Cyclamen

Evening All!

So much to do...so little time.

Hope your week so far is of the fab n' groovy variety and you're all behaving yourselves... yes you... you know who your are! Lol

 

Stamp - Cyclamen - Just Inklined

Promarkers, Docrafts sentiment.

Another Moony

A huge THANK YOU to everyone for your lovely comments on our blog hop for Mo's Digital Pencil last week and welcome aboard new subjects followers.

Autumn is here......NOW!

We have all the right ingredients: gale force winds, rain & flamin' 'eck it's cold.

Mr C has been so cold he now appreciates my sleight of hand as I man-handle the heating dial. I even dug out my vest, gloves & scarf in order to participate in some parental cheering from the side-line at my son's football match.

My card today is another moon creation....I think I may try a daylight version next. I'm really enjoying blending inks and working with stamps, the ol' Promarkers will think I've abandoned them but I'll be back!

Have a great week everyone & stay warm & dry.

xx

 

Stamp - Sheena Douglass Trees

Whispers inks

Brrrrr......

Blimey it's so cold tonight I've switched on the heating, much to the annoyance of Mr C who thinks December is when it should go on!

Mind you, he's walking round in a body warmer & jumper rubbing his hands together with 'dragons breath' as he moans at me.

In celebration of the heating being switched on, here's a card reminding us all exactly what summer should have been like this year...flip-flops, shorts & lollies.

Have a groovy weekend everyone.

xx

 

Stamp - Summer Boy - Mo's Digital Pencil

Promarkers, Memory Box Arboscello Tree die

Craftwork Cards sentiment

Mo's Dream Team Blog Hop

Ahoy Mo fans!

Welcome to this months Blog Hop for Mo's Digital Pencil where our hostess is Jak with her chosen theme of....School. I know the kids are already back at school here in Blighty but Mo has so many fabulous school related images that can be used for a variety of scolarly occasions, from nursery to graduation and good luck to well done!

Anyway, enough rambling...here's my take on the theme...

I've used Jo - Painting which has a special place in my heart as she is just like my daughter Sophie with her Art homework. Always creating another amazing master-piece, she has a true talent for the subject and I'm so proud of her.

I hope you'll join in with our hop and see what the rest of the gang have created.

You should have arrived here from the fabulous Kerttu's lovely blog, after me it's our Julie (The Embellie Queen).

There are 2 $5 vouchers up for grabs to spend at Mo's digital emporium for 2 lucky peeps who leave comments along the way.

Enjoy the hop!

xx

 

Stamp - Jo - Painting (Mo's Digital Pencil)

Memory Box - Picket Fence & Lorelai Leaf dies

Basic Grey Indian Summer papers

Promarkers, X-Cut punched flowers & Card Candy

BRB

Hey all!

Hope you're all having a great week.

Flat out with work at the moment with 3 new clients in the past week so I'm sorry for not visiting all your fabulous blogs. Normal service will resume asap.

The leaves on the trees are already changing colours & beginning to fall in the garden, so I thought I'd make a spring tree card to cheer you all up!

 

Stamp - Three Trees - Just Inklined

Promarkers, glitter.

 

Full Moon

 

 

'Guilty M'lud!' of having stash that's collecting dust including a caddy of Whispers ink that I bought almost 6 years ago and has hardly seen the light of day.

I thought after my attempt at resist stamping the other day, I'd have a go at masking & blending. I've been inspired by some beautiful creations & tutorials so other night I got all arty-farty & tried something wayyyyy outta my comfort zone and this was the result.

Actually my first effort was a bit of a disaster, I'd spent ages blending the sky with a cotton-wool pad (no posh blendy-type tool here), got it just right, whacked on the tree stamp and then realised I'd forgotten to remove the moon masking...DOH!! So here's one I did get right and I was so pleased I made another 6 for Christmas cards.

 

Stamp - Trees - Sheena Douglass

Whispers Inks, glitter.

DESIGN TEAM HOLLER!

 

 

(This is a sticky post)
 

Ok chaps...listen up!

 

The gorgeous peeps over at Just Inklined are looking for new DT members to join up.

 

In return for 1 card per week & a monthly Blog Hop, you'll get 5 digital images of your choice each month, a private jet, a cuddly toy, microwave oven, a set of hair straighteners and Jak Heath will personally visit once a fortnight & run the vacuum round.

So what are you waiting for?

Sounds too good to be true ay?

For full details (terms & conditions apply) visit the Just Inklined Blog.

 

We're a fab' group, the odd dodgy member (ahem!)

Come & Join Us!

***

 

 

Eyeball Cleansing NOT Required

 

Yep! No need to Optrex your eyeballs or reject that second bottle of wine...Blogger IS blurring this photo (Grrr!)

In every program on the ol' confuser this photo is crisp n' clean, on here it looks dreadful.

While I trawl t'internet for a reason I'll leave with you the deets.

 

Stamp - Perfection - Mo's Digital Pencil

Papers & Paper-Pieced outfit - Making Memories

Promarkers, Puffy Flower stickers

Just Inklined New Halloween Images

 

This is a selection of some of the Spooooooooky new releases from the folk at Just Inklined

Bat Castle

 

Hanging With Friends (Bats)

 

Esmeralda

 

Fab aren't they and they're all available........NOW!

Go check 'em out here.

Tiz The Season To Be Jolly

9 Christmas cards made now, umpteen million more left to do, so I won't loiter!

 

Stamp - Fir Balls - Just Inklined

Promarkers, glitter

Resistance is Futile...

Evening Campers!

Have decided to 'branch out' and have a go at Resist Stamping. Something I've not tried before and after 1 attempt, something that I think I'm going to become quite addicted to.

So a short posting as my head is spinning with ideas & inspiration.

 

Stamp - Trees stamp set Sheena Douglass

Whispers Ink

T-Minus 106 Days Until Christmas

With Christmas a mere 106 days away, panic-stations have set in and the race is on to get all my cards made in time.

The supermarkets are stacked floor to ceiling with tins of sweets, on offer as always at half price, although funny you never see them at full price (Cynical? Moi? Never!). One shop I went into at the very end of August already had several piles of crackers on display and I believe Christmas cards are already adorning the shop aisles, but seeing as I make all my own I wouldn't know what said aisle looks like.

I've had an order for 30 CAS cards so I've made a few of the one above to start. Not a Promarker in sight...I know...Insane!

With the temperature outside today hovering around 28C, it's nice to be indoors making chilly cards.

Have a groovy week everyone, stay happy n' safe!

 

Memory Box Arboscello Tree die

Navy & White cardstock, oodles of silver giltter.

The Camera Never Lies?

At last...my Daylight Table Lamp is here...REJOICE!

Here's my review of the lamp & discoveries I've made over the past week. It's a long post so brace yourselves...

 

The reason I wanted / needed a lamp is that I was struggling to take, what in my mind was, a decent photo of my cards. My card photos seemed either yellowy or greyish where they should be white and the colours in the photo's were not the colours I saw holding the card in front of me. They were muted & had lost their vibrancy. It's not always possible to take photo's outside, the sun's been limited this summer or many a time a gale force wind has put paid to outdoor shots. Don't get me started on indoor lighting & energy-efficient light-bulbs....GRRR! Anyway, I wasn't pleased with the quality of my photo's & assumed poor lighting was to blame.

What I have now discovered is it's NOT just the lighting that was making my photo's a poor quality, it was in fact the camera!!!

Yes folks! The camera DOES lie!!

The photo above was taken with the lamp on. The white background is still grey and that green is NOT the green of the card I used. So I've spent the week trawling the internet, visiting fellow crafter's sites, professional photographers blogs and reading endless specialist photographic tutorials. What I have discovered is that what I was doing was correct but it seems just about everyone puts their photo's through some kind of editing software, such as Photoshop and alike.

Now to me I thought that was cheating... But I was wrong.

This IS what my card looks like in real life. The white card is white, the green card I've used is this fresh, zingy green. I've edited it in Photoscape which is a FREE, easy to use program. Each photo takes approx 30 secs to 'adjust' in the program. Trust me, I've spent hours this week to the point of crying in frustration that I was doing something wrong but it turns out I wasn't. The camera, no matter what the setting, no matter what the lighting DOES lie. It does take a nice photo but it doesn't show the true colours and the only way to do that is through an editing suite of some kind.

If I sent you the card above, the second photo version is what you'd get!

So, to conclude...am I pleased with my Daylight Lamp?

100 % YES!! I work in a corner of the living-room at a desk with my back to the window. My desk is small, despite the size of the lamp it doesn't take up much space and bends to where I need it. When I turned it off the other night & put back on the normal room lamp, everyone moaned about the room going yellow-coloured.

I got it at Amazon 1/2 the price the stores sell it for.

I made my own light-box studio from the packaging (I'm sooooo Blue Peter!)

It does come with a magnifying glass but Mr & Master C have pinched that for starting fires in the garden!

My camera, despite being posh with a million settings, doesn't take a true photo of my cards. Beginning to wonder if I am indeed a tall, slim, leggy blonde with pert boobs! (The camera certainly doesn't show it...let's see if Photoscape reveals the truth.)

The time taken to get photos prepared for blogging is reduced as I don't have to wait for a sunny, wind-free day. I just pop the card in my light-studio, choose a background colour, lamp on, snap, Photoscape...job done.

Happy? You bet I am.

 

Stamp - Moo - Mo's Digital Pencil

Promarkers, Papermania card & flowers

Memory Box Modern Landscape / Gentle Leaf die

 



Just Inklined Blog Hop & DT Call

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to the Just Inklined Blog Hop.

Our hostess this month is Tammy and the theme is 'Something For the Ladies'.

Easy...with so many fabulous images to choose from.

I went for the gorgeous Honeysuckle.

Coloured with Promarkers, with orange gems, Docraft Tulip papers, ribbon from my stash & a Craftwork Cards sentiment.

If you're joining in with our hop then you should have arrived here from Karen's beautiful blog. To start at the beginning you need the uber-talented Tammy's blog and after me it's the lovely Lorianna.

I do declare there's a spot prize up for grabs somewhere along the hop for someone who leaves a comment on all of our blogs.

Now...if all that's not exciting enough, how do you fancy joining the Just Inklined DT?

We're a groovy bunch (the odd dodgy member...lol)...to find out more then go HERE for all the gory details.

Waiting To See The Light

Yes...I couldn't take it any more!

I've splashed out on a daylight lamp thingy which I'm hoping will arrive early next week.

I keep trying to take photos of my cards in the garden but the days I get out there the light's either lousy or my cards get blown over the fence or across the garden.

No good going to all that effort to make them to have them ruined in seconds falling in the dirt.

No good either nailing said cards to bench or propping house bricks against them either to stop them blowing away.

Read lots of fab' reviews about the lamp so very excited to be getting one at last....Easily pleased!

So here's a card showing me in my green dressing gown (which I've not got) on my purple laptop (which I've not got) with my long brown locks (you get the drift...) blogging away.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend...xxx

 

Stamp - Checking Facebook - Mo's Digital Pencil

Making Memories paper, X-Cut punched flowers,

Card Candy, Promarkers