Stampers 10 Club

I've joined a club called the Stampers 10 Club over on Julie's blog. And I have to say the other members are both fabulous and friendly. I can't wait for the beginning of November, that's if I ever get my order in! I recieved my Stampin' Up! Catalogue from Julie yesterday, I've gone through it at least 4 times and still can't decide what to get this month. I'm being a typical crafter now because I want everything. If anyone is interested Julie has 4 places left for another Club to start.

This is how it works:

With a Stampers 10 club you have 10 members, and it runs for 10 months. Each month every member commits to ordering a minimum of £15 worth of product plus P&P, you order direct through Julie. Each month one of the members is selected as a "virtual" hostess and receives the hostess benefits which will be a minimum of a Level 1 hostess stamp set and £15 worth of free products. This is guaranteed but it could be more. This means that instead of having a party in your home we sort of have a "virtual" online party between the 10 members!!!

You'll receive a free copy of the catalogue and Julie will also be sending freebies and tutorials over the course of the 10 months. Stampers 10 is a great way of building up your stash each month without breaking the bank.

Let Me Introduce You To.........

Jessica Sprague

What can I say about Jessica? Well, Everything! For those who don't know her, she is an Amazing and very Talented woman and has taught me more about Photoshop and Digital Scrapping than any book possibly could. She has created an amazing community for us to go to to learn, make friends, ask advice from, give advice to. A place to share our photo's, layout's, designs and our experiences. With teachers like Jessica, Liv and Candice you cannot expect NOT to find some amazingly talented playmates.

Jessica has a new class starting and it's absolutely free. If you haven't discovered JessicaSprague.com yet now is the perfect opportunity.

Go on take a look, registration starts on Monday and I know you won't be disappointed. and while your there take a look at Jessica's blog, she has some amazing Photoshop Friday's.

A Post At Last!

I can't believe it's been nearly 2 months since I last posted anything and a month and a half since Charles, Becky and Ethan moved to South Africa. I really miss them and haven't felt very inspired these last few weeks. Life goes on though and you just need to get on with it.

I feel like I've neglected my Blogger duties lately and I have decided that even though I still surf Blogland and have a look at what everyone is up too, I really need to start letting people know that I do take the time to look. I can't expect everyone that has Live Traffic Feed to know that "Salford" with a British Flag means Jeannette was here. There are so many wonderful Blogs, and so many talented people that really do deserve the few seconds it takes to leave a comment.

Have a great Saturday everybody.

Digi: In Deep - Templates #2

We had to design another Template for our Course this week. I really do love creating the Templates. I find them easier than LO because you don't have to think about Colours, Papers, Titles or Journalling. I'm going to be signing up for another course next week called Type+Writer, so hopefully I'll feel differntly about Titles and Journalling pretty soon.

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We had to use a special Shadow effect on out Template which makes the corners look like they are curling up.

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Here's the LO I created with my Template. I know it's pretty plain but then again I like Pretty Plain.
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Supplies Used:
Template by Jeannette
Papers by Jeannette (That's Me! They're Mine! Woo Hoo!)
Hearts Brush from Jason Gaylor's Valentastic Brush Set
MCO Topper (From NWR Week 4)
Fonts are CK Little Al and CK Stacatto

Some More LO's.

Here's some more LO's I did. I just love these photo's of Ethan with his big blue eyes. I used a Kit that we got on our course from Oscraps called Moonrise Over Waikiki the Fonts are Pea Anderson and LD Phat.

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This next LO started as the Bottom one and then I made a change to it, but now I can't decide which one I like the most. I'm kind of leaning towards this first one but still not sure.
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I used a Template by Amanda from TaylorMade Designs Calleds Trilogy. I really like the look of it, nice and plain. I made some changes to suit my photo's and moved things down a bit. The Backing paper is my own (Woo Hoo) with the photo overlay.

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Photo Blending

I've neglected my Card Making and Challenges so much these past weeks and do fully intend to start again soon. I'm sure most of you will understand what it's like to get caught up in something new. I'm so enjoying my newly learnt Photography and Digital Scrapping skills and want to do so much but I just don't have the time to fit it all in. I'd like to share this last project I did. I just love the finished article, it reminds me of LP Covers and everytime I look at the word So in the Title I think of Peter Gabriel, I don't know if it's the same font but it's pretty close.

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If anyone would like to know how to create this photo blending effect take a look at TaylorMade Designs.

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Supplies used:

TaylorMade Designs - Fading Emotions Vol 2

Digi: In Deep - Templates

For our course we had to design and create a Template. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this and I learnt so much. While mine is slightly boring and simplistic, I Love it!

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If you would like this Freebie Template Click Here to download it. Please leave a comment to this post if you do.

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Here's the Page I created using my very own Template! How great is that to be able to create from your own creation. I think the ultimate satisfaction will be creating a LO from ALL your own items, Template, Papers and embellishments.

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Supplies Used:

Kit: Ship Mates by Manda Bean & Kay Miller from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Fonts: Scrap Kids and LD Pirate.

Digi: In Deep - Assignment 2A

Well it's another week in our Digi Course but at the same time it's another week closer to the end. I'm learning so much on this course. This week we made our own brush and backing paper, how cool is that? It's the paper used for the Star. Isn't it fab?

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Supplies Used:
SP Lima background papers: From Monoblendz Paperie - Lima paper pack by Anna Aspnes
Rounded corner square die cut: from Border Templates pack by Katie Pertiet
Striped patterned paper: from Bohemian Garden kit by Mindy Terasawa
Dirty Journaler Label: from Dirty Journalers set by Katie Pertiet
Grunged Up Photo Block: from Grunged Up Photo Blocks No. 2 set by Katie Pertiet
Staples by Katie Pertiet

Fonts:

Alfredo Heavy at Fontage.com
Amerika at Dafont.com
Anarchy at Dafont.com

Digi: In Deep - Assignment 1B

I sooo enjoyed doing this. It seems like it took ages to do, but in reality once I had stopped playing with everything and decided what I wanted to do, it all just fell into place. I'm really proud of this one as it's the first LO I've done on my own from scratch, no instructions, no templates, just me and some inspiration from Jessica and Misty.

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The fabulous papers are from Misty Cato's Starlight Whimsey kit, the "Ethan" text is One Fell Swoop from DaFont.com. I used layer masks for the ribbon and beads, a semi-transparent journalling box, the stars at the top of the page and the star flourishes are overlayed. I recoloured the Star buttons and the Star on the Beads. "Ethan" is text that I masked with paper.

Aint He Gorgeous?

Another photo to share, this was taken Pre-Photography course with my Sony Cybershot. I did brighten it up a bit in Photoshop and this fab frame is from Misty Cato's Starlight Whimsy kit. I'm working on a LO at the moment using this kit and should be able to post it tomorrow.

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My Favourite Photo

Just thought I'd share this. It's one of my favourite of the many photo's I've taken of Ethan over the last few weeks. It was taken completely in Manual and SOOC (Straight out of camera) with the exception of the frame that I added. This makes it a bit more special to me as I never would have thought that I'd be able to take photo's like this.

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10 Months old and already such a little charmer.

Digi: In Deep - Lesson 1

I signed up for another Digi Course over at JessicaSparague.com. Here's my LO for Lesson 1. I so enjoyed doing this. I can't believe you can learn so much in just one lesson.

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All the frames, mats and masks were created from scratch. We even "wrapped" the string around the Ring shape ourselves, and we changed the colour of the buttons. For anyone thinking of doing any of these courses, I highly recommend them. I can't believe that nearly 2 month's ago I knew hardly anything about CS3, now I'm creating!

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PS. The photo's were all taken in Manual with my Olympus E400 D-SLR, all thanks to My Photography Lessons.

Blog Candy Alerts!

There's loads going on at the moment with Blog Candy.

1. Fran has got not one but two Blog Candies to giveaway, and they are both fab it's hard to choose which one I would want.

2. Maria has a really scrummy set of goodies to give away.

3. Jennifer has some fabulous Stamped Images, I would just love to have.

4. Maya has what we ALL want. A huge bag of H&S Stamped Images.

They all have great Blogs, have a good look around while you're there.

Double Whammy - CPS and DCM

This week's Daring Card Makers Challenge was Peel Off's, set by Lythan. I used the Sketch from CPS to do this card. I'm quite pleased with it even if I say so myself. I actually finished this yesterday and took some photo's last night, but Peel Off's and Flashes just don't work that well together. I'm really glad I waited till I could take another photo because the one's I took last night just didn't do the card any justice at all.

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I used Papers from a Kit called Lipstick Kisses @ Noon, what a fab name for a kit. It's by Polka Dot Plum and it's available at Scrap Orchard. My Daisies are from my Daisy Display Stamp set from The Stamp Man. I inked and embossed the Daisies and finally I added some Peel Off's.

Before and After

I've noticed that alot of people are tidying up at the moment. I'm not the tidiest crafter, and I normally end up with everything on my desk. I have to pile things on top of other things, and then I can't find anything. It's hard to craft like that. I decided to do a tidy up. I bought a few more draw sets as I find they work so much better than boxes on a shelf. So here's my before photo's. The Mess I was!
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Have a Clean Up, you'll be suprised at what you find. I found loads of stuff that I forgot I bought.

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I still have quite a bit to sort, like my Paper and Card Bits. I have so much that I could probably just use that and survive for months. Now Let's see how long it can stay like this. Leave a comment if you've been Cleaning Up and a link if you've posted it.

PS. This is only half the Room, I haven't finished the other half yet!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

This weeks Penny Black Challenge was another Sketch. Really enjoyed this one bit I think I need to get some more Penny Black stamps, my choice is rather limited at the moment.

Backing Papers are from Kay Millers Wings Kit. Stamp is of course Penny Black which I coloured with Whispers Brush Pens. Thank You stamp is from my Hero Arts Clear Design stamp set. Brads and Ribbon Bits from my stash and Bit Box.

Stamp Something - Triple Play

This week's challenge was interesting. 3 Layers, 3 Colours, and 3 Embellishment's. I think you can see the 3 layers pretty clearly. My 3 Colours are Lilac, Pink and Lime Green. My Image is made up of 3 layers as well. Ribbon, Button and Gems make up my 3 Embellishments.

My Backing papers are from Kay Millers Enchanted Kit. Tilda was coloured with Whisper Brush Pens. I went around the edges with the Green Whispers pen but the doesn't show up that well.

ABC Challenge B - Is for Baby

I missed last week's challenge which was the first one. Here's my Baby Card, I did quite a bit of embossing on this and the photo just doesn't do the card justice.

The image and the backing paper are both from Eline Pellinkhof's Baby Bears kit from Daisie Company. The Girl stamp is from WS Designs and the other stamps are all from the "Baby" See D's set. I stamped everything with Brialliance Ink and then Emossed with Clear Embossing powder. I inked the edges a white card and embossed and then 3D'd the image.

Double Challenge - Arty Girlz and Penny Black

I did a Double here. I try really hard not to do this, but I'm so far behind at the moment that sometimes it's necessary. Arty Girlz challenge was a Sketch this week, and Penny Black's challenge was Buttons and Brads.

I couldn't help but use Penny Black's Saturday Challenge Sponsors Papers. I have every one of Anice's CD's and Downloads, they are fab and definately funky! The Papers are from the "Now That's Funky" CD by Funky Hand. The Stamp is of course Penny Black, coloured with a combination of Whispers and Sakura Brush Pens. The main backing layer is actually Glitter card but doesn't show very well. Buttons and Brads are from my stash.

Papertake Weekly - Katharina's Sketch #6

What can I say, but another Great Sketch from Katherina again for this weeks Papertake Weekly challenge. I really enjoyed this Sketch and I think I'm slowly getting to grips with Contrasting Papers. Do you ever look back at past posts and think what the hell were you thinking when you made that? I know I do, but it's less an less now. Who know's maybe I am improving, or I could just be getting used to them.

These Scrummy Papers are from Eva Kiplers "Wild Blueberry Kit" from Sweet Shoppe Designs. I had a hard time deciding which papers to use. I stamped Tilda with Blue Pigment ink and Embossed using Clear Embossing Powder, then coloured with Twinkling H2O's. Thank You sentiment is from my "Thank You" Hero Arts Clear Stamps set which I also Embossed. Finally added some Ribbon from my stash.