A Nice Surprise

I popped over to Lisa Craft Fairy's blog this morning to check out this week's die cut challenge and was very surprised and delighted to learn my card from last week was awarded card of the week.  If you read this Lisa, thank you,  I'm glad you liked the card.

Anyway on to this week's challenge which Lisa has set which is to make a card featuring a scalloped square die cut. I wanted to do a card using the scalloped square as a frame but  I don't have any large Nestabilities square dies or punches.  As a substitute I modified a Nellie Snellen rectangle into a square and came up with this:

Ingredients:  Nellen Snellen die, Cuttlebug cake die and embossing folder, My Minds Eye papers, Nestabilities oval dies, Quickutz number dies, ribbons and pins from stash and finally pen stitching.

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday and so I had to venture into my least favourite card making genre: Men's cards!

Thankfully The Graphics Fairy came up trumps with a suitable image and here's the finished card:

I added 'Dad' to the Graphics Fairy image in Photoshop and printed it onto some canvas printer paper to give it a more vintage feel.

The other ingredients: October afternoon papers, Sizzix tag die stamped with a Papermania stamp, circle clip from stash, inking and pen stitching.

Thanks for looking.

Ruthie x

A New Challenge

Lisa (Crafty Fairy) has launched a new challenge over on her blog.

Welcome to Shape of the Week Sunday!

I decided to set a Die Cutting based challenge on my blog every week, as there does not seem to be many die cutting challenges about so i thought this may inspire people!!

So my challenge to you is to make a card using a die of a scalloped circle - there are tons out there and i think it is a popular die!!

This challenge gave me the kick up the bum I need on Bank Holiday Monday to make my Mum's birthday card:

Ingredients:  Scalloped circle dies (large one is Nestabilities and small  one under the button is a Cuttlebug die), October Afternoon papers, Cuttlebug butterfly die, home-made journalling spot (made in Photoshop), Cuttlebug letters dies, mini bulldog clip from Paperchase, button from stash, pen stitching.

After I finished the card on Monday we headed out to Morecambe for a walk along the prom and to make most of the unusually nice weather.  It was also a good opportunity for me to practice my photography. Here's a shot I took when we walked down the Stone Jetty looking back towards the Midland Hotel:

Of course a trip to Morecambe wouldn't be complete for me without my favourite ice-cream treat, a Snowball Topper.  Although this has featured on my blog before I still had to take a photo of the 2010 version!

While I was queueing for my ice cream I managed to get another shot of the fabulously retro Sunset Ices ice-cream van:

(The composition isn't brilliant on this one, but I was limited as I was in the queue!)

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

Cameras, Chester and a Card

***Warning, picture heavy post***

Last Sunday was my birthday and as a present Mr Crafty Blogger paid for me to do a 1:1 photo course with the photographer and crafter extraordinaire the wonderful Kirsty Wiseman.

So last Friday I headed off to meet Kirsty.  I had a fantastic day and learnt loads about portrait photography and editing which enhances rather than destroys photos.  Although I could already shoot semi-auto and manual Kirsty managed to increase my confidence and prove that with a few tweaks I can get some great shots from my camera.  Here's a couple of shots from the day:

First this is me taken by Kirsty with my camera (pic from Kirsty's blog):

and here's one I took of Kirsty:

If you have a DSLR camera I cannot recommend the course highly enough!  If you are a beginner to DSLR photography it will save you months of reading manuals, tutorials and books.  If you know a bit more about it like I did it will increase your confidence and teach you lots of invaluable tips and tricks.

On Saturday I celebrated my birthday with friends and a trip to Chester Races.  A while ago I blogged about my intention to make a dress and I am pleased to report that I did make one and wore it to the races.  (It nearly didn't make it as I was still hemming it at 12.30am on Friday morning).

Here's a pic of me (on the left) and a friend waiting for the train to Liverpool.  It has to be said we got some funny looks when we boarded.

Once we got to Lime Street station there were a lot more race-goers knocking about so we blended in a bit more.  By the time we got to Chester we looked normal and after a lovely pub lunch we joined the hoardes of people heading to the course:

I had never been to the races before and my previous betting experience was limited to an annual flutter on the Grand National.   However I did manage to pick one winner (out of 8 races) and I did finish 'up' by £2.50.  Mr Crafty Blogger did significantly better, backing 4 of the 8 winners.    Here he is "studying the form" or whatever you do when you don't pick horses by their name or the jockey's silks:

(photo was taken on my mobile.  If you have an Android phone download Vignette, it's great fun)

Fortunately Mr Crafty Blogger's success meant the drinks were on him!

Finally as this is a craft blog I thought I had better share a card.  This is the thank you I made for Kirsty following the photo course:

Ingredients:  Basic Grey Offbeat paper, Quickutz and Cuttlebug alphabet dies, mini bulldog clip from Paperchase, Fiskars threading water punch.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

Sculpted Paper Roses

You will have probably noticed that sculpted paper roses are everywhere at the moment.  Prima do them and YouTube is full of tutorials on how to make them.

I started having a go at making them a couple of weeks ago with very limited success (by "limited" I actually mean NO success).  However, yesterday I had a bit of a breakthrough and managed to make this:

Most tutorials rely on using a 6 petal flower punch or die which I didn't own so my early (failed) attempts involved hand cutting the flowers.  This works well if you are very good with scissors, but unfortunately mine looked like I done them blindfolded with blunt scissors!

After trying and failing with the scissors I went punch/die hunting.  I ruled out getting a punch as they cost about £10 and I find their use quite limited.  A die seemed a more sensible option as I have a Cuttlebug so next stop was the Sizzix range.

I decided that the new Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals die was what I needed.  Unfortunately these dies seem to be in pretty short supply and are going for silly money on Ebay so no luck there.

Luckily during my Sizzix hunt I stumbled across this die set from Marianne D:

Not only is it perfect for making paper roses but I will also get loads of other uses out of it as a normal die. 

Anyway, enough of my shopping, back to the paper roses.  As you may have gathered I cut the petals and leaves using the die.  Both are cut from My Minds Eye paper which I stuck together to make double sided.  The method for assembling the rose was based on a hybrid the following tutorials:

Splitcoast Stampers Tutorial  (this one uses the elusive Tim Holtz Die)

YouTube Video

To finish the leaves I curled them round a pencil like the flower petals.

Thanks for looking and sorry for the slightly arty pics. Can you tell my latest obsession is my new Android phone and the Vignette app!

Ruthie x

With Love Card

A couple of pics of a card I made today:

Ingredients:

Paper - My Mind's Eye (magazine freebie :-) )

Cuttlebug embossing folder
Quickutz leaf die
Paper roses made using Cuttlebug scalloped circle dies and Papermania brads

Vintage ticket designed in Photoshop and cut with a Sizzix die

Ribbon from stash

Pins from local market

I think Spring may have finally sprung.  Mr Crafty Blogger and I took advantage of the lovely sunny weather we had a lunchtime today and went out for a walk.  

As always I took loads of photos and thought I would share this one: 

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

Easter Sweetie Gift Bag {Inspired by Craft Fairy}

I was blog hopping the other day and stopped by Craft Fairy's blog.  She makes fab cards, and also fantastic gifts including sweetie gift bags.  (I paticularly like her Bunny Tails bags, they are very cute.)

I decided to have a go at making some myself to give as Easter gifts for my team members at work.  I popped into my local Aldi and managed to get some chocolate eggs and here's some of the finished products:

Ingredients: Chocolate eggs from Aldi, Boss Kuts little bird die, Nestabilties ovals dies and a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Thanks for looking and thanks to Lisa Craft Fairy for blogging her sweetie bags.

A Few Recent Projects

Here's some pics of my recent projects:

Free Standing Pop-up Card:

Ingredients: Papers - My Minds Eye (freebie with February's Card Making and Papercraft magazine), Cuttlebug, Quickutz and Nestabilities dies, Poundland stick on gems, Hobbycraft ribbons, Fiskars scalloped lace punch and finally a dreaded peel off!

The tutorial for the pop-up card is from Splitcoast Stampers HERE.

Easel Birthday Card:

This was a card I made for my mother in law's birthday.

Ingredients: Papers - My Minds Eye (freebie with February's Card Making and Papercraft magazine), Nestabilities dies, Cuttlebug embossing folders, butterfly punches, Fiskars scalloped lace punch, scrabble tile letters (Papermania I think), paper flowers from Sarah's Cards, Papermania pearl brad, lace from my local market and Making Memories pom-pom ribbon.

The easel card tutorial is also from Splitcoast Stampers HERE

Mother's Day Card:

Ingredients: Papers - My Minds Eye (freebie with February's Card Making and Papercraft magazine), Nestabilities and Quickutz dies, Cuttlebug embossing folders, paper flowers from Sarah's Cards LTD, Papermania pearl brads, Hobbycraft ribbon and heart pin from my local market.

Valentine's Day Projects:
For Mr Crafty Blogger's valentines card I decided to get my camera out and do a photocard. 

The first challenge was where to find Love Hearts sweets following the demise of our beloved Woolworths.  Fortunately Wilkinsons have stepped into the breach and I was able to get a few packets to set up my photo shoot:

About 500 photos later I managed to get this picture:

I cropped the picture down and printed it onto canvas paper (Aldi special buy a few weeks ago) to produce the final card:

The photo was post processed using  Coffee Shop's Butterscotch vintage action followed by a bit of my own tweaking.  If you use Photoshop Elements (as I do), you really need to visit Rita at the Coffee Shop blog, as her actions are FREE and they all work in PSE!!!! 

Mr Crafty Blogger did not fully escape my paper crafting.  I filled a Kilner jar with is favourite chocolates and made a little tag.

Ingredients: Cuttlebug and Quickutz dies, scrap paper and cardboard, Papermania stamp, ribbons and button from stash.

Mountain Rescuer's Birthday Card:

If in doubt with a man's birthday card, go back to the old faithful Sizzix doll dies!

Ingredients: Sizzix doll and winter clothes dies, Quickutz tools and toolbox dies, Dymo tape, Cuttlebug embossing folder, embroidery floss.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

She crafts, she types.............

...... very occasionally!

A very belated happy new year to you all.  Yes I'm back and I've even done some crafting so I thought I would share it with you.

First is a card for a friend's birthday:

Ingredients: kraft/parcel paper embossed with a cuttlebug folder, MMI paper, Nestabilities dies, Making Memories ribbon, prima flowers, mini clip from Paperchase, wordart freebie download from here.

I have also made a gift bag for her present out of a C4 envelope:

Ingredients: C4 Envelope, K&CO Amy Butler paper, dymo tape, Nestabilities dies, Quickutz alphabet dies, Prima Flowers, string from local market, twill ribbon, scalloped lace punch, heart shaped brad from stash, button from here.

As well as crafting I did enjoy the snow we had at Chritsmas and just after new year, here's a few pics of what it was like up here in Lancashire:

Thanks for looking.

Ruthie x

A Challenge That's Right Up My Street

This week I discovered the Cardalicious challenge blog and as fate would have it their latest challenge was right up my street:

this weeks challenge--make a thank you card using something felt, some sort of stitching and use the color pink.

Could this be more perfect for me? I think not! So here is what I came up with:

Ingredients:
Felt birdie cut using a Boss Cut die
Oval and scalloped oval cut from fabric and felt using Nestabilities
Stitched using embroidery thread from a pound shop
Flowers cut using a Cuttlebug die with added Primas and mini buttons from Crafts By Carolyn
Felt ric-rac from Paper and String
Basic Grey Phoebe paper
Bazzill Basics Card
Hand written greeting
Inking and pen-stitching to finish

Also, as I have a day off work I can join in with the prompts over on HerSpace:MySpace:HisSpace. (It's usually too dark when I get home). Today's prompt is 'Herb' and here's my not very original take on it:

Cheers,

Ruthie x

A Couple of Cards & A Bit Of Girly Indulgence!

Well, my get ahead of myself campaign is continuing and I've done another couple of cards ahead of time. First is this one which is my Mum's Mother's Day card for this year. I'm so far ahead I don't even know what date Mother's Day is this year!


Of course there is felt on there, and some of it is thanks to my Mum. She found a load of pieces in a cupboard at home and gave them to me to use on my cards. Free felt, love it!

The pearl topped pin is from a new addition to my crafty stash. I've been meaning to get some for ages and found some on one of the haberdashery stalls on my local market. (Much cheaper than buying the 'Scrapbooking' ones). I also picked up some nice ribbons at the same time but I've not used those yet.

Ingredients:
Paper - Basic Grey 'Gypsy'
Felt flowers cut using Cuttlebug, Quickutz and Sizzix dies
Dovecraft brads
Coffee cup sleeve
American Crafts ribbon
Pearl topped pin
Inking and pen stitching

Yesterday was Daring Card Makers Challenge Day, and it was Lythan's turn to set the Dare:

I just love, love, love patterned paper so this week I dare you to join me in
Patterned Paper Passion
I want to see 3 different patterned papers on your card.And to be extra daring, why not see if you can use 3 different lines of paper!

Well I wimped out on using three different lines of paper and stuck with three from the Basic Grey 'Infuse' range:

It's another Mum card, but this time it's for my MIL's birthday next month; you see I am really getting ahead. My sister is getting married in August, at this rate I'll be making the wedding card next week!

Ingredients:
Paper - Basic Grey 'Infuse'
Felt flowers cut using Cuttlebug dies (leaves also cut with a Cuttlebug die)
Papermania brads
Papermania felt ribbon
Tag - Cuttlebug die
Scalloped and plain oval nestabilities dies
Lettering - Quickutz Katie Skinni Mini dies
Pearl topped pin
Inking and pen stitching

Now for the bit of girl indulgence - new SHOES!!!! Contrary to what Mr Crafty Blogger will say, I am not really a shoe mad girly girl, but when I saw these babies I just had to have them:

I have got them to go with a cocktail dress I am wearing for a black tie ball in a couple of weeks. The planned ensemble may end up looking hideous, and I may end up looking like I've gone in fancy dress at Dorien from Birds of A Feather (as Mr Crafty Blogger suggested when I told him about the shoes), but I 'll take a chance.

Just to prove I'm really not a girly shoe girl, this is a pic of how my feet are usually attired (when I'm not at work). Forget Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo, Dr Marten knows a thing or two about shoes!

Finally, I have moved my new DAB radio/I-Pod dock to it's permanent home in my craft room so here's a pic.

Have a good weekend,

Cheers

Ruthie x

A Productive Day

Yesterday was a very productive crafty day. I holed myself up in my craft room to finish my friends recipe binder (based on THIS fab tutorial), and here it is:

Front cover:

Side/inside view:

Dividers:

Close-up of the dividers:

I just need to print off the cards to go inside and then it's good to go.

Ingredients:

Based on Cathy Zielski tutorial (get it HERE)

American Crafts Modern album and page dividers from HERE

K&CO Amy Butler Sola 12x12 papers

Letters cut from funky foam using the Cuttlebug Red Tag Sale alphabet

While I was waiting for the bits of my binder to dry I decided to make a couple of cards with the off-cuts of paper which were left.

As some of the paper was stripey I thought it would tie in with a challenge over on Crafts By Carolyn's forum to create a card featuring stars and stripes. The star is very subtle as I used it for the brown petals of the flower, but it's there!

and a close up:

Ingredients:

K&CO Amy Butler Sola Papers
Bazzill brown card

Papermania felt ribbon
Lettering cut with Quickutz Katie Skinni Mini alphabet
Flower cut from felt and homemade chipboard using Sizzix star and cuttlebug scalloped circles/flowers die

Dovecraft brad

I carried on playing with the off-cuts and came up with another birthday card:

Ingredients:

K&CO Amy Butler Sola papers
Coffee cup sleeve
Flower cut from felt and a coffee cup sleeve using Cuttlebug asterisk and scalloped circles/flower dies

Cuttlebug swirl border

Greeting created using Dymo tape

Yesterday was also a productive day because while in my craft room I listened to an album I hadn't heard in ages (possibly even years) and realised I love it:

A bit of a controversial favourite as it was absolutely panned by the critics when it came out, but I'm not afraid to admit I like it, but it does make me feel old as it was released nearly 15 years ago. It also reminds me of the scene in the film Shaun of The Dead where they are killing zombies using old vinyl records and the Second Coming gets saved as Shaun liked to too. (Love that film, might have to watch it tonight :) )

I ended up listening to the album as I was reading a discussion on Crafts By Carolyn's forum about what kind of art people like. I remembered I read in the paper last week that the artist John Squire (former Stone Roses guitarist) has a new exhibition of his work starting shortly in London. For some reason this made me want to listen to the track Begging You from the Second Coming, so that's how I ended up crafting and listening to the album (twice through).

All in all a very productive day: recipe binder done; an album rediscovered and cards made. Excellent!

Cheers

Ruthie x