A Long Post!

I have to give a warning that this is a long and photo heavy post! I just wanted to share the cards I made for a class I gave in An Siopa Buí in Spiddal on Saturday.



Stamps (Penny Black) - Social Butterfly & Petal Party

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera with me so didn't get to take any photos in the class or of the spectacular scenery in Connemara. On the journey to and from Spiddal I saw three double rainbows, which just shows you the kind of weather we had that day - beautiful sunny spells with lots of downpours too!



Stamp (Penny Black) - Betsy Bluebell

Anyway we got to play with some of the fab new Penny Black stamps. Kerry, who owns the shop, was as hospitable and funny as always and I couldn't have asked for a lovelier group of ladies in the class. I hope they enjoyed the day as much as I did!



Stamps - Puzzle Parts (Penny Black) & Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts)

As you'll be able to tell, I couldn't resist doing one of my favourite techniques, emboss resist!



Stamps (Penny Black) - Petal Party & Puzzle Parts

Kerry asked me to show the class how to make a splattered butterfly trail like I had previously made on the first card in this post. So some went with the bold purple background....



Stamps - Social Butterfly (Penny Black) & Birthday Messages (Hero Arts)

...and some with the soft blue background.



Stamps - Social Butterfly (Penny Black) & Birthday Messages (Hero Arts)

Purple is a colour that I don't use very often but I just went for it on this card!



Stamps (Penny Black) - Delicate Pattern & Petal Party

As some of you may have noticed, I love to play with fabric, so at the end of class we made a fabric brooch. You can find a tutorial for making this type of fabric flower here and for the brooch it's just a matter of making a large and small flower and adding a pearl, button or jewel to the centre.



Well done if you've made it all the way through this extra long post! Thanks for visiting:)

Rainbow Star

Recently I’ve been busy, busy with a lot of things going on here, but I knew with the Hooked on Hexagons Challenge going on currently over at the MoxieFab World, it wouldn’t be long before I'd start playing with hexagons again!



Stamps (Hero Arts) – Sew Artsy, Woodgrain Background, Magical Background, Friend Definition, Dot Flower Pattern, Lattice Background and Hydrangea.

As I was trying to make different patterns out of hexagons, I realised that by removing one from the centre of a cluster of hexagons, I could form a star shape. So I used up lots of little scraps, which had already been stamped, to fill my star centre. Then I just added some machine stitching and a sentiment to finish.

One of the things that has been keeping me busy is preparing for a class I'm doing in An Siopa Bui in Spiddal on Saturday and I just finished cutting 75 circles of fabric (thank goodness for Cuttlebugs!) as part of the preparation - phew! Kerry has some sneak peeks here of some of the cards we'll be making. I can't wait for it!

Fizzy Congratulations

For a while I've wanted to make a wedding card which brings in the tradition of tying tins to the wedding car.

I remember having a few sips of coca cola as a kid and really disliking it, with the result that to this day I've never touched it again. But everyone else in the house likes it and I have to say I do like the coca cola cans, lol! Anyway for this card I printed off some tiny images of the cans, applied Glossy Accents and tied them to the wedding car with thread. The sentiment was embossed and I just did a slight bit of colouring on the car.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Going & Every Day Saying

To personalise the card I printed off initials, stamped the registration plate around them and cut the plate out to adhere to the car. The initials I used are my hubby's and mine. I can't believe we'll be married 18 years this year! So the saying is true, time flies by when you're having fun!



I'm submitting this card into the Stamp It! Cards Congratulations Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

Bee Happy

After playing with hexagons the other day for the Hooked on Hexagons Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, I just had to make something else. Can you tell I'm hooked on hexagons?!

To start with I made a hexagon card base, then cut out little hexagons and a hexagon frame - love my Cameo! The little hexagons were cut from white card and I adhered them to a piece of white card and applied mustard seed distress ink. The sentiment was embossed on the frame and I added this and the "honeycomb" to the card base.


Stamp (Hero Arts) - Be Happy

I coloured the little bees and applied diamond stickles to their layered wings. For the hearts I just used a little punch. I'm also submitting this card into Paper Crafts' July Gallery Challenge and the current Hero Arts Challenge.

Hope you are all having a great weekend. I spot a bit of sunshine outside, so I'll have to run out into the garden to make the most of it:)

Make Every Moment Count

Do you ever have an idea in your head for a card that you just have to make? Sometimes I feel that way and the feeling won’t go away until the card is finished. Lol it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a good card, but it’s one I just have to get out of my system.

Well that’s how I felt when I saw Cath’s Hooked on Hexagons Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. A whole jumble of thoughts rushed into my head when I saw the challenge – memories of my first attempt at patchwork (a grandmother’s flower garden table mat, with lots of wonky stitching!) when I was about 10 years old, my dear dad making some of our clothes when we were younger and a visit to a museum in the US years ago, where I spent so much time looking at every last detail of the patchwork quilts there.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Old Letter & Special Time

Some of the quilts in the museum were accompanied by a full history which had been passed down through the generations. However, some quilts had little or no information on their origins. So much time and love had been poured into each and every one of them and the unfinished ones on display really had me wondering what had happened to the people behind them. Also I was fascinated by the little snippets of information that could be gleaned from the back of some of the unfinished paper pieced quilts. Sometimes the backing papers were cut from old newspapers, letters, postcards or whatever was available to these very resourceful quilters who made the most of everything, including their time and supplies.



So I wanted to recreate something like that on my card by using paper, inks (antique linen & walnut stain), a stamp (Linda, thanks again for the Old Letter stamp) and some old floral fabrics. After cutting, inking and stamping the hexagons, I tacked fabric on them and whip stitched the hexagons together. I left the tacking and the end of the piece of thread I had used to sew the hexagons together to add to the unfinished look. The red tacking thread I’ve had for years and is one I use sparingly, as my dad used it and also the thimble in the photo. When I finished the card I realized I hadn’t a clue what sentiment I’d use on it, but as soon as I saw this Hero Arts sentiment in my supplies, I knew it was the one for this card.

Love Bugs

The fireflies and jar in the Hero Arts’ Picnic set reminded me of the first time I ever saw fireflies when I was on summer holidays in New York years ago - I thought they were fascinating and so cool!


Stamps (Hero Arts) – Picnic & Small Variety Alphabet

I stamped the jar and fireflies and as I wanted to make a mini jar card, enlarged the image on a photocopier. Then I adhered the image to a piece of folded card and cut through the layers to form the front and back of the card. After a little bit of colouring, I added some stickles and punched hearts. The sentiment was stamped on a punched tag.

I'm submitting this card into Stamp It! Cards Love Card Challenge in the Moxie Fab World , the current Hero Arts Challenge, and Paper Crafts' July Gallery Challenge.

Hope you all have a great weekend!