My Very First Craft Show

On Saturday I went to my very first craft show at Ally Pally, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had a arranged to meet Angie at Earls Court, so that we could travel together up to Ally Pally. It was lovely to meet Angie in person, as we have got to know each other through MSE and over emails, and we had a great time at the show. Being my first show, I wasn't really sure what to expect, and had taken plenty of money with me for buying new stash. The stalls were fab, and it was just lovely to be able to wander around them all, to see what was available. We were both there for well over 5 hours, but the time just flew, and at the end it was a bit of a rush to get around all the stalls or go back to ones we had seen stuff on and wanted to buy.

I guess I was expecting to find lots of bargins, but there weren't that many to be had, as alot of items seemed to be quite expensive, and could certainly be bought cheaper from the net. It was great to be able to see things that I had been eyeing up on the 'net' for a while, and I was a bit disappointed with some of the 'dies' I saw in real life, weren't quite what I was expecting, so it has made me reconsider buying some items.

The majority of what I did buy were 'essentials' and 'cheap' in terms of what I was willing to pay, and I guess I ended up spending about £25.00 and got all of this:

a sheet of LOTV squares ofr £1; and A3 cutting mat for £3 and 2 Papermani Scoring tools for £1.99; as well as 100 sheets of card; and some Anita's square card blanks.

some gorgeous ribbons in different shades of purple; some thin extra tacky double sided tape - 5 for £2.00; a couple of packs of different sized pearls; and some sewing embellishments that I will use on a newspaper style card later in the year that were a bargain at £1.50 - I recently paid over £3 for some from the same company at Hobbycraft.

5 decoupage sheets for £3.00 that will make a total of 14 cards. The stall I got them from had absolutely loads of different ones to choose from but I have got mainly men's ones, as they will make easy and quick cards.

I really did have a great time with Angie, and hope to do it again in the future.

Oh in case you are wondering what happened to the money I took but didn't spend at the Craft show - I had a little splurge on some new summer dresses on the way to work this morning:

This isn't me modelling the dresses (I wish!), but the two dresses were £28 from Asda!

Monochromatic Fairy Card

There are a few challenges around at the moment, that are asking for monochromatic cards, so I had a play last night to make a card using my favourite colour purple and stickles, and here is the result:



and I love it!

For this card, my challenge was to try to work out on the computer how I could change the background colour of the fairy image from start white, to a more subtle purply colour to go with the dp paper I wanted to use (Henbury Lane - with lots of sparkles) and purple card I had in my stash.

After a play around with Paintshop Pro, I managed to change the background colour! Really pleased that I was able to work this out, as it has endless possibilities for future images.

This image was a free one from Floppy Latte Designs called 'Garden Fantasy'. Since I got it a couple of months ago, and never quite got round to doing a card for the actual challenge I got it for, but have been itching to try it on a card, and last night the inspiration finally came.

The image was printed and then layered onto deep purple card, and although the dp lookes really pinky in real life it isn't it is quite purple, with lots of sparkles on the flowers. I've added purple stickle to the fairies wings and flower, and a couple of purple gems to finish the layout. The sentiment was from my stash, and I have coloured it with a purple promarker to match the purple tones of the card.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Stamping Vacation - you name to challenge (to learn to change background colours in Paintshop Pro)


Claudia & Company - monochromatic

Lexi's Creations - monochromatic

Digi Stamps for Joy - monochromatic

A Sketch Card

I love trying out new sketches and when I saw this one on this week's Ladybug Crafts Ink Challenge, I really wanted to give it a go, so here is my take on the sketch:

I've had the image for ages, and guess it was a freebie around 'blogland' at one time. I've always thought it was so sweet but never really had any papers to go with it until I bought the Tea House papers a couple of weeks ago. These papers will be perfect for any image with a cake in! I've used 3 of the papers from the pack to make this card, and the border was created with some gemstone card stock and a MS doily punch. I know that the image has been cut slightly out of 'square', but that is what happens when you make cards late at night! By the time I realised it was too late to do anything about it. I've coloured the image with promarkers, and added glossy accents to the cherry on top and the ribbon around the cake. The pearls are from my stash. I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Stamping Vacation - any creature that appears to have arms

Ladybug Crafts Ink Challenge - sketch

Phindys Place Challenge - make us smile

Make it Colourful - bright colours

Paper Play Challenge - critters

Passion for Promarkers - yellow & pink - dp and cardstock pink; yellow ribbon on the cake - image coloured with promarkers

A Card for My Best Friend

It was my best friend's 40th birthday a couple of weeks ago, so I wanted to make her special card, and also I have been itching to put together a 40th Survival Kit, and this was the perfect opportunity. For this card I have used a Mo Manning image, which was absolutely perfect for my friend, as she enjoys cooking, and makes the best chocolate cake ever. The image has been teamed with some aqua card from my stash, and the papers are a new pad I bought specially to make this card - Tea House, by Dovecraft. The senitment is a craftworks one, and I already had the peel off numbers. I love this card, firstly because of the colours and secondly the layout - not sure if it was for a sketch or I saw one like it around 'blogland', but the whole card came together really well.

For the first time every, I decided to properly decorate the inside of this card, with matching papers, and a verse that is from the internet, and was perfect to put in this card for Kate. Here is the 40th survival kit I made, and again I was really pleased with how it came out, although it was a complete labour of love! I have to admit I did completely under estimate how long it would take to put it all together - from finding the items; sealing each individual gift with my new electric bag sealer; typing the labels out; and then cutting out 80 circles with nesties and the cuttlebug. The tin was bought a while ago from Tescos, as a twin pack, and I thought it was perfect for my friend, and also to hold the survival kit. My friend loved this survival kit, and thought what a fantastic idea it was. It took her about 2 days to actually sit down, and have a good look at what I had put in it, and she appreciated the effort I had made to put it together, and also hand knit a scarf for her. Just need to make up another 3 survival kits before the end of the year, and hope they go down equally well. I'd like to enter the card into the following challenges:

Partytime Tuesdays Challenge - elegant birthday

Papertake Weekly Challenge - anything goes and optional something new

The Craft Garden - four

Craft Your Passion - anything goes

I'd like to enter the survival kit into this months Ellephantastic Challenge of Anything but square or rectangle

I'm so excited to have been asked to be a Guest Designer...

for One Stitch At A Time! A couple of weeks ago I was asked by Marjo at OSAAT if I would like to be a guest designer for this week's challenge no. 56 - to make something 3d. I was so thrilled to have been asked that I didn't hesitate in saying yes. This weeks project was also to use a digi image from Hope Jacare Doodles (available from Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps) on a 3d project. Having looked through the digis for Hope on Stitchy Bear Stamps, I chose ' Bonny Bunny', as I thought it would be perfect to put on Easter gifts I am planning on making this year. After lots of thought I decided to make a small 3" x 3" box, to put mini chocolate eggs and bunnies in, and decorate it with an Easter theme, and here are the results. and I am very happy with the way the box turned out. The box was cut from a sheet of A4 pink card, and made up using DST and glue to make sure the edges do not come apart. The ribbon around the outside of the box, is some that I bought a couple of years ago from The Works, which was a bargain at the time, but when trying to use it before, it has never seemed to look right, but for this box it is perfect. The pink easter paper was from my stash, as was the gemstone card I have used for doing the mats, and 'Bonnie' was coloured with promarkers. The chocolate eggs and bunnies are from lidls. I had fun making this project, so thanks again to Marjo for asking me to be a Guest Designer for OSAAT this week. I'd like to enter this box into the following challenges: I Did It Creations - anything goes Creative Craft World - easter Creative Cowgirls Challenge - spring/easter Bee Crafty - easter Cardmadfairy's Digi Days Challenge - easter Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge - spring

Spots and Stripes

Here is another card I have made recently, and is heading out to France for my Uncle's birthday. This card was made using a layout I spotted a couple of weeks ago on a challenge blog, but never got around to using it until the challenged closed. I have used 2 papers from the DCWV stack I have, and one of the LOTV squares I bought a while ago, and have just matted it all onto some co-ordinating blue card I have in my stash. The sentiment is a Craftwork Cards one.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

One Stop Craft Challenge - spots and dots

Card Ideas - spotty dotty

Craft Your Days Away - spots and stripes

Mother's Day

In the week I finally got around to making my mum a Mother's Day card, and am really pleased with how it came out.

I have so many digi images, that I save as I go about 'blogland', and most of them are freebies. However, I am rubbish at knowing where the image has come from when I finally get around to using one on a card, so apologies for not knowing where this one comes from.

I received some surprise stash from the lovely Margaret for my birthday, in which she had included some different shaped doilies. I was thrilled with all the bits she sent me, and when I saw this heart shaped one, I knew I had the perfect image and backing papers to go with it and thought that it would look fab on a Mother's Day card, this is the result.

I have coloured the image with Promarkers, and added a pink heart shaped button to the bottom right of the image - 1) because I had one; and 2) because my colouring was a little off, so it helped to hide some bleeding. To the heart that she is holding, and the 2 small ones by her knees I added glossy accents, and to the bows in her hair and bunches I added some stickles, although it doesn't really show up in the picture.

I hand cut the image to get the heart shape, using a template I cut on the Craft Robo - haven't quite mastered lining up and cutting an image out on the robo, and since I found this image a bit small and fiddly to colour in the first place, I didn't want to risk trying it. I then cut some hearts out of pink card stock on the robo to back the image, and doily. For a different look I offset all the mats and think that this worked really well. 'Mum' was cut on the robo, and I just added a few pearls from my stash to finish the card off. I'll find out tomorrow if my Mum likes it, and I really hope she does.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Ginger Loft Challenge - die cuts or punches

Catch The Bug - anything goes

Creative Inspirations Challenge - mother's day/mum

Delicious Doodles Challenge - something for mum

Paper Play Challenge - For Mom/Mum

Sarah Hurley Challenge - Mums the word

Why Does Real Life Get In the Way....

I can't believe that yet again, really life has got in the way of keeping up with my blogging. Recently there just haven't been enough hours in the day to get everything done that I should have done. I have been crafting a bit, as I had a lot of birthdays to plan for, particular my son's 12 birthday and my best friends 40th. It is my youngests on Sunday, and still I haven't got around to making his card, or sorting a party for him and lots of other things, including getting a new bike for him, so again there is nothing like leaving it all to the last minute again - grrrrr. Here are a couple of the cards that I have made lately, which have all come out really well, and which I have had really nice comments about the cards I had given.

These 2 were for Harry who was 12 a couple of weeks ago. I resorted to doing a newspaper style card for him, as I had found some great 3d embellishments in Wilkinsons for £1.00, and there are enough embellishments on the sheet to make 2 of these cards. The second card was Jack's card to his older brother, and if you don't know what the picture is it is the mask of Rey Mysterio a WWE wrestler, that I found on the internet, and Booyaka is apparentlyone of Rey's sayings and 619 is a move he uses. This card was all completely Jack's idea and I just helped stick it all together and cut the letters on the craft robo.

Finally I made this card, for a friends daughter who was 10 last weekend. She absolutely adores Tatty Teddies, so I wanted to try to make a card for her. There isn't much to the card, and was a fairly quick one to make. All I did was take an image off the internet, and added glossy accents to the ballons, which I alway think make them look so real. I teamed it will some colourful dotty paper from the DCWV stak, and used some lovely aqua gemstone card for the mats, and nestie labels to cut the image and mat. Ciara loved it apparently, and her brother didn't believe I made it! According to my friend, they have all tried to figure out how I did the ballons to get them so 'lifelike' and thought I had just some kind of gel pen to do it! My friend had told Ciara that if it was gel pens she would get her some, so when I told her it was a special kind of glue she changed her mind, as she doesn't what to deal with the mess! The sentiment was one I have in my stash.

That's it for today, I'll try and get some more blogged tomorrow.