STYLISH MISS!

March is proving to be a very busy month, and the past week has been no exception. It was 'all go' with birthdays, catching up and celebrating. Yesterday was my Mother-In-Law's and I made her a card and matching gift bag with the Miss Anya set from 'The Greeting Farm'. These cuties flew of our shelves in the blink of an eye last week, but we have more coming soon, along with some of the wonderful new releases.

I chose the Miss Anya with shopping bags for my card and bag, and went with a bold Pink and Black colour scheme. I have used the fab sketch from last weeks Cute Card Thursday for the layout of the card, I loved the idea of putting the image on a tag!

I added a Sizzix swirl and Prima flower for extra embellishment, and added stickles to the swirl and image for sparkle.

I decorated the inside of the card using a few scraps of paper left over from the front.

The gift bag was made from a 12x12 sheet of double sided card stock, wrapped around a square tray I had made from card. I stamped Miss Anya on a Nestabillitie Heart and layered her onto the centre of the bag. I finished with a wide ribbon wrapped around the base, and added ribbon handles to the top.

Tomorrow we are sponsoring the 'A Spoonfull Of Sugar' challenge again, so please check back for the details of the challenge and to find out what prize can be won.

We are also holding a stall at the Maxx Paper craft show in Barnsley's Metrodome this coming Sunday, so if you are free it would be great to meet you!

Thanks for looking, Katie.

SPOONFULL OF SUGAR WINNER AND NEW ARRIVALS!

We were asked to sponsor the 'A Spoonfull Of Sugar' challenge again last week and today the winner was announced. Congratulations to Bev (http://bevscrafts.blogspot.com/) who wins the Prima embellishments (Chipboard buttons, Brads and Centre Kisses). We will get your prize in the post A.S.A.P!

We have some great new arrivals this week over at http://www.nutcrafters.com/, including some wonderful stamps from the very popular Greeting's Farm. These will include the 'Miss Anya' set, 'Princess Anya' and the 'Rock the Farm' set.

We also have more of the lovely Sarah Kay stamps from Stampavie arriving, Including Rose's Garden, First Kiss and Picnic time.

We will be sponsoring A spoonfull of Sugar again next Tuesday, so please check in to see what you could win. Congratulations to Bev again, and thank you for looking.

Katie.

TRIO OF GIFTS

It's nearly Mothers Day here in England and I have been working on a special project for my Mum. I decided to make her a co~ordinating gift set including a card, candle and mini fruit cake.
I chose Stampavie's Sarah Kay 'Spring Blossoms' stamp as my Mum loves Gardening. My colour scheme for my project was Chocolate and Blue, and I used papers, ribbons and inks in these shades so each item matched.



I made the card on a square brown base and layered it with decorative card stock. I stamped the image onto an oval of white card and coloured using water colours. I finished with Prima 'Obsessions' embossed flowers and blue and brown ribbons.


The candle was made using the tissue paper and heat gun method and again finished with the matching blue and brown ribbons.

My mini fruit cake is my favourite part of this gift and I am so pleased with how it looks.
The cake was brushed with boiled apricot jam to seal then covered with Marzipan and sugarpaste.

I left the cake to dry out for a few days (a week is ideal) so that I had a nice firm surface to stamp upon. I then inked up my stamp with black food colouring and after a few practices on spare paper, I stamped it onto my cake. I carefully coloured the images with food colours to match my other creations and piped a small shell border around to neaten it up. Again I finished with the matching blue and brown ribbons.

Using food colours instead of inks makes the cake entirely edible, but knowing my Mum she won't want to cut it!

Thanks for looking, Katie.

HOW TIME FLIES!

Today's post is a quicky! Tomorrow my friends eldest Daughter will be 7, and I really don't know where the time has gone. I started my full time job as a cake Decorator just over seven years ago, when my friend Steph went on Maternity leave and now her tiny baby is a gorgeous seven year old!

Phoebe's card has been made using Tilda with Lilacs and Tilda's swing (both from Magnolia). I have also added a 'Happy Birthday', which is a High Hopes stamp, and a number seven, stamped using the Penny black number set. I finished the card with a couple of Prima Obsession flowers and a Dragonfly charm.

Have to dash, we have a stall a the 'Max Paper Craft' show, in Sunderland tomorrow and there is plenty still to be done, hopefully ending with a hot bath and an early night, but I think I will just have to dream on that one, lol!

Thanks for looking, Katie.

SPECIAL MUM

How time flies! Already its the end of February and Spring has nearly arrived (yeah!). Along with Spring, the month of March brings Mothers Day. I have been busy all week working on a few Mothers Day and Easter themed designs. Today's crafty morsel is a little gift box, designed with Mum in mind, but lets not forget Mothers day can be for Grans, Aunties and role models too!

I made the base and lid the same. Using double sided card stock, I have cut 2 large scalloped circles, and 2 long strips (one slightly wider than the other). For the base, the wider strip of card was scored, cut and glued into position. The lid was made the same way, after I had cut a window into the remaining scalloped circle. Once the sides of the lid were glued into place, I attached a piece of acetate for the window, and glued into place inside the lid.

I chose the Sarah Kay 'Spring Blossoms' stamp from Stampavie for the decoration. She is a real cutie, and the wispy - whimsical style of the image seemed perfect for Mum!

The image was stamped in black ink and water coloured to match the card stock, then cut out and stuck to the lid of the box. I finished with a co-ordinating ribbon, and just need to fill it with something tasty - maybe some chocolates!

There will be more with this wonderful stamp to come, I think I must have inked her up about a hundred times- lol!

Thanks for looking, Katie.

FORGETFUL!

It has to be said that I sometimes am a little forgetful, and find myself making lists for almost everything I do! Shopping lists, lists of jobs that need doing, even when packing for holidays I have to write myself check lists. I find them stuffed in my pockets and my bag ends up overflowing with little notes and reminders! This is why today's craft creation has been made - To help my memory! (I'm only 26 might I add, I don't even want to think of my mental capacity in another 26 years, Lol!).

I recently bought a chipboard house shape from a craft fayre and thought it would be perfect for a memo board. I covered it in decorative paper and stuck a 'post-it' style note pad to the centre. Sweeping Tilda seemed an ideal choice of decoration as my memos tend to be housework related and the Prima mulberry paper leaves were added for colour. (I also thought it looked sweet that Tilda was sweeping them up!)

I cut my 'MEMOS' wording using my Sizzix machine and added another touch of brightness with a turquoise Prima Obsession flower and Urban Cosmos Brad. I finished my memo board by adding 3 strips of self adhesive magnetic tape to the back, this way I can have my reminders on my fridge, somewhere I'm bound to notice!

Thanks for looking, Katie.

SOMETHING NEW!

I had a crafting day with my Mum on Saturday, she came over to my house for Lunch and then we got stuck into my bag of new Magnolia stamps! I decided to try a different style of card which I have seen so many amazing examples of on other peoples blogs, and that was to decorate the inside of the card as well as the outside.

I was a little unsure of what I was doing to start, but once I chose my stamps (Sweetheart Tilda and Love Muffin) and settled on my colour scheme (Chocolate and Raspberry seemed a yummy choice!) the inspiration just flowed, and I am so pleased with the results.

I decided to keep the outside fairly simple as there was going to be extra decoration inside. I stamped the Love Muffin onto a white rectangle of card and water coloured it. I then inked the edges in brown and layered it on my chosen papers, finishing with a sheer ribbon bow tied around the bottom. I then stamped, coloured and cut out Tilda and using 'pop dots' sat her on the cake. This was then added to my card which i had covered in decorative paper and finished with Prima flowers and a Chipboard Button.

Inside the card I decorated both sides, using the same stamps and paper as I had for the front.

I stamped another love muffin, and layered it onto my papers, and facing that I inked the edges of a spare piece of white card for the sentiment and again layered this onto my chosen papers. I finished with a circle (cut with nestabilities) stamped with Tilda's face.

Definitely a new technique for me, but one I enjoyed and can see myself doing again and again (time permitting of course...lol)!

Thanks for looking, Katie.