An exciting day!

Today is a really exciting day as I am packing to go on a mini craft retreat with my three Craft Stamping Quartet companions. It isn't often enough we are able to get together in real life, in fact we have only once had all four of us together in one place ever, so this holiday is an amazing treat to have real quality time together. 

Tomorrow we set off for four days of crafty heaven together, in some holiday accomodation in rural Bedfordshire - the location chosen because it was fairly centrally located between all of us. We have planned a schedule of activites to keep ourselves occupied, sharing our skills and knowledge between the four of us and generally having a brilliant time. We have also managed to fit in a workshop with the very talented Linda Elbourne at LB Crafts. I am so looking forward to visiting the shop for the first time as I love shopping at their stand when I go to Alexandra Palace.

One of the things we will be doing in the evenings is making circle journals where we decorate the pages for each other, so we all end up with a journal at the end of our break. This is the cover for my CJ and I have lots of ideas for the pages I want to create for the other girls.

The base layer is a gorgeous paper from Graphic 45, with all sorts of memorabilia added that really suit my taste. It makes a change to make something just for me!!

I cannot tell you how much stuff I have packed for the trip. We have all co-ordinated our packing lists, but I still feel like there is so much stuff I absolutely must have with me!! I think my craft shed must be nearly empty! It is like I am doing a weigh bridge test on my new crafty tote. If a wheel falls off I have had it!! I will just have to try and look like a pathetic damsel in distress when I am getting on and off the hovercraft, coach and train in the hope I might get some help lugging it on and off!!

To finish off look at this beautiful geranium I have blooming in my window box at the moment. Isn't that the most stunning colour? I think it really has a wow factor. 

Enjoy your week, I will report back when I get home.

Elaine xx

Cupcake Heaven

Elusive Images launched these gorgeous cupcake stamps a while back as part of their celebrations for the company's 10th birthday. I decided to make something a little different. I love making cupcakes, I am an avid baker - I love making cakes and eating them - so I decided to use the designs to decorate a cake box!

I bought a plain cake box and went on a glitter fest, covering the sides and top of the box with panels of glitter card. I cut out the letters with my Cuttlebug.The little cupcakes were coloured with marker pens and the whole image covered with Glamour Dust glitter. Under each corner I added some fine satin ribbon in four pastel shades.

On the side panels I used the larger cupcakes, with the cake cases embossed in gold on white and the tops given the glitter treatment again. The tag is made using a Just-Rite stamp on a nestie scalloped circle, with a little cupcake stuck in the centre.

A little selection!

This week I had to make a card for a friend who was being inaugurated as a Professor, not an easy choice of design. His subject includes food, hence the choice of labels.

Not sure of the brand of the sentiment stamp. The labels are all from a Webster's Pages paper, the bird from a serviette, with a Tim Holtz adage label and memo pin, metal corners and a pen nib. It is all backed onto

Basic Grey Wassail paper.

I have finally finished my April project for the Craft Stamper's Quartet blog I share with my three lovely friends. Here is a sneeky peek only.

For the full reveal, please go to the CSQ blog here.

Last but not least I promised an apple blossom picture. This is from a young tree and the variety is called Howgate Wonder. It is an amazingly large sweet cooking apple and I am hoping we may get our first crop this year. if you are interested in apples you can find out more about this variety here.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Elaine xx

A quirky birthday card!

Well in the midst of my cute card making I needed to make a card for one of my blog sisters Lesley. I wanted to do something a little different and here is the result which I thoroughly enjoyed making. I was a little self indulgent because I made this card in my favourite colours.

This is another 8 x 8 card. I started with a frame that I covered with aluminium tape that I had coloured with Stream, Demin and Eggplant alcohol ink,  don't look too closely at that!  It was the first time I had ever used alcohol inks on a project. The background was decorated with glimmer mists through a swirly mask, but not much of that shows. I used a variety of stamps, from Darkroom Door, Beeswax stanps and Invoke Arts to make different elements. All were coloured with the same blue and turquoise Adirondack inks. The main panel was an altered beer mat - courtesy of Linda Elbourne. The large flower was stamped onto Grungepaper with a stamp from the Elusive Images Big Flowers plate, coloured with dye inks again and with a decorative brad and little turquoise jewel stickers. I added a triple embossed chipboard butterfly, a chipboard dragonfly decorated with some jewels and opal dust glittery finish and a selection of flowers including some made from inked book pages. The little metal heart was painted with precious metal paint and glimmer mist and a Tim Holtz wish adage ticket was added using a TH memo pin. The happy birthday sentiment was stamped onto seprate tiny tags using a Darkroom Door alphabet set and decorated with little star brads.

Thanks for visiting!

Elaine xx 

Another cutie!

Here is another cute card for one of the younger members of our family. It is another version using the same Papermania Rose Garden papers and the digital Mo Manning stamp as I used before. I actually enjoyed making this one, maybe I am warming to the cuter style!! I even cheated a little and used some of the die cuts from the paper pack. After all, they do match nicely! The image is coloured with Coloursoft pencils.The leaves are punched using the McGill pine punch. It is lovely and adds a delicate touch to the flowers.

The fruit blossom is blooming in our garden and I took a picture of the cherry blossom earlier. The apple blossom is almost all out too, I'll try and catch a picture of that over the next few days too.

Shame the long weekend is over!

Elaine xx