And the Halloween festivities start

I love Halloween, can't wait for it to arrive and I'm so excited as I have a load of new crafty goodies dedicated to celebrating this spooky holiday :) Halloween isn't celebrated in the UK, although it is becoming more popular, I have no idea why as it used to be, just one more tradition brushed under the carpet. Anyhoo, started getting a bit serious there, here are my first two cards for Halloween, I will put up a list of supplies in another post as this is just a quick update :) My nephew has been here all day as he goes back to uni tomorrow so I haven't got anything done lol!

Happy crafting Anna x

Mum's The Word

Just the one card today, I was watching Barbara Gray on C&C yesterday and decided to have another attempt at brayering, I still can't seem to get the hang of it but this is the best I've done so far. I wanted a warm, autumnal card for my Mum's birthday and this is what I came up with.



Shopping List:-
Stampin Up Cardstock in Early Espresso and Daffodil Delight
Stampin Up DS Paper Botanical Gazette
Lavinia Stamps Satin Coated Cardstock
Stampin Up Inkpads in Early Espresso and Pumpkin Pie
Tim Holtz Distress Inkpads in Wild Honey and Brushed Corduroy
Tim Holtz Distress stain in Wild Honey
Faber Castell Drafting pen 0.1 Black
Tim Holtz Trimmings Lavish Ribbons
Mulberry St Sm Daisies Mocha Tyedye
ZvaCreative Fabric Covered Brads
Stampin Up Nature Walk & Just Believe Stamp Sets
Clarity Stamps Cottage
Lavina Stamps Teeny Bench
Stampin Up Word Window Lge Punch
Sizzix Sizzlet Mother Phrase
The tree Stamp is one I made using Imac Pac and a free font, the stamp I used for the leaves is a Lavinia stamp which I think was a freebie when I bought some goodies from her stand a few years ago at a craft fair, I'm also thinking that that is where I got the teeny bench stamp too.

Phew! I think that's the majority of the stuff I used lol!

I'm not going to go into the whole making of this as it took me ages lol! I did use the inks to give more colour to the DS papers and also used the distress stain to colour the seam binding from the lavish ribbon pack, and crumpled it while I dried it with the heat gun, I also coloured the fabric covered brad with the stain too and the mulberry flowers as they were not quite the right colour.

Still not sure I'm happy with the overall look of this but my hubby likes it so it's a pass lol!

Can't Believe It's ...

... September already!
Well here we are again, my sister Heather's birthday has come around once again. It doesn't seem two minutes since I posted her 40th birthday card last year.

This year I wanted to give her a card that reminded her of our past, our friendship and our plans for the future.

When we where still living at home together in our teens she bought me a little ornament. It was a little girl sitting next to a plaque which read, 'Friends Together, Sisters Forever'. I still have it packed away in one of the many boxes of things I refuse to throw away :)

I wanted to use this sentiment as Heather and I have a very close friendship and sometimes I forget to tell her, that she is still my BBF.

Many years ago when my nephew, her first child, was born we made a promise to each other that when all the children were grown we would have a trip to Paris together, I'm still holding her to that and as her son turned 20 this year I thought I might just give her memory a poke lol!

I bought the Tim Holtz French Connection stamp set recently and thought the little Paris postmark was a perfect and subtle way to prod her memory lol!

Here is her card



Shopping List:-
Tim Holtz French Connection Stamp Set
Stampin Up Vintage Vogue Stamp Set
See D's Texture Background Stamps (not sure of the correct name for the set but it is one of their old purple sets)
Stampin Up Cardstock in Rose Red, Basic Black, whisper White and Basic Grey
Anita's Black Satin Ribbon
Perfect Pearls in Perfect Pearl
Stampin Up Rose Red Inkpad
Memento Tuxedo Black Inkpad
Versamark Inkpad

The basic grey cardstock was stamped with one of the stamps from the TH collection in versamark and then brushed over with perfect pearls. I then stamped the rose red background using the rose red ink pad using the script and bird designs from TH and the speckled texture from see d's. The friend sentiment was stamped onto whisper white and then cut out using the scalloped square from spellbinders. The rest of the text was printed onto whisper white and edged with the rose red and distressed with the TH distressing tool. I stamped the floral plaque from TH above the printed text and popped up the friends stamped image. I finally stamped the Paris postmark in tuxedo black.

Finally a few little thank you cards which took minutes to make and are really sweet.



Shopping List:-
Ryman's smooth white cardstock
Stampin Up Certainly Celery & Marina Mist Inkpads
Memento Tuxedo Black Inkpad
See D's Leaves Set
Stampin Up So Happy For You Stamp Set
glimmer mist such as tattered Angels Iridescent gold or you could make your own, I used some blue and green made from Image pac mica powders.

I used a clear mount block and covered it with ink, spritzed with a couple of sprays of homemade glimmer mist and then stamped on to the cardstock. Dried it off with my heat gun and then stamped the leaves and the thanks in tuxedo black, very quick and simple :)

Anyhoo I think I've waffled enough for one day lol! so I'll bid you adieu.

Happy crafting
Anna x