Folding Book For Colleague

Our work colleague Sam (the gorgeous blonde on the 3rd picture) is leaving Amtrak and my hubby has worked with her for over 6 years and asked me if I could make something special for her as a leaving card.

I wanted to do something different, but didn't know what. I was browsing through the Docrafts gallery and found a folding book that Joanna Wolska had uploaded and she said she had instructions on her blog . A couple of clicks away and I knew exactly what I was going to do.

Joanna is Polish but her instructions are in English too and were very easy to follow. I had a practice with paper first. I am glad I decided to do that as I felt it needed to be larger and opted to make one with a finished size of 12.5 cm square. I am delighted with how the book came out, it took a lot of putting together (getting suitable photos and even having to take some to get the workmates together) but I felt it was worth it. They are presenting it to her on Tuesday when she leaves.

The papers used in the book have been an assortment from my stash from K & Co, Papermania and Dovecraft. I have embellished pages using ribbons, Papermania peeloffs, fabric sticker, metallic stickers cardstock stickers and silk flowers. I have also used Prima flowers and the centres are 3d metallic squashy dots that I got from Paperchase yesterday. They are ideal for when you need detail without adding bulk like brads or gems do. The triangular sections each house a tag which has been embellished with ribbons and eyelets. These have given an a lots of individual, double sided areas for people to write messages. When I made it I thought there might be too many but in the end some people had to 'overflow' onto the pages.


The box was embellished with a die cut K & Co Frame, Primas, Paperchase gems and Chipboards letters with Liquid Pearls dots.

I have also entered this into 2 challenges on Just Bex for a project using lots of ribbons and also one where an element is painted in some way.

Below is a slideshow of all the pages.

I'm going on Holiday

I am soooooo tired at the moment due to a certain hubbie's snoring and sleeplessness in general. It is making me ill and I need a break. I want to press the pause button for a bit and so I have booked a week's pause in Tenerife.

I am going on my own which will be a first and fly off on the 1st of February which seems a way off, but I am sure will come very quickly. At the moment I can only sleep if I have had a couple of glasses of wine and am knocked out, but that isn't a long term solution, nor is it a solution that I particularly want anyway.

Whilst I am so tired I can feel myself becoming mentally unwravelled and can feel old wounds being opened that I honestly thought were healed, and healed very well too. It hasn't been helped that I read a particular book from the survivor of childhood sexual abuse that upset me greatly and made me question some decisions that I made a few years ago. The last week in particular has been very upsetting and emotional and I want to run away from everything.

For the 1st time ever I am putting myself first, and whilst part of me feels guilty for doing that, another part of me is really excited about having some time to myself to do what I want and to catch some rays at the same time. This will be the longest I have EVER been on my own, and I have never been away from home on my own so that will be an achievement in itself.

Good Luck Sharron

One of our colleague Sharron is leaving and we are going out for a drink with her on Monday evening.

I wanted to make a card for her which is quite bright and cheerful to match her personality.

It started with the large L shape which is a Sizzix die cut letter. I used a piece of chipboard and used the Cuttlebug Swirls embossing folder to add texture. I then coloured it using a Brilliance pearlescent inkpad and added 4 layers of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE). The final layer was a small amount of a 2 tone embossing powder to make it look patchy and distressed. This is layered onto 3d foam and a small piece of black and white ribbon from Little Silver Hat is tie round it.

The other lettering is a Sizzlits alphabet Round A Bout. The large flowers are die cuts from DCWV which are to match the Peeking Posies range. I also added a Prima daisy and a Dovecraft brad to hold it all together.

The cardstock is white hammered highlighted with chalk and I used a small Whispers rubber stampto add the daisies to the background. These are coloured in using various markers and felt tipped pens.

Another Football Shirt

I have been commissioned by a work colleague and previous recipient of an Aston Villa card who wanted me to make one for a young girl who is 16. He asked me to put her name on it and a photo of David Beckham as she is mad about him.

The template is from one I made myself just piecing together the traditional club colours from card. The badge is printed onto photo paper and the lettering is die cuts from Quickutz Ginger and Olivia alphabets and Sizzlits Round A Bout alphabet.

A Handbag !

I was commissioned by a work colleague to make a birthday card for her friend. She is 20, into art and I was told colours should be blue and purple.

I used cardstock from DCWV Peeking Posies pad for the base card which has a subtle glittered finish.

I embellished the card using Prima daisies and a bit of bling in the centre courtesy of Paperchase. The 'handle' is a piece of feather boa which I bought from Birmingham Rag market some time ago. I only have a very small piece left but it was so expensive I couldn't afford to buy much of it.

The lettering on the name is rub-ons from a freebie subscriber gift from the NEC in November.

I'm a Di Hickman DT runner up !

Di Hickman has announced the New Design Team members and although I'm not a winner I am going to be a Guest Designer for the month of April !

I am really, really pleased I have been chosen. Although I have been making cards for a long time now I still think I'm not very good and there are so many people that are waaaay better than me. This is a great confidence booster.

1st Card of 2008 & Di Hickman Sketch January #1

It seems appropriate that the 1st card I make this year is also the first of Di Hickman's sketches ! In a first for me I twisted the sketch around, will wonders never cease.

One of our friends has just moved this weekend into a flat with her little girl so I made this little card for her.

The house is a Sizzix die cut mounted on 3D foam, the ribbons are Papermania as is the bling in the centre of the Prima flowers.

The sentiment is a ribber stamp and I have used a brand new Versafine inkpad and I am so impressed with it. It dried straight away and I got the nicest crisp impression that I have ever got with this stamp.

In an effort to re-organise my craft room I have packed all my Christams stuff away on top of the bookcases and have been switching stuff around to make the stuff I use most easier to get to. I have also condensed my flowers into less pots. I have a lot of Primas and various other flowers so I got 2 cookie jars from Asda (bargain at 99p each) and one now holds all my Prima Daisies, the other has various sizes of Primas. I still have 3 bottles of the tiny ones and I have used the other bottles to hold other bits and pieces. This has enabled me to empty 8 other containers and jars which can go to the recycling box. They looked pretty in their own containers but unless you have oodles of space they are not very practical are they ?

I have got so much stash that I need to be very careful about buying any more. I am going to TRY not to buy unless I NEED it. If I am not replacing something I have used up I think I need to seriously question whether I should purchase it or not and not impulse buy just because I see something I like. Paul will be very happy to hear that I have no doubt as he says I have too much stuff and he is probably right. (Don't tell him okay LOL)

Happy New Year Everyone

Cannot believe how quickly 2007 flew by. Doesn't seem like 2 minutes since I was nursing a delicate head last year after one too many Southern Comfort & lemonades. Last night we had some gorgeous frozen cocktails that we bought from the food and drink show at the NEC in December.

I decided I was going to tidy up my craft room yesterday as it was a mess from Christmas and I wanted to re-organise it. It's still not finished but I think it will be a lot better than it was. Only trouble is I have a lot of things I've not found homes for yet........

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful New Year. I hope you have much success with your hopes & aspirations, Good health, wealth, love, luck & happiness now and always, but most importantly a free flowing mojo to help the crafy process.