Primrose Lane at Christmas

Hi everyone. It's been a busy week this week- I've been helping out at school preparing for today's Summer Fair. So much to do and so few people helping to do it! I also spent yesterday morning watching my son swim for his school against other local schools. I was very proud of him for finishing 2nd in his race and helping the school to finish 2nd overall. The children were all so excited that they won a trophy.

Today it's back to Christmas samples, as Hunkydory are launching their new Christmas stacks today on Create and Craft TV. The stacks are little books full of toppers, papers and inserts. I love them, as you get so much for your money and they take up less space!

I was thrilled to work with the Primrose Lane collection- it's a fabulous traditional collection, with lovely snowy scenes:

The last card is a shaker card, made using one of the concept cards in the pack. I just love the snowflake foiled paper.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend x

Finding my marbles...

Hi everyone. Hope you have had a good weekend. I have, for once, managed to have a weekend of balance. I've had lots of family time, taking my sons and a friend to Tankfest on Saturday (apparently the best day of my 9 yr old's life) and watching Glastonbury on TV (despite only living 8 miles away from the festival!). I also managed to make lots of Hunkydory samples, meet up with friends and do some housework!

This morning has seen the launch of Hunkydory's new Marble Adorable Scorable card stock. I wasn't ever so sure at first but once I started I fell in love with the textures and colours. Here are a few of my samples:

I kept my designs simple to show of the card, but I really enjoyed mixing the colours. My images are from the Little Books of Florabunda and Quotes and Wisdom 2.

Thank you for visiting and commenting today x

Always be a mermaid

Hi everyone. Today is the hottest day so far of our heatwave and I have to admit that I'm struggling a bit! I'm all for sun and heat when I'm by a pool all day but this temperature doesn't suit real life at all.

Today's card was inspired by the latest Daring Cardmakers challenge "Out of this World":

I've wanted to make a mermaid card since I was sent mermaid ephemera as part of my June Brimble's Box. I just love Anna Brim's fab drawings and this one was perfect for the them.

I began by inking the centre of  a 16.5cm square of watercolour paper with Cracked Pistachio, Salty Ocean and Shaded Lilac Distress Ink. I spritzed with water, allowed to dry then flicked a gold Wink of Stella pen over it for a bit of sparkle. Before adding to my 7x7 card blank, I inked the edges with Salty Ocean DI.

Next I cut a circle aperture from a 16cm square of card and fixed this to my background. I added the mermaid with foam pads. The sentiment is a freebie from Creative Stamping and I stamped it with Versafine ink. The mat has been inked with more Salty Ocean.

To finish I added 3 Dovecraft sequins from my stash.

I unashamedly love this card- who wouldn't want to be a mermaid? I could certainly do with a dip in some cold water right now.

Thank you for visiting today x

I would like to enter this card for the follwing challenges:

Daring Cardmakers Out of this World

Out of this World

Hi everyone. I've used some of my free time this week to have a play with stamps and inks. One thing I was keen to try was a space background, inspired by some I saw on my crafty friend Jennifer Kray's blog. I combined my finished background with Hunkydory For the Love of Stamps Out of this World stamps.

For the space background, I used Distress Inks on watercolour card. I began by blending Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserves inks. I then darkened the background with Faded Jeans DI, then used Black Soot around the edges and in the corners. I spritzed with water, allowed it to dry and then used a toothbrush to help me flick white acrylic paint over the background.

For the moon I cut part of a circle from watercolour card. I scribbled a grey Spectrum Aqua marker onto my glass mat, spritzed it with water then dipped in some bubble wrap. I pressed this onto my card for a crater effect.

The stamps were stamped using Memento and coloured with Spectrum Noir markers. I had to hand cut them as my Scan n Cut won't cut at the moment so they're a bit rough!

My eldest son is going to give this card to his Dad for Father's Day- though he'll be doing it on Sunday evening as he is off to his very first Cub Camp tomorrow. I will admit to being a very nervous Mummy today!

Have a lovely weekend, whatever you have planned x

Christmas in June

Hi everyone, it's great to be back blogging after a little break. I decided to take some time away as work got a little crazy and I had no time to craft. Things are much calmer now so I'll be catching up with your blogs later today.

I make no apologies for sharing some Christmas cards today- everyone knows us crafters have to start early! Yesterday saw the launch of this year's Hunkydory Christmas collection and I was thrilled that I got to make some samples for the launch.

I actually made 17 samples from the Cuddly Christmas set in total- and every one made on the hottest days of the year! It was great fun though, even if I did keep humming Christmas songs all the time.

I am extremely lucky that I actually already have the entire collection- a very kind thank you gift from the folks at Hunkydory. I can't wait to make more cards now.

Thanks for visiting today, have a lovely day. Cathy x