Two special bears from two special people!!!!

Hello there!!! Hope you are well today!!!

(A little message before I start - when writing this post it has all the paragraphs in the right place but for some reason when it publishes it does so without them - so sorry if it looks like a bit of a badly written post but from the posting side it looks perfect.)

I'm kind of continuing the animal theme which has been running through the posts on here recently!!!

But today its a little different as I am not featuring anything I have made but two bears that are a little bit extra special to me!!!

At Docrafts we have some smashing designers - really friendly and supportive and talented to boot - what a potent mix!!!. As I have said a few times on here last year was particularly difficult for my family.... I don't go into details on here because its not the right place for it but I have received so much support from so many of them and I am eternally grateful for their patience, kind thoughts, kind wishes and for allowing me to rant and rave whenever I need to. Friends are a truly amazing thing... and I hope over coming weeks to introduce you to them all - i want to give each one their own little bit of the spotlight on my blog and I hope you will take the opportunity to visit their blogs and grab lots of ideas from them.

Well, today I'm featuring another of my Docrafts colleagues with the card that photographed below. I hope Nikki that you don't mind that your gorgeous little bear shares today's spotlight with another little bear that is very dear to me.

Before I turn to Nikki let me tell you a bit about "Linny" bear (the one not on the card!) He was my present from my dear hubby last year for our wedding anniversary. He is a bear all the way from Ireland's Linen Hall Library. You may wonder why!!! (and I don't blame you :o) )

On a previous post I mentioned that for our anniversaries we give each other gifts that relate to the traditional theme of the anniversary. It was our fourth anniversary last year - which is Linen. Often we try to find something obscure and this can be very good fun. This was hubby's offering and he now has pride of place in my craft room. He is very special because my bestest boy had wanted to surprise me with a trip there but circumstances have not allowed and he was so upset because he wished he could have taken me there... so this little bear is a promise that one day when things get better we will go there on a holiday.....

So before I get all tear-y myself at memories lets move on to the cute fellow on the card. Nikki is a lovely lady - often she has given me kind words of support over the past year and was very understanding when Christmas passed me by without our intended card swap being possible she agreed to do a New Year card swap with me as I thought it would be a lovely way to bring in the New Year. Sadly mine never reached its destination ( Royal Mail aaaaagggghhhh!) - and I will rectify that situation soon - but this beautiful card popped through my letterbox and really made me smile.

I love the embossed card stock background and the sparkly bottle (you can never have too much bling I say!) and the doodled year. Its a card I will treasure and now has pride of place in my craft studio!

So before I go let me tell you where to go and find out more about Nikki and also see more of her designs - I particularly like the St Patrick's Day card she created for the Forever Friends Challenge Design Team of which she is a member. So let me encourage you to click here and go and take a peak at her lovely blog. You may notice she has something of a "passion for purple"!!!

With love until next time - do come back soon!

Love

Becky xxx

Just in under the wire!!!!!

Cooorrrrr Lordy what a day!!!! Only just got a few mins to get on here - but I'm determined to keep on top of it this time so here you are - my five minutes worth for today!!!! :o)

Firstly I have to thank all you lovely ladies on the Isle of Wight who came to see me at Crafting Around yesterday for our Clearance demo. What bargains you all took home - thanks for making it such a successful day!!! It was, as always, lovely to see you all and to share lots of tips and techniques with you!!!! For me it was a challenge to revisit old products but as time goes on we all develop our styles and techniques and it was wonderful to look on these fabulous products with a fresh eye and see what i could do with them now!!! I hope you were all pleased with the results!!! I will post the pictures of the projects you all enjoyed the most on here over the coming week so don't forget if there was something you liked you can always come back on here to jog your memory!!! And for those of you who couldn't make it I hope that the designs to come will inspire you to drag products out, dust them off and look at them afresh. Its amazing what you can do with all those goodies you have packed away.

Now today's offering goes back a week or two - my goodness how time flies - to my bestest boy's Valentine's card. We don't do big things on Valentine's day - we have our own little ritual of KFC and a bottle of pink Cava (given to us by my mom and dad every Christmas) infront of a video. I know its daft but its our little tradition and we look forward to it!!!

So this year, after a very tough year personally, I wanted to tell him just what a special person he is to me. In this card I stamped and paper pieced my favourite Forever Friends stamp and used Basic Grey (LUUUUURRRRRVVVVEEEE Basic Grey) luscious cupcake papers. Its bright and bold but I was so pleased with the outcome. I hope you like it too and that it inspires you to grab those bold and sassy papers and not to be afraid to go mad in your own designs!!! Grab those sunglasses now!!!!

Lots of Love until tomorrow !!!

Becky

xxx

PS off to heat the oven and make some tea so I'll check for any typos tomorrow - sometimes my fingers work quicker than my brain!!!

An early(-ish) morning post!!

Helloooooooo!!!!!

Its a beautiful morning here down South and as you can see I am up and about early posting on to here. I'm about to rush out the door to work before returning to make some samples for tomorrow. If I don't get on here now it will all be lost in the melee of creativity which will be taking over our household later on today!!!!

I'm incredibly surprised at the speed the pc is letting me type into my blog today (hoorah!!!)- Friday is PC scan day - my hubby set it up that way (I think - or did it just set itself that way and am I falsely accusing him of setting it up on a weekday when I am often really busy and could do without the whole system being dragged down to snail pace....) Probably the latter - he is usually so good with these things!!! :o) Bless him where would I be without him.... LURRVEEE him to bits!!!

Anyway, today's post moves away from cards and papercrafting for the day! I tinker with beads and jewellery - its that sort of sat in front of the TV and really can't sit there still (despite hubby's best efforts) and so I have to create something. The little offering below is what I made for Becky (see post further) down for her 21st Birthday. As you can see I tied the colours of the card and the bracelet in together. I just love these bracelets - they are elasticated and make a perfect base to add charns and beads to your own design. You can add a large focal bead to make a simple, stylish design or really go all out for it as I have done here and add lots of charms and beads.

Well, thats me done for today! As I'm off on the early ferry very bleary eyed tomorrow morning for my demo and not back until the evening I won't be on tomorrow but I'll try my best to get back on here on Sunday.

Take care and Have a fab weekend!

Love

Becky

xx

Where has all the time gone??? Happy 21st Becky

Where have the past twenty years gone?????

Well there is a questions in itself but last week it was my best friend's niece's 21st birthday. Sarah and I met in 1989 and as you can tell if you do the math her niece was a babe in arms. I've been so lucky that Sarah has been my best friend all this time and I've been privileged to see Becky grow up into a lovely young woman. Life hasn't always been the easiest for her but, you know, she has battled through everything, she always has a smile on her face and I'm delighted she is part of my extended "family"!!!

Becky isn't a girly girl so when I was designing her birthday card and present I didn't want to go with pinks but to make something that was feminine but using more unusual colours. I dragged some colour co-ordinated elements out of a kit I had and then as usual proceeded to take apart, ink, doodle, flitter and re-assemble with numerous other items out of my stash.

I'm loving metal charms, ribbons and Doodlebug mini rub ons on brads, buttons etc so I incorporated these to give the card below.

I also designed a bracelet for her using the same colours and I'll get round to posting the piccies of this over the next couple of days. I hope this design give you some ideas to try yourself though.

Well, I must dash as I am out to craft club with my friends tonight and I have a demo on Saturday so I need to pick out some things to work on for that.

Loads of love - be back soon

Becky

xxx

There's nothing Basic about Basic Grey...

For a looooonnngggg loonnnnngggggg time Basic Grey has been one of those must have company's whose products I just had to have.... I love their designs, their quality and their colour palettes.

A self confessed "paper stroker", this is the kind of stuff that I just had buy two sheets of "one to use and one to "oooooooh" and "aaaaah" at" - and just gently run my fingers over.... sounds like something I should be locked up for doesn't it.... (though I know from my demos I'm not the only one - come on you can own up to it... just admit you have the problem and I promise it becomes easier from there on in!!)

Of course the only problem was that I bought two but every time I went to cut one up I started to have heart palpatations, hot flushes, pangs of guilt.... I just never could cut into it, I felt like someone condemning a living thing to meet its maker and many sheets of this truly yummy (but not in my tummy) gorgeousness still sits in boxes waiting to be used....

I'm sure you can imagine my excitement when Docrafts announced they were going to be distributing the products. But thats not the best (or is it worst) of it - for several days after I was asked if I would do some of the demos for these products people thought I was dabbling in things I shouldn't be (happy hormones can have such a weird affect on you) and then when I got my kit my hubby had to find the Epsom Salts as the excitement was just too much....

But up reared the ugly "Just Can't Cut It" monster and for ages and ages I looked it, I stroked it and then I put it back into its box wondering how on earth I was going to get any samples made for my demos....

A short while ago I had had a conversation with Katy Godbeer to ask if she had ever had this problem and it turns out she hasn't. She just gets stuck in and cuts right into it... her thoughts are that well yes it looks lovely in that 12 x 12 or 6 x 6 sheet but it looks just SSSSOOOOOOO much better when its on your project, be it card, scrapbook page or altered art.... and something she said rang so true when I look at some of my stash... it looked beautiful when I bought it but now some of it looks dated and I've never used it when it could have been looked glorious on some project and I would have had the adrenalin rush and excitement of using it when it was new, where as when its old and a little dated you just use it because you feel you need to because it's a waste if you don't.... but it feels as dull as doing the ironing or the washing up.... This struck a cord with me because to me crafting should be exciting, it should make me feel exhilerated to be creating with beautiful products, my heart should skip beats when it looks stunning on the finished article....

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO with a deep breath in I got out my guillotine and I cut..... and I cut and I cut and I cut.... and I created and I crafted and I enjoyed the thrill and I hope that as a result you enjoy these couple of projects that I made using my most favouritist of favourite brands of pure gorgeousness... I have more "in development" as it were and I will post them up when they are finished but just in the meantime I hope you enjoy this card and scrapbook page (and believe me when I tell you the paper just looks so much nicer used, embellished and enhanced.... so in future if you too suffer from an inability to cut into such scrumptious pieces of paper or card in your own stash, just take that deep breath, get out your scissors or your craft knife or your guillotine and realise that you are doing it a favour by using it.... you are making it better than it could ever be on its own by showing it off to its true potential, you are giving it the chance to be what it was created for, that you are not destroying a lovely piece of paper but giving it a life of its own in your own unique style....) and now that I have waxed lyrical I'll show you what I came up with! Hope you like it and it will inspire you to try these yummy designs yourself and to revisit to see more projects later on!!!

This card uses the Basic Grey "Sugared" papers and shows how the co-ordinated and patterned designs can be layered to produce beautiful effects.The two sheets 12x12 sheets I attacked for this design are called "darling" (the stripes) and "attractive"(The flowery design behind it). The other items are Sugared chipboard stickers... these are chipboard embellishments of absolutely stunning quality already with sticky stuff on the back (its the flower bit to the right) and Archaic alphabet stickers. The stamp I have used is from the Basic Grey "Flourish Edges" clear stamp set - these are stamps to get seriously excited about - the clarity of the image and the intricacy of the details are beyond compare... they are the kind of stamp I need more of and there are tonnes to choose from - from journalling blocks to images to words and sentiments!!! I think it adds just a nice background to the chabby chic style of this card, as does the inking round the edge of the papers - I've used mini ink it up pigment stamps for this because the effect is so lovely and soft (as a peach that is!)

Now the monogram on the card I want to show you in more detail if you don't mind:

Here I have layered a Sugared Monogram sticker on to brown cardstock, cut round it and embossed several layers of clear embossing powder over the top. The finishing touch has to be a bit of bling (I'm a girl so I do love my sparkle and glitter!) Here its Papermania Adhesive Gems in Irridescent.... just gorgeous don't you know? Even better if the embossing crackles a little bit it adds to the vintage look of the design!!!

Now the next project just shows you that paper look so much better when its used than when it is still in a full sheet.... The pictures below show a scrapbook page of my godson's 3rd birthday party (OMG is that really 8 years ago - where has time gone!) This page uses the Cupcake papers and you'll see how effective it is to cut into the swirly design and just use part of it on the background. I've also used the co-ordinating buttons, Elements stickers and Rub On's ("Make a wish" on the main picture to capture the whole tradition of blowing out the candles!!) - And before I leave you with these pictures and let you get back to normality I have to tell you that the Basic Grey Rub On's are no ordinary Rub On... they work like a dream (Infact I thought I was dreaming the first time I used them) and the delicacy and detail of the designs is second to none - my advice: GET SOME!!!! You won't regret it!!!!

And here are a couple of close ups so you can see some of the page in more detail.

And now the time has come the Walrus said.... for Crafty Becky's to return to normality...

Hope I see you all again soon!

Enjoy your crafting!

Love

Becky

xx

Butterfly Love

I just can't help it!!! I'm in love with the new Papermania Special Vellum 12x12 Butterfly sheets!!!!

Visit http://www.docrafts.co.uk/asp/products/product.asp?id=70860 to see the sheets in more detail!!! When I saw these beautiful and delicate flutterbies i just knew they had to be cut out and decorated in vivid jewel like colours and used to adorn those extra special projects...

I really enjoyed playing around with my Whispers Strokes pens on these vellums because they will accept the inks as they are quite matt in finish... but those intricate butterflies are printed on so that they resist the inks when they are applied. There is nothing at all technical involved in getting this effect - as so many of you know already I am certainly no artist- all you need to do is scribble the pens over the vellum - I have done this on the front of the vellum and wiped back the ink that resists the printed pattern.



You can add layers of co-ordinating or contrasting colours on top of the base colour - the choice is yours and of course you will just choose the colours to work with your own project.... just scribble away and then blend the colours together using a brush and a little water. If you need your embellishment to dry off quickly just give it a quick blast with your heat gun - it will only need a couple of seconds.

Those of you who know me will know how much I love my sparkle and glitter and i just wanted to add a little to finish off my butterflies...

I love the whispers strokes embossing pen for a number of reasons but one of these is that it allows you to emboss freehand onto your projects - so you can add your own doodles, swirls and sentiments... here I have just drawn a few freehand lines and swirls on the vellum and embossed with the Heat It Up! silver or gold "tinsel" embossing powders. The powders are just that little bit extra special because they incorporate glitter which sparkles when it catches the light!!!!


Finally complete your gorgeous butterfly by adhering Papermania adhesive gems or pearls to the centre of his body, graduating the size down the length of the body.

I hope you have enjoyed all the pictures I have put into this post - I've tried to show how you can vary the colours and designs so you can see the different effects you can achieve with the same techniques!!! It would be great to hear how you get on with it yourself and what this has inspired you to try.

Well here it is my first post with pictures!!!! I am starting to learn this blogging lark quite quickly so I will be adding more over the next week or so!!!

Until the next time, happy crafting and do drop in again soon!

With Love

Becky xxx