Textures

I have been learning about dressing photographs with textures. Have to admit I am having a ball. Just loving this course. Here is my photo before anything has been done to it.

As you can see it's not a very good photo, typical point and shoot without any thought behind. LOL. But using what I have learnt so far I have transformed it to this...

I expect you are all a bit fed up with photographs... Hoping to do some crafting this weekend and will share some crafting creations soon I promise. :-)

What did I learn today?

Today's lesson was making giving photo's an antique feel...I found this a bit more difficult today mainly because I couldn't choose a photograph that I felt worked with this technique..Note to myself TAKE MORE PHOTOGRAPHS!!!!!

Anyway here are my photographs after being tweaked...

Here are the photos before having anything done to them. You certainly can see the difference.

Learning Something New

I have had Photoshop elements software on my PC for a few years now and haven't ever got to grasps with it properly. So I decided to try out a free class Jessica Sprague's Photo Editing 'Frame Ups & Special Effects'. Yesterday was the first lesson. I didn't get around to doing it yesterday, so I am on catch up already LOL..but managed yesterdays and today's lesson this morning. Lesson one was all about PNG files and how to add a 'frame' and 'word art'. Here is what I came up with.

these are the two men in my life. I am loving this photo of my DS. The frame has really made the photo pop.

Today's lesson was using brushes on photos, she described it as thinking of them as stamps. I felt at home stamping LOL and created this...

This photo is from our holiday in Florida in 2006. We swam with the dolphins at Discovery Cove. DH decided he didn't want to do this so he was available to take some photo's. He was limited to where he could take them from so couldn't get close in and allot of them are cluttered. By applying what I learnt in Lesson 2 I was able to transform this photo and bring it back to be being just DS and myself, instead of us being lost amongst the others.

Can't wait for Lesson 3 tomorrow.

Good Day of Crafting

Weather was cooler today so I could get into the cabin for some crafting. I have been busy making some presents for my DS to take into school for his teachers, so I cannot share them at the moment incase they see them...
All I can say is I have been playing with the Fresh Cuts stamp set.

Here is something I can share with you all...I stamped the large image from the Fresh Cuts stamp set onto Whisper White card using Basic Grey ink. I then coloured in the flower part of the image using Pumpkin Pie and Certainly Celery ink using a blender pen. The photo isn't showing it very well, but I lightly inked all over the image in swirls with ink as well.

I am pleased how this card turned out, hope you like it too.



Supplies:
Stamps: Fresh Cuts,
Card: Pumpkin Pie. Whisper White, Black
Ink: Basic Grey, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Pearl from Pretties Kit, Blender Pen, Scallop Oval and Oval Punches

One month exactly....

Ohh....I hadn't realised I hadn't updated my blog for a month!!..Sorry

My time has been taken up with taxi services for my DS. He has a love of cricket and plays for the U11 team and this year also the U13 team, so yes that means double the amount of travelling not to mention the couple of County U11 matches he has been asked to play. This along with his bowls has kept me rather busy. Plus now I am not working, hubby seems to think I can do all the chores around the house!!

I have however been doing a little crafting and have a couple of cards to share today.

This first card is one I made for my swap card for the Stampin Up! field training I attended last week.



Supplies
Card: Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla
Stamps: Soft Summer, Canvas BG, Soft Cuts
Ink: Certainly Celery, Basic Grey, Pink Passion, Rose Red
Accessories: Silver Brads, Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon

I made 25 of these to share with my fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators. I also came home with some wonderful cards shared by them. I used the fabulous Soft Summer stamp set for my card. I have to say, this stamp set is becoming my favourite, I seem to grab this set every time. Love it.

My second card is one using a stamp set I have been struggling with. With all this cricket I have had to attend, I have took along some crafting when ever I can. It is not always easy to do, but I have been water coloring in the beautiful flowers from the Playful Petals stamp set. I now have tons of these ready to make into cards. Yesterday, I thought I ought to use some of these, but found it really hard to create something using them...Grrrr. Can't understand why! they are such beautiful designs....just one of those days I guess...anyway after allot of shuffling of card and images, I came up with this.....




Supplies:
Card: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Black
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Almost Amethyst, So Saffron
Stamps: Playful petals, Best Yet (Hostess Level 1)
Accessories: Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Oval and Scalloped Oval punches

Sooo much time........

has been spent on this project!!.I have wanted to make a scrapbook page of Alice for quite a while, but other commitments have prevented me making a start...until Sunday. I had so many ideas in my mind, but when I tried to put them on paper they just wouldn't work... I'm sure you know what I mean don't you.

I wanted to use Stampin' Up! items to make my own embellishments and here are a few. I have used two different stamp sets doing these, but I loved them. The problem I had was getting them on my page..




I also wanted to use an A on my page, so decided to draw around a chipboard letter that I had laying around (not SU) and then stamp on it. I also sponged around the edges to make it pop off the page.

Colours used are Pretty in Pink & Whisper White, with a splash of Barely Banana, Sage Shadow and Apricot Appeal.




Supplies
Stamp sets: In the Star, Nursery Necessities. Canvas BG
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Barely banana, Apricot Appeal, Sage Shadow
Card: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink
Ribbon: Light Pink Gingham, 1/2" Pretty in Pink Striped Grosgrain
Accessories: Scallop Circle punch, Scallop Edge punch, Large Star Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Crafters Tool Kit.

Honest scrap award from two lovely ladies

I'd like to thank Kate and Hayley for nominating me for this award.



According to Hayley:

"This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver's opinion, brilliant."

So thank you ladies, I'm very grateful.

The conditions of the award are:

• To thank the person who gave me the award, list their blog and link to it



• I must list 10 honest things about myself



• I must put a copy of The Honest Scrap Logo on my blog



• I must select at least 7 other worthy bloggers & list their links



• I must notify the bloggers of the award
  

So here is my list of honest things about myself.......

1. Always putting my family first, (then get upset, because I feel they put upon me)



2. Love watching Neighbours and QVC



3. I become a different person, when I get behind the steering wheel of my car!



4. I love Kipling handbags. (There about the only colourful things I have in my wardrobe)



5. Alcohol makes me grumpy…Diet Coke for me



6. love CHOCOLATE ….. hate boiled sweets and chewing gum



7. Cannot walk past a craft shop without going in and buying something



8. Need to loose at least 6 stone in weight !!



9. I have to be early, never late…it drives my husband mad!



10. I look for clothes that don’t need ironing, because I loath Ironing

Now...who am I going to choose to pass this award onto....hmm, that is a hard one there are so many great blogs out there...but here is a small selection, I visit..

Jane - I followed Jane's blog and creations before I or Jane became Stampin' Up! Demo's. Her scrapbooking is fab.

Alison - Another fab scrapbooking lady from Norfolk, I have stalked for years

Bekka - My fab SU sister, who is always there to give encouragement - Thank you Hun

Dawn - I just Love Dawns creations

Monica - My SU Mum and such an inspiration to us all

Alex - One of my talented Downline. I just love this girls creations

Karen - Another of my talented downline...Karen is new to blogging but her creations are awsome

Right I will stop at seven....my list could go on and on..there are so many talented crafters out there....

Hello :0)

Thought it was about time I started to blog again. Sorry for being missing for so long...

I have been busy with family life and a new job. However the little job I had working at the school, has finished due to loss of funding, so I am now unemployed again...still gives me more time to craft LOL.

It's half term holiday and DH & DS have been fishing all day, which means I have been crafting. I decided to make a Thank You card to send to all the fab people I have been working with at the school. So many of them made me feel so welcome when I first started. Circumstances on my last day, ment I couldn't say goodbye to them all, so I wanted to send them a card to let them know, how grateful I was for all their kind words.

Now I can't take the credit for designing this card. I saw it somewhere some time ago, but I cannot remember where, so I cannot give credit to the person who designed it. Sorry...



Supplies:
Certainly Celery DP
Pale Plum Card stock
Pocket Silhouettes, Thank You Kindly stamp sets
Chocolate Chip 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon
Chocolate Chip ink

Now, I need to thank Kate and Hayley for leaving me an award. I will be back to post about that later....

BFN x

Stamp with Us Challenge

This weeks challenge over at Stamp with Us is a recipe challenge. The challenge was to use:-


2 x Patterned Paper
1 x Ribbon
4 x Brads


Patterned Paper !!!! Hmm.... this was certainly going to be a challenge for me. I don't normally use patterned paper for my cards, that is only in my craft room for stroking LOL. Looking back over my blog the last time I used patterned paper was back in February... Ohh Dear....

Any way I have had a go......and I have to admit I had a blast. I will be using patterned paper more...



I decided to use the lovely Stampin Up! 'Sweet Always' papers. (Talking about papers watch out for a fantastic offer Stampin' Up! is bringing us in May.... )

Now I wonder why I choose these papers? My favourite colour of course, REGAL ROSE! LOL




Supplies:
Sweet Always DP
Regal Rose & Black Card stock
Petal Pizzazz, Thank You Kindly stamp sets
Regal Rose 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon
Pretty in Pink Brads
Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink & Certainly Celery ink
Three for you Punch box

I just want to finish off today to say Thank you for visiting my blog and to all the wonderful comments people leave. I know we crafters lead such busy lives and it means alot to me that you take time to leave me a message. XXXX

Stamp with Us Colour Challenge

Anyone who knows me, knows I love challenges. I find that I come up with some of my best cards doing challenges. They get me thinking out of my creative comfort zone, which is a good thing. I have been enjoying doing the challenges over at Stamp with Us, a new blog, for all things Stampin' Up!. This weeks challenge is a colour challenge using this picture....




Hmmm isn't it just Delicious LOL

Anyway...I had such a blast doing this challenge...I ended up making two cards!!!

This was the first one




Using Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip card stock and inks with the fabulous Soft Summer stamp set. This is certainly becoming one of my favourite sets from the new Mini catalogue.

While making this card my mind was racing ahead thinking about other designs I could do (does that happen to you). So as soon as I had finished this card I made this one...





This time the colours are Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa. With this card, I had the idea to do some embossing on the card. The panel on the bottom of the card is Close to Cocoa card stock that has been stamped with the stamp from the Fresh Cuts set. First use versamark ink, then straight onto Chocolate Chip ink, then stamp onto the card. The versamark allows the chocolate chip ink to stay tacky long enough for you to sprinkle clear embossing powder over the stamped image. Heat the clear embossing powder to create a lovely shiny impression, that looks just like velvet. I also decided to have a go at making the topper look like a tile. It was really difficult to get a photo of this, but if you click on the photo to enlarge you may see it better. To achieve this I ran a (Very new and clean) versamark ink pad over the whole image making sure every bit of card was inked. Then sprinkled clear embossing powder over and heated. This made the whole piece of card shiny looking like a tile. I then trimmed it to the size I wanted (best to do this after you have done the embossing as it makes sure the edges get embossed), then layered onto the card to make the topper.

Thank you girls over at Stamp with Us, I loved doing this challenge...