AHOY THERE CAP'N

Hello there blog friends - I hope you are all OK and that the weather isn't too bad where you are.  It doesn't seem to know what to do here, it started out sunny, then went dull and now we are in sunshine again.  Anyway enough of that as it is really annoying.

Thanks again to my new followers, your comments are really appreciated.

Anyway today I thought I would post a birthday card that I made for a 10 year old boy.  It is quite different to my 'norm' but I do like doing different styles.

Here is my shipmate!!

I used two stamps on this card, the pirate and the two small palm trees.  I made the two islands from a piece of fine grade sandpaper and I shaded parts with my Promarkers.  I cut the shark fins out of black thin card and pushed them through two small slits I made in the 'sea' part of the card.  The coconut palm is made out of punches.  I used a very small egg shaped punch for the coconuts and a small circle for the trunk - first of all I cut two small slivers off either side so that there were two flattish edges to layer up.  I made the palm fronds from a fern leaf punch and layered them up with a couple of 'coconuts'. 

The ship and treasure chest were two fancy buttons, they originally had shanks on the back but I chopped these off with my metal cutters.  I typed the sentiment on a piece of thin cream card and I tore the edges and then inked them to make it look aged.  Although it isn't visible I made a little map on a piece of cream paper, did the same with the edges as I did with the sentiment and I then rolled it up and tied it with a tiny - yup very tiny - piece of raffia.  To finish off I drew a few birdies with a fine black pen.

I hope you like this one.  It is different but I do know it was well received!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, you have made my day!!

Many crafty hugs to you.

Sue

DAD'S 65TH BIRTHDAY!

Hello there crafty friends - and a special hello to my new followers, thank you so much for your lovely comments, they really are appreciated.

Our house is in chaos this morning owing to the heating engineer being here to flush out the radiators - oh joy.  I've left hubby to it, 'cos the sound of running water freaks me out and I think we have leaks everywhere!!

Anyway I'm putting another card on my blog today - this is one I made at the request of my neighbour.  She asked me to make one for her dad's birthday and she later told me he was really pleased with it.  Think I blushed with pride!!!

I had seen Jenny (from Hobby Art stamps where these stamps came from) do this technique with the picture mounted on foam above a black and white image.  I loved it, so I thought I would do that and I then added the boat and seagull images also on foam tape.  I used my Promarkers to colour it in and smudged a little Distress Ink underneath the boat/seagull for sand. 

Hope you like it.

MY FIRST, MY LATEST

Hello there - well here I am again talking to anyone out there who may pass by.  I thought for my first picture I would show you the very first card I made about 14 years ago - followed by the latest card I have made.

Here is the first - start giggling .....

As you can see this is a basic card base with handmade paper, a frame (which I did ink around the edges even then) plus three lilac roses and I cut the wire off the roses and twisted it around a paint brush.  Topped it off with a sticker and da da!!!

This probably took me just as long then as it does these days!!

Anyway now for my latest card, I made this a while ago for the GP I have been seeing concerning back problems.  She is on a rotation program at our Surgery for 6 months and will be a GP once she has completed all her training etc.  She has been so kind that I decided to send her a card to wish her luck in her future career.

Hence my first, my latest !!!

Apologies for the photos - they were taken just for me to keep initially, so I will try to do better in the future.  I used a Kraft basic card with a piece of distressed Bazill Basics card on top.  Then I used a piece of paper from my stash (unfortunately I threw the front sheet away and haven't a clue where it came from) I layered the two together.  Then because this card is only 6" x 6"  I used a small ek punch on a  piece of the Bazill card and glued it to my paper.  I ruffled some of the gorgeous vintage ribbon over the punched card.

I then cut out a tag from the creamy card in Sue Wilson's Neutral card stock pack, punched the bottom edge and stamped on it with maroon Archival ink.  Also did a little bit of inking around the edge of the tag because I love the colour!!!  I used a patterned paper with the Aster die for my flower and inked it slightly whilst it was still in the die.  I used some similar paper for the centre of the flowers and added a black button.  I popped a couple of flourishes in between to add some colour and interest and added a stamped 'ticket' sentiment to the top corner with a couple of coloured staples.

I stuck the card/paper layers onto the base card and then added the tag on black sticky foam pads.

This is certainly different from the first card I made as I just glued everything together on that one, all the pieces on this card (apart from ribbon and buttons) started out as sheets of paper.

Well that's it for now - I bet you are thinking thank goodness (those that are still reading, that is).  I will try not to waffle so much on my next post - but I can't promise!!!

By the way, this is keeping me so quiet, my hubby thinks I've left home!!!!!

Thank you for stopping by - I hope you will join me again soon.

Many crafty hugs to you


Sue

MY VERY FIRST BLOG

Well, this is my first blog and boy am I nervous!  Do I know what I am doing - heck no!

First of all I want to thank Suzie from Suzie's Card Den for helping me with my blog layout etc.  I am so technophobic and she said she would set everything up for me and Hey Presto - she did!!!  There are some really kind bloggers out there and Suzie is top of my list.  You should stop by her blog at http://suziescards.blogspot.co.uk/  she is very talented.

I have been card making for around 14 years now.  I started out with one stamp and an ink pad stored in a biscuit tin.  I progressed to a carrier bag! and now have a craft room - full of everything crafty.  Ooh I also have between 4-5000 stamps and am still counting.  My crafting has been a total stress-buster as I had one of those jobs that made you want to tear your hair out!  I was able to come home and toddle off to Planet Susie where crafting is everything and all is lovely.

I will admit to being a tad obsessive about Spellbinders and dies in general, having around 250 sets of them.  Stamping is my first love, although I always use a die cut to stamp onto and to layer up.

As this is my first blog, I will keep it short - I do tend to waffle and go on a bit.  I will also attempt to add a piccy or two next time.

Thank you to anyone who may read my blog and who may leave a comment - please be kind - ooh I'm now laughing out loud!!!!!!!