Three Post Thursday …….!!! Plus Last Call for Winners of Crease Mouse/Mice

I have 2 Coppernob Crease Mice still unclaimed ..... BonJen and Jules can you e-mail me and I'll see you get yours xxxx

Post 1 - A Card From Exotic Climes

How exciting …..I had to send one of the Crease Mouses/Mice Josie from Coppernob sent me for my first ever blog candy all the way to Minneapolis, which was thrilling for me to think that I have followers in the US, and then I was even more thrilled when I received a Thank You card from the winner Cheryl.

Cheryl had not only used the Crease Mouse to score her card, but had also used it for to make the star pattern on the front of it ….. now that’s something I hadn’t thought of!http://www.coppernobcardcraft.co.uk/productDetail.php?product_id=16.  Thank you Cheryl x

Post 2 – A Gift of A Very Tiny And Exquisite Type Nature …

…. as if that wasn’t enough excitement, another lovely follower, Kathryn, sent me a very mysterious e-mail saying that she had seen and bought something that had made her think of me ….. (I thought, perhaps, a family packet of Maltesers or a bag of scratchings!).

….. and then a couple of days later this beautiful card with a lovely note followed……

along with …………..

…. this exquisite handmade, felted and spun inchie, I just adore it! 

….. and how very spooky …. I had just the right shadowbox picture frame just waiting for it, it’s so perfect and is now on my treasure shelf in my craft room.  Thank you SO much Kathryn …it’s so beautiful and it has found a home where it will be appreciated and loved every single day xxx.

Post 3 – My Decopatch Disaster

With all this news of a lovely type nature  I thought that I would be able to bury my big disaster amongst it all so that no one would notice ….. but I’ve decided to come clean and show you that I have cocked up good and proper!

I found this tin at a carboot sale … the cards inside were no use, but it was the tin box I really had my beady eye on … I paid my 50p and was well chuffed.

….. and so over the past two nights I have lovingly covered it with Decopatch papers and several coats of varnish all of which was very relaxing and therapeutic …. until I came to photograph it and closed it ….….. only to find that all those layers of paper and varnish around the rim of the box had rendered it impossible to open again!!! Serves me sooooo right, I was so pleased with myself yesterday with my evening bag, I was heading for a fall!  DOH!

I have just read Marc's comment .... what am I like? .... I have rescued the case from the bin ....(with funny looks from my neighbour) and it is now soaking in the sink, paper and varnish peeling off as we speak, so that I am ready too start again.  This time I am going to give it a quick spray of paint first, especially round the top so I won't need to cover the tin right up to the edge.  Thank you Marc!

Also in answer Anj's question yesterday ... I have used both PVA and Decoptach glue on a couple of projects now and the Decopatch is definitely superior, with a far better finish (but, I have used ordinary clear varnish to complete my projects).  I have just bough a 160g bottle of Decopatch glue from e-bay as it was the cheapest place I could find it, including postage.

Decopatch Evening Bag

I blogged this bag ages ago, it cost me 20p at a local car boot/market. 

I have seen quite a few others the same since and it seems it was a free gift from Boots with some beauty products. It has languished in my cupboard until last Sunday after a visit to see my son who lives in Witney, where there is a rather lovely shop, The Pottery Place, that sells Decopatch stuff and it would have been rude not to go in and purchase a few choice items!

As soon as I saw this paper - Peacock Feathers Print (538), cost £1, I knew it would be perfect for the bag.

All I did was cut the paper into small stamp sized pieces, add a layer of decopatch glue to the surface of the bag and stick the paper down bit by bit.  When the bag was covered I applied another coat of Decopatch glue and left it to dry.   Once the glue had dried I applied several coats of clear varnish.

The bag strap was gold, however the paper had silver elements, so  I decided to go over it with several times with a black permanent marker.  I love it, it looks so classy now, I just need to go somewhere posh to use it!

Patchwork Card

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and is made using white linen effect card.

Am I allowed to say “I love this card”? It’s very less is more , and very me!.  Each square measures 1.25ins x 1.25ins using scraps from  My Mind’s Eye, Stella and Rose, ‘Gertie’, 6in x 6in stack, which have to be my favourite papers ever, and all I have done is add some faux stitching round each one. The sentiment is from docrafts Tulip (Andrea Jayne) collection.

Doodled Patchwork Card

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and is made using white linen effect card!
 
I doodled this card, so I think I can safely say ……..

It’s all my own work …. though I did use a 12 x 12 paper as inspiration.

Followers

I am not sure what’s going on with blogger, but I haven’t been able to see my Followers gadget for a month now, I believe some people can, while others like me can’t which means that people can’t become Followers ….. I’m not the only one and there are a lot of people in the same boat but it is frustrating, it’s taken two years and a lot of hard work to build up my little group!  I am e-mailing Blogger but as yet don’t have a solution!  I’d be interested if anyone else has the same problem.

Tattered Florals Thank You Card

The idea for this card was inspired by a card in the new mini Stampin Up catalogue (below).

I’ve used a DCWV patterned paper on the front.  The flower is made using my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and a heavy sprinkling of glitter. The centre of the flower is part of a Primark necklace that I have taken apart for the bits.

A Little Bird Told Me …… Card

This card measures 13cm x 13cm and is made used a white linen effect card.

The owl stickers used on this card are from Paperchase and cost £1 a pack.   I’ve cut a square from a sheet of a A4 stripy glitter card and then sat the owls on the lines.  To fill in the gaps I’ve added a few very tiny daisies made using a punch from Hobbycraft and stuck clear flat backed gems in the middle of them. The centre panel is matted on silver mirror card.

Little Mermaid Cards

Three cards today all measuring 5ins by 5ins and made using white linen effect card.

I am sure I was a mermaid in another life or if I wasn’t I will be in the next!  These cards are made using hard plastic bubble stickers from Poundworld.

From one pack I have made  three cards, with a few stickers left over, which is a good return for my money.

The blue background doesn’t show up very well in the pictures, it’s a glitter card that looks like the sky but which works equally well as the sea. However it is a “bum” to glue anything to …….

….. so I have used Ranger Glossy Accents to add some extra gumption to the stickers, which has worked very successfully.  The final touches are made using either clear flat backed gems, or sequins with a gem centre.

Mouse Card

This card measures 7ins x 5ins and is made using white linen effect card.

Hmmmmm, not sure about this, I saw a printed version, and thought it would be easy to translate into a bit of paper piecing with googly eyes, but I think it needs a bit more fine tuning ……

The mouse looks terribly sad for one …. the parts are rather crudely cut out as this was my first attempt ….. You can’t tell by the photo but, the nose is all shiny as I’ve used glossy accents on it  and I’m not to sure about the positioning of the ears ……. as I said at the beginning,  hmmmmmmm!

Scary Skull – Halloween Hairclip?

Why do I have a such a thing about skulls lately? However, at least I have recognised I do, and have learnt to live with it!

My lovely, lovely follower Carly sent me a huge box of stuff a little while ago and in the week I went delving in it and hidden away in a folder was a pack of these puffy sticker skulls, to be honest I’ve seen them in the shops and have not been that inspired, but something twigged in my brain … at first I thought of making a brooch/pin, but as I got more and more carried away I could see that they were too wide and would probably not sit straight … BUT after a my weekly trawl through Wolverhampton's finest poundshops I found these very large hairclips …..ah ha!

Anyway, I stuck the skulls on a double thickness of card using Ranger Glossy Accents because it dries really hard, I also used in on the back of the  card  and back of the stickers to strengthen them and to go get rid of the tackiness of the adhesive on them.

The whole effect is finished off with a few very sparkly flat backed gems on the bow and hair of two skeletons and in any small gaps. I have attached the whole thing onto the clip using foam pads as I have found many a time they are almost impossible to remove and no need for drying time.

Using stickers in this way has made me see the potential of some of the others I have stored away.

Our Father’s Day Card 2011

My Father In Law has taken up wine making and as a Father’s Day present we all clubbed together to buy him a fruit press, hence the card!

I’ve used a digi scrapbooking set from Scrappin Doodles called A Bunch of Grapes. I’ve only done a simple decoupage layer for the exclusive part of the card,  the other bits like the grapes, glass and feet have been accentuated with Ranger Glossy Accents.

A Happy Days Mooching

We nipped over to Bridgnorth yesterday, a lovely old town about half an hour away, it is so beautiful, all olde worlde, it even has a little funicular railway going up the sandstone cliff from the Low Town to the High Town, so cute!

…. And naturally, I had a mooch round the charity, antiquey and gift shops.  I found this old, slightly battered spotty suitcase for £1.25 in Oxfam, it’s to die for!

Then  I found this quirky baking tray in another funny shop, it cost £3, over the odds I think, but I was thinking about putting shabby chic papers and sculpted flowers in the bottom of each section maybe?

And this was my indulgence …… have you ever seen anything so beautiful? 

Teddy Card

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and is made using white linen effect card.

While I was in the Czech Republic a couple of months ago I managed to find a couple of packets of these stickers for about 50p a pack in the local tobacconist! They are printed and layered on acetate and are very sweet.

A lot of the stickers I buy are often too small to use singly and would be lost on their own on the size of cards I usually make, but in a group of four they look pretty OK!

Papermania Butterfly Cards

Both these cards measure 11cm x 5cms and are made using a ribbed effect Kraft card.

I’ve used a ribbed Kraft card as the base for these two cards and part of a 12 x 12  text patterned  paper in the middle, (sorry I don’t know who made it, but it might be Stampin’ Up), which I have mat and layered on gold card.

The flowery part is a self adhesive 3D border from Papermania, (PMA 8021201 Butterflies) and cost £1.99 (not really very cost effective as I only got two cards from one pack).  I’ve finished both cards off with a few pearls placed here and there.

The butterflies are exquisite and I wish they were available separately to buy as I would buy a pile!

Bird Card

This car measures 11cms x 7cms and is made using ribbed effect Kraft card.

Sometimes the way stickers are presented in their packet is enough inspiration for me …….. why waste time fiddling about with where to put them when it's staring you in the face!

This pack of foil stickers only cost a pound from a funny little shop near Brixham Harbour, Devon,  I’ve had them hidden away for ages and decided it was about time they were used.  Taking a look at the packet I just decided to replicate the birds positioning on this card. Simples with no fiddle farting whatsoever!

CSI Birthday Card

This is an A5 card made using white linen effect card.

This card, made to go with the theme of my nieces CIS birthday party may look simple, but in fact took me over 2 hours and a lot of computer jiggery pokery to get right.  I created the design in Publisher and used a picture I found on Google as a reference as to how and where to position the various parts and which fonts to use.

I saved the completed work as a jpeg which meant that I could then shrink it down in size to make two laminated identity cards to follow the theme even further.  All of this was such hard brain work!

Pendant Tray Project Using Accessorize Stickers.

This was a bit of an experiment, I had a packet of Accessorize cat stickers staring at me (£1.75 per pack) on my desk and I got to wondering what they would look like in a pendant tray….

I’ve used a very small print paper for the background and doodled some equally tiny faux stitching round the edge, then added the cat and hearts.  All that was left to do was fill the tray with Anita's 3D Gloss Finish, which should be left for about twenty four hours to set really well. The results look like a little porcelain plaque/tile.  I am dead chuffed, and now intend to look at all the other Accessorize stickers I have to see what else I can use.