the Irish Rover

This is the mini-album for Michelle's uncle, Thady. He's over from the USA.

They're all meeting over at the wedding in Ireland this week, it should be a blast and they'll have a good 'craq' as the Irish say.
I love that cover - loads of dimension with the chipboard.
What a handsome young man in his Marines uniform. How fun is that crown on the photo opposite??
A big family - he's one of 14 kids!!


Gotta love that 'Family' tag by Junkitz (I've been saving it for ages, LOL)
In the background, the photos show a little Irish cottage by the coast - sweet!

And the page for a message - the shape was cut with Nesties. I love the ribbon tied through the button!

All the pages were made with Cosmo Cricket chipboard album and AMM papers and embellies - again these have been in the stash for ages, I'm making an effort to use things up. The chipboard embellies were either covered with cardstock, or inked and perfect pearls used to give a metallic sheen - great for male themed stuff.

I didn't do ribbons on the book rings as it was for a man, I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Hopefully I'll find out if he liked it next week!

TTFN!

I guess it's safe..

to show you the wedding cards!

Michelle and her mum were over the moon with these, and they're going to Ireland to a big family wedding later this week.

Michelle has chosen to give this acetate card...

Being acetate, it's a bit of a nightmare to photograph well. The bottom right hand corner has two champagne glasses with bubbles (stick-on pearls) fizzing out. I also added a few more pearls to the top corner after I'd photographed it.

and here it is with it's very pretty matching box...

That doublesided Papermania PP is gorgeous, with a gold shimmery motif. I'd originally intended this for christmas projects! Embellies are all dug out from my wedding project stash.

Oh,the nightmare I had making boxes - I had a confused-dot-com moment or three!

First I made the square box too small.

Then I made the next box and ended up with two bases. And I'd used up quite a lot of time and Cosmo Cricket paper decorating it...and I'd used very strong glue on said decorating...So it all went in the bin and I started again!

Lesson learned - make a template for your card and write the measurements down!

So without further ado, here's my favourite...(you may need to sit down, it's so gorgeous LOL)

Cue drum roll...

and the second box that I made. I checked the card fit before I decorated this time!

Now just catch your breath there!

A little close-up of the happy couple...

And at a funny angle to see the shimmer I added to the flowers, the bride's veil and the groom's cravat (sp?) I know it hasn't photographed that well - just use your imagination at how much more lovely everything looks with bling!

And of course, with my usual last minute fiddling with cards, I added a little charm to the ribbon.

As you've probably gathered, I love this Whiff of Joy stamp. I had to await it coming back in stock - I even bought extra, extra stamps in case it didn't come back in stock! LOL

I used the 'Happy ever after' Cosmo Cricket papers, some SU 'So Saffron' designer paper.

The couple are stamped and coloured with Copics (sorry, didn't write down what colours I used). I then masked the image and stamped 'French Script' (SU) in gold. Shape cut and embossed with Nesties, rub-ons used for the greeting..

The label shapes at the bottom and on the box were cut with my new toy - Cuthbert Cricut!

I tried the image with flower soft over the garland - I'd seen it done on a couple of blogs and it looked lovely. Not at all keen on the effect on my attempt though - currently that's in the reject pile!

Go 0n, have a cuppa now, that was such a long post, I'm sure you're exhausted!

TTFN!

Que sera...

Let's have a little change from the Tildas.

Once I had these papers out for a comission, I thought I'd make two cards using the same supplies.

That way, less goes in the ever-growing scraps box and I don't feel as guilty when I buy more papers!

I've used K&Co papers and die cuts. The paper is 'Que Sera', not sure if the die cuts are from the same range.

And the whole card:

The flowers are made up of a Prima hydrangea, a punched flower, then a mulberry rose. The

green paper curls are twirled around my pokitool (it's the nearest I'll ever get to quilling! LOL)

The next one hasn't photographed too well, it is a very busy card, but that's what I was asked for! And my customer is delighted with this card - job done!
The pink base layer is lovely, it's got a texture similar to flocked wallpaper and it's double sided, so I turned a corner over on each card to show it. My friend Julie gave me this paper, I'm so glad - it was just perfect for these cards.

I also made two wedding cards for another comission, but I can't show you them until I've given them to the customer.

But I can give you a sneak peek of my fave!

It is ABSOLUTELY mouth-watering if I say so myself!!
TTFN!

baking

No crafting done yet today, I've been doing a spot of baking.

With the help of Betty Crocker , I've made these little beauties.

Oh, you should smell them - gorgeous. For once, I hope the lid stays on the tin, really they're just too tempting.

I've also made fruit scones but my scones never rise, so no photo. They do taste lovely though - I had a little crumb from my son's plate. When I make yorkshire pudding, that never rises either! Strange!

I think I'll colour the cupcake Tilda in honour of my cookies. But I should be revising, so I'll do that later.

TTFN!

Using up the Basic Grey again

My recent Copic class went well, I had 13 Copicaholics and we all had fun. Everyone seemed to go away happier with their pens and more confident in having a go with them!

This card is one of my samples that I'll be demo-ing on 12 September at Windmill Craft Centre.

The tree is coloured with several shades of green, little dabs here and there, with the lightest green on the tips. I've traced over it with a Sakura Stardust pen (when I'd finished colouring) and then added in lots of little dots of W1 and Stardust to break up the background.

Tilda's dress is coloured with R20, R22, R27. Her wings are BG10 and B00. Hair is Y21, Y28, E33. Skin is E00, E04.
Tights are G21, YG03. The basket and the wooden base of the tree are E31, E33, E35, E37. Shadow is W1, W3.

I tried stamping/masking the two images but this is one I definitely prefer cut out and 3d foam dots used to give dimension.




I used Clear Spica over the dress and wings and blended it with the lightest of each coloured pen to spread the gltter. You can see the shimmer a little better in this photo. The Spica wasn't blingy enough for the tree (ooh - blingy- I just invented a new word LOL), so I went over the tree with the Stardust pen.

I love it! I've just ordered a Magnolia Santa, I can imagine him with this tree. In fact (whispers) I've ordered quite a few stamps..but let's not think about that!

The sentiment is a Penny Black Stamp, dotted with the Stardust pen to tie it in with the dotty background on the main image.

Once I'd sponged the edges, it was begging to be put with the scraps of Basic Grey 'Aged and Confused' I've got left. Funny how some cards just come together quickly and others take all yer mojo!

TTFN!

just a quickie..

Just a very quick post before work today. This is another of my samples for the class on Sunday.

I don't own many Edwins, I think I should get more! I prefer the Edwins when they're doing something, rather than just standing there (I expect most women feel the same about men, generally! LOL)

I sketched a few very simple lines and used BG10 to suggest a snowy background.

Papers are 'Wild Rasberry' by K&Co again, teamed up with Kraft CS which I've punched with the Martha Stewart Doily Lace border punch. The Oval is cut using Nestabilites (Petite Scallop) and I've stamped with White using a polka dot stamp. The snowflakes are punched from white funky foam.

Gotta go now, I've to get ready to go to work and the clock is ticking.

TTFN!

3..2..1..I'm back in the room!

Hello again, blogging friends!

Sorry I've been AWOL, but you know how it is sometimes

What have I been doing - well I've been working day shifts - it's OK, but I'd much rather do my usual 3 nights than 4 days! That in turn means one day off less for fitting in crafting...I mean cleaning, ironing, cooking, shopping LOL!!

The boys have finished school for summer, which then means a whole lot more laundry to get through, and more devious ways of hiding the biscuits so that they last the week.


I've got another Copic class coming up next week, so I'll show you a few of my samples over my next few posts. All the PP is from the 'Wild Raspberry' range by K&Co, such a good mix of papers.

Skin - E00, E02, R20. Hair - Y21, Y28. Jeans - W1, W3, W5, W7. Sweater and hat - G21, G28, G94, YG11. Shoes - Y28, W3. Skis and poles - C3, C5, C7. Ranger Inkessentials white pen to highlight.

And I'll just share a moment of stupid I had today.

Last night I stamped and lovingly coloured in what I thought was a sheet of shrink plastic I found lurking in my oddments box. Today I spent a good 5 minutes trying to shrink it...only to finally realise I was trying to shrink particularly thick vellum!!

TTFN!