I'd travel the world to see you!

Hello everyone!  Mary J here and with a card showing off the new Kraftin' Kimmie new release...

So beautiful!   This is Svetlana from Russia and she will be available in the shop on Sunday.  I stamped her onto my fave Make It Colour Blending Card and coloured her in with my Copics.  I kept it pretty simple to showcase her and the matching sentiment and I also used the MFT Die-Namics - Photo Corners. 

See you next week with another post using more gorgeous Quixotic Paperie goodies!

 

*** Latest Arrivals ***

• Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps November Release
• Susana Loves Stamps Mythical Reflections
• Elisabeth Bell for SCACD
• Make it Crafty Chipboard Embellishments & 3D kits
• Saturated Canary Restocks
• NEW Make it Crafty Winter Background Stamps
• Whimsy Stamps October Release

Telling Secrets....

Well who else do you trust with your secrets if not your Teddy. lol. Hi!! It's Sandie here today and I am sharing a card I made using one of the new Storybook Collection stamps by Elizabeth Bell for SCACD. 

This cutie is called The Secret. 

Seriously cute, no?!!! 

My papers are Basic Grey's PB&J and I've stitched them down onto white, pink and blue cardstock. I cut my image out using circle nestabilities. Notice the foot protruding from the circle? Well to do this you trim out around the foot with your scissors and then slip the circle nestabilies underneath it, so that you cut around it. 

I stamped my image with Momento Tuxedo Black, onto Make it Colour Blending Card, and used both Copic and Touch Twin Marker for colouring it up. The background is sponged with Tumbled Glass distress ink. 

You can find this stamp and the rest of the new release HERE. Check them out, they are just adorable!!

Sandie

xx

Lovely Lulu - Oh how Tweet!

Hi everyone!! It's Sandie here again. Today I a sharing a card I  made using one the fabulous new Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps sets designed my Cheryl Alger - Lovely Lulu. 

 

This set is unbelievably SWEET! There are THREE images along with FIVE coordinating sentiments as a complete sheet of rubber. 

 

My papers are from the Basic Grey Indie Bloom 6x6 paper pad. I've matted them and stitched them down onto my cardstock.  

To embellish I've added some pearl swirls and paper flowers. 

 

 

 Check out the rest of the new Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps in the store, and don't forget to visit the Sale section - you never know when you'll nab a bargain ;) 

Thanks for dropping in and have a wonderful afternoon

Sandie

xx

Make it Crafty - Fairy Celandine

Hi everyone!! It's Sandie here today and I would like to share a card I made using one the new Make it Crafty Fairies - Fairy Celandine

My papers are from the Basic Grey Indie Bloom 6x6 paper pad. I've matted them and stitched them down onto my cardstock before adding some purple gingham ribbon. 

To embellish I've added some half pearls and paper flowers.

There is still time to enter this month's sketch challenge. You can find the details  HERE. A random winner of the sketch challenge will receive a £15 prize to use at Quixotic Paperie! 

 

Thanks for dropping in, I do hope you're even a little bit inspired to be crafty today :)

Sandie

xx

Bookworm

Hey guys, its me, Lou. Sorry for such a late post. I'm typing this just now as I eat my bacon, egg and cheese bagel.. after I managed to drag myself out of bed from the most delicious lie in ever. Best get a move on though, I gotta get ready for work soon! :)

I made this little corner bookmark last night.. in the dead of the night, after my mother had my traipsing around Asda at 11 o'clock for our Christmas shopping!! Really?! Really. I coulda cried! I haven't been in the house long enough to make anything substantial over the past few days.

I've used one of my most FAVE sentiment stamps from Paper Makeup - EVA. I keep coming up with projects just so I can use it again. :) Heehee.

Paper Makeup Stamps - Read a Book Sentiment.

 I have stamped the sentiment in Rich Cocoa ink from Memento.

That's all from me until the New Year me thinks. So MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all, and ALL THE BEST FOR THE NEW YEAR!!

Take it easy and enjoy the holidays. 

Icky Flubu

Hiya everyone. :) I've got another 'different' project to share with you today, in the sense that it isn't a traditional card. :) I always love finding projects and different ways to use envelopes, so when I came across a card over at Christinas Scrapkammaren, I just had to give it a go. 

Having a bunch of 'unusual' sized envelopes (because it's a little obsession I have on the side), but not being one to dedicate myself to making a whole mini album, little projects such as this are fab, and much quicker than an album.

So.. incase you haven't met him before.. I'd like to introduce to to Flubu, from Paper Makeup Stamps. Isn't he lush? Heehee. He put a right smile on my face when I came across him over at the Quixotic Paperie shop, and knew I had to have him. He'll come in terribly handy around this time of year, everyone is getting ill with some bug or another. Yuck.

HA! Don'tcha just wanna hug him till he dies?! Green with pink spots. Of course. I think next time round I'ma colour him up like that big fluffy monster from Monsters Inc. Know the one? Aqua with purple dots - beaut!! I've used some papers from Basic Grey's Sweet Threads collection. I've also paper pieced his little towel using the same collection. Ahhh. :)

This is the insert which fits inside the envelope. A space equivalent to the inside of a card. I think it's such a neat idea, don't know how I haven't come across it before. I used the sentiment which comes with Flubu. "Sorry you feel so icky" Perfect? No? Just to finish off the white panel I stamped Flubu in Memento Tuxedo Black, stamped it off once and then stamped it onto the panel - not such a stark black then. :)

This shows how it all goes together, sort of. Christina had left the flap of her envelope free, but I decided to fold mind down and adhere it under the front panel of the card. I used a 1/2" circle punch to cut a little piece out of the back of the envelope. The pink ribbon fits perfectly into the gap, so from the front it all looks flush. :)

Hope you've enjoyed this as much as I did making it. P.S This envelope measures approx 3.75"x2.75" give or take a few eighths. :)

Nordic Holiday

Morning guys. Lovely chilly Wednesday, huh? Winter is definitely on it's way, and I love it. Although I'm not sure Rubix my little 206 does. She takes a while to get going in the mornings. God help me when the snow comes! LOL. Anywho.. talking of winter.. I have another Christmas card to share with you today. I've used our SKETCH as inspiration. Check out the sketch, the details and all of the entries HERE. Kim also posted an update over the weekend, check that out HERE.

I used Kraftin' Kimmie - Merry and Bright.. again.. I know. But I love her. The expression and the big juicy turkey are just irresitible! :) I paired her up with some gorgeous new papers from Basic Grey - Nordic Holiday. Have you SEEN these papers?! Wow. They just sum up Christmas for me. Love all of the patterns and the cool and blue navy blues they've thrown in there!! Delish.

Okay.. okay. Picture.

I have coloured the image using a mix of Copics and ProMarkers, but you already knew that.. right? If you're interested in a list of colours (which I tried to match to the papers as closely as possible).. they'll be up on my blog either some time today or tomorrow. I've had/ got two full days of work and darts competitions. I could cry. Roll on Thursday!!

Enjoy your day whatever you're doing. Please be sure to check out all the new arrivals to the store and enter out Sketch Challenge.. you could win a £15 prize to use over at Quixotic Paperie!! What more reason do you need?!

The Gift of Love - Sweet Angel

Good morning! It's Sandie here again and today I would like to share a card I made using the new Make it Crafty Christmas Elf - Sweet Angel. 

My papers are Basic Grey's Wassail and they've been machine stitched. I added some lasercut chipboard corners, which I left bare except for some sparkle and a single pearl on each one

I coloured my image with copic markers and added loads of Star Dust Stickles for sparkle. Then I trimmed her out and mounted her on 3D dots onto some music sheet paper and a white doily. 

Hope you like :) Thanks for dropping in

Sandie

xx

I haven't seen you around..

Hi everyone! It's Sandie here with a project I created using one of the super cute Paper Makeup monster stamps. This little guy, hiding under a pile of leaves, is called Leif Monster and my papers are Basic Grey's Mellow

I coloured my Monster and shaded the background with copics and used nestabilities to cut out the circle/scalloped circle. The matching sentiment comes with the stamp.

I also used the sketch from the very first Quixotic Paperie sketch challenge when creating my card. Have you entered??? Don't forget - a random winner will receive a £15 prize to use at Quixotic Paperie! You can find the post HERE. 

I can see these cute monsters being firmly placed on my favourites list!!

Thanks for looking. 

Sandie

xx

Romantic vintage

Happy Thursday everyone!  Mary J here with a style that is not my usual - vintage!  And I'm not sure if it's vintage enough because I don't do lots of embellishing!

Isn't this lady beautiful?  And a pleasure to colour in.  She is Make It Crafty Elizabeth J and I matched her with papers from the BasicGrey Curio.  I embellished with laser cut dies Make It Crafty Fancy Ribbon Sliders and Make It Crafty Butterfly Leaves finished with 4mm flat backed pearls.  For the ribbon, I got some seam binding and inked it with Tim Holts Distress Stains in Forest Moss, Vintage Photo and Wild Honey that I also inked up all the edges with along with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink.  And that's it!


That's it from me this week and just lastly to show you other items on my shopping list that I'm starting to save up for are...

* MAKE IT CRAFTY *NEW* RUBBER! *
* KRAFTIN' KIMMIE STAMPS SEPT RELEASE *
* FANCY PANTS DESIGNS SAINT NICK & SUMMER'S END *

* CRATE PAPER 6x6 PADS *

A wee rodent problem...

I am not sure how I would react if a mouse popped up from my birthday cake but it sure looks cute on the card!

This stamp is called Birthday Cake Mouse and it's by Whimsy Stamps. I used my plain old watercolours and loads of glitter to perk it up.  The banners are from Whimsy Celebration Pennants set, stamped on patterned paper and heat embossed.

 The papers I used are from Basic Grey Life Of The Party pad. Flowers are made with Marianne's Floral die set. I also used Whimsy Double Scallop Border die.

And now a bit of enabling - have you noticed that Quixotic is now carrying new Authentique 6x6 paper pads? Boy they are lovely - I think I absolutely NEED that blue one - it's so hard to find papers in those hues for some reason!

Now isn't that just lush!

My another awwwww-moment are  Rick St Dennis bears and clowns - so quirky and fun and fabquality of artwork!!

And don't forget about our DESIGN TEAM CALL, still enough time to apply! :)

Thanks a million for popping by and happy crafting!
Annika

Sweetness alert!

Mary J here!  Have you seen the new Elizabeth Bell The Peekers #2 release for SCACD yet?  They are as sweet as all of her releases this year!  For my Quixotic Inspirations make today, I have used this little cutie...

 

 

This is Mama's Purse - obviously looking for cash for crafty stash!  I matched her up with BasicGrey Green At Heart papers and a sentiment from Whimsy's Ticket Sentiments Set, die cut with the matching Whimsy Shapeology Ticket die.  And take a closer look at the flowers...

Don't you think the darker ones look like suede?!  I think they are fab!  I used the uber easy to use Marianne D Creatables Chinese Rose dies made with Tim Holtz Grunge Paper, coloured with Distress Stains finished off with pearl beads.


That's it from me - have a lovely day!

Mary J here and it's my day to share with you some of the yummy goodies I've used over at Quixotic Paperie and because I've had a lot of questions about how I photograph my cards, I thought I'd share how I do that by using a light box.  You can see my post here on the software I use to further improve my photos.

But first, here are two teenage girl birthday cards I made using the Creeper Crew set by The Greeting Farm...

I used Bazzill Kraft cardstock for the card base, the BasicGrey Curio paper pad and the sentiments are from the Whimsy Party Mini Letter Seals.  I used my Sew Easy Tool for quick hole making for the stitching - love this tool!  I inked the edges with my Ranger Archival Inkpad in jet black.

So on to how I use my light box.  These following pictures show you the difference between using a light box (first photo) and simply photographing on the sidetable in my dining room (second photo) and I haven't used any software on them at this stage...

Both pictures were taken at night.  The first photo that uses the light box is truer to colour in real life and the lighting is more even.  The second photo is far more yellow (because of the light bulbs of course) and you can see the shadowing on the wall.

As I'm not a good photographer (believe me, I'm rubbish!) I'm reluctant to spend money on expensive equipment.  Originally I was going to make my own light box using this tutorial here by Digital Photography School, but I came across a very cheap light box by Maplin that costs £14.99 that you can find here.  In addition to my light box, I bought a couple of work lamps and I buy the daylight bulbs from the internet as I can't find them in the shops.

Maplins now sell a studio kit for £39.99 which is basically the light box plus two table lights and a camera stand - you can find it here.  Maplins is a UK site - I'm not aware if they sell internationally, sorry!  I would have bought the studio kit if they sold it at the time but, hey ho, we move on and here is my set up in my craft room...

Please excuse the mess.  If you look closely, you can see some of the gorgeous cards on the windowsill some of my wonderful blogging mates have sent me - they give me nice warm feelings!  Anyway, back to photographs!  As you can see, I use co-ordinating cardstock for the backgrounds - I've seen others use co-ordinating paper but I'm too lazy to do this!

And here are the pictures after they have both been improved using Picasa 3 software....

I think it now comes down to personal preference.  I still prefer the first photo that uses the light box as I think it looks more professional, but which one do you prefer?

So that is how I photograph my cards for my posts - thanks for bearing with me to explain it all! I hope you found that useful.  If you have any specific questions leave a comment and I'll get back to you!  See you for now!

BBBFF

Hi all! Hope you're week is going well! Popped onto show a make with a gorgeous Mo Manningimage called BBBFF which comes with a lovely sentiment too! Mo's images are such a pleasure to colour and I must say I do like to have them in rubbah!

thought this image was just so cute and fun-it's coloured in copics. All the papers I've used areBasic Grey 'Life of the Party'-perfect summer feel to it! All the edges are stitched as usual-I don't think I can make a card without stitching! I also added some buttons-haven't used buttons for such a long time I thought it was high time I dug them all out-these ones are available here.

That's it from me-I'll be back again next week-having a little weekend break to Whitby so I'll be all refreshed!

Rowena

Austen and Gorjuss

Hi guys! Hope you've had a lovely start to the week! Just wanted to pop along and show what I've been upto over the past week! Apart from watching the Royal Wedding and enjoying the Bank Holidays that is;)

I made a card with a new Gorjuss girlie, specifically Puddles of Love-isn't she just so sweet! Digged out my fave Tim Holtz papers and coloured her onto kraft-which Elaine now stocks here.

Also had a play with the beautiful new Artistic Outpost stamps-this time Janes' Countryside and made a really simple but effective card, with some Basic Grey paper which was stitched and some inking:)
Well that's it from me, enjoy the rest of your week! I'll be back soon! Rowena

Shabby Chic with Artistic Outpost

Evening! Running very late tonight but wanted to make sure I popped on and showed you these little lovelies! I am absolutely in love with Artistic Outpost and all their gorgeous designs and they fit really well with 'my style' so it's great fun playing with them! I've used the Set 'Birds of a Feather' to make these 3 bookmarks with. personally I think a bookmark is one of the most lovely little gifts you can get-especially if it's been handmade-something you keep for years and use, and just so pretty!

All the papers are from Basic Grey and I've inked them all up also. You'll be seeing lots more Artistic Outpost makes from me so keep tuned!

Don't forget to check out all the New Arrivals at QP-Elaine's house must be a lovely little treasure trove of stash! I'm especially loving the new 6 x 6 Cosmo Cricket pads.

Be back again soon! Rowena

You're my kinda cool

It's Thursday which means it's Mary J here to showcase the gorgeous goodies over at Quixotic Paperie!  Today, my card uses this cutie from the Creepers Crew collection 1 stamp set....

He IS my kinda cool!!  I used my ever trusty Bazzill Basic kraft cardstock for the base and the BasicGrey Marjolaine paper pack.  I distressed them further by using the new Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Weathered Wood and Ranger Archival ink in jet black.  Finally, I added silver flat backed metallic pearls - I think they just about saved the card from being too dull, lol!

I hope he's your kinda cool too!  Have a fab week and see you next Thursday!