An amazing workshop .....

I was fortunate to be able to go to Bev's workshop today!! Bev is such a wonderful and lovely lady, picked up a few hints and tips, and just sat back with amazement when she was demonstrating her wonderful colouring! Do go visit her blog, if you haven't already, it can be found at All the things I love ...

Thank you for such a wonderful morning Bev, I really enjoyed it! And it was lovely to meet you and your friend, I am so sorry I forgot her name! Didn't she do good with the photo????



Thank you Hobby House for getting Bev to come and do a workshop! There was a demo day too, but I couldn't stay as the starting of a migraine was setting in and decided to go home and try and get rid of it! So I am bummed I missed the demo!

We can't show the card as it is due for publication, but once it has been published I shall post it!

xxx

Paintable ...

Prima Paintable paper
Inktense
Bought from Running with scissors
Vintage Image downloaded from here

I am entering this layout into Ruth's Vintage Challenge Blog - A Vintage Affair. This month we had to incorporate a downloaded image from Shabby Chic Papirskatter blog which can be found here. The image of the little girl Ruth had already featured on her blog and I thought oooh yeah!! perfect colours to match in with what I had in mind for a layout! This is the second layout that I have done exactly the same (except for the vintage image), would you believe it, even in the journaling I made the same mistake! The first layout is going to be for Aimee's album and this is going into the family album!

Ruth has also set up a Ning site dedicated to Vintage which can be found here and her Vintage blog A Vintage Affair can be found here!

TFL
xxxx

Rose Fairy

Rose Fairy Stamp Set - Image and Sentiments
Inktense Pencils

K&Co Classic K McKenna 6x6 pad
Prima Flower
Rose Bud
Mark Richards Crystals
Colorbox cats eye - Scarlett
Red Ric Rak
Butterfly charm
Crystal Stickles
All bought from Running With Scissors





My second attempt using the Rose flower Fairy, and I am much happier with the make up of the card this time!

TFL
xxxx

Flower Fairy - Wild Cherry

Wild Cherry Flower Fairy,
K&Co 6x6 Designer Classic K McKenna,
Mark Richards Crystals,
Olive Pastel Cats Eye,
Inktense Pencils
Distress Ink - Tattered Rose
all got from Running with Scissors

Ribbon from stash

I have borrowed the Wild Cherry Flower Fairy from Tracey to have a play.

TFL
xxxx

A rose

Rose stamp from Flower Fairy Rose set
K&Co Classic K McKenna 6x6 pad
Colorbox Cats Eye - Scarlet
Scroll Ribbon
Mark Richards Crystals
all bought from Running With Scissors

Happy Birthday stamp - Free from DoCrafts Magazine

I wanted to make an elegant (who me do elegant, lol) card, I think I got it!

TFL
xxxx

Edwin

Magnolia Edwin Holding Egg,
K&Co 6x6 designer pad Hopscotch Boy,
Olive Pastel cats eye, Inktense pencils,
Crystal Stickles,
Penny Black - Box Stamp
Distress Ink - Tattered Rose
all got from Running With Scissors

Happy Birthday stamp - free from DoCrafts Magainze

I decided to keep this card really simple, as I don't really know how to do boy cards. This is stamp originally had Edwin holding an egg with a little chick peeking out! But I wanted to use him for a birthday card, so I cut out the egg. I used a Penny Black stamp that had 3 gift boxes, I used the smaller of the boxes. I but a 3d foam pad on the back and placed it where the egg should be! Works pretty good I think!

TFL
xxxx

A kiss for Chloe!

I have used my Inktense pencils for this one too!!!
Sarah Kay's A kiss for Chloe stamp,
K&Co's 6x6 Sparkly Sweet Desginer Pad,
Prima Flowers,
Butterfly Kiss Charm,
Black Diamond and Crystal Stickles,
Colorbox Cats Eye Olive Pastel Chalk Ink
All these are bought from Running With Scissors

Just for you stamp - Free with DoCrafts magazine
White Brad - Lakeland (Thanks Brenda)
Chain from stash

TFL
xxxx

Rose Fairy!

Rose Fairy Stamp Set

Inktense Pencils
Distress Ink - Tattered Rose
Liquid Pearl - Petal Pink
Crystal Stickles
Prima Flower
all Bought from Running With Scissors
Lace, Pearl string from Boyles
Paper - free from magazine

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a sucker for Fairies, Butterflies, Dragonflies and all whimsical creatures! So when Tracey got the Flower Fairy Sets in the shop, I just HAD to get the Rose Fairy Set!

The only complaint that I have about the stamp set is that the images are soo close together I was breaking into a sweat cutting them out!

This is also the first card that I have made using the Stamp set and the Inktense pencils, and I must say I am chuffed at how the colouring has come out! I am not too happy with how I put the card together!

TFL
xxxx

The Next Level .....

is a fantastic new weekly challenge blog set up by Dawn (All Pink Girl) and Ann (Madgesty - Love to Create) Their aim in designing this new informative style of blog is not only to produce really creative Weekly Challenges that are not tied to any specific brand, but also to explore new avenues, ideas and techniques with a completely fresh approach.

And they have the most fantastic blog candy to giveaway to launch their blog, go visit The Next Level and check out the blog!

Mama Mia ....

The DVD's of Aimee and Chloe's dance show have finally been released!!!! They done the show at the start of April. I have watched it and WOW, so much better than last years DVD!!! Fantastic work by the Media Students at Grimsby College!

On the site of the girls Dance Group, A & M's Freedom Freestyle Dance, they have put up some of the DVD, and you can see Aimee dancing her Mama Mia routine and her Ice, Ice Baby routine, for those who are interested, the Mama Mia one is under Mega Mix 1 in the playlist, the last routine on the mix 03:30 to be exact, lol, can't miss them as they are dressed in 70's outfits! Aimee is dressed the same as another girl, she is the little one with the pink headband, pink top, yellow waistcoat and flowery pants, lol For the Ice, Ice, Baby one it is uner Mega Mix 2, at 01:50, and Aimee is 2nd from the right as you watch it! I AM SOOO PROUD OF BOTH OF THEM, they put sooo much work into this show! Well done to both of them!

Go here to check it out!!!

TFL
xxxx

I made a blinkie .....

I am Co-hosting a Vintage Card challenge with Polly on Ruth's A Vintage Affair Ning site! We are giving out blinkie's for the winning cards! So I set about making one, and I am chuffed to pieces that I managed to make a half decent one!

I also made one to add to a blog post to give yourself a little toot!!!!

Why don't you pop over to A Vintage Affair and join us in creating layouts, cards and altered items in a Vintage style along with lots of chat, tips and techniques

Thanks for looking
Helena
xxxx

And the winner is ........

here are all the names waiting to be picked ......

By my very own random org ......

Congratulations ................

Mephisto!

Can you please contact me (right side bar) as your profile is locked and I can't mail you! You have until Friday to contact me, if I don't here from you I will hold the draw again!

Thanks to everyone else who took the time to play and become a follower!

Helena xxxx

Vintage Card Challenge

I am hosting the first Vintage Card challenge on Vintage Affair. I have set the challenge as simply show us your Vintage!!! Basically make a Vintage type card.

Here is my sample ...

I have downloaded the cute image from Vintage Resources a fantastic site if you are looking for vintage images, 100's of links!

I was tempted to colour in the image, but decided in the end to leave as b&w.

I have made the back ground paper myself by:
Using cut and dry foam I inked distress ink all over a normal piece of copier paper, I then stamped some script randomly all over the piece of paper.

I have also inked the lace with distress ink.

What I used:

Copier paper
Image downloaded from Vintage Resources
Crafty Individuals number 017 stamp
Tim Holtz - Distress Inks - Tea Dye, Old Paper and Aged Mahogany
Lace
Prima Flowers
Mark Richards Rose Pale Pearls
Bazzill Green Cardstock
Basic Grey - Mellow Range


TFL
xxxx

My Blogoversary Candy ...... CLOSED!!!!!!!!!

MY CANDY IS NOW CLOSED ..... I WILL ANNOUNCED THE WINNER TOMORROW NIGHT .... AND I WILL CONTACT YOU ..... YOU WILL THEN HAVE UNTIL MONDAY TO CONTACT ME BACK WITH YOUR ADDRESS .....

Thanks to everyone who has joined my blog candy and left wonderful comments and who became a follower, I hope you will continue to visit my blog, as you can see there isn't that much to keep up with, lol

Here is the updated photos of my Blog Candy!

I started this blog on 24 April 2007, wow it seems so long ago now, when in fact it's just only 2 years old! I appreciate everyone who has been become a follower, who has left the amazing comments on my creations, they mean so much.

My candy includes:
A beautiful Sarah Kay stamp - A kiss for Chloe, naturally I bought one for myself as well, lol
Mark Richards Crystals and Pearls
A pack of cute charms
A wallet full of 17 stamped images from my Whiff of Joy, Magnolia, Sugar Nellie and Sarah Kay stamps
5 different types of lace

I found this fantastic tutorial on Inked Inspiration to make a card wallet to hold my stamped images.

My rules to be entered are the usual:
Become a follower
Link to my blog candy
and leave a comment!!!!

I will leave this candy open for 2 weeks. It will close on the 8th of May, 8pm English Time!!!

Thanks for playing and good luck everyone!

This will stay at the top of my blog for the duration of the blog candy give away, scroll down for newer posts!

Helena
xxxx

Prima Paintables and Inktense

I decided to go big for my second attempt at Inktense!

They were perfect for the big background colour and I would defiantly recommend them for that sort of work!

I was afraid that the colours might be to wishy-washy for the strong colours in the photos, but I think they all work really well together

Oh BTW these are photos from my Cherry Blossom shoot this year!

TFL
Helena
xxxx

My Cherry Blossoms ...

I took these photos two Sundays ago and only now have the time to edit and upload them! I love these trees and took photos around the same time last year and got some beautiful shots of the girls so I have tried again this year! Poor Chloe wasn't feeling her usual self, so didn't get too many of her! Aimee ... well Aimee is Aimee!!!!

If you don't want to watch the slide show, you can click VIEW ALL IMAGES and it will bring you to a page where you can see them all one by one, that is if you have loads of time to kill and are feeling brave .....

You might think that I make them pose all the time, well I don't. I get them to pose for some of the shots that I WANT and then let them do whatever and I just snap away ... bet you can't tell which ones I wanted them to pose for and which ones they done naturally!!!!!!


Ahem a little confession here .... the dress that Aimee is wearing my Aunt sent to her for Easter (along with loads of other pretty clothes), even though the dress label is the right size for her, it was a little tight, I asked her to wear it for Easter Sunday to go to Church, which she did!!! I WANTED her to wear it again for these photos, I pleaded with her and she did, Bless her, on the condition that she was allowed to take it off again straight away!!! Bad scrapping mum!!!!!

If you have seen my last post, you will have already seen one of my favourite shots of the day on a layout!


TFLxxx

Inktense ......

I got some Inktense pencils from Tracey's shop these are pencils that have ink in them, hence the name INKtense. I found if you scribble lightly where you want the colours you get a much better effect! And then use your water brush to spread the colour around!

Miss Tilda and her bunny were my first victims.



I have used Distress Ink tattered rose for the flesh tones, as I didn't have the right sort of pink in the pencils, and she looked awful just left white!

I don't think Tracey has any more of the pencils in the shop at the moment, but I am sure she will be getting more in!

TFL
Helena
xxxx

My Little Petal!

I went to Tracey's Time for you crop on Saturday afternoon with really good intentions on using some Anna Griffin papers that I had brought with me. But Tracey was showing Nicki (thanks Nicki NOT!!! lol) The paper was just perfect for the photo that I picked out! So I HAD to have it. Here is the layout, prep work done at the crop, all the messy stuff done at home.

During Tracey's scrapbook classes they used butterfly punches so these were still out on the tables, as I had some spare green Bazzill I decided to punch a few butterflies, I laid them around the layout. Tracey came to see what I was up to and at the same moment both of us had the idea of making them 3D, great minds and all that, lol!

I picked out some lace and asked Tracey's opinion on it, she said yeah that's nice, do you know I have the perfect green ribbon that would look lovely laced through the lace. I said I bet you do, lol. Of course she was right, it looked perfect! I was buying some rosebud trim for someone else, and I bought some for myself, it was lying on the table next to the page and I had a light bulb moment of cutting the individual rose buds and sticking them onto the lace! I also put 3 rosebuds on the opposite corners.

Also when I got home (I done all the prep work at the crop, so all I had to do when I got home was ink, glue and stickle) When I had all that finished, and the page finished, I decided to use the paper curl technique that Tracey was showing someone else. It looked okay but it was missing something yeah some cardstock at the back and in my mind only green would do .... I then thought, OMG why did I do that I don't have any green cardstock to put at the back .... PANIC, shop isn't open till Tuesday, but I am at work all week, so it will be next Saturday before I can get back down, and anyone who knows me, knows I DON'T DO waiting! So I searched through my stash and found some Basic Grey paper, I gutted and made a frame to fit just around the border of my page, PHEW it worked. LOL

I also have to thank Tracey for the title. I am hopeless at titles, I threw out some titles and Tracey hit on a combination of what I had said! THANK YOU!!!!

The cuttlebug dies that I used was a fairy themed, and there was this cute little fairy, I had to include her in the page! Because the page works so well you don't actually see her until you really look at the page .... mmmmh I wonder if I can sneak a fairy on every layout that I do now!!!


And I have got a specail thanks to Tracey's Dad for the beautiful box that he gave to me yesterday, guess what the image was ....... A Fairy!!!!! THANKS!!!!!!

What I used:
Backing Cardstock: - Basic Grey - Pheobe (Thanks Kels)
Matting, Lettering, butterflies, Crown, Fairy - Bazzill
Patterned Paper:- Magenta - Dancing Butterfly
Lace
Rose Bud Ribbon
Stickles - Crystal (see Nicki, its on the heading and punched butterflies, and I was good I stopped and put the bottle away!!! How did you do?)
Butterfly punch (used at the crop)
Mark Richards - Pink pearls
Mark Richards - Crystals
Stapler and staples
Cuttlebug - Die - Fairy Alphabet (used at crop) and I have one on order, well d'oh
Brilliance Dew Drop - Orchid

Again everything was bought at Tracey's shop Running With Scissors (Which I have threatened to shorten to RWS, lol) unless otherwise stated.

TFL
xxxx