Promarker Practice

A little while ago I bought my first few sets of Promarkers. On the same day I was lucky enough to receive a bumper pack of stamps from Make The Day Special. Emily is the most generous DT Co-ordinator - ever!

I immediately decided that the gorgeous blooms in the Quiet Essence set were perfect for a little bit of promarker practice - and, of course, they'd be perfect for all of you promarker pros too!

For this card, I stamped one of the images several times onto some smooth cardstock and then coloured using a variety of pinks, blushes and springy greens. To give the images dimension, I cut out elements from each of my stamped images and layered them using some small foam dots. I also added in just a couple of extra little leaves, which I curled with my finger nails to lift them a little.

Not bad for a practice piece, eh?

A Manic May

Okay. Okay. I'm sure that I could have popped in and said hello. In fact, I'm sure that I should have popped in and said hello. But honestly? It's been manic! In the past two weeks, I've only slept in my own bed a handful of nights - and no cheeky questions about whose bed I've been sleeping in instead! My life isn't quite that interesting!

I've been busy working away at improving my career - only fitting for someone who works in the world of career development. In the last week or so I've managed to fit in two conferences, a four day residential training course, my probation review, the completion of my NVQ - and a six mile walk to raise funds for Queenscourt Hospice.

The training course wasn't really that much of a chore!

I'm very, very thankful that we have a Bank Holiday coming up! What will you be doing with your extra long weekend?

The 'I'm Not So Sure About This' Counterfeit Kit

I've been eagerly awaiting the 'reveal' of the kit that the ladies at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge chose to use as their inspiration this month, but I really wasn't sure how I felt about the Work In Progress Kit that they chose. It just didn't call out my name like the other kits they've counterfeited.

Normally, I'll base my counterfeits on either colour, pattern or theme and will choose the elements that appeal to me. But, alas not much about the kit really did apppeal.

So I thought about it for a couple of days and realised that, the oddly 'bright, but dull' colours (and I do realise how weird that sounds) combined with the fact this is a kit obviously designed for people scrapping their children, were the main things putting me off counterfeiting it - it's definitely not a kit I would normally swoon at. I was far more excited about the Mother's Kit, so watch out for that appearing soon!

Anyway, not to be put off, I've pulled together a smaller kit which nods towards the original, pulling out some papers with the same base colours - red, black, yellow and aqua - I've also added some cream and kraft. There's also sheet of scrabble themed paper which I got free with a magazine a little while ago.

The original kit was a little short on embellishments and, although I've added a few tickets and labels, I've kept it that way - mainly because I think I'll end up using this kit for card making and I tend to keep my cards clean and simple. By far the most exciting part of my kit is the Say Cheese Too stamp set which arrived through my door this morning!

You never know though, I might end up loving all of the projects that I create from this kit and that's what counts, right?

Spring Cleaning...

...here on the blog. Don't mind me while things move around a little x

Leftovers Make Pretty Projects

Last week, I had a big spring clean of the craft room - in which I pulled apart some 'never going to get finished, because I don't like them' crafty projects; reorganised some of my smaller items of stash; and finally started putting away the leftovers from previous projects that were messing up my mojo.

By Monday, my craft room looked clean and tidy, but there was still a large pile of odds and ends - paper scraps, embellishments, etc - on my desk. I just couldn't summon up the energy to put them away, I really wanted to get on with some actual crafting.

So, having already learnt the lesson that Leftovers Make Pretty Projects, I challenged myself to create three cards from all that scrappy stash. Though attempting three cards originally sounded like quite the challenge for someone who used to be afraid of cards, in the end it was quicker and far more enjoyable than tidying it all away. The only extras I used were a couple of stamp sets.

I think I need to employ this technique a little more often - I get such a kick from using up bits other people might throw away. Mini cards are definitely the way forward!

How about you? Do you make an effort to use your scraps? Am I preaching to the converted?

Tackling That Beadstash....

A little later than expected (due to the fact I forgot to hit the publish button after writing my draft blogposts!) I've introduced a new feature called Bead Busting Monthly over on the Operation Tackle That Beadstash blog.

When Sarah started the blog, her main aim was to help other beaders to tackle their bead stash one goal at a time. As the blog has grown, our individual goals have become a little less prominent and the contributing team has made a decision to go back to it's roots. But we wanted to make sure that we involve the blog's followers too - after all who doesn't want to see the beautiful things other people are making? And we all need a little bit of encouragement to dust off the beads we've been keeping for a 'special' project and just use them, right?

As for my own goals, this month they are quite simple. I'd like to focus on completing the bead embroidery piece I started for the April Moodboard; I'd like to create something for the May Moodboard and I'd like to finish a blue version of my Safety Pin Bracelet - the beaded pins have been sat there for months!

Wanna join us in some bead stash busting? What will your goals be?

Playing Along With Color Cue

After a bit of a tidy in the craft room, I've a big pile of project leftovers on my desk that I can't be bothered to put away properly. So, I decided that I'd challenge myself to make cards from the bits and pieces I had to hand and, as I've not played along with any blog challenges for a while, I went on a little hunt for some extra inspiration.

You can expect a few more cards to pop up here over the next couple of days, but I wanted to share the card I made for Color Cue 14. It's stupidly simple card, but I'm beginning to realise that I like a lot of embellishment on my layouts, not on my cards. Who'd have thought?

Although this is the first time I've played along with the Color Cue challenges, I think I've finally hit my card making groove and I'll be playing along a little more frequently. Yay!