Hello again! and a card

Yes it is me, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, well not yet anyway!!

I'm sorry it has been so long, we seem to have had so much going on and then to top it all off the girls and me have been poorly, first Evie, then Freya and now me, I think I'm on the mend now but I still don't feel great!
For a couple of weeks we had been hard at work on our garden ( I say we, my role was more supervisory!).
A couple of years ago I had the idea to get rid of the grass and have one half filled with play bark and the other gravel, I thought it would be easy to maintain but let's just say it was not my greatest idea ever, soooo, we decided to have the garden turfed again!
Here are some pics
The before with the play bark taken up
And the new turf, we will be adding in stepping stones later
And a cute one of Evie 'helping'!
Now I just have to try and keep the girls off of the garden for a couple of weeks, not Good timing with it being Easter Hols!
Anyway hope I haven't bored you with that! I do have a card to show as well...

The image is by Pink Petticoat
and I have coloured it with Copic Markers (love these things!!)and then cut it out and matted it using Nestabillities dies. The papers are a download from Tenivo this lady has a gorgeous selection of papers you must have a look!
The ribbons are HOTP and the little baubles are from my local craft shop.
I have added a little sparkle with some glamour dust and also inked most of the edges
Hope you like it!

These last few weeks I've realised that I don't have time to blog as much as I first tried, I struggle to find time for my cards since I started my job, so from now on I'm going to try posting weekly and see how it goes but please don't give up on me , I don't get that many visitors here but the occasional comments I receive about my cards are so nice as I don't have many crafting friends to bounce ideas off!!
Thanks for stopping by
Nicola

Back Soon!

I will be back and posting soon, we got a new computer and I've been busy setting it up and transferring data etc , all great fun!!
Happy Crafting
Nicola

Dufex fairy

Hello All,

Here is a card I made for Freya....

I never used to like Dufex, but when I saw these die cut decoupage sheets I thought I'd give them a go.... I actually quite like them now!

The cardstock is Bazzill Bling, the spotty paper is Pink Petticoat and the label I'm not sure about!

As you may have noticed my cardmaking style is quite varied, I don't tend to stick to one technique, I would say my main style is colouring and distressing but I like playing around with other techniques as well, and it's a good excuse to spend, spend, spend!!! (If only I could actually afford it!)

Speaking of spending, I took the plunge and brought the Cricut Design Studio software, I haven't used it yet cos we are probably going to be changing our laptop soon, so I thought I'd wait and load it onto the new one, but I don't know if I'll hold out that long, do any of you use it at all, what are your thoughts about it? Any tips or tricks would be appreciated!

Nicola

PS apologies for any typos, my blogger spell check isn't working at the moment, is anyone else having that problem?

Valentine Card

Well here it is, the Valentine card I was making but couldn't show before.....

This card is Pink Petticoat through and through!, everything I have used is from the Sweet Cupcake Collection.

I was a bit concerned that the card was a bit pink and girly for my Husband! but by inking all the edges with Black Soot distress ink, I think it has taken the edge off the pink, I hope!! , let me know what you think.

The only other thing to mention is that I have added Diamond Glaze to the cherry on top, I don't think the picture picks that up though!

Anyway I hope you all have a lovely Valentines Day

Nicola

Card to show soon.....

I have made a start on the valentines card I wanted to make, I can't show you yet just in case Michael decides to check in on my blog!

Instead I'm posting a card a made a little while ago, another Birthday card for one of Freya's friends.. As you can see it is another from my Fairy stage and my love of ribbon and sparkle can definately be seen here, LOL

The paper is Pink Petticoat which I tore before mounting on the left side of the card, the image is a set that I ordered from eBay, I'm not sure of the seller I'm afraid, I've coloured it with Twingling H2O's, it is really shimmery IRL, and I've matted this and the sentiment onto holographic card.

It's a very simple layout but I'm really pleased with the pretty way the card turned out.

Have a good evening and happy crafting.....

Paper Nation Fisherman and Copics!

This is a card I have made for my Dad's Birthday and it is also my very first attempt at Copic colouring!

I have stamped the Paper Nation Fisherman onto Stampin' Up! Whisper White with Brilliance Graphite Black and coloured with my Copics ( I love the shading effects you can get with them, I need more practice yet though!!)

All other papers are by Pink Petticoat as are the sentiments, I've inked nearly everything with Ranger Distress ink in courderoy.

I used the Splitcoast Stampers Card Sketch challenge no. 159 for this card, I love sketches!!!

I'm sorry for the lack of posts recently, I've been a bit off colour and haven't really felt like getting all my craft stuff out of an evening but hopefully I'm getting back to it now!

Hope you are all well and have had lovely weekends, back soon....

Nicola

Copics on the way!!!

Yaaaay! I've finally ordered some Copic Markers, I've been waiting for ages so now I hope they get here soon!!!

I have decided to sell my Prismacolor Pencils, I love the effect but I don't think I can justify 2 lots of expensive colouring mediums!!!

I'm going to list them on eBay within the next couple of days but if anyone is interested please let me know, there are 120 pencils in a collectors tin, some have been lightly used but the majority haven't even been sharpened, I can accept payment by Paypal or cheque, I am asking £60, + p&p.

Now for the Stampin' Up promotion, some of the lovely 2 step stampin sets are on offer at the moment, 2 step stampin is a brilliant technique that gives that allows you to layer images to create amazing colouful results easily, click here to view the promotion, and remember you can place an order by using the contact me button on the left.