another card to share

my dad is a keen gardener and has grown his own vegetables for more years than i care to remember. it's his birthday next week and i wanted to create something personal for him and this easel card seemed perfect. i reached for my trusted quickutz dies and this is the result:-

the left hand section has some grass, and a basketful of carrots and a fork

the centre section has a toolshed with a real opening door

the right hand section has a basketful of apples, some seed packets, a watering can, some name tags and a trowel

inside the opening shed door are some rain boots, a shovel and a pickaxe

i used a happy birthday rub-on to finish off the look. i hope my dad likes it!

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my first tattoo inspired card

i mentioned previously that i had some ideas for some tattoo inspired cards. unfortunately most of the stamps i ordered haven't arrived yet. this one did, however and i am quite pleased with the way it turned out, especially as it was the first time i have used my copic's. the colors i used were R29, Y19, YR16, E35, T1 and YG17. i think as i have more practice, i'll try to blend the colors more, but for now i'm fairly happy with this.

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another tattoo

i've been busy again, but not crafting!! this is my new addition (or should i say addiction??!!), i love it, I can't wait to get my summer shoes out!!

i'm in the process of designing some tattoo inspired cards, the ideas are in my head at the moment, but i will show and tell when they are ready!
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i've been away......

to paradise!!

i can't believe it's been 6 years since i visited barbados, it's really my second home and i didn't realise how much i'd missed it. i had a really great time, i feel so rested and refreshed, although i'm pretty sure that won't last for long!!

i'll be back with some crafting soon, i'm in the process of setting up an etsy store to sell my creations, so watch this space!

boobs

i guess this is not the normal title for a blog post about crafting, but still, this is what i've been working on. a good friend of mine has just recovered from breast cancer and was very excited about how perky her boobs are now going to be, and so i thought i would celebrate her recovery with a card to cheer her up. 

i used su cardstock with some patterned paper (source unknown) and dressed them up with some lace paper glued over red card and some pretty diamante buckles. in line with my new obsession, i finished this off with a little tattoo, i hope she likes it, sarah, this is for you xx

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this is my art

dear tattoo, thanks for holding my attention like few other things can, thanks for making me nervous and excited when i think about you and look at you in the mirror. it's like having a crush on my own skin.

to say i'm slightly obsessed with my new tattoo is an understatement, i've been avidly looking at all the tattoo art out there in cyberspace and i only wish i had half as much talent as the artists i've seen. it amazes me that they are able to draw something so accurate and so me, with only the thoughts from my head, which, let's face it, are a jumbled mess at the best of times!!

my art is different, it's always been paper. i've always been fond of paper, even growing up i had literally hundreds of notepads for scribbling in, these never manifested themselves into anything worthwhile, however, they were a kind of comfort blanket for me, even now if you delve into the depths of my bag, you will, no doubt, find a notepad of some kind. i use them now to sketch designs for cards, scrapbook pages or mini albums and i do have several on the go at any one time.

this is my latest design, i used the tutorial from this website, i changed it slightly in that i made it into a bouquet and i only added the ribbon around the bottom, but the idea is still the same. these are all made from su cardstock. i used whisper white, soft suede, garden green and old olive. i inked the insides of the white flowers with old olive and certainly celery ink and finished these with an su pearl.

i love how it turned out.

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hmmm, not much to report really...

i haven't done too much crafting lately, i've totally not kept up with project life at all yet and apart from a valentine and birthday card, i haven't done anything, how rubbish am i??

i have been busy getting a new tattoo though. i love tattoo art, i wish i didn't work in such a conservative environment as we are not allowed to have tattoo's on show, i would have so much more work done, anyway, here is the before shot. this is the very first tattoo i had, it's faded somewhat and for a while i've been planning a design around this:-

and here is the after. i love dragons, and there is something about the fierce nature of a dragon and the beautiful refinement of a rose that i wanted to bring together. i had this done by will at oxford tattoo, i think he did an amazing job.

the trouble is, i definitely want more work done now, and am busy planning my next (just don't tell my mum!!)
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project life and one little word

i spent some time yesterday reflecting on 2011 and what my goal was at the beginning of the year. i had only one. 

believe. 

no resolutions to be broken, no promises made, nothing specific, just one little word. 

believe.

i lived my word.

this concept i'm sure has been around for many years, and ali brings this to life in her scrapbooks. as we embark on 2012, i've chosen a new word (well 2 actually, but who's being picky!!).

carpe diem.

seize the day.

i want to enjoy each day for what it is, good, bad or indifferent, to capture the little things, as these are the things that really matter.

project life is going to help me achieve this, along with ali's one little word.

here are my two starter pages.

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christmas cards

it's about time i posted the christmas cards i made for christmas. for the first one, i used the new snowfall collection from bo bunny. i punched out the snowman using a sizzix die and inked this up. the snowflake is  made from chipboard, painted white and covered in doodlebug glitter (love this stuff!!). i do like the way this turned out, even though it's not your traditional christmas colours!

for the second card, i used one of the techniques tim used in his 12 tags of christmas this year. it's a bit darker than i would like, i think if i use this again, i will use a lighter background paper as the green of the holly doesn't show up enough. anyway, i had fun playing with glassine paper and alcohol inks, i especially love the holly berries entwined with lace and mini tinsel.

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mia

i have been missing in action for a while, unfortunately exams and work have taken over and so not much crafting has taken place.

i did, however, make time after my last exam to make some christmas cards and here they are, i wanted them to be quite grungy and so i used the my minds eye 'lost and found' 6x6 paper pad. i am quite pleased with how they turned out.

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