Shrink Plastic

I have done a tutorial on PCJ's on Shrink Plastic which you can find here if you've never used shrink plastic before and would like to know how to use it?

I do love shrink plastic, there is something immensely satisfying about watching it curl up and then flatten out again. It's fab. If you've never played with shrink plastic then you really are missing a treat! I don't use mine nearly often enough.

This is the card I made as an example. This is the inside of the card.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday today. Another year older and wiser?! Hmm not sure about the latter. Lol.

Of all the mornings to have a lie in, my kids chose this morning which would have been lovely if I had not woken up at 6.30am and then spent two hours awake waiting for the kids to get up so that I could open my presents.

Peej and I ended up having the funniest game of eye spy I've ever played with some really obscure objects being picked, like C.I.C. being "crack in ceiling" and P.C.C.I.C which was "paint covering crack in ceiling." Then of course there was B.L.T.D.W which was "bedside lights that don't work!" (There is a long story about the bedside lights not working but I won't go into that now. Lol) The fact that we were actually managing to get the answers to these either shows that we are on the same wave length or we're both just as mad as each other? I'm not sure which it is, but it was very funny, well it was to us anyway and it filled in the time until the kids eventually made it out of bed at 8.30am.

I got some great presents and some beautiful handmade cards which I will take photos of tomorrow and post them up for you to see. In the mean time I will share these two cards which I made with free downloads from Papercraft Junkies. This card is made with a Christmas tree download from PCJ's, papers and ribbon by Dovecraft. The cat and mouse stamp is by Sugar Nellie. The card I also did for the Raspberry Ribbons challenge but I was a little late sending it in so I'm not sure if it has made it onto their blog yet or not.

This image is by Debbie Moore and is a free download on PCJ's, I coloured it with Twinkling H2O's and added some Sprinkles to the snow and snowflakes. The patterned paper is some for the Cricut and the Merry Christmas is by Lili of the Valley.

Sketch Challenge

Sorry I've not updated for a while. I've not had any commissioned work for ages and then in the space of two weeks I've have had 5 cards and a chipboard baby album to make, plus a card for one of the "Bunco Ladies" who is leaving next week to move to South Africa. So I've been busy busy busy!!! Hopefully now that I have them all done I can relax a bit and just concentrate on the stuff I need to do for Christmas.

These are three cards I made for a sketch challenge over on the PCJ's blog. The papers for the first card are all by Daisy Bucket Designs and the flowers are Primas.

These papers are all by K&Co as is the sentiment sticker. The image is one a lovely blogging friend sent me.

The papers for this one were sent to me by my PCJ friend, Sabina, who lives in Australia. The stamp is from Crafty Individuals.

Scraplift Challenge

This is a layout I made for a scraplift challenge over on the new PCJ blog. Jayne designed the sketch for it and this was my take on it. The photos are of our little rug/puppy otherwise known as Max, when he still had his fur!! It is now growing back after his trim but he did look very bad for a time there. Poor puppy.

Good news. I rang the shop where I got Ellie's leotard and skirt from and they said as it was their mistake they would change them even though she'd worn them. So she now has the correct uniform, hurray! I didn't buy any tap shoes though as they were a little off with me in the shop so I didn't think they deserved any more custom. I will get some from somewhere else after I have had my first class (well my first since I was about 14) which is tonight at 8.15pm. I will have to do it in my trainers this week but if I enjoy it then I think I will order some tap shoes online and hope they come before the next class.

Wish me luck!!

One Sketch, Six Ideas - PCJ's EMag

The second edition of the PCJ's eMag is now available to download for free. If you would like to view it please click here.

One of my contributions this time was for the sketch challenge. This is my sketch...
...and these are my two examples.

If you would like to have a go at the sketch challenge there is an email address to send your interpretation to at the end of that section in the PCJ's eMag. If you submit a card it may be featured in the next edition of the PCJ eMag!

Altered CD

Over on PCJ's we're doing an altered CD swap. I've never done one before but thought I'd have a go. This is mine.

The green backing paper and sentiments came free with a magazine. The Giraffes, hearts and stars are cut from paper by Dovecraft. The large brad in the centre is one that came from SammieJay that she sent as part of the PIF RAK I won on her blog. Don't you just love giraffes?!

Papercraft Junkies - Challenge 20

This weeks PCJ Challenge is 4 Squares and has been set by Durcan Designs (Tracy Durcan).


Here are my contributions.

Challenge 16 - Love Is...

This weeks PCJ challenge has been set by NatBag (Natalie Jubb) and her challenge is - 'Love is...'

This can be a card, LO, altered item, ATC, anything. It doesn't have to contain those words though, just let them guide you. :)

Here is my contribution. I've put some close ups on too so that you can read the hearts!

If you'd like to take part in this weeks challenge please click here and you could win a 15% discount voucher for http://www.craftycarrot.com/!

Challenge 11 - Time

It's PCJ's challenge time again! This week the challenge has been set by Crafty Carrot (aka Tracey Grundy) and the challenge is "Time"


Here are my contributions.


This boat card is a very simple quick card. The card quote is from a pack by Colorbok. The stamp is by Judi Kins which I coloured with watercolour pencils. I added 3 yellow brads to finish.


The stamp I used on the second card is by Paper Artsy. I coloured it slightly using distress ink. The clock paper I've had for years and the Time" paper I bought recently from CraftyCarrot.com.










If you would like to join in with this weeks challenge please click here.

Thank you.

Framed Snowman

This Christmas card was made using circle paper by Craftwork Cards which has a lovely sparkly sheen to it that doesn't come across on the photo. The framed snowman is a stamp by Whipper Snapper, I coloured it using Twinkling H2Os. The Sentiment came free with a magazine and the pink ribbon tape Tracey (CraftyCarrot) from Papercraft Junkies sent me (along with lots of other bits) for being on her Design Team.

Challenge 10 - Autumn

Yes it's challenge time again over on Papercraft Junkies. This weeks challenge has been set by Nerdbird (aka Stephanie Block) and the challenge is "Autumn"



These are my creations for the challenge!



The little girl stamp on the "Miss You" card is from a set by Woodware which I coloured in with water colour pencils. I mounted this onto green card then onto a strip of dark orange card. The autumn leaves are done with paper punches.

The Harvest Festival box I did rather quickly for the children to take into school. I just covered a white box with strips of red paper, added pumpkins, an apple and the wording that I made using my Cricut. I added some leaf peels off that I stuck onto orange card and then cut out and finished with some more small leaves cut out using a paper punch.

The Halloween bags are made out of brown envelopes. The pumpkins and spiders have been made using my Cricut again! I punched holes in the folded over flap with a crop-o-dile and then used multi-coloured thread to tie them shut.

For the "Leaves" card I used peel off stickers that I've had in my stash for years! I changed them from gold to brown using a peel off pen then stuck them onto orange card which I then mounted on an angle onto red card. I attached this to a red card blank which I had already covered with a rectangle of leaf backing paper. I then added the "Leaves" peel off to finish.

If you'd like to take part in this weeks Papercraft Junkies challenge please click here and you could win a 15% discount voucher to spend at Crafty Carrot.com.

Thanks for looking.

Challenge 9 - Flowers

This weeks challenge for Papercraft Junkies is 'Flowers' and has been set by Durcan Designs (a.k.a. Tracy Durcan)

Here are my contributions.

The "Some bunnies missed you" card was made using a Penny Black Stamp which I coloured in using watercolour pencils. The orange paper is from the "spring fling collection" by Blonde Moments and the green paper with small white flowers on is by Scissors Sisters. The flowers are made with a daisy punch and I've added a little puff paint to the centre of each. The words "Some bunnies missed you" I did with my Quickutz.

For the "Sophie" card I used a little girl stamp by Penny Black. I coloured her in with Twinkling H2O's. The green flower ribbon, happy birthday stamp and the small flower stamp all came free with card making magazines. I've had the flowery backing paper so long I can't remember where it's from and it doesn't say in it. The letters are stickers by K&Co.

If you'd like to have a go at this weeks Papercraft Junkies challenge please click here to join in.

Thank you

Challenge 8 - Worn out and distressed

It's the new PCJ challenge! This week it has been set DebbieN (Debbie Nicholson) and the theme is 'Worn out & distressed'

The challenge is to make something 'worn out and distressed' could be anything that's been sanded, messed with or simply a get well card because someone is 'worn out and distressed'.

This is my contribution.

Challenge 7 for Papercraft Junkies

This weeks challenge for PCJ's is "Did I mention Dimension" which has been set by Ratty Tatty aka Tracey Dean.



Here are my Design Team contributions.

The blue card is made using the Ultimate Crafty Companion and a stamp set by Woodware.

The red and black card was made using a Zig-Zag template by WS Designs and stamps by Crafty Individuals.

I'd actually seen this card design on the Crafty Individuals gallery a while ago and really wanted to make one like it. When this challenge came up I thought "That's the card I need to make!" So I tried and I tried but I couldn't get the dimensions right on it. In the end I emailed Crafty Individuals and asked them if they could tell me how they made it. It turns out that the lady who designed it (also called Fiona) wasn't there to ask at that time but she was going to be coming over on Thursday because she was going to help on their stall at the Papercraft Extravaganza in Harrogate that weekend. I think with getting ready for the show and everything the lady at Crafty Individuals forgot to get back to me so I found their stall at the Papercraft Extravaganza on Saturday and introduced myself to Fiona and asked about the card. She told me it was done using the WS Designs Zig-Zag template and as it turns out there was a stall there selling them. I rushed off to buy one.


When we got back from Harrogate I made the red and black card, rather quickly, so that I could get it in for the challenge before the deadline ended. I also sent a copy to Crafty Individuals so they could see my version of Fiona's card and guess what?.....


....They liked it and have asked if they can put it in their gallery. I'm chuffed to bits. It's not on there yet but I'm going to keep an eye out for it appearing. How fab is that!!

Challenge 6 for Papercraft Junkies

My computer is back in action yay! My wonderful husband fixed it for me. It really does come in handy marrying an IT genius sometimes! I also have use of my arms again after my gym session on Wednesday although they haven't completely stopped aching yet!

These cards are for Mondays PCJ challenge. I know I shouldn't really put them on until tomorrow but I'll be at the gym again first thing so I thought I may as well do it now.

This weeks challenge is "Use only Black , White and Red in a card with a theme and layout of your choice."

These are my contributions.

If you'd like to take part, hop across to Papercraft Junkies on Monday and the challenge should be there waiting for you!

Papercraft Junkies 1st Challenge

The 1st Papercraft Junkies Challenge has arrived! The theme for the challenge is "Summer Weather."

These are my Design Team contributions



If you would like to take part in this weeks challenge then you need to be a registered member of Papercraft Junkies so click here to join, it's free and we would love to see you there! For each weekly challenge the Design Team will choose the best uploaded picture and the person behind the design will receive a 15% discount code for Papercraft Junkies sister site, CraftyCarrot.com

Not The Best Day Ever!

We had a friend of Ellie's round to play for the day yesterday. I'll refer to the child as EF (as in Ellie's Friend) from here on in just to make it simpler. My friend brought EF round at 8.30am while my two were still fast asleep in bed. However once my friend had left for work it wasn't long before Josh and Ellie emerged all energetic and ready to start the day.

I knew we were going to be in for a rough ride, when, about half an hour later Josh announced that he couldn't bear to be in the same room as EF. As Josh had already had his breakfast by this point I suggested he went upstairs to go on the PlayStation as then he would be away from EF. I don't really like Josh going on the PlayStation until at least after lunch but sometimes rules have to give a bit especially in situations like this.

It was all going well until Josh decided he was bored on his own and wanted Ellie to play with him. I pointed out that Ellie could come and join him but then EF would want to come too, would that be OK? I guess it wasn't because at that point Josh flew into a rage, stormed off to his bedroom and slammed the door. He then stood behind it with his shoulder wedged under the handle to hold it up so I couldn't get in, going on about how he hates life and he hates me and he hates EF and it's all so unfair... rah rah rah! I have to admit that I actually like standing behind the door listening to the stuff he comes out with because some of it is really funny and other times it can be very insightful into what it is exactly that's upset him. I listened in for a bit while got everything of his chest while intermittently banging against the door until I decided the door had taken enough of a battering and forced the door open (thank goodness for all those gym sessions!) so that I could try to talk to him and calm him down. Josh rushed over to stare out of the window with his hands over his ears which basically translates as
"I'm feeling very angry right now and if you try to talk to me about what just happened I'm going to get even more angry because I'm not ready for you to talk me out of it yet"
So I didn't try to talk to him instead I told him I loved him and gave him a kiss and told him I was sorry he was having such a bad day. Then I explained that it was nearly 12 o'clock and would he like a chocolate spread sandwich for lunch? All this caught him completely off guard and he forgot about being angry and went back to play on the PlayStation until lunch was ready.

Lunch went well and afterwards Ellie and her friend went upstairs to play on the PlayStation while Josh stayed downstairs and watched a bit of Boomerang. This was okay until EF got fed up with the PlayStation and came down and started watching TV with Josh. As soon as Josh noticed he kicked off big style! Ran off to his bedroom again. SLAM went the door. Chunter, chunter, mutter, mutter, all the way. I did the big "here we go again" sigh and trudged up the stairs after him, leaving EF looking completely bewildered as to what exactly Josh's problem was. I managed to bring JJ round eventually (several suggestions later) by getting him to agree to watched Boomerang on the TV in my room. Luckily as we were switching it on, a film that he really wanted to watch came on so he sat engrossed in that until EF went home at 6pm.

Now if you think that was the end of it you're sadly mistaken that was just the Josh part of it. Oh no it doesn't end there. Throughout the course of the day EF wanted to play outside, but not alone, only with Ellie. Now they played out together really nicely in the morning. They played on their bikes and I'd got the Thomas the Tank Engine tent out and everything and they'd had a great time. However Ellie had decided that once was enough and no matter how much EF begged, pleaded and nagged she was adamant that she was not going to play out again... and boy did EF beg, plead and nag! EF begged, pleaded and nagged Ellie to play out again. EF begged, pleaded and nagged me to try to get me to persuade Ellie to go outside and when that didn't work EF went back and begged, pleaded and nagged Ellie again until she got so sick of it that she told her friend that she didn't like them any more. At which point EF burst into tears.

I suggested EF leave Ellie alone for a bit and then she might want to play again as constantly nagging her obviously wasn't working. Luckily EF took the advice and 10 minutes later they were playing nicely together again. Just in time for EF to be picked up by Dad and taken home.

Lets just chalk that one up to experience and say I've had better days!!




Like today for example :-)

Today was a good day. Started off well, with a cup of tea in bed, brought to me by my wonderful hubby! Now I need to make a slight confession here... because I was having a bad day yesterday I decided to order some new craft stuff to cheer me up, well that and being a design team member for Papercraft Junkies I now get 15% discount on Crafty Carrot.com (sister site to Papercraft Junkies) and Tracey's got a sale on at the moment and I need to be prepared for the Design Team Challenges so it would be kind of rude not to order something wouldn't it?!! Anyway put the order in at about 3pm yesterday afternoon and the postman delivered it this morning!! How fab is that?!! Any day's a good day when you get new craft stuff delivered!





We went off to Stockport this morning to do some shopping and to get the kids out of the house after being in all day yesterday. Josh was in a really good mood until just before we pulled into the car parking space and then for apparently no reason he started getting really upset and refused to get out of the car. When I asked him what the problem was it seems that he was having flash backs to a scary part of a film we let him watch last night, supposedly as a treat, to make up for his bad day. It was only a PG film but I guess after the day he'd had it was just a bit too much for him to handle and it had stuck in his head. I must admit I really thought he was going to win this battle but I eventually talked him into getting out of the car to come shopping with us but he wasn't happy about it. Half way into the town centre from the car park, he was still muttering to himself and suddenly decided he'd do a runner from me. Luckily I saw him about to go and I grabbed his arm before he could get any distance between us. I took him to one side and had a little chat about us all having a bad day yesterday and that we needed this one to be better. I explained to him that if he didn't change his attitude then we were all going to have another rotten day. I said that I didn't like this Josh very much and could I have my nice Josh back. He thought about it for a bit and then he smiled and he was great after that.

We went into Adams to try to get Ellie some more green school summer dresses but it's turning into a bit of a farce, needless to say they didn't have any in the size I wanted, so we went next door to Barclay's and paid some cheques in. Josh found a box of pens that said "need a pen... feel free" on it (or words to that effect) and read it out loud. I asked him if he wanted one and a big grin spread across his face. I passed him one - made his day! If I'd know a free pen would make him that happy I'd have given him one yesterday!! The rest of the shopping trip went without incident other than Josh pretending the pen was a gun and shooting everyone that went past. Ho hum. As they were so well behaved I treated them to a go on the little roundabout that's always in the middle of the precinct.

We called in at the new big Next store on the way back to the car and Ellie chose the funkiest Pepper Pig wellies. They're bright yellow with pink flowers on them. She's such a girlie girl not like her mum!!! I think I may have to take a photo of them before they get dirty and do a scrapbook layout of them. I have some lovely new pink and yellow papers that would go great! Oooh feel a crafty moment coming on....

This afternoon I was gently reminded that it's my turn to chose the theme for the 2nd Challenge for Papercraft Junkies so I've just been and posted my theme on the design Team thread ready for everyone to get stuck into over the coming week. I managed to do two pieces of work for the 1st Challenge in the end which I'm quite pleased with.

If you would like to take part in the 1st Challenge or you just want to check out the Design Teams creations for it then it goes live on Monday 13th August so go check it out!! :-) http://www.papercraftjunkies.com/

First Ever Post!!

My big news (and reason for starting this!) is that I have just become a Design Team Member for Papercraft Junkies and I must admit I am just a little proud of myself at being chosen. We are currenty in the middle of doing our first challenge so I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. I have started mine but with having the children at home full time (hooray for the 6 weeks holidays!) I'm finding it very difficult to actully get stuck into it without being constantly interupted by children for one reason or another. I feel the pressure is on as I don't want to disappoint, it being the first challenge and all, and I feel I have to prove that I earnt my place so need to produce something with that little extra something. (I'm very self critical at the best of times and I'm not putting any extra pressure on myself honest!!) I'll be fine once I devise a way of keeping the children entertained for a few hours on their own so that I can get stuck in - easy said than done with my two!!! But I like a challenge!!

I would like to take this opportunity to say a big "Congratulations" to the other members of the design team who are:
Jayne Loughlin (jay670120)
Melissa Smith (melissa)
Natalie Jubb (NatBag)
Paula Whittaker (Bettyboo)
Tracey Dean (rattytatty)
Taslimah Dauhoo (Tassy)

And you can find us all at
http://www.papercraftjunkies.com/

so come along and join us, we're a very friendly bunch!