The First Day

Here is some more of the lovely Humphrey from me. This is another image from the everyday collection of die cut decoupage from Crafters Companion. The image I have chosen in" The first Day "and just perfect as a wedding card.

The image was made up using the collall 3d glue gel and mounted onto 2 coordinating pieces of coordination's card. On the 8X8 card base I matted and layered again with coordination's card and with some of the lovely papers from the Humphrey CD. I added a paper doily to add some softness and romance to the card and finished with some ribbon, paper flowers , card candi and some swirls cut from Coordination's card using my cuttlebug and here it is;

Wedding Day

I will be entering this card into the Crafters Companion blog challenge x

Humphrey

Dont you just love the gorgeous Humphrey and friends. I had the everyday decoupage sheets from Crafters Companion and over the months have spent the odd evening putting the toppers together. As the wedding season is upon us I thought I would make a  thank you card that would be great for a bridesmaid.

I used a 8X8 scalloped card base and some of the papers off the great CD. These were matted and layered on coordiantions, of course.lol. I then added a paper doily to add that bit of softness and romance to the card and to finish added some paper swirls cut with my faithful cuttlebug and some paper flowers and a tiny hint of ribbon.And here is the finished card which I am entering into this months Crafters Companion blog challenge x

Bridesmaid card

More Luminarte

I had another little play with some luminarte sprays yesterday. I do love the lovely sheen they give but you have to enjoy messy crafting to use them as there is a tendency to get ink everywhere. 


The colours I used to make this card were apple blossom and copper with a small amount of warn lipstick distress ink around the edges. I then used one of Sheena Douglas's stamps and stamped the image and then embossed with Crafters Companion gold Twinkle embossing powder.


Once dry the image was matted and layered onto gold mirror card and some red coordinations card stock. I matted and layered some coordinating papers from my stash, added a bit of ribbon and some paper flowers and gems for that bit of sparkle.


 This is the finished result;

I am entering this into the Crafters companion Blog Challenge so wish me luck x

Time to Embellish

The wonderful people at Crafters companion are running a blog challenge this month with the theme of "Time to Embellish". So I thought I would get to work and make a card to enter the challenge with the chance of winning some vouchers to spend on the Crafters Companion website which is very easily done.

My 1st entry

The card I made used some papers from my paper stash all mounted onto coordinations which I sanded to add some texture. Then using a piece of Neenah card and some faded jeans distress ink I inked the edges of the card and then sprayed with Sheena Douglas's Luminarte ink sprays in blue and green.

Once dry I stamped on the swirl ,which is one of Sheena Douglas's stamps,with versamark and then embossed using Crafters Companion Gold Twinkle embossing powder. This was then mounted onto coordinations card.

To make the flowers I used my trusty Cuttlebug and big scalloped circles dies from spellbinders and some of the matching papers and cut out and embossed them and then added  a button to finish. The swirls are made using coordination's card and a Sizix die. The final touches were some blue sparkly gems and some brown twine that I pinched from my hubbys gardening shed..oops.

Wish me luck xxxx

What a challenge.

I have had a pretty tough few weeks and sadly have not felt like crafting at all but at long last today I thought I would have a go at a Jewellery Challenge. The theme was the colours purple ranging into pink so I had a look through my beading stash and came up with this;

I used my trust Gizmo and made some coil beads using purple and pink wire and the small mandrel. I made  8 cm long pink coils and then threaded on the purple wire and coiled again creating the 2 tone effect. The pendant is made of glass with a lovely pinks/purples swirling through it and I added some small glass beads to finish it off. The purple circle beads are from "raysbeadsandfindings" and are metal covered in a lovely purple metal affect sheen that sadly the picture does not do justice to. I used 2 strands of beading wire and added some small seed beads to create extra texture to the necklace. I hope you like it and I will be entering it into the beaded jewellery challenge, so wish me luck xxxx

Sorry it has been so long

I realized last night that it had been 2 weeks since i last posted.. I dont know where the time has gone??
Must admit though i have been having problems trying to put this current blog up and if you are reading this it means that the 3rd attempt has actually worked!!!


I have been busy making more jewellery over the past weeks and have been trying lots of new techniques. It is amazing what free tutorials you can find on the internet to get you going.

My proudest piece is this black swan necklace which I made following  a handmade jewellery tutorial. It is made up using black pearls and black glass faceted beads for that real bit of sparkle. I even managed to make a pair of earrings to match.




The latest trend is Shamballa bracelets which are made out of either leather cord or wax coated cotton cord. Most of the designs that you see have wonderful round sparkly beads on them and look amazing but most of those beads cost anything from 50p each upwards so a bit out of my price range at the moment. With my nieces birthday coming up I ordered some semi precious skulls and made the following bracelets and they are selling fast so you must like them;

I have also made some using glass beads and these are really nice...orders for these can be taken if you let me know what is your favorite colour is and I can make one up for you.

I have also taken the plunge and started using some semi precious beads. There is a real world of stunning beads out there so you have to be so careful you dont go to mad. Not easily done in my case. I have tended to go for more earthy tones and have made up this lovely set using Olive Jade, Jasper chips and Agate. The sparkle and colours from these stones are wonderful and they are so nice to work with but can be combined with my huge stash of glass beads.

Notice the bracelet in this set is made in the Shamballa style using the Agate faceted beads.

The last one from me for now is a floating necklace I made using sterling silver crimpable chain and glass beads from Beaders Companion. The floating necklace can be made using normal beading wire but with the silver crimpable chain it looks pretty as well as functional.

Floating necklace and earrings using silver crimpable chain

Hopefully this post is now available for you to read after 3 attempts during last night and today to post it. Thanks for popping by and if you see anything you fancy or want a piece making for someone special just get in touch. xxx

Beads away

Sorry I have not posted for  awhile but I have been busy with so many things and had to have several days in bed due to feeling very poorly but the crafting continues.


Over the past few weeks I have been getting really involved with my Jewellery making. I have now progressed from making up kits to actually designing pieces from start to finish. As some of you may be aware I have done 2 design team projects for Beaders Companion which were shown on Ideal World and Create and Craft TV. I was very privileged to have been asked by Sarah to do the samples and was amazed when I saw my work on TV. A to top it all everyone who purchases the large box of beads from Beaders Companion gets and inspiration sheet containing all my designs!! Hopefully I will be doing more as it was great fun.


So the past few weeks have seen me playing with different wire in lots of different ways. The 1st piece I made was using Green glass beads from the large bead box from Beaders companion and also my new wire coiling gizmo that produces some stunning effects. So I had a good play with some silver wire and green seed beads and created wire beads which you can see at each side of the pendant and on each earring. I also had a play at making some swirls/spirals from the wire and these are at the bottom and mid sections of the necklace and earrings. Once it was all put together I then had to make a matching box so I used my Ultimate and some swirl paper from the CD by Sheena Douglass as they matched the design so well and this is the finished project;

As you can imagine there is no stopping me now so I had a play with some gold wire and red glass beads, again all from Beaders Companion and created a similar set as above, again with the matching gift box;

The effect is very Egyptian as my hubby rightly pointed out so for a challenge over on facebook we had to make something with spirals in it...so as you can imagine I was well away and put together a set made with copper wire and stunning blue glass beads, again from Beaders Companion. I wrapped the feature bead in the wire and created a pendant out of it. Then using my wire Gizmo I created spirals which are placed around the necklace with glass beads in between.

 I have now progressed into making my own jump rings so was able to create the chain myself and even the hook fastener. On the bottom of each pendant I created the spirals again as I find them so therapeutic to do so much so I even went on to create and egyptian style copper bracelet that is made up of 64 copper coils. It looks so effective but in fact is so very easy to do once you get the hang of it.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you have enjoyed seeing what I have been up to xx