The passion to craft V the power of illness.

Hello everyone. 

I've really been over powered by the M.E these past few weeks, well months actually, and i'm not able to get crafting anywhere near as much as i'd like. 

I am working on embellishing a wedding album still, but am doing a page or two every few days, and just having to give into exhaustion and rest on the settee all day. 
There are times when i can push myself a little and suffer the consequences and there are times when i just have to give in as i don't have enough energy to fight it. 

So i'm sorry for a boring blog lately, and no new creations to show you. 
I've been given another order for some xmas cards and another album, so i'll have plenty to get my teeth into as and when i can. 

I'm off to have a little nose round some of your blogs and see what lovely bits you've made! 

Wishing you all a happy sunday and a good week x x x

promarker help and advice needed please!

Hey everyone. I've not got any cards to show at the minute as been working on embellishing someones wedding album, but have got the bleedproof pad for the promarkers so am still practising. 

Few questions i need answering. 

I start with the palest colour, and then add a slightly darker where the shadows would fall, i then use small circular movements with the lighter colour again, to blend, but then when i'm blending into the lighter colour, it then goes darker, as i am putting a second layer of that first shade on. 

How do i blend the darker into the lighter so that there is still some of the lightest showing but it's blended gradually into the dark? As i either have lines showing where it isn't blending properly, or i've lost all the lightest colour, as i've gone over it a second time.

The problem maybe where i don't have enough tonal differences with the colours yet, so i might be using too dark a colour, against too light a colour so it won't blend easily??

Here is my latest attempt (excuse the skew wiff photo, but i scanned it and it loses some of the pic if i straighten it) 

The example of where i am going wrong is on the dress. I've also found that rather than using a different colour to add the darker areas, i just go over some bits with the same colour, as i have done on the shoes. 

Anyway, advice would be very welcome from anyone who uses the pens. Thank you in advance. If i need to answer anyone i will add the reply on the comments section. 

Hope you are all as well as possible and having a nice weekend! x x x

promarker virgin

Still feeling too poorly to craft but i had a few stamped images ready to colour, so when my PM's arrived yerterday i couldn't wait to give them a go. 

They will need some getting used to after using pencils and a waterbrush for years. They are "wetter" than i imagined and it's nice seeing them blend into the paper slightly so no pen marks are made, but i was a bit worried that using the lighter colours to blend, left a sort of "mucky" colour to the image. That clears as the ink dries though, thankfully, but i will need to practise some more before i get the blending bit right. I seem to blend too much into the lighter colours and end up darker than i wanted. 

I found a great colour chart ready to be coloured in with the colours i have, so will use that for when i get some more. 

here is a quick example of my first attempt on the left using PM's and on the right my usual pencils and waterbrush. 

 

The card i'm using is not great for the pens as it bleeds too much, so i've got a bleedproof pad coming from letraset and i've been told that glossier paper works better. 

I think i also need some brighter colours as some of them seem a bit muted to me, as i'm a colour fan, so i'll have to play around with colours to see if they can replicate the pencil colours i like. 

Anyway, i'm back off onto the settee as i've got a very swimmy head and it's making feel nauseous sitting up. :-(  Hopefully i'll be back crafting very soon! 

damn being poorly.

You'd think after 8 years of suffering with M.E i'd be used to it, but have had a bad couple of days after cutting my very small piece of grass outside, and have had to resort to laying on the settee barely moving again. It's so so hard to cope with eachtime it happens and my anxiety levels always seem to get worse when i'm not feeling well. 

I'm dreaming up cards and albums and waiting for the postman to deliver my promarkers. Hopefully today will be the day(my postman is never early), and i can at least have a play with them. I hope i can do the blending part as well as those i see on here. 


So while, i have no new card to share at the minute, i have been popping on and off to look at all the lovely creations i see on here, and remembering little bits i can use. The list of things i "need" is growing longer by the day, each time i see something lovely on a card. 


Right i'm off back onto the settee for a while. Wishing you all good a day x x 


What a lovely sight seeing those poor miners being rescued today!

sparkly, shiny, special.

Hi everyone! I've had such fun making this card today. Sparkly is a great theme for me as i love glitter! 

I've made this card with many challenges in mind:

Spoonful of sugar- "sparkle and shine"

Papertake weekly- to use any challenge from the last 3 yrs, so i chose "shiny, sparkly and special, from May 2010.

Flutterby Wednesdays-  open theme, but to use butterfly, fairy or angel, which i chose this magnolia image, as she has wings! lol 


creative inspirations- birthday theme. 


crafty creations- I followed the sketch, as well as their rules of using a rubber stamp and ribbon or lace. 

stamp something- to use punches. I used the corner punch and star punch. 


colour create- to use pink, green and cream. 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you can safely say thats a sparkly card! I used sparkly letter stickers, stickles glue, H2O's, sakura stardust pen for her shoes and hair ribbon, glitter card for the stars and even a little sparkle on the ribbon too. 

I'm also so excited as i've ordered my first 5 sets of promarkers!!! woohoo. I sold the baby album, so treated myself before the money got wasted on household stuff, so i look forward to trying them and seeing if i can use them well. 

Next on my must have list are some nestablilites now! Lets hope i sell another album soon! 

No card today but a good tidy up!

I've not had time to make a card to day as boring chores and grass cutting needed to be done. BUT i did decide that my workspace really needed some tidying as it was ridiculously messy. I can't seem to craft in a tidy way! 

So here it was to start with:

 

 

After a good tidy up and the creation of an "offcuts" tub, it now looks like this:

 

 

 

 

I just adore these cute little buckets i found in one of my favourite shops. 

It's much nicer to work with some space now and to have places for things. I hope to get my dad to make me a bespoke desk so i can use the very small space i have much better and put lots of shelving up. I have a list of Ikea stuff i want, but the funds never seem to be there! lol 

I hope everyone has had a lovely sunny weekend and is as well as possible. Extra special hugs again to Fiona who has been very poorly lately. xx 

 

baby album box

I finally made a box to put the album in which finishes it off nicely, but i've learnt that bazzill blitz doesn't like bending and can tear a little. I also need to work out how the make the inside corners neater!! 
But it looks pretty and i hope they like it. 

 

The letters are glittery but don't show up on the photos. 

I also made these christmas easel cards:

 

 

I love this Tilda stamp and the bench. It's just adorable and i can see them getting a lot of use this Christmas! 

 

 

 I love these blonde moments papers. I've had them for a while but kept putting off using them! lol

 

 

 

 

 

easel birthday card

It's my godson's 5th birthday in a few days so i made him this easel card:

 

 

 

 

Now i know how to make these easel cards i'm loving them! They give that extra special touch to cards. 

I'm entering this card into the ABC challenge, which is E is for Easel.  

 

spoonful of sugar challenge card.

I've made this card for the spoonful of sugar challenge, which this week, is spots and stripes. 

I just adore this little dragon. I need to play around with some colour variations but i just love "her" in this pink, yellow and green. 
The sentiment stamp is a mixture of an Elzybells sentiment with a penny black swirlie circle. 

challenge cards...

I also made a few cards recently:

 

I don't send Halloween cards, and in the UK we don't really celebrate halloween like the USA do, but i still love all the bits of it, including the outfits, pumpkins, the colours etc... I got this stamp from the Elzybells closing down sale, and just adore it so wanted to make a card, that i can maybe sell on. 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges: 

cute and girly- Spooky challenge

The town scrapper- Halloween challenge

Stamp something- something to celebrate

This next card i made with a stamp i had bought but not used yet:

Its very cute but i have no idea what those animals are meant to be! lol 

I've just realised that i've made a boo boo so this card doesn't fit into any challenges i enter at the moment! lol Oh well, it's another one for the collection to sell. 

Have a nice day everyone! Lets hope this rain eases off soon and we can have some lovely sunny and autumnal days!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

second try at uploading photos...

Blogger better hurry up and sort this out! It's so annoying, and i'm not able to upload pics for the comps each week. grrrrrrr. 

I'll try and see if i can upload a couple more from the album.....

 

ooooo one worked! lol This is with the little tag out, with her birth details. 

 

no.2 uploaded quickly too.... does this mean they have sorted it? These gorgeous, fluffy, padded baby socks are so cute and were bought from ebay years ago i think. I'm going to hunt some more down. I used 2 gorgeous little Elzybells stamps with the lovely sentiment of "the pitter patter of tiny feet" . I am sad that she has shut Elzybells now, but the lovely news that Elizabeth is now designing for penny black is something to look forward to! 

 

 

so far so good... only had to cancel one upload as it just wasn't working. 

I just wish this box remembered the font and layout used after each photo rather than having to keep changing things! 

 

I love this doodlebug baby paper. The little doodles and phrases are so cute! It's a shame they need to be covered by photos! lol 

 

Another cute sentiment from Elzybells- "babies are such sweet beginnings", joined by some cute penny black stickeroos. 

 

finally the lage album pic uploaded! This little rub on was a bargain buy a few years back from the pound shop! 

I finished the album off with lots of cute pink ribbon, some with little words on like "miracle" "baby girl" "precious" etc.... 

I love making these albums and am pleased to have another order to make one. 

is the photo uploader working yet or not......

 

Well well well.... it did work! Let's hope all the others load up as well! 

This is the baby album that i was talking about. I just love Bazzill bling as it adds that "little extra" touch to the work. 

Here are the other pages (if they load! make take me some time! lol ) 

A bad pic, but one just to show the cute baby girl feet brads.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! its not working again. So annoying!! 

I will keep trying but i'll be here all night if i tried to do them all now. Watch this space.... 

I've also had another order for one of these albums, an order to embellish someone's wedding photo album, and 20 christmas cards so far! woohoo. That will make living a tiny bit easier, and hopefully leave enough to afford some nestabilities and promarkers! 

Hope all that visit me are well, especially Fiona that has been quite poorly lately, and Claire who has had surgery. lots of hugs x

back crafting!!

It's been so horrible being too ill to craft, but the past few days i've been back making cards and a chipboard album. I can't show the cards just yet as they are for a competition on a forum i go on, and some of my friends from there are on here! So they will follow soon. It's nice to have had a go at easel cards and i love them, so can imagine i'll be making planty more! 

This baby album is for an order from a friend of mine for friends of his who have had their first baby. I love making these albums as they always seem to be appreciated by people. 

:-( i'm trying to upload pics but it's taking forever to even upload one, so will try again later. 

I hope everyone is as well as possible x xx 

here in spirit.

I miss blogging and card making daily :-( 

The ME seems to be controlling me far more than normal and i just don't have the energy to sit up at my desk and craft for hours like normal :-(

I keep coming on and having a peek and all of your lovely creations, and i hope i can soon start to get back to my daily cardmaking, especially as i may have a stall at my nieces school fair in november so need to get lots made to sell! 

I hope those who read my blog are well x x 

too poorly to craft :-(

I'm going out of my mind with frustration! I want to craft!!! But my ME has flared up hugely and i can barely stay awake long enough to do anything, let alone sit up and craft :-( 

I may take some images to bed to colour in, just to keep my crafting therapy going. I hope i don't miss any challenges i wanted to join in with. 

Fingers crossed tomo might be a better day and i can get back to what i love doing the most. 

Hello to my regular followers, whose comments have been so welcome!  

Christmas in September!!

I adore Christmas. I love every little thing about it and i just could not wait to use my gorgeous new magnolia stamps! I've always wanted a bench to sit them on and this little cutie with her santa hat on is just too cute! 

I've made this card for the following challenges:

Colour create- to use Red, Gold and White/cream. (i am literally going to keep everything crossed for this one as there is a lush nestabilities die up for grabs!!) 

Secret Crafter- i've used the sketch given over there. I loved it straight away and it's just worked perfectly on this card. 

I am also now desperate for copics or promarkers, as i still only have watercolour pencils, sakura pens and H20's and i would love the rich colours you get from the pens. 
Any advice on copics or promarkers??


My next, simpler card is for a guy, so i didn't want to go OTT with it. I also went mostly monochrome to macho it up a bit! lol 

It covers 3 challenges:

Friday Sketchers- I followed their sketch. 

Penny Black Sat Challenge- was to make a card for a boy/man. 

cute card thursday- " a play on words" which i knew my "i love moo" stamp would fit just perfectly.

 

Sunday's creations.

Happy sunday everyone! I'm still feeling poorly with a head cold but i was determined to carry on card making and not mope about so i've made two so far today. 

This first card was made for the spoonful of sugar challenge which is called "animal crackers"  and also for the creative inspirations challenge of using autumnal colours.

The second card was made for another little girl from Postpals as she loves loves loves pink!
I also made it for the pink challenge over at Flutterby Wednesday (by using an angel stamp), I used the sketch from pink gem and the theme of "spots and stripes" over at Stamp Something.