Hello and welcome,

Boy does life rush past at a rate of knots!! 2017 already, and this year will be a 'big' birthday year for me....how did that happen already! ;-)

Today I have finally uploaded a couple of the projects I created last year, ready for the display boards at OnStage at Telford in November 2016. I was very lucky and privileged to have been chosen as a Display Board Stamper for this event, and although when I initially opened my package I sat looking at it thinking yikes, I have no idea what to do with men's stuff, I did pull myself together and realised that actually there was quite a lot I could do....especially as I have a son who is in to motorbikes!

The Nailed It stamp set includes various tools and small images of nails and screw heads. The bonus is that there is a die set to accompany the stamps, so no fussy cutting required.

The first sample is a scrapbook page of one of my son's motocross bikes from way back when he was much smaller ;-) I've used the dies without the stamped images for this one as I think the suggestion of what they are is enough. There is some hidden journalling behind the image which explains when, where and why.

The second sample includes all the tools in the set. I stamped the images on to crumb cake card stock and inked and over stamped with the large woodgrain stamp for the effect on the handles. I then stamped with stazon on to silver card for the metal parts of the tools and glued all the elements together. This card also includes a fab new hexagon embossing folder. I have also added a screw head from the fantastic new metal embellishments set...I especially love these :-)

Thanks so much for visiting.

Wishing everyone a very peaceful and happy 2017.

Nikki

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Balloons galore - sneak peak

Hello and welcome,

What a beautiful sunny morning here after the drab and dreary day yesterday!

Today, whilst playing along with another fantastic colour challenge over at Global Design Project, I am also sharing a sneak peak from the upcoming Spring Summer catalogue.

 

I have to admit that although this colour combination works really well it is not one that I would have thought of using myself - which is why it's a challenge I guess ;-)

After attending Onstage Local in Telford I was lucky enough to come home with some new stamps, which meant I could put my Balloon Punch (which has been sat on my shelf - unused I am ashamed to say, for far too long!) to good use. So for my entry I have gone to town with the balloons, and snuck in a cool new embossing folder - you'll have to look a bit more closely to find it hidden amongst the balloons!

Have a lovely day.

See you soon

Nikki

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Onstage Telford 2016 Swap

Hello and welcome,

Well, it turns out soon wasn't that soon after all! Starting a new job and getting into the flow of how that all works took a little longer than anticipated, but, now I know what I'm doing (pretty much) and can relax a little, perhaps I might manage to update my blog a little more frequently - that's the plan at least.

So, at the weekend I joined hundreds of other SU demonstrators at Onstage in Telford. I haven't been to an event for a couple of years, so it was really nice to catch up with some very lovely people. As usual part of the fun is exchanging ideas in the form of swaps, and for mine I used the baby wipe technique of dropping colour from re-inkers randomly over a baby wipe, thus creating a random 'ink pad' which can then be used to stamp loads (and I mean loads :-)) of whatever image you choose.

I chose the set Timeless Textures set to create my background. The sentiment is from Endless Thanks, as is the little leaf image behind the flower, and I topped the background off with a pansy from the Flower Shop set.
The colours I used to create my background are Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizazz and Marina Mist. As I ran out of time to enter my details on my swaps if you did swap with me thank you very much indeed. 

See you again soon.
Take care
Nikki
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Swirly Bird meets Botanical Builder Framelits

Hello and welcome,

I must admit I was very slow to the Botanical Builder Framelits party, but now I have them I absolutely love using them! They are my favourite 'go to' set at the moment along with the Timeless Textures stamp set.

Today I have been experimenting with backgrounds using the baby wipe technique of randomly placing a few drops of colour from re-inkers on them to create a temporary custom inkpad. I have also decided to play along with the latest Global Design Project Challenge #042 which this week is this fabulous sketch from the amazingly talented Teneale Williams;

My take is a little variation on the original sketch, but hopefully not too far off the mark.  I really enjoyed creating this card which has turned out to be one of a set of 4, the others of which I will post soon.

Thanks for taking time to visit and have a look.

Have a lovely day.

Nikki

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Onstage Display Board Stamper Consideration Entry

WOW, what a long time it's been since I last posted anything!! I can't quite believe it's been nearly 2 years...that is just ridiculous!

Life has been interesting, and a little bit of a challenge at times, but throughout I have been maintaining my status as a demonstrator...sometimes only just but I'm still hanging in there and the new catalogue has certainly inspired my creativity just lately.

Just recently all demonstrators have been given the opportunity to enter some projects to be considered as an Onstage display board stamper in November. To that end I am entering the following projects for consideration.

A Scrapbook Page:
The background was made using 3 stamp sets, the main focus of colour being added using the big Watercolour Wash stamp which I inked up, spritzed with some water and then dabbed away with some kitchen roll before stamping onto Whisper White 12 x 12 card. As luck would have it there was some white space created where I didn't press the large stamp firmly enough, but I used that to my advantage by placing my words on that side! A bit of a happy accident...;)




3D Item No 1 - Card Holder:
I cannot take credit for coming up with the original 3D element as there are several of these throughout the crafting community. I initially made one of these about 4 years ago so sadly cannot remember who's dimensions I followed - it is a 12 x 12 piece of card scored and folded to hold 2 cards - very simple but effective and lovely to give as a small gift.

3D Item No 2 - Babygro holder box 

Card No 1:

After die cutting my elements for my Babygro Box I had the negative star shape left over, which is where I started with my first card. I grunged it up a bit by clear embossing and then inking over the edges of the star, adding a few more elements until I was happy with the result.

Card No 2: 
This was created before my 3D card holder and was my inspiration for the colour and design.

Card No 3: Inspired by my scrapbook page and using Pool Party, Sweet Sugarplum and Dapper Denim

Thanks so much for stopping by to take a look.

Nikki

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Floral Felt

Hello and welcome,

Gosh, how quickly this month has gone - I'm so deeply immersed in learning a new job that I've just not found the time when I get home to do anything else other than try and unwind - some days successfully, others not so much! The upshot of not being able to switch my brain off has resulted in some very strange dreams I can tell you! I've forgotten quite how stressful it is learning something completely new.....but it will get better, I'm only 3 weeks in so time will make things easier, and I'm thankful to actually have a job :-)

Today I thought I'd show you how cool the Spiral Flower Die turns out when you use felt. I love using the die with card, but using the Bigz and Original dies in the Big Shot means you can use other materials too. I've used a heat gun to stick the felt together and hey presto a very quick and effect looking flower....or small bouquet of flowers. I'm just thinking I might have a go at spritzing them with some diluted re-inker to see what effect that might have on them, it might look quite effective - going off to check now :-)

Supplies used:
Dies - Spiral Flower Originals, Autumn Accents Bigz
Ribbon and Trim - Burlap Ribbon, Natural and Old Olive Two-Tone Trim
Misc - Tag-A-Bag Gift Box

Have a great week -weekend, hopefully the gorgeous late summer sunshine will last a while longer yet.
Thanks for stopping by.
Nikki
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Blended Sweetbriar Rose

Hello and welcome

...so yesterday and today my wonderful team mate Colette and I held our blendabilities class, and we both had a fabulous time with 2 groups of lovely and very talented ladies. Colette also treated us all to some of her fantastic baking - I had coffee and pecan cake 2 days in a row ;-) very naughty but so very delicious I just couldn't resist! Thanks Colette x

 

We used the Sweetbriar Rose stamp on a couple of the cards as it's a great one to colour in using the blendabilities pens. The ladies also created a home décor piece with the Swallowtail butterfly in a frame, which was inspired by the super talented Elizabeth Shannon. The butterflies were all different and all equally beautiful - I'm hoping we'll get a look at the one created by Debby when she's finished it as the background she created for the butterfly was wonderful.

 

Supplies used:
Stamps - Sweetbriar Rose, Hardwood, Everything Eleanor, Itty Bitty Banners, Blooming with Kindness
Card - Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Old Olive

Ink Pads - Memento, Sahara Sand, Old Olive

Pens - Blendabilities collections - Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight
Framelit Dies - Bitty Banners

Misc - Tea Lace Paper Doilies

Have a great week ahead.

Thanks for visiting.

Nikki

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