Happy Valentine's Day

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you've all had a good Valentine's Day, Chris wasn't feeling well today so I left him in bed while I went into town to meet my in-laws so we could celebrate my dad-in-law's birthday. I don't have anything "crafty" to share with you this time but I thought I'd post a new photo of Isobel (she's grown so much!) and also a photo of dad with his lookalike birthday card - which amused him greatly lol.

Awwwww!!!!

Dad and card

As always apologies for photo quality - it's very hit and miss at the moment. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a peaceful half term if you have children, we'll be having Millie and Bethany on Friday which I'm really looking forward to. As always if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Card for Isobel

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! I would like to share with you the "welcome" card I've made for Isobel.

Little Star Welcome card for Isobel

I'm rather pleased with this card and of all the baby cards I've made in recent weeks it's got to be my favourite. I started off stamping a Baby on A Cloud stamp (can't remember who it's made by - sorry) using Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto 300gsm coated white card stock and while the stamp was out I stamped it onto a large post it note to make a mask. This stamp has a very thick outline so I cut it on it rather than just inside it to make the mask ready for some Distress Ink blending. I covered the stamped image with the mask and blended three Tim Holtz Distress inks all over the A6 card (I have a ready cut stock of A6 card so I can stamp as I want to and I renew this as it gets low.) I started with "stormy skies" and blended it all over the card being careful around the top of the mask as it didn't have any sticky on it. Then I added "chipped sapphire" and blended the two colours together until there was no blender marks - I really need to get my hands on the new round blenders. Finally I added "black soot" round the edges and blended it into the centre without adding more ink. I heat set the ink and tested the card surface with embossing powder to make sure it was dry enough to heat emboss without excess powder sticking to the surface (to test if a surface is dry just pour embossing powder over it and if loads stick you'll need to heat set it or use an anti static bag) Unfortunately I tested mine over the middle of the card and not the edges so some powder did stick, however it's a happy accident because I love the way it turned out! I got three magazines today through the post and one of them had a star stencil as it's cover gift. I used this stencil and an embossing ink pen to draw the stars then I added pinpoint dots all over the background (at this point the baby mask remains on the image) and sprinkled the card with Do-Crafts silver embossing powder which I melted with a heat tool until the  powder turned opaque and silver. I removed the paper mask from the image and once I shook out the embossing powder that had gathered inside I coloured the image using Pro-markers. I stamped "Little Star" from Fancy Pants Welcome Little Star stamp set on top of the clouds but it was really hard to read so I stamped over it using clear embossing ink and heat set silver embossing powder on the words. In all honesty it looked a complete mess so I stamped the baby image again, coloured it using Pro-markers, stamped the sentiment in clear ink and heat embossed using Rangers Blue Pearl embossing powder, then I fussy cut the image out. I added black foam tape to the underside and stuck it over the original image. I found the metal Lil Charms embellishment in my stash and attached  to the top part of the card with more of the black foam tape. Finally I stuck the whole card piece to a Papermania pink A6 card blank. I stamped "Welcome" inside and a sprinkling of stamped stars (also from the Fancy Pants stamp set) in the four corners of the inside panel. I also stamped these stars onto the outside of the envelope.

I've a few more cards I'd like to share but that's for the next blog post, so until then - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xx

Isobel

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! Yesterday I went to see my new niece Isobel - she is so gorgeous!!! Isobel slept through most of my visit apart from when she was being fed or having her nappy changed (my sister-in-law offered me that task but I graciously declined!) but I held her for what seems like hours while she slept. She really looks like her dad and has the longest fingers, I'm hoping it means she'll be creative like her dad and her Auntie Sarah - can you tell I'm smitten???

Isobel - isn't she a cutie?!?

The light levels in Sue's house are terrible so I'm afraid the quality of this picture isn't great, luckily I took a disposable camera with me and I'll be taking it in for development tomorrow - I just hope they come out ok as Bethany kept running off with the camera and took selfies of her top! Lol it was sweet but it meant that most of the film is useless and each picture she took meant one less of Isobel and the rest of the family. I'm hoping to make a mini album of Isobel as part of Sue's Christmas present which is why I wanted lots of photos of them all.

Everyone loved the cards I made though Steve (Isobel's dad) pointed out that I hadn't made one for Isobel herself so I've got another new baby card to make now.

Craftwise I'm suffering from crafter's block! I should have sent my entry to the Cardmaker of the Year Comp about a week ago, the deadline is Friday and I can't seem to find the inspiration needed to make the two card components needed for the entry. I really need to get myself in gear and make two cards so I can get it sent off tomorrow.

That's all my crafty news for now so until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx