Where I Belong...

I wanted to share a little of my home town Seaham with you.

After tea I went for a stroll with my Mam and my eldest Daughter Lauren along the coast.

the images below are only a couple of minutes away from my home now and I'm sure you'll agree that the views are quite breathtaking.

The image below was my playground as a child although it looks quite different now, it is known locally as The Blast and before Dawdon Colliery was closed 25th July 1991 the slurry from the coalmine was dumped on the seashore here.

Nature is now claiming back the land and although the sand is not yellow yet it has turned into a beautiful place.

Not a cloud in the sky, they sea was so calm.

This is the view I had from my bedroom window as a child, we lived on the coalmine grounds and I could see the lighthouse, I loved to watch it on a night when it was dark blinking it's light to guide the fishing boats safely home.

This is one of the views from the cliff tops and that hill in the background is where I would love to build a house "sigh" imagine waking up each morning opening the curtains and seeing the view in the pictures above "oh how I dream".

Buttercups are a childhood memory for me, I remember holding them under our chins and if the yellow reflected on our skin we used to say that it was a sign that we liked butter, very strange how a young mind works.

Friendship Card - Sepia Notes

A friendship card, quite often I send a card as a notelet or pop one in a package I'm sending, purely because it doesn't have to be an occasion to send someone a card, I think everyone enjoys receiving one.

This started out as a 15 x 15 cm card then by scoring down at the halfway mark on the front facing cover and then bending it back you now have a concertina card I then cut out the brown card at 14.5 x 14.5 cm for the insert and 14.5 x 7cm for the front and again cut some cream card a little smaller than both pieces.

I used the Rollergraph script stamp wheel and scattered straw distress ink pad and rolled the stamp over the insert cream card then using some sponge in a circular motion dabbing it into the ink I distressed both pieces of the cream card.

I then stamped both pieces of card using flower stamps and a sentiment in a close to cocoa ink, the front piece with the sentiment on then had 2 semi circles punched out at the top and the bottom of the card. I finished by adding ribbon.

Cupcake Box & Floral Punch Craft

This is a little cupcake that I made for a Challenge over at the Stampin Out Alzheimers Site, the template is a free give away by DigiChick.

Of course I added my signature to the design and made a Floral Punch Craft Rose to sit on the top of the cake

Papertrey Ink - Blog Hop

May Blog HopSpring and summer tend to be the most colorful out of the four seasons. One color in particular that evokes the warmer weather is yellow!!! Your challenge this month is to use this trendsetting color to the best of it's potential! You can use it in small pieces as an accent or as the main color. Experiment & play, discovering new color combos that perhaps you hadn't thought of before. No matter what, just have fun and enjoy the feeling of happiness that this cheerful color evokes!

Wishing You... is a new Stamp set from Papertrey Ink.

I thought it needed a bright card to do the stamp set justice so here it is, I inked the tulip heads with summer sunrise palette ink then smooched some pure poppy ink at the top of the flower heads then cut them out, the dots and wording are stamps from the same set I used these in place of the stems, although they are in the set to use.

The base card is white the deep orange overlay card has been had a border punched out using the EK Success border punch then a bright yellow card embossed with the cuttlebug swiss dots folder and the corners punched using a Kreaxions punch

I used the Sympathy stamp set by Papertrey Ink to create my card, the top part of the card was stamped with the flourish stamp then I cut a diagonal slit in the card and slotted the oval nestabilities die though the slit so that only part of the card was die cut, I then cut around the rest of the flourish to finish this.

I used a punch to cut out the flowers and added a pearl to each of them.

Thomas Kinkade - Cobblestone Bridge

It's been a good while since I made a vintage card,so, what better way that to used one of the Thomas Kinkade rubber stamps, this one is Cobblestone Bridge.

I used chocolate chip ink from Stamping up and a brayer to ink up the stamp, the brayer ensures a thin even coat of ink which these stamps demand.

I burnt the endes of the image and using a teabag (used after making a cuppa) gently dabbed away to give it a sepia tone. I layered the image on top of wine coloured card and used the binder punch (Stamping Up) on the edge then ripped away the card and edged it with a gold pen.

A vitage scrapbook page for the background with a piece of jute wrapped around it leaf brads button and ribbon to finish.

Help Needed - Green Fingers

Those of you that know me well will also know that shamefully I am useless when it comes to plants, I know I like them but that is as far as my green fingers go.

I wanted to grow some Poppies so with seeds in hand and a propergater I set to growing my own.

Now comes the complicated bit. I know I have to transfer each little shoot into an egg box looking planter but:

exactly when do I do that?

also do I need to take the lid off the propergater now?

below is some pictures of the shoots as they are now and one has a 1 pence piece next to the shoots so you can see how big they are.

Come on you green fingered lot, leave a comment and help me out.

Sizzix Bigz Die - Decorative Accent W/Flower

Using the Sizzix Bigz Die - Decorative Accent W/Flower I made this card, I cut out the accent and sponged the flowers in light blue and the flourish in a sage green ink, I used the Cuttlebug Swiss dots folder on the white background and used the Nestabilities Label die cut out and distressed then stamped the prayer on top with the same sage ink.

Layered it all on top of the green base card and finished with a satin ribbon.

Engagement Card

An Engagement card, I thought I'd keep on the cake theme and this Cake stamp by Papertrey Ink seemed perfect for the job.

It is stamped with Ocean Tides Pallete Ink then the blossoms with Versamark then heat set with white embossing powder, The Label 1 Nestabilities where used to cut out the shapes and Kreaxion punch used for the corners, all tied together with a satin ribbon and a few blossoms and pearls added to finish.

Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe

Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe just couldn't be easier.

ingrediants

8oz Caster Sugar, 8oz butter or Margerine, 8oz Self Raising Flour

4 Eggs, Pinch of salt, 2 Fresh Lemons

Method

Beat the sugar and butter until light and creamy, add 2 eggs the salt and roughly a 3rd of the flour and beat into the mixture, grate the rind of the lemons and add this to the mixture add the remaining 2 eggs and another 3rd of the flour and beat well.

Add the last of the flour into the mixture but do not beat this, fold in gently I use the figure of 8 method.
Grease a large cake tin, mine is a 8.5" round tin, add the mixture and bake at 180C for around 40 - 45 mins

Topping

Squeeze the juice of the lemons and add sugar to it untill it is a thick consistancy and spoon the mixture over the top of the cake while it is still warm.

Rubberstamp Tapestry - Violet Border

A rubberstamp Tapestry Card made using the Violet Border Peg Stamp set by Rubberstamp Tapestry

I punched the corners with the EK success Heart corner adorna andthen glued a lavender shade card on the inside of the base card so that it would show through where I'd used the corner punch, with the same shade lavender card I cut out the Larger of the 2 Nestabilities label dies then cut out the smaller one in white and used the peg stamps on top of the white label.

I used Versacolor ink pads in shades Lavenderfor the flowers and butterfly, Split Pea for the lush foilage and Fresh Green for the bunnytail grass.

the 2 label die shapes were glued together and then a ribbon wrapped around them and tied in a bow at the front, I also slotted a charm onto the ribbon to lie at the top of the label shapes. I used a block You are loved sentiment stamp also by Rubberstamp Tapestry in the center of the label shaped with the same lavender ink.

Everything was layered on top of the base card then I stamped the Bitterflies evenly spaces around the label shapes.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

I baked a cake!

Something I haven't done in a little while, yesterdays card set me off on the lemon theme I think.

My Mam when I was at home baked the most amazing goodies from home made bread to the finest cakes I've ever had and her lemon drizzle cake was just to die for.

I set to baking this for work thinking that it would go down very nicely with our 11 o'clock cuppa, unfortunately whilst I was cutting it up and packaging it a piece just fell in my mouth (funny how that happens) well I can even begin to tell you just how mouth watering delicious it is.

Finger licking good.

Sow Summer - Copic Markers

We had a bit of Sunshine and so the summer colours got an airing.

I used a pale blue base card then using a piece of lemon card embossed it using the Swiss Dot cuttlebug folder and and wrapped a sheer blue ribbon around this and tied a bow on the back of the lemon card (I decided to use it with the reversed debossed side).

I stamped the wheat stamp onto white card stock and coloured it with copic markers then used the nestabilities to cut it into an oval (2 little pieces of low tack tape hold the nestabilities in place whilst cutting out) I cut out a blue oval with the scalloped die. The sentiment stamp was from a Papertrey Ink stamp set cut out with the SU word slot punch.

Fleur De Li's - Passion

After sitting at my craft desk for many hours with a crafting block and panicking that I'd lost my MoJo this is what I came up with. It was the punch that inspired me, I just punched out the shape from a piece of black card and slowly I started to build up the image of what I wanted.

Panic over...

I punched four more Fleur De Li's from black card stock and arranged them onto a square of red card stock I used a black button and tied red and black ribbon and knotted it at the front of the button.

I added black diamond stickles glitter glue to accent the shapes then matted and layered onto a piece of black card to form a frame.

Attention to detail; the punched red shapes that popped out of the card have been sponged with black ink and added above the punched Fleur De Li's holes to mirror the image, the black pearls were added to the red sponged shapes.

If you are wondering where the black pearls came from well I have to admit to cheating, I only had normal pearl colours but used a permanent black marker to colour them.

Dandelion & Flourish Card

I started with a Black base card 14 x 14cm and using a Stamp around wheel and So Swirly Jumbo wheel by stamping up I rolled it down one side of the card with versamark and heat set with black embossing powder.

The rectangle shapes were cut using the nestablities dies and stamped the Dandelion in black ink onto the smallest of the rectangle shapes.

Finished with a sheer white ribbon tied into a bow.

Acetate card

I've yet to figure out how to take a good picture of an acetate card, it always seems to catch the light.

The little birds were stamped directly onto the acetate card using white Stazon, I using matting a layering with the Nestabilities Label dies and pretty papers I stamped the sentiment onto the top layer then the bird onto a scrap piece of white card and cut it out before adding it to the card, a pretty ribbon and a blossom to finish.

I think the hardest part of making a clear acetate card is hiding where you attach the pieces to it, I get round this by adding the same to the back of the acetate to mirror the front and this seems to work well for me.

My Star

I thought I would share a family moment with you all, Picture the scene.
Natalie set up her Mixer equipment up in the loft and started singing, I'm sure the rest of the street will have enjoyed it as much as I did, this was the result, I love sitting with her while she sings.

Please be patient, the video takes time to open, there is no picture just the song itself.

either on You Tube here

or play below

Melting Pot Beads - Suze Weinbrrg

I bought this little beauty at Graphicus after seeing it demo'd on Friday

I have to say it is a learning curve as I have burnt fingers and at one point even managed to burn and discolour the UTEE.

However I persevered and ended up with some pretty unusual bead charms see images below.

I will now invest in more colours of UTEE to satisfy my craze.

A few of the beads I made with the Melting Pot

ScorPal Handbag

I needed a little something to pop a gift voucher into to a handbag it was.

I love playing around with the ScorPal and this was the result of playing with score line.

Flowersoft - Life

A card using Flowersoft and the Papertrey Ink Life stamp set.

I used the Cuttlebug Swiss dit folder to emboss the base card then used Martha Stewart punches to add a fancy edge to some green papers, The life wording and the flowers were stamped onto card cut out with a Nestabilities Label die and the edge of the lable sponged in the same green ink, I then added some Flowersoft to the sprigs and added a tiny bow to the corner of the card.

This shot give you a close up of the flowers, just a dab of glue and a sprinkle of flowersoft.