So Many Cuppas

Although I enjoy a cup of tea and have been a stay-at-home mum for 7 years, I don't think I have ever crept above an average of 2 cups of tea or coffee a day, even though I am never more than a few steps from the teapot. Until now that is. Even through the sleep deprived early months with each of my babies, I didn't resort to much caffeine. Most probably because every time I boiled the kettle, I started doing something else and didn't get around to making the drink. If I did make it, I didn't get chance to drink it. Since my accident earlier this year, I have been spoilt by the carers who come in to look after me at home. I have a cup of tea made for me by each carer at each visit, as well as having a flask of coffee, so my average is most definitely above 2 now.

With so much tea, it seems only fitting that I show you my tea cosy. I love this project. I made it with left overs of some fuschia Rowan chunky yarn, which I used to make cardigans, hats and scarves for my daughter, twin nieces and their teddies. I also made fingerless gloves and a snood for myself, so have made thoroughly good use of the large batch that I bought in a John Lewis sale.

I would like to enter my project into the current Crafty Ribbons blog challenge, anything goes. I have been browsing their store, compiling a huge wish list as I am a real ribbon horder. Just like buttons, I am addicted to ribbons as they feature in so many crafts. You can never have too much!

I think one of the reasons I love ribbon and trimmings so much is that my Grandad was a manager at a company which manufactured trimmings, and long after he died, my Nana still had a large suitcase of ends-of-line and new product samples from his company. As she taught me to sew, I was sometimes allowed to use some of her trimmings supply and still now I think of those times when I am rummaging through my own collection, much of which is vintage in origin.

I bought quite a lot of the polka dot gross grain ribbon that I used in this project. I have it in lots of colours and widths and will be sad when it is all gone. I have used in lots of projects, from cards, scrap layouts and hair slides to embellishments on clothing, vintage-inspired aprons and steam punk style brooches. I also have it holding up a heart-shaped hanging that I made for my craft space and have garnished one of my scrap tote bags with it. Spots and ribbon, what's not to like?

Colourful Inspiration

Oh no. Another source of inspiration. My brain may just explode! I paid one of my regular visits to the Jellypark challenge blog yesterday and discovered a link to a really great website full of colour palettes for designers, crafters and anyone who loves colour. Design Seeds has page upon page of colour co-ordination ideas, just perfect for overcoming designer's block.

Claire at Jellypark has set this week's challenge based on Design Seeds' colour palettes. I have chosen an oldie-but-a-goodie called 'Color Picked' ~ those of us in the UK, please excuse the American spelling! I think I chose this set because it is based on colours that I like to wear and use in home decorating. I think that the start of autumn also influenced me in the selection of heather hues and sage green. Had the birds left any on my trees, these would be the colours of the plums being harvested this month, but I have watched them munching the fruit all summer long.

Anyway, getting back to the challenge... I have made a card using one of Claire Keay's gorgeous images of a little cutie being transported into the sky by her balloon. The colours were perfect for this challenge, although my experiment of using clear stickles over the top of the decoupaged balloon didn't come out as I had expected. I thought the plum colour of the balloon would show through the clear glue base of the stickles, but the colour has split and become bronzy, but still very pretty. That's inkjet ink for you!

I tore the image edges freehand and layered it up at an angle. The backing paper was originally a burgundy colour with white dots, but I coloured over the top with a shale Promarker to give a two-tone look. I then laboriously pushed out a whole 8x8 sheet of die cut flowers (from a Cosmo Cricket kit) to give an interesting layer in sage green with pinks and plums. It took me almost a whole episode of Casualty to push out those flowers with my trusty pokey tool, but then I do have trouble with my hands and wrists!

I coloured some of the tiny paper flowers with promarkers and kept some plain. I layered them up with bronze brads to add more dimension. The muted sage cotton lace is from American Crafts, finished with two overlaying flower shaped brads in complimetary tones (not sure where they were from - they've been in my stash for about 7 years or so!). The sentiment is actually a white icing rub-on from Quickutz, applied to a small piece of patterned cardstock overlaid on another piece of cardstock printed with script over-coloured with Promarkers - phew! I also added more of the flowers and brads to the side of the sentiment for balance. The sentiment just edges over the side of the rectangular card so that it makes it need an 8x8 envelope.

The tomato pip just above the ribbon is the work of my two year old son Joel who helped my husband with the photography. He was at the side of the card when it was being snapped and he thought that the photos were of him. Aah, bless him! I have removed the pip now, but was mid-way through editing the picture before I spotted it, so it is staying. It also made me laugh, not a frequent occurence when one of my projects gets damaged, but Joel is so cheeky, he gets away with it. He is rarely to be found with clean face or hands, so the card got off lightly with just a tomato pip.

Swirls and Pearls

Swirls and Pearls is the theme of the challenge set by Anita on the Pollycraft challenge blog this week. I have chosen to join in using this great Luna Bitterfrost digi stamp designed by Pollycraft's very talented Paula Lee. I coloured it with Promarkers and Flex Markers, grounding the image with the palest of pinks.

For my swirls, I have chosen paisley with funky skull and crossbones in the middles to represent the posion symbol of whatever Luna is working on. The paisley shapes were cut by hand from a matt-stack (Rock Star by DCWV). I love this image of the scientist as I studied Chemistry and worked as a research chemist before my children were born. Perhaps Luna is a prettier version of me in my lab-coat wearing days, even down to the plaits! Not sure my glasses were quite so funky though, just standard eye-protection! I have given her my colouring too, but her lab coat is most definitely cleaner than mine ever was.

For the pearls element of the challenge, I have used a little artistic licence and used Liquid Pearls instead of actual pearl embellishments. Cheeky, I know, but I think that chemist Luna would approve of the use of a synthetic liquid compound instead of solid pearl embellies, don't you?

The very tactile pin dot paper in muted teal and black is from Papermania's Chatsworth Signature A5 range. This paper has a suede-like feel to it and is really nice to handle. I have used other papers from K & Co's designer 6x6 series to add layers and to make the paper-ribbon stripe behind Luna. The overall card was covered in paisley paper from Papermania. The ribbon tied across the card is from Maya Road. It is so thick, it is actually a little like shoe-lace.

My finishing flourish is the 'fumes' from the top of the test tube. I made this using a piece of pink net fabric which I gathered and threaded onto a safety pin before fastening it to the page. I can't say that I ever worked on anything which gave off nice pink coloured fumes, but it adds to the image!

Not Big On Pink

I love pink. I use a lot of pink in my crafting. I also like to wear pink, but it is nice to take a break sometimes. That's what attracted me to the challenge at Our Creative Corner - a challenge to use blue with a little accent in pink. I have made a card formy husband to thank him for decorating my craft room, oops, I mean our dining room! I guess he is glad I didn't ask for that to be pink!

The card is based on blues with some neutral brown, and just a touch of pink in the stickles glitter glue used to highlight some of the detail on the love birds image. The tiny brads in the flowers are my metal element, with ribbon added for good measure and extra texture.

I really enjoyed playing around with textures making this card, carrying the detail on from the stamped image to the background with the simple use of liquid pearls. It represents the colours in the room, with a similar amount of blue, brown and pink.

I have only recently discovered the work of the ladies over at OCC and I know I will be a regular as their designs are really inspiring.

Embellish Me More

This week's challenge at Crafty Emma's is titled 'Embellish Me More' - a challenge to use at least 4 types of embellishments in a papercraft project. My submission is a 12 x 12 scrapbook page, part of an album I have been making for some friends to celebrate their wedding.

The whole album is based on a theme of black, white and claret. The embellishments I have used have mostly been made by me throughout all the pages. I started by using Photoshop to convert the colour photo to black and white then hand colouring the bouquet using Twinkling H2Os. I overlaid vellum which I patterned with superfine holes around the outline of the bouquet. I attached it using small brads. I cut a scalloped border from white paper and embellished it with tiny claret gems. A vellum sentiment accent was added to the side of the photo and a little bird (Stampin' Up!) on a branch punched from black card to highlight the top right over a scalloped mini page. I made a simple white parchment craft border for the left hand side and a mini version of a wedding dress, also from parchment which I hung on a little hanger that I twisted from purple wire. The page was finished off with a white rub-on title 'beautiful'.

Although the overall effect is quite simple, the parchment work took a long time, so the whole page actually took 12 hours! I am pleased with it though, so it was worth the effort.

Love Banner

As much as I love making cards, I know that the person receiving one is most likely to display it for a week then throw it into the recycling. Sometimes it is nice to make something instead of a card. Something the the recipient might keep. Paper bunting banners are great for this. I have made quite a few for friends and family and most of them are still hanging where they were originally placed, which I take as a real compliment and proof that they like their gift.

The banner in the picture above is for our neighbours and good friends to celebrate their anniversary. I will also cheekily be entering it into this week's Jellypark challenge, Pass it On as I will be 'passing it on' to L & J.

There are so many papers, stamps, embellishments and techniques used in this piece. Stampin' Up!, My Mind's Eye, DCWV, Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen, I-Clings, embellishments from Cardinal Colours and Crafts Superstore among others. Most of the inks are Tsukineko Dew Drop Brilliance as I love the subtle shimmer they give. I also used plenty of clear and pearl UTEE, ribbons and buttons from my stash. The jingle bells are from East of India and the diamante ribbon slider is from American Crafts. The base triangles are cut from mountboard and the holes punch (like a hot knife through butter) with my Cropadile.

I have attached old fashioned picture hooks to the ends of the ribbon as our houses are a pair of Edwardian villas, fully equipped with handily placed picture rails for just such hangings!

Pass It On

This week's challenge at Jellypark is titled 'Pass It On'. Perfect! Any papercraft project made to pass on to someone else, a card, a gift, a 'thank you'. For almost 3 months now, my parents have been looking after our youngest child. Joel is a lively (erm, naughty!) 2 year old who loves to climb, explore and raid my Mum's fridge. Every weekday morning, he is whisked off to my parent's house when my husband leaves for work - I have a disability which is currently making it difficult for me to look after Joel when I am on my own. Joel spends the day at 'Nana and Pop's Daycare' and is picked up after his dinner when my husband trudges his weary way home from work (only to have to come in to look after me, our other two children, the house and, of course, Joel).

My Mum and Dad (Nana and Pops) are going on holiday at the end of this week. Off to the beautifully sunny island of Malta for 2 well deserved weeks of swimming, sight-seeing, good food and relaxation. Every year, they return to the same holiday spot. I love it there too and eagerly await their return with video footage of their hols. This year, they have bought a new handycam in preparation for their trip. I decided to buy them a memory card for the camera as a little 'thank you' from me for everything they have been doing to help us since my accident in June.

When we first took my parents with us to Malta back in 2001, my Dad and I became hooked on snorkelling. The sea is so clear and visibilty is perfect for spotting a whole host of sealife. We have taken plenty of underwater photos between us, but my Dad is keen to film underwater too. Move over Jacques Cousteau! Dad has been searching for a reasonably priced underwater camcorder for some time. The one they picked is great for snorkellers. It can be used underwater, is lightweight and operated with one hand. I hope he returns with lots of footage for me to edit anto DVD. Perhaps I can watch the video whilst listening to seaside sound effects and pretend I am there too, or maybe I should lay in the bath to wtach it, just for the watery effect!

The thank you card was made using one of Claire Keay's beautiful images which I downloaded at Crafts U Print and printed onto matte photo paper. The cloud paper is from Pink Petticoat and the ribbon is from Anita's. I made the simple arch shaped banner and the thank you sentiment in Photoshop, layered up with foam dots. The decoupaged elements of the playground scene are layered with Collall dimensional photo glue. I used more of the cloud paper to make a little tag shaped wallet envelope (easy to whip up with my Martha Stewart Score Board) and attached ribbon to the top. I used the wallet to hold the camcorder memory card, so the card acts as gift wrap too. I slotted the little package behind the top layer of the 'Nana and Pop's' banner and held it temporarily in place with a repositionable glue dot so that it didn't fall out, but also so that when it is removed, it doesn't damage the surface of the card.

My husband delivered the card this morning and my Mum tells me that Dad is already using it to film Joel's naughty antics in their flower and veggie filled garden. Now, if only he would stop sneakily picking their home-grown tomatoes and raiding the fridge... Go on Joel, Pass It On.