The Glitter Pot

Hello back again.

Last Thursday I took the day off work as it was my friend Sandie's birthday.  She and my other friend, Sue try and do something special on our birthdays.  This year we decided to go and have 'brunch' at the Limes in Lindfield - it is a beautful place where everything is home made!  After a very lazy meal and catch up, we went onto the Glitter Pot, as you do!  We hadn't been to the new place - we got terribly lost but that is part of the adventure, isn't it?  Wow is was worth it though - what an improvement - much more space - in fact you just don't know where to start.  Anyway I bought lots and lots of things - spent far to much, but hey who cares?  It was Sandie's birthday after all!!!

Anyway here are a couple of samples I made with some of the stamps I bought:

This is my new  Hero Arts stamp.  Isn't it beautiful?   I can't really take credit for the card as it's partly copied from one on display there, but I couldn't resist giving it a try.   I'm going to give this to my daughter on her birthday in September.  But I've got lots of ideas, just using different colours.

 

This is from a Penny Black set called Make a Wish.  Again I've used a sample for inspiration but isn't it cute?  There are so many different stamps in this set which I can't wait to use, so that's my next task. 

I have to admit I have started making a few Christmas cards (I know I've used the 'C' word but there are some beautiful ideas out there already) so here's a couple of examples:

This is from Kanban's Patchwork Pals and the kit has both front and back pictures:

I do love Kanban.  Their designs and colours are brilliant and the quality is next to none.  I have to admit I just hate using it - the paper is just so lovely to stroke!!!  How sad is that?

This was a card using a template  from Crafter's Companion DVD - it looked quite fiddly but in fact it was quite straightforward.  It took a bit longer to decorate but again I used the Kanban Patchwork Pals kit.

It does look as though we've had our summer - what a shame - mind you it was so very hot - we're never satisfied, are we?

Hope you're all enjoying your holidays or time with the children. 

I'll be back later. xxx

What time do you call this ??

As you may know my eldest son Chris lives in Australia.  Every Sunday morning we Skype each other and I get to see my other grandchildren getting ready for bed.  Unfortunately now the hour has gone back their bathtime is 7pm which makes it 8am our time!  As I've said before I don't 'do' early and because I can see them, they can see me so I've got to look at least reasonable and also be dressed!  Well this morning I overslept a bit and it was 7.45 before I got up!  So I've been rushing around like a blue a***d fly - even managed to get a cup of tea ready to bring upstairs.  Then a text - 'sorry mum we've lost the camera, can't find it anywhere.  we'll speak next week instead'!!  You can imagine the words I said.  So here I am at 8.30am (such an unearthly hour for me!) with nothing to do!  Hey ho, back to the cards then!

You'll know now we didn't go ahead with the card class, too much short notice, but I'm probably showing the acetate card for those who want to see it at the next crop.

Last Christmas I had some Christmas cards left over and although I am enjoying making my cards I'm certainly not planning to send everyone (50 -ish) one of my own cards!  But can I find these left over cards?  I flippin' well can't.  Where the heck have I put them?  I'm going to have to buy some more as I'm running out of time.  I've printed off my labels but must write them. 

I'm not a great lover of Christmas - I love the kids' faces and all that but the commercialism of it all really gets to me. 

I've done quite a few more cards over the last week - with the weather being so foul, I've enjoyed playing with the cards. 

This card I borrowed the idea from a card I saw at Ali Pali last year.  It uses the Creative Expressions Christmas tree and I've added the Cute Companions mouse, presents and flower pot.  I used Brushed Corduroy distressed ink and then water coloured the outline. 

This card I was pleased with.  I bought some Hero Arts' stamps from my friend and thought I'd have a play.  I embossed the stamps in gold and silver embossing powder and then matted them on alternate silver and gold shiny board.  You can't see it very well but I've covered the card with some gorgeous Mica Pearl Papers I bought at the workshop I went to and finished it off with very fine gold peel offs.

And finally, this one I thought was quite cute.  I used free templates from one of the magazines, some card blanks I'd had from last year which I cut down and voila!!  Quite a cute card which cost me nothing.  Happy with that.

Right I'm off now to do some more cards - actually I might go via my bed first, but we'll see which has the stronger pull!  Speak soon.  Byeee xx