About Me

My photo
Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
I have been crafting since May 2008, when in desperation to find an unusual birthday card for my Mum, I gave up looking in the shops and decided to have a go at making my own. I soon realised that crafting is addictive and I haven't brought a card since. In 2011 I completed my certificate in papercrafting as a result of the work I did as part of the course I started entering challenges on line and in magazines. I applied for design teams and also started making samples for Ooh La La Creations for their shows on Create and Craft. I have now completed my Diploma in professional crafting and most recently been runner up in the Papercrafter of the Year 2013 a competition run by Papercraft essentials magazine, I don't have a particular style I like to use elements from lots of styles and techniques, although I do love all things vintage. In 2014 I started to move more towards scrapbooking to take care of the huge family archive of photographs that were stored in my attic. I have continued cardmaking and Scrapbooking through 2015 and 2016 but have also become interested in off the page projects. I hope to be able focus on these in the future.

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Three Down, Twenty One to Go

The challenge at Through the Purple Haze this week is to use 'favourite colours' I have to say when it comes to designing I love working with red, because it can produce such dramatic results. I have teamed it black white and gold to produce this Anniversary Card.


Materials used 
Card blank from Hobby Craft - I don't usually use A5 pre folded blanks as I prefer to fold my own but couldn't resist a pack of these blanks with the delicate punched edge.

Image 'My Funky Valentine' digital stamp from Simply Betty 
coloured with Spectrum Noirs
Skin FS1, 2, 3 TN1, 
Hair IG 4,6,8,10
Eyes, JG2
Dress and Umbrella CR10, DR1, 2, 3,7
Lace ruffle IG1 
Heart, GB4
I added tiny black gems for the buttons on the coat and red Gems and Glitter to the hairpiece.

The backing paper is from Raspberry Road and came free with a magazine

Roses from wild orchid crafts 

Red and gold mirror card, Black lace and ribbon and the two punched butterflies from my stash.

I fussy cut the top and the bottom of the image then used the second largest plain circle nestabilities die to cut the centre section. I then mounted it onto a gold background which had been cut using the largest circle from the set.

I matted and layered the backing paper onto gold then red card and wrapped a scrap of black lace and red polka dot ribbon that had a bow tied in it round the lower third of teh panel before sticking to the card blank. I then added the image panel and the roses and the die cut gold leaves.

The greetings panel is red card mounted onto gold mirror card with the die cut sentiment added and the two butterflies.



I wanted the filigree border to be visible when the card was opened so only lined the right hand side of the card. I used red card and then added the tumbling heart die cuts the smallest heart is cut from pearl card stock so that a greeting can be added from the sender inside. 

I am entering the card into the following challenges 

http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Bling it on the gems and glitter 




Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Making a Match at Fab n Funky

Firstly huge thanks to everyone who entered our Christmas in July Challenge last time. There were some absolutely stunning entries. You can see the winners chosen by Anne-Marie over on the Fab N Funky Challenge blog. 

This time Shirley is challenging you to 'Make it a Set' so a matching card and envelope, a set of cards, matching card and tag, you get the idea.

This week you have three times the luck of winning a wonderful prize! That's right this week we have three wonderful sponsors. 







and


Here is what I made using the Baby Birdie set from Doodle Pantry 


This particular set comes with a boy and girl baby birdie image and the appropriate sentiments.
I printed the little girl birdie onto white card along with the three sentiments.

I used my spectrum Noirs and Promarkers to colour the images as follows.
Feathers TN1, TN2, TN3, and on the wings and tail TN4
Beak - GB3
The hat and bow PP1, PP2, and CR1
The Nest - TN4, TN5, GB6, Henna. Cinnamon

I also used PP1 to colour the sentiments and rattle on the card
TN2 for the sentiment on the gift bag and the rattle handler

I made the bag from Kraft Paper that has a lovely textured finish and added a piece of backing paper from my stash before sticking the image and the sentiment to it. I finished the image and the sentiment with a border of pink pearls made using a pearl pen.

Teh card is a 6x6 Kraft blank with a piece of backing paper and then a strip of pink pearl paper that has been punched along the edge using a Martha Stewart punch and a strip of the Kraft paper I used for the bag that has been wrapped with a thin strip of pink lace.

I added the image again a border of pink pearls has been added using the pearl pen. The rattle and the sentiments. To finish the card I added two little bells and a pink organza polka dot ribbon bow.

I am entering this project into the following challenges 

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Two down Twenty Two to go.

The theme this week at http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ is Flowers. This fitted perfectly with my latest crafty play things some new dies from Tattered Lace. - Here is what I came up with


I kept the design quite simple and used Centura Pearl card stock hint of silver to create an 8x8 card blank I then cut a panel of lilac card from the pastels selection and matted this onto silver mirror card and trimmed it to leave a narrow edge. I then used a panel of the hint of silver card stock which I embossed using a lattice design and matted this onto silver mirror card and trimmed to leave a narrow border. The centre piece is the silver frame cut using Tattered Lace circle die and I stuck this onto an off cut of the white card stock. the Sentiment was created from a combination of the Christmas Sentiments dies and the relations sentiments and the words were stuck to the centre panel. The flowers were cut using the sentimental florals set from two shades of purple pearlised papers, the leaves and centres from off cuts of the mirror card. and the flourishes and small leaf branches from off cuts of the lilac card stock.

I threaded white organza polka dot ribbon through the centre of one of a die cut piece from the tattered Lace ovals set cut from a scrap piece of the pearl card and wrapped this round the main panel before sticking this to the card blank.

I am entering this card into the following challenges
http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Flowers
http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ - Anything goes


Monday, 22 July 2013

For the one you love at Ooh La La Creations

Hello everyone, we had some great entries for our Ebony and Ivory Challenge last week and you can see the winners over at Ooh La La Creations Challenge Blog. Whilst you're there check out the fabulous DT cards for the current challenge chosen by Chris

For the one I love - here is my card,


I chose to use the image and papers from the together forever on the Everyday Occasions CD. I matted the image and all the paper panels onto pale pink card stock. I used a 6x6 card base and layered up the panels. The ribbon is seam binding which was white but I coloured with my distress inks using bundled sage to get a matching colour. I let it dry whilst it was wrinkles to get the lovely effect of crushed silk. The flowers were from a decoupage sheet I had in my stash.



The insert was made by using the backing paper printed at 50% opacity via MCS and the other side was a DL insert I shrunk down to fit inside the card.

I will be entering this card into the following challenges.
http://anythingchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

One Down Twenty Three to go

When I saw the information about a new Challenge Blog starting this week I was looking forward to joining in the challenges there. Then I saw the competition they were running to win a huge bundle of crafting goodies, you can check out the details in the post below this one. So here is my first card for the competition over at Through The Purple Haze, and as the title says that means there are only twenty three more to make to be in with a chance of winning all those lovely crafting goodies.


I was asked by a work colleague to make a card for her friend's daughter who would be celebrating her Prom at school this year. The only instruction I had was 'her dress is a sort of Midnight Blue so if you could do something with that colour it would be great'

As it happened I recently picked up a magazine with a free cover disc that just happened to be the Debbi Moore Deco Rome CD.

I printed two different versions of the image off the CD one for the box lid and the decoupage for the card itself. 






The backing papers and flowers were also from the CD. To add some glitz and glamour to the card I added a glitter glaze to the main skirt of the dress - I make this myself by adding ultrafine glitter to clear glaze and then painting it over the image.



I used the same backing papers inside the card and added a name panel. The Opposite side I kept with Art Deco theme by adding a central panel that had been created using a 'Glitter Girls' embossing board and also embossed the gold corners.

To make it just a little bit more special I created a box using my Ultimate Pro and decorated the box to match using gold flowers from the CD this time.


I used a slightly different backing paper and added the embossed gold corners. The finishing touches were the little butterflies and gems for the bodies and the centres f the flowers.

My colleague loved the card and, I have now been told that the dark blue matched the dress perfectly even down to the sparkle.

I am entering this card into the following challenges.

Friday, 12 July 2013

Mega Blog Candy up for grabs at Just Inspirational Challenges

The Below post has been copied from Just Inspirational Challenges 


MEGA BLOG CANDY

***MEGA BLOG CANDY ALERT***

Yes that's right bloggers, we are offering you all a chance to be the winner of our amazingly huge blog candy.
Wanna see ????

WOW!!!
I know, look at all those goodies.
The fab DT ladies have been donating crafty supplies for this mega candy, not only do they create fantastic projects every week but they also wanted to help in with the blog candy so thank you DT ladies xx
OK so now whats exactly could you win, well you best grab a cuppa and sit back for a long read, here's whats up for grabs:
5 Bunches of Paper Flowers
5 Stamp Sets
3 Individual Stamps
1 A4 Sheet of Shrink Plastic & Ideas Book
3 Packs of Rub-Ons
1 Die
2 Packs of Sticky Alpha's
1 Pack of Die-Cut Notelets
2 Packs of Toppers
1 Sheet of Epoxy Stickers
7 Packs of Fabric Toppers
2 Packs of Canvas Labels
1 Pack of Wax Seal Sentiments
3 Packs of Glittered Toppers
1 Pack of Brads
1 Pack of Stick-On Gems
1 Pack of Embossed Toppers
1 Pack of Mini Envelopes
1 Card of Buttons
1 Pack of Photo Corners
2 Bags of Mixed Card Candi
2 Packs of fabric Flowers
1 Bag of Mixed Charms
18 Lots of Ribbon
PLUS
not in the photo (as silly me forgot to add them)
Card Blanks 
so you are ready to go

SO HOW DO YOU STAND A CHANCE TO WIN THIS GIGANTIC HAUL?
Well I'm going to tell you
1. You MUST be a follower of this blog
2. You MUST post a piccy & link back to this post in your sidebar
3. To get an extra entry make a blog post about our candy and include a link back to this post
4. For every one of our challenges you enter between 1st - 31st July you will gain another entry into the draw, but only if you have our blog candy linked somewhere on your blog
5. Share our candy with your friends, if they mention your blog in their post about the candy you will get 1 more entry

Easy Peasy
The blog candy will run from 1st - 31st July and is open to all followers world-wide

As this is such a big prize we will be checking to make sure you have followed the rules :-)

Good Luck & Happy Crafting

Hippie Birthday

Being a child of the 60's when I saw the wonderful range of Hippie Chick stamps over at Lacy Sunshine's I just had to have them. Heather Valentin has perfectly captured the spirit of the 'Summer of Love' and all things 60's they are just gorgeous.

Here's my first card using Blossom



I coloured her using Spectrum Noir Markers
Skin FS1 FS2 FS3 TN1
Hair TN2 GB1 GB2 GB3
Clothes - I used CG2 for the background of the dress and then used the Fluorescent range of pens from the brights set.
Flower - LY1 GB1 and OR1 then glittered using stickles iridescent glitter glue

The sentiment is from the Hippie Bits range from Lacy Sunshine and has been coloured using the Fluorescent range of Spectrum Noir Pens

The backing paper is from a CD - MCS Carousel of Classics and was one of the first CD's I ever owned as it was free with my very first subscription to Quick Cards Made Easy in 2008.

I Fussy cut teh image and mounted her on an oval of purple card which has been in my stash for a couple of years and then mounted this onto bright yellow card and trimmed it to give a narrow border.

The flowers are die cut from various papers from my stash including some fluorescent vellums, I added the polka dot buttons as centres.



I added a large daisy charm and then used alphabet beads to spell out the word birthday.

I'm off now to make some more cards with the other Hippie Chicks from the range.

I am entering this card into the following Challenges
http://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - two words
http://catchthebugblog.blogspot.co.uk - Anything Goes
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://digitallysweetchallenges.blogspot.ca/ - Anything Goes with bright Colours
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/ - Good Luck Charm
http://digidarlas.blogspot.co.uk/ - make an easel card
http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Charming
http://lacysunshinechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes with hand coloured image
http://ladybugscraftsinkchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Birthday
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://useittuesday.blogspot.co.uk/ - Birthdays