some silver card I pinched from Cory's craft box (I swear that boy has more than I do!) and used my ticket punch for the corners. On top of that is another rectangle of black. The flowers are single layers of what are actually 3D peel offs, stuck onto acetate and coloured from the back using the peel off markers from Imag-e-nation. I popped them up on glue dots for a bit of dimension, and added the greeting - again with peel offs, as I don't have enough stamps :(

Hope you like it, and thanks for looking!

Cards for Father's Day and a Birthday

Ok, so I know Father's Day was a while ago, but never mind! These were made for my dad, and for my Grandad from my mum.





For the background I used Basic Grey paper, and used my sanding block to soften the edges a bit, as I did with all of the layers. The dp is from my local craft shop, but I don't know who from. The layer with the lettering on is cream card coloured with chalks, and peel offs. I finished it with 3 page pebbles.




This card looks simple, and had I had a bit more stash it would've been! I knew what I wanted to do with this card, and I had the dp but no paper that matched for the background. So I dug out the coffee - can't stand the stuff personally, but it seems it does have it's uses! - and stained a piece of white cs. When it was dry, I added darker patches with more coffee and chalks.


The dp is mounted on some paper I got from the freebie pack from Readicut - you can't see it but it's metallic. The tag - which is off of some clothes from Asda - is also covered in this paper, and the edges have been sanded. The ribbon is American Crafts, and I finished the corner with some mini brads.





For this card I layered pink cs onto the base, and the green and patterned paper are a double sided dp layered on more white. The page pebbles use the same paper, and the Cuttlebugged butterfly is one from Dimps (thanks!). Simple but effective.

Thanks for looking

Sketch pad

I made this using my Bind-it-All. It's A5 size, so just right for popping in a bag (well, one of my cavernous hold-alls, anyway!) and carrying around with me, for when I'm feeling 'inspired'!

The paper I used for the cover is Basic Grey, and on the inside I used a blue to match that in the paper. The letters are from a pack that Dawn from the Imag-e-nation forum sent me, so thanks Dawn! I left them as they were, as they did have a very light pattern on them and I think they show up well against the background. The ribbons are from American Crafts and Dovecraft.

A few new things

This is the first of several posts I'll make today, seems as I haven't posted for three months.... which is just shocking!

Beaded Pens

I've wanted to make these for ages, and I finally bit the bullet and ordered some Mini Micro beads from PennyWise Arts - which arrived in a week and I was only charged $8 for shipping, so I would definitely recommend them. The pens are from Tesco - a pack of 6 is £1.00.

I cut a piece of paper the length of the clear part of the pen and wide enough to wrap around with a slight overlap, then used 3mm dst to attach it to the pen. All of the pens here used 6x6 DCWV paper - the patterns are scaled down, and on an area as small as the pen I prefer this to bigger pieces.

I then cut a piece of double sided tape from an A4 sheet (from Stix2), the same size as the paper. I attached it to the pen ** CAREFULLY **, as it's pretty much permanent; then I removed the other side of the tape and rolled it in the beads. I rolled it around between my hands for a couple of minutes just to make sure they all stick - as yet, they're all still on there!

Well, I hope that made sense... here's the picture

Thanks for looking