A really quick post this week as I'm off dancing for the rest of the week :-)
So the challenge this week over at PTI was drop shadow die cuts. So here's the card I made for the lovely Hans for his 50th Birthday. I love this technique and can see it being used a fair bit in the coming weeks.
Have a great week and thank you for the warm welcome back in to blogland.
Yay, Anna & I have had a fabulous weekend of crafting and taking part in the on-line classes for this years Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-Faire. Now as I've earned all my camp badges it's time to tidy up. OK let's be honest that'll happen tomorrow, as now it's way past my bedtime. Thank you to Nichole and all the design team at PTI for a fabulous day (it took me the full weekend!) of classes. Also a big thank you to all the guys and gals in Cincinatti that get my PTI goodies to me.
So here's my last project. It's the set of cards. I've used tiny treats birthday stamp set. I needed to zing it up a bit and didn't have the right paper in my PTI stash so did have to reach into my patterned paper stash. These cards fit perfectly into the older packing from PTI, a fab little gift of birthday cards.
Here they are one by one:
So I couldn't go without sharing a quick look at the mess that it my dining room table, my craft room isn't big enough for 2. Roll on Stamp-a-Faire 2013 when I should be in my new craft room and it will be as neat at the end as at the beginning! Right who am I kidding!!
I know this is my second blog post of the day but I couldn't wait to share the fun Anna & I have had today, learning the marbling paper technique using shaving foam! Thank you to Nichole for a great project. Not only did we have a go at the technique we decided to make our own video about our adventures. You can see how we got on and have a good giggle with us!!
We loved the technique so much we went on to try it with different colours and different ways of swirling the inks. I've used some of my favourite bits to make this card. The rose shape is cut out of part of the paper, I just love the complete not knowing what you're going to get aspect of this technique.
I've also managed to complete the limited supplies challenge, inspired by Maile Belles. Unfortunately I don't seem to own any bitty dot ribbon, in any colour!! I think that may need to change on my next order!
I've also finished the friendship challenge, which involved making paper beads - I love that die, and then making them into a bracelet. Luckily I found some beading supplies knocking around the office before I left on Friday!
Right back to see what other classes I need to do earn my PTI camp badges.
Yay it's Stamp-a-Faire day and we're off and running with a make and take card. It's so lovely to give ourselves the time to sit and follow instructions and come out with a fab card at the other end. I followed Nichole's class and example to the letter apart from changing the sentiment. Anna went for a different colour combo, not that I'm surprised as she likes to do her own think :-)
So here's my card:
And here's Anna's
It's been a pretty busy morning, we've had cooked breakfast - a healthy version of course. I've walked to Tesco and back, so that's the exercise for the day done, so now it's lunch (cous cous salad - yum) and then it's back for more classes.
There maybe several blog posts from me today depending on how we get along with the glueing and sticking!
Hope everybody is having a fabulous day, especially all my PTI friends from all over the world who are happily stamping for the day.
Woooo hoooo, Papertrey Ink's Stamp-a-Faire is nearly here. A whole day of on-line fun and classes that the fabulous team at PTI have put together.
My fabulous friend Anna has come up from the south to join me and we're hoping to have a great weekend. Well it's already been great as we've broken out the champagne!!
I know a lot of the US girls are starting the evening with Smores, but as I'm trying to be good at the minute, Anna and I settled for the more healthy option of meringue nests with berries and greek yogurt - yum.
Our table is laid out with supplies, but due to the time difference with the US, our table may need a tidy before we join in at 12pm, as we'll have to do some crafting whilst we're waiting!
I'd forgotten quite how much fun getting inky was!! The Stretch your Stamps class has had me getting my distress inks out as well as my Luminarte Colour concentrate misters. But before we get to that, there's one more card from day one of the class and it included stamping on acetate which is an absolute breeze using rock-a-blocks as you don't get that slidey thing going on. Thanks to Amber Daigre for the technique and inspiration for this one - I am super happy with the way it turned out. I also used inspiration from Kristina from Day 8 label stamps.
Then on to inkiness! I love the way you can go from a plain piece of water colour card with some ink to this:
add a collage stamp, some clear embossing powder and dusty concord distress ink and you this:
Put it all together with a piece of embossed card and a couple of tags die cut from the watercolour paper and you get this:
Ta da!!
I've still got so much I want to do from this class but I'm loving everything I've had a go at so far. It's mainly my PTI stamps I've been using, along with the heart collage stamp that I've had for so long, I have no idea where it's from.
Two blog posts in a week, now that's a first in a long time. What's the betting the next one will be in November!!
I've had a lovely day today, a day all for me and my stamps. I've signed up for an on-line course Stretch My Stamps and whoa it's amazing. There's been an e-mail each day, along with videos and PDFs of fabulous stamping techniques. As it's been such a busy week, it's taken me until today to get my supplies out. So here's what I created based on the classes from day 1, with a smidge of bonus day 6 thrown in too:
This card was inspired by Jennifer McGuires lesson on day one. I don't seem to have any large background stamps so instead went for a small background stamp and repeated the stamping.
Card number 2 was inspired by Kristina Werner's card from day 1. I loved the idea of a repeating pattern but went for circles instead of hexagons, but still kept in with the tone on tone stamping:
Card number 3 was inspired by Lisa Spangler's day 1 card, although you wouldn't know it!! But it did get me to do some kiss stamping and I love the effect it had on the butterfly. Further inspiration was from Jennifer McGuires bonus day 6 card. What a great technique of half die cutting the butterfly shape off the page:
Then last but by no means least as I think has turned out to be my favourite was my card that was inspired by Dawn McVey's card from day 1 along with the new half die cutting technique I learnt from Jennifer today, along with the kiss technique from Kristina. It's like all my home work wrapped up in one card!.
Any Papertrey ink fans will notice that all my supplies were from PTI. I'm far too lazy to list them all. After all I'm still on day one of class and the weekend is nearly over.
So what else have I been up to? Lots and lots :-) I've been dancing in Henley, Leeds, Oxford and even teaching in Newcastle. I helped lay 170 place settings and was a bridesmaid at my sister's wedding, had a weekend of paper and glue with the girls at Hucklow, done two demo days for work, some walking and I've joined up at Slimming World. So as usual it's busy, busy but that's what keep me happy.
I know I'm a little early for Mother's Day but as I'm away dancing at the Cheltenham Balboa Festival this weekend, I thought I'd share this card with you.
I love that flower and they're so easy to make. Just card, ink, an SVG and of course Edna-May my eCraft machine.
So where have I been for the last couple of weeks I hear you ask? Well work has been exceptionally busy but that's a good thing. Also I've decided that all occasions in life should be spent on a ski slope, so I headed back to Morzine and Chalet Thalassa for a week of skiing and great fun with amazing company for my birthday!
Since I've been back, I've had a planning trip to IKEA (there will be many more) with the lovely Leann Chivers, made leek and potato soup, and finished 70 wedding invitations for my wonderful little sister.
I'm off to Cardiff and Bristol todayand Birmingham on Monday to visit some customers. Plus I'll get to see my lovely friend Anna this weekend, in between dancing. Yes life if full to bursting at the moment but would I have it any other way ..... not on your nelly!!
I've been on one of my little whirlwind tours and as usual had a great time. So Derby, Reading, Stokesley, the office and tonight I've made it back home. I had a great weekend dancing. As always Jean and the All Jazzed Up crew run a fabulous weekend with the best teachers, Mickey and Kelly were totally amazing. I have so much to work on with my dancing I'm going out to practise tonight - thanks Les.
So just a quick card from me tonight, yet again inspired by the celebrations over at Papertrey Ink, where it's all about butterflies today. Seeing as I seem to be putting a butterfly on every card at the moment, this challenge was right up my street. I was also inspired by challenges at:
The Crafty Pad - something beginning with "B" - butterfly
Supplies used (all Papertrey Ink)
Stamp - Signature series: Butterfly mini stamp set
Die - Signature series: Butterfly mini die
Card - stampers select white, dark chocolate
Ink - dark chocolate, spring moss
Paper - happy spots
Just a couple more things that have made me smile. I've one a prize over at A Passion for Papertrey and it's a stamp set I don't have! Also I got a mention from Papertrey Ink on the card I made for last weeks Make it Monday.
Let's hope that the next 2 weeks are equally as good, especially as I've got my big trade show, down in Birmingham. So if I'm a little quiet on my blog please bear with me, I'll be back soon.
Carrying on with the 5th anniversary festivities over at Papertrey Ink, today was all about Pinterest. I've been trying to avoid it, on the grounds I know I'll get completely sucked in and lose hours just looking at pretty things. So today I've been inspired by the image Erin Lincoln pinned and gone all pink and red. These little beauties took longer than they look but it was still fun.
I know I said I wasn't going to post today but I had a lot running through my mind so to help me relax I decided to have a go at Make It Monday over at Papertrey Ink. The technique this week was stamping on the both sides of die cuts. I used the butterfly from Love Lives Here. I was just going to layer 2 together so you could see the underwings but it looked a little flat, so the butterfly ended up being four double stamped butterflies. Two are folded in half and sandwiched between two flat ones, it make a great 3D butterfly. Thanks to Erin for this technique.
The birthday celebrations are still in full swing over at Papertrey Ink and today Nichole share a free download of some digi images. So of course it would have been rude not to snaffle them, but better than that, I've actually used them!
As I was late in from work tonight (not long until the trade show now!) it's just a couple of little cuties tonight. In truth I couldn't decide which design to use, so I picked 3 of them!
So with the bosses back from the states it's all systems go and busy, busy, busy, although I did take 5 minutes today to catch up with the lovely Louise Welsh when she popped into the office to drop off some samples.
No crafting for me tomorrow, but don't feel too bad for me, I'm off to see Strictly Come Dancing the Live Tour up at Newcastle. I just hope it's as fabulous as last time.
Today is the start of the celebrations over at Papertrey Ink for their 5th anniversary.
The design team shared lots about themselves today and it was great to read their stories. Their work constantly inspires me and their blogs are definitely on my go to places especially when I need a creative nudge in the right direction. So a massive thank you from me to each of the design team and everybody behind the scenes at PTI. Papertrey will always hold a special place in my heart as is led me to one of my best friends (J xx). So today Nichole set the challenge to choose one of the projects highlighted by the girls and to draw from it. For me it had to be Jessica Witty's beautiful card, with so much white space. I've looked at this card several times but never been brave enough to go there. But today I have embraced all that white space!
I also tried it with cutting the quatrefoil die rather than embossing it
So I'd better get to bed as I have to go to Derby today, let's hope most of the snow has disappeared. As far as I'm concerned I only like snow when it's up a mountain and I have my skis on!!
The lovely girlies over at A Passion for Papertrey have had me scratching my head since they launched their latest challenge. Why making a card on a favourite book should be so tough I don't really know, but to be true to myself I can't just pick any book it has to be one that I really do love. So eventually I settled on A Vintage Affair, by Isabel Wolff. So here's the card I came up with. I was also inspired by challenges at:
Stamps - background basics text style, sentiment from enjoy the ride
Ink - vintage cream, dark chocolate, vintage touch tea dye duo
Dies - filigree border, signature series dress form, layerz mat stack 4
Embossing folder - script by cuttlebug
So as if this week couldn't get any better, look what turned up in the post today. A pair of gorgeous navy hand warmers lovingly knitted by the very talented Linda Hill. Not only can she colour and paint to the most amazing standards, she knits too. Thank you so much Linda, they couldn't have turned up at a better time, as it's a little chilly up here today.
I was also the lucky random winner over at Inspiration Card Sketches #148. I'm a bit scared of next week as after a week that's been so good, it can only go downhill!!
So what does the weekend bring for you, for me it's more house hunting, a little bit of work and hopefully some time to craft. Have a great weekend.
For those of you that have never visited the Moxie Fab World Blog, then you're missing a treat. Cath constantly provides images and products to send your creative brain into overdrive, not only that there are competitions galore. I was lucky enough to meet Cath at CHA a few summers ago and she's as lovely in real life as she is on-line. Unfortunately she can't make it to CHA this week as she's got an injury which means she can't travel, so in true papercrafting spirit it's time to give a little back and a surprise blog hop has been organised for this lovely lady by Virginia. Here's hoping you're on the mend soon Cath.
No I haven't been out rambling, it's my latest PTI stamp that I've had out of it's wrapper. I told you I was on a mission to get all these new sets inked up. So today it's a quick a simple card, with a more masculine feel. It was inspired by challenges at:
As far as I'm concerned you can't beat a little bit of Kraft!! How can that even be a colour, let alone one of my favourite colours!! Seeing as I stocked up when I went to the US in December I'm happily working my way through loads of it at the moment. But I'm sure I'll need more soon plus the matching buttons, oh and the ink!
So I've managed to use some more of my new PTI goodies today. First up is the coverplate quatrefoil die, although I've used it to emboss with rather than as a cutting die. How cool is that, I love anything that's versatile.
Dies - quatrefoil coverplate, mega matstack 4, double ended banners, Beautiful Blooms II #1 die collection Buttons - ripe avocado, dark chocolate Bakers twine - chocolate
These next little beauties were made the other day when the Lovely Louise Welsh came round for tea. We're normally chatting so much that we don't have time for much crafting but we both made these baby cards, a complete lift from the very talented Melissa Bickford who designed the stamp set. Although we did lose the twine and stamped the washing line and added an extra layer of matting and layering. I made the girl ones and Louise made boy ones. But the following night I decided I needed boy ones too, so made myself a set. I'm popping them into the challenge at: Simon says stamp challenge - anything goes Crafty calendar challenge - new news
Supplies used
Card - kraft, raspberry fizz, ocean tides
Paper - bitty box basics
Ink - true black, raspberry fizz, ripe avocado
Stamps - hanging out, banner builder
Right I'm off to do some cleaning - the joys!!! Happy days Love ya Ginger xxx
I'm having a complete guilt free crafting day and it's bliss. I've made a couple of cards and I'm working on a couple of projects that I can't share with you just yet. So this day of relaxation is fabulous but it does mean I'll have a busy day tomorrow, I might even go and do some house hunting!!
So here's what I've made today. I decided it was long overdue that my Speccies had been out, so I grabbed this cute Strawberry Kisses Stamp and inspired by the following challenges here's what I came up with:
Daring Cardmakers - wishi washi - I'm loving making my own washi tape
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Let's see those animals Sundays with Crissy - beat the mid-winter blues - for me that's donning my boots and going out walking, hence the boot stamp
The flower is cut on the eCraft from Core'diantions Tim Holtz Kraft Core - it's one of my favourite ranges for making these little flowers
Stamps - Strawberry Kisses Together from Crafter's Companion, Sentiment from Through the Trees, back ground basics twinkle by PTI
Dies - Nestabilities from Crafter's Companion, Banner from PTI, 3d flower Laina Lamb spiral flowers SVG from 2 peas in a bucket
Pens - Spectrum Noir (forgot to write the colours down!)
Paper - distressed dots by PTI, Kraft Core
Card blank - Craftwork Cards
This second card has more of a vintage feel. I've used some of the goodies that my gorgeous friend Dougie sent me for Christmas. She always sends me crafting presents that are so beautiful that I can barely stand to use them! I've been inspired by challenges at:
I love this sentiment, it just makes me smile. Those little flowers are gorgeous, they're resin but have a flock to give them a soft finish.
Supplies used (lots!!)
Paper - pacific vineyard by PTY
Card - ripe avocado, vintage cream by PTI
Punch - Martha Stewart around the edge
Printed die cuts - Farm House range from October Afternoon
Resin flowers - Maya Road
Stamps - Lock and Key by PTI
Ink - dark chocolate and pure poppy from PTI
As it's Saturday, I want to play along with
over at Marcea's Blog. My offering for this week is Miss 600, I really need to get this bought. Thank you to my lovely friend Archi for bringing this band to my attention, it's just my thing.
So now it's back to doing some crafting - what joy!! I hope you're finding some time to craft too.
This is just a place where I share my Ginger adventures and a little bit of my creativity. I love paper, glue and rubberstamps and I'm a card designer, demonstrator, feature writer, scrapbooker, mini-book maker and papercraft enthusiast, plus I have a fantastic full time job! I also love food, 1940's swing dancing and of course my lovely family and my fabulous friends.
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