Card Making Haul - May 2013

Hello there, today I have my monthly card making haul to share with you. I bought a lot of white cardstock this month from various places to try out but I haven't shown all that as it would get boring very quickly! I will be doing a comparison video on that soon though. This month I picked up a few stamp sets, some stamping accessories and a few craft room storage type items.

So here is what I bought in the month of May ...

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I was also lucky enough to get some gorgeous new crafting items as Birthday presents as well. I haven't shown them but I love them all! Hope you enjoyed watching, have a great day!

Pretty Poppies

Hello there, here is the card I am sharing on the DTDF Blog today using items that can be bought in the shop. I have used the gorgeous Pretty Poppies set from MFT. I went a little out of my comfort zone and went a bit vintage/distressed ... well as much as I can be! I think the card is still quite CAS in it's own way.

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Thank you so much for visiting me today. I hope you are all well and have a lovely day.

Dot Spot

A little while ago I participated in the His & Hers Online Card Class. They taught the concept of taking either a sketch, a colour combo, a product etc and using it for both a male and a female card. I think a lot of card makers struggle with making cards for men and I think this is a great idea. I was too busy at the time to make that many cards sadly but here is one I did make. This is the male version and later in the week I will share the female version with you.

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+ Old Cornish Heritage Farms - Tag You're It - RETIRED

Thanks so much for visiting me today. Thank you so much for all the lovely Birthday wishes and comments about my blog you left for me on my last post, they are so nice to read. If you haven't already seen my Birthday Blog Candy post you can see it HERE. I was lucky enough to get some money for my birthday so I have put it towards a new camera which I am hoping will arrive today. I was also lucky enough to receive some new video editing software from my mum so I am hoping to get some new videos up for you soon! :0)

Birthday Blog Candy 2013

Hello there, when I started blogging back in 2007, after making cards for a few years and sharing a few on Do Crafts, I never expected that people would still want to see my creations six years later. Over these six years I feel my card making has improved as well as my overall blogging capabilities.

 

I have met so many wonderful people over these years and I feel the crafting community is really that, a community. We all seem to help each other out and give advice. I am really blessed that on a daily basis I receive such lovely comments about my cards and now videos too. I have readers from all over the world and that really puts a smile on my face.

I really want to say thank you to you, my readers for being so supportive of both my blog, videos and cards. I really do appreciate it. Today is my Birthday and almost every year (I think I may have missed one) I like to give away a little bit of candy for you to say thank you for sticking with me.

Here is what is up for grabs this year ...

Doodlebug Design Flower Box 6x6" Paper Pad, Doodlebug Design Flower Box Jewels Selection, Doodlebug Design Cupcake Washi Tape, Wild Rose Studio 'Bella's Party' Stamp, Memory Box Dancing Butterflies Die, Queen & Company Twine in yellow and pink and a Memento Tuxedo Black Dew Drop Ink Pad.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to link up below using the blue frog. If you have a blog please link your URL up but if you don't you shouldn't need to add one. If you do, you can use mine. The candy is open worldwide and will close on Sunday 2nd June 2013 at 21.00hrs GMT.

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Balloon Peep - DTDF

Hello there, today I have a card to share with you that I have made for the DTDF Blog. I have used the very cute CC Designs Balloon Peep - how cute are these little characters?!

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Thank you so much for visiting me today, please pop back on Saturday as I will have a little candy up for grabs for you! Have a lovely day!

WOYWW - 207

Hello there, you may remember a couple of posts back, I said that I was looking for an alternative to Papertrey Ink Stampers Select white cardstock due to increasing shipping costs. Well here is what my desk looks like today ... yep, that is right, I have gone and ordered a ton of white cardstock to try out. I am in the process of testing them all (and I still have a few yet to arrive). I am testing them for the weight - if they can hold up to being used as a card base, how well they stamp on to and how well they work with Copic Markers.

 

I will let you know the results after the testing has been completed! What's On Your Workdesk today? to play along please visit Julia over at Stamping Ground for the info. Thanks for visiting me today.

Thank You ... Maile Belles

This week over at CASE Study, there is a gorgeous card by this month's Muse Maile Belles to CASE. I just couldn't resist as I love Maile's style. 

I have used the gorgeous Clearly Besotted Stamps Honeycomb set (sorry, it will be back in stock soon!) and combined it with the 'thank' from the Clearly Besotted Happy Everything set and the 'you' has been cut using the Simon Says Stamp 'You' die.

 

Thanks so much for visiting me today, I hope you had a nice start to the week. Sorry for the poor photo's, very dark here again in my craft room today, sadly. Anyway, have a lovely day!

Welcome Little One

I had some lovely news last week, my cousin and her husband had a little baby boy! Here is the card I made for them. I used my go-to set for baby cards - PTI Sweet Baby. I used the stamp and the die to match.

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Thank you so much for visiting me today. I was hoping to have another card making video up yesterday, as well as a Storage Sunday up tomorrow but sadly my video editing software seems to not be working. So annoying! I will try and get it sorted (not sure how!) but until then there will be no videos :0( sorry. Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Cupcake Bees - DTDF

Hello there, today I have a card I have made for the DTDF Blog. I have used the new Wild Rose Studio Bees With Cupcake Cling Stamp and coloured the image with Copic Markers. I have then added strips of paper on to the card base from three different Echo Park Paper Pads. Finished off with a CC Designs Birthday Sentiment and some MME Enamel Dots.

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Hope you are all well. I posted on my Facebook page yesterday saying that PTI have increased their international shipping again. It is now $77 for what I want (only 3 packs of card and 3 sets of stamps). So unfortunately I don't think I can afford to order although I am running very low on the cardstock which is my favourite. Which white cardstock do you use? I am after a heavyweight one that I can use for both card bases and for stamping and using with Copic Markers. I'd love to hear if any of you have any suggestions for me. Thanks for visiting, have a lovely day!

Dreamy

Hello there, the challenge over at Less Is More this week is to make a one layer card with a coloured card base. My go to colour that is not white would be Kraft but since we cannot use that either I went for my favourite PTI colour which is Aqua Mist. I used the beautiful Penny Black Dreamy stamp, I bought this a while ago but it is the first time I am using it.

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Sorry for the dark photos. It is dark and dreary here in Surrey again. I am also not feeling too well so didn't feel up to editing them for a long time. Sorry. Hope you are all having a lovely day!

Birthday Balloons

Good morning! Since the last release of Clearly Besotted Stamps sold out so quickly (don't worry they will be back in stock asap!) I thought I would share a card with you today that uses two of the older sets. I have used one of the sentiments from the It's Your Birthday set and combined it with the balloons from the Full Of Surprise set.

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Very gloomy and rainy here in Surrey today. Oh well, good weather for staying in and making cards! I just wanted to say a big thank you for the lovely comments I have received for my latest videos, both my card tutorial/video and my storage ones. Really means a lot to me. Have a lovely day!

Storage Sunday - Cardstock & Paper

Hello there, a while back I asked if you would like to see more storage videos from me. One of the top requests was to show I store my cardstock and paper. Another big question was how I store my scraps of said products. I used to have a big box with them all in but I found that I just didn't use them and went straight for the paper pad, 12x12" or A4 sheet. I hated wasting them but that was just how my mind works.

So what I decided to do was store my scraps with the particular size of cardstock/paper. This works so much better for me. I will use this first before cutting onto a new sheet. With the exception of 6x6 patterned papers, I do not keep the little scraps; I just recycle them as I know that I will not end up using them. I know that is bad for a crafter to say but I am trying really hard not to hoard!

Here is the side of my wall that doesn't have my desks on (since my craft room is so small I really only have two useable walls)

I have my shelving unit from Ikea (sadly no longer sold), my 6x6" paper pads are in photo storage boxes from Cropper Hopper. I have managed to purge most of my paper pads recently which I am so happy with and I now only have four boxes full (I did have 6!) Here is a little video showing my 6x6" storage a little closer ...

 

On the top shelf I store my A4/11x8½" cardstock/paper in magazine files from Muji. I find it easy to see what I am looking for but I think it all looks neat. I love how the PTI cardstock looks - so pretty! Here is a quick video showing you close up ...

 

I then have my 12x12" paper and cardstock in the unit from The Best Organiser/Stackables which is next to the shelving unit. I got mine from Storage 4 Crafts. I love it! It holds it all neatly and in whatever order I want. I have my cardstock at the top and then patterned paper below. I keep larger scraps of this cardstock/paper here too. Here is a little video showing close up what it is like ..

 

 

Last but not least, remember I said I recycle small scraps? Well I have two little baskets on the top of my shelving unit that I put the scraps in. These get emptied weekly but if there is just a small piece of cardstock I need, I will look in here first!

Not the prettiest but is functional!

I hope you enjoyed this new feature to my blog? Let me know what you think. Thanks so much for visiting me today, hope you have a lovely rest of your weekend!

  

Many Thanks

Hello there, hope you are all well? Today I have a card made using three stamp sets from Clearly Besotted Stamps - Leafy Accents, Butterfly Wishes Additions and Once Upon A Time which are now all back in stock :0)

For my card today I have made a video showing how I made it. I have had requests to do these kind of videos so thought I would give it a go. I apologise for the black borders around the video - quite annoyingly I edited it in the wrong format (I have noticed a few of my other videos have that too) but for me to re-upload I would have to edit my whole video again and it would take too long. So for now I have the borders but hopefully they will be gone on the next one!

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Thanks so much for visiting me today. Hope you liked the video, is it something you would like to see again?

Hello - DTDF

Hello there, today I have two notecards to share that I have made for the DTDF Blog. I have used the beautiful new Memory Box stamps now available in the DTDF shop - Meadow Flowers and Luminous Poppies and inked them with Memento Inks. They have been simply stamped to make one layer cards. The way the stamps are made lends themselves to more of a water coloured finish, not a perfect impression. Not my usual style but I think they are very pretty. The sentiment is stamped at the bottom from the MFT On The Line Stamp Set.

 

 

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Thank you for visiting me today. I spent the day yesterday filming and editing a new video. I have had a lot of requests to make some card making tutorials/videos and yesterday I finally made one! It should be up tomorrow.

Fabulous Day & CBS New Release

Hello there, hope you are all well. Today I have a card to share that uses the new Clearly Besotted Stamps Just Fabulous stamp set. I have used the outline image and coloured with Copic Markers adding a little Spica to their centres. The sentiment is from the same set and has been cut using a MFT Fishtail Flags Stax die - LOVE these!

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I also have a video here showing you all the new products released this month from Clearly Besotted Stamps. Hope you enjoy ...

 

Thanks so much for visiting me today, it's warm and sunny here in Surrey. Hope it is nice where you are!

Blooming Lovely

Hello there, happy Monday to you all! I have wanted to take part in Jen's CAS Mondays with LOTV for a little while now as I love LOTV stamps but don't use them enough and as you know, my style is pretty CAS. So today is the day! I have used the very cute Blooming Lovely stamp for my card and coloured with the usual Copic Markers.

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To those in the UK I hope you are all having a lovely bank holiday weekend. To those outside of the UK I hope you all have a lovey week! Thank you for visiting me today.
 

Oh and if you say my post on my supplies links - they should all be fixed now hopefully. So if you use them and see one that doesn't work, please can you let me know.

New Home

Hello there, a friend of mine recently moved house so I wanted to make her a little card to wish her well. I have used the PTI house from the Love Lives Here die collection and added little clouds behind to make kind of a scene. I have wanted to use those clouds since I bought them over a year ago! :0)

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Thank you so much for visiting me today, I hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Beautiful Butterfly

Hello there, unfortunately I haven't played along with Less Is More for a little time now. I often miss challenges because I make the card and then link it after the challenge date but for this current challenge, a fab sketch by Jen, I just had to play and on time too! I have used Clearly Besotted Stamps for the card which is LIM's sponsor this month - I love it when things come together like that! I have used Leafy Accents for the background and added a little butterfly from the Butterfly Wishes Additions set cut out using the coordinating die. The sentiment is from the Once Upon A Time set.

 

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Thanks you so much for visiting me today, have a great day!

Birthday Balloon - DTDF

Hello there, today I am sharing with you the card I have made for the DTDF Blog. For my card I have first taken the PTI Stamper Select CS and made an aperture in it using one of the hexagon dies from the MFT Die-Namics Hexagon Stax set. I have then popped the Echo Park Dots & Stripes Homefront paper behind and added this panel to  the card base with 3D foam pads. I have taken a CC Balloon Cutter and cut this using Bazzill Kraft CS and added inside the aperture with more 3D foam. I have drawn a string from it with a black Copic multi-liner pen. I have also added a little Glossy Accents to the top for a little highlight. The sentiment (a retired Cornish Heritage Farms one) has been stamped and cut out using an MFT Die-Namics Sentiment trip die.

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+ Cornish Heritage Farms sentiment stamp - retired

Thanks you so much for visiting me today. I am off out to lunch to see a friend I haven't seen for a long time today and really looking forward to it. Hope you have a lovely day whatever you are up to!

Anniversary Wishes

Hi there, here is a card I have made using the gorgeous Clearly Besotted Stamps Love Hearts stamp set (back in stock very soon) and coordinating dies. I could not resist that polka dotted heart! This layout is one I have used a lot in the past but I think it is nice for cards with just a small element being used, in this case the hearts.

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+ button from old stash

Thank you so much for visiting me today. Hope you are all well. Have a lovely day!