Choo Choo!

Here's a card I made for my friends' wedding anniversary using a DigiStamp Boutique image...

The image was coloured with my new AquaMarkers, still getting to grips with them, but I like the pastel look they've given me for this card. The papers are Basic Grey Cappella.

And, as promised, a pic of Connor's birthday cake, plus a bonus pic of another cake as it was also a couple of friends birthdays the same weekend...

Connor's train cake (credit should go to Annabel Karmel really as we copied it from one of her books)

Katy and Jon's birthday cake - the cake was Chocolate Guinness cake (Nigella Lawson's Feast) topped with a chocolate buttercream and numerous sweets!

That's it for today, I've been sadly lacking on the card making front this week as I still haven't sorted out my desk from the weekend (everything gets piled on it to make room for the sofa bed to fold out) but Tim is about to start a run of nights so plenty time for crafting....and bought my ticket for GNPE yesterday - hurrah!

Knackered...

Firstly, my card for the Compendium of Curiosities challenge over at Studio L3 which this week is to use the Multi Medium Collage technique on page 66 of Tim's bible.

Here's my take on it...

I had a wooden heart that I covered with a page from a book then inked with Distress Ink. The book pages came as part of a kit, when I looked through them, I found this page which was a bit rude! I picked a bit of the "preamble" ;o) as this is a wedding card for some friends of ours. The rest of the card was made up using Basic Grey Kioshi papers.

So, we've had a pretty busy weekend, yesterday was the wedding for the aforementioned couple - a lovely day and no hangover this morning! And this weekend was Connor's 1st birthday, scary how fast that year has gone, and how much he's changed from a helpless baby to a cheeky little imp! Here's his 1st birthday card, made using papers from Kirsty Wiseman's new CD "Call of the Wild". Look out for her Christmas CD (yes, I know) coming out on Create and Craft on the 9th August!

My mam and I made a fab cake for his party - pics to follow (I neglected to take any, tut tut, so will have to wait for pics to be sent to me!).

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Halloween is Hoppin' at Tiddly Inks

Here is my card for the Halloween in July Tiddly Inks blog hop. I've used the Betty Belfrey image, coloured with ProMarkers and Stickles. The papers are Basic Grey Eerie (I'm using this paper A LOT if you hadn't noticed!) and I've gone to town with the Distress Inks (Shabby Shutters, Victorian Velvet and Black Soot). Enjoy the hop!

Whose team are you on?

Edward or Jacob? (or possibly Jasper after the latest film?) My friend Katy is Team Edward so her birthday card had to include the cold one...

This is a Greeting Farm image (unfortunately I think it was limited edition) that I bought months ago, specifically for Katy's birthday card - now that's forward planning, for me anyway! The pic doesn't really show off his skin in it's full twinklyness. He's coloured with ProMarkers, the papers are Basic Grey Eerie and the oval is sprayed with Dyan's Pomegranate Ink Spray and Red Firefly Cosmic Shimmer Mist. Prima flowers, gems and a Kirsty Wiseman sentiment finished it off.

And so onto to my desk for WOYWW...

Not very exciting I'm afraid - a big mess at the back that I'm intending to sort out (at some point in time) and some Tiddly Inks images at the front. I've finally coloured Gossmere as Frankensteins Bride so just need to make her into a card and the other images are from their new collection for their Halloween in July Blog Hop on Thursday. Really looking forward to it!

Who ate all the pies?

Wednesday again...how time flies!

A bigger shot of my desk today for WOYWW

On the desk are some Tiddly Inks images - the one on the right is Gossmere who will be turned into Frankensteins bride. You'll spy some of Dyan's new ink sprays on top of my pen stand - haven't used them yet, but will soon!

A couple of you asked about the pie tins last week - no, I'm not a massive pig (hang on, that's a blatant lie) but they're used for melting ultra thick embossing crystals - like a mini melt pot at a fraction of the cost! The idea is courtesy of Sheena Douglass.

We're having a thunderstorm as I type this - I love thunderstorms, we've not had a decent one in ages and this one is pretty close, just hoping the thunder doesn't wake up Connor as we've only just got him to sleep!

Hope you enjoyed the peek at my desk today!

Life is full of challenges...

...2 today in fact!
Here is my entry for Macabre Monday at Haunted Design House

A cute one I'm afraid! The image is from Tiddly Inks - I covered up her cupcake with a jack o'lantern as the challenge required! Read my previous post for my mental challenge whilst drawing the pumpkin! She is coloured with ProMarkers - I haven't done grey hair before but thought it turned out quite well and suits the occasion! The papers are Basic Grey Eerie and the sentiment was just done on the computer and edged with Distress Inks (as was the image).

My second card is for the Compendium of Curiosities challenge at Studio L3, which this week is to use the Shabby Chic technique

 

I wasn't sure what to do with my shabby chic piece once I'd done it (I don't think that far ahead!) but came up with this after a bit of faffing. I'm quite pleased with it and it's the perfect colour for a wedding we're going to in a few weeks!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I'm going to try and get around a few more WOYWW peeks as I didn't manage many on Wednesday...

What a numpty

It's that time again...time to show off your workdesk for Julia's WOYWW. Here's mine...

In the middle is my WIP for this week's Compendium of Curiosities challenge at Studio L3, with Tim's book open on the Shabby Chic instructions. My other WIP to the left is for Macabre Monday at Haunted Design House. I've altered a Tiddly Inks image with a pumpkin - the more observant of you will see a couple of extra pumpkins hanging around...I drew the first one, coloured it, outlined it, then realised I'd not drawn any hands on for the girl to hold it. So...I drew another one, coloured it, outlined it, then, yep, realised I'd done exactly the same thing again! How long can I blame my numptyness on baby brain I wonder?

I took a slightly wider shot today so you can all see how messy my desk is...!

Toot toot!

Oooh, I have good news to share...I've been published in the Creative Cardmaking Special Edition!

I have two articles inside - cards and tags using Kirsty Wiseman's Happy Poppy and Old Navy collections (which come free with the magazine). I'm really pleased with how they all look and am looking forward to seeing my next lot of work in the next issue of the regular Creative Cardmaking magazine!

Today, I've been making more cupcakes, these lot will go into work tomorrow...

I used the Chocolate on Chocolate cupcake recipe from "Baking Magic" and adorned them with Maltesars, brownies, Minstrels, mini marshmallows and Milky Way stars, then topped off with a swirl of caramel (inspiration from the White Trash cupcakes in "Who you callin' cupcake?"). They're lovely, though slightly sickly, I think this is mainly due to the ganache on top. Next time I'd replace the ganache with a thicker icing which doesn't use as much dark chocolate.

She DOES make cards after all!

Hooray! I actually have a card to share today... I'm entering this card into the Compendium of Curiosities challenge over at Studio L3 and Macabre Monday at Haunted Design House. My card isn't particularly gothic or, indeed, macabre (taking a pic of it in the bright sunshine doesn't help), but it is grungy so I'm entering it anyway...

The main image is stamped on some card which has been covered in alcohol inks using the Alcohol Ink Monoprint technique from Tim's book (and the challenge for this week at L3). The background was masked and inked with Distress Inks. Some extra bits and pieces, Stickles, gems and brads finished off the card. I must say I love Tim's products and what he does with them but reckon I still need some practice to achieve something that looks anywhere near as a good as his stuff...that's an excuse for more craft time if ever I heard one!

As you may be aware, I'm currently slightly addicted to buying cupcake and muffin cookbooks. There are a glut of them out there at the minute though so I'm having to be very good and peruse a book carefully before buying to make sure it actually has something new and different in...I recently bought the following, on recommendation from my mother, enabler extraordinaire...

and last night I made the Lemon and Ginger Cupcakes...

Very yummy, though reckon I need to chop the crystallised ginger a bit more finely next time.

Oh, and I think I've solved my acetate problem. I was scoring the fold, thinking it would help it to crease better, when it fact, it was just helping it snap. I just folded it and it looks much better! Serves me right for thinking in the first place! My first proper, fully functioning, acetate card is for Kirsty's new CD, which now doesn't air on C&C til 19th July but you can buy it from her website here and see some sneaks and Kirsty making some handcrafted flowers on Ustream here.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and a happy 4th July to any of you from across the pond!