About Me

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Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, United Kingdom
This is a blog I use to share my papercraft projects. I make them for friends and family, as well as selling them to fund my craft stash. You can get in touch with me at loumac03@gmail.com if you have any questions or would like to place a commissioned order.

Friday 30 November 2012

Tiddly Inks and Funky Hand Blog Hop

It's time for the daddy of all blog hops right now!! Us girlies at Tiddly Inks and Funky Hand have teamed up to bring you some of the most delicious inspiration floating out there in the interwebs right now. Are you all ready for some goodness for your corneal delectation?! I sure hope so.

Everyones creation will be a mash up of Tiddly Inks digi image goodness, and Funky Hand digi paper fun-ness. Uh huh!!

You should have arrived here from KAREN'S BLOG, but if not and you want to start at the beginning.. because that's always a good place to start.. then head over to the FUNKY HAND BLOG WITH ANICE.

So here's what I came up with using Wryn goes Caroling from Tiddly Inks and the gorgeous Stylish Tree Paper from Funky Hand. I printed my digi paper onto cream cardstock to tone down the teals and reds and make the image pop out more. I really love how it turned out.


I kept the layout pretty simple and added a sentiment in the blank space at the bottom of the card base in Real Red ink from SU! I chose three of the papers from the set and layered them up. LOVE that hollyberry one. Gahh!! Oh, and the teal snowflake one is pretty gorgeous too. Anyway, I digress. I kept the layout pretty simple, die cut a fancy border on the teal paper and punched out a decorative label from the red paper as a base for my embellishments clusters. The cherry blossoms and red roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the snowflake charm that I hung from a length of red twine is from The Ribbon Girl, as is that lovely cream taffeta. That's about it from me. Oh, and the Wryn was coloured using ProMarkers and FlexMarkers of course. :) Heh.

Hope you likey.

Next stop is SAM'S BLOG.

Here is the full HOP LIST in case you make a wrong turn somewhere!!
Asa

Enjoy the rest of your journey.

Over and out. xo

Wednesday 28 November 2012

Don't DISTRESS

Sorry I'm a little late with my card for Passion for ProMarkers - I haven't really been on the ball this week. A touch of sleepy sickness a.k.a laziness. :/ I just cannot seem to get my butt motivated these days.

On a brighter note.. we have a new challenge over at Passion for ProMarkers for you, set by yours truly! ;)

DISTRESSING

You can interpret this any way you wish. You can use those treasured Tim Holtz Distress Inks, a paper distresser, some scrumpled paper.. or a mixture of all three. If you have any new, fresh ideas then be sure to throw them our way and join in with our challenge.

This week we were spondsored by the generous Pink Gem Designs, and we each got to choose an image to work with - I went for Baby's 1st Christmas. :) Adorable, and a good image to have on hand this time of year.

PinkGemDesignsBlogBannerNEW 

I coloured my image to be a little girl and matched it with my papers from Echo Park. I decided to try something a little different with regards to the 'glow' around the image, it's something I have seen on C&C with the SWALK stamps - I've just added it to the very centre of the image instead of all the way around - I kinda like the effect, but not sure that this was the right image to try it out on. :/ What do you think?

I've added some shading to the 'fluffy' parts of the image using three Cool Grey pens. I was gonna add Stickles over the top.. but guess what?! I couldn't friggin' find them - typical.


So as for the distressing on this card, I've roughed up the edges of my green chevron paper with my paper distresser as well as layered some brown wrapping paper underneath the main image panel and the background patterned paper after scrumpling it up and adding as much texture and as many creases to it as I could. There used to be a time when I inked and tore/distressed all the edges of my paper - but you know how it is.. we all go through phases. I guess one day I might get back into that look, but for now my TH Distress Inks and sponge applicators have taken a back seat.

How do you like to distress your projects?! Please link up over at Passion for ProMarkers and let us see what you've got!!

Thanks for stopping by. xo

Tuesday 27 November 2012

Make it Like.. MARLENA!!

It's time for a new challenge over at Tiddly Inks and today it's another 'Make it like..'

So we want to see you make a card like..

MARLENA 

Here is her gorgeous card which you can use for inspiration in the form on colours, layout, image, embellishments - it's entirely up to you. :)

 

I've taken some inspiration from Marlena's layered circles and the placement of her gorgeous flowers. I just had to use Cocoa Wishes with this purple and pink combo. I've upcycled, if that's the right word.. some brown packaging paper. I scrumpled it up and added a heap of texture to it before adding double sided tape about half and inch from the edges and adhering it to my card base. Moving the adhesive further into the middle means you can ruffle up the edges a little more.

I've used papers from Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather collection and coloured Wryn with my ProMarkers and FlexMarkers to match. I cut her out using a circles spellbinder, layered some purple plaid behind her and some cream/greyish floral kinda paper cut with a scalloped circle behind that. A lot of layers for me, I think? :/ LOL! I coloured the 'floor' beneath Wryn far too dark for the rest of the card, so I've adhered some gathered ivory ribbon beneath her instead. Problem solved! ;)


I then took a bunch of Wild Orchid Craft flowers and layered them on top of some die cut vellum snowflakes which I've added Stickles to to give them a little more texture. That makes up the 'square' portion of my card, just like Marlena's design, and to fill the rest of my card I've stamped the sentiment from an Amy R set and added some gemstones to either side to ensure it stands out enough. :) Job done. Hope you likey.

Has this given you enough inspiration to get creating something with Marlena's creation in mind? I sure hope to see you over at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog with your projects.

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges:
- Creatalicious Challenges - Winter
- Crafts and Me - Circles

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday! xo

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Happy Birthday to a Shopaholic

Third day. Third commission. Do you see a pattern forming here? Uh huh. I may be part of DT's, but I also work behind the scenes creating stuffs for 'customers' too. Customers in inverted commas, because it isn't really a business. It's just something I do to try and fund my craft addicition. I just forget to share these projects with you all sometimes! :P Heh.

So here is the fantastic Sarah Shopper from Kraftin' Kimmies Everyday Girls 2 collection. She was perfect for a recent order, so I couldn't wait to get her coloured up to match some papers from Echo Park Springtime collection. She has been coloured using the usual ProMarkers and FlexMarkers. I added some Warm Greys underneath her to look like a pavement and the standard blue glow around her. I trimmed out the image panel and added some stitching using a Melon Mambo marker from SU!


The pinks and purples in the Echo Park paper work so well. I love them. I've used up a load of the scraps by die cutting some flowers using a PTI die and adding them around the main image panel. The sentiments have been created using my alphabet stamps from Lawn Fawn. I've added a bunch of buttons threaded with pink natural twine and some Kaisercraft gemstones. Bosh.

Hope you likey. xo

Tuesday 20 November 2012

I Love You. Always.

You guys all know what once in a while, although not as often as I'd probably like.. I get to work on a card with no image!! This time round I got an order from a man who wanted an anniversary card for his partner, who I know very well through my Cartolinas FB page. She is lovely and always orders from me. One of my regulars I guess. So he told me the colours he wanted included on the card, and let me run with the rest. Just how I like to roll.. or run. HAH!

So here is another card using my diminishing stash of my American Crafts I Do collection. Gaaah!! I've looked all over for another pack of this deliciousness and cannot find it. Anywhere. I am so sad! It's a gorgeous collection and perfect for those anniversary and wedding cards. Gender neutral and it also has some embossed papers. So pretty.

Uhh. Anyway. I've used Say It Loud from Waltzingmouse Stamps for my sentiment as my focal point and cut it out using a Labels 18 nestie. I've stamped 'always' in Pool Party, Sage Shadow and Old Olive ink from SU! and the 'i love you' in Brilliance Graphite Black ink.


I've used some yummy fabric from The Ribbon Girl to bring some texture to the card. I've created a double bow with my Bow-Easy using some gorgeous sage satin ribbon and added a length of olive crochet lace atop of my scallop border.

I've added a few flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts around the bow and a few hearts punched from some left over patterned paper with an SU! punch which I've added to a banner in the top right hand corner to fill in some of the blank space. 

Some groups of white liquid pearls here and there, an olive button threaded with black bakers twine on top of my bow, and it was job done! ;)

Hope you likey as much as the couple did. xo

Monday 19 November 2012

Car Crazy

Here's another commission I received for the beginning of this month, for a car crazy boy. As soon as my friend gave me the order I knew what image I wanted to get my hands on for it!!

I only own two Kenny K images, and they're both rubber, and both girls - I often browse the digi store, but can never justify buying any of the images. Well I didn't have to wait any longer! ;)

This is Need for Speed!! How cool is he?! Very. *grins* I've coloured him using ProMarkers and FlexMarkers to meet hair and eye colour specifications and coloured the rest to match my papers from Ech Park.

Can I just take a moment to point out that.. there.. is.. NO STAMPING on this card. I know. Am I going crazy?! Perhaps. HAH! It consists of my digi stamp, and bunch of letter/ number stickers and a couplea rub-ons.


My cardbase is some yummy Wild Wasabi from SU! I've used a Real Red SU! marker to add some dashed lines around my image panel and along the edges of my patterned paper. I've also used a few SU! punches to create some embellishment areas where I've added the sentiment. Some colourful brads to match from my stash and that was that! :)

That's all from me for now. I'm tryna get ahead and share a few projects which I've been working on but haven't had the time to blog over the past month or so. Stand by! ;) xo

Saturday 17 November 2012

Want some Hugs?!

Wryn's got a heap loads for ya! ;)

This post is going live WAY late. I didn't even realise that it hadn't posted. How bad am I?! I really should keep up with my own blog, huh? So here it is..

Today is Friday, which can only mean it's time for more fabulousness from the Tiddly Inkers! Ready?!

I've used the gorgeous Wryn - Happy Heart which I've coloured using ProMarkers and FlexMarkers to match some pink and purpleness! :)  Oh, and that lime green heart which just adds another pop of colour along with the black embellishments I've used.


I've cut Wryn out using a Labels 18 spellbinder, you may recognise this card as it looks similar to one I made a while a go. I had a lovely lady place an order in which she wanted a card like the one I made a while a go. I had to explain to her that no two of my cards are ever the same, she was fine with that - so this is what I came up with. The same, but different. Heh.

That's all I've got for ya today. Be sure to stop by the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog to see what the other awesome ladies have came up with to inspire ya this Friday!! xo

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Some Odd Girl November Release

Hey guys and girls! :) I'm back, waaay late.. *grins* with my projects from the Some Odd Girl November digi release. This is how I roll these days, right? I just hope my projects are worth the wait for you all.

So I'll get right to it. Just a heads up, you might wanna grab a drink, I waffle. A lot. :/

Back on Monday we kicked off the show with the adorable Snowfall Kaylee, and the amazing samples from the team can be seen HERE. I love her scarf and hat, so stylin'!!  

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Yesterday we had Winter Bear. Is he not the cutest thing ever? You can see the DTs creations HERE. I love his accessories and that cute little face of his. Don'tcha just wanna chub him?! Uh huh! Now, I know he's a Polar Bear, but I wanted to do something a little different to match my patterned paper and make him stand out a little more.. I coloured the fella brown. Why the hell not, right?


I've coloured him up using my beloved ProMarkers and FlexMarkers which I'm feeling even more attached to after watching some wack Copic Show over on Create and Craft. Don't get me wrong, I know some peoples who ROCK the Copics, many of them are on the Some Odd Girl DT - BUT there are people who bang on about Copics making your work so much better and dissing all other alcohol markers. Shoot me. I believe the more you practice, the harder you work, the more you experiment - THE BETTER YOUR RESULTS - whatever your medium. Okay, I'ma step off my soapbox now. *grins*

So my patterned paper is from an older collection from a couple Christmas' ago from Crate Paper - Snow Day collection. Love the quirky colours. I stamped my sentiment from Paper Makeup Stamps in Pumpkin Pie from SU! and punched it with a Decorative Label punch. I added a couple vellum snowflakes and attached them with various SU! brads.

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Earlier TODAY we had the last of our release in the form of Cuppa Mae. Heh, Mae isn't actually in the cup but she has a delicious cup of hot cocoa? coffee? what's your brew? You can see how the other ODD girlies switched Mae up HERE.

Okay, hold on to your hats. Lou Mac went.. PURPLE. Uh huh!! This is the girl who openly admits to purple being her least favourite colour to work with. Paper wise, colour wise, everything - wise. Heh. Refer to previous rant ^^ if you don't push yourself and practice, what's the point?! So Cuppa Mae has a rich purple jumper on. Uh huh. She matches the paper I used from another older collection from Cosmo Cricket - Mitten Weather. 

I've stamped my sentiment from Amy R in Soft Suede ink from SU! - I think Mae would make a perfect Christmas card for a friend or even a winter birthday. That's what I love about these images - so freakin' versatile. You just gotta think outside the box a little. 


What else? Uhhh, more vellum snowflakes. I mentioned a while back that I was addicted to them. They finish off my cards perfectly and are so my style. :) I've attached them using some little beige brads from my stash. Some delicious cotton stripe ribbon and polka dot button threaded with purple twine - all from The Ribbon Girl, and it's job done!!

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I hope these have been worth the wait - I'm such a bad DT member lately. Life has been getting in the way of my hobby and it's making me mad - so all of the spare time I have I'm busying myself with colouring/ creating. Head over to the Some Odd Girl blog now and see what the ON TIME DT members came up with! ;) Heh.

Okay. Bed time for me - says the girl who wanted an early night. That sorta stuff never happens these days. Over and OUT! xo

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Yumi and Fumi Handmade Winter Preview

A pretty late post for me, but it's only 11am PST, so I'm all good to go with this one. Heh.

Today marks the release of the Yumi and Fumi Handmade Winter Preview!! You excited?! I know I am. I was over the moon when Sandie asked me to design a card with these cool and quirky images. 

Meet.. YETI. Is he not the cutest thing ever? I can just imagine the struggle he had with those lights. Although, I think he pulls them off better than some Christmas trees I have seen! LOL.


I have used one of the adorable.. (can you call a yeti adorable?! LOL!!) yeti images from this release.I know Yetis are not traditionally green, but hell - I went with it and I love how he turned out! He's such a big guy that not much else was needed on my card, so I kept it pretty simple. The Merry Christmas is from an Amy R set and has been stamped across that wide belly of his. Heh. I've coloured him up using ProMarkers and gave him a cool blue glow.

There are other images from this release too, like Winter Yumi, Winter Fumi and there is Yeti Yumi and Yeti Fumi, which can be used individually or as a pair. How cute! Not forgetting that big guy up there, Yeti.

You can check them all out over at the Yumi and Fumi Handmade Blog. They will be available to buy from the 26 November, but for now you can head over to the Yumi and Fumi Handmade Store and take a browse at the other images on offer. It's all a waiting game! ;) Heh.

That's all from me for today. I hope I haven't bombarded you with too much stuff. I'll be back tomorrow for the last day of previews from Some Odd Girl! :) Over and Out. xo 

Oh, the Moons and the Stars

I literally have zero concept of time. Seriously. WHERE has this year GONE?! It's actually pretty scary.
Since I took time out to visit my sisters over the weekend, I am totally behind with everything, not to mention knackered. So last night I was up LATE tryna catch up, and I'm still not quite there.

Today is *hopefully* going to be a busy day on my blog if all goes well. There is a new challenge over at Passion for ProMarkers, day TWO of a new digi release over at Some Odd Girl and I'm a guest at Yumi and Fumi Handmade as they have a new release happening too. So let's roll.

This post is gonna be for my Passion for ProMarkers project, where we have a brand new challenge set by our very own Lisa

She want's to see all of those moons and stars! We're gonna be pretty linient with this one, it can be moons and/ or stars. We wanna see those entires piled in and this sorta criteria is perfect for an array of cards, from new beginnings, birthdays and even Christmas. So get your thinking caps on if you want a gold star of Miss Mac! ;) LOL!!

I went down the stars route and created a cute little Christmas card using an image that isn't traditionally for Christmas from The Greeting Farm. This was the first time I had coloured this girl up - I love that hair of hers!


Gonna keep this a quick and simple post as I have to head off for work. I'll fill you in on the details when I'm finished.

Head over to the Passion for ProMarkers blog now and see what the other ladies have come up with this week! xo

Thursday 1 November 2012

Gift of Joy

Hey ODDies! It's me, back with a new card to share with you to hopefully inspire you to join in with our brand new monthly challenge for NOVEMBER.

Uh huh. November already. A nip and a punch for the first of the month and all that! So, on with the SKETCH. You can keep it CAS or you can jazz it up like some of the other awesome ladies on the team have done. They always hit this OUT of the PARK!


You likey? Remember you can change the shapes to suit your style. :) Here's what I came up with using the adorable Deer Gift Mae - digi format. Because she comes in a clear stamp too ;)

I've coloured her up using PMs and FMs to match my papers from Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses - yep, I'm making the most of what is left from that pack. Some crispy green cardstock from Core'dinations forms my cardbase - love the texture of that stuff.


I've added a strip of cardstock and stamped my sentiment from the clear Deer Mae set in Garden Green ink from SU! I then found the perfect matching polka dot button from.. uh huh.. The Ribbon Girl. Pretty CAS for me, I know. Me likey. Hope you do too.

Need some more inspiration? Head over to the SOG blog NOW and see what my awesome ODD teamies have come up with!!

Kisses. xo

NEW in NOVEMBER at The GREETING FARM!


Hey, everyone!  We are pumped for the NEW November Releases available RIGHT NOW at The Greeting Farm and rest assured it is more TREAT than trick today!

You've seen the previews, and we are so glad that you're all sharing in the excitement as we move into November with FIVE new "must haves" in your TGF collection!   From the LARGER than life "Anya Styles", a bean who twinkles more than stars, two VERY fabulous (or, is it vamptabulous?  ;) Creepers in our crew and a festive Holiday Anya 2, there's something for EVERYONE...and they're all in the TGF STORE waiting for you!

You know it wouldn't be a party if we didn't have a BLOG HOP with a BIG prize, right?  This blog hop is special to us, too because it marks our last hop as a current Premiere team.  
So here are my final projects as a Premiere Farmer (que puppy dog eyes and pet lip).

You guys already know who this handsome fella is, right? James is a heartbreaker. If I was his girl, I'd be claiming that jacket right away. I wonder how long git takes him to do that hair in the morning? It sure is impressive. I've coloured him with the usual ProMarkers and FlexMarkers - I've given him a bit of a roset cheeked look this time round - to match papers frm an older Cosmo Cricket called Boyfriend.

I've added the slightest green glow around James to match his eyes, it doesn't show up much on the photo but it really makes him pop off the long panel I've cut around him. To finish the card off I've added some polka dot buttons from The Ribbon Girl and a yummy polka dot brad from Stampin' Up! Oh, and that sentiment, guess where it's from?! Of course.. My Guy Ian! ;) stamped in Real Red ink. Hope you likey.


I'll add my Anya Styles card when I get home today - or try to. Blogger is too busy being an idiot to let me add anymore to the post! :(

.. and here she is. In all of her pink and purple glory.


Love this girl. Perhaps a little too much. She's so stylish and is a dream to colour. I've paired her up with some papers from Echo Park Springtime collection. The sentiment is from PTI and layered on top of a mini doily from MFT.

Before I go, I wanna take a minute to thank each and everyone one of you for making this such a fantastic experience. From the excitement of receiving new, surprise, rubber in the post, to colouring up the new images and sharing them with the crafting world, and our CCN which I trooped through until the early hours of the morning - it has all been a blast!! *grins*

Ok... on with the NEW! Here's the list you've been waiting for...will YOU be the lucky one who walks away with ALL FIVE RELEASES?  You have until 11:30pmCST tonight to enter and FIND OUT tomorrow!

back to the TGF BLOG to let us know you hopped!

Have a blast and HAPPY NOVEMBER! xo

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