Where I Belong...

I wanted to share a little of my home town Seaham with you.

After tea I went for a stroll with my Mam and my eldest Daughter Lauren along the coast.

the images below are only a couple of minutes away from my home now and I'm sure you'll agree that the views are quite breathtaking.

The image below was my playground as a child although it looks quite different now, it is known locally as The Blast and before Dawdon Colliery was closed 25th July 1991 the slurry from the coalmine was dumped on the seashore here.

Nature is now claiming back the land and although the sand is not yellow yet it has turned into a beautiful place.

Not a cloud in the sky, they sea was so calm.

This is the view I had from my bedroom window as a child, we lived on the coalmine grounds and I could see the lighthouse, I loved to watch it on a night when it was dark blinking it's light to guide the fishing boats safely home.

This is one of the views from the cliff tops and that hill in the background is where I would love to build a house "sigh" imagine waking up each morning opening the curtains and seeing the view in the pictures above "oh how I dream".

Buttercups are a childhood memory for me, I remember holding them under our chins and if the yellow reflected on our skin we used to say that it was a sign that we liked butter, very strange how a young mind works.

Friendship Card - Sepia Notes

A friendship card, quite often I send a card as a notelet or pop one in a package I'm sending, purely because it doesn't have to be an occasion to send someone a card, I think everyone enjoys receiving one.

This started out as a 15 x 15 cm card then by scoring down at the halfway mark on the front facing cover and then bending it back you now have a concertina card I then cut out the brown card at 14.5 x 14.5 cm for the insert and 14.5 x 7cm for the front and again cut some cream card a little smaller than both pieces.

I used the Rollergraph script stamp wheel and scattered straw distress ink pad and rolled the stamp over the insert cream card then using some sponge in a circular motion dabbing it into the ink I distressed both pieces of the cream card.

I then stamped both pieces of card using flower stamps and a sentiment in a close to cocoa ink, the front piece with the sentiment on then had 2 semi circles punched out at the top and the bottom of the card. I finished by adding ribbon.

Cupcake Box & Floral Punch Craft

This is a little cupcake that I made for a Challenge over at the Stampin Out Alzheimers Site, the template is a free give away by DigiChick.

Of course I added my signature to the design and made a Floral Punch Craft Rose to sit on the top of the cake

Papertrey Ink - Blog Hop

May Blog HopSpring and summer tend to be the most colorful out of the four seasons. One color in particular that evokes the warmer weather is yellow!!! Your challenge this month is to use this trendsetting color to the best of it's potential! You can use it in small pieces as an accent or as the main color. Experiment & play, discovering new color combos that perhaps you hadn't thought of before. No matter what, just have fun and enjoy the feeling of happiness that this cheerful color evokes!

Wishing You... is a new Stamp set from Papertrey Ink.

I thought it needed a bright card to do the stamp set justice so here it is, I inked the tulip heads with summer sunrise palette ink then smooched some pure poppy ink at the top of the flower heads then cut them out, the dots and wording are stamps from the same set I used these in place of the stems, although they are in the set to use.

The base card is white the deep orange overlay card has been had a border punched out using the EK Success border punch then a bright yellow card embossed with the cuttlebug swiss dots folder and the corners punched using a Kreaxions punch

I used the Sympathy stamp set by Papertrey Ink to create my card, the top part of the card was stamped with the flourish stamp then I cut a diagonal slit in the card and slotted the oval nestabilities die though the slit so that only part of the card was die cut, I then cut around the rest of the flourish to finish this.

I used a punch to cut out the flowers and added a pearl to each of them.

Thomas Kinkade - Cobblestone Bridge

It's been a good while since I made a vintage card,so, what better way that to used one of the Thomas Kinkade rubber stamps, this one is Cobblestone Bridge.

I used chocolate chip ink from Stamping up and a brayer to ink up the stamp, the brayer ensures a thin even coat of ink which these stamps demand.

I burnt the endes of the image and using a teabag (used after making a cuppa) gently dabbed away to give it a sepia tone. I layered the image on top of wine coloured card and used the binder punch (Stamping Up) on the edge then ripped away the card and edged it with a gold pen.

A vitage scrapbook page for the background with a piece of jute wrapped around it leaf brads button and ribbon to finish.

Help Needed - Green Fingers

Those of you that know me well will also know that shamefully I am useless when it comes to plants, I know I like them but that is as far as my green fingers go.

I wanted to grow some Poppies so with seeds in hand and a propergater I set to growing my own.

Now comes the complicated bit. I know I have to transfer each little shoot into an egg box looking planter but:

exactly when do I do that?

also do I need to take the lid off the propergater now?

below is some pictures of the shoots as they are now and one has a 1 pence piece next to the shoots so you can see how big they are.

Come on you green fingered lot, leave a comment and help me out.

Sizzix Bigz Die - Decorative Accent W/Flower

Using the Sizzix Bigz Die - Decorative Accent W/Flower I made this card, I cut out the accent and sponged the flowers in light blue and the flourish in a sage green ink, I used the Cuttlebug Swiss dots folder on the white background and used the Nestabilities Label die cut out and distressed then stamped the prayer on top with the same sage ink.

Layered it all on top of the green base card and finished with a satin ribbon.

Engagement Card

An Engagement card, I thought I'd keep on the cake theme and this Cake stamp by Papertrey Ink seemed perfect for the job.

It is stamped with Ocean Tides Pallete Ink then the blossoms with Versamark then heat set with white embossing powder, The Label 1 Nestabilities where used to cut out the shapes and Kreaxion punch used for the corners, all tied together with a satin ribbon and a few blossoms and pearls added to finish.