My Blog Has Moved

Just in case you thought you had not seen any post from me for a while, that would be because my Blog now has a new home.

Please pop along to www.helentcrafts.co.uk to find my Blog.

Some of my recent post include:

• Owls Everywhere
• Less is More - More Than One Stamp
• A Quick Fun Card

Change of Blog Address

Good Morning All

I have been thinking for a while about a change to this blog.  It was not really working for me and in addition I wanted something that I could use as a way of showcasing my Stampin' Up! supplies and ideas.

So after discussing options with a friend I decided that I would purchase my own web address and use that as my blog and in time I hope to include more features and resources. After quite a bit of thought I have decided to use Helen T Crafts & the web address is...

www.HelenTCrafts.co.uk

Here is a peak at my current home page.  Please pop over and have a log and bookmark my new web address.

This will be the last post on this blog, but I am continuing on my new web site, I look forward to seeing you there :)

Happy Crafting

Less is More - One Layer Card (Spring Flowers)

The challenge this week on the Less is More blog is this...

The week the subject of your 

One Layer Card

should be 

Spring Flowers

Now 'One Layer Cards' are not my favorite card to create, but I do have a number of 'Spring Flowers' that I can use.  So after a bit of though here is what I came up with.

I used one of the flower stamps from the Backyard Basics Stamp Set (not the Tulip the other one - I don't know what type of flower it is though).  It was stamped in Stazon and coloured using Daffodil Delight, So Saffron, Old Olive & Pear Pizzas markers.

The sentiment is from the Express Yourself Hostess Stamp Set, stamped in Old Olive - the stamp in the set says 'always thinking of you', but using my Stamp-a-ma-jig I only inked and used the 'thinking of you'.

Sunny Sunday

What a great day today... The sun is shinning, the windows are open and every so often bits of paper blow around the craft desk or onto the floor :). 

I have just finished creating a card using a set of stamps new to me (they arrived in a parcel on Friday) -  the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, in Soft Suede.  This is used with one of the flowers from the Flower Shop stamp set, in Old Olive.  The sentiment is from the Happy Watercolour stamp set, again in Old Olive.

Scrapbook Layout with Stampin' Up! Flowers

I don't normally do fussy layouts but this one was a bit different for me.

During 2014 I decided to complete a single layout each month, this is the February 2014 layout.  For Christmas a friend gave me a pack of monthly owl bookmarks, for this month I decided to cut of the owls from the top of the bookmark and to only use the calendar.

I was planning on stamping flowers in Daffodil Delight, however I forgot to take the stamps with me to the crop :) so plan 'B' was to use patterned Cardstock which was from the same set as the background paper (I can't remember the name of it).

For each flower in the bottom right corner I used a Pansy Punch and Petite Petals Punch with a yellow drop in the centre and the leaves from the Bird Punch.  In the top right I layered 2 of the Petite Petals Punch (slightly off set) with a clear drop in the centre and more leaves from the Bird Punch.

All in all is was very pleased with this layout and loved the look of the flowers :)

Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday - 05 March 2014

It is Wednesday and time for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) ... It has been a while since I last took part, but I'm back again :)

My desk has had a big sort out and tidy up, at the moment it is not too bad, although I really must get round to emptying the bin (I keep forgetting to bring up a bin bag from downstairs!).

You can see my new Stampin' Up! Colour Caddy storing all 11 of my ink pads, more are on the way via UPS, give me another couple of months and it will be full & a riot of colour.

I currently have the Crumb Cake ink out and was playing with the Lovely as a Tree stamp set.  Also hidden on the desk is the Petite Petals punch (which has been getting a LOT of use) and the 'Colour Coach' has been the best £13.50 I have ever spent - Just think of a colour and away you go, it is just so easy to colour coordinate your card or project.  The plastic tub contains my clear embossing powder, which has just been used and not put away yet.

By the time we reach next Wednesday I guess that you won't be able to see the actual desk & things will be back to normal... Who knows, maybe I will have even managed to empty the bin!!!!

Butterflies and Petite Petals

Good morning, it is a lovely bright & sunny morning her in Lincolnshire (even if I had to scrap the ice from the car this morning LOL).

I received my second order from Stampin' Up! last week and have been having a good play with all of my new card/stamps and other stuff...  another order went in today and I cant wait for it to arrive at the end of the week - I have another list of thinks I want to try.

However in the mean time here is a card I made yesterday evening for a friend, it features both Butterflies (from the Papillon Potpourri  stamp set) and Petite Petals.  This was my first totally 'Stampin' Up!' card, and after a quick look at the colour coach for ideas, I love the way it looks.

The card base was Crumb Cake (1/2 sheet of A4, cut length ways). The images were stamped using Black Stazon onto Very Vanilla card stock and coloured using Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango & Daffodil Delight, I used the Aqua Painter to colour each of the images before cutting out with the Elegant Butterfly, Bitty Butterfly and Petite Petals punches.  I do like the way the butterflies have curled their wings... I think this is due to me punching them out when the card was still slightly damp from using the Aqua Painter :)

The sentiment was from Teeny Tiny Wishes and was cut out using the Word Window punch, the edges were then sponged with Daffodil Delight.

The card was finished with a insert of Very Vanilla, also sponged round the edges with Daffodil Delight.

Happy Crafting :)

I'm Back!!!

Wow... how time flies!!!

My last post was back on 11 July 2013... but as of today I am back blogging again.

I decided that after getting out of the habit of posting, I wanted to get back into the habit again.  So here goes, what will be the first of many more posts on 'Helen's World'.

The big thing that has changed is that I am now a "Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator", yes after drooling over the last couple of catalogues I decided that I just HAD to have more Stampin' Up! products.

Yesterday a very large & heavy box arrived from Stampin' Up! and I could not wait to open it, here is a little sneak peak...

Lots and lots of goodies are inside, but I have not had time to really play yet :(

So what do I plan to do next, well my brain is just buzzing with ideas and things I want to buy.

That leaves a very big problem...  In the past I have posted pictures of my workspace - it is not very big, in fact it is small and overflowing with stuff.

I have decided to be a bit ruthless and have a BIG clear out, especially of any thing that has not been used in the last 6-12 months (I do the same thing with my wardrobe every so often too).

I have decided that I will be putting most of the stuff I have not used on eBay to generate a bit of cash, many of the items will be starting at 99p (what a bargain!!).

If you want to see what I have up for sale pop over to eBay and do an advanced search for the seller 'helen-owl' alternatively click HERE (I hope this link will take you to the search results for me as a seller).

This will give 2 benefits more space and a bit more money to spend on more crafting goodies!!!

I am also thinking about organising a Stampin' Up! Make & Take event near Lincoln... I would love some feedback from you all about what you think:

A Saturday afternoon between 2pm &  4pm, no set times (you are free to drop in), Free to attend, but each Make & Take will cost £1.50 - maximum of 6 projects (including Cards, Boxes/Bags) all using Stampin' Up! materials & tools.  Depending on the venue (local village hall possibly) tea/coffee would also be available at a small cost.

So what do you think????

In the mean time I hope to get time to really unpack by box of goodies over the weekend and maybe even have some time to play.

LIM - Shades of Grey

It has been a while since I took part in a Less Is More challenge, but here goes...

On to this months colour challenge. This week we want to see...

Now you don't need to use fifty shades but we would like to see a minimum of two shades on your creations this week. Don't forget that all important white (or grey space).

For this card I used a Woodware image of an owl, coloured with 3 shades of grey ProMarkers (Warm Grey 1, 2 & 3).  The mat was cut from white card stock and shaded with 'Pumice Stone' Distress Ink.

As this little guy looks a bit sad & under the weather I want to find a 'Get Well Soon' sentiment to add.

Owls & Birds

This weekend was spent at Newark Air Museum for the event called Cockpitfest (a gathering of aircraft cockpits and other displays).

As usual it was a great weekend, and the weather improved for Sunday :) which was a very big bonus.

I had very quickly been working on creating a number of pads and post-it-note pads featuring the Stampin' Up punches 'Build a Bird' & 'Build a Owl'. The good news is that due to the size of the pads I was able to use a lot of scraps to create both the owls & birds, many of the pad covers were also created using part sheets of card from my bits box.

From Monday through to Thursday last week I was working like a mad thing.  However in the end it was worth it.

This is what they looked like sat on the table Saturday morning...

I just love all of the bright colours.  The Post-it-note pads sold better than the pads, but I was still pleased.  I now need to make some more before our next event :)

Happy Crafting.

WOYWW - 12 June 2013

It has been a while since I last joined in a Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday... if you are not sure what I am talking about have a look at the Stamping Ground blog to find out more.

As for my desk this week here it is...

Earlier this week I had used my Stampin Up 'Build a Bird' punch to create a number of little birds, I then cut 1 3/4" circles for them to sit on.

I have been meaning to have a go at creating Post-It-Note holders for a while, and finally got stared.  Once the birds were created I cut card to match the co loured pads (purchased in a block of 4 colours from Asda).

This is what the 8 Post-It-Note holders looked like when finished.  All I now need to do is to put them into bags ready for an event at the weekend at Newark Air Museum where DH & I will be with out Owls.

Time for a spring clean

This weekend I have been home alone as DH is back in hospital again.  This time it is good news as they have operated and all of the Kidney stones are now gone.  He should be back home again in the next couple of days.

Well... while he was away I went to the Sincerely Yours Show at Lincoln on Sunday. I was really very good and managed to keep to my shopping list (well nearly!!) - However when I got home I decided that before I got out all of my new goodies, I really need to have a tidy and sort to make some room.

So after a while I ended up with a pile of craft staff (some of it brand new and never used) that had been sitting around for ages.  I decided to put most of these bits on eBay, after all it will mean that I have a bit more money to buy more crafty stuff :)

If you want to have a look what I found and give any of it a new home please feel free to have a look at my eBay shop (which can be found HERE).

Happy Crafting :)

LiM - Dogs

This week for Less is More the topic is...

This week is theme week at Less Is More and we hope you enjoy the choice.  We know you will come up with some fabulous creations.  We want to see cards with

 

Cats and/or Dogs 

 

We want to see cards with your favourite pet or both. We know you will all use your imagination.  Here are our cards for this week.

 

I ended up creating 2 cards, 1 with a Cat and the other with a Dog.  So here is the 2nd post featuring the Dog...

 

Using a Little Claire Design topper and red/white bakers twine.  The Hello sentiment is from Lily of the Valley stamp set.

 

LiM - Cats

This week for Less is More the topic is...

This week is theme week at Less Is More and we hope you enjoy the choice.  We know you will come up with some fabulous creations.  We want to see cards with

 

Cats and/or Dogs 

 

We want to see cards with your favourite pet or both. We know you will all use your imagination.  Here are our cards for this week.

 

I ended up creating 2 cards, 1 with a Cat and the other with a Dog.  So here is the Cat first...

 

The image was from a paper stack free with a magazine, coloured with my ProMarkers.

 

A-Z of Me

As I mentioned in a previous blog post (which can be seen HERE) I had completed the pages of a 6x6" album titled "A - Z of Me".

Although 26 layouts were hard work to plan, part of me did enjoy it.  When it came to putting the layouts together I did not really think that I would be able to complete all 26 in 1 day, but I did!

All in all I am pleased with the album and have a couple of layouts that are really special & I love so much, see the bottom of this post to find out which ones :)

My layouts will be going with all of the other A-Z albums to a crop on Saturday, those attending will get chance to vote for their favorite.  I will let you know how my album gets on.

In the mean time I did promise to post the photos of the finished 12x12" pages (with 4 smaller pages to each 12x12 page).  I completed the title page and the last page last night so here they are hot off the press.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

My special layouts are:

• Anxiety - When I look back at how I was 20-25 years ago I would not have believed how my life was going to turn out
• Ufo - It took several attempts to get the journalling right, but I love the look of this page
• You Are To Me - DH asked if he could write the words to describe what I mean to him, I did mean to get him to sign the journalling

1 Stamp, but 2 very different cards

I was given this Owl stamp from Crafty Individuals by a friend and just could not wait to use it.

To see how it came out I stamped 2 images, the first in Black and the second in Brown.  I then used each image to create a card.

Birthday Cards

A friend recently had her 40th Birthday and I wanted to make a special card. In the end I used a stamp from  Imagination Crafts.

I stamped the image onto white tissue paper and then scrunched it up (this did not feel like a good thing to be doing - but I did it).  I then flattened out the image and cut a piece of white paper to go behind the image.  I covered the paper with photo clue and added my tissue paper, after drying with my heat gun I inked the edges with the 'Dusty Concord' distress inks.

The card was finished off with a Happy Birthday sentiment (from Stampin Up) cut with the Window Punch.  I also used the Stampin Up Butterfly punch and added a bit of bling & the number 40.

While I had this stamp out I decided to use it again to create a second card...

This time I used gold embossing powder, the edge of the image was inked with 'Rusty Hinge' distressing ink and each of the butterflies was given a hint of colour using 'Stormy Sky' and 'Fired Brick'.

I was really pleased with both cards, and really must remember to use this stamp again.

National Scrapbook Day 2013

Saturday seems a very long time away now, and it is only Tuesday! However I did promise to include some pictures of our National Scrapbooking Day crop on 4th May, so here goes...

First of all I must say that the SkelliScrapers had set ourselves a challenge - Create a A-Z album (6x6) for any topic of your choice.

Preparation could be done before 4 May, but you could not assemble any pages in advance.  You had from the 4th May to 18 May to complete your album.  Each of us paid £1 to take part and on Saturday 18 May all albums would be judged (at another groups crop) and the winner would get the prize money.

The challenge was set back in Feb/March so we had plenty of time for planning - I had decided that I would create a A-Z of ME.

My planning consisted on creating a A4 folder with a sheet for each letter, working out what each letter would stand for and what I wanted to include in the journalling.  For each letter I had printed out the journalling and cut it to shape (using my Labels 7 die set), cut out the letters required using a 'Go Kreate' alphabet die.  I also sorted out what background paper I wanted to use, printed any photos, cut any matts & sorted out what embellishments to use.

The good news with this album is that I have been able to use 6x6 paper pads I already had sitting on the shelf along with odd scraps - in total I only used about 4 x A4 pieces of card stock :)

All I had to do on the day was to pull everything together.  Despite this I was not expecting to have completed all 26 layouts in 6 hours - after all that would mean approx 1 layout every 14 minutes!!!

Here are a few photos taken on the day:

Organisation in action - This is the page for 'F' my Title letters, journalling, photos, matts and embellishments are all in the money bag for safe keeping.

Naomi, Ann & Sue F

Sue H & Emma

 We all made good progress with our albums, here was the last letter I completed on the day:

YES, I managed to complete all 26 layouts - and we stopped for a lunch break!

My planning payed off, all I have left to do now is create a title page.  As these 6x6 layouts are going to be part of my "Book of Me" 4 of the alphabet layouts have been mounted onto a 12x12 page.

I will be taking photos of the 12x12 pages, I have not got around to it yet, but I will post them here once I  have.

National Scrapbook Day

It is finally here, and I am going to be scrapping all day!!!!!

Photos will be posted during the weekend - Happy Scrapping :)

Organising my Stampin Up stamp sets

I am normally an organised person, this being the case I have tried several ways of storing my clear stamps and up to now had them in A5 poly pockets in a box.  But this was not really working as I could not see them, even after I created a 'Stamp Catalogue' I would forget to look at it or update it when I got new stamps.

So when I saw this video from Dawns Stamping Studio (click HERE), about storing the Stampin Up stamps, I started thinking (you could probably smell the smoke from where you are)... I could use the same idea for my other stamps (or the ones I use the most).

Here is the box from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set...

The 'image' of the stamp is stuck to the outside of the case, so that when the stamps are put away they each sit over their image.

This also means that when you remove a stamp it is easy to see where it goes back again.

I hope this is useful and I will let you know how I get on with this method of storing my stamps over time.

Happy Crafting.