Friday 30 April 2010

Take the Cake

I got up early today to bake some cupcakes. I just felt like it. It's been a while, and the cupcake cravings had mounted to such an extent that there was only one solution. Yummy!

New York, New York

A loooong time ago I visited New York for a week with a friend, and we snapped away with old film cameras. I scrapped the pics pretty soon after I got home, but never shared them. It's time now to show off the trip to New York, such an eye-opening, exciting, and welcoming city.


Wednesday 28 April 2010

Home is Where the Heart Is

A couple of my friends just moved in together, and I'm going to surprise them with this housewarming card. The paper I've used to cover the house is from Toga:



The little insert with the birds stamped onto it is where I wrote the good wishes:


And I folded a useful stand so that the birdhouse can be displayed on their mantlepiece:


Sunday 25 April 2010

Three Little Birds



With a trio of swirly bird .svg files from this guy I created a set of wedding cards. I cut the birds with the Cricut, stamped the black swirls with glue and covered them with flock (which experience was... interesting. See my note on using flock below), and added a strip of ribbon. The message reads 'Happily Ever After'.



I made another elegant and simple set of cards to offer a married couple congratulations using the Bird and Flower Burst stamp which is a Clear Mini Stamp. I stamped in white ink onto grey textured cardstock and then embossed using white embossing powder. The black cardstock is also textured for a little bit of added style.



A really simple card just to say 'I'm thinking of you' uses the same stamp but in colour. I stamped with various inks I have and embossed with a transparent embossing powder, which somehow made the inks appear lighter than they are on the pads:




This blank card features bird stamps from Artemio (the set doesn't seem to have a name) and some pastel shades of ink:



And finally... just sittin' around... birds on telegraph wires, to thank someone with. I drew a template for the telegraph pole and traced it onto the card, shading it with cross-hatching and chalk. The bird stamps are from Toga (simply called Oiseaux). Again I embossed them with a transparent embossing powder:




Thursday 22 April 2010

A Note on Using Flock

I've just tried my hand at using flock. It's been an experience. You see, I hate mess, yet I'm a messy person. How do I live with myself? Right now I'm using blogging as therapy. Just look at the mess:

So anyway, using flock is fairly easy. You need some flock, first and foremost (I used Stampendous! Plain Ol' Black Fun Flock), and then a glue pad, glue and a stamp:

I've quickly learned a few things. For the stamp, it's important to have quite a simple stamp, as the flock will not take to one that is too intricate or too fine. When it comes to the glue, it's quite important to try not to get any where you don't want it, although you can easily clean up with a cotton bud as soon as you've stamped and flocked (don't leave it too long or it will dry). The flock does stay on. You just need to leave it a good few hours. I tested it by trying to brush it off every twenty minutes, but after a bit I got bored of waiting, so 'a good few hours' is an fair enough estimate.

Oh, and, conveniently, the flock expands once you've used it a little, so it doesn't fit back in the pot unless you pack it down! That accounts for some of the mess. As does the fact that it's so fine it floats around on the air and gets everywhere. BUT, despite all of this, IT WORKS:


I'm going to leave these cards and finish them off tomorrow. I'll post pictures then!

Wednesday 21 April 2010

Revisiting

Remember my Visitors' Book? I posted a picture of the cover before I'd put any visitors inside...



Well, I've made some progress with it. I gave it an opening page, using Graphic45 papers from the Transatlantique range (Globetrotter and Travelogue). Finding happily that the colours of the Belgian flag offset these papers perfectly, I spent a while cutting out a 'Welcome to Belgium' sign in a vintage-style font.


A selection of pages:




Thursday 15 April 2010

Up, Up and Away!

Just before Easter I made a hot air balloon-shaped card .svg file using Inkscape, at the request of my mum. I've now managed to cut the card out using the Cricut and it just about stands up (I was a little worried about the dimensions but it turns out it's OK). I've just entered it in The Craft Barn competition for shaped cards!

Because I already had some amazing Webster's Pages paper (already used on cards for Mum and Dad) that featured hot air balloons, I decided to use them with this card shape to make a 'Bon Voyage' card in a vintage style.

However, I don't know anyone who's going away any time soon... so I guess I'll have to keep it!


By the way, if you'd like the .svg file, send me a message and I'll email it to you.


Wednesday 14 April 2010

We Went Ape!

Once, when we still lived in Norwich, my brother came to visit us and we went ape in the surrounding forest. It was so much fun - climbing and swinging and zipping down wires! I've finally made a page to commemorate the occasion, called 'If You Go Down To The Woods Today':


The paper I finally used was from Sassafras Lass, called 'Say Timber', and it was a real collage of tree and forest things. I made sure I cut around the little rabbit's ears a bit so they weren't obscured by the other pieces of paper.


I added to the mixy, messy, random design by backing the photos with numerous scraps of paper and adding a lot of embellishments. I made my own buttons, since for reasons I won't go into here I only have a few real ones: I did this by punching a circle from some card, punching two holes in the centre, and then covering it with Glossy.

Last of all I stamped some images - a swirl and some great clouds and birdie (that Sassafras Lass Head in the Clouds collection again) - and cut them out, using them in relief:





Tuesday 13 April 2010

Easter Mini Album

I actually took a little bag of paper and glue and things with me on holiday, but I didn't get much done. I managed to cover the inside pages of this little freebie album, but that was all. So I've just been working on getting it finished - the point of it was to use mostly old and/or free things, although a few new and not free embellishments did creep in. The album itself was a magazine freebie, as were the papers, and the ribbon was from easter chocolate boxes. Other free stuff included donations from my mum, an egg carton, and some stickers. I'll be working on a few full pages soon to do justice to the amazing scenery we captured on camera.





Monday 12 April 2010

Rock n Roll Me

Wow! I get to wear a polka dot dress AND make a polka dot page? Rock n Roll! ...last summer we visited a clearing in the woods where a rock n roll mini-festival just happened to be taking place - music, teddy boys, big skirts, cars - it made me happy :-). I think I succeeded in transferring this happiness to the page:


I took a more random approach than usual, and focused on achieving an explosion of happy embellishments. I hand-stitched a part of the page, and cut a handy pocket for an extra photo.