Craft Stamper news

I have exciting news. I am a new contributor for Craft Stamper. You can see my first project (technically not my first as I had a scrapbook project in there a few years ago) in the new January issue as I am making some items using that fabulous free feather stamp you can see on the front cover.

A rainbow card

I made a card for a friend's birthday this week using scraps of patterned paper. I discovered I have hardly any red papers - do I use a lot of red in my scrapbooks or do I have an aversion to buying red papers? I'm not sure what the answer is here. This was supposed to a rainbow but I realised after I had cut out the papers that I had got the orange and yellow mixed up - oops.

I've been inspired to try this pattern out from various sources and I really like how it turned out. It may be appearing on a scrapbook page soon. Here's where I got the idea from...

A piece of art from You had me at Bonjour

A scrapbook page by Lisa Truesdell
( I love the chevron details on here)

                                                                                 

A scrapbook page by Kelly Purkey
(this has been done with mists)

Crafting Sun-rays

We've had some lovely days of winter sunshine recently with clear blue skies and frosty ground. It seems like a great time of year for some sunny yellow crafting. Julie Kirk is running a month of yellow inspiration over on her fabulous "notes on paper" blog. Julie has lots of suggestions for yellow scrapbooking, cardmaking and wearing yellow too.

I've joined in with a bit of yellow card making this week. I have recently finished two Maisy Mouse cot quilts for friends who have had baby girls and I wanted to send some cards with the quilts. The top card uses the lovely bright colours from Cosmo Cricket's Delovely collection.

The card below uses more Cosmo Cricket papers from the Togetherness collection with some Material Girl stickers. This card is for a family who have a little boy and now have a baby girl, so I think the birds work really well.


Here's one of the Maisy Mouse quilts which was inspired by a pattern on the Moda Bake Shop blog. It's a great place for fantastic free quilt patterns. I'm particularly excited by this one here and I hope to be attempting it later in the year.

More yellow on the back of the quilt...

I've made another quilt similar to this one before, but I still love it.

2011 - a crafting year in review

I was having a little look around on blogs and I saw a great review of the year on the Attic 24 blog and so I thought I'd have a go as well. It's been a very interesting exercise.

I can see that...

- January and September aren't great months for crafting, usually as I am trying to get the house back on track after school holidays.

- I'm happy that my August photos aren't about crafting but about getting out and about, building sandcastles, watching balloons and finding gorillas.

- I really enjoyed my scrapbooking from June onwards as the things I had learnt in online classes with Donna Downey, Julie Fei-fan Balzer, Christy Tomlinson and Emily Falconbridge all started to come together on my pages.

- It looks like I did little crafting in November or December, but actually I was crafting non stop making things for a craft fair and to sell to raise funds at church. My conclusion is that I can't manufacture items for sale like that at the moment as I don't have enough time.

- My kids are very photogenic!

You may notice a little robin just above - there's more on him to come soon.

Wishing you all a very happy crafty 2012 xx

A Father Christmas card

I've started having a a little look at Pinterest and I can see how time can slip away looking at all the great ideas that are shared on there. I saw the idea for this card on there and thought it was so great that we had to have a go. The original link is here. My girls made some for their teachers and for their grandparents. They are so effective.

The Whiffle Tree Trading Post

I've been a bit quiet on here lately as I have been crafting flat out to get ready for the Whiffle Tree Trading Post, which was a local craft fair yesterday. I had a really good afternoon and sold lots, had lots of compliments on my work and lots of nice chats with fellow crafty people. As someone who normally sits at my desk to craft it so nice to get out and hear positive feedback on what I enjoy making.

My best sellers were my cards, which I placed in some nice little baskets from Ikea.

My crochet roses also sold really well. I have about 5 left.

I made a few of these bags. These didn't sell at all but I think they are gorgeous! They are based on a pattern from Amy Butler's book "Style Stitches", (with a few little tweaks). I don't mind that they didn't sell, as it means I have stock for a craft fair I've signed up for in January! I made a large embroidered bag, which you can see in the picture at the top. I did sell one of these bags and took commissions for two more for bags with different birds on. It was a good lesson to learn what people like, and my embroidered birds are a bit more individual than a patterned fabric bag.

Here's a closer look at some of my Christmas cards, including my favourite one made with a stamp by Crafty Individuals, which I coloured in and embellished with sequins - sometimes less is definitely more!

And a few more Christmas cards...

I'll be back soon with more photos of my other cards.

A Maisy Mouse Quilt

I've been a bit quiet on here lately and it's not because I haven't had crafty things to write about, it because I've been crafting so much that I haven't sat down much. A friend is organising a craft fair in a couple of weeks and I have a table. At the moment all the things I want to sell are still ideas in my head - don't panic! I've spent this week working on a Scrap365 project - I'm so please with it but you'll have to wait a couple of months to see it!

I've also managed to squeeze in a bit of sewing to make a little quilt for my friends' new baby girl.

I found some fantastic Maisy Mouse fabric which works so well and is really bright and colourful. It's also the perfect match for her older brother's Hungry Caterpillar quilt I made a couple of years ago.

Here's the flower in the centre made in a Dresden Plate style.

I used some lovely multicoloured thread to free machine quilt some flowers...

I parcelled up the quilt with a little Maisy Mouse book and this card, which I made using the Cosmo Cricket papers "Odds and Ends"

Happy 21st

This week is my friend's 21st birthday. She was our little bridesmaid 10 years ago but she's a lot taller now! I had to stop and think about how to make a card for a vibrant young woman and so this is what I came up with.

I used an old piece of die-cut cardstock as a stencil and used red and yellow alcohol ink together on the blending tool. I really like this tie-dye sort of effect.

I cut out the numbers from some patterned paper and then used my sewing machine to add free-motion stitching around them. I had to add a bit of bling too.

Doodle stitching

I made a card for a friend's birthday this week and I used my free motion stitching again. I stuck down the book paper and then stitched the flowers freehand over the top, which I coloured in with pencil crayons. This was my second attempt as I forget to open up the first one before stitching it, creating the amazing non-opening card!

Guest at Scrap Revolution

This month I'm the guest designer at Scrap Revolution's blog. Here's a sneaky peek of the layout and card that's already on there...

And here's a peek at the project soon to be appearing...

Check out all the details here

Something new from something old

I have been looking at ways of making my scrapbooking a bit different for me as I have been scrapbooking for over 8 years and I have been finding it a bit unexciting for a while. There are loads of new paper products coming out all the time, but I don't want to spend lots of money to keep my creative inspiration flowing. One thing I have decided to do is to limit the manufacturers I buy from. I have already found this really helpful. I have decided to stick with Cosmo Cricket, Echo Park, Prima, Sassafras Lass and Maya Road (with a bit of American Crafts - I love Thickers!). So even though Basic Grey has just released some fantastic new papers I am not tempted to buy.

I really enjoy taking part in online classes and I like learning from a variety of teachers to gain new perspectives. One class I am taking part in at the moment is called "Re-purpose, re-think, re-invent" with Jenni Bowlin at Big Picture Classes. Jenni has been giving us tips for using vintage materials in all sorts of ways and the class included a little pack of items to use during creative challenges. The layout at the top has been made using some vintage milk tops (along with Echo Park's "Summertime" range). I love this page!

The class has been leading me to look at things in a different light. We have had some kids birthdays in our house lately and some of the toys were wired into the packets with the plastic tags below. They look like robot parts to me! I added some wire spirals, beads and wobbly eyes (because everything looks great with wobbly eyes) on a birthday card for a little boy.

This class has also left me dreaming up a piece of wall art for our porch based on the cover for

an old fan. I have been making tips to our local recycling centre to try and find one in the "Small electricals" skip. After a few unsuccessful trips, I was very excited to find this a couple of days ago...

An Easter chick card

My post for today over on Bubbly Scrumptious is a little Easter chick card using Madeline papers by Prima, and you can see more about it HERE.

This is going to be my last post on there for now, as I've asked to step down from the design team due to family stuff. I want to thank Caroline for the fantastic opportunity she gave me when she asked me to be part of this fantastic design team. I have been truly amazed to have been able to place my work next to the amazing creations of the talented ladies on there. I have learnt so much over the past year and it was a fantastic introduction to blogging. I've also been able to play with some lovely craft materials from Bubbly Funk.

Crafty cards

A couple of cards from me today. The top one is for my friend and her new baby girl using Cosmo Cricket's "Material Girl" papers. The one below is a simple thank you card made with Prima loveliness :) .

Cupcake birthdays

I've made a couple of chipboard cupcake cards this week. You can see more about them over on Bubbly Scrumptious HERE.

Mothers Day card

Here's a little card from me that I've made for Mothers Day.

A thank you card

I made a thank you card for a friend today and I had another play with my Sizzix Texture Boutique. This time I tried embossing patterned cardstock and sanding it back. I think it worked quite well.

Two little welcomes

I'm continuing my New Years resolution about making cards and writing letters with two cards I've made to welcome a new baby and welcome to a new home. You can see more about them HERE over on Bubbly Scrumptious.