A day of two halves...

*This post is also shared on my Facebook page*

 

Yesterday was definitely a day of two halves...the morning saw us baking in the high twenties and hubby said I was like Wonderwoman with all the outfit changes to try and keep cool, but by mid afternoon, it had clouded over and was more bearable! Today, I started with shorts as the sun was trying to shine, then quickly reverted back to trousers and a fleece...is Summer over already?!

 

Being in the garden, I had to post a picture of my fabulous Philadelphus, which is absolutely glorious at the moment...it is absolutely smothered in the most beautiful hibiscus type flowers and the scent is just wonderful! This next pic is my new flower bed which got dug up last month after I was fed up of not having enough plants in my garden! 

 

The garden got split in half earlier this year, so the boys get their car park at the bottom and I get some prettiness at the top...it's a work in progress, but it's lovely to have some flowers again...where to dig another flower bed next?!...

I hope to be back at my crafty desk in the next day or two, although it's mainly to fulfill a couple of card orders and try to come up with ideas for next workshop, but maybe I can grab an hour of playtime along the way?! Until then, enjoy what's left of the weekend and I hope the sun is shining for you...

Hugs,

Workshop cards...

Good afternoon, crafty friends from a soggy North Wales! Hope you're all staying safe if you have the thunderstorms and heavy rain...we've managed to miss most of it (except the rain!)...
Just thought I would pop in and share the cards that we made at Saturday's workshop...The first two card bases are made from a single piece of A4 cardstock and was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest HERE, but just shows how the same card shape can look so different...

 

The floral card, we had in a landscape orientation...

  

And the vintage car in a portrait orientation... The images on the cards hide the sentiment when closed and the inner rectangle allows for space to write a message. Although they're only C6 cards, they seem to have a lot more to them because of the multiple layers and flaps, but still don't take too long to create, plus because we chose the papers carefully, to ensure we could use both sides, it is economical on papers too!...

Our third card is one of my favourites of the moment and I think it could be used for so many occasions...

I think it would be great as a card for doing well in exams or graduation, a Birthday card and even, done in pastel shades of pink or blue, would work well as a baby card too! Of course, I am biased because there are clouds, but it's also a good way of using those papers that are a little busy to be used on a standard cards too...
All in all, a really economic and yet impactful set of cards that could be adapted in so many ways...hope you like them and take inspiration...
Crafty hugs,

Playing with Oxides...

Good afternoon, my lovelies! I have been saying for a while how I need to find some time to play with my distress Oxides...it seems lately as though I only craft out of necessity, either for card orders, design work or for workshop, so yesterday morning, I sat and had a play for half an hour...

(some of you may have seen my post on Facebook)

Within minutes, my table looked as if there had been an explosion of inks, paint and mica powders...but I thoroughly enjoyed it and quite liked the end result...

Although this was the state of my fingers!...

I inked a second piece of card and die cut some cogs in preparation, then had to clear my table so I could sort out kits for this Saturday's workshop...

I managed to grab an hour or so in the evening and this is how my project turned out...

Now the critic in me can see that there isn't enough contrast in colours, but all in all, I was reasonably pleased with the result...although, I feel that I still need some practice and maybe to be a little braver with my colours...but it's a start and it was nice to make something, just because...

I created this photo frame with this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme in mind and after being encouraged by my lovely, crafty friend Jane to just have a play and being inspired by her backgrounds...and the amazing work of both Emma Williams and Kath Stewart (if you haven't seen any of their work, you should seriously go check them out!) I decided to play along...

Right I'm off to cook some tea...feeling a little Hank Marvin...oh, that sounds wrong?!! Ha,ha!
Hope you can find some crafty time, just because...
Hugs,

I'd like to enter my frame into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which has the theme of Transport It

Passion for promarkers - Beautiful Borders...

Good morning, crafty friends! Another Tuesday rolls around, which can only mean one thing...yep, that's right, we have a brand new challenge starting over at Passion for Promarkers!
This week it's the lovely Shelly who is in the hostess chair and as she has a love of all things doodle, she's chosen a clever theme of 'Beautiful Borders'...so whether it's a doodled border, ribbon border, die cut border, fancy or straight, we'd like to see them on your creations...
We're being sponsored by The Paper Shelter who are kindly offering one lucky winner a choice of 3 digital images from their online store...

Just remember, to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you MUST use your Letraset/Winsor& Newton products and follow the challenge theme.

(It also really helps if you state where you've used them, for example, coloured with Promarkers, etc)

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and as a team, we chose the ever so pretty Glittery and Sparkling. I decided to step out of my comfort zone and give her coloured hair and it actually fades from purple to pink, which doesn't show very well in the photo...although I blame the photographer?!

Colour list :

Skin - Blush, Dusky Pink, Coral (my trusted colour combo)

Hair - Blossom, Sorbet, Fuchsia Pink, Wild Orchid, Amethyst, Purple

The card base is one I found on Pinterest and we will be doing a variation of this at our next workshop on Saturday (sorry, Karen!)...

I decided to have my borders as doodled ones, taking inspiration from our lovely Shelly - she often adds hand drawn borders to her creations, although does it with much more confidence!

Some glitter, sparkly stars and sentiment, finished everything off and some coordinating paper panels on the inside too.

Right then, I'm off to prep kits for this weekend's card making workshop and shuffle some paper around...I hope you can find the time to play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations...

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Fur and/or Feathers...

Good morning, crafty friends! These days are really whizzing by now and it seems I only turn around and another fortnight has slipped by...but, you know that can only mean one thing, right?! Yep, you guessed it...it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Promarkers!
This week we have the lovely Nic (aka Coops) in the hostess chair and she's given us a fab theme of Fur and/or Feathers...so we'd like to see all those birds and animals - cute or not! We're being sponsored by All Dressed Up, who are offering one lucky winner a choice of 2 digital images from their online store.

Just don't forget, to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you must use your Letraset/Winsor& Newton mediums and follow the challenge theme - it also really helps if you could state where you've used them, for example, coloured with Promarkers...and you can mix your mediums too...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I picked the ever so sweet 'Sleepy Time' - I just loved this little fox and thoroughly enjoyed colouring it! The paper is the freebie from issue 191 of Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine and I kept the card in my favourite CAS style.
I hope you can join in with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations...
Crafty hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - 10th Anniversary

*** WARNING – LONG POST ***

Grab a cuppa and a biscuit (or two) and make yourself comfortable!

Good morning dear crafters. I hope you had a wonderful week last week and managed to fit some crafting into your busy schedules.  Thank you for your gorgeous entries to last week’s "summer is coming" challenge.  Marie will certainly have her work cut out for her when she has to pick her top 5 Passionista.  Don't forget to check back later to find out who she has chosen and also to see if you are the lucky winner of the $8.00 gift code courtesy of A Day for Daisies.

Onto this week's theme and we have a very special challenge for you this week as it's our 10th Anniversary. Can you believe it's been 10 years since Gina and Denise started their challenge blog to share their love of all things Letraset/Winsor & Newton?
As it's a special challenge we have a really easy theme for you of "anything goes".  As the title suggests you can make anything you like this week – simples eh!  We expect to see lots of entries this week but please note we are only accepting a maximum of 3 entries per person for this one challenge only.  To be eligible for our prize draw you must use your Winsor & Newton/Letraset products (i.e. pro, flex, tria, aqua, metallic or neon markers).

As always we have some fantastic prizes up for grabs and our sponsors have been very generous as usual .  Here we go....

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Dies to Die For are offering one lucky winner a £15.00 voucher

Bugaboo Stamps are offering one lucky winner a $12.00 voucher

Di’s Digi Stamps are offering one lucky winner a $6.00 voucher

Crafty Sentiments designs is offering one lucky winner 3 digi images

Leann’s World 101 is offering one lucky winner 2 digi images

Dr Digi’s House of Stamps is offering one lucky winner 2 digi images

Cowling & Wilcox are offering one lucky winner a 12 pack of promarkers (set 1)

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Wow, we told you there were amazing prizes didn’t we?  Definitely lots of reasons to join in the fun this week!! To give you lots of inspiration we have both Team 1 and Team 2 to share their creations over on the Passion for Promarkers challenge blog and here's a look at my DT card...

I decided to use the free digital images that I featured in this month's Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine, issue 191 (you can download the images HERE) I coloured the pretty Spring Bouquet up with my Pro/Flexmarkers and here's the colour list I used :

Leaves - Apple, Forest Green, Holly

Lavender - Orchid, Amethyst, Red Violet

Daisies - Blender, Pale Pink, Buttercup, Pastel Yellow, Sunflower

Small flowers - Sorbet, Fuchsia Pink

Background - Pastel Blue, Blender

I also used the free papers that come with the downloads, plus a bit of dotty pink from my stash for the corners. I inked the edges with Tuxedo Black Memento and drew a doodled border around the image...a touch of glitter, pearls and diamantes finished things off, plus the pink grosgrain for a bit of texture.

I have a busy day today, trying to catch up with housework and doing a bit of tidying, though I should've been photographing the samples for my upcoming project (but I forgot to get hubby to leave me his phone with the bells and whistles!) It just means days get switched around and I'll try doing that tomorrow...feeling like there's not enough days in this week, I'll just have to be a bit more organised with my time?!! Now there's a laugh! I'm a bit of a goldfish when the sun is shining and get distracted by the call to be outdoors!...
I do hope you can play along with our special anniversary challenge this week and look forward to seeing all your lovely creations!

To play along with our challenge this week, hop over to the Passion for Promarkers blog HERE

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Summer is on the way...

Good morning, crafty friends! Well, it certainly seems like Summer could be on the way with this fabulous weather that we're having! It's amazing how a bit of sunshine can lift my mood and give me motivation to get stuff done...though it doesn't help with my crafting, as I want to be outside rather than in!...
We have a brand new challenge starting today over at Passion for Promarkers and the lovely Marie has picked a topical theme of 'Summer is on the way'...

We're being sponsored by A Day for Daisies who are offering one lucky winner an $8 gift code to their online store...just don't forget that to be in with a chance of winning the prize, you must use your Winsor & Newton/Letraset products and follow the challenge theme...

We were lucky enough to get an image to play with and I went with the ever so pretty Flowers in my Garden...

I used an offcut from the Sweet Garden Roses paper pad that I got from The Works and coordinated my colouring to match (this doesn't happen very often!) I coloured up the sweet image with my Pro/Flexmarkers and if you'd like the colour list, then here goes :

Skin - Blush, Dusky Pink, Sunkissed Pink, Coral

Hair - Buttercup, Pastel Yellow, Champagne, Sandstone

Dress - Pale Pink, Cerise, Shocking Pink

Flowers - Cool Aqua, Surf Blue, Buttercup, Sunflower, Pastel Peach, Rose Peach

I added a die cut sun, inking through the die with Wild Honey Distress Oxide and clouds...just because I can! Some glittery organza ribbon, pearls, a touch of glitter and some doodling (which I find I do much more of thanks to the lovely Shelly!) finished my card off, plus a sentiment that I thought was apt for the image.

Right, off to see if there's anything I can do outside, rather than getting on with the housework that I should be doing! Have a totally terrific Tuesday, whatever you're up to and I hope the sun is shining on you today...
Happy crafting!