Just a teeny weeny peek at some of the things I've made for the soon to be available for pre-order Bubbly Funk August Kit.I know I'm teasing, but I couldn't resist!
I'll put some more photos on here in a little while - these are just a little taster to get you thinkingKeep checking back to the Bubbly Funk Shop for more information and the all important ordering detaisl
Here are some photos of a couple Circle Journal layouts Ive been working on recently.The first one is all about our creations, be it crafty or otherwise. I'm not actually sure if this is the best thing I've ever made, but it was certainly the one which at the time caused me the most stress! It was one of the garments I made for my A Level coursework and I had no idea just how complicated it would be to make when I read the brief and made my drawings and patterns.I'd done all the embroidery as it's done on the reverse of the sheer fabric and I can still remember the panic when the french seams I'd planned to use just wouldn't lie flat on the curved shape. 
The fabric had been really expensive and now not only was I facing having to do all that embroidery again, but also having to ask my parents for money to buy more material. Fortunately my teacher saved the day and suggested doing "run and fell" seams. I had to unpick those I'd already done, but at least I didn't need to start all over again. I machined all the seams but then had to neaten every single inch of them by hand.There were 27 covered buttons and rouleau loop fastenings, the sleeve edges were hand finished with different decorative hemming for each fabric, and working with two different fabrics one over the other was a nightmare from start to finish.Despite all the hassles and difficulties I got there in the end and maybe that's why I think this was my greatest creation - maybe it's the triumph over adversity thing!The second of the CJs has a theme of Seasons. I couldn't decide whether Spring or Summer was my favourite, but in the end I went with Spring - because it holds the promise of Summer.I don't really like the Winter, and although Autmn can be beautiful and the weather can be pretty good, there's the old bug-bear of the nights drawing in and the days getting shorter and shorter. Those of you who know me already know that I find that time of the year a real trial.So Spring it had to be really!
I made this card for a challenge on JB forum. The fabby NickyNoo asked us to use her card for a copycat cardlift - so not just using design elements from her card - this time we had to make a direct copy of her card, though obviously choosing our own papers, colours etc.This is my card
The papers are from the the gorgeous "Nancy" collection by Dream Street Papers. The colours are soft and rather subdued and the designs are lovely.I think this card is OK but needs a bit of a "tweak" - so it might have a revamp and be back on here later. A new idea for yet another reality show "Celebrity Card Makeover" perhaps? aaaggghhhhI'm off now to bang my head against the wall for a bit.........
Friday again and that means Daring Cardmakers Day of course!
Often we're so bombarded and blown away by all the lovely new goodies and trends in papercrafting that we forget the old stuff - the papers, embellishments and techniques that for a while at least were our Most Favourite Thing.
So this week we're giving you an excuse to wallow for a while in the Good Old Days! Dig out you old favourites and have some fun remembering why you loved them, and maybe even reminiscing about what got you started with this wonderful hobby of ours.
On the DCM blog you'll find the cards the Team have made during their walk down Memory Lane and on our blogs you'll learn more about why we chose to make our card. We'd love to see your cards and hear your stories too, so please leave a message telling us where we can see your own creations 
I'd been making cards for a while before I discovered the joy of patterned papers, and I think that one of the first sets I bought were Basic Grey's Sublime collection. I still think this range, along with Fusion and Colour Me Silly are much nicer than most of their more recent collections and digging out this lot again just makes me more sure of that. I love the clever mix of vibrant and muted colours and the designs all seem to work together so well. Sometimes I look at the new ones and some of those colours and patterns just don't look right together - but hey, that's probably just me! Anyway, I decided to try and get an old/new mix for this card. I've used more old faves like fibres, wire and beads, then newer techniques like doodling and scallops, and I've folded the side of the card back again and added the focus piece to that - just to try something different. The Greeting stamp was one I bought when I first started cardmaking and thought stamping was the way to go. I soon found out it wasn't my thing though! Some of the flowers are Primas and some are those sequin ones - I think they might be Queen & Co - something else I bought then left mouldering in a box because they just didn't appeal so much "in the real" as in on screen in an online shop. 
Been working pretty hard today, so I deserve it.I've made a couple of mini lasagnes and eaten mine - Hubby's out at archery and can have his when he gets home (I can't wait that long!) so now I've got a few quiet minutes to update my blog and maybe even I'll have time to do a bit of blog-hopping too.At last the sunshine has come back and the last couple of days have been lovely, warm and sunny - not too keen on the wind though as it really makes my hatfever flare up something chronic.Our veg patch (or patches as it's become) is doing nicely. We've already had a few peas and beans and there ar
e quite a lot more that'll be ready soon. On Sunday Hubby pulled the first of the carrots. Yes, well, I think "interesting" is the best word to describe these!The tomatoes "farm" is doing okay. I think we were a bit slow with our planting as our tomatoes are only just starting to grow. But we are going to have lots of them - got a bit carried away there and I think we've got somewhere in the region of 15 or 16 plants - I
know it takes ages to water them all!In our little greenhouse we have peppers, chillis and aubergines (have I ever mentioned that I LOVE the word aubergine? It's SUCH a lovely word to roll around on your tongue.....), we have loads of courgette plants in the ground and this one in a pot (we're experimenting to see which works best) we've already had one
courgette to eat and here's another almost ready - and yes, I know the photo looks a bit...well.....you know....In the veg patch "proper" the peas and beans are doing well and everything else seems to be growing well too - I like peas and beans because you can see what's happening without needing to dig anything up!
Hubby's also planted some rhubarb (so I can make him rhubarb crumble, apparently!) and that's really doing well now - though we can't crop that till next year - thats the rhubarb on the right - just in case you thought it was just some weeds!
We "inherited" a honeysuckle on the pergola which is lovely when it's in flower in the spring, but then for the rest of the year it looks like a dead thing, so last year I planted a passion flower to grow up through it and hopefully take over looking pretty when the honeysuckle gives up.It seems to be doing really well and there are loads o
f buds on it, and this one brave flower.And lastly for my garden diary today ;-) I took this photo looking straight up through the branches of one of the trees in our garden. It's a very beautiful tree, with lovely pale gree leaves. The branches are quite fine and they let a dappled light through rather than making too much shade. We haven't a clue what it is so are there any tree experts out there who'd like to enlighten us?
I've got a list of crafty tasks as long as my arm - nothing new there then. I do love doing them all but I have a horrible habit of getting to this point in the month and suddenly realising how very behind I am. So I've been trying to work a bit quicker and get things done. I'll save a couple of sneak peeks for tomorrow of a project I've finished today, but here's one of two boy cards I made yesterday - I forgot to photograph the other one, but it's almost the same - it's got a cut out aeroplane on it instead of the rocket. I really fail to get excited at amking blokey cards.
The papers are from Crate's Zoom collection and the rocket is a template I made for the robo. I printed the greeting on the pc and added the name with rub-ons. 
This is another glimpse of a sneakie that I showed the other day - I hadn't done the inside at that point, but it's all finished now. Do you know what it is yet? heheheheAll for this time you'll be glad to hear - that's if you made it to the end at all...........Thanks for looking, please come back again soon
Well, I'm trying to get back in the swing with my crafting (not to mention the "fairy chores", as forum friend Em would say) Not exactly succeeding tbh, but starting to make some headway on the "to do" list. Totally failed to get Lythan's "dastardly" peel offs dare done - I threw all my OOs away in the general clear out when we were moving house, but I have a feeling there's one sheet that came free on a magazine lurking somewhere in a folder so was planning to locate them and actually use them. Mind you, I haven't a clue what's on them. Never mind, we'll move on This week Rhi's Daring Cardmakers challenge was spot on......
(and btw it's lovely to have Rhi back after her hectic few months training for her new job - I've really missed seeing her fabby cards) Apparently there's something called Journalling Spots that the scrappers love to use - I'm sooooo NOT a scrapper, so had to go for a web-wander to see what she was on about. I discovered that it's just a "posh" way to describe little bits of paper, stickers etc that you add a bit of handwritten jouranalling to. That's fine if your handwriting is neat and tidy and the ink doesn't blob at the least provocation, eh? I needed to send a late birthday card - to go with the late present I mentioned in another post. I had the present made in loads of time - then I got really confused about the Goodwood trip - I got it into my head that it was THIS weekend when actually it was LAST weekend. So it all became a bit of a rush and I was a complete failure (do you notice a theme here?) at getting things wrapped up and into the post. So anyway, the card I was going to send wasn't appropriate anymore and a Belated Birthday Wishes one was needed and making a card with a little handwritten message seemed a perfect way to say "Sorry I'm so Late" 
I've used BG Euphoria papers here, along with the matching brads. I really love the colours in this collection, even if some of the patterns are a bit fussy - using tiny pieces of them waters down the effect I think! If there's one thing that I use my Craft Robo for more than anything else, it's cutting circles. I know that sounds bonkers, but being able to cut the perfect size of circle for any project is so great! So here are four different sized circles used on one card. One part of the flower centre and the little journalling spot are cut with the Cuttlebug scalloped flowers die. I've used tiny buttons in the middle of the flower and given them a dusting of glitter and a coating of Glossy Accents This week I've been making a start on the next round of Design Team projects for Ribbon Oasis, so I thought I'd add a couple of sneak peeks to be going on with. 
I'm planning to donate these items for sale at the Think Pink Cards and Gifts Sale taking place in October. This sale is being held in aid of Breast Cancer Care and there's more information here
I mentioned on an earlier post that all donations of cards and makes would be gratefully recieved and was thrilled when Sarah contacted me offering some of her fantastic cards. If you are reading this and would like to add your support to help make this event a huge fundraising success, please email me for further info and I'll put you in touch with the organisers. Alternatively click here to visit the "Think Pink" blog for more details
For ages now we've been saying we should go to the "Festival of Speed" at Goodwood. This year we finally booked our tickets, we decided to book only for the Friday when we thought it would be quieter and thus easier to see everything, but to make a weekend of it and spend some time by the sea. We ended up staying in Worthing, which is only about half an hour's drive from Goodwood - maybe a bit more when thousands of people are also going there though! We'd got Grandstand tickets which meant we could use any of the Grandstands along the hill climb - perfect for shorties like me - normally I can't see anything and get really bored, but this time I could not only see everything but had a bit of shelter should the promised shower materialise. Hubby loves fast cars and bikes - any motorsport on the tv and he's happy. A few years ago he realised his dream of owning a Ferrari - but not content with just owning it, he had to take it to track days - now I'm a worrywort of the highest order and these days filled me with panic and dread. But I decided that it was better to join in so did have my own skidlid and went out on track with him. We've been to several of the British circuits; Brands Hatch, Donnington etc but my fave was Silverstone - though that might have been that the club could use the nice comfy facilities above the pit lane where it was warm and there were comfy seats, coffee and a good view.... Anyway, I digress. Goodwood is great fun, there are old cars, new cars, famous cars and silly cars, plus a smattering of bikes in there for good measure. Whilst a lot are just there for looking at and chatting about, lots are also there for a sort of race. It's a timed hill climb - not all of those who do the climb are racing, probably most of them are there just for the fun of it, but it's a really fun event and worth considering if anyone in your family likes cars and bikes!
Licensed to Thrill...
Rally Drivers do it with dust 
Whacky Racers 
Lean Green Mean Machine 
Oldies 
This is what a car looks like at the end of Le Mans 
Ooops!
this is what a car looks like when you drive into bales of hay instead of driving around the bends.....
If you or yours like bikes, or even if you just want to see something crazy - watch this little videoA couple of "makes"I've made this card with chipboard and grungeboard sent to me by NickyNoo in a recent Chipboard Swap on JB forum. Not only did you have to send some chippie to your partner but you actually had to use it too. shock horror - not allowed to just squirrel it away! I think I'm probably about the last to get mine done - nothing new there then!I've made this with our upcoming 15th wedding anniversary in mind, but although I quite like it, I may end up making something else anyway, you know how these things are!
Base card and gold stardream card are from PDA, I embossed the edge of the card and one of the hearts with my new hearts Cuttlebug embossing folder. I had to mix up some of my cheapo acrylic paints to get the colour to match the base card - I think that took the longest time, well along with trying to paint the gold Krylon ink on neatly with one of those little nib things from Ranger. I coloured the paper too with a watered down version of the hearts paints - it started off in lovely light brown shades, but just didn't look right with the other colours I wanted to use. It's actually one of the Now and Forever papers from Imaginisce, having coloured it red the words didn't show up very well so I ended up going over those too. 
And this is just a detail from something I've made for a friend's birthday present - I've not sent it yet and it's late, so if you are reading this (I think you'll know who you are......) I'm very very very sorry to be so late, but it'll be on it's way today, I promise......
I'm not sure where the idea came for this one, but I know I sat here with a daft grin on my face as I was making it! I also know you're not supposed to laugh at your own jokes but I can't help but chortle at this one.
In my head I can see Mrs Owl, arms folded, curlers covered with a headscarf tied on the top of her head, standing on her "Coronation Street" style doorstep in a Northern town keeping her beady eye on all the passers-by, missing nothing and ready to sort out any bother that might occur.
My non-card project for June's kit was an acetate album.I've had an acetate album and some spare acetate sheets lurking accusingly in the drawer for some time as I hadn't a clue where to start with them.For some reason this kit gave me the inspiration I was waiting for, I think it was probably the floral papers and those owls that started me thinking about making this little album. At first it was going to be photos of a "falconry day" I booked as a birthday pressie for Hubby a couple of years ago, but then I decided to alter the theme slightly and just have some photos of flowers and some of the wildlife in our garden
I used chipboard to make the covers rather than make them from acetate - I was after a sketchbook/notebook sort of effect and the lined Adornit paper was perfect for that. The large letters on the title are the alphabet stickers which are part of the Sassafrass Lass "Pocketful of Rosies" collection.I used the Bind-it-All to make the book, but it would have worked well with bookrings too
Most of the pages are single layers of acetate, but a couple of them are actually pockets made my folding an A5 sheet in half. I'd decided to use the lovely papers on the edges of the pages - I folded strips of the papers in half, then used fancy edged scissors, or the pretty scalloped edges that these papers have, so making pockets was easy - I just folded the paper strips around both layers to enfold the edges and make the pocket.I can use the pockets to add notes to the tags I've made, or to pop extra photos into.
The new July kit has just gone out to the subscribers and is full to the brim with gorgeousness and fun stuff. so if you're looking for a crafty treat why not pop on over to Bubbly Funk and see if there are any left - I don't think you'd be disappointed.
I'll put some more photos on here in a little while - these are just a little taster to get you thinking
The fabric had been really expensive and now not only was I facing having to do all that embroidery again, but also having to ask my parents for money to buy more material. Fortunately my teacher saved the day and suggested doing "run and fell" seams. I had to unpick those I'd already done, but at least I didn't need to start all over again. I machined all the seams but then had to neaten every single inch of them by hand.
The papers are from the the gorgeous "Nancy" collection by Dream Street Papers. The colours are soft and rather subdued and the designs are lovely.
I'd been making cards for a while before I discovered the joy of patterned papers, and I think that one of the first sets I bought were Basic Grey's Sublime collection. I still think this range, along with Fusion and Colour Me Silly are much nicer than most of their more recent collections and digging out this lot again just makes me more sure of that. I love the clever mix of vibrant and muted colours and the designs all seem to work together so well. Sometimes I look at the new ones and some of those colours and patterns just don't look right together - but hey, that's probably just me! Anyway, I decided to try and get an old/new mix for this card. I've used more old faves like fibres, wire and beads, then newer techniques like doodling and scallops, and I've folded the side of the card back again and added the focus piece to that - just to try something different. The Greeting stamp was one I bought when I first started cardmaking and thought stamping was the way to go. I soon found out it wasn't my thing though! Some of the flowers are Primas and some are those sequin ones - I think they might be Queen & Co - something else I bought then left mouldering in a box because they just didn't appeal so much "in the real" as in on screen in an online shop.
Yep, TWO new little doiggies, and their bags arrived last week. The little green doggie has his very own shopping bag which all folds up into a cute round squishy bag - a lot prettier and less boring than taking a bundle of old carrier bags every time I go into town. Well, that's my excuse anyway. The other bag isn't pink bth it's ivory. But it does look more pink than ivory tbh!
e quite a lot more that'll be ready soon. On Sunday Hubby pulled the first of the carrots. Yes, well, I think "interesting" is the best word to describe these!
know it takes ages to water them all!
courgette to eat and here's another almost ready - and yes, I know the photo looks a bit...well.....you know....
We "inherited" a honeysuckle on the pergola which is lovely when it's in flower in the spring, but then for the rest of the year it looks like a dead thing, so last year I planted a passion flower to grow up through it and hopefully take over looking pretty when the honeysuckle gives up.
f buds on it, and this one brave flower.
I've got a list of crafty tasks as long as my arm - nothing new there then. I do love doing them all but I have a horrible habit of getting to this point in the month and suddenly realising how very behind I am. So I've been trying to work a bit quicker and get things done. I'll save a couple of sneak peeks for tomorrow of a project I've finished today, but here's one of two boy cards I made yesterday - I forgot to photograph the other one, but it's almost the same - it's got a cut out aeroplane on it instead of the rocket. I really fail to get excited at amking blokey cards.
The papers are from Crate's Zoom collection and the rocket is a template I made for the robo. I printed the greeting on the pc and added the name with rub-ons. 
This is another glimpse of a sneakie that I showed the other day - I hadn't done the inside at that point, but it's all finished now. Do you know what it is yet? hehehehe
I've used BG Euphoria papers here, along with the matching brads. I really love the colours in this collection, even if some of the patterns are a bit fussy - using tiny pieces of them waters down the effect I think! If there's one thing that I use my Craft Robo for more than anything else, it's cutting circles. I know that sounds bonkers, but being able to cut the perfect size of circle for any project is so great! So here are four different sized circles used on one card. One part of the flower centre and the little journalling spot are cut with the Cuttlebug scalloped flowers die. I've used tiny buttons in the middle of the flower and given them a dusting of glitter and a coating of Glossy Accents This week I've been making a start on the next round of Design Team projects for Ribbon Oasis, so I thought I'd add a couple of sneak peeks to be going on with. 
Base card and gold stardream card are from PDA, I embossed the edge of the card and one of the hearts with my new hearts Cuttlebug embossing folder. I had to mix up some of my cheapo acrylic paints to get the colour to match the base card - I think that took the longest time, well along with trying to paint the gold Krylon ink on neatly with one of those little nib things from Ranger. I coloured the paper too with a watered down version of the hearts paints - it started off in lovely light brown shades, but just didn't look right with the other colours I wanted to use. It's actually one of the Now and Forever papers from Imaginisce, having coloured it red the words didn't show up very well so I ended up going over those too. 
And this is just a detail from something I've made for a friend's birthday present - I've not sent it yet and it's late, so if you are reading this (I think you'll know who you are......) I'm very very very sorry to be so late, but it'll be on it's way today, I promise......
In my head I can see Mrs Owl, arms folded, curlers covered with a headscarf tied on the top of her head, standing on her "Coronation Street" style doorstep in a Northern town keeping her beady eye on all the passers-by, missing nothing and ready to sort out any bother that might occur.
My non-card project for June's kit was an acetate album.
Most of the pages are single layers of acetate, but a couple of them are actually pockets made my folding an A5 sheet in half. I'd decided to use the lovely papers on the edges of the pages - I folded strips of the papers in half, then used fancy edged scissors, or the pretty scalloped edges that these papers have, so making pockets was easy - I just folded the paper strips around both layers to enfold the edges and make the pocket.
The new July kit has just gone out to the subscribers and is full to the brim with gorgeousness and fun stuff. so if you're looking for a crafty treat why not pop on over to Bubbly Funk and see if there are any left - I don't think you'd be disappointed.
My first thought was that all the little owls and the clouds etc really leant themselves to cards for just keeping in touch - so the first card I came up with was this one:
As you'll know if you follow this blog I do have a bit of a thing about scallops and circles......
Please come back again soon - I've another card, and an acetate album still to show for this kit....
The papers, fab calendar stamp, beads and paper ribbon all come in the Goodies Kit that Leo has put together this month.
This time I've used papers from the new BG Euphoria range - which it seems are quite contraversial! Seems you either love them or hate them - I love them, but then I've found a few of the more recent ranges quite tricky so it's probably about time I got some that I find easy to use!
Last week Di set the challenge to make 6 cards or notecards and a box to display them in. Maybe I'll do this challenge properly when I've got some more time, but for now 5 cards in a cello bag will just have to do!