Be your own kind of beautiful ........

Good morning
Happy Thursday folks ......

How's your week been going?

The old craft room is back up and running as normal ...... whatever that is!  I've made a start on next month's DT commitments even though Mr Mojo is still putting up a fight, but ..... I think I'm winning finally. I'm ready for the blog challenges at the beginning of next month at least which is better than I was last week!  Although I'm still having fun (if that's what you can call it!) playing around with a new camera ....... photos are taking a little longer.  Why is nothing ever easy!

I must admit that I'm looking forward to having time to play with all the lovely new stash that's arriving in the old craft room.  New stamps ..... oooh!  A few new stencils ....... lovely!  Gorgeous new Finnabair paints ..... so pretty!  And the new waxes .... can't wait to try those!  I'm also making a start on a shopping list for the craft show at Port Sunlight at the beginning of May.  My tickets arrived last week .... whoo hoo!! So looking forward to that, can you tell ..... it'll be the first time I've been off the island this year.  Can't believe I've lasted this long!!  Mind you, I am grounded a little now since the airline that flew into Blackpool went into liquidation!
Luckily I didn't have any flights booked like I normally have ..... hubby had one and we're still trying to get the money back for that!

In between all the DT/challenge stuff  I have managed to have a little play in my journal again ...... sorry about the photos, what with the bad light and the new cameras I'm not sure that I've captured these pages properly

Lots of Prima goodies on these ..... the pretty doily stencil, used randomly off the pages with texture paste .....

Lots of shimmery pearlescent paints from the Finnabair range, in pretty pastel shades, brushed across both pages and also used to paint the butterflies

More butterflies stamped, painted and fussy cut before being added onto the page

And of course some words ...... stamped and clear embossed.

Lots of splatters across the pages to finish off ..... using black, white and gold paint

Not sure that the true shimmer really comes across in the photos, it looks so pretty and delicate in real life ..... the pastel shades are gorgeous.  I'll get the hang of the camera ....... eventually!

Oh well ..... must dash.  I've got a busy day ahead.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day,

Cheerio until next time

Workshop weekend .......

Happy Sunday folks .....

And a very Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely mums out there

We got the weekend off to a great start yesterday with a lovely workshop with all my crafty buddies.
We were creating pretty designs using die cuts.
From beautiful floral cards with hidden messages (a very popular technique at the moment)

A really pretty CAS design where the die cut is the focal point on the card .......

And then, using die cuts to give a faux embossed look

The hidden messages are a really lovely way to use word dies ..... simply stamp your design onto a piece of white card .....  colour it using your favourite inks, pens or pencils and then die cut your word from the coloured image
I used Zig Clean Color pens to colour my stamped images ...... the pretty Dahlia from the Wplus9 Beautiful Bouquet range ......

 and the Ranunculus

Love these stamps ..... they're a great size and so easy to colour

I then die cut the word from the coloured image, and twice again from plain white card, this is so I can layer them and add a touch of dimension

Inlay one of the white die cuts back into the coloured image, and add in all the bits that you would normally throw away from the coloured die cut ....... bits like the centres of the letters and the gaps in between ...... does that make sense.  You want to create a complete bottom layer so that when you add the final coloured die cut word the picture looks complete (no white gaps), giving you this hidden or camouflaged look as it's sometimes called

I added a few splatters of ink here and there and the odd sequin ......

You can even add in stamped greetings too .......

The next design is really simple, however you do need larger dies for this depending on the size of your finished card.

So CAS ...... die cut the word from the centre of a piece of white card, and again from a couple more pieces.  Inlay and layer the plain white ones and then stamp a design on the top layer before adding that.  Choose a stamp that's quite detailed, or a small image so that you can cover most of the letters

I used an old SU stamp for the Hello, that unfortunately has now been retired and .... I used the new Distress Oxide inks to stamp with ...... love them!!!

Love these dots too ..... a great background stamp from Tim Holtz, stamped using Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide

Add in a bit of stamping to complete your greeting and the jobs done .......

And then to finish the afternoon we created a faux embossed look ..... using word dies again and numbers

Simply die cut the word from the same colour cardstock as your base card and attach across the card. Go over the edge with some to give a more random look.

Die cut the word again, this time from coloured card and layer over the top of one of the white ones to give a bit more dimension to it

Another option would be to colour one of the white ones using your inks or pens, the choice is yours. I've added a layer of Glossy Accents to mine to add a touch of shine, and I've stamped in the rest of the sentiment

Numbers are another great option for this technique ....... individual letters would look good too

I've die cut the 30 from the black card, and added a piece of pink behind

Stamped and embossed the sentiment underneath ...... and then used random numbers across the top of the card

You could do this design for any age ..... it doesn't only have to be for special birthdays, it could even be used for an anniversary.

Why not use your dies to cut fancy edges on your cards ......

These were cut using label dies from Spellbinders ........ place your piece of card through the die so that only one edge will cut and then run this through your machine over the cutting edge ONLY, don't run the whole thing through as you'll mark your card with the other side of the die and you don't want that.

Oh well, my little crafty break is over ..... back to normal next week with all next month's blog challenges to prepare for and lots of DT projects to do.  Good job I've got my new camera sorted .... or have I!?  It's not been easy trying to find a replacement for my broken one, buts that's another story.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'd better get a move on, the family is coming round later ...... we're having the first family Sunday lunch in the new house and Lauren's helping me cook it!

Cheerio until next time

I'm back in the land of Blog .......

Happy Wednesday to you .....

I can't  believe we're halfway through March already, and I haven't blogged since the last day of Feb ........ how bad is that!!! So ........ I think it's about time I did, don't you!

Where do I start ....... well, the new craft room is almost sorted but I haven't spent that much time in there yet.  It's lovely up there, especially with this nice weather that we've been having the past few days.  I just need to remember where I've put everything now, and what to do with it all!!  And ..... I need to find the box that my mojo is still hiding in!! Getting back into the creative frame of mind is proving a little harder than I thought ..... but we'll get there!  I will take some pictures for you too ...... just as soon as I sort out a new camera!  

Yes not only did my phone have a little accident during the house move ..... the camera copped it too!!  Not having much luck recently am I!      

It's funny I was only saying a few weeks ago I think it might be time for a new camera ..... I just hadn't planned on it being so soon.

I haven't done much at all in the craft room since moving in ...... a few 'We have moved' cards for the family, tried a couple of new stamps out, cut a few dies with my new Big Shot ..... and played around with an old stencil I came across on the next pages in my journal.

Oh yes .... I haven't given up on the whole Creative Journaling 365 project, it's just that moving house got in the way a little bit!  

Here's the last couple of pages I did .... and took pictures of ....... before we moved!

I love using this technique .... it's something that I saw the lovely Hels Sheridan use some time ago called ....... paper blocking.  

It's basically using pieces of paper cut into different sized squares and rectangles and then randomly pieced together to cover your project ......

I used some left over bits of scrapbooking papers that I found in my stash ..... not sure which range they were from but I just love the vintage images and the neutral colours mixed with the statement black.

I covered both pages with the pieces, overlapping each piece as I went along and also mixing up the designs for a little bit more interest.   I then dry brushed over the top of some with a little watered down white gesso and sponged some around the edges

I added in some words ....... again this was cut from another 12x12 scrapbooking sheet and I'm sorry but I'm not sure which range, it might have been one from Kaisercraft but I'm really not sure

To finish off I added in some colour around the edges by sponging on some co-ordinating Distress Ink, and then I added in a few little accent pieces ..... punched from more scraps

Well that's pages 21 and 22 done  ....... will I catch up and get to 365, who knows.  It's going to be fun trying though.  Mojo please come home ...... I NEED you!

So .... what else has been going on.  Well .... Lauren and Robbie have got engaged, congratulations there ....... party to follow (not that we need an excuse!)  

We had our first guests round to the house at the weekend ...... good food, nice wine and great company.  I'm getting used to the induction hob that's in the new kitchen ...... not made my mind up whether I like it or not yet, but I do love my new saute pan that I had to buy to use on it, because the one I had wasn't compatible! (always happy to buy new pans ..... that's another little hobby of mine!)

I had a birthday ...... doesn't seem 5 minutes since the last one!  

I had a lovely weekend with family and friends.  Again, too much good food, far too much nice wine, but the best company. Thanks to all of you who sent birthday wishes and gorgeous cards ........ I love them all.

Oh! and we've booked the family holiday .... no Cotswolds this year, we're going on a boat!

We'll be cruising on this 'little' baby ........ along the Norfolk Broads.  Ahoy there matey!

It's a first for us, but something that hubby has wanted to do for a while. It should be a nice relaxing week.

Thanks for popping by ....... well, I hope you're still popping by, and that you haven't deserted me. A more regular service will resume very shortly .... promise!

Enjoy the rest of your day ...... and I'll see you again soon.

Cheerio until next time ........