Loveheart

Just a quick post this evening before I put my son to bed!

I know it is a bit early for Valentine's but I thought this card would be nice for a wedding, engagement or anniversary perhaps.


Peg set is "Ginger hearts"for the little heart edging. The swirly sprig is from the Holiday plate 2 and the sentiment is from Word plate 1. All stamps by Rubber Stamp Tapestry.
Inks: Brilliance olive, graphite black and Versacolour opera pink.
Ribbon: olive organza with gold edge by Mayarts.

Sorry for the brief post but I know you prefer lots of images and less blurb!!!

Shop closed next week!

Apologies to all my Mill House Crafts customers - I know I mentioned it on my last flyer, but just a quick reminder that the shop will be closed Thurs, Fri and Sat next week as I will be at the Craft Fair in Glasgow. Hopefully I will pick up some ideas to share with you when I get back.

See you all soon.

Church in the pines

I had to play with another of my newly delivered Cornish Heritage Farms stamps, "Church in the pines". I've also used their sentiment which is perfect with their Thomas Kincaid stamps and also the snowflake background.

First I brayered on glossy white card with Marvy blue tonal ink pad by Dee Gruenig and left to dry. I inked up the image in Versafine onyx black (with hindsight Stazon might have been better!!). How do I know?? Don't look too closely for my smudges!!

I then highlighted the trees with green and a little royal blue on the church. I used crystal stickle and it took on different tones over the green trees and blue background.
I used crystal on the snowflakes and dark blue stickle too.
See below for a sparkle close up!!

Poppies for remembrance

I have been waiting since the 11th September for a very special order from Cornish Heritage Farms and yesterday was THE BEST DAY!!!! I paid the Customs fee and they were MINE!! ALL MINE!!
"Poppies" is a beautiful stamp and I had fun colouring it with my Prismacolour pencils. There is a sketch challenge on at Splitcoaststampers this week, SC146 and this fitted the bill. The corners are punched with Stampin' Up's ticket corner and the scallops are created with Stampin' Up's corner rounder with the guard removed.
One of my favourite stamps in the delivery was the gingham backgrounder by Cornish Heritage Farms and the sentiment is from them too. (Inked here with Brilliance pearlescent poppy).
It's hard to tell from this photo but the poppy centres are micro black beads (that rolled EVERYWHERE!!).

Yet another cute snowman family!

I just wanted to quickly add this cute little image. You may have already seen it on my gallery at Splitcoaststampers but if not, here you go.

The image is Hampton Arts again and I wanted to enter the "bling" weekly challenge on SCS, hence the sparkle and gelly gems.
Coloured with my fav prismacolour pencils and stickled with pink and lime. Gelly gems are by Gel-a-tins and come in various colour ranges in cute little jars.
Lime organza with pink dots is by Mayarts and is in stock at my wee shop, Mill House Crafts.
Why not try a few non-traditional colour schemes on your Christmas cards this year.

My "Quick Six" cards are full up for Thursday and Saturday this week but there are 2 places left on "Glisten, twinkle & shine" in November. If you are in North Antrim, N. Ireland, drop me a line. Be careful though as you could become addicted!!!!

A painting day!!

Last Saturday I held a class, painting cream enamelware mini milk churns. I had the pleasure of meeting Mark, Sheree, Shirley, Libby and Jane. Each had their own ideas of the image they wanted to paint and a few hours later, here's what we came up with.

Congratulations to all of you on a job well done!
They all seemed to have a fun relaxing day and they brought so much food I thought they were staying for a week.
Libby - the lemon cake was to die for!!!

Simple & Sweet

I took delivery of these cute, cute, cute Hampton Art Christmas stamps. I seem to be in the mood for sweet, simple, fast cards at the moment! It is so easy to get caught up in the matting, layering and embellishing when an image, nicely coloured can be just as effective.


The relaxed snowman is my FAV! but the "snowman in a window" is brilliant for using with those circle punches we all own.
Both coloured with Prismacolor pencils and adorned with Mayarts ribbons. and of course....stickles!!!!
I have a couple more stamps from the Hampton Art range so watch this space for more cutesy Christmas samples.

Christmas Fishes!!!

I just wanted to make a very quick post showing yet another of Asela's new images released yesterday at Cornish Heritage Farms. This little fishy guy is v.. CUUUTE! and there are a couple of sentiments that work perfectly with him.

Coloured with Prismacolour pencils (big fav. of mine!). I added the movement to his tail and fins with black fineliner and hand drew the bubble with a turqoise fineliner by Staedtler Triplus. Both ribbons by Mayarts.
This is a very fast card and I know my children will love using him for their cards this year.
For those of you in the UK, I have ordered the new images unmounted and they will hopefully arrive soon at Mill House Crafts.

Santa - I believe!!

I love this Santa from the newly released 'Believe' set by Papertrey Ink.


This one is coloured with Prismacolour pencils and cut out. I mounted it with foam tape onto a green circle and then a white circle which I doodled with red swirls. The scallop circle in red was pierced and dotted with Sakura white souffle pen and also on the green circle.
Green paper is Lasting Impressions. I decided at the last moment to make Santa into a snowglobe and added a base which held the sentiment nicely. Crystal stickle on background, beard and trim.
Both ribbons by Mayarts. For this one I wanted to get away from the green/red traditional combo and decided on royal blue and gold. I used sterling frost Opalite ink for the stars background and used a Pentel gold metallic pen to dot the star centres. Blue background paper is by Denami. Wired ribbon by Mayarts. Tan grosgrain strip at bottom by Stampin' Up.
I had fun using my Crop-a-dile to set the eyelets. Cuts through thick card like butter and sets silently!

Just so you know, Papertrey Ink do a new release each month on the 15th and you have until 13th the next month to submit your designs for a chance to win "Guest stamper". Check their site for details.

Asela's new releases!!!

Asela Hopkins is one talented lady. You probably already know her as a stamp designer at Cornish Heritage Farms and today is the release of her new Christmas images!!!!
Check out her blog by clicking on her name and get a sneak peek of her reindeer.

I have been lucky enough to get a sneak preview and play and thought I would share this one with you!
Cute or WHAT!!!!
Coloured with prismacolor pencils. Scallop bottom created with corner rounder punch and guard removed. Ribbon by Mayarts and stickles to finish! I thought this was perfect for a family with a new baby having their first Christmas.

Want to see more??
Go to CHF Blog for another fantastic sample.
Don't forget the new Thomas Kinkade stamps are due for release too!!! Watch the blog for more details!
CHF also have a great gallery that is growing daily.

Tomorrow I will share some of my new cards using Papertrey Ink images from their fantastic Believe set.

Thankful hearts

Whilst we don't celebrate 'Thanksgiving' as such in the U.K. I still love the new Kim Hughes 'Fall Silhouettes' images and sentiments. This is my first attempt with this set and it was inspired by the beautiful olivey green velvet ric rac ribbon from Mayarts. (available at Mill House Crafts).

The shabby chic designer paper by Fancy Pants is aged floral and perfect for what I had in mind. I cut the dp and inked the edges with Jumbo Java.
The top half was inked with a small leaf from the same set in Versamark and although it isn't v. clear from the pic, I pierced around each leaf and light spills through.
The sweet bird and sentiment are from the set.
Punches, scallop oval, SU picture corners.
Inks: Jumbo java, Brilliance rust & olive.
Happy World Card Making Day to you all!
P.S. Do you like my new Watermark for CHF designs? My good friend and Design team mate DawnL kindly offered her assistance as I am technically challenged!! Thanks Dawn!

Who me??

The luck of the Irish is definitely with me at the moment - Susan Walton of Rubber Stamp Tapestry contacted me (YES, ME!!) and asked would I like to create cards using Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps for display purposes. ""WOULD I LIKE??"" I would LOVE it!!!!!!

For those of you not familiar with the company, they produce fabulous little dowel peg stamps in sets with full instructions and colour suggestions. They ALSO have a new line of clear stamps with great sentiments, flourishes and borders. Watch this space for more on this!

Personally I have been a fan for a couple of years and if you are in the UK, especially N. Ireland, then call me as I have quite a range of their stamps in store at Mill House Crafts.

I have a VERY talented team mate, Kelly Sampson from B.C., Canada. Visit her blog Diaries of a Stamper and her Splitcoaststampers gallery and be amazed!!!!

I thought I would share a few cards today using their stamps. Your feedback is appreciated.


If you like what you see and want to know more, please visit my gallery at Splitcoaststampers where I've listed all stamps, inks and techiques used. If you visit Rubber Stamp Tapestry, be sure and tell them who sent ya!!

CHF update

You really loved that treasure hunt didn't you!!! and I definitely know you loved the new Kim Hughes stamp collection. I couldn't believe the number of comments being left.
Thank you to all who participated.

In case you aren't aware the HUNT is over! Visit CHF blog as winners are being announced. Fingers crossed for you.

Cornish Heritage Farms has a fab new look site, visit here to see! Be sure to check out the gallery with wonderful examples including the new range of stamps.

CHF TREASURE HUNT!!!!

Top O’ the mornin' to you! You have found your way to the SIXTH PLACE ON THE MAP!!! I am pleased to present to you the Fall Silhouettes Stamp Set.

This fantastic card is brought to you today, courtesy of Kim Hughes, stamp designer extrordinaire!, designer of the new CHF range!! BIG SHOUT FOR KIM!!!!!And while I don’t have clue words for you I do have a “mini treasure” for you! Aren’t you glad you made it all the way to Ireland today? If you will leave me a comment below with your name and email address you will be entered in a drawing to win the Fall Silhouettes Stamp set!

Winners will be notified via email so please be sure to leave your email in the comments section! Once you have left your comment below to be entered in the drawing for the third “mini treasure” head on over to the beautiful mountains of Colorado and see what Design Team Member Etha Schutte has to add to your “supplies list”.

These 2 cute samples are by our hero, Lisa Strahl, DT co-ordinator at CHF. Enjoy!!


(If you did not start at the CHF BLOG please go there before following to the next link because you will not want to miss out on any of your chances to win “mini treasures” or any of the CLUE WORDS necessary to be eligible to win the GRAND TREASURE.)