Mrs Grumpy

Im sorry ive got nothing crafty to show you  today but i will leave you with some links and an explanation as to my lack of posting.
If you pop over to the SplodgeAway site there is a give away and there will also be some very exciting news next week, if i told you they may be appearing on create & craft next week or if they maybe having a design team spot open up. you will just have to keep popping back and see if im right ;)
Ive been in a right grumpy mood of late and no crafting has been done since last weekend, ive even splurged on some new products from sarahs cards (70% off in the sale) and even that hasnt done the trick.
The reason for my grumpyness is ive not been too healthy of late and im awaiting news as to whether i will be needing major surgery in the not too distant future, so im awaitng with baited breath till my next consultant appointment, i do know i require surgery but do not know to which degree :(
ive already had to put procedures in place like working extra shifts so i can squirrel away money in case im on the sick for a long period of time, the good benefit will be once im better i can craft to my hearts content whist off work.
Im slowly getting my head around it and hopefully i will be out of my grumpy mood soon, and i will get my crafting mojo back.

Anyone for shopping

I promised the shopping card and here it is.

I printed out the boutique shop front from a digi download from charmed cards and craft, girls about town set.

i added the acetate then with the chisel end of a pro marker i added the brickwork around the sides and on the card blank. the foliage was created using art impressions stamps.the dress forms are spell binders and the girl is from the girls about town, a very quick effective card, not my usual style but i like it all the same. Ive got a male card to make involving a pub theme so i may incorporate a pub front in that card too.

Last night i went to a live screening of the last ever Westlife concert and it was awesome, i cant believe how emotional the lads were throughout and at the end giving their speeches there was plenty of tears flowing both on stage and in the crowd, ive had 14 years of really good memories travelling the country to see them, it will be hard  to find a replacement.

Same die different card

I love that dress form die from spellbinders and just knew it would look gorgeous in a retail therapy themed card, ive also got an idea of a boutique shop window with the view into the shop and all those dress forms in the window, that will be my next card.

Having lovely papers always makes a big difference to your cards and these first edition papers are just perfect for the look i was after.

Ive edged the dress forms and card stock with diamond stickles and ive dotted around the centre cardstock with baby pink liquid pearls. 

The Quote is a digi download that i purchased a few years ago from charmed cards and crafts called Girls About Town

A Stitch in Time

Whilst having a crafty day yesterday with Sue she Lent me some of her spellbinders dies and i had all intentions of making a card with them last night but my lovely papers and flowers distracted me, so today when i finished work i came home had a cuppa and a quick bite to eat and set about to start crafting. The first on my list was to use the gorgeous sewing collection and again i used the lovely first edition papers that sue bought for me too.

I must apologise for the photos, the weather is so dull i didn't bother to get out the camera i just took them on my iPhone.

The sentiments are hand written, and everything has been edged in silver stickles.

Crafting Fun

Today i had a crafting buddy over to craft with me, The lovely Sue Jimson came over to play, although im not sure we did much crafting we did do a lot of talking LOL

Sue brought a whole host of spellbinder dies with her so i set to and cut out lots of new things, i just loved the flowers so much i had to use them on todays card.

Sue was really naughty and bought me a new paper pad, her excuse was a return favour for me having her over. I loved it though and had to use it straight away,  i hope you aprove Sue!

By the way Sue Martin never did get his mits on one of those scones!
Im sure we will have a repeat day, will we get much crafting done???????? who knows!

Masking fluid and inks

Its the first time I've used masking fluid, i always dismissed it as unnecessary as i could always cut a mask out of a stamp if i wanted to mask something out, but it has a much better use than that.

After seeing a link on split coast stampers about using masking fluid i wanted to give it a go too.

The results were amazing i love the different layers of colours achieved, and the thrill of rubbing away the masking fluid to see what patterns you finished with.

Ive used a mix of chalk ins, adirondacks and distress inks, the wooden embellishments on the nature card are by kars available from Papermaze, they are raw wood ready for you to finish as you wish, i have used acrylic paints. Sue Jimson if your seeing this, ive got some for you too :)

The white hearts on the Love card and the faux stitching on the nature card were achieved by using a Tim holtz white distress pen.

I know i will be using this technique a lot in the future, i just need to invest in some large fauna and flora stamps.

SplodgeAway - anything goes

Pop on over to the SplodgeAway blog for more inspiration this week, all the info for my card is on the blog.

On saturday I received a few parcels of goodies that i had ordered, one of them was from Papermaze, i received it less than 24 hours after placing my order, hows that for service!
I also ordered some masking fluid and i was having a play with it yesterday, i loved the result i will share that with you tomorrow.

Westlife post

Sorry if you have come to my blog expecting a crafty post today i have got nothing to show you :(

But for any other Westlife fans i do have lots of photos to show you :)

We had a surprise when we arrived as one of our friends partner works at the Metro radio arena and he had put our names on the corporate guest list so we got the vip treatment.
no queueing straight in the backdoor and into the gold club lounge passing the boys doing signings and meet and greets on the way, my heart was all of a flutter.
A few drinks later it was time to take in the final concert, we were right at the front so a perfect view, it was fantastic and the boys were more relaxed and full of fun than they ever have been before.

I will be seeing them for one final time on Saturday they are performing at Croke Park in Dublin for the last ever performance as Weslife, unfortunately i wont be in Dublin to watch it, i will be in middlesbrough as it  is getting streamed live to cineworlds across the world and we have snapped up tickets to watch it.

I have many more photos on my facebook account.

Simple circles

Sorry to bore you with the fathers day cards i promise this is the last.

Ive schedueled this post as i knew i wouldnt get to do it today, i will be back later to tell you about the concert.

Now back onto the card, ive used the same papers as in yesterdays post they are by We Are Memeory Keepers white out collection. Ive simply puinched out circles and arranged then on a piece of card stock then outlined and stickled them.

Its taken me a while to post this as we are in the midst of a big thunder storm and i had to stop to comfort my little one, he doesnt like the thunder.

Mini Landscapes

Whilst i was busy last night making fathers day cards, i started to experiment with colour, i had an idea in my head of mini landscape tiles, so i set to work cutting out some 3" x 3: squares to fill with landscapes, out came my adirondacks and distress inks and i began to experiment.

Whilst this isn't the finished look i had in my head i do still like it and i know my dad will to so this will be his fathers day card, and i know I'm safe showing it on here because he doesn't read my blog.

 Now onto another fathers day card that has no stamping on it at all just lots of patterned papers this one is for Martin off the kids, i let my youngest son Sam pick the papers and he chose the birds, i have written the greeting with a play on words "Its time for us to tweet (treat) you"

Im off to a Westlife concert tonight, work tomorrow and a family day on Sunday so no crafting for me, unless i feel the need not to sleep!!

Gone off track

Last night i decided it was time to make my fathers day cards for my Dad and martins Dad and one for the kids to give to their Dad, so i sat in my craft room with good intentions but some how went off track and picked up a floral stamp, i ended up making 3 cards and neither of them were suitable for Dads, one was for my DT work, 1 for a friend and the other was just for the sake of it, so here is the one for a friend and just for the sake of it, you'll have to wait a couple of weeks for the other one. Now  i have to start the fathers day cards because martin is taking his tomorrow so i cant put it off any longer.

The stamp is by crafty individuals, and lots of gold stickles.

Floating on a cloud

I thought i would share with you a couple of things i demo'd on saturday, i didnt finish the completed cards untill i came home, i just taught the technique of the inking/brayering and making the clouds background.

Both of the cards take no time at all to complete so if your batch making cards to sell these are ideal and because they are not using pre bought embellishments they are cost effective too.
Materials ive used are all available from Suzicraft in Stockton.


Now onto non crafty news, disaster hit home on Tuesday, i had a washing machine malfunction, i went to empty the finished load and everything was still dripping wet so i put it back on for a spin and it wouldn't cooperate, wouldn't empty, wouldn't open so 1 hour later and a soaking wet floor (no rephrase that a flooded floor) my washer was well and truly kaput. Its a good job my sister lives close so i took the soaking clothes and finished them off in her washer (bearing in mind this was at 10pm and i had to be at work the next morning at 6am)
The only good thing to come out of the misfortune was I'm now in possession of a new digital washing machine but my bank balance is groaning as am i,  i had some of that money earmarked for a crafting splurge :(

Seeing Double

You may be mistaken thinking ive posted this card already but its not the exact same one its very similar, a friend saw the card i had posted and requested a card the same, i explained that i dont normally like to make the same card twice so i compromised and used the same layout but different elements, i also took this card to my demo and customers snatched the stickles and liquid pearls from the shelves LOL

It was Susans (suzicraft's) birthday on sunday and again i used a similar layout for her birthday card.
All the papers are websters, ive also used stickles and liquid pearls.

Tick - Tock

Showtime over on the splodgeAway blog, (dont forget the give away in my previous post)

My card for this week was made using the clock mask available from Suzicraft this time i just used it as a template and drew around it, then coating it with glossy accents, lots of inking and stamping and a little stickles. full details are over on the SplodgeAway blog