A Smelly Tag!!!!

Back to cardmaking this week and sadly leaving my horsey antics behind!  This week I am sharing a tag that I made during a class I attended in Bristol.  It was made using pixie powders, shaving foam and alcohol inks!

Firstly I started by putting shaving foam into a container and sprinkled with sun yellow and peacock green pixie powders.  When they started to mix with the foam I then took a straw to swirl them together, I then laid the card onto the foam and removed it.  It was covered in foam and when you take off the excess with a ruler it leaves a very interesting pattern on the cardstock.  Once this has dried ............. and by the way it smells gorgeous! ............. I then cut out the tag and embossed it to add a little more texture.

To make the butterflies I stamped a Visible Image butterfly with matt medium and heat embossed it with black powder.  Once this was done I let it cool down and then took clover and sunset yellow alcohol inks and spread them over the back of the butterfly.  By putting the inks on now and cutting later I didn't have to be too careful with applying the inks!  Once this had dried I hand cut the butterflies and placed them onto the tag, folding them up slightly to add some dimension.

The back of the tag is clear to write a message and I thought it best not to put a sentiment on the front so it could be used for any occasion.

Finally I popped some ribbon through the top so there was something to help attach it to a gift.

For this tag I used the following:

Alcohol inks - clover & sunset yellow

Cheap shavng foam

Pixie Powders - peacock green and sun yellow

Heat resistant acetate

Visible Image Butterfly Beginnings stamp

I hope you enjoyed this project, so until next time I will leave with love and crafty hugs!

Ginny x

Carriage Driving

Well this week I thought I would share with you my horsey antics of last weekend!  As mentioned in my last post I went carriage driving for a couple of days.  25 or so years ago I used to drive a single pony but have hankered after driving a pair for the last few years so jumped at the opportunity to go on an instructional break with my friend Rita.

We found a lovely lady who lives local'ish to Rita who is near Ely in Cambridgeshire, called Claire Bourne.  Claire is a qualified LHHI (light horse harness instructor) and also runs her own business doing funerals and weddings.  She is such a lovely lady that I would highly recommend if anyone fancies having a go.

I was totally blown away when I got to drive a pair of Fresians, a pair of Lippizzaners and a pair of small ponies!  I had so much fun and it reminded me of some great times that Rita and I had share so many years ago when we used to compete!

Now for a bit of photo overload driving one of the pairs- I got to drive both on and off road, and finished by popping them through some cones which was great fun

It never ceases to amaze me just how much power there is with a pair.  I will admit that I am not great with large horses as I tend to 'do' ponies, but I enjoyed driving these more than I could have imagined!

This pair were much more up my street, even though they were nowhere near as experienced!  I can see that this could be a direction that my life end up taking! 

Well I could bore you with lots more photo's but this is a craft blog so had better stop!  Promise I will go back to crafting in my next post ;-)

Until next time

With love and crafty hugs

Ginny x

Another Christmas Card!

Well as we are well and truly in September I thought I would stop by and share another Christmas card - don't feel quite so bad saying that now!

This is a very quick post as I am about to dash off on a short break - a couple of days spent carriage driving.  Who knows my next post may include some photo's of other things I love doing apart from card crafting!

For this post I have done the same card in two colourways. I have gone for a very classic gold and black look, and then reversed it on the second card.

Both cards are fairly simple to make, with quite a few mats and layers.

And again with the colours reversed.  Which one do you prefer?

Unfortunately you cannot see much of the embossing in the cards as it doesn't show up well in the photographs, so here is a closer peek!  I really like this die set and think it really does not need much else to set it off.

For this card I used the following:

Foundation cardstock in black and vintage gold

Sue Wilson's Santa's Sleigh

Sue Wilson's Christmas Scene Mini Background

Sue Wilson's Pierced Rectangles

Until next time

Crafty hugs sent with love

Ginny x

Well it is almost September!!!!

Well it is almost September, so thought it was about time I started making some Christmas cards!  I am not a huge Christmassy person but really enjoyed doing this one.

Anyway, this will be a very quick post as am short on time, but thought I would share this one with you.  It is another card I completed on the MISTI workshop I attended in Bath.


We used the Best Christmas stamp from Clearly Besotted, which is a lovely fun stamp.  This was then hand coloured with alcohol pens.  If you look carefully you can see the balloon strings which do not show up well on the photograph, but it is clearer in real life! 






It is a very simple stamp but hope you will agree that it gives a nice clean card.

Until next time, take care.

Crafty hugs sent with love

Ginny xx

The MISTI Tool

Well I hope everyone is enjoying this amazing weather!  It certainly has warmed up a bit - I'm afraid my horses are not overly impressed with it as their native Iceland is nowhere near as warm as this!

This week I had the opportunity to attend a workshop in Bath with Iliana Myska, the designer of the MISTI tool and founder of My Sweet Petunia.  Just in case you have not met this tool before, MISTI stands for 'The Most Incredible Stamping Tool Invented'!  Well I have to say that I was very impressed with it as it makes stamping so much easier.  If you are making large numbers of cards it is an absolute Godsend ;-)

I always found my stamping could be a bit hit and miss and this allows you to go back and restamp if you need to and you can guarantee it will overstamp perfectly.

We completed a number of cards on the day and used some large background stamps from The Ton and then heat embossed them - in the past this would have given me palpitations but with the MISTI is was a breeze. 

Of course, I had to have one so got to bring one home with me, so you may get to see more stamped cards from me in the future!











Anyway, that's all from me for now but I hope you all have a great Bank Holiday weekend and lets hope the weather continues to shine on us all.

Until next time

Ginny x

Stepped into a whole new world!

I'm afraid I haven't posted for a while as I have been away on holiday - a few days in North Wales visiting my daughter and her husband, along with her menagerie of animals ;-)

Well today I stepped into the whole new world of jewellery making!  It was nice to do something totally different but am not sure its for me.  Anyway I thought I would share a couple of the items I made - I haven't taken photographs yet of the necklace and bracelet so may post those at another time.

Well here goes, hopefully you will like them!

I have made a few more cards and also done some mixed media, so watch this space and hopefully I will get some time to post them soon.

Until next time, take care

love

Ginny x

Antiquity Book Box

Well this weeks post is once again something a little different.  I attended another workshop where I had my first attempt at working with MDF.  We used the MDF Antiquity Book Box which  is a really useful storage space

Firstly we started by painting the box with Americano Décor Chalky Finish paint.  I think it was the Yesteryear shade but cannot be 100% sure as I did this a while ago!  We did this before assembling the box as this made it so much easier to access all the nooks and crannies.

Once the box was dry we assembled it before we started the decoration.  Firstly we stamped on the base of the inside of the box just to add some additional interest on what would have been quite a large blank space.  This was done in a pale colour cloud ink to add a slight vintage feel.

After this we started working on the outside of the box.  We used Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Polish in pearl lustre and colour cloud to soften and distress the corners, using the same colour cloud colour to do some messy stamping on the box using a word stamp - this really is not that visible from the photo's I'm afraid.  Pearls were also added to the base of the box to add additional interest.

Once this was all done we were able to start adding the embellishments.   Now we got to play with the flowers, leaves and raffia which were all secured using silicone glue.  Once these were set we added the MDF items (hearts and gate) which were again highlighted with the CS pearl lustre gilding polish.

I was really pleased with how this turned out and ended up giving it as a birthday present for my mother.  Hence why it has taken me a while to post it!

Anyway I hope you have enjoyed this little project and it inspires you to try out working with MDF!  I so enjoyed doing this that I have booked myself on a course with Anna-Marie Designs later on in the year, so watch this space for some more samples!

Until next time.

love & hugs

Ginny x