Thanks So Much...

Hello friends,

Today I'm showing a very simply made thank you card, 

I've structured this to be quick because I need to make lots and lots of them! 

Spellbinders™  have lots of cross promotional and preferred partner companies,

those companies are kind enough to send out supplies to the Design Team, I am very lucky!

I wanted to send out a thank you card to each one..so I may be a little busy ...! 

I intend to do different colour variations but stick to the same design, 

I will be using up all my scraps so it's recycling too! 

Once they are all finished I will line them up and take a photo.

I've used Classic Edges Two, Picot Edge Circles, Daisy Flower Topper and Home Sweet Home.

I'm hoping to get my boys involved in doing some die cutting! Wonder what my chances are...??

Take care friends, have a wonderful weekend - I'm back tomorrow to announce the winner of my 

biggest give-away to date!

Take care,

Distressing!

Hello friends,

As promised I wanted to share with you the project I made when I was away.

This was Donna Salazar's class and I enjoyed every second of it! 

As you can see some serious distressing took place!

The elements I love are the cute bird and flower...not a butterfly in sight!

The die templates are Mix'd Media Elements, Bitty Blossoms and Shadow Flowers.

The embossing is super enhanced on the leaves, you can achieve this by dampening 

your paper/cardstock just a tiny bit, spritz it lightly before cutting and embossing.  

Distressed, shabby chic projects are so up my street, they allow me not to panic 

if things are not quite straight or inked properly! 

And here we all are!  The complete Spellbinders™ 2012 Design Team. 

You can see many technique videos that Donna has put together on 

You Tube featuring her Spellbinders die template collection.

Back tomorrow friends.

A Sympathy Card

Hello friends,

Today I'm sharing a sympathy card, not always the easiest cards to make,

I did receive some sad news while away that a friend's husband had passed away, 

it was a long illness and expected but still so very sad. 

I decided to use a Grand Labels Four for the outer card, scored and folded into the centre,

Rose Creations placed in the centre and Fancy Tags One has been stamped with the sentiment.

I printed the heartfelt poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye onto blue cardstock and cut and embossed 

with Labels Four, this can be removed and you can write onto the back.

On a brighter note I think I'm finally unpacked!  

The ironing pile has increased ten fold and I'm back at work but 

looking forward to a very crafty weekend.

And, I have a few more photos to share with you from my time away.

Me with Judy Hayes, Tina McDonald and Michelle Woerner

 How huge is this restaurant!!

 This is me (looking extremely tired!) with my table buddy Iwona

There is still time to enter my Mystery Giveaway blog post - 

Bella will pick out a winner and it will be announced on Sunday.

Back tomorrow my blogland friends.

Such a lovely time...

Hello friends,

As promised a few photos (more to follow) of my amazing time at the Spellbinders Retreat in Arizona...

Returning for a second year was an absolute privilege. 

Firstly we stayed in a very luxurious hotel, the rooms were about the size of my garden! 

My room buddy was Debbie Seyer - a lovely lady, 

we became true friends and sat up late most nights chatting away.

Food was heavenly and we were treated to delights such as this cake...isn't it a masterpiece!

This is a cake too but with lots and lots of icing (or 'frosting') if you live over the pond!

 We had a workroom and along the wall were flags representing the designer's countries...

 Our desks were furnished with a new notebook, name sign and pretty pen...

I am like a little kid when it comes to new pens and notebooks!  

One evening we got to go to Old Town Scottsdale,
felt very Western...

One of my biggest highlights was meeting Donna Salazar!!!! 

We did a project (photos of that to follow soon) and I chatted away to her
(well, I think I was babbling really!)

Donna is a Design Partner with Spellbinders™ and has designed some amazing dies including 

Wonderful Wings and Fanciful Flight - gorgeous gorgeous butterflies!! 

She is a lovely inspirational lady and I adore her style.

So forgive me for not posting a crafty project today..I promise there will be lots to see very soon.

I'm back tomorrow.  Have a wonderful day dear friends.

Gifts

 Hello friends,

I waited to publish this blog post once I was home, that way I could be absolutely
certain that I wouldn't be giving away a secret!

These are the little gifts that I prepared to take out to Arizona, 

one for each member of the Design Team and also a few more for other special Spellbinders ladies.

I chose Cath Kidston luggage tags but added my own personal touch.

I selected Labels Four, decorated each one and adhered them with removable glue dots so they can
be put aside and the luggage tag put to use.

 You can see one in more detail here..obviously it HAD to have a butterfly!

It features Anemone flower topper - I keep going back to this die template - love it! 

 Really pleased the tags say Cath Kidston Ltd - London..!
I enjoyed putting these together and I can confirm they all went down well. 

I am home and somewhat tired but had an amazing time.
I can tell you that the team is fabulous, Spellbinders has selected some incredible designers.
Over the next few days I will share some photos (need to unpack the camera and get fully sorted!)
Also, this year I am thrilled to be on another design team - Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
I will be creating two projects a month so please look out for those.

Finally, (goodness I'm chatting a lot today!) I am loving all your comments on my Mystery Prize post,
so great to get to know my followers.  It is so interesting to read how each of you became involved in craft,
what your favourite crafts are, how craft helps and where you seek inspiration.
I do believe craft makes the world a smaller and happier place.
As for me - I can thank my darling Mum for my interest in craft, as a small child she
taught me how to sew and knit.  Later I switched to jewellery making and then one day I espied a scrapbooking class advertised and went along just to see what it was and if I would like it.
Well, I've never looked back, totally addicted now!
The prize is going to be a box packed full of very yummy craft goodies....
I will get Bella to pick out a winner and announce the lucky name very soon.
Take care dear friends,

Mystery Giveaway!

Hello to all my Blogland friends,

This probably has to be my biggest tease to date!  

Before I left for Arizona I got a bit of a Spring cleaning bug, thankfully only in my crafty space!

I set aside a whole bag of goodies that I would like to give away..I can guarantee there is some gorgeous brand new items, including a set of dies, Nestabling, Nestaboard, stamps, adhesive and more...

Make sure you are a follower but to make it a little different I've decided that 

when you leave me a comment tell me anything crafty - 

what you like to make, your favourite items, tools, anything...as long as it is craft related.

I think it will be fun for everyone to read. 

Once I'm home and I've hugged Bella continuously, (going to miss that puppy way too much) I will ask her to pick out a name.   I will be flying home as this post goes live, quite possibly jet lagged tomorrow 

but I'm sure I will be smiling!

Take care dear friends.

Recipe Book/Holder

Hello Blogland,

Thank you for all your comments while I've been in sunny Arizona, glad to report no snow where I am. My luggage was easily spotted on the airport carousel - so thankful I selected pretty distinctive daisies! I have been having a wonderful experience, amazing tutorials and cannot wait to upload some photos to show you....
Today, as promised I said I would do a few step by step instructions on how to create my recipe book/holder, in particular the folders inside to keep all your cuttings, recipes, notes etc.

Cut a piece of patterned paper slightly larger than your die template.

Score at approximately 6.5 inches.

Fold on your score line, you will see you are already creating a pocket.

Position your die template over the edge of your paper so that the fold does not get cut.

Place onto your base plate, cut and emboss.

This is how it will look.

Open it out and apply double sided tape just to the edges.

Before you stick it down, consider if you would like to make a tab.

I printed onto patterned paper (you could use stamps too).

Labels Twenty-Two make very good page tabs.

Cut and emboss and insert into edge of pocket before sticking down with double sided tape.

For the outer book I've used Nestaboard, created a butterfly design and used Spellbinders packaging to create a wipe clean cover. 

Hope this helps, please let me know if you have any further questions.

Have a great day!

Butterflies!

Hello friends,
To make up for the occasional times when I haven't included butterflies on my projects...
here are sixteen gorgeous winged beauties!
I actually made this box frame a while ago but realised I have never shared it with you.
Now this is the ultimate way to use up scraps, I think nearly all these papers are very old!

Here are some close up pictures...

I actually gave this frame away as a gift but seeing it again now I realise how much I love it...

think I may have to make another one! 

I do hope you are all having a wonderful weekend - please stop by tomorrow - I've gone all flowery!
Take care,

A Tag Today!

Hello friends,

Today I'm sharing a tag - sometimes a tag just makes that little something extra special 

and I like the fact you can dress up luggage labels so quickly using just scraps.

1. Take an ordinary luggage label.

2. Cover it with strips of Tim Holtz tissue tape.

3. Cut and emboss Classic Scalloped Circles LG.

4. Ink edges with Distress Ink - Tea Dye

5. Cut and emboss Anemone Flower Topper (I used MME - Lost and Found papers)

6. Cut and emboss smallest Labels Twenty-Two, stamp sentiment.

7. Attach butterflies, gemstones and twine.

I've placed my around a new jar - isn't it lovely..wondering what to put inside.

Have a great day.

Pretty Flower Tutorial

Hello friends,

Today I'm thinking flowers!!

For those of you who may have missed my shows on Create and Craft I wanted to do a 

quick tutorial on how I create my flowers from Grand Peony Creations.

Here is one that I've attached to a gift parcel.

I've put together a little video - hope you enjoy it.

Back tomorrow, take care.

Arizona Here I Come!

Hello dear friends

Today is the day I fly to Arizona, in fact I'm at the airport when this post gets published!

A quick shot of my pretty new luggage, if I could have found butterflies it would have been better 

but I'm still pleased with happy daisies! 

I will be posting while I'm away so I do hope you can visit ...also there will be a giveaway..

my biggest one yet!!  On my return I will post some photos too.

It seems appropriate today to share a layout I created  - 

it sums up my Spellbinders experience - Window of Opportunity.

I had a moment of inspiration and used the Square Petal Top Box die as a mask and template for a window,

popping butterfly printed vellum into the panels as windows.  

I loved creating this - it has sewing, flowers and my butterflies of course!

My journalling explains how thrilled I am to be on the Spellbinders team and that feeling has never gone away.  

I am so looking forward to another year of creativity, new things and sharing them all with you.

Take care friends, I'm back with you tomorrow.

Quick Make Card No.4

Hello friends,

My final Quick Make card today and I've waited to show my favourite one last..

This was quick..honest, but I think it looks quite glamorous!

Plain white card, pretty rub on across the top and stamped in the bottom corner.

Dotty green paper cut from Labels Twenty and gorgeous Nestabling attached.

Fancy Tags Two stamped with sentiment and attached with foam pads. 

This is a different style to what I normally create so I surprised myself! 

I love that about craft, you start with something and you never know where it is going to take you.

I have a couple of photos from Mother's Day, I was very lucky the boys bought me a Cath Kidston cover for my phone and a beautiful silver ring which the camera will pick up when I'm next on TV - Create and Craft!

Even Bella bought me a card and gift. (No tidy rooms though..it was too much to ask!)

My niece made a Baileys cheesecake...

and this is Bella imagining eating the cheesecake!

I'm thinking she needs a haircut! 

Have a super day dear friends - I will be packing today as I fly from Gatwick early tomorrow.

I was asked if I travel alone - yes I do, but I really don't mind - there are always people to ask when I get lost!  I've downloaded some films to my iPad and hopefully I will be able to catch up on some sleep..

I have a tendency to wake up very early at home!