Friday 31 May 2013

boy oh boy!!

 
so news this week is that I joined facebook, finally. a friend asked me to make a card for a car mad 2 year old boy... so when I saw the monthly challenge on LOTV I figured it was perfect!! Love this cute little stamp, think it works really well with the bright colour scheme for the little ones. the banner is a great way to personalise the card with a name.  

 
paper was taken from DCWV all about boys stack, various punches from stampin up! the image was of course from LOTV (little lorry bear) and coloured using promarkers. all other bits of cardstock used are digi cardstock from craftwork cards and coloured using to promarkers to coordinate.
 
Mx

bags of fun !!


ive made birthday gift bags for some loved ones that i thought i would share with you all. i filled this one with a handmade soap and a flannel with a coordinating wrap. i think it makes a nice little gift, with the bag and tag adding the handmade, personal touch. 

i bought these kraft bags and cut the tags from kraft cardstock to match, tied on with rafia. i simply stamped the bags front and back and decorated the tag to match. all of the stamping is done with archival coloured inks and some of the bags have extra detail i hand-painted using cosmic shimmer iridescent water colour paint. the happy birthday message on the tags is from the made for you stamp set by stampin up!.

you can use any of your stamps and pick the colour scheme to suit the person its for. its up to you what you fill them with. some of these have handmade soaps, but others have shop bought smellies. so dont worry if you cant make it yourself there are plenty of places to buy lovely handmade treats. you could even put chocolates or other goodies in and size the bag accordingly.


the good life forever friends clear stamps and inkadinkado rockstar clear stamps 
papermania nostalgia classic cars clear stamps and pigeon from gorguss girls 
stampin up! summer solstice and mixed bunch stamp sets 

im sure the person you send it to will appreciate the thought that has gone into it 
Mx

Tuesday 28 May 2013

fiery chilli jelly

well what an eventful day. i made chilli jelly and got slighty more heat than i planned...



ingredients:
2kg granulated sugar
500ml white wine vinegar
200g scotch bonnet chillies
1 large red pepper
250ml certo apple pectin

method:
1. pour sugar and vinegar into preserving pan, over low heat (stirring frequently) dissolve sugar.
2. once dissolved, turn up heat and boil for 20 mins. until mix is syrupy & clear.
3. meanwhile, cut chillies and pepper in half and remove seeds. pulse in blender until finely chopped.
4. once sugar mix is ready add chilli mix and boil for a further 3 mins.
5. remove from heat and cool for 15 mins. then stir in certo, keep stirring until mixture thickens and chillis are suspended.
6. pour into clean sterilised jars. leave to cool, then seal tightly
!! if chillies rise to the top pour back into the pan and stir over low heat until suspended, then repeat step 6.

DO NOT let the jelly boil over during stage 4 ... i learnt the hard way that it sets on fire and makes a mess !! so please peeps go careful with this recipe and enjoy. (i cant say how mine turned out as i dont eat it, this one was for my sis and dad so they best like after all this drama and cleaning up!!) hopefully yours wont make flames like mine did, but with the scotch bonnet chillis i think it still deserves the label of fiery chilli jelly 
Mx  

Sunday 26 May 2013

just for fun ...


ok, so i'm guilty of doing another girly card but what can i say ... i like pretty things !! this one was just to play around. it could be used for any occasion as i decided not to put a message on... you could stamp a little sentiment in the corner if you wished though. 

the stamped image is the water lily tilda stamp from magnolia. i coloured it with promarkers to match off cuts from 12 x 12 papers i used in a scrapbook album a while ago. i layered it up with a pretty craft doily, a decorative edge punch by martha stewart and an embossed piece of card. i used the craft concepts budding vine embossing folder and tim holtz distress inks to highlight the design. i also inked the edges on the other layers to match. i added further embellishments with a butterfly peel off which i coloured bronze to match the adhesive stones. i think it's those little details that really make a card. 

Mx

Friday 24 May 2013

a fairy, flowers and cake ...

the perfect combination for a pretty, feminine card ?!


so i went for a pink theme here ( if thats not your thing i suppose you could change the colour !!) i started with this pretty piece of rose paper i found among my stash. i felt this cute fairy from lili of the valley would work well, so i coloured her in to match the paper using promarkers. the message is from the petite pairs stampin up! set. they were then cut out with the oval scallop die from sizzix and the smaller oval and scallop punches from stampin up!. i added a decorative border, from the stampin up! punch range, and some paper roses to embellish. the 60 was a little extra cut with the typeset die in tim holtz alterations range. i matt and layered it all together with the same coloured paper to tie it all together.
Mx 

Wednesday 22 May 2013

a simple taste of summer


 this is a nice bright card for the summer. i've done this one as  a cute little birthday card for a friend, but it could easily be for any occasion using a different message. 

i used the petite pairs sentiment stamp, cut out using a large oval and scallop oval punch. the flower came from the mixed bunch stamp set, cut out with the blossom punch. the swirls were stamped to create a background using the everthing eleanor stamp set. all of these products are from stampin up! the only other things needed to make this card were the tim holtz distress ink to stamp and edge the craft work cards digi cardstock, on a white 4 X 4 card blank.

the beauty of this card is how simple it is ... it only takes a few ink pads, a couple of stamps, punches and some imagination !

Mx


time for tea !


this is a card for my nana's birthday. i found the cute 'nannan' stamp by home farm crafts at a craft fair, since that's what i call her i just had to get it. i cut it out by hand to make a little tag to hang from the big one using some twine. the idea was to look like a tea bag to match the tea theme (my nan lives on the stuff !!) the stamps are from the morning cup stampin up! set. the set has lots of little elements, but using the masking technique, with the help of a stamp-a-ma-jig, allows you to overlap and layer them to make them look like one big picture. it takes a bit more work but you can customize it each time to make more of your stamp sets, so well worth the effort!! 

the punch used for the edge of the tag is also from stampin up! and inked to coordinate with the little tag using tim holtz distress inks. the colour was picked to go with the promarker pens used on the stamped images. 

this is one of those little ideas i was working on while the internet was down ... there's more on the way 
Mx

Monday 6 May 2013

Sorry no net...

Hi guys sorry for the lack of posts. im having Internet problems at the moment, I will be uploading my projects as soon as possible.
Mx