Why I have been so quiet

I know I said last week I would be back with a another card the next day but I was struck down with a two day migraine. Never had one that bad before and it really wiped me out.

So once I was over that I then had a set of  wedding invite's to make for my cousin's wedding in August, where I am to be one of eight bridesmaids!!!

Here they all are ready to be collected. Louise loved a design that was a sample on a tattered lace launch and this is my version.

I have used centura pearl card for both the gold and the white shimmer.

Tied together embossing folder.

Tattered lace bows.

Cosmic shimmer olympic gold acrylic glue for the gold pearls.

Inkylicious wedding words stamps.

Metal embellishments off eBay.

Each invite consists of 23 liquid pearls which makes a total of 1702 pearls!!!

Think I can class myself as an expert at using those now.

Nearly as good as Creative Expressions demonstrator Julia Watts!!

So there you go, I've been a busy girl behind the scene's and would like to thanks my best friend Kath for coming over and helping so I didn't go too mad with all the repetition.

I have a card to share with you either later today or tomorrow and I'd love your honest opinion on it.  It's not my usual style and I'm just not happy with it and don't know if it's just me or not.

so thought I'd let you decide,

Crafty hugs

H xxx

So where have I been?????

Good afternoon everyone. I'm sorry it's been 4 weeks. I went to Mexico for the first two and must have caught a cold on the flight home as first I had neuralgia then a full blown cold.

It's finally on the way and today I have a couple of things to share.

I have a HUGE addiction to anything by the wonderful Sheena Douglass and am slowly building up a great collection of her stamps. Sadly she launched her latest lot of embossing folders when I was sat waiting for my delayed flight at the airport on the way to Mexico so wasn't able to buy her 4 day deal but have slowly added some of her folders to my stamp collection and Hubby kindly set the sky box to record her shows whilst we were away.

And so, on a Thursday my BFF's Kath and my Mum meet up to make cards and what's nice is that even though we all use the same colours, techniques and supplies we all end up with different cards.

Here are our cards.

This is Mums.

Here is Kaths.

And here is mine.

All are created on an acetate card base, layered with patterned vellum then distress ink coloured card that has been embossed or debossed with Sheena Douglass grande florals embossing folder.

The flowers were made by embossing a piece of vellum with the petit florals flder and painting them with twinkling H2O's.  The large distress inked panel has also been spritzed with a mica spray.

I love how they are all different.  

Tomorrow I have a card made using a different embossing folder, which creates a very different look to the soft pinks of these cards so until tomorrow,

Tootles

H xxx

Blimey I'm back again!!

Yep I'm back again and this time my card features a different Visible Image stamp.

I've used a wide selection of Visible Image stamps here.
The main one is Jake Skates, with a couple from Max Rocks and a couple from Molly Rules.
Jake is coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils.
Coloured inks are all distress inks.
And finally the small images are the stamped images done ink shrink plastic.

I am entering this card into the the Visible Image challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you in a couple of weeks as I won't crafting,
See you soon,
Hugs
H xxx

1st Visible Image post of the day

Yes you did read right this is post one of two.  I have 2 cards to enter into the Visible Image challenge.

Here are 2 photo's. 

The reason I have done two is the centura pearl card does not photograph well.

The beautiful verse is by Visible image and can be found here and is a bargain at only £5.50

The quality of their stamps is probably the best I have ever used and I've used alot of stamps.

The silhouette is cut on my silhouette.

I would normally give you more details but I've got to rush and get this next blog post and get on with all the other jobs I have to do before morning.

Challenge entered

Visible Image - anything goes

HUgs

H xx

Time for Inkylicious fun

My aim today was to share a card I made yesterday along with the digi sentiment I created for you all to download but being me I forgot to take a photo of the card!! Yes I know, bloody typical.

So instead I have a different card to share. This one is also made with Inkylicious stamps, just not the same stamps. I will re-make the other card and share that in a day or two.

So on to today's card. Sadly the camera hasn't picked up the mica powder bubbles on the kraft card but trust me it looks really good.

Items used 

Blowing Bubbles stamp by Inkylicious

Ink dusters by Inkylicious

Distress inks in yellows and oranges, plus gathered twigs DI for the stamped image

Die cut label is design #26651 in silhouette studio glittered with silk glitter

Bubbles rubber stamp by Creative expressions

Mica powders

Ribbon

Silk card

Kraft card

Perfect medium ink pad

Silhouette machine with pen holder

Glossy Accents

Technique

I began by loading each colour at a time and blending them across the corners, leaving a panel running diagonally. Next stamp the image using gathered twig Distress Ink. Mat and layer the completed topper onto brown then white paper. I used a piece of white paper and coloured the edges with gathered twigs to match the colours I used for the image. I did this with the larger matting an layering later on.  One your piece of kraft card stamp the bubbles background stamp in perfect medium or any other embossing ink. Dust with mica powders in yellows and oranges.

Finally mat and layer bubbles layer onto the 2 colours.

Finally using your silhouette put the sentiment into the deign on the software. Write it on your kraft card in black or brown ink, cut out the layers, add glitter to the thin border layer and mount both onto the card. 

Finally add glossy accents to the bubbles blown by the child and allow to dry.

Thanks once again for joining me and I'll see you again soon,

Hugs

H xxx

Hello again

Well I've made it to my second Blog post,  woo hoo.  Today I'm blagging from my phone as I've done too much housework and need to rest. As I'm laid up I thought today I would share some photos of my dogs and anything else I find interesting on my phone. 
So first up here are my fur babies.
First up is Ember who is not so much a baby any more as in the first photo. Oh turns out you can only add one photo! How ridiculous.  Well I suppose that's it for tonight lol.
I will get on the laptop tomorrow and bombard you with photos how about that??
See you tomorrow,
Hugs
H xx

New Year, New Start and BIG New Addiction

So you all thought I disappeared off the face of the earth but no, I just wasn't in the best head space. 

Now I feel in a better place. Some things in life are worse, some better.

Last year I became a great Aunt to lovely little Isabelle and yes I am too to be a great Aunt thanks.

She was born 8 weeks early but has pulled through and is a strong little girl just like her Grannie was.

My Dad followed by his dog was diagnosed with cancer. Both have had operations and are getting there. Dad is on chemo and  Bess is recovering from her large operation. Mum and Dad's big holiday of a lifetime has just been postponed for a year.

We sadly lost our Grandma Mort in May and had hoped to buy her house and move to a bigger home with a garden but that wasn't meant to be.

We also had to say goodbye to our top dog Zara. We knew she was going to last many more months but she surprised us by taking a sudden nose dive so it was a quick dash to the emergency vets as we were not going to have her suffer.

We lasted 6 days before we had to another dog as it just wasn't right with just 2 dogs.

And so Ember arrived aged 9 weeks old. She's labrador cross blood hound and has the biggest ears ever and a long whippy tail behind. She's adorable and worked her way into our hearts with hours.

Photos to come.

My style of crafting has changed over time and as I said in my title I have a new big addiction.

I am addicted to Inkylicious stamps and ink dusters.

I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and since it's taken a good hold I have struggled with concentration. Whether it's films, a talk or colouring my minds wanders terribly. A real butterfly brain which is why I'm loving inkylicious stamps and stamping in general. I can get my topper ready in 10-15 minutes compared to anything around an hour.

So onto talking about my blog and my new years resolution.

My new years resolution is to have fun with my crafting and to concentrate on the playing rather than the having to make a complete card, and so I want to go back to documenting my cards/projects on my blog.

So I'm going to try and blog twice a week unless I'm on holiday which may be happening soon so don't think I've given up on my resolution already.

Since the start of the new year I've made a few cards inc my first same sex wedding card which was at the time my favorite card. My latest card is now my favorite!!

So over the next days and weeks I will add photo's of the cards I've made so far and also pop some photo's of our little muchkin Ember the puppy aka Ears!!

So it would be lovely to see if anyone reads this so if you do please let me knwo I'm not talking to myself. I do do that but pretend I'm talking to the dogs,

Hugs

H xxx