30 January 2011

AND SOMETHING FROM LIL G


A bit of a giveaway if the recipient spots it, but hey ho! My baby girl made this, with a little (but not much, I have to say) help from Daddy. She chose the image (and was a bit scared that it might offend!), coloured it in, cut it out and added the foam pads. Inside, it says "... from your biggest fan". Well done, baby girl xx

'HANOVARIAN' BIRTHDAY CARD!


This is for someone special but I can't tell you who yet cos it isn't their birthday and they may try to sneak a peek!
I used those amazing V&A Hanovarian papers with a freebie digi image - and I found another use for the brayer and gold ink that I got for the Letterpress!

I inked up a flourish stamp I found and it just adds another dimension. The sentiment is of course Melissa Frances and I think it stops it being too old-fashioned. Hope they like it!! x

A CARD AND AN UPDATE...


Hi all... a quick card for another newborn, so I used the same image but slightly changed the layout.
And some news on the Letterpress... Well, it seems my problem is actually the die itself; it isn't that well made. I used some of the others and it works fine, so I filed down the edge and I seem to be making progress. However, I'm still not 100% happy with it cos it's flippin' messy!! But I solved the issue of the sticky paper, I now just use a strip of DST and it works much better! TFL x

23 January 2011

RISE AND SHINE!!


Morning all! Had a panic this morning, when I got up and realised it was my friend and neighbour's birthday!!! So I made this. A freebie digi stamp and lots of matting and layering. I recoloured the image in Photofiltre and added the flowers (from WildOrchidCrafts) and some pearls from my stash. Hope she likes it!! x

22 January 2011

LETTERPRESS? NOT IMPRESSED...

Hi all. Well, after many months of threatening to get the Letterpress starter kit, I eventually found one. I've put it off because I couldn't really justify £50 on a new crafty toy! However, MadAboutCards had one in their sale at half price, so I thought, why not?
I had read mixed reviews on it, but I really liked the look of the results. I have to say that the only good thing about it so far is that MAC delivered it in super-quick time!
You get a small collection of 'dies', actually very pretty and ones that I would use a lot. You have to stick them to double-sided adhesive paper and cut them out. This paper sticks them to the lid. You then line up your paper, ink up your die with the brayer (and you really REALLY don't need much ink, it goes for MILES!) and whack the whole thing through the machine. Now, I have a Cuttlebug and I can tell you that it works fine with it.
BUT the resulting image was not as wow as I'd hoped. It had printed fine and the ink was even, but it had done that thing where it shows the edges (there is a name for that, but I can't remember what) so there were black lines around the image. I cleaned it all up - a feat in itself - and tried again. No matter how carefully I ink up the die, it does the same thing.
And the adhesive backing comes off the die after one go, so I had to stick it on again, cut it out and stick it to the lid again. That will get extremely boring when I have my invitations to make!
So, all in all, not a great start. It is obviously something I'm doing wrong, but as far as I can see I've followed the instructions to the letter and I'm not at all impressed.
Any of you got one? What am I doing wrong?
xx

16 January 2011

IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!

Hello all and a very happy 2011 to you and yours! I can't believe how long it's been since I posted, but things have been a bit hectic lately.
What news? Well, I've been promoted, which is a real bonus, especially in the current climate! Andy and I have been married for 10 years this year, most of which have been traumatic for one reason or another. But we decided to make or break at New Year and luckily, we went for make. So we're renewing our vows around our anniversary in October - a great excuse for making stuff, eh?!!
And our friends had their second baby girl on Friday!! So I made this for them:

(apologies for the rubbish photo, but the light is rapidly fading here!)
I wish you all well for this year and I hope your dreams come true. x