Welcome Baby

I wanted to try the letter tile technique that you can see here in Shari Carroll's brilliant video. So I decided to make a baby card and use some pretty pastel colours inspired by Cath's Pastel Pretties Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World this week.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - New Baby, Dolls, Adorable Baby Girl and Small Variety Alphabet

I just used a bit of baker's twine for the clothes line and added little letter tiles and tops which had been embossed. It was fun looking through my stamps for some little images to put on the tops.



The sentiment strip was cut to match the letter tiles and the sentiment was embossed on it. To finish I added the little heart pearls and dots with a white gel pen.

Tuesday Trigger - Pastel Pretties


Well as you'll see from the photo below, once I started making the baby tops I couldn't stop making them and enjoyed picking out Hero Arts images and punched pieces to go on them. Now I'm all prepared for any babies that may arrive!


I'm also submitting this card into the current Hero Arts Challenge.

ATCs Swapped with Libby

Last week I blogged about the fabulous ATCs I received from Libby in a swap organised over at the Hero Arts Flickr Group. Now Libby has finally received the ATCs I sent her. Unfortunately, this set was made in bit of a hurry as I mislaid the set I had originally made for Libby, so please ignore the dodgy bits on the ATCs! Libby came up with the great idea of making the ATCs based on what we love, so here are some of the things I love:

1. Family and home & 2. Gardening and butterflies


Stamps (Hero Arts) 1. House with Plant & Right at Home 2. Leafy Vines

On the first ATC I just applied distress inks to a piece of paper from a book and coloured the house with markers. For the second one I embossed the vines, applied mowed lawn distress ink and spritzed with a mix of perfect pearls and water. The tiny layered butterflies were punched out.

3. Sewing/fabric & 4. Ireland



Stamps (Hero Arts) 3. Sew Artsy & Be Happy 4. Postcard Collage

For the sewing ATC I embossed the machine, cut out the image and added some thread. Then I frayed some fabric for the background, stamped the sentiment and hand stitched over it. On the Ireland ATC I just stamped the map on some kraft card, distressed the edges and used markers to colour the map of Ireland.

5. Hillwalking & 6. Glendalough/historical places



Stamps (Hero Arts) 5. Be Happy 6. Scattered Leaves & Magical Background

On the hillwalking card I rummaged through my fabrics for a mix of colours, shades and patterns and tried to make a background that looked like a lake and mountains. The sun was stamped on card with distress ink applied. Then on my last ATC I framed a photo from Glendalough in a die cut window and added it to a background which had been covered with distress ink and stamped with the Magical Background and leaves.

I had so much fun making these little cards and really enjoyed my swap with Libby.

Handmade Home Décor - Happy St Patrick's Day

I promise after today I won't post any more St Patrick's Day projects until next year! But today Handmade Home Décor from Paper Crafts goes on sale and I am thrilled to have a project in it, especially one for St Patrick's Day.



It was a pretty quick and easy project to make thanks to my Silhouette Cameo. I just love these flourished hearts and thought they might make a pretty shamrock.



When I received the magazine I was delighted to see I'm sharing a page with Isha who I got to know through the Hero Arts Group over on Flickr. Isha made the most adorable Easter Bunny Banner - you can see a little peek of it in my photo above.



I'm more used to making cards rather than anything else so it's brilliant to find a magazine full of paper crafted home décor items for each season. I think I'll be neglecting the housework a bit to try my hand at some of the ideas in the magazine!

Double Rainbow Shamrock

Happy St Patrick's Day! This morning (I know I'm very late!), I decided to make a St Patrick's Day card to celebrate the day that's in it.

Of all the symbols associated with Ireland I think my favourite has to be the shamrock, because of how pretty it looks and the story of it and St Patrick. So I thought I'd do something a little different with the shamrock and play on another symbol associated with St Patrick's Day - rainbows.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Magical Background & Celebrate Everyday

To make the shamrock I took scraps in a rainbow of colours and cut the bigger hearts using my Silhouette Cameo and punched out the smaller hearts. Then I layered them up and added some stitching. As I can't draw to save my life, I used the outline of one of the bigger hearts to make the stem of the shamrock. Then it was just a matter of stamping the sentiment and adding a background stamp.



After looking through my stamps, I picked the Magical Background stamp as it reminds me of the circular patterns often found carved into stone in historical places here including Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth in the Boyne Valley.



Carved stone at Knowth

The Tuesday Trigger: Elegant Emerald over at Moxie Fab World inspired the use of a number of different shades of green on the card and I added the layers and layers of hearts to represent the ruffles.



I'm also submitting the card into the Happy St Patrick's Day Challenge at Whimsical Designs.

Yikes I just looked out the window and it looks like we might have a bit of white to add to the green today - it's snowing lightly! Well I'm off to enjoy the day. Hope you have a fun St Patrick's Day!

Wedding Card in Card Creations Vol. 11

Today I have a card that I made back in October but can finally share here, as it was recently published in Card Creations Volume 11.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Lace Background & Warmest Wedding Wishes

Besides playing with paper I just love playing with fabric so, whenever I can, I enjoy combining both on a project. On this wedding card I tried to achieve a pretty, romantic look, so started by making the satin and organza flower which dictated my colour scheme and then I just went to town on the card with embossing, lace and pearls.



Card Creations Volume 11 is such a big magazine packed full of wonderful cards and ideas. I love the way it’s divided into sections for every imaginable occasion and I know I’ll be dipping into it again and again for inspiration.

We’re enjoying an extra long weekend this weekend with a bank holiday on Monday. This morning I can see blue skies and am hoping the weather forecasters are wrong with their predication of showers for St Patrick’s Day. Hope you have a wonderful weekend wherever you are!

ATC Heaven!

I was so excited when I got home from work the other night and discovered a package from the very talented and sweet Libby Hickson. Libby and I were paired up in an ATC swap over at the Hero Arts Flickr group. We did our swap at a leisurely pace, in my case at a very leisurely pace indeed as I mislaid the first set of ATCs I had made for Libby! Anyway I'm hoping that Libby will receive the ATCs I made any day now, but for the moment I'd love to show you the amazing ATCs I received from Libby. It's a pity my photos don't do any justice to just how beautiful they are in real life.

For our swap Libby came up with the great idea of making ATCs based on what we love and I had fun guessing what Libby would come up with. Lol now why is it that I don't have a chocolate stamp in my stash?! If you know Libby at all, you'll know that one of her big loves is cycling so I was delighted to see this fun biking scene with the cute glittery bicycle and sweet banners. Being a bit of a fabric fiend I just love the way Libby used canvas on the seashell ATC and layered the images so beautifully, to show her love for the oceans, aquariums and fish. Not only does the ATC look pretty but it feels lovely too.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - 1. Cloud Backgrounds, Envelope Pattern, 2. Antique Engravings

Next up is a gorgeous, gorgeous ATC representing Libby's love of poppies, flowers and gardens. Not only is the colouring fab but I wish you could see the wonderful glimmering gold background in all its glory. Isn't the veggie ATC showing Libby's love for cooking and vegetables just the cutest? I have to say I'm a girl (or I should say auld wan!) who loves her veggies and this ATC just makes me smile.


Stamps (Hero Arts)- 1. Delicate Blossoms & Friend Definition 2. Kiss the Cook

Now we're off travelling with Libby to a couple of her favourite places - Texas and New York. Again there's wonderful colouring, distressing and layering on Libby's Texas ATC and it's just such a fun one. I've never been to Texas but I'm with Libby on loving New York City. It's such a brilliant place to visit and I love the wonderful, atmospheric sky Libby has created as a backdrop to this lovely skyscraper skyline stamp.


Stamps (Hero Arts)- 1. Howdy, Magical Background 2. Newspaper Skyline

As you can probably tell I just LOVE all of these ATCs! I included the names of stamps when I recognise them but I'm afraid I've missed out on a few. Libby, thanks again for swapping with me, I enjoyed it so much! Also thanks for all the yummy goodies you included in your package, I'm going to have great fun playing with them:)You can find Libby's inspiring blog here.