Give 'em an Inch.....

What with holidays, house-moving, poorly people and poorly computers and goodness knows what else we're a rather depleted DT over on the Daring Cardmakers this week - but that hasn't stopped Our Sue from issuing another of her Very Scary Dares!

This week it’s my turn (Sue) to dare you and I was having a bit of trouble finding a challenge that would stretch the imagination and get those creative juices flowing.
The idea for Inchies came to me when I was chatting to a friend about people taking liberties and she uttered the old saying, “give them an inch and they take a mile”……..Ahh. Inchies I thought!!
"Inchies" are 1 inch (or 2.5cm) squares of card, inked, painted, papered and decorated in any way you like, they are often made to a theme then swapped with others in a group rather like ATCs are.
So my dare this week is to make inchies and put just five of them on your card.
There’s no set theme, colour or shape, I’m just intrigued to see how many different ways you can arrange the five tiny squares.

I've only ever made one set of inchies - that was a while ago for a swap on one of my favourite forums. I enjoyed making them and they do make lovely embellishments for cards. They can be as simple or as intricate as you want - there are some amazing teeny tiny pieces of artwork out there, if you google on "inchies" you're sure to find some fabulous examples.

I went down the "simple" route!
I decided I wasn't keen on the birthday card I'd already made for Emily (the flip-flop/swing card from a couple of weeks back) so I made this one instead.

The inchies may have been simple byt the spring (pardon the pun) flowers were not - they took ages to put together. This was not helped by my going a bit bonkers and deciding that they should still look good from the other side! Sometimes I do wonder about my sanity.....

Anyway, Primas and other blooms are layered up with Cuttlebug ones and the occasional punched flower too. Glittery buttons, blobs of Glitter Glue and little gems are used for the centres of the flowers and they are attached to the card with tiny springs made by winding coloured wire tightly around a cocktail stick.

I made the inchies from card, covered them with different MME "Pretty Please" papers, inked the edges then drew a line on the card so that I could align them properly (I couldn't really get away with my usual slapdash for this design lol). I used little Primas on the inchies, then applied Glossy Accents and Stickles to get some more interesting effects.
Here is what the back of the card looks like

The letters are stickers that come in the "Pretty Please" collection pack, stuck on to more Cuttlebug flowers
I can't say I'm particularity pleased with my inchies for this challenge but time ran out before I could have another bash! If you want to seem some really fabulous ones, head over to the DCM BLOG and see what the others have been doing - they are just wonderful!

That's it for today, it's a Bank Holiday this weekend, we've nothing planned but fingers crossed the weather in nice and we can get out in the garden.

Back soon probably with the cards I've made to say "well done" to my nephew and niece, who got their GCSE results yesterday and did really well.
(Proud Auntie Moment!)

thanks for visiting, have a great weekend,

Scary Stuff

A lovely warm. sunny day here in Hertfordshire :).
If you read this blog at all regularly you'll know I have a bit of a problem talking about Christmas too early in the year. I just can't bring myself to make C-cards in the Summer - it's just NOT right! Actually, I don't like starting to make them till after my birthday in the middle of September - to my way of thinking it's still Summer till then and not a time to be thinking of cold manky weather and long dark nights.
It's also a fact that if I make C-cards earlier than the Autumn I rarely like them and those ones are either left unsent in the box or go straight to the bin without passing Go.


So it was with mixed emotions that I opened my new DT kit from Bubbly Funk.
On the one hand the papers and extra goodies are absolutely beautiful - well they are based around one of the MME collections and at the moment MME can do no wrong, can they?
On the other hand the collection in question is called "Colourful Christmas"
aaaaaggggggh, or oooooohhh? I'm soooo confused!

I think I need a bit more time before getting into the C- card making zone, so I've dipped a toe into the water of "thinking about Christmas" and made myself a little memo block to sit on my desk. The plan is that now I have a place to jot down gift ideas for me as well as other people, ideas for crafty things, reminders on what I need to buy, and any other seasonal notes I might want to keep safe. I've got a useless memory and forget most "good ideas" that I might have, so maybe this notepad and it's own matching pencil might help me be super-organised this year. Yep, I know.... that would be in my dreams lol

If you're interested in seeing how I made this little memo block, pop over to Bubbly Scrumptious (the emag for the Bubbly Funk Shop) and you'll find all the project notes for this and many other carfty makes listed there. The new kit will be available soon from Bubbly Funk

I hope you like it - it's dead easy to make too!

Lastly, I thought I'd join in again with "What's on you desk Wednesday" - I know its Thursday but this is exactly how I left my desk yesterday and what I have to face when I pluck up the courage. Julia seems to think that my desk is the wobbly white background on the photos in the post below hahaha, no, that's the little photo "lab" I do most of my pics in.
No, I have this truly spectacular mess on my craft desk..........


So, do you dare to share? Your own desk, that is?

Thanks for visiting today, I hope the sun is shining where you are too

Em's Book 2

Cor!
It's blowing a hoolie out there today. At least the rain we started the day with has been blown away and it's quite sunny again. I don't like windy days though - plays havoc with my hayfever, even when I'm indoors most of the time.

I'm back with the rest of the photos of the little book I made as part of Emily's birthday present. For some reason this one took ages to make and kept throwing up problems, maybe it was because I've made a couple of these already and wasn't concentrating so hard on what I was doing - wouldn't be the first time that happened!

Never mind, it's all done, in the post and on it's way so fingers crossed it arrives in time.

I discovered that names with an even number of letters are easier to deal with on a zig zag book like this. An odd number means you can't make it nice and symmetrical, so I made a little beach-hut style house to put on the back of the front cover and then a photo page either side of the letter pages.

This is a closer look at the letter pages - I used a mix of chipboard letters (from Bubbly Funk Shop) and their negatives for these.

Side 2 of the book is given over to photo display pages.
I asked my SIL if she had any nice pics of Emily as when I looked at ours she's always pulling a daft face! It was great when a few photos arrived in my mailbox because it meant I could crop and print out a few to pop in the pages - nicer in this instance I think than leaving it blank.

Rather than just glue photos into this book, I've made all the display pages with corners and other holding devices so that the pics can be taken out and changed easily.

I even added one of Em with her little brother - but I've kept it small - not everyone wants their little brother's daft grin plastered all over the place, do they?

Papers and die-cut flowers are "Pretty Please" by MME
Chipboard alpha from Bubbly Funk
Ribbons, flowers and other bits and pieces from my stash

I hope you've enjoyed seeing this album - thanks for the comments left yesterday, they are very, very much appreciated - Thank You

I finished it!

Yesterday morning I finally completed the little standing album I've made for Emily's birthday. The idea is that she can print out and display her own choice of photos in it, but just to make it look better than an empty album I've popped some photos in there to start her off.

Here are the first photos - I'll spread them out over a few days (it'll save me making anything else to put on here for a while hehehe)

I used "Pretty Please" papers from MME throughout the book - I've now only got a few small scraps left from this set - I think I'll have to replenish though, because they are soooo fab!

This is the front cover:

When it's stretched out, one side looks like this

All folded and tied up this is the side view - it's a very fat book, as you can see!


More photos tomorrow. Now I'm off to play with my September Bubbly Funk DT kit which arrived last week. I need to think of a project for Thursday....

Thank you for visiting, I hope you like what you see here

Result!

Does anyone know where weekends go?

Nothing exciting going on, just the usual list of errands and "stuff". The really fun bit over the last couple of weeks has been doing a spot of house-hunting with my cousin, who's finally decided to take the plunge and buy himself a house. Obviously we offered to step in and help - well you just have to, don't you! He's pretty keen on the one he saw on Saturday and took us along when he went for a second viewing yesterday. Fingers crossed it all works out for him.
Obviously as it was lunchtime and we were already out it would have been rude not to indulge in a pub lunch before coming back home. After that Hubby watched the GP and I got on with Emily's book
Yes I know I've been "getting on with Emily's book" for a while now - but.....this morning I actually finished it. I am not going to do any more tweaking, I am not going to add any more flowers, ribbon on glitter, I am not going to make a box for it, I am not going to think up any more ways to give myself more work. It is finished. Really finished. Honestly, it is.


This is the card I made to send to our eldest niece to say "Well Done" on getting such good results in her "A" Levels.

Papers are by My Little Shoebox, the word is Robo cut, I think the owl is from 2 Crafty but I'm not sure. MS border punch, red "hearts" ribbon and the little bow on the owl's head from my stash.
The flowers, orange ribbon and the heart pin are all from the fab Flower Kit from Creative Treasures. I was just about to reach for some beads to cover the point of the pin (I've mentioned before how I worry about these things!) when I realised that if I placed it all together correctly the sharp point of the pin could be safely hidden under the word, which meant I didn't have to do battle with superglue - what a result!

This kit is called "Hot and Spicy" and is stuffed full of flowers in hot colours plus some great ribbons, buttons and pins to go with them, it's a wonderful kit and really great value for money too - a fab way to boost your flower collection!

Just waiting for the last Stickles to dry on Emily's book then I'll take some pics and share them on here.
Thanks for visiting

The Anniversary Waltz

It's Keryn's turn to set the challenge on the Daring Cardmakers this week and when she asked us to make Anniversary cards I had a whoopdedoop moment!
This was because just a few days earlier an order for two personalised Anniversary cards had popped into my mailbox - what a result! (Thanks, Keryn lol)

Please check out the wonderful cards from the Design Team over on the Daring Cardmakers Blog, if you follow the links to our personal blogs you always find out more info about what we used to make them. As always we'd love it if you'd join in with our dare - so if you do, just add your link to the message thread and we'll come and see what you've made.

So, here's my card for this week, the first of the anniversary cards I need to make (hopefully it'll spur me into actuion and I'll get the other one done soon too!)

Basic card is a 14cm sq gatefold
Papers Bella Bella from MME, Robo-cut monogram, hearts and flower Cuttlebug dies, Prima Artful Flowers, tiny gems from Anita's gem wheel, lace, ribbon, glittered brad, other flowers from stash.


This was much more of a struggle than it should have been - do you get days like that?
Today I need to make a "Congratulations" card as our eldest niece Aimee got her A level results yesterday and scored three A's so will be on her way to her first choice Loughborough Uni next month.
Hope all your kiddiwinks did equally as well!
See you soon

S is for ....Thursday

My turn to add a project to the fab Crafty Ideas Resource that Bubbly Scrumptious is!
Bub Scrump is the blog for the Bubbly Funk shop, where you'll find all sorts of crafting treasures including the wonderful Monthly Kits that I work with.

Thursday is "my" day and this week I've a little wall hanging to share, which I've made using the August Kit and as usual, some of my own stash. Here are some peeks of what you'll find if you wander over to Bubbly Scrumptious today


I had a lot of fun making this and I'm thinking of doing more to make personalised mini-calendars for "you know what"
Right, I really really need to get my DCM card off the drawing board - time is getting short!
Thanks for visiting

Little Bit Excited and An Awkward Little Wotsit!

Well, actually quite a BIG bit excited!

Over on UK Scrappers there's a wonderful mini-book event going on. Every day a fabby new mini-book idea to try and there are some wonderful and ingenious books to see and learn how to make.

Every day I've been checking in to see the new minibook and save the projects to try when I've got some spare time (yeah yeah), today I logged on and saw my own project - and that's why I'm excited

I've been like a "cat on hot bricks" over the last few weeks, because I had word from Caroline (Bubbly Funk) that MaryAnne (Boss at UKS :)) had asked if she could use my Havana "Flip It" Album during the series.
You can see the article and download the project HERE and if you're a member over at UKS I'd be really grateful if you'd leave a message on the dedicated Mini Book Message-Board - this is my very first time to have anything published on there so I'm not only excited, but very apprehensive too!

Thanks to MaryAnne and all at UKS for putting together this wonderful Summer Mini Book Event, and for featuring my book as one of the projects.

Now a Work in Progress

I'm in the middle of another Display Album project atm. It's not been going as well as it should. Funny how you can make things that are fundamentally the same, but instead of getting easier they just won't co-operate!
So this one has been on the go, off and on, for the last couple of weeks. I'm making it for youngest niece Emily's birthday and time's running out so I really need to get it finished this week.
Maybe showing a couple of photos of the Little Beggar (the book, not Emily, she's a sweetie!) will spur me on!
Here is the unfinished cover - looks a bit sparse, doesn't it? hehe

Inside, one side looks like this - again, there are still some empty pages to deal with

The pages on the other side are covered with paper and that's it. They will be the pages for Em to add her own photos so I need to make all the bits that hold the photos. I've got some pics of Em to print out and add to the side with her name on.
I'll e back in the next few days with a progress report!
Thanks for visiting today, please leave a comment, I do love to read them!

Crafty Templates More for August

First, a quick plug for my Card sketches over on my other blog - I uploaded a new one over the weekend and would love it if some of my crafty friends would have a go using it. You can find it HERE

I've just realised that I didn't put my other Crafty Templates cards on here last week, so here they are. To be honest I don't think I did Leo's fab templates justice because I made these cards in a hurry at the last minute - sometimes the last-minute throw-something-together thing works and sometimes it doesn't, I guess you can't win 'em all!

I love the giant flower template and I'm hoping to use it again soon - the flower embellishment in the middle, as well as the paper and card come in the Crafty Goodies Kit which you can also buy from Leo. I just used some rub-ons and glitter glue from my stash.

The Patchwork Parcel template is great fun, the template has its own lovely big bow, but I thought I'd use a ribbon one so that I could swing the patchwork layer over to reveal a hidden message
Again the papers are from the Kit, along with the orange ribbon.
Other Supplies: Rub-ons, MS edging punch, tiny square punch, gel pen, Bosskuts Star tag die

Until today I'd not sat at my craft desk since last Thursday - my mojo went MIA and I had to force it back into action with a pointy stick. It's always a relief when I manage to actually make something when creativity has been lacking - still I've not only started a project but just about got it finished too - which is quite a shock to the system, I can tell you!
Here are a couple of teeny weeny sneakie peekies!











That's all for now. I'm going to have to make more stuff before I come back, so don't hold your breath!

Lacy Days of Summer

Over on the Daring Cardmakers this week it's my turn to set the dare and after last week's tricky Flip-flop, or Swing" challenge I'm making it nice and easy this time and just using one word as the starting point for our card-making!

"LACE"
You're free to interpret "Lace" in whatever way you like;
you could use the actual word on your card, use a lacy stamp, cut a lacy design or maybe use one of these dictionary definitions to inspire you:

1. a net-like ornamental fabric made of threads by hand or machine.
2. a cord or string for holding or drawing together, as when passed through holes in opposite edges.
3. ornamental cord or braid, esp. of gold or silver, used to decorate uniforms, hats, etc.
4. a small amount of alcoholic liquor or other substance added to food or drink.

I have to say, the girls on the Design Team have surpassed themselves this week and the cards on the DCM BLOG are absolutely stunning, they surely can't fail to have everyone itching to join in.

I made a completely different card to the one I was intending when the postie arrived fairly early yesterday morning bringing a box of glorious new papers by the Black Market paper Society. On opening the box all other plans vanished and the only decision was whether to use the Ebony and Alabaster set, or the Vintage Romance ones.

It had to be the latter because as soon as I saw them I knew they'd look perfect with the Artful Flowers and the gorgeous cream lace that has a gold thread running through it
I managed to get two different sorts of lace on to this card plus a tiny bit of actual lacing - which will be a real nuisance to whoever receives this card - I think if I do this again I should give the card a "fake" front as it's a total pain to thread/unthread this for opening and closing the card.


I needed to give a large cream bloom a bit of a makeover to form the base of the big flower, it's been inked and stamped and edged with gold Krylon.
The larger Artful Flower wasn't quite big enough so I separated the petals of two matching flowers, then glued them around a punched card circle to build a bigger version, I added one of the smaller AFs to the stack and topped with another card circle filled with Glossy Accents and shiny black beads

Supplies: Vintage Romance papers (Black Market paper Society), Prima Artful Flowers, Cream Lace with gold thread (Charmed Cards & Craft) , Black velvety sticky backed lace trim (Ribbon Oasis), "Old Gold" eyelets and narrow brown ribbon form my stash
Coiled roses are tiny versions of those demoed on the Cosmo Cricket blog - yes, I'm addicted to them....

I had a ball making this one, I love using textures and having an excuse to go mad with luscious lace, ribbon and flowers is just heaven for me! I really hope other people will enjoy this little challenge as much as I did!
Please take a look at the other cards on the blog, they are fabulous and a real treat to the eye!

Today I'll be thinking about how to use the Ebony & Alabaster papers because they are glorious. Have you noticed that I'm getting better at actually using my stuff rather than just admiring and stroking it for weeks first? lol

Baby Girl and Big M

Over on Bubbly Funk's emag aka Bubbly Scrumptious it's my turn to add today's project. I've made a couple of cards this week using the current month's kit which is a mix of all sorts of interesting papers, shrink plastic, chipboard and other bits and pieces, the kit is called "His & Hers" because it contains stuff suitable for both male and female projects.

A couple of weeks ago I made a card for a baby boy, so this week I've made one for a baby girl and again used the shrink plastic in the kit to make my embellishment. Last time I used a stamp, but this time I'm showing a different way to add an image to the plastic. If you like the idea of using SP but like me don't have many large stamps to use then maybe this is something you could try too


Also in the August kit is a chipboard alphabet - I love this type because you get two of each letter plus the "negative" which you can use too. The set in the kit is all capital letters and I've made a monogram card with one of the letters.


I think these are just perfect for masculine cards, make a monogram, add some patterned paper and maybe a brad or three and you're all done! I'm really pleased with the "faded paint" look on this one - I used a few of my Cat's Eye ink pads to get the colours and "feel" I was after.

This one will be for my brother, if I haven't forgotten all about it by December! Not that he'll appreciate the effort of course; as I've mentioned before his company make cards/stationery stuff and he thinks all us cardmakers are stealing the bread from the mouths of his children! lol

Anyway, these projects can be found HERE, it would be lovely if you'd take a look and leave a comment there if you've a minute.
Thanks for looking