Red, pink and white

This weeks challenge on the Magnolia blog is for red, pink and white - not a combination I would normally choose.  I found the paper in a free pack that came with a magazine ages ago and put it with Bazzil 'slipper' pink card.  I think I used a sketch from another blog, but can't find it now!  The sentiment is from SU.

Swirls and Sparkles

This weeks PFP challenge is Swirls and Sparkles, so I made this Christmas card using the sketch on Sketch Saturday.  I can also enter it into this weeks LOTV challenge as it was made using a LOTV stamp - I like this one as its really quick and easy to colour.  The snowflakes are Marianne dies and the swirl is one of the new Memory Box ones.  The little aqua snowflake is an X cut punch and the background paper is from a Papermania pack called "Enchanted Christmas."  For colouring I used Promarkers of course - Blue Pearl, Turquoise, Duck Egg, Aqua, Spice, Honeycomb, Shale, Black, Cool Grey 4 and 2 and the blender pen.

We put some of the rest of the things left over from the craft fair into school today, where we sell some cards.  Hannah ended up selling a few more of her Fimo keyrings and had a few orders for tomorrow!! One of them was for a cow - so here they are!

Craft Fair

The craft fair today went really well - we raised a total of £440 for school - over four times what we made at the same event last year!  We had snow last year and very few customers ventured out, so there was a bigger crowd today.  We sold all of the wee 'hens.'  Here are a few of the other things - little hot chocolate sachets and lipbalm handbags.  The idea for these came from here. The brown, cream and teal Christmas papers are from a 6 x 6 Bo Bunny pad called 'Snowflake' - I loved them so much I went back to CraftsULove to order another pad, only to find they were sold out, as was The Glitterpot.  I will not want to use them now in case they all get used up!!  The colour scheme is exactly like my bedroom - so my kinda colours! Also very suitable for a man's Christmas card.  I will have to try to be brave and start making things in other colours - on my scarf stand today, it was very noticable that they were all shades of blue, green or brown - not a red or pink to be seen!! I need to remember that I'm making them for other people to buy - not just all the ones I like myself! 

Craft Fair Stuff

I haven't had time to make any cards recently as I've been getting stuff ready for the craft fair tomorrow, so I thought I'd show you some more of the things we are selling.  I didn't have enough space to set them out for a photo in my craft room (can you imagine how untidy it is now!) so I had to put them on the island in the kitchen - so the lighting isn't too good and the photos are even worse than usual!

The little felt corsages were die cut with my x-cut dies, layered up and sewn together.  Then I used the hot glue gun to attach a badge bar on the back.  I made the wee boxes to fit using the Score Pal board.        

Chickens and yet more scarves

I have been trying to get more stuff ready for the craft fair on Saturday and so decided to make a variety of wee hen sewing tidies/pincushions.  I tried out a few different colour combinations and then put in some pearl headed pins to match.  I have no idea how much to charge for these - so any advice would be appreciated.

I bought a new kind of scarf wool from The Black Sheep Wools at the NEC - it is called Rocio.  I only bought one ball at the time but liked it so much, I ordered a few more from their website - I must say I would certainly recommend them - they have a very fast and efficient delivery service!  I have knit these three shades now and have still another ball of black, grey and white to do.  I am hoping the teal coloured one doesn't sell - I fancy it for myself!! I tried to order another ball, but it was sold out.

100th Birthday

I was asked to make two 100th birthday cards recently, both for the same man.  As he was originally from Kilkeel, the cards were to have photos of the harbour and the Silent Valley on them.  The harbour photos were not very sharp if you tried to enlarge them, so I decided to have two small ones and used a sizzlets die to make an anchor, to tie in with the nautical theme.  The 'happy birthday' was also a sizzix die and the 100 was die cut using quick kutz dies.  The second card was a little bit smaller and so I just used one photo, a circular happy birthday stamp and a couple of buttons from SU.  I forgot to take a photo until after I had sealed it up in the cello bag - so the quality is even worse than usual!

Someone Special Christmas Card

I have used the Pink Ink sketch to make this Christmas card 'for someone special' - for the LOTV challenge.  The image is an LOTV diecut square matted unto a Nestabilities lacy square and a doily circle.  The paper is from a Forever Friends pack, called 'Santa's on his way.'  The sentiment is also from LOTV and the felt flower was diecut using a Marianne die.  The little string of felt snowflakes is from an M & S garland - I found it in the gift wrap section!  The large shaped card is from Craftwork cards.

White on white

Just a quick post with my entry for the PFP challenge - white on white.  It got me motivated to make another Christmas card - I can't believe that its just over five weeks away and I've so little done - at least the most of the main presents are organized - its just cards and stuff for the craft fair that are not doing so well! 

The cute wee image is from LOTV, stamped with a grey inkpad to make it a bit more delicate and coloured with Promarkers of course - poppy, coral, pine, pear green, cool grey 2, tan, cinnamon, chestnut, soft peach, blush, blue pearl and the blender pen.  The snowflake is a marianne die and the sentiment is from Craftwork cards, matted on to an oval made from the SU punch.  The panel was made from ice gold card, embossed with the snowflake embossing folder and the ribbon has been on my desk for ages - a left over bit from some other project!

More baby shoes!

I had to try another colour in these wee baby shoes - I also made a couple of modifications to the original pattern.  This time I used Debbie Bliss cashmerino wool - lovely and soft.  I used the score pal board to make a little box to put them in.  The flowers and leaves were made using punches, and a sizzix die was used to cut out the word 'baby.'

Baby shoes!!

Some time back I saw a really cute little pair of crocheted baby shoes on Tabbycraft's blog here.  Well, I was so impressed, I just had to have a go!  I searched the internet for a pattern and eventually found one for sale in the Etsy shop here.  After a few attempts, I ended up with these - using baby bamboo yarn. I know they're not just as cute as Tabs, but practise makes perfect - so I think I'll need to make a few more pairs in different colours!  I'm trying to get some stuff made for a cards and crafts stall on the 26th - so they will be ideal for that.

80th Birthday

I have been asked to make an 80th birthday card and so I used the sketch at Sweet Stop Sketches for inspiration.  I think this would be a good layout for some of my quick Christmas cards using the LOTV die cut squares - so you may well be seeing more of this design shortly!  The base card (rich razzleberry), ink, ribbon, embossing folder, rose stamp, label stamp and label punch are all from Stampin Up.  The DP is one of the new packs I got at the NEC, from First Edition (as usual!) - called 'Dreamcatcher.'  The Happy Birthday stamp is a clear one I bought at one of the shows and is invaluable for adding an age to a card as you can just leave the centre of it uninked and then stamp the age in the centre using clear digit stamps.

First Christmas Card

I know - I'm leaving it a bit late to just start making Christmas cards - but you have to start somewhere! Anyhow, I did make a couple at the SU workshops, so its just the first one I made at home! I wanted to use the sketch on the Pink Ink challenge and I've managed to combine it with this weeks LOTV challenge- 'Bright and Sparkly.'  I used paper from last year - not sure what its called, but its by Bo Bunny.  I bought the stamp from LOTV last year and its been coloured with Promarkers.  The snowflakes are die cut - I think its a Marianne die and then they were covered with Stickles (Star Dust).  I added lots of polar white Flower Soft and ultra fine glitter for the snow, although you don't get the full effect in the photo!  I also had a bit of a snow storm in the craft room as I 'lost' the lid for the Flower Soft, and managed to spill it all over the rug!  Oh, you should see the mess!

Thank you

I needed a very quick thank you card with a sewing theme, so used the sketch on the Sweet Stop challenge to make this card using SU card, paper and seam binding ribbon in the rose red colour.  The little buttons are from Papermania I think.  The stamps are from a Woodware clear set and have been coloured with Promarkers.  The sentiment is also from a Woodware set and the puches are from SU.

Welcome Little One

I have been meaning to use this long neglected stamp for the PFP challenge all week, but I'm a bit last minute - as usual! Anyway, when I saw the new Sketch and Stash sketch for this week, I thought I could combine both challenges.  So my neglected stash is the giraffe stamp - I think I bought it about two years ago and then realised that the sentiment which was on the card illustrating the stamp, didn't actually come with it - so I had to make it on Word Art - yes it has taken me about two years to get round to it!  The brown pearls are one of my purchases from the NEC on Friday - so this is the first time I've used them.  The DP is a retired one from SU and I have used burnt sienna, cinnamon, tan, olive green, pear green, lime green, gold, mustard, vanilla and blue pearl Promarkers, together with the blender pen.

SU Workshop

Had a great day out at the NEC. Arrived back before 11 o'clock, with sore feet, no money and a big bag of all sorts of goodies! - I was amazed we got through the airport security with all the stuff we had bought! It was great to get it all fitted in to one day - we flew with BMI baby and got the ten to seven flight home, so we even had time to stop at Friar Tucks for a late tea on the way back down the road.  On Saturday we went to a SU workshop where we made these four items, so I have really only got round to getting my NEC purchases sorted today!  Maybe I'll get back soon with a card made from some of the new stuff - and get a chance to try out the colouring tips gained from Jackie on the LOTV stand - we tried to persuade her to come to NI for one of the colouring workshops - heres hoping!

Oh dear!!

I was asked to make a card for an 18th birthday at very short notice, so decided to follow this weeks sketch at Sweetstop Sketches and quickly put together this card, using the First Edition Summer Breeze 6 x 6 pad and some baja breeze cardstock from SU.  Have you spotted the mistake yet? - I printed out Happy 21st Birthday, instead of 18th! - how stupid - I had given it to the person who asked me to make it and thankfully she spotted the mistake before giving it to the recipient - so now its back home to be 'repaired'!!  I wasn't all that happy with the way it turned out anyhow - perhaps pale pink and blue would be better left for baby cards - a bit insipid for an 18th - not doing too well these days, am I?!  Maybe I'll get inspiration at the NEC on Friday.

Running very late

I think I'm just about in time for this weeks PFP challenge.  It was something for a child, so this quick baby card should suit ok.  I was trying to make a card which would do for either a boy ir a girl, but maybe green and yellow aren't really all that suitable for a baby card - oh well, its done now.  I used apricot, honeycomb, buttercup, ivory and a grey promarker for the colouring, but I think this cute duckie image, would have looked better on a CAS card with a white background - oh well, maybe next time!

Today my niece emailed through some pics of the type of wedding stationery she'd like - so now I can make up some samples - looking forward to that - at least I've plenty of time now to get organised - she gets married next September.  Hopefully I'll be able to source some of the stuff we'll need at the NEC on Friday - just 3 days to go now!!