Fire and brimstone

A couple of ' just because ' cards, you know the kind, your stash is sat there, you have a little free time and out pops a couple of cards, these were made this morning at work, in between customers.

The backgrounds have both been stamped onto Kraft coloured card, I borrowed a set of stamps from Linda ( thanks hon) - they are stampin' Up.

I broke out some Mulberry handmade paper - remember that stuff we all buy when we start card-making, hide in our stash and then wonder what possessed us to buy it in the first place !

Everything else was scraps left on the table after the crop on friday afternoon.

Neil picked me up from work and drove myself and the kids to Nottingham for one of the best nights out we have ever had.

Neil had bought us all tickets to see the spectacle that is Rammstein - trust me, nothing can prepare you for the theatrics of the music and the show.

Jaw droppingly outstanding in every way. Till is such a showman and is mesmerising as he sings totally at ease with flames bursting from heavy duty angel wings strapped to his back, flame throwers, fire works, massive foaming canons, crowd surfing in a dinghy and all set in an industrial landscape with a heart pounding, bass heavy soundtrack like none you have heard before. I was worried that the boys would be a little out of their comfort zone but all five of us loved every single soot filled second. 

As for the whole thing being in German - who cares!!!! music and entertainment definitely transcends language.

YES we got wet !

YES we felt the heat

YES our ears are still ringing

Would I do it again - hell yes, bring it on Rammstein !

Class catch up

This weeks class cards

The second raffle prize was collected today - it was won by Vinnie one of our parchment ladies, which means there is just one left to collect

We have moved some classes around this month, thursdays are a little changed up - Parchment will be taking place on the first and second thursday each month, cuttlebug will take place each third thursday and YeeTing will be doing her stampin' Up class on the fourth thursday each month, hope this helps organise the dates for you all, as always please ring and book for both the cuttlebug and the Stampin' Up class or let me know when you are at the shop as places are limited.

Stick it to me

This week at our tuesday afternoon craft club, it was Anita's turn to inspire us with a project.

And inspire us she did.

This cute little book is held together with wooden skewers, and bound with thread

Here is the progress I mad this afternoon, all the pages have been simply matted and layered with some inked cardstock and patterned paper and I have added a small accordian fold book on the first page.

I have decided to use mine as a little memory book from our camping holiday in the Lake District last year, so will be keeping mine in rustic colours and style.

I will share the completed book hopefully later this week.

Thankyou for the inspiration Anita.

Mission Possible

On Saturday my baby turned twelve, this is the card I made for my youngest - AJ

He is entirely obsessed with all things C.O.D

The image is one I purloined from google, I luckily had the perfect shade of bazzill to match the Modern Warfare logo.

In the little pocket on the right I included AJ's missions for the day.

The missions earned me massive brownie points, AJ was totally awed by the fact that I knew what a 'map pack' was and also what a 'drop' was, lol we won't spoil the moment by revealing I spent half an hour reading all the strategies on the C.O.D website !

Tag team

Today I have a little mini box and book to share. On tuesday afternoons, some friends and I get together and craft ( well we try to craft in between, chatting, giggling and eating !) We bandy about ideas until we have a project in progress.

This was the project we created this past tuesday, Nicki adapted a Laura Dennison project and we all made very different versions.

And these are the tags, fronts and backs

I shared this project with some extra photos and details as my DT piece on IACW today, please pop over there to see the full post and also to catch up with what the other girls have been sharing.

The real voyage of discovery

Consists not in seeking new landscapes

But in having new eyes

Nature does not hurry

Just a quick post from me this evening

The two class cards we made on tuesday and wednesdays classes

I played with some acetate and some new colour core cardstock for these two cards, the first one being an easel. I used a flourish stamp and white stazon to spruce up the otherwise rather plain plastic. Sorry the photo does little to bespeak the prettiness and delicacy of the fact that the basis of the card is transparent.

And on this second one the acetate is less apparent, being the overlay displaying the flourishes.

One of the raffle prizes has been claimed Linda Gilbert was the first winner - don't forget to check your tickets - there are two prizes left to claim.

There are lots of exciting projects in store for the shop over the coming months, the raffle and party being a mere morceau of things to come.

PLEASE DON'T FORGET THIS SATURDAY 25th Feb IS SALE DAY

It will be the last sale of this year and ALL stock is reduced by at least 20%

There will be further bargains to be had on the day.

Anyhow, signing off  ad rem, I will bid you good night and leave you with my quote for today

Nature does not hurry,

Yet everything is accomplished

Lao Tzu

Raffle Winners

As part of our birthday celebrations we recently held a raffle

There were three baskets of goodies to be won

Here is my little helper, giving all the raffle tickets a really good mix up

And the first winner is ticket number 

256

The second winner is ticket number

145

And the final winner is ticket number

284

We raised a total of £64.00

Which will be going to St Andrews Hospice, Grimsby

Thankyou to everyone who took part in the birthday celebrations and to those who bought tickets

Winners - you can collect your baskets from the shop whenever is convenient, please bring your tickets with you.

Please note YeeTing will be back in the shop this Thursday 23rd Feb for her monthly Stampin' Up class

YeeTing will be teaching the babywipe stamping technique with these gorgeous cards

Please call in or telephone to book your place, the class is £6.50 and takes place from 1pm til 3pm

All equipment and light refreshments provided

We seek not rest

Another page for my Life Book

I played with collage for this page, lots of layers of papers, book pages and magazine clippings

Colour was added with neocolours, acrylic paints and polychromos pencils

There is also some stamping ( text and small black butterflies)

And my quote for today

Flowers and butterflies drift in colour,

Illuminating spring

Anonymous

Roses on my table

I almost forgot to share this with you, just found it on my memory card !

This was my 'card' for Neil this Valentine's day.

It's actually a little tag book ( I think it is called a flag book in America) and was a class I attended with Linda, thanks hon - loved the class and the little book and so did Neil

I added a little pocket to the inside front cover when I got home, as I had bought Neil a magazine subscription as his Valentine gift and I wanted to include the details.

I added a photo of the two of us together in the back, he keeps nagging me for new photos and I can see why when I look at the photo. I was a size 16 here and a full two stones heavier than I am now, I have dropped down to a comfortable 12 and still have a little way to go. Why is it that we don't truly realise how chunky we are until we see a photo of ourselves ?

And a view of all the little tags (or flags)

They have all been decorated with Stampin' Up punches, stamps and die cuts.

The class was fabulous and fun, Linda is such a good teacher and has lots of tips and tricks up her sleeve, she also has oodles of patience. I did behave myself and Anita kind of did - just don't mention the glue !!!

It was also my lovely niece Katie's birthday yesterday, she turned 14  ( happy birthday Katie - love you xxx)

I created the background with Distress inks in Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick and Dusty Concord. I then spattered on some water and dried with my heat tool before stamping and embossing the images in black.

The sentiment was computer generated.

A second bouquet to share this week, this beautiful bunch of bulbs was given to me by Rose, thankyou so much, they are so bright and cheerful xxx

As I am signing of with a photo of some lovely flowers, I thought I would add a floral quote too.

I'd rather have roses on my table,

Than diamonds on my neck.

Emma Goldman

Heaven on earth

And again a few more cards to share with you this evening

First up the card I made Darcy for her birthday, Darcy's fave colours are black red and purple, so I thought - what the heck and managed to incorporate all three colours, she isn't keen on cutesy twee stuff either, so I went with a classic design

The 'happy birthday' sentiment is by Inkadinkadoo, the medallion is by Stampin' Up as is the flower stamped in versamark as a background on the Kraft cardstock

And I have the two class cards I taught this week

We used an embossing folder and brayered and stamped onto the reverse ie debossed side to create our own patterned paper

And, as masculine cards always seem to be a pain in the posterior, I also created this more manly style for our second card. We used white ink stencilled onto the die cut  fancy frame as a background for the vintage car, which was rubbed with coloured wax to highlight the embossing and to give a slightly metallic sheen.

And thats it for this evening, I will be back tomorrow with some more finished projects for you, but right now I have a book on my Kindle calling me, so I will bid you all a very goodnight and leave you with another quote from one of my little books.

On earth there is no heaven

But there are pieces of it

Jules Renard

I mentioned yesterday that February is a busy card-making month for me, here are another couple I have made this past week.

First up I have one I made for Andrea. Andrea is one of my special ladies from the shop and has recently celebrated one of the milestone birthdays.

I used Melissa Frances papers and lots of lovely flowers, the crocheted one was one from either Anita or Nicki, who both made me lots of flowers, they are all now mixed up and in one tin, so I can't remember which of my lovely friends is responsible for this particular one but I am grateful for them all, so thankyou girls xxx

I kept the inside simple with a stamped verse and some delicate stamped detailing around the edge of the insert.

It was also my granny's birthday on the 13th, she turned 96 bless her heart !

The image is a digi one and the sentiment computer generated, the papers are from a DCWV luxury stack and are beautifully pearlescent.

I added a little touch of stickles on the bouquet of flowers.

For my birthday Margaret gave me a gorgeous gift bag filled with quote books and note books. She knows me well, I love quotes and reading, I enjoy words fullstop but there is a special kind of magic when they are put together in quotes.

Quotes make beautiful and unusual sentiments in cards and interesting journalling for scrapbook pages, they are inspiring on many levels and have often been a catalyst for my art journalling pages, so the gift was both thoughtful and incredibly inspiring.

I have decided to share a quote from one or other of the books each time I blog.

In every out thrust headland,

In every curving beach,

In every grain of sand, 

There is a story of the earth

Rachel Carson