day at the beach

just to prove it's not all craft - pics of the little pickle on her first trip to the beach. She was not very impressed and spent her time trying to eat sand, much to the concern of her doting dad (good job he works full time - if he saw what she puts in her mouth on a daily basis she would be wearing one of those leather bite restraints a la Hannibal Lecter). Sand as is its nature got everywhere... this was a week ago and it's still appearing in little dunes across the hall.
When we got to the beach there was a sign saying NO Dogs between 11am and 6pm - and 2 life guards on duty, who said "yes - the rule is no dogs" - so I took the mutt back to the car and left him in the back with the window half open and the doors unlocked (in case anyone wanted to steal him!). Headed back to the beach to find a Pug bounding up the steps, a collie enjoying the waves and a girl with a pup going in front of me. Slightly irate, I asked the 2 lifeguards in their little hut why was my dog stuck in the car and yet the others had the dogs on the beach, not even on leads. So they told me it was their job to protect the swimmers not enforce the county council beach rules.... surely swimmers could be potentially at risk from free roamimg dogs... I wonder would they also say he was waving not drowning....

Lola and Lilli

I got these absolutely fabulous little downloads from www.pinkpetticoat.co.uk - they are the most adorable pair of little girls that you buy in a zip file. They come with or sans sentiments and there are oodles of different ones in each download. There are some really cute free downloads - this month there are really girly lavender background papers. I had a really enjoyable evening colouring them in, they are so adorable they really don't need much doing to them.
My teenage sister is always getting told to clean her room, so I've made her the "Clean your Room" door hanger card - it is just tied on with a piece of ribbon. On the reverse is a Lola Rose image with "Because I'm Your Mother, that's why" .... I'd say my mum will have it permanently hung on her door!
I stuck to a lavendar theme for all of these - the next one is a little single card in a wallet, in my favourite colour combo of the moment lavender and lime green. Added a few flower beads that I wired up to the front.
The handbag is for a friend of mine who is having a baby - inside is a little handmade note book for writing hospital appointments or thoughts on her pregnancy in and a little wallet card to keep scan photos in. The matching card has Lola Rose Baby Joy on the front and decorated with a bit of lace.

baby clothes

A few weeks ago Jeanjeany sent me a lovely baby romper suit cut with her cuttlebug (although she has upgraded already to a cuttlebug expressions - which from what I can glean is the BMW with leather interior of shape cutting machines. the choice and arry of which grows almost daily - but I digress.... I loved the idea of it is a shape card but I'm not likely to be getting any kind of die cutting machine any time soon, so decided to have a go at my own. I used a folded piece of Basic Grey Oh Baby!, Larkspur and this was big enough to cut out 3 cards - and put the template across the folded edge to give me a join across the top. I then shaped a neckline in the centre of the top of fold. I layered some blue gingham card inside the back of the vest shape to give some contrast and shaded the edges of the shape with a light blue pencil, then added faux stitching with a darker blue to give it some depth. Two Making Memories brads made the poppers on the bottom and the gingham fabric heart was layered onto a freehand heart cut from card and again with some stitched detail.It's actually a quick card to make - the patterned card does a lot of the "work" for you, all it needs is dressing up.

trifold card

thanks to Kiki on Craft Supplies for a link to the fabulous split coast stampers - I haven't had time to look around the site yet but it is HUGE with a members gallery I'd never get through, feturing every possible rubber stamp and rubber stamping technique. I'll definitely be giving it a closer look.
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/triangletrifold.php. Spent a couple of hours doing this little trifold card - I've adapted slightly and used a cigar band fastening rather than ribbon and used brads to hold the folds back on the front. But this is a really cute card and a lot of fun to make - I'm still in love with the gingham card from Crazy Crafts and my little cat stamp is just delicious, I made him a marmalade cat this time!

Uplifting

The postman lifted my day when he delivered this little stamp from Penny BLack, called "Uplifting Occasion". It has been around for a few years now and every time I saw it, I liked it - so now with my new found passion for all things rubber I decided I had to have it. Although there are so many fabulous rubber stamps out there it is so hard to decide what to have.
The photo isn't very good - but I've layered the bra with lilac gingham card and inserted a scrap of lilac lace behind each cup and also on the top of the knickers. I also added some pastel green Papermania gems and a little bead flower. The base image was stamped in black staz-on and just pencil coloured. I'm really happy with this - it is so cute, the only thing I'd criticise is I need to improve the colouring on the cat's fur, not very good at getting a layered coloured look and was afraid if I added more colour I'd make a mess of it. So this is one stamp that I think will be well used!

paper piecing

I've actually been quite productive this week and made a few cards but I can't post any of them up here just yet. Two were for the summer card challenge over on CS - hosted by the talented Sabrina and the other was for the monthly card challenge, set by Jackie, the theme this month is "dressed up" - although with the weather we have been having "washed out" might have been more appropriate!
Using a lot of gingham at the moment it is just so cute and makes all my cards look really girly and sweet. The slippers came about after a visit to Debbie's blog - she had some lovely stamped and layered ones on a card. Mine are just cut freehand with some textured paper to add a bit of depth and interest - a really simple card that took no time. I find I'm going back to basics with a lot of my cardmaking recently - back to childhood days of colouring in. I'm going to cave soon and treat myself to some Marvy Uchida markers - the only problem is that are so many and I just can't afford them all and it is so difficult to decide which set I'd get most use out of. Stamping and colouring with pencil is fine for soft and subtle effects but some stamps need a bit more colour impact.
The fishing bag was more paper piecing and was my entry on Craft Supplies for the Father's day challenge. It is based loosely on the Georgee handbag design from Arty Farty Design and just layered up with foam pads, the strap is a bit of leather effect "stuff" I picked up last year - I find a use for everything eventually!

rubber fetish

Well after a long long time of resisting the temptation, I have fallen truly, madly, deeply in love with rubber. I tried stamping when I first started making cards and was never happy with the results but now rubber stamps seem to be easier to use, the inks less messy and the results are fabulous! I ordered the Stampendous Bee Trio stamp at the weekend, it arrived on Tuesday but I have been having a new kitchen fitted, so this evening was the first time I got to play with it. I bought a heart stamp by Stampendous as well and I have to say, their stamps are so well defined and detailed. The rubber is deep etched and well mounted, it inks and stamps like a dream. I think this was part of my initial stamp phobia - the stamps I had were not great and I had fuzzy ink pads that put ink everywhere!
I've stamped and coloured loads of little bee pictures but only have one card to show for it so far but more will follow I'm sure and I think I need more of this set too! I used my watercolour pencils again but this time left them dry as I stamped the image with black staz - on onto white linen card because I love the cross hatch look the paper gives to the pencils.
I was also looking for a stamp by Duo Designs, it was on the Joanna Sheene site at one time and is of a little girl looking up but a google search and E bay trawl have proved fruitless - I can't even find the company. Has anyone heard of them?
Online I have been hanging out at www.savvynsassy.com - based in Canada, these girls have the most fabulous ribbon kits and lace and everything ribbon like. There are also the most cute ribbon irons you could imagine, although I'd want to start ironing clothes first! There's also a Guest Design spot up for grabs each month, some really friendly people and great inspiration in the gallery.... We are going to Canada on hols next year (have not managed this year's yet but already planning next years!) - He wants fishing and I want a hotel with a toddler club and a crop nearby, oh and a Dollarama store, my sister went on a fly drive for her honeymoon and came home with a case full of embossed wrapping paper for her cardmaking....
I was in Ennis last week and picked up some too cute pink gingham card out of the pay per box - I was very restrained and only had a €5 wallet but guess what? I'm trying to see if I can get back there tomorrow for some more! I made the little double paged card with tags from it. I haven't finished it because it is too cute to give away just yet. lol.

water colour pencils.

Inspired by Linda's wonderful cards on her blog, I decided to have a go at using water colour pencils but hadn't any stamps suitable for layering and colouring. Instead I drew a freehand petal shape, coloured it in with the pencils then added the water over the top with a brush. When it was dry I added black veining and then outlined all the pieces with a black pen.(I don't think I added enough water but I didn't want the colours to lose too much of their vibrancy - I guess it will be trial and error). I layered the petals into a flower shape and added a centre. Once mounted on the card I just doodled some stylised leaves and some faux stamens.
I really enjoyed making this - made me feel almost like a proper artist playing with brushes ( I must get some of the water filled brushes) and I think I'll be buying some stamps soon to try some more watercoluring with.

bless me

darn hay fever season....