This is the reason

why there has been nothing going on on this blog.
 First I went here... amazing............... the atmosphere unbelievable.

Then I visited Ross in Aberdeen and spent a lovely sunny Saturday in Stonehaven sitting on the harbour side enjoying  the local mussels.

Next we turned this

 
into this

We built this house in 1989 and I found this message behind one of the cupboards

Can't remember Stumpy!!!!
I have managed a bit of crafting in between all this mayhem.

Some boxes
A friend's engagement card

Congratulations Hannah & Hugh

And finally I managed to have a play day with Jean Hardy at Crafty Individuals where we got messy with her new masks.

So now you know why it's been so long.
Thanks for dropping by

Tap Tap

At a Crafty Individuals workshop recently we were messing about with TAP or transfer artist paper. You stamp your image onto the paper colour in with your preferred colouring medium and then iron your image onto fabric. Now this is the sort of of ironing I enjoy lol.

                                                       a little gift bag

                                            a matching card

 The backgrounds were made by sticking strips of patterned paper onto a piece of card, spritzed with inks and then calmed down with a white spray.

I tried out the Distress Markers. now those of you who follow my ramblings know that I'm not a confident colourer but I'm going to eat my words and say...........................................I LOVE THEM!!! and yes I've bought them. 

Just popped in for a cuppa

You never know what will happen when you pop into the World of Stuff aka Gail's. I only stopped by for a cup of tea and I came home with this.

By the time the kettle had boiled I had covered the chipboard shape with paper from "the bit box". A bit of stamping, paper pleating and colouring with my one copic (skin tone) and hey presto one door hanger.
  I just love my crafty friends

Free Blog candy from Crafty Individuals

Jean's giving away a very generous bundle of Crafty Individuals goodies so click here to check it out

Show me the pictures

Sometimes when I'm flicking through my reading list I just want to see the pictures. I don't mean that the accompanying stories aren't interesting or well written it's just that ...... I just want to look at the pictures. So here's my pictures. You're clever you'll be able to work out how I made them and if not email me.

                                                            Vintage pocket card

                                                       Father's Day step card

                                                                   another

                                                   Free standing pop up card

                                                                    sandwich card

                                                               Tealight card

                                                                      inside
Hope you enjoyed the picture show. Thanks for popping by.

Father's Day cards

It's almost that time again when crafters have to start digging deep for ideas for the dreaded "men's cards". I don't know why  but most cardmakers struggle with cards for our men folk. I have a double whammy as 12 days after Father's Day it's my husband's birthday. I haven't started on his cards yet but I have made a couple of cards for my hairdresser. the first is a nice easy step card and  I've coloured the LOTV image with watercolour pencils.

This one is made with one of my favourite papers by Pion which you can get at 3djean. These papers are fabulous, double sided and some of the sheets are quartered, which is ideal for me as I like to make square cards.    

 My latest fad is to decorate the inside of my cards to match. The butterflies, watch and stamp are on the reverse of one of the Pion sheets.

Ok so I've made a start now I just need to make my husband's card .... .....but first a cup of tea and a slice of cake.
Thanks for popping by.

What's in a number?

Numbers ...you either love them or hate them. For some maths is a whole new language. At school I quite liked maths but only the simple stuff, adding, subtracting, tables etc not algebra, common fractions, We don't use maths so much now, I mean can you remember the last time you were stood at the supermarket conveyor belt and mentally estimated how much you had spent no you just hand over your card and pay the bill. Even small purchases are not calculated just hand over a fiver the cashier will give you the right change(hopefully) once the till has told her how much. But for some maths is a key part of their lives and for my eldest son his job evolves around equations and formula as a research technologist so when it was his birthday last week I knew exactly which card I was going to make.

 The image is from Crafty Individuals mounted onto My Minds Eye Kraft Fun day paper.
Kraft card is so useful for mens cards.
Happy Birthday Ross hope your lottery numbers come up soon.