Race for Life

Race for Life was held today at Taunton race course,

here are some of the wonderful participants enjoying their warm up with Heart FM and then it was Zumba time...go girls!

Today it was my daughter and I who joined in, here we are before the race, along with my supporting son.

We raced for several people including my Dad, he's a survivor!

 There was a sea of people and their supporters, with the runners moving to the front, followed by the joggers and then the walkers.

The stories on people's backs were very touching and some of them very sad. So many people all sharing one thing in common.

I was surprised to see the huge snake of people and from a distance felt it looked like pink ants...all following one another, a fabulous sight, not to mention the atmosphere.

And at the end, Danielle and I showing off our medals!

A brilliant event, supported by loads of people, hopefully raising lots of money for a very important charity.
Well done every single one of you for your effort and thanks for making my experience so special! Dawn x

Orange artful lady

Artful lady with an orange twist.

I stamped my card blank with a newsprint stamp, flower stamp, speckles stamp and bubble wrap stamp, I spritzed ink over my stamping and when dry added my sentiment. I fixed two strips of ribbon down the left hand side. I stamped the artful lady with the newsprint stamp and then paper pieced her clothes and wings and stuck them over my first image.

A close up of the lady.

That's all for now, until next time Happy crafting Dawn x

Artful lady 2

Ok so I said there were two ladies on this set and yet I have only previously shown you one of them, well I thought it was about time I showed you the other one and here she is.

This lady is more sophisticated (in my opinion).

I started with a square of paper slightly smaller than my card blank, I added white and blue eco paint with a scrap of card, mainly down the right hand side and around the edges. I dried the paint and then over stamped using the bubble wrap stamp and neutral ink in random places to add the effect of texture. I stamped my greeting also onto the paint. I added a strip of tape down the left hand side and stuck on chunky glitter also for texture. The artful lady was again paper pieced and coloured using promarkers.

The ladies wings have fine glitter.

Here is a close up of the bubble wrap stamp effect on top of the paint.

That's all for now, until next time Happy crafting Dawn x

Micro bead skirt

Here is another of my artful lady cards, this time using the fabulous micro beads on her skirt.

Again paper piercing background, layers of paint and stamps. The artful lady was paper pieced, look at the texture of her skirt, these beads are really fun (unfortunately they don't photograph to well, sorry)

A close up of the lady with her bright and reflective skirt.

Oh and the greeting is from Lily of the valley stamps. A fun and simple card to make, that takes a little time due to the cutting out. What do you think....? Is it your cup of tea or maybe not?

Until next time Happy crafting Dawn x

Artful Ladies

I have found a new unmounted stamp set that is absolutely fantastic, its called artful ladies, it was designed by Sam Poole and made by Creative Expressions, and here is my first make using this set, with many more to come (I haven't been this excited about a stamp set for......actually I don't think I have ever!)

I watched one of Sam's demos and made this card using the techniques she showed.

Paper pieced background made with ripped pieces of scrap designer series papers.

Eco paints spread over the top in some areas. Bubble wrap stamp randomly part stamped over the top. My greeting was stamped on top of the dried paint. The artful lady was paper pieced, and cut out, with the wings having two layers to add dimension. A simple double bow made with seam binding and topped with a dazzler to finish, all layered on to my coloured card blank.

A closer look at the artful lady (there were two to choose from on this stamp plate-this one being my favourite)

A close up of my bow and the very sparkly dazzler, these are amazing in real life.

This is not my usual style of card making, taking me a long way outside of my comfort zone but I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm really pleased with the end result, I hope you like it too. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think, until next time, Happy crafting Dawn x

Primrose anniversary

I made this card a while ago and haven't got round to showing you. I was asked for an anniversary card using a primrose stamp on the front, here is what I came up with.

A square card blank, layered with designer paper and then on top of that an embossed square, with my centre panel layered on to die cut shapes for a glimpse of yellow, I dyed the ribbon to match and attached across the middle. I printed my greeting on the computer and cut into a banner shape with forked ends.

A closer look at the centre panel.

Well that's all for now, until next time Happy crafting Dawn x

Open Sea

Another card using the open sea stamp set from Stampin' Up!

A bright and cheerful card with a blue sea feel to it.

A close up of the anchor and chunky glitter "sea"

Until next time, Happy crafting Dawn x

Texture and depth

Here is a simple card I made, that looks better in the flesh, so to speak, as its full of texture you want to just touch and feel it.

My background is ink spritzed through a mask, then stamped on with matching ink. A piece of hessian for texture, a die cut mat, a punched greeting and finished with some twine around one side.

A close up.

Let me know what you think, leave a comment below.

Until next time Happy crafting, Dawn x

More open sea

A completely different card than the last one, even though it uses the same stamp set.

The written background stamp was stamped in baja breeze ink, I then over stamped the compass with crumb cake ink. The ship was embossed with tempting turquoise embossing powder on top of versamark ink. A simple strip of pool party card cut on both sides with the scallop border punch makes a ric-rack style edge, I then wrapped some of the brand new pool party baker's twine around the spine to complete a simple card

A close up of the stamped images, embossed ship, ric-rack edge and baker's twine

This is not my usual style of card as it is all one layer but I like the overall effect, let me know what you think of my card and any comments about the new products. 

Until next time Happy Crafting Dawn x

The Open Sea

Stampin' Up! have released their new mini catalogue, their first summer mini for the UK market, and to say its bursting with fun new "stuff" is somewhat an understatement.

The stamp set I just had to have and play with first is "The Open Sea" a fabulous stamp set with a male theme (if you want it to be, that is) 

Here is my card, this uses the open sea stamp set and the amazing new label collection framelits dies.

Here is a close up of the beautiful ship from this stamp set, stamped simply in early espresso ink on whisper white card, this is the only card if you like stamping (in my opinion), it takes the ink to perfection. I cut the shape using the brand new framelit dies and made a frame using two of the framelit dies, I embossed the frame using the square lattice embossing folder.

As you can see from this close up I have used all the stamps from this set, the world and compass stamped with versamark and then embossed with clear embossing powder on my base card. The next layer is whisper white card, stamped using the writing stamp, spritzed with chocolate chip, crumb cake and early espresso inks. I layered this onto a piece of hessian for extra texture and finished with a stamped sentiment and embossed with gold embossing powder.

I am really pleased with how this card turned out, leave me a message to let me know what you think.

Until next time Happy Crafting Dawn x