Inspired By...Joy Taylor Day 5 (final day *tear*)

Hello again friends!

Today is the last day that I'll be bringing you cards by the UH-MAZING Joy, but you can always find more of her fantastic creations on her blog or on the several design teams she's working for.

Today's card wasn't really inspired by one particular card of Joys, more so all of them! Her "standard" techniques and the style she tends towards are what really make her cards not only super pretty, but very "Joy" and really unique.  I love that I can always spot a card by her when I see it.

So today's card is using the techniques/products that she uses often and that I consider to be the real 'basis' for her style;

• Kraft cardstock
• White inked background
• Glitter (has anyone noticed her recent love-affair with glitter?! Girl's got talent :))
• Butterflies. (When she uses a butterfly on a card, it practically flies off the page I think! So vivid and brilliantly coloured).

So here is my card that I made just yesterday, encompassing all of the favourite things I love most about Joy's signature style:

 Whenever I see Joy's cards, I always think "How does she match up all her colours so well?!" It's true, she has an amazing talent for using uber vibrant colours on a simple/muted background, but the coloured accents she chooses are always perfectly matched. *sigh* oh to be such genius.

I coloured the HA Heart Winged Butterfly with Copic Markers after stamping it in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and cutting it out. Then once dry, I used a tiny-tipped glue pen to run a really small amount of glue around the inner 'hearts' of the butterfly's wings and then added some dark aqua glitter.

The tag behind the butterfly is from Papertrey Ink and was embossed over using the HA Envelope Background Stamp (another of Joy's faves I think!) and clear embossing powder, to give a tone on tone look.

To do the glitter strip along the bottom, I used a technique I saw on Papertrey Ink (Nichole Heady's blog I think...) where you just run your tapegun (ATG or snail etc) in a strip and then pour glitter over the top as you would embossing powder. It's amazingly easy and SO effective. I can't wait to try it again.  I've seen Joy use this technique a couple of times recently--it really brings an extra layer of prettiness to the card.

I love this card so much that I'm off right now, to go make a few more in different colours :)

Well as I said above, this is the last day I'll be showcasing Joy's work, but I do hope you'll come back in a few days when I'll be moving onto another SUPER talented lady who inspires me constantly too!

A big thank you to Joy for not only inspiring me with every card she makes, but just generally for being such a lovely lady :)

See you again very soon my friends--

Take care

Linda xx

Inspired By...Joy Taylor, Day 4!!

Hey Y'all!!

I know I'm not a "Southerner" but I've always wanted to say Hey Y'all...in real life too, but I'm pretty sure I'd get some funny looks here in Australia! lol

How are you all enjoying my week of Inspired By?? As much as I am I hope!  Thank you all so much for all the comments, it's such a treat to have feedback. Really lovely!

Here is card #4 of Joys that I really loved as soon as I saw it:

 I love Joy's colouring no matter what the image is, but this is so vibrant and pretty, it's just amazing!

Here is my "version":

I used my Prismacolour pencils to colour the Daphne flower image in (which is from Tiffany Doodles). I started with the yellow centres, then used my lightest blue over the rest of the petal, then added gradually darker shades of blue from the outside of each petal (not overlapping the previous shade completely). Then at the end I went back over the whole petal (yellow part too) very lightly with the palest blue.

Blend blend blend :)

Here is a shot that's far too bright :) but you can see the scoring I did on the backing card (which again, is HA Layering Paper (love that paper!)

I used Jenny Bowlin Lemon Drops ink with the Hero Arts Life of the Party Dots cling stamp (loooooooooove *sing song voice*). I canNOT get enough of that stamp (or that ink!)

The sentiment is Hero Arts too, the sentiment strip is diecut with my Big Shot using a Papertrey Ink Banner die *so versatile!*

Here is a super close-up of the flower, so you can see how much I blended it.
I spent a good 20-30 minutes on this flower in total because I took my time (and did it over several sessions), but I blended until my eyes were nearly crossed! It's worth the effort though.

As you can see better in this shot above, the flower is up on dimensional foam squares to really make it stand out against the rest of the card, which is all 'one layer' (sort of :))

To finish the card, I once again put on my Joy Taylor-thinking-cap and pulled out the gemstones :)

Joy always seems to know exactly where to place her gemstones/pearls...I'm pretty much stalking her blog to try to learn off her :) She's always PERFECT in placement.

Anyhoo, I hope you liked this one! I'm really happy with it. The extra time spent on the flower (and being patient with my colouring *cough not my strong suit cough*) really paid off. 

Come back tomorrow for *sob* the last day of my Inspired By Joy posts (the last one for Joy's beautiful cards, not the last inspired by post :))

Hope you'll join me then!

Please feel free to leave me some comment love :) It's been so amazing to get such a response so far!! (Lovely to know I'm not talking to myself on here too haha!)

Take care lovelies!

*hugs*

Linda xx

Inspired By...Joy Taylor Day 3

Hello!!

Welcome to day 3 of my Inspired By Joy Taylor series!!

I'm so excited by the feedback on my cards so far--thank you!! I was so so surprised to see that Hero Arts Tweeted about my first card (THIS one, using the Corsage stamp). How flattering!!

Here is the card that I was so in love with from Joy's blog;

 So so lovely, I just love how she used the text stamp embossed in white over the top of the leaves image!

Here is my little take :

It was really very easy to do. A lot of steps, but each of them quite simple.

I started with an Artist Trading Card canvas from Inkssentials (it's exactly the same as Sticky Back Canvas, but it's ATC sized-2.5"x3.5"). I stamped the Hero Arts Envelope Background Stamp with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink and also edged the ATC with the Tattered Rose and a little of the Victorian Velvet ink.

After heat-setting the ATC, I then inked the Delicate Leaf Clusters image from HA using a mixture of Pine Needles and Forest Moss Distress Ink. I spritzed the stamp with about 6 'pumps' of water using my Ranger Mini Mister, to blend the two colours together (it also REALLY makes the inks wet, which is great for the canvas). I then stamped onto the Canvas ATC and heat-set the ink to make sure it was really dried well.

I then stamped my HA La Letter Stamp (fave!) with Versamark and white embossing powder and heat-set that too.

Finally I mounted the ATC onto the cardstock, wrapped it with a thin yellow ribbon, mounted that layer onto the dark purple cardstock and again onto a white card.  I cut the yellow cardstock with my Martha Stewart double loops edger punch and adhered that to the top!

Lastly, channelling my "what would Joy do now" mindset, I added some gemstones :)

I left the sentiment off the front, so this card could be used for many occasions.

Here is a (really terrible) close-up of the ATC so you can see the texture and how the layers of stamping work together.

I still now, prefer Joy's version, but I hope you like mine too :)

Have a great day and I'll be back tomorrow with my favourite of all the Joy Taylor Inspired set!

Take care 

Linda xx

Inspired By Joy Taylor Day 2!!!

Greetings and salutations!

How are you all?! It's lovely and wintery here, so I'm happy as a clam (are clams really happy?! Hmmm....anyway!)

Let's jump right in shall we?!

Here is the card I was just about ready to jump through my computer screen to get at, of Joy's;

I literally squeaked when I saw this! I think it's just the cutest! That little cutie in the bunny suit! ACK! The pink polka dotted background made me instantly buy the same stamp and I just love the white gel-pen accent on the paper-pieced 'hill'.

And here is the one I made :

 Quite different in colours of course, but I wasn't looking at the card Joy made while I did this one, I just created and had Joy's one in my mind. 

I used Basic Grey's Hello Luscious paper pad for the hill and did a similar white gel-pen edging to make it stand out a bit more.

The little Alice in Wonderland image of the girl is from Tiddly Inks who do the cutest digital images. (oh, and if you are a bit uncertain about digital images and how to use them? don't be! It's super easy--feel free to let me know and I'd be happy to do a video/photo tutorial on how to use them.)

I coloured her with Copic markers and cut out all around her leaving a small white border (this helps the image to really stand out) and I adhered her onto the cardstock using dimensional adhesive.

For the sky, I just used Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I punched 2 clouds out of scrap paper (using my Fiskars cloud punch) and temporarily adhered them (overlapping each other) onto my background cardstock) then I used my ranger distress ink applicator to apply the Tumbled Glass all over the white background. This gave the impression of white clouds in a blue sky, without adding any bulk or layers. I wanted the Alice image to be the centrepiece.

 Here you can see I've stamped the HA Envelope Background in Jenny Bowlin Lemon Drop ink (love love love) on the yellow card-base (which is just some HA Layering paper in Daffodil, that I've scored in half). The Sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and the sentiment 'banner' is hand cut.

To give the effect that Alice was really holding  a clock, I used some Glossy Accents over the clock 'face' to add shine (so it looked like glass) here you can see it a little better--

Well! That's about it from me for today!

Please leave a comment if you have one or any questions.  I'd be SO thrilled to hear from you!

Take care and see you on Sunday night/Monday (dependent where you are!)

*hugs*

Linda xx

Inspired By Joy Taylor Day 1

Hello!!!

You've all heard me rave about Joy Taylor, but just in case you're unaware of who she is or how amazing her creations are, click over to her blog RIGHT NOW!!

I'm so excited to be presenting these cards that were inspired by the magical Joy, that I'm just going to jump right in--

Are you all sighing with me?! I mean seriously, it's almost ridiculous how pretty this card is!!

Here is my little offering in 'homage' of the magnificent original:

I'm such a huge fan of kraft paper lately, I can't get enough of it!

The flower is from Hero Arts' Flower Corsage (CG287). I just stamped half the stamp in versamark and heat embossed it in white, then cut it out.

I coloured it using Copic Markers, using a light pink first, over the whole image, then 2 'subsequently' darker pinks on the inside of each petal to give the impression of depth/shadow.

Here is a closer image of the flower:

The doily die is from My Favourite Things (quickly winning the race to MY favourites list! Great dies at that company!)

Now, I don't have the Papertrey Ink Picnic Plaid Impression plate (embossing folder) so I did my embossing on the kraft background, by hand.

I just turned the kraft cardstock on an angle (so that the two diagonal corners were lined up) on my Martha Stewart Score board, then ran my 'stylus' down the scoreline and then continued every 1/8 of an inch for 4 'stripes'. I then skipped a 1/2 inch and started again. When I had finished the entire card front, I rotated it 180 degrees and did the same going the other way (Hope that makes sense--let me know if you want to see a tutorial!)

It's a slow process to do it by hand, but not difficult. You just have to be careful and precise.

Here is a closeup of the embossed effect:

I think it looks great.

I then finished the card with a few Joy-ish gemstones (coz that's what she would do *wink*) and stamped the sentiment from HA in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

So there you go! There's card 1 in the series! I do hope you like my little take!

Be back here tomorrow for the next card :)

Take care and please feel free to leave me a comment, I'd truly love to hear what you think.

*hugs*

Linda xx

Where has June gone to?! and one more :)

Hi everyone!

First of all, thank you to the 5 people to replied to my request last time, letting me know you receive my blog updates ok. If anyone else is out there reading my little piece of bloggo, please let me know if you have any issues getting updates.

If it's just you 5, then welcome fabulous 5!! lol

So it's been a hectic month, thus my being VERY poor at blogging--here's a rundown:

Massive issues with our buying a house, that FINALLY all came together and we are now very proud to annouce that we are homeowners...and poor haha!

Charlotte had her Christening, which was really lovely, I'll share some photos here soon if you like (let me know :))

Charlotte has learnt about 'mischief'. How to accomplish it, excel in it and generally live and breathe it 24-7 haha! (thus a tired mummy!)
I've been packing up the last of our things for our move (date is still TBC but I like to be prepared) and I've done some BIG cleaning out. My craft corner, closet (and just about everything else) are MUCH lighter and clearer--I feel good about that (Thank you to Ali Edwards who always inspires me to love what I have more than wish I had something else/extra).

And a lot more, but that's plenty to bore you with :)

I've also been working my TAIL off at my crafty desk to bring you some (hopefully) eye-candy as a thank you for being so supportive and patient.

Recently I've noticed a LOT of bloggers have been doing 'inspired by' themes and I really love seeing how people make their own versions of other peoples work. I know I'm constantly inspired by the blogs I read and so I decided to do the same thing.

SO for the next few weeks, I'll be 'running' and "Inspired By..." segment on my blog.

This week is a lady who's cards are so lovely I'm constantly taken aback by their simplicity and beauty--none other than my friend Joy Taylor (*insert cheering* teehee).

I have 4 cards to show you this week that were inspired by Ms Joy and I'm so excited to show them to you.

After Joy's turn on the Inspired By soundtrack, it will then be Nichol Magouirk (who you've all heard me rave about time and time again), then Kelly Marie Alvarez from Lawn Fawn (who doesn't love Lawn Fawn?!) and if I can possibly manage it, Dawn McVey and a few others will be 'playing their songs' on here too.

I've chosen these ladies because they are the few blogs I'm still very much in love with and they are some of the first that I fell for when I started blogging and crafting.

SO! Please stay tuned and come back tomorrow to see what I've got for you inspired by lovely Joy.

Hope you like it!

*hugs*

Linda xx

request for help :)

Just a little one :)

I've been told by a good friend, that my blog updates aren't "coming through" to the email subscribers etc, so what I need you to do PUH-LEASE is to just leave me a quick comment telling me if you got this update and how you're subscribed (google reader, email subscription etc). So I can check what's going on with this subscription business!!

As soon as I work it all out, I'll have a few WEEKS of fun "Inspired-By" creations! Can't wait to share them with you!

Thanks so much loves!!

Linda xx

general

I'm busily crafting away right now...and clearing out my stash, coz our new house is a little on the small side, so I'm having to pare down to only keeping the things I love. (that's not a bad thing though is it!)

I'll be back REALLY soon with a week (or maybe 2) of "Inspired By" series...featuring some friends I've mentioned here before on many occasions :)

Bear with me loves!! 

Hope you're all enjoying the changes in season, whichever season you may be in!

Linda xx

a thought...

Sitting at my craft table, 

colouring a pretty flower--slowly, calmly;

Listening as the rain falls outside my window

My precious, loved ones sleeping nearby.

Debussy plays quietly as I work 

What a lovely moment--I'm so grateful for it--

And for all of you :)

Goodnight xx

Sarah Martina is having a Garage Sale!!

...but seriously, please don't go over there, coz I wanna buy all her stuff :) lol!!

Check her GOOOORGEOUS blog out HERE

As I'm sure you all remember, the card I had tweeted about by Hero Arts, was inspired by Sarah!  You can see that post HERE

Feel free to pop on over to her blog tomorrow for some amazing goodies!!

Linda xx

Lawnscaping Challenge Card #2

Hey y'all!! (I've always wanted to say that lol!)

**this is my 2nd post today, scroll down to see the first!**

Ok so this REALLY has to be quick! *yawn* :)

Here is my little card #2 for the Lawnscaping Challenge to use POLKA DOTS!!...I'm kind of in love :)

Originally I was going to do a standard card, but then once I'd stamped all the polka dots all over the yellow cardstock, I was just about to score it when I thought, "hey, this would look really cute as a postcard, with all the polka dots on one side of the image..." so that's what I did!

Here it is:

if I may say so myself, SQUEE!!

Look at this handsome fella!! Isn't he adorable?! He's just as cute blank and in the packaging as he is coloured in!

I decided to add a little bling to the flowers, his collar and cute nose. Various bling that I've had forever in my stash (sorry to be so vague! But mostly Kaisercraft.)

who's a good boy?!

So VERY easy to do. Stamped all the images onto Copic-friendly paper, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Coloured in with Copics. Masked the dog, tree and tyre image off and then using Tumbled Glass Distress ink, I did the sky, then a little Peeled Paint and Pine Needles Distress Ink for the Grass.

I used Jenny Bowlin Lemon Drops ink (my new FAVOURITE!!! Can't wait to get more colours!) to do the polka dots onto Papertrey Ink Yellow cardstock. I love the tone on tone effect.

The "to" and "From" are both stamped using Lawn Fawn Harold's ABC's stamps with Memento Coffee Bean Ink.

I'll do my letter on the back :)

Anyhoo, I'm SO excited this worked and that the image is cute  not distressed and quiet and muted. YIPPEE!!! (maybe that's the sentiment I should add to the card?!)

Ok, so I'm dragging my tired self off to bed now. I really hope you liked this one! I did :)

Talk to you soon my loves--feel free to leave me some Comment lovin' heehee

Linda xx

Lawnscaping Challenge Card #1

Hi everyone!

This will just be a quick post tonight, because it's VERY late and I"m exhausted! The girls are both sick, so have been awake numerous times in the night--leaving mummy very bleary eyed.

Onto the craftiness!

I'm a HUGE fan of Lawn Fawn stamps (as I'm sure many of you are) so I thought I'd try out for one of their challenges. The current LawnScaping (such a cute name!) challenge, over on their gorgeous blog, is to use Polka Dots...now, polka dots I can do! I'm love polka dots.

I always have trouble making my Lawn Fawn based cards look cute, they tend to look more distressed and muted than I mean for them to, and this first card is exactly what I'm talking about!

 

I used Papertrey Ink Polka Dot Basics stamp Set (one of my first sets from PTI!), Stamped in Hawaiian Shores Ink. (also from PTI)

Obviously the fox is from the gorgeous Lawn Fawn Critters in the Forest Set. Coloured in with Prismacolor Pencils and cut out with a Nestabilities circle die (which was also then embossed to give it the border). Keeping the die on, I then inked over the whole white area around Mr Fox in Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

I used my NEstabilities Lacey Circles Die for the dark green cardstock (from PTI) and then I just mounted them all together! The banner and alphabet are both Lawn Fawn too :)

OK, so that's it for me--I'll have another card up here for you in just a minute! (I'm supposed to keep my two entries separate from what I can tell!)

Hope you liked my little entry :)

take care!

Linda xx

A to Z of me

Hi again!

My good friend Elizabeth from Visions of Paper did a cute little 'getting to know you' questionnaire on her blog, so I thought I'd do one quickly now, while I wait for Miss 3-year-old to eat her lunch.

A. Age: 31

B. Bed size: Queen--soon to be King I hope.

C. Chore you dislike: Dusting--I HATE dusting..


D. Dogs: 2 Toby and Molly.

E. Essential start to your day: Wish it were later or that I'd slept better :) then a cup of tea.

F. Favorite color(s): Pink or pale yellow.

G. Gold or silver: depends on what it's on. Gold rings etc but I think silver is still pretty.

H. Height: tall

I. Instruments you play(ed): Guitar, Flute, Piano, Piccolo (lessons for those) but I CAN play a Saxophone, Clarinet a little.

J. Job title: Mumma. Before that I got my Teaching degree, before that, I worked in Marketing. My degree is in Japanese studies and Marketing.

K. Kids: Isabella, 3 1/2 and Charlotte 1 1/2
.
L. Live: Perth, Western Australia

M. Mom’s name: Karen

N. Nicknames: Fishcake or Fred from mum and dad; Cutiepie from Matt.

O. Overnight hospital stays: for me: 2nights (tonsils when I was 3) and 1 night when I had my Wisdom Teeth removed; After having my kids: 3 nights and 2 nights both times. For Charlotte's surgeries, 6 nights in total

P. Pet peeves: Fools. (People who just don't THINK) & Thoughtlessness.

Q. Quote from a movie: recently Isabella has watched a LOT of Megamind, so she's been saying "You're Fun" (that's catching on lol) or "BOOM!" from that too. lol

R. Righty or lefty: Right Handed but I eat backwards (left-handed).

S. Siblings: 1 sister.

T. Time you wake up: Varies dependent on when Charlotte wakes up, usually around 6am.

U. Underwear: If at all possible! Lol

V. Vegetables you don’t like: Cauliflower and Cabbage (BLECH)

W. What makes you run late: Lately, a child-related issue (Where is my other shoe mummy?!) or if I'm going out with Matt too. I'm better if I only have to worry about myself and the girls. I forget what I have to do if he's home too lol

X. X-rays you’ve had: My teeth and my back/hips (chiropractor)

Y. Yummy food you make: most of what I make is yummy :) Omelette, Quiche, Cakes, pasta...

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Polar Bears and Penquins--these were Elizabeth's faves too. HATE the bird section (not that I hate birds).


Feel free to do this yourself! Post it on your blog and leave a comment below with a link!

Take care and I look forward to getting to know you all more!


Lxx

hey there

Hi again!

Ugh! No matter what I ATTEMPT to do on this blog, I never quite get there *sigh* oh well, it's all in the intentions huh?!

I thought I'd share a couple of layouts I've made recently and I'll do my best to follow up wtih some crafty updates in the next few days. I've been making a lot, just no time to share them with you!

So this is a layout I did with one of my favourite-of-all-time photos of Charlotte:

 Sorry about the mess you can see around this one, I  couldn't find anywhere else clean enough on my desk to take the shot! I'll try to re-shoot this layout.

I've long been a fan of Moon Ko, who makes beautiful UBER-clean layouts. Really not my style (in the i-can-do meaning), but so so lovely. And I'm so glad I tried to use her as inspiration.

This was also using a Studio Calico sketch from weeks back. I'm really happy with it.

Here's a close-up of the journalling:



I kinda love that little hand-made tag :) All papers were Studio Calico.

Now, this card was (and is) intended for my lovely friend Linda, who was ill a few weeks back. I made the card the minute I found out she was having health troubles, but it got buried under a pile of mess, good intentions and meaning-to's; SO, in order to actually force me to get my act together and SEND IT, I'm posting it here :)

 

The bunny image is from Tiffany Doodles   it's a digital shop. I've never really been "ínto" the digital style of things, but I LOVE Tiffany's work. it's really beautiful. And the best part? It ranges from sweet and life-life (like this Shy Bunny image) to cutesy and whimsical--perfect! (not to mention that the prices are AMAZING!). Please go check her shop out.

For the bunny, I printed the image onto Watercolour paper (just ran it through my normal printer) and then used Distress Inks to paint the bunny's fur. Here's a closeup:

The thing I loved with this in the end, is that you can barely see the black lines of the original image (which are already whispy and faint), so it looks like I literally painted Mr Bunny here ).

I used Antique Linen, Walnut Stain and that's about it!! (SUPER easy :))

If you have any questions/would like me to (attempt!) do a video to show you, I'd be happy to!

Here's the inside of the card. I used a Hero Arts stamp (NO idea of the name :)) sorry lol.

Ok!! SO I have kids who are causing daddy far too  much trouble to be dealt with alone right now, so I have to run!

Leave me some comment love :)

talk to you soon sweets!

it's been a while...

Hi there ho there...

So it's been a while, I know. I've been a very bad blogger lately. I've been going through a bit of a creative rut, so I spent some time away from my craft desk lately. Plus it's hard to blog some days, it feels like I'm talking to noone. But that's ok, I read a few blogs that I never comment on too---actually, I comment in my mind, but forget to actually type something lol!

Anyhow, I'm in the middle of making a quilt for Isabella--which is going REALLY well...I'll let you know as soon as it's finished, but in the meantime,

take care and thanks SO much for stopping by :) it means a lot to me.

Linda xx

Anzac Day

Today is ANZAC day here in Australia. A quiet, solemn day meant to remember those who have fallen whilst protecting this amazing country of ours.


If you'd like to read more information, please look HERE. There is some excellent information.

ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Armed Corps. At 11am, we have a minutes silence to remember soldiers from the World Wars, the soldiers who lost everything when they fought to keep Australia safe and free. We remember soldiers who have fought for us since then too and honour those who are still protecting us.

May you all have a quiet and peaceful Easter and ANZAC day, with your loved ones close.

Lest we forget.

Date Night Layout

Hi there!

Here is a layout I did, very much inspired by Nichol Magouirk (shock horror!) I'm really happy with it.

I used almost completely my latest Studio Calico Kit, which arrived much to my surprise a few days ago (Remember I'd said I was cancelling my subscription?! Well I did, but my email never arrived!! Lost in cyberspace somewhere..maybe cyberspace is telling me to keep the subscription! lol) Other than the SC kit, I used my new Lawn Fawn Say Cheese Stamp set (OH MY GOODNESS I'M SO EXCITED TO FINALLY HAVE THIS POLAROID STAMP!!!)

sorry for the horrible photo! I had to take this photo in a hurry while Charlotte grabbed at me to pick her up! lol

 I used Vellum in front of the floral paper, so it muted the colours a bit (it was VERY bright). I printed my journalling onto it too.

 The journalling reads: 

Matt and I used to have date night every Tuesday; we drank wine, watched movies, had long talks, held hands and fell asleep late into the night.

Now we drink juice from plastic cups, watch kids tv, talk about toys and favourite Play School presenters and Toy Story. We hold half eaten bananas, nappy bags and forgotten crackers.  We fall asleep at 9:30...and we wouldn't change a thing.

A few extra close ups so you can see the dimension and texture. I love dimension on my pages...I can feel another layout coming soon!

Talk to you soon--hope you enjoyed!

Linda xx

card and a layout!

Hi there! Yes shocking I know, an update! lol

So anyway, I'll cut right to the chase. I saw Sarah Martina's blog where she mentioned making a card for the Totally Hues Challenge...so I made one quick smart...and just as I was about to add my link a few minutes ago, I realised the due date had passed *sigh*. Oh well. Here it is :)

 

I used a Papertrey Ink diecut for the dressform, the pink lace is from a dollar shop, purple sheer ribbon is from my subscription to The Really Reasonable Ribbon Shop. The little flower (purple) is one I made using clay and a mould bought on etsy (from a shop who's name I can't remember!) and the stamp is an old Hero Arts one :)

Next is a card I made using Lawn Fawn stamps, for my big sister who is pregnant (YAY!).

I copic coloured the oven and bun, the background is all stamped with Chalk Ink from a Colorbox Queue.

Super SImple!

Next time I'll share the layout I made using my latest Studio Calico kit (which, as it turns out, I didn't cancel my subscription to! lol email got lost in cyberspace.)

OK! Talk to you all soon :)

Linda xx

Divas by design Design Team Call

Hello!!

There is a new CUTE-AS-PIE blog on the block people!!! It's Divas by Design,  and they're looking for DT members, so I thought I might as well throw my hat in the ring! (or my craft knife?! Paper cutter?! What's an appropriate crafty euphamism?! lol)

anyhow, I have to choose three of my favourite 'works' and show them here, so here they are...all 5 of them lol:

one of my first cards, still my absolute favourite.

An early attempt at Copic Colouring-I was so excited with how her hair turned out (and the clouds *squee!*)

Nichol Magouirk inspired...lots and lots and lots of masking (and colouring), but such a lovely finished product.

My first set of notecards/letterset. I was really excited to send these to my gorgeous mum-in-law

This is a VERY different card for me, but I loved the effect. It's very much inspired by Joy Taylor-who is amazing-in reality, the colours on this card are just gorgeous together.

So there you have it!
Sorry there are 5 instead of 3...I just couldn't choose between them. I wanted to show the different styles I do too. I also (as you will know if you're a frequent visitor to my little piece of bloggy paradise), love to do layouts and 'off the page' projects too. Anything crafty, and I'll give it a go!

Anyhoo, talk to you soon lovelies!!

Linda x

just a quick hello and thanks :)

Hey!

Sorry it's been so long, it has been cuh-raazy busy lately and I've been spending a LOT of time away from my computer, so blogging has been impossible.

This is just a quick note (no crafty goodness I'm sorry!) to say a huge thank you to Elizabeth from Visions of Paper blog who awarded me The Versatile Blogger Award (which is so sweet of her but I feel terrible I've been an awful blogger lately!)

Apparently there are rules that go along with this award, which are:

1. Thank the person who sent it to you!

2. Tell us 7 things about yourself

3. Reward this to 15 bloggers

OK, so while I'm usually pretty much a rule follower, in this case, I'm going to skip number 3, because I've stopped following a LOT of blogs lately. There is just so much amazing work out there (being done by amazing people) but it's taking me away from my family, and that's not a good thing (no matter how dreamy their crafty work is!), SO, all the people I follow now, Elizabeth has already given the award to (lol)

BUT, here is number 1

Thank you!!!!! You know you mean the world to me, even though it's been FOREVER since we've spoken! You're always in my heart and in my thoughts :)

Here is number 2.

7 things about myself:

1. I have a freckle on my little toe--as a child, I thought I was the only one in the entire world with this...it made me feel special lol
2. My first pets were 2 goldfish who I named Astro and Uraine after the Astro Boy characters (whom I was obsessed with as a child!). Uraine had a funny fin (the dorsal one?? the one on her back), it had been bitten off/torn in a fight with another fish. I loved her terribly. I was SO SO devastated when she died. Apparently SO MANY of my (subsequent) fish died (and I was always distraught) that my dad took to coming home from work in the middle of the day, randomly, to check on them.  If he found one dead, he'd replace it before I got home. that's love huh!!
3. I have never felt more alive, more at home, more comfortable and more myself than I did (and do) in Japan. I miss it so much it hurts.
4. I easily make friends wherever I go, but my friends never seem to stick around. And I never know why. (do I stink?! lol)
5. I wanted to sing and dance on stage (as in, musical productions) and was completely broken hearted when I didn't get into the Academy. I was good (if I may say so myself!) but too young.
6. I was the 3rd youngest person in my year (grade) at school all the way through, but usually one of the tallest.
7. My first crush was Jonathan Wright. He was English, (had the accent and everything lol), he was my best friend for years and we sang a song about Witches from Scooby-doo in front of my entire year 5 class. *dies of embarassment*
7.2. I saw Jonathan's mum at the shops recently and she remembered me...I'm too chicken to go see what he looks like now lol (why kill the dream memory?! haha!)

so there you go!! insight into the weird and wacky world of me!

I hope to be back on here REALLY soon. I've missed it! But if I'm not, please stick around. I will definitely be back and I'd hate to lose you:)

lots of love and thanks again to Elizabeth.

L xx