My lovely followers x

Sunday 22 July 2012

Phew, I'm all pink tonight!.........

Happy Sunday everyone, hope you've all had a great weekend.
Alan and I had a drive up to Leicester yesterday, (a 6 hour round trip) so that Al could take part in the birthday pressie we bought him....A drive in 5 of the fastest, beautiful, most expensive cars on the planet.....and he absolutely LOVED it. (I stood around like a spare part!)
It's the first place I've been to for a while, that I didn't go hunting for a craft shop!!
Today we've been gardening, so it's back down to earth with a bump for Al  (he hates gardening) :(
Anyway, tonight's cards are very, very simple,  pink and frilly, for a change..... I'm in a pink mood :-)
These are going into my stock boxes.


Just a few bits from my stash and voila!
Hope you've enjoyed looking, please leave a comment if you have xx

Thursday 19 July 2012

Less is more.......

Hiya folks and welcome back to my blog. 
Whoohoo, we've had a full day without rain, here in Wiltshire, not that it mattered much to me of course, as I've been locked up in my cosy craft room most of the day, quite happy!
I've actually stopped procrastinating today and started on my orders and the wedding stationery, which is needed for 3rd August :)  Tonight's cards though, were made yesterday. I was going to pop them in the Less is More challenge, until I read the rules, and realised the challenge had changed, and these cards didn't fit the theme. Hey-ho, they've gone into my stock boxes.


Background is Pan Pastels, on white linen cardstock, with my beautiful German Shepherd stamp. No other embellishments, which is a miracle for me!


Got to own up to this card not being my own idea,
 I saw something similar in a magazine and put my own spin on it.

What do you think???


Catch you tomorrow with some pink & pretty! ....
Have a great Friday 
Barbara
xx

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Taking it one step further.....

Evening all, hope you've had a good day, and managed to get a little crafting done. I've had a very productive 2 days, and made 11 cards......however NONE of them were the orders I need done, or the wedding stationery, (which is need for 2 weeks time) so I'm still procrastinating....BUT, when you have ideas in your head, you must get them down on paper...... that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!
Tonight's card is a very easy mat & layered effort......because the twinchie was already made, it only took 5 minutes to finish it. I first showed this little piece earlier in the month, (see 3rd July, the colour looks a bit more vibrant)

The little guitar started off silver, so I 'versamarked' it and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. The orange matted pieces were coloured with Pan Pastels, as was the twinchie.

I just want to remind you of the THREE challenges that I'm involved in at the moment, and there's still time to get your entries in......
( Theme is SUMMER )
( Theme is WHITE ON WHITE )
( Theme is COLOUR )
Hope to see you there!!
Barbara x

Sunday 15 July 2012

It's Twinchie Time Again....

Morning everyone, thanks for calling back to read my blog....I've been a bit busy this week, so haven't been blogging as much as usual, but hopefully I'm back on track now.
Today sees the launch of our SECOND twinchie challenge at  
and this time the theme is SUMMER, (although maybe this should read....Winter :()
A MASSIVE congratulations to Abbie who won our first challenge....the standard of entries was amazing, and it's such a shame we can only have one winner........However, have you seen the size of the 'winner's' badge??....it's humongous!   You really need to try and get this for your blogs everyone, it's so impressive hahaha.
Ok, here are my DT twinchies for the Summer theme, hope you like them xx







The sand is made from sandpaper, and the surf is heat embossed with white Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder.  (The smell of the sandpaper burning was yukky!)
 The little stamped images are from a 'free' set of magazine stamps.
Backgrounds all done with Pan Pastels and the flowers and 'grass' cut with a Memory Box die and mounted with silicone glue.

Well, that's all for this morning, catch you later, have a great Sunday xx

Tuesday 10 July 2012

You rock!.....

Hi everyone.....Welcome to my new followers and apologies for neglecting you all, but things have just been a bit manic here. I had a weekend off, from crafting, apart from a few 'twinchies', as I wanted to get my craft room really sorted. I've also found loads of crafty stash to sell on to a loving home....well, I need room for new stuff, don't I????   *smiling*
Todays card was an order for a young man who is mad on rock/guitar/music in general. Not coloured very well, as I was rushing, but the customer loved it, so all good!


I'll be back tomorrow with something a bit more interesting.... 
Oh, and by the way, all the time I spent tidying my craft room.......was WASTED! It's back to normal.....help!

Friday 6 July 2012

I Must Not Procrastinate!............

Evening bloggers, from a very very wet Wiltshire....hope you're all safe and dry!
I haven't even been outside today, apart from the garden, as I've been trying to re-arrange my craft room.
I must stop hoarding tiny pieces of card and paper......especially as I've got enough A4 sheets to go around the world twice! Anyway, I've been tough with myself, thrown loads of stuff out, and put lots to one side to sell. Job done!
However in doing all this I forgot to do an order for my son Nick & his wife Emma. They asked me earlier in the week if I'd make a wedding card for their friends wedding tomorrow, and they'd pick it up en route.......I thought this meant tomorrow morning, so I put off doing it until tonight. Imagine my shock when Nick phoned at 4.45pm, saying they'd be with us in half an hour on their way to Oxford.....Yikes, why do I always leave everything until the last minute??
So, a bit of panic ensued, but I managed to get it done, just as they got here......with a reminder to myself.....I must not procrastinate, I must not procrastinate, I must not procrastinate! 



Hope you like it, I'll be back tomorrow.
Barbara xx

Thursday 5 July 2012

Babies today....

Morning all, and a decent morning it is too, in Wiltshire. Hope the rain has eased off a bit where you are.....not sure where it's all coming from, but come, it does!...Hey-ho, it's good crafting weather :)
Just a quick post from me this morning, as I'll probably be back tonight as well.
These 2 baby cards were made for a customer's 'stock box'....(some people are sooooooooooo organised!)
I've used one of my favouite baby stamps from LOTV of course, and just a few scraps out of my stash.
Hope you like them



I bought the Sizzix 'frame' die last week, I think it's quite pretty (and so much less expensive than Spellbinders)
Anyway, I'm off to make a few more TWINCHIES for our new challenge blog Show us Your Twinchies

Why not pop over and check it out.
Catch you later, enjoy the sun, while it lasts,
Barbara xx

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Twinchies.....again!

Hi everyone, an earlier post from me today, as we're going out tonight with some friends from 'Up North' , who are visiting the area.
I've had a busy couple of days, crafting of course, so have lots to show you over the next few blogs....and I've nothing on for the rest of the week, so hopefully will get caught up on orders and stock re-filling ;)
Today I'm showing a couple of twinchies I made at the weekend. 
I've got to admit, these little bits of art are quite addictive, and as I'm walking around the house, my head is full of ideas for them. 
Don't forget you can join in our twinchie challenge at
This fortnight's theme is 'ANYTHING GOES'

 

 








I'd love to hear what you think of these two little creations,  have a great evening.
Catch you all tomorrow,
Barbara xx

Monday 2 July 2012

More 'White on White'......

Hi everyone, hope you've had a good day.
Just a quick post tonight, but first I would like to thank everyone who left such wonderful comments on yesterdays 3 projects. I was genuinely overwhelmed.   I hope the blogs they were made for will go from strength to strength.
( details of the blogs at the bottom of this post )
I'm back with another 'white on white' card.....and as I've said previously, these are some of my favourite cards to make.
This simple card is made with 3 different embossing folders and 2 die-cut fern sprays, so it was very easy.
A flourish of roses and berries and voila!


Please leave a comment, if you've enjoyed looking, they're always much appreciated.
I'll be back tomorrow with some new twinchies, but until then, have a lovely evening.
Barbara xx

Sunday 1 July 2012

And Last But Not Least.....TWINCHIES!...YEAH!

Well, amazingly, this is my THIRD post of the day and it's only 9am ....Go Barbara!

TWINCHIES!!
Two months ago I had a brainwave......to start making 'Twinchies'. What made me come up with this idea, I couldn't say, but here I am, with 3 other partners in crime,  making TWINCHIES for our very own challenge blog.
If you've never heard of a twinchie, it's a small piece of card, measuring 2" x 2", and decorated just however you please, with whatever 'medium' you want....Inks, Pan Pastels, Paint, Fabric, Glitter, etc, etc, (you get the picture yet?)
So, onto the twinchies I made for our very first challenge, which is called 'Anything Goes'
(This challenge will run until midnight on 14th July)

 
                                  No.1

Free stamp from Craft Stamper was coloured with Pan Pastels. I've then used my Versamark pen, to ink the centres of the circles and heat embossed them with Creative Expressions Cosmic Shimmer powder. I've coloured the face with Promarkers

                             No.2

This twinchie was inked with Tim Holtz  distress inks, scattered straw and fired brick.  Another stamp from Craft Stamper mag was stamped twice, once on the twinchie, and once onto scrap. I cut the shell out, and decoupaged it onto the the main image. With the Versamark pen I drew a few lines, following the shape of the shell, and heat embossed them.





No.3

I used Pan Pastels, red and yellow on this twinchie....and yes, you've guessed, another stamp from Craft Stamper mag!
 ( they fit twinchies so well, and are absolutely FREE! )
I dragged a Versamark pad around the edges and again heat embossed  with Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder.
Voila!




Well, that's definitely all for today, I'm exhausted.....
Please leave a comment if you've enjoyed looking at my posts, and don't forget to scroll down for details of the challenges at
and

Not snowing.....but it's very white around here !

Morning everyone, and another very early post from me......makes a change from blogging at midnight, I suppose.
The card I'm showing below is my Design Team card for July, over at 
The theme this month is 'White on White', (one of my favourite themes).....
.....hope you like it.


I used:-
 1 sheet of A4 white hammered card, folded to make an A5 landscape base.
French Lattice die plate from Cheery Lyn  mounted onto white pearlescent paper.
Spellbinders Shapeabilities - Persian Accents
Spellbinders Shapeabilities - Foliage
Flowers are made with a Sizzix Bigz die - Daisies, and embossed with Crafts-Too, Swiss dots embossing folder.
The sentiment was made with a Crafts-Too embossing folder.
White 1" wide satin ribbon, & 3 pearls.
Don't forget to checkout the rest of the Design Team Creations, they are truly beautiful.
And please scroll down to see my earlier post for 
Thanks for looking, would love you to leave a comment xx

Monkeying Around!.......

Morning everyone, welcome to a very, very early post from me.........and my very FIRST post for
Why not pop over and checkout what the other Design Team members have created ? .... and for those of you who love to 'scrapbook', there's paper scrapping and digital scrapping for you to look at!
Got to admit, I've never done a scrapbook page before, but seeing some of the team's creations, makes me want to try.
Anyway these are the colours that we needed to use for this challenge........


............and this is what I came up with


The card base is 6" x 6", and matted with a slightly smaller square of cerise pearlescent card. 
I cut 2 layers of white 'hammered' card, 5" x 5"  and  3" x 3" and laid one on top of the other for protection.
 I then 'splodged' around the edge with Pan Pastels....Magenta, Diarylide Yellow, White, Raw Umber, Oxide Green, Phthalo Blue, Turquoise.
I think PP's are fabulous, but as I'm a messy crafter, I needed to protect the middle of the card from mess and fingerprints etc., hence the 3" x 3" mat.
A quick zap of cheap hairspray, and it was ready to stamp.
The sentiments and monkeys are from Stampendous, and the foliage is by Inkylicious.
I drew a double, fine line, to make the stamped section stand out from the coloured edge.

No card is complete without a bit of Glamour Dust , so I blinged the little monkeys.....
Well hope you like it, it was certainly fun to make.
Thanks for looking, please leave a comment if you have time, I love reading them x