Simply Create, MME I Believe and Hero Arts

I so love this kit from Simply Create, there are just so many ways to use it.
Here's another 2 cards I've made....

For this one, I coloured the Hero Arts - Hanging Trees cling stamp with promarkers and added various clear adhesive stones from Kars, some of which I coloured with Crimson promarker.

The MME I Believe paper, crochet lace, gems, stamp and kraft card are all available from Simply Create.

I used up a lot of wee scraps from the kit with this card, cutting 8 wee squares from all the patterned paper left overs and sticking them onto the card blank made from Bazzill.I then embossed a Hero Arts - Joy to All greeting onto the die cut shape from the MME I Believe kit and attaching with 3d foam tape, quick - easy - and thrifty!!

More Simply Create

Yesterday was a horrible dreich day in the NE of Scotland, I woke up smoring with the cold, head full of snot and gunk. But there was also a wee ray of sunshine - a wee jaunt out to the fantabulous Simply Create. A few of the DT have already dropped off their creations, and let me tell you.... the photo's really don't do them justice. So if you get the chance to visit Simply Create in person, then do as the samples are even more stunning IRL.


Unfortunately The Boss (Jacqui) had a prior engagement, but I got to spend the morning with 2 of the loveliest ladies I know, the fabulous Anne and Kath. So there was much hilarity, a cuppy and fancy pieces. And of course the purse is a whole lot lighter. :) And a quick hello to the lovely lady we met when I arrived there - didn't catch your name, but it was lovely to meet you.


So I came home with some lovely new trims, Hero Arts stamps and the now famous HUGE buttons. Only one problem with these buttons, my youngest (Faith) has taken a real shine to them and uses them to count with - so I am completely torn... do I encourage my child's development ? ....... or do I steal them back and traumatise her for life? hmmmmmmmm traumatised for life isn't so bad really is it?? 


Anyway, the kids are off school today and Monday - I was hoping to get away for a wee break this weekend, but I don't see the point in spending a load of money to be somewhere else with miserable weather. So unless the weather improves we'll be right here.


Here's another card that I made with my Simply Create DT kit - every time I sit at my crafty desk I think of something else to make with these fabulous goodies.

I thought I'd try out the Glossy Accents resist technique - I first saw it on Kath's blog and she pointed me in the direction of the tut at Hero Arts. Like all the best things, it's surprisingly simple to do. I stamped the Hanging Trees Hero Arts stamp with Versamark onto kraft card and used white detail embossing powder, then covered the trees with Glossy Accents. After the glossy accents had dried I used Peeled Paint and Chipped Sapphire distress inks to colour the background.
So I trimmed my image to size, cut a square of MME I Believe paper and distressed both with my Tim Holtz distresser. I threaded up 3 red buttons from my kit onto separate lengths of twine and attached these to the topper, tying each button in place with more twine.


Will be back tomorrow with another DT card...

Golden Oldie

As I mentioned a few posts ago, things have been busy busy here. Willow's consultant has retired and there was a special celebration tea-party held in his honour on Friday, and Willow was lucky enough to be invited along. In case you didn't know, Professor George Youngson MB,ChB,PhD,FRCSEd,CBE is a fantastic, amazing man - in fact I really don't have the words to express how we feel about him. He is amazing with the children he treats as well as their families and we are privileged to have had him in our lives. Willow and Graham went along, I was chauffeur so dropped them off and Faith and I went off to pick Scott up from my chum's. They both had a super time and even managed to smuggle out a cupcake for me :)

Willow was born with a relatively rare condition and had 2 major operations before she was a fortnight old, then another 2 before she was 10 months old. She was hospitalised several times in her first year and I really don't think we would've coped as much if Prof hadn't been looking after our little girl. So we are incredibly sad to be losing him, but enternally grateful for all he's done.


Anyway, I made a wee card for Prof - obviously nothing I could've made was ever going to do it justice but I gave it my best shot.


I used my absolute favourite Gorjuss Girl stamp from Sugar Nellie as I hoped it would remind Prof of Willow.

The image is of course GG Sitting from Sugar Nellie, coloured with my beloved promarkers (I realised after I took this pic that I forgot to use the white gel pen - but I rectified that for the close-up shot)
cardstock is core'dinations, papers are all Kaisercraft Peachy Keen

Simply Create DT - Day 3

Sadly this is day 3 of my 1st run of DT creations for Simply Create - don't worry though, I still have plenty of stuff left over so you'll see more.


I kept it simple with this card...

The image is Hero Arts "Hanging Trees" cling stamp which I coloured with promarkers and white gel pen, the greeting is from the Hero Arts "Joy to All" clear set. I inked the edges of the kraft card with Peeled Paint distress ink. All of the above plus the green bazzill and green ric-rac is available from Simply Create


I'm trying out a new-to-me technique with this Hanging Trees stamp, so if all goes well you'll be seeing lots more of it.


Will be back tomorrow with a Sugar Nellie golden oldie

Simply Create DT - Day 2

I've had such fun playing with the gorgeous kit Jacqui put together for us from Simply Create - some of us got the MME I Believe kit and some of us got the Echo Park kit - so go have a lookie round the rest of the DT to see which kit they got and how they used it. It constantly amazes me how you can give 2 people the same supplies and they can come up with creations so entirely different.


I can't stand to waste anything so I made this wee notebook holder thingummy with the leftovers from yesterday's card...

The cardstock is Bazzill, papers are MME I Believe, the snowflakes are made with a MS snowflake punched from a scrap of the green card then smothered with Glamour Dust. The letters were printed off from Word on the pc and cut up into wee squares - it says "My Xmas Shopping Lists"
And the wee notbook cost me about 14p in Asda.
All papers and card are from Simply Create.


I'll be making another one just like this for myself - so hopefully I won't forget anything this xmas, I can use it for xmas dinner shopping lists, lists of drink and munchies, lists of stocking fillers and last minute pressies. And because it'll be in my handbag all the time I can add things as and when I remember them.


I plan to make quite a few of these wee note book holder thingies - I thought they'd make the perfect teacher's gift. And as usual I have heaps to make - Faith has 2 nursery teachers and 2 nursery nurses, Willow has 2 teachers and a classroom assistant, Scott has 2 teachers, a classroom asst and a SFL teacher - so that's 11 gifts and 11 cards to make.


Look out for another card using my Simply Create DT kit tomorrow ...
We're off mattress shopping this afternoon, Graham and I haven't been sleeping well for months now and our mattress is well and truly knackered, it's causing me pain now. Do you think we'll get thrown out?... my kids think every mattress is a trampoline, they'll think they've gone to heaven in a bed shop lol

Simply Create DT - Day 1

Hiya, life has been busy busy this last week or so - but will tell you about it after this weekend.
First I want to show you my first DT project for Simply Create - you'll notice that the title says "Day 1", well that's because I have a few projects to share, but I don't want to bombard you with them all at once.

Papers are all MME I Believe, cardstock is Bazzil, buttons  - all from Simply Create
I stamped the Hero Arts Hanging Trees stamp onto the red card and cut out the 3 large trees, I used white gel pen and glamour dust to decorate, the greeting inside is from the Hero Arts Joy to All clear set which I stamped with Versamark and embossed with white detail powder. (all above products are available at Simply Create.


This was my first attempt at a Joy Fold Card, so here's a few pics of it unfolded...

I haven't made a card for tomorrow, I've made a handy little thingummy jig instead.
Look out for all the creations from my fellow team-mates - you'll find the links to all their blogs on my sidebar. 

Angel Crafts DT - Day 4

Goodness me, it's day 4 of my wee run of Angel Crafts DT work - are you still with me?
I've gone for another non-xmas card this time again - I hope you're getting some inspiration for all the different uses you can get out of these fabulous ribbon kits from Angel Crafts, as well as all the other goodies she has. And I've just noticed that I've made all 4 of these cards without using my beloved promarkers once - dearie me, but don't worry, Angela stocks them too here.
This card was inspired by my super chum Kath - obviously not in the same league as her gorgeous creations, but I think it's pretty effective none-the-less.

Flower stamp was a freebie in last months Craft Stamper magazine, I stamped it three times onto core'dinations card: twice with Peeled Paint Distress Ink and once with Versamark and white detail embossing powder.
Kraft card which I distressed with the Peeled Paint distress ink and stamped the Hero Arts greeting again with the Peeled Paint.
The lace of course is from the Bits & Pieces ribbon kit and I used plain old twine as the flower stalks

So after making those 4 cards I still have masses of lace left from the kit plus all the Jenni Bowlin die cuts, all the prima flowers and the Tando Creative shapes. So hopefully I'll be back soon with some more things to show off.

Angel Crafts DT - Day 3

Day 3 of my Angel Crafts DT work and I'm back with another xmas card - using the gorgeous MME I Believe papers and the Bits & Pieces ribbon kit.

Image is from the MME I Believe stamp set (Greeting is Hero Arts)
Papers are all MME I Believe
Meadow core'dinations card
Lace from Angel Crafts Bits & Pieces ribbon kit
Papermania red dewdrops

I'll be back again tomorrow for the last of my 4 day run of Angel Crafts DT posts til next time.

Angel Crafts DT - Day 2

Back again with another card featuring supplies from the fabulous Angel Crafts - I decided to have a quick deviation from xmas cards - to emphasise the versatility of the monthly ribbon kits, there is just so much stuff in these wee kits! Angela seems to have a fantastic knack of picking out ribbons and lace and all the other bits and pieces she includes and you can use them with your existing stash or treat yourself to some new supplies from the extensive selection at Angel Craft.

Main image: Hero Arts Poppy Background stamped onto Kraft card, I then stamped part of the HA Delicate Blossoms stamp several times onto core'dinations card and decoupaged it.
cardstock is core'dinations, polka dot paper is Bo Bunny double dot, greeting is Hero Arts and the lace is from the Bits & Pieces ribon kit from Angel Crafts

See you tomorrow with another Angel Crafts DT card :)

Angel Crafts DT

Well I've managed to make a start on some xmas cards and it's not hard work when you've got a huge selection of new goodies to choose from like Angela has at Angel Crafts. I have a lot of crafty work to do over the next couple of months - and my latest crafty stash from Angel Crafts has got me off to a flying start.


I have added links for all the goodies from Angel Crafts

Branch and Bauble stamps are all from MME I Believe stamp set 
Patterned Paper is MME I Believe
Kraft cardstock is SU, - Angel Crafts version is here 
All lace used is from the Bits & Pieces ribbon kit 
The die cut notecard is Jenni Bowlin from the Bits & pieces ribbon kit - which I stamped with a Hero Arts greeting.
Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Papermania Dewdrops in red and Kaisercraft pearls

Rhapsody in Blue - and some news

First, my news.... I am on the Design Team for Simply Create - woohooo. I'm thrilled to bits to be on the DT of the most fabulous craft shop in Aberdeenshire and can't wait to get stuck in and show off Jacqui's fabulous goodies. 
AND....
I can confirm that I will be doing a promarker demo on the morning of 27th November, followed by a very special class in the afternoon using my 2 favourite things... promarkers and Sugar Nellie stamps, so mark the day in your diary and I hope to see you on the day. If you want to reserve a place at the class I would strongly suggest that you call Jacqui as soon as possible, her classes book up extraordinarily quickly. Have a nosey over on the Simply Create blog, Jacqui has just uploaded the class and demo list and there is a huge variety to choose from including classes and demo's from some of my new design team-mates, Kath, Judy and Kirsti so there's definitely something for everyone.


Jacqui managed to get me this Delicate Blossoms stamp from Hero Arts - finding this stamp in the UK seems to be as bad as finding hen's teeth, and I've taken my inspiration from the fabulous Kath. Although I'm not brave enough to start colouring with distress inks - I thought I'd give these poppies the promarker treatment, I'd love to hear what you think...

Image: Delicate Blossoms by Hero Arts, coloured with promarkers: Powder Blue, Arctic Blue, Sky Blue, Azure, Olive, Marsh and Pine
dark, mid and light blue core'dinations card - I used the Hero Arts Dots and Flowers background stamp inked with Faded Jeans Distress Ink to give the effect of a patterned paper. I used another strip of core'dinations card with the Martha Stewart Doily Lace border punch and added some gorgeous lace from Simply Create. The greeting is also Hero Arts and embossed in white.


Here's a wee close-up to show the colouring and also the sanded edge of the punched strip.

 

Sugar Nellie Blog Hop - A Recipe For All Seasons

woohoo, it's blog hop day and boy am I excited to be a part of this.
Now, if you've stumbled across my blog and are wondering what all the fuss is, then have a wee jaunt over to the Sugar Nellie blog where you will find out all about this special Recipe For All Seasons hop. You'll then be directed to each of the Sugar Nellie DT and a few guests to see what we've created to show off to you.
So if you're on track, you'll have just left Sarah's blog, and once you've left a wee comment for me then you can hop on over to see what the fabulous Donalda has cooked up for you.

Have you noticed all the cooking/baking references yet? yup, the theme is A Recipe For All Seasons, and that's exactly what Sugar Nellie stamps are, and in keeping with the theme all the DT and Guests have made up recipes so you can recreate their creations yourselves.
SO without further ado, straight from the oven (aka, the craft room)....

Ingredients,

1 Snowman with Gift, Home Grown Sugar Nellie stamp

Promarkers: Pastel Green, Mint Green, Soft Green, Powder Blue, Arctic Blue, Poppy, Crimson, Burgundy, Pumpkin, Bright Orange, Holly, Cool Grey 3 & 4, Vanilla and Raw Sienna.

Glamour Dust & Quickie Glue Pen

1 sheet of My Minds Eye - I Believe paper

1 6x6 card blank (alternatively cut card to 12x6" and score halfway along long edge to make your own blank)

7" red gingham ribbon 

scraps of core'dinations card (gemstone green, gemstone white and poinsettia)

card candy

Method:

1. Colour the Snowman with Gift with promarkers
2. Add Glamour Dust to trim, ribbons and buckle using Quickie Glue Pen
3. Mat the coloured image onto the reverse side of the MME paper and trim to leave a narrow border.
4. Cut a square of the MME paper to approx 5.5" square, mat this onto the reverse side of the remaining paper and trim to leave a narrow border all around. 
5. Adhere the length of ribbon down the left hand side of your matted square and secure the ends on the reverse
6. Adhere this matted square to a card blank
7. Adhere your matted image in the top right hand corner of the card
8. Die cut a flower, leaves and swirls from the scraps of card and attach these to the bottom right hand corner of the card with 3d foam pads, adding card candy to the centre of the flower to decorate.

I was so excited about joining the blog hop that I got a bit carried away with these gorgeous Home Grown Snowmen stamps and used another one to make a decorated photo frame....

I coloured Snow Juggler with promarkers to match the previous one and carefully cut him out, including the snowballs, then glued him to the frame that I'd covered with the same MME I Believe paper. I used 3d foam pads to attach the snowballs for a bit of dimension.

I'm hoping I haven't bored you to tears, so just in case you missed it earlier in my post, you need to make your way over to Donalda's blog to see her fantabulous creation - have fun hopping and thankyou in advance for leaving a comment, I really appreciate them.

Edited to add: For Linda, the dies used to cut the flowers and the intricate leaves underneath it are all one set - Flower Fantasy Die Set by Marianne Design Creatables, the swirls were punched with Large Wave Flourish punch by EK Success