Santa Claus Is Coming...

Hi everyone. Hope you're all having a wonderful week.

I'm just dropping by to let you all know that there's a new challenge starting today over at the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog and the theme for this fortnight is:

BUTTONS

All we want you to do is use buttons somewhere on your creations and we can't wait to see what you create and if you should need any inspiration, then here's my card that I've made. You can also see all the fab projects over on the blog that the rest of the DT have come up with.

To make this card, I used papers and elements from Sarah's fab Tinseltown CD and made a handmade rose with the papers, added some Baker's Twine around the postcards and popped on a few buttons, some punched holly leaves and finally stamped a message onto the postcards.

So, that's it from me for today and I really hope if you have time to join in, you will ~ it would be lovely to see some familiar faces!

Bye for now!

Love Emma

xxx

Christmas is Coming...

Just dropping by to let you know that another two weeks have flown by and yup, it's that time again for another fab challenge over on Sarah Hurley's Challenge blog and this fortnight's challenge is...

"USE MORE THAN TWO IMAGES"

If you hop over to Sarah's Challenge blog, you can find all the details and also get some wonderful inspiration from the DT and this is what I've made ~ I hope you like it!

I added a few Spellbinders diecuts, ribbons and some Candi from Craftwork Cards to complete this card but all the papers and the elements come from Sarah's fabulous new cd, which you can buy HERE. The cd itself includes over 1500 printable images, so if you're stuck for Christmas card ideas, this will be the perfect present to yourself!

...and speaking about presents to oneself...look what came through my letter box this morning!!! *big smiles and excited handclaps* Yes, I admit they accidently fell into my basket, well that's my story and I'm sticking to it ~ but I'm sure I can find a good and very loving home for them!! lol

I'll be back soon with some more Kuretake makes featuring Basically Bare, which you can purchase together with lots of other goodies, from Kuretake's newly launched shop!! If you missed my first project, using the wonderful Basically Bare goodies, scroll down to the post below!!

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your day and thank you for taking a look at what I've been up to, today!!

I'll be round to see all your creations, asap!!

Love Emma

xxx

Sarah Hurley Challenge 48 ~ Bling and Sparkle

Hi everyone!!!

Hey, did someone steal summer?? I'm sitting here with all the lights on and watching the rain as it pours down outside...hmm, I think this is what's known as the Great British summer!! lol

Anyway, I thought I'd drop by to let you know that today is the start of a new challenge over on Sarah Hurley's Challenge Blog and the title of this challenge ~ BLING AND SPARKLE. We'd love you to join us and you have two weeks to break out the glitter and gems and maybe be the lucky winner of a voucher to spend with our sponsors, My Mum's Craft Shop.

And here's my card for the challenge, using some more of those fab papers and designs from Sarah's Wonderland cd. I just love this cd and can't get enough and I combined these with some Spellbinders die cuts and a Tim Holtz flourish.

For my bling, I used some glitter paper to make the handmade roses and finished off the whole card, with a gold crown and black sparkly gem.

Right, it's time for me to head back to the craft room and start making some more cards. It's never ending..I'm a human card making machine!! lol

I'll be around to catch up with all your creations on your blogs, asap.

See you soon and enjoy the rest of your day!

Love Emma

xxx

Come and Join in on Sarah Hurley's Challenge Blog

Hi everyone and hope you're all safe and well and having a great Thursday, so far!!

I just wanted to say a BIG thank you to everyone who has left me a comment on yesterday's post, with regards to me joining the QVC team...I was completely overwhelmed by all your lovely kind words and every single one of them, meant the world. I often say that my followers are the best...but you are, I couldn't have done any of this without your support and encouragement!!

So now, it's time for me to come down from cloud nine and get back to work...hehe. Tomorrow, I'll be back to show you some more Clarity samples but today, is my first time taking part as a member of Sarah Hurley's DT and if you head over to Sarah's Challenge Blog, you can get all the details of how to join in with Challenge 47 and the lovely Jaine has chosen...STITCHED UP! as the theme...

And for my card, I chose to use Sarah's backing papers and the gorgeous White Rabbit image from her Wonderland CD.

I chose Alice In Wonderland because I just love this book and I combined the gorgeous papers, with Tim's Weathered Clock, which I sandpapered for a distressed look and some of Tim's stamps. I then stamped the "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" wording onto a hand cut banner, which I then stitched with black thread. I finally added some hand dyed seam binding, a couple of decorative pins and some faux stitching around the die cut image of the White Rabbit. I decided to put all my elements at "wonky" angles because that was what Alice In Wonderland was all about. Nothing was as it seemed.... ;)

So, I hope you like today's challenge and I would love to see some familiar faces over on the Challenge Blog. Hope you'll all join in!!

Thank you again, to everyone who took the time to leave me a comment about QVC!! You've made this girl, a very happy girl!!!

See you tomorrow!

Love Emma

xxx

Carnival

Well, I think you can safely say that I didn't get away without catching the flu...I feel lousy! But I just thought I'd say a big hello from my deathbed!! hehe...

I also woke up to a nice surprise over on the Craftwork Cards blog, this morning!! Yes, it's me...I'm the featured DT member, today!! I'm so honoured to have been part of this fabulous CD-ROM and urge you all to go and buy it now, to see mine and all the other wonderful projects from the rest of the Design Team!!

And to whet your appetites even further, here's a lil card I made using the Carnival collection of papers and embellishments from Craftwork Cards! The bright colours are perfect to cheer you up on a rainy day, like today!!

Right, I'm going to crawl back into bed and wish you all a wonderful weekend and don't forget the wonderful Barbara Gray and ClarityStamp will be live on Create and Craft on Sunday. Make sure you tune in at 10:00am for a 2 hour show and then again at 2:00pm for a further hour!! There are some absolutely gorgeous stamps designs that Barbara will be demonstrating throughout the shows!!

As for me, I'll be back next week, hopefully feeling a lot better than I do at the moment and I can't wait to share all my samples from the Clarity shows and show you all the fun I had using them!!

Take care and see you soon!!

Love Emma

xxx

Inspiring Your Passion

Hope everyone's having a fabulous Christmas and after all the hustle & bustle, you're finally getting time to relax!!

I just wanted to drop by to say hello and also to fill you in on some good news!! Back in the summer, you might remember me mentioning a very exciting project that I was working on...well, finally I can let you all in on that big secret I was keeping and here it is...

Ta-Dah!!!

This little beauty is called Inspiring Your Passion and is the first CD ROM to be released by Craftwork Cards and available to buy, right now! I've already been lucky enough to see the disc and the whole Design Team really did excel themselves...it's full of 34 gorgeous projects and many beautiful cards and templates. So, if you have some Christmas money to spend this has to be a definite must-have CD Rom, that will inspire your creative juices to flow!!

You can see teasers from the CD ROM over on the Craftwork Cards blog and also, I thought I might share just a lil teaser of just one of my projects, that is featured on it.

Enjoy the rest of the holidays!!

Love Emma

xxx

Spookalicious!

Exciting times ahead and it's going to be a busy few weeks, as lots of new products will be arriving at my door to play with and then, of course, comes the best bit...I get to share all the projects with you. All I can say at the moment is...you will love what's coming soon!

But for now, I have another lil Halloween treat to share and with this card, the elements on it are all from a  CD Rom called Sundae of Seasons from Polkadoodles. I haven't worked with CD Roms very much in my crafting but I just loved the style of artwork on this one and I had to have a go and here's the result...

When you print out the images, I recommend that you use the Digital Cardstock from Craftwork Cards. Due to it's wonderfully smooth finish, this card is the best card to use when working with CD Roms and it also is amazing for using with Promarkers as it doesn't bleed.

Once all my images were printed, I added some backing papers that I already had in my crafty stash and the rosette is made using Tim Holtz's new rosette die from Sizzix. As the final touch, I used the wonderful little fence, that I gently shaped to give the effect of the little vampire standing behind it and I made this using another die, but this time from a set of Halloween Shapeabilities from Spellbinders.

So, I'd better get back to work and wish you all a wonderful Tuesday and if you are watching QVC's Craft Day, which I know I won't be able to resist...have fun and don't spend too much...or is that a silly thing to say!!

Love Emma

xx

When In Doubt Dance!

Today's spotlight is on those fabulous Kraftin Kimmie stamps that I bought last month, from Dies To Die For and features, Monique.

I combined quite a few products to make this card...Promarkers, Martha Stewart punches, Petaloo flowers in different textures and finishes, ribbon, adhesive gemstones and Spellbinders dies...

I also used backing papers and cardstock, that I printed from the Polkadoodles, Paper Boutique~CD Rom. The main base card itself, is made from Centura Pearl Snow White Card, which you can buy from Crafters Companion. The one thing that I absolutely insist on in my crafting is quality products...there's nothing worse that seeing a card that starts to bend as it sits on the mantlepiece and I was really impressed with the Centura Pearl cardstock. I urge anyone who uses CD Roms to invest in this, as it's a good, heavyweight card and gives the most luxurious pearlised finish to your print out and my other little secret for quality printing paper is, Tesco. Their "Finest" range of printer paper is fabulous...give it a go!

The Shape of Things To Come...

At the moment, when you walk into a card or gift shop, the shelves will be stacked with cards...A6, A5 in size, maybe larger, sometimes square and occasionally shaped ~ but there are times, when you make them by hand, that you want to make it look individual. You want to make it special and there's nothing wrong with a front opening card, I absolutely adore working on a square shaped card and especially 8" x 8", they have to be my favourite cardstock at the moment...there's something about the symmetry of a perfectly square card, that always produces the perfect design. But sometimes I want to keep those creative juices flowing and for me, I want to "think outside the box" and try and come up with unusual folds or styles. Something that will make the card feel more like a gift for the person that I give it to...something that they know is unique, that has been made by hand and hopefully, something that they will want to treasure forever.

So for this card, I used a standard A5 front opening style card but to make it slightly different, I folded the front of the card in half, back onto inself, so that it gives me a tri-fold card to work with. I put this together with some more wonderful map papers and vintage images that I printed off, from The Crafthouse Press ~ Men's Travel & Sport CD Rom. Once again, I used the Tim Holtz Distress Inks on the edges of the papers and images to give them an aged feel and then as the final finishing touch, I added a couple of buttons and some twine through the tag.

More vintage ephemera...

It's been one of those weeks, where I've really enjoyed crafting and making cards ~ maybe because, in my opinion, there's nothing better than being stuck inside, whilst it's cold and frosty outside and know that I'm keeping warm, drinking hot coffee, next to a roaring fire...doing what I love. Or maybe it's because I've found some of the most wonderful products to work with, yes...it was Craft Day on QVC and yes, I did tend to treat myself to a few of the amazing new items that they were selling. But whatever the reason...I really do, LOVE what I do!

So, whilst I'm on a productive rollercoaster, here's another vintage card, using elements from The Crafthouse Press CD Rom. I must admit, I was always skeptical about using a CD Rom for cardmaking but the images on this one are second to none and I just adore, these vintage ephemera backing papers. Please, if you have the opportunity to try it...IT'S A MUST HAVE PURCHASE!!

Bon Voyage!

When it comes to giving a card the vintage touch, there is only one product that will do the job and that product is Tim Holtz's wonderful distress inks. If you don't mind getting your fingers messy, working with any Tim Holtz product is a joy and once you invest in his products, you will never look back.

On this card, I combined papers and images, that I printed from The Crafthouse Press ~ Men's Travel and Sport, CD Rom together with the distress inks. Once the images were cut out, I used the blending tool, or you can use another product from Ranger called "Cut & Cry Foam" to blend the inks and colours together, this will give a soft aged, antique feel to the card. I find it easier to work on a craft sheet and slowly work the ink in from the edge in a circular motion. One tip that I have for this, less is definitely more. You can always build up the ink but it's more difficult to take any excess away. I've also used, on some of the images, Distress Stickles Glitter Glue which works in conjunction with all of Tim Holtz's other products and colours.

Now it's time to assemble the card ~ I used some of the backing papers from the The Crafthouse Press CD Rom and then started to build and layer my inked up images, slightly overlapping the card to give a 3D effect but still making sure that the whole card is no bigger than an A5 in size, so that it will fit inside the envelope. To give an even more authentic feel to the card, I did some ripping and tearing on some more of the backing papers, which I then adhered to the card. The final touch of a ribbon, tag and buttons were added.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Like many crafters, we can be known to struggle slightly when it comes to making cards for men but recently I received The Crafthouse Press' ~ Men's Travel & Sport CD ROM and I can assure you that I will never be stuck again. It has a wonderful selection of papers, gift boxes, decoupage and so much more. All of the images have a vintage feel to them and work so well for scrapbooking or card making.

Below is a pillow box and gift tag, that I made using just one of the many designs that's on the CD ROM. With the addition of some ribbon and a button (and probably a small gift inside) ... it makes a gorgeous little gift box, that I'm sure any man would be delighted to receive.