Di Hickman April #5 Guest Designer Card

This is the card I have made for my final Guest Designer slot on Di Hickman's blog.

I have really enjoyed doing these as it has made me try new techniques and push myself a bit.

I made this card to give to my hubby as he started a 3 day computer course today and is stopping over at a friends for the duration. I wanted to give him something that he could take with him to tell him how proud I am of him and how much I love him and miss him.

The base card was a lighter brown than I wanted so I darkened the edges using my trusty walnut Tim Holtz pad. I ran DCWV cardstock through the Heart Blocks Cuttlebug folder, sanded it back to the white core using a cheap emery board and used the distressing pad all over the embossing.

The square panels are from a vintage Papermania shapes caddy. The hearts are cut from the DCWV cardstock and the rub on letters are from my stash. The ribbon is a chocolate velvet from Paperchase and feels lovely :) The sentiment panel was made using Debbi Moore Metal Magic embossing powder. This is the firts time I have used it and I'm not completely happy with it. One layer was perfectly smooth but I did this with 2 layers and it didn't seem to melt as well. I will have to do a bit more practising with it I think. The stamp used is from Docrafts.

Paul loved my card and has took it away with him. He will be back on Friday night, we will have the Bank Holiday weekend together and he has got a couple of days off work next week.

I've Been Tagged !

By Jenny

1. If a movie was being made of your life who would you like to be cast to play yourself? And why?

Oh my god, I would never think of a question like this ! I have and am changing so much as a person I would have no idea who could portray that. Probably someone like Julia Roberts who is an actress I admire and has proven over the years how much she has changed too.

2. You are spending a whole month on a desert island for charity and you have to choose your favourite celebrity to spend the first two weeks with & your least favourite celebrity to spend the second two weeks with, who would they be & why?

My favourite celebrity to spend time on a desert island would be survival expert Ray Mears. He would ensure that I would always have something to eat and would be safe. He would build a nice hut and would know everything about the local wildlife and fauna. I saw him do a talk at the Birmingham Town Hall and he was absolutely fascinating, but also very humble.

The worst one would be Amy Winehouse. I weas one of the unfortunate people who saw her in concert at The NIA in Birmingham in October. She didn't come on stage until 9.45pm and she was absolutely pickled. Staggering all over the place and getting upset all the time because of her husband. I totally dislike the persona she has become and think it would do her good to be away from all the outside influences and de-tox. Then hopefully she would go back to being the extremely talented young lady with the fantastic voice that she USED to be.

3. What are your three favourite crafting products?

My rotatrim edgemaster with it's patterned blades

Sissix Big Shot as I can use all manufacturers dies and embossing folders with it.

Patterned paper

4. If you could invent something to do anything what do you think it would be?

I wish I could make something to zap all the sadness and badness in the world away.

5. What are the last three books that you read?

Lose Weight by Alan Carr

A Place Called Here - Cecelia Ahern

Daddy's Little Girl - Julia Latchem Smith (totally messed me up, brought back a lot of memories and now realise I can't read books like this again!)

6. QVC or create & Craft?

Definitely QVC ! Create and Craft is rubbish and I have NEVER bought anything off there.

7. Docrafts or Dovecraft or DCWV?

Oh No, that is really hard as I love them all. Probably Docrafts as they are the most affordable and their stuff has got sooooo much better over the years.

8. What is your claim to fame?

I did a music keyboard workshop at school with Orbital before they became famous.

I'm passing this on to:

Will have to have a think about it and will add names later

Di Hickman April #4 Guest Designer Card

The latest sketch on Di Hickman's blog is well balanced and I wanted to make something colourful which would cheer someone up.

I have had this sentiment by R. Penn as a digital download for sometime and have not used it before but think it is great for a RAK card. I used a Sakura glitter pen to colour the flower and draw the wiggly line on the sentiment.

The paper is HOTP, the ribbons, rub ons and brad are Papermania and the flowers are Prima daisies (which I would like in every colour please !)

The design team cards are really bright this week for the most part so hopefully that is a sign of mojo's returning now the days are getting brighter :)

It will be my last week as a guest designer next week. I have really enjoyed my stint and hope I will get a chance to do something similar in the future.

Di Hickman April #3 Guest Designer Card

This is the card I made for Di Hickman's 3rd April sketch.

When I saw the sketch at first I wasn't sure what to do with it. I purchased some new papers (like as if I NEED any more - naughty Mandy) which were the Laura Ashley Contemporary collection from Dovecraft. The soft tones of the blues and greens I felt would go nicely together with some likkle birdies that I had downloaded from a very talented digital artist Imagine by Fran. Please take a look at her blog, she is soooo clever. Her blog is in both French and English so don't be frightened when you first take a look !

The layers of card were inked around the edges using a Brilliance Pearlescent inkpad and I used a clear Sakura glitter pen to go round the edge of the birdie and the wavy edge panel in the centre. The sentiment is a rub on that was a freebie with a magazine.

I sent this card to a forum buddy for a RAK which I hope she will like. It's quite different from my usual style, almost seems too grown up and subtle for one of mine !

This is one of the first cards I have made which is hybrid, combining downloads intended for digital scrapbooking and printing them to use for projects. I subscribe to DigiFree and that is a great source of freebies by some extremely talented people. All they ask is that you give them some love by leaving some comments about their work. Many of them are just so blooming clever it really amazes me that they would do it for free. Just goes to show how generous the crafting community can be.

Visited Buxton

Did my longest drive to date today when Paul and I visited Buxton.

We were supposed to be going with friends camping in Wales, but it got cancelled on Friday morning. I had been looking forward to my first long distance drive and I was disappointed. A work colleague suggested we go to the Peak District and as I have never been before I did a little research on the net and we decided to go to Buxton. It was about 90 minutes driving each way, most of it motorway and fast A roads so it was a good chance to give the car a decent run too.

Some of the roads were so steep that my little car couldn't cope and I had to go up one in 1st gear. At the top of this huge hill we drove into a cloud !!! How cool was that ?

The views across the Peak District were absolutely stunning. It was such a shame that I was driving though as I couldn't take much of it in (for obvious reasons !) Paul took some pictures with the window open on the way back. I was driving at 50 miles an hour and they have come out really well. I will add some to my blog when downloaded and re-sized.

We hadn't really planned much when we got to Buxton except to go and have a meal somewhere. It seemed very quiet and we were looking round for somewhere to park up and saw a sign for Poole Cavern & Nature walk so decided to take a look. It turned out to be a guided tour of an underground cave and it was absolutely brilliant. We went for a walk through the woods and when we got to the top the views were worth the perilous walk through the mud.

On the way back down I slipped on my bum and got loads of mud on my trousers. We heard a woodpecker, but unfortunately couldn't see it. I was delighted as I have never heard one before except on TV. It seemed really loud too.

Not expecting to go tramping through the forest as we did, neither of us took hiking boots. I cannot drive in trainers at all so I had a change of shoes in the car anyway, but Paul didn't. Our trainers were absolutely caked in mud so Paul took his off and we couldn't really go for a meal with as much mud on us as we had so we had a few nibbles in the car and set off back home.

I am sooooo tired now, but really, really enjoyed today. It was so nice to get out for the day with Paul and he said he was proud of my driving today. I have a feeling we will be going out more often !

Angie & Ian's Engagement + Di Hickman April #2 Guest Designer Card

This is the second card I have made as a Guest Designer on Di Hickman's site. If you have not visited her site before I would urge you to take a look. It always amazes me how differently people can interpret the same sketch. Different use of materials and techniques along with some amazingly talented people make some great cards full of inspiration.

One of my work colleagues has just got engaged and I wanted to make her a special card to mark the occasion and thought this sketch would be perfect.

The backing paper is a wrapping paper from Paperchase. They do some fabulous papers, always fashionable and very good value when you consider you get the equivalent of 8 sheets of A4 paper for between £1 and £2. I love to pop into their shops when I go to Birmingham and see what I can pick up.

I used a small Cuttlebug folder for the embossed image and cut out a scallop circle using my Nestabilities dies. I love these and I am considering purchasing some different shapes.

The charm is from Claire's Accessories. I love going into this shop when they have a sale on as you CAN pick up some pretty cool stuff quite cheaply. Although most of their things are sold as ear-rings, phone charms or hair accessories if you think outside the box you can get some fabby little items for next to nothing. I once had over 30 items for £5 and when I took them apart had loads of bits for my cards.

Phil's Retirement + Di Hickman Jan #3

I needed to make a card for an old work colleague who was retiring.

I based it on a sketch Di Hickman did in January but twisted some of the elements to fit.

I used Cuttlebug folders to emboss the circles and the Congratulations text which I also inked with silver to define the words.

The image is a Penny Black Stickeroo. Got a few sheets of assorted designs and not used them before. I love how there are no defined edges to the clear background so it is almost impossible to tell it is a sticker !

The sentiment is a chipboard embellishment from a QVC TSV. I inked around the edges and was so pee'd off as I'd smudged it so I ended up distressing it more to cover up the mistake. I covered it with 3 layers of UTEE and sprinkled glamour dust glitter into the last layer. I then bent it gently to crack the surface.

He absolutely loved it and was pleased that I had made it especially for him. I worked with him for 11 years and he is a lovely guy.

Guest Designer Di Hickman April #1

I am a guest designer for the whole of this month on Di Hickman's site and this is the first card which has been published on her blog today.

I was really excited when I saw that mine was the 1st one under the samples she had done. It's a bit of a wow moment for me as I never think what I do is good enough as there are so many much better card makers than me and I am constantly amazed by their creativity.

I made the card for my friend at work and he loved it, although he wasn't terribly happy that I was announcing to the world how old he was.... that made me laugh!

The card was made using my currently most used Dovecraft Masculine paper pack, Making Memories Cosmopolitan, some brads from Docrafts, some peeloffs coloured black on a scrap of gold cardstock and a sentiment from Let's Make Cards. The papers and card were distressed around the edges using a Tim Holtz ink pad in Antique Walnut.

I'd better get working on next week's sketch now :)

Went Tobogganing !!

To celebrate a friend's birthday, a small group of us went to Tamworth Snowdome yesterday to go tobogganing down the indoor slope. It was a last minute thing so I went home at dinnertime and got some clothes for me an hubbie and we got changed at work.

Had an absolutely brilliant time !!! It cost £8 for 30 minutes and it was the best fun I have had as an adult. I have got 3 bruises, got absolutely soaked, crashed out of the toboggan and tumbled down the slope much to the amusement of my boss !!! but it was the most brilliant adrenalin rush and I wanted to do it again. I was really looking forward to it but it was so much better than I EVER imagined. It was just like being a kid again sliding down the snow covered grass banks at Bramley Park in Leeds

I can't wait until we go next time, hopefully we will go at the weekend and be able to do an hour. I was completely buzzing all day today !. We are trying to get a big group of us from work going as it will be a great laugh.

Got a couple of pictures on the digital camera which I will post very soon.