Embossing and Inking and Colouring and Stamping :)

Good Morning Everyone

So,  it was a miracle day yesterday where I actually had time to make two cards! whoo hoo!

The first was a Christmas Card which is on my Sentimentally Yours Facebook Page

The second was the 8x8 Baby Boy card below...

Naturally, I have been playing with my new stamp range (who wouldn't!) and loved making this card as it consists of two of my favourite things ... Colouring and Stamping!

Here's the card: (with a close up of my sentiment stamp underneath... had to do the close up as the stamp is so detailed! the little feet are on the stamp set too :)

Here's what I used: 

• 8x8 White Card Blank
• A4 Sentimentally Yours White Card for embossing and Stamping
• A4 Navy Card
• A4 Silver Mirri Card
• Scallop Scissors
• Pro Markers
• Faded Jeans Distress Ink
• Glamour Dust
• A5 Sentimentally Yours New Arrival Stamps
• Card Candi
• White Silk Crush Ribbon for the bow
• White Pen

Hope you like it :)

You can, of course, get all of my new stamps and my own stamping card in white or soft cream on my website here: Sentimentally Yours Stamps 

If you get Making Cards Magazine, you will see my latest Masterclass on 3d flower making using dies, templates and punches and I have also given them 5 sets of 3 packs of my stamps to give away to 5 lucky winners! (Page 25) Good Luck!

Right, I better get some work done!

Happy Crafting!

Dandelions and Frames...

Good Afternoon Everyone

I've got half an hour to spare so thought I'd write a post showing the details of how I made the Condolence card below...

The photo of the card has been on my Sentimentally Yours Facebook Page a few days and I've had a few people send me inbox messages asking how it was done so, here we are :)

I've used three stamps from my new Collection 2 Sentimentally Yours Stamps, that you can get on my website here:- 

Sentimentally Yours Stamps

This is what I used:

• A6 Dandelion Whispers Stamp
• A6 Regency Deco Frame Stamp
• A5 Words of Comfort Verse Stamps
• 1" and Small Butterfly Punch
• Walnut Stain Distress Ink
• Adhesive Pearls
• Ivory with Brown Spots Organza Ribbon
• Martha Stewart Border Punch
• Glamour Dust
• Gold Stickles
• Feather and Flowers from my stash :)

This is what I did:

• Scored an A4 sheet of Ivory Card to an A5 card blank.
• Matted and layered with brown cardstock and Ivory cardstock, to leave a small border on each layer.
• Stamped the dandelion stamp with Walnut Stain distress ink, using 2nd generation stamping (ie, stamped once onto scrap paper then onto my cardstock)
• Distressed the edges of the dandelion cardstock with walnut stain distress ink, softly.
• Stamped the frame onto ivory cardstcok with walnut stain distress ink and cut out. (I have purposely designed the frame stamps to be easy to cut out)
• Stamped the condolence verse onto the frame, again with walnut stain.
• Glittered the edge of the frame with a quickie glue pen and glamour dust.
• Attached the dandelion cardstock to the brown layer.
• Punched both edges of a brown border with the Martha Stewart border punch and attach to the layered piece of brown and dandelion card.
• Stuck ribbon around the back of the layered cardstock with DS tape and attached the layers to the base card.
• Mounted the frame onto foam pads and attached to the right hand side of the card.
• Tied a triple bow and attached to the left side of the frame stamp.
• Decorated with flowers, pearls, the feather and finished off with a couple of punched butterflies (with gold tipped wings)

Hope you like it... I know Sympathy and Condolence cards are often difficult to make. I prefer to do them in Ivory and Brown tones as it feels a little 'warmer'.

You will notice a new 'Mailing List' bit at the top right of Blog page, please fill this in if you'd like to be kept in the loop about my Sentimentally Yours Stamps and what's happening at my shop :)

Happy Crafting!

Sentimentally Yours Stamps - Collection 2 Launch...

Good Afternoon Everyone

I know... I've neglected my blogging lol, but there is a good excuse ;-)

My range of clear stamps, Sentimentally Yours, have been keeping me busy!

Collection 1 was launched in September, as most of you know, and collection 2 is launching this Sunday!!

I have had such amazing feedback from everyone who has bought them and for that, thankyou!

It means I'm doing my job properly lol

Collection 2 will be giving you something a bit different too, I have added backgrounds and frames to the range :)

For those of you who can get to my shop, Honeypot Crafts, the details of my launch, where you can come and see (and buy) the new collection, are below..

Sunday 10th November, 11am til 2pm

For those who can't get to my shop, you will be able to buy them from my website here, from next week.

You can also buy them in selected shops around the country, please ask your local craft store if they are stocking them, and if they aren't, tell them to call me and get them in! lol

Hope to see some of you on Sunday and, as a little teaser, here is a card I made using one of my new Frame Stamps from Collection 2 :)

Happy Crafting!

Sentimentally Yours Everyday Tabbed Collection Stamps

Good Morning Everyone

People have been asking me how to use my Sentimentally Yours Everyday (and Christmas) Tabbed Collection Stamps... 

If you look at my cards on my Facebook Page or back here on my Blog, you'll notice I have lots of cards with sentiments that have been tucked under the edge of toppers, either at the top or one of the sides... you will probably have seen me to this on cards I have made on Create & Craft too.

When I do this, usually I have to stamp a sentiment and then cut around it, leaving an extra centimeter or so at the bottom of the sentiment to tuck under my topper... hence, the idea for my own stamps with their own 'tab' for tucking under toppers was borne :) It's so much easier when you have the tab to cut out and, as it's a smaller tab, it looks so much neater (which I love!)

I have made this 8x8 card and used one of the A5 Everyday 'Tabbed' Collection Stamps to show you how they look on a finished card...

I absolutely love using my Sentiments in this way, makes the cards interesting and very unique!

I hope you like them as much as I do!

PS - You can actually create your own Sentiment sign posts too by just cutting the tab longer... looks amazing on the Christmas ones with a bit of glitter or snow on the top!!

Here's a link to take you to my stamps - Sentimentally Yours Stamps

And here's the card I made :)

Happy Crafting!

Sentimentally Yours Launch - Thankyou!

Good Morning Everyone

Firstly, I'd like to thank all of you who came to my Sentimentally Yours stamp launch last Sunday at the shop and for those of you that have ordered from my website since Monday....

It seems you love the stamps as much as I do! so much so that I have sold out of some of the sets already and I had a very big stock!

For those that haven't seen them yet, here's a quick link that takes you straight to them on my website..

Sentimentally Yours Stamps 

I thought I'd pop a couple of cards on here that I made using my stamps, for those that won't have seen them on Facebook.

The first one was made using my Fizzy Moon Digikits and my Sentimentally Yours Pom Pom Snowflakes stamps.

As you'd expect, I used distress inks to create the two tone background and then stamped my snowflakes using the same two distress inks... 

I love snowflakes and particularly love these funky ones!

The second card was made using my Sentimentally Yours Words Of Inspiration stamps (A5), I love nice words on a card and designed this set particularly for that reason... the words are enough to make the card special, elegant and personal... the set has different shapes and sentiments in it too... 

I will continue to pop cards on my Facebook and Blog of projects created using my stamps and remember, from next week, you may even see my Sentimentally Yours Stamps in your local craft shop!!

Happy Crafting!

The Countdown To My Sentimentally Yours Stamps Launch is on!

My New Range of Stamps, Sentimentally Yours - Update

Good Morning Everyone

OK, It's time to let you all know what I've been up to over the last few months...!

I'm really excited to tell you that I will be launching my very own range of polymer (clear) stamps!

I have designed everything myself, from the logo, to the stamps right down to the packaging style!

These first collection will be a range of 16 sets, 8 in A5 size and 8 in A6 size and I have designed them as a crafter, with crafters in mind, making sure that we 'need' them and more importantly would use them in our day to day crafting projects!

I will be having a special launch day in my shop, 

Honeypot Crafts 

on

Sunday 8th September 2013

11am til 2pm

You are more than welcome to come along and see me and my stamps :)

My stamps will be exclusive to my shop for 1 week and after that you will be able to find then in some craft shops around the country :)

(If you are a bricks & mortar craft shop and would like to sell my stamps in your store, please email me here)

You only have just over 2 weeks to wait and I cannot wait!!!

In the meantime, here's my new logo again, the clue is in the name :)

Happy Crafting!

Coming Soon......

Coming Sooooon!

Details to follow very soon....

Demo Day & Craftathon

Good Afternoon Everyone

Well, I can't believe it's just after 4pm already... where did today go?! Come to think of it, where has this week gone?!

Anyway, two bits of important information...

Demo Day
I should have been having a demo day in the shop tomorrow, but I have had to reschedule it for next Sunday (28th) The times are the same (10:30 til 4pm) and I will give you more details when I get back from Create & Craft next Tuesday evening :-)

Craftathon
This also means I have had to reschedule my Craftathon that should have been next Sunday, this will now be on August 18th (I'm really sorry I can't do it any sooner, but I'm away for the weekend at the beginning of August and as soon as I get back from that, I'm at The Great British Craft Festival for the weekend!)
If you are booked onto this Craftathon, I will automatically move you to the new date, if you can't make that, please let me know asap either by phoning the shop or drop me an email.. link here --- email

That's all for now, as I said, I will update you on the demo day next Tuesday evening :-)

Happy Crafting!

Create & Craft Shows

Good Morning All

It's another beautiful, sunshiny day!

Just a quick post, as I'm busy prepping for my new Hunkydory Pick of the Week shows!

I have updated my sidebar with my show times so you don't miss any ;-) -----}

I have to say, as far as Hunkydory Kits go (and they are all fabulous!) this one is particularly brilliant for me as it has lots of shaped, designer cards in it... You know I love my fancy shaped cards! :-)

Anyhoo, back to prepping and have a brilliant day!

Happy Crafting!

ps - are you getting excited for the Great British Craft Festival yet??

We are!!

Meet my New Serif Design Team :-)

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Hope you are enjoying the lovely weather we are having!

Firstly, I just want to thank each and every one of the 400+ people that expressed an interest in joining my design team and sent me photos of their work... I can genuinely say, you are all amazingly talented, which just made my job of choosing more difficult! You should all be proud of your skills!

My choices were made based on the use of the tools and facilities provided by the Craft Artist Pro 2 software and the contents of the Digikits, both in physical (end product) samples and in digital.

There will be lot's of versatility and personal style from each of my Design Team and I can't wait to see what they come up with for their first Serif samples! :-)

Anyway, I'm soooo excited to, finally, be able to reveal who the three members of my Brand New Serif Design Team are!

Here they are :- Please say hello to...

Cheryl Baker

 Andrew Smith

 Tracy Willoughby

You will be seeing lot's of their work on all my Serif Shows on Create & Craft!

I can't wait to work with you all!

Happy Crafting!

Distress Inking & Mask Stamping

Good Evening Everyone

I've been playing with my distress inks and my IndigoBlu stamps (no surprise there then!) and thought you may like to see what I did.... and, more importantly, how I did it...

I've used

Stormy Sky Distress Ink Pad

Faded Jeans Distress Ink Pad

Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink Pad

IndigoBlu Stylised Flowers Stamp

Woodware Huge Circle Punch

Woodware Butterfly Punch

Wee Stamps Digi Image

This is what I did

1. Printed the digi image onto my super smooth white card
2. Trimmed the card to 14cm square
3. Punched a circle from thick cardstock
4. Using a removable tape pen, masked over the image
5. Inked the card (lightly) with Stormy Sky, all the way up to the circle.
6. Inked from the circle outwards with the Brushed Corduroy, to create a soft brown shadow.
7. Inked the outer edges again, this time with Faded Jeans, heavier on the corners and edges.
8. Stamped the Stylised flowers using the Brushed Corduroy, blotting once onto scrap paper to soften the colour.
9. Punched the butterfly from thick  cardstock.
10. Inked through the negative of the butterfly punch with Faded Jeans, effectively using it as a stencil.
11. Removed the punched circle and voila! A lovely clean image surrounded by even more lovely inkyness! :o)

And here are three little photos to show you :o)

Hope you find this useful... I love this technique!

All I have to do now is take a photo of the image, coloured in!

Happy Crafting!

Would You Like To Be On My Design Team? :o)

Good Afternoon Everyone

Exciting news...!

I am looking to create my own Design Team for when I do Serif shows..

I will choose 3 people to help make samples for my Create & Craft TV shows, (when I am doing Serif shows only...for now)

I will be looking for 3 people who have a good (or better!) working knowledge of Craft Artist Pro 2, the tools within it and what you can achieve with them when working with the Digikits...

I will be looking for creative, inspirational people with a variety of skills, who can create projects other than cards and scrapbook pages eg: gifty type stuff like printed t-shirts, note books, binders, boxes, calenders and of course finished cards and scrapbook layouts etc

I will be able to provide the Digikits for the shows in advance (free) to enable you sufficient time to work with them before hand. I won't be able to provide you with the other items you will need for your samples.

The good side is, you will be named as one of my Design Team (very exclusive!), have your samples on my shows and Blog, have your projects on the tele and who knows....... 

You will, of course, get the Digikits before the general public too! (what a bonus!!)

There will be a few terms and conditions and a confidentiality agreement to sign, we'll discuss these once I have chosen my full team.

Let me know if it's something you are interested in... I'd love you to come on board :o)

Please email me to register your interest and include at least 3 recent photos of examples of your work created using some aspect of Serif Craft Artist Pro 2 (please tell me which bits) :o)

The closing date to apply will be Wednesday 3rd July and I will make my selection by Wednesday 10th July

Many Thanks

I look forward to working with you.... whoever you are! :o)

Hunkydory Show Cards

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Well, what a busy week it's been!

Kicked off with the amazing Hunkydory Christmas Blockbuster (hope you got yours), then two days of Serif with the equally fabulous Fizzy Moon Digikits (I loooove them!.. so many images to work with!) and then back yesterday with the Hunkydory Christmas Blockbuster and then in my shop this morning doing a Serif workshop!!

I'm pretty sure I need to sleep at some point! lol

Anyhoo, I find I'm in a state of shock as I have a couple of hours free! 

So I thought I'd pop some photos on here of some of the cards I made on air with the Christmas Blockbuster.... 

Hopefully they will give you some ideas and inspiration :o)

I haven't taken photos of all the cards I made on air (I forgot my phone!) lol, but there are 7 to keep you going...

Happy Crafting!

Here you go....

A4 Easel Card

8x8 Tent Fold 

8x8 Aperture Tent Fold 

C5 Tent Fold 

8x8 Side Fold 

A5 Cut Away Side Fold 

A4 Tent Fold 

Create & Craft/Ideal World Shows for next week...

Good Evening Everyone

Well, it will be a busy week at Create & Craft and Ideal World next week.... with two amazing new launches!

First up is the Hunkydory Christmas Blockbuster (Anne-Marie is launching on Tuesday night at 9pm - don't miss it!) 

I will be there on Wednesday and Saturday .... This Blockbuster (as you'd expect) is amazing! 

Beautiful designs, stunning quality and so much of it! 

It's always a pleasure working with such great quality products! I always spend an hour just looking at the kits, before I can decide what to use as they are all fab! lol

Times and dates of my shows are on the sidebar to your right -----}

Then, on Thursday night it's a brand new launch of some uber cute Serif Digikits, Fizzy Moon (you've probably seen Fizzy in the shops before, well, now you can create your own masterpieces with the lovely character!)

This show is even more exciting for me as I'll be sharing the slots with my mate, Sarah Hurley!! :o)

We are mixing & matching for this special POD and you'll see us both on most of the hours and just myself for some... excited much! :o)

Times and dates of these shows are also on my sidebar to your right -----}

Anyhoo - I've got my Demo Day in my shop (Honeypot Crafts) this Sunday (16th) before all that, there will be melt potting, enamelling, metal magicking, gleaming and moulding (in a crafty sense!) lol

I'm starting at 10:30 and finishing at 4pm so hope you can pop along for an hour or so... 

Details are on my shops' Facebook Page - link on the sidebar to (you guessed it! lol) your right -----}

Have a great weekend everyone.... I know I will!

Happy Crafting!

More Card Layouts :o)

Good Evening Everyone...

Well, it's been a busy week!

Workshops in the shop, then create & craft on Friday, back in the shop Saturday and at Lincoln for the Sincerely Yours Craft Show today!

Just how I like it! :o)

Anyhoo, it seems that everyone is liking the card layouts I designed for you the other day, I've had lots of messages via my Facebook Page asking for more, so I have just designed a couple more for you... 

They are open to your own interpretation of course, I'm just giving you them to give you ideas of how to plan a card out :o)

Obviously, the square could be any size square (8x8, 6x6 etc) and the C5 Landscape one could be an A4, 5x7 etc)

So, here are two more for you ... remember to distress those edges! 

Square Layout

C5 Landscape Layout

Hope you find these useful

Happy Crafting!

Serif Craft Artist Workshop..

Good Morning Everyone!

Ok, I've been asked so many times over the last few months to do a Serif Craft Artist workshop, so, I've finally found a date!!

Sunday, June 23rd, 9am til 11am (probably wont be finished on time! lol)

The cost will be £20 pp

There will be a maximum of 12 people.

You must have your own laptop with either craft artist professional 1 or 2 installed (you'll also need to have a few Digikits already installed to work with)

I'll be taking you through working with Digikits, creating your own Digikits, as many features of craft artist as I can, working with punches, brushes, styles, stencils etc

I've already had bookings so please be quick if you want a place, either let me know here or give myself or Carol a ring at the shop (01158403510)

Happy crafting!

Card Layouts....

Good Evening Everyone

OK, I've had lots of people over the last few months ask me if I can give ideas on card layouts, so, I have done you a couple to get you started...

I will do some more every couple of weeks and add them to the blog and to my Honeypot Crafts Facebook Page (I'll put them in a folder on there so you can refer back to them as and when you need them)

The first one I've done for you is a square card layout, this can be interpreted in whichever size square you want.. 8x8, 6x6, 5x5 etc and you can embellish how you wish, it's just to give you an idea of how to set a card out before adding your embellishments :o)

The second one I've done for you is a DL layout and again, this can also be interpreted into C5, 5x7 or an A4 card.

I hope you find these useful :o)

Happy Crafting!

Square Layout

DL Layout

Pro Marker Workshop...

Good Evening Everyone...

Thanks to everyone who came to the Pro Marker Workshop today... I hope you learned some new ways to use your pens and, at the very least, you know how to do clothing, skin and hair now! 

I had a fabulous day with you all, doing my favourite thing... colouring! :o)

Anyhoo, as promised, here are two of the images finished, I just need to add glitter and glossy accents to them, but wanted to show you before I do that..

I've taken the photos on my phone so they're not the best, but you'll get the idea :o)

The first one is the Saturated Canary Image -

The colours I used were:-

Skin

Ivory, Vanilla, Saffron and Blossom

Hair

Cocoa, Walnut and Umber (you have a list of the 5 colours I usually use)

Skirt

Pastel Blue, Powder Blue and Demin Blue

Shirt and Socks

Pastel Blue and Denim Blue

Boots

Blossom, Rose Pink and Pink Carnation (Laces are Umber)

Bunny

Ivory, Vanilla, Sandstone and Caramel

The Second one is the Teddy Bo Image

The colours I used were:-

Big Teddy Bo

Satin, Cocoa, Sandstone and Umber

Trousers, Hat and Pockets

Tea Green and Grey Green

Shirt

Khaki and Sandstone

Waistcoat, Hat Trim and Neckerchief

Shale and Umber

Little Teddy Bo

Ivory, Cocoa and Umber

Trousers and Hat Trim

Apricot and Spice

Hat

Gold and Lemon

Water

Tea Green, Cool Aqua and Ice Grey 1

Grass

Moss and Pear Green

Okie Cokie

I hope you like them, I'm now going for a cuppa!

Let me know if you would be interested in a monthly Pro Marker Club, if I get enough of you wanted to do it, I will try and fit it in :o)

Thanks for a fab day!

Happy Colouring!

Naughty sneaky peek....

Good Evening All

I am busrting with excitement about my latest project(s), but I can't tell you everything just yet...

All I can tell you is that I've thought and worked hard on it to get everything just right, for me (and I'm not easy to please) and, hopefully, for you all too!

Here's a little, teeny, tiny piece of one of the things I am working on...

I can't show you any more, yet!

You will (as I will too!) have to wait just a few more weeks :o)

Anyhoo, here you go :o)

Told you it was a teeny bit lol

Happy Crafting!

Pro Marker Workshop..

Good Evening Everyone

Just a quick not for those of you who are coming to my Pro Marker workshop this Sunday..

We are starting at 11 and finishing at 2 (3 hours)

All you need to bring is your pro markers.. doesn't matter if you don't have all the colours, bring what you have :o)

See you on Sunday!

Revamped :o)

Good Evening Everyone!

Just a quick post to let you know I have revamped the side bar -------}}}

You can now see a header for each category and, hopefully, it will make it easier for you to see when my next Create & Craft Shows are, my Demo Days (and where they are) and some useful quick links to my Facebook Pages, Twitter Page and Online Shop.

I will (telling myself there!) remember to update it! So you will always know what is happening etc

Hope you like the colour of the headers, I've changed it 6 times in the last 24 hours! haha

It's worth clicking on my shops' facebook page and clicking the 'like' button to keep up to date with my Craftathons, Classes and new products that are coming in (If you haven't already) 

Anyhoo, enough rattling... let me know if it makes sense!