Wednesday 7 November 2012

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...because my diary is filling up and there's not enough days left in a week!  Firstly, can I say a huge 'Hi!' to everyone who came along to the Ross Papercraft Show at the KC Stadium in Hull on the 28th October - it was lovely to see some new faces and meet some new people!  It was my first time over in the East and although we had a few glitches with road closures and fog on the Pennines on the way, it was a good day in the end!  A shout out to the lady who was demonstrating for Pink Frog Crafts making the most beautiful handmade paper flowers I have ever seen!  I didn't get her name, but was totally in awe of her stunning creations and we had a great chat about crafting in general - so if you're reading this, thanks for your hospitality and fabulous inspiration!
I'm finding it ever more difficult to keep up with my blogging at the minute because of other commitments - apart from the show in Hull, we had a well deserved family weekend away in Yorkshire, then there's been Halloween, Bonfire night and the children off for half term...not to mention card orders, workshops, WI demonstrations, children's after school clubs and trying to make things for our local church Christmas fair!  I feel like I am chasing my tail (if I had one!) and my Mojo is still missing - I keep walking into my craft room and walking back out again...I think with all the stuff I have to do, I can't be bothered playing!  But that's enough of me moaning!  I do have some cards to share with you that I have been making to raise money for a local charity, Nia's Journey which supports cancer charities in Wales...
...the first is using Krista Smith's fabulous Cancer awareness freebie, Boobie Love...
..I think she is just so sweet and a doddle to colour!...
...Next up I made some floral cards using a colouring page image from the net and I added the pink cancer ribbon nestled in the flowers...
...and finally, I coloured in 4 of Mo Manning's fabulous Engineer digistamps and they are sat waiting for me to assemble into cards.  I have also been busy with my sewing machine making a couple of canvas shopping bags, some peg bags and other bits and bobs for the Xmas fair, plus I'm working on a new project...something a bit different!  Thanks for putting up with my sporadic posting at the minute and if you find a Mojo, can you smack it's bottom and send it home please?!!  Hope to be back soon, Lisa x

Thursday 18 October 2012

Busy doing nothing...

...or that's how it seems, anyway!  I just can't find the time to craft at the moment - too many other things going on and yet nothing to show for it!  I had to cave in and prioritise some housework, or the children would have to wear their pyjamas after school, so yesterday was a day of washing and trying to dry clothes, when the weather outside was flipping from bright blue skies to torrential downpours with a good helping of hail chucked in!  Due to my washing frenzy, I have spent the morning ironing and filling up drawers again, so thought I would drop in and let you know that I'll be busy until after the weekend, but will try and post something as soon as!  Hopping round blogland, it seems that a lot of people have lost their Mojo at the minute - maybe there's a serial mojo thief on the loose?!...I hope they catch him soon because I'm starting to miss mine!

As there were only 2 comments on winning my Autumn frame : ( I decided that I would send both commenters a little something, so Jane, if you could email your postal address to contact@ellasdesign and I'll send the Autumn frame off to you, to hang in your garden studio! 

And don't worry Sue, I have made a little something for you, too, incorporating the box frame, but thinking of you and your charitable fund raising...Thank you so much ladies for taking the time to comment and appreciating my work!  See you soon...Lisa x


Sunday 14 October 2012

Date for the diary...


Hey, guys!  A happy, if somewhat frosty morning to you all!  Just thought I would spread the word about the Ross Papercraft Show at the Sports Arena (ex Bonus Arena), KC Stadium, Hull, HU3 6GA on Sunday 28th October.  The show is open from 10am - 3pm, tickets cost £3 (£2 prebooked) with accompanied under 16s free and there's free parking, too!  Visit the Ross Papercraft Show website for more details and if you're coming along, why not stop by and say 'Hi!'?  Lisa x


Saturday 13 October 2012

Some more Rustification!...

...Ooh, I do love this technique!  I had a couple of hours free last night, so decided to please myself and spend some time sat at my now very messy table and play!  I'm not normally a messy crafter, in the sense that I tend to just stick to paper and a bit of Distress Ink, but my crafty table is now covered in Mica Boss, embossing powders, ink pads, mica powders and glitter and I had so much fun!  I think I'm getting into this messy crafting and it's all thanks to the guys over at Simon Says Stamp and Show!

So, I found another of my frame cards already made up in my pile of 'stuff' that lives on my worktop - I have run out of places for a home for it all, so the pile keeps getting bigger!  The frame was printed with a pastel plaid paper, rather pretty, but not what I wanted...
...I suddenly remebered to take a 'before' picture part way through transformation, hence the inky bits!  Over at Raise the Bar this week, the challenge is 'Hey Pumpkin!', so I printed off the pumpkin png from my A Year in Cards disc and decided to make an Autumn frame card...
...this is how it looked when I had finished!  I truly rustified the frame starting by inking with Rusty Hinge, Peeled Paint and Tuxedo Black ink pads, then stamped with a My Mind's Eye texture stamp and embossed with copper EP and Mica Boss, rubbed with Autumn Rose gilding flakes...
...I found this lovely little verse online and thought it was so apt for the time of year.  The key is a Die-namics die called Attic key, which I inked with Versamark and dusted with Mica powders to give a metallic look...
...I printed off 3 of the pumkpins using Windows Picture Viewer, 9 to a page size and decoupaged to give more dimension.  I added a Marianne swirl die and some Marianne leaves cut in diffferent Autumn shades, I cut down some of the leaves and then added glitter and Stickles for a bit of bling...
...I finished with die cut letters to spell the word Autumn and attached them to acetate before cutting around and adhering to the frame so that they look like they're floating.  A lovely Moss green satin ribbon and bow made a hanging loop and a couple of pearl and diamante details finished it off.  I am really pleased with the finished result and hope you like it, too!  Enjoy your weekend whatever you are doing and if you get the time, why not do some messy crafting?!!  Lisa x
I am entering this card into the following challenges :
Hey Pumpkin!
Rustification (2nd entry!)
Fall into the Season
Anything Goes

TO BE IN WITH A CHANCE OF WINNING THIS AUTUMN FRAME, LEAVE ME A COMMENT ON MY NEXT POST TITLED 'DATE FOR THE DIARY AND A CHANCE TO WIN' AND I'LL DRAW A WINNER LATER IN THE WEEK.

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Rustification!

I have to say, I love the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show, and every now and then, I try to join in with one of their challenges to make myself have a go at something different.  Their theme this week is Rustification! and you should see the DT work...OMW, there are some fabulous pieces!  The last time I played along, I was inspired by the work of the lovely Candy C and she went and did it again with her amazing book of spells...I was in love with it when I saw the front on the Simon Says blog, but after visiting her blog and seeing the inside, I HAD to go and play!  What I have created is nowhere near as expert as Candy's, but the main thing is, I LOVED making it!  I turned a piece of plain leather embossed grey cardstock from this...
...to this...
...oh, I had such fun with this!  I was quite limited to the products I could use, as I don't have paints, alcohol inks, or the likes, so had to rely on my old faithful Distress Inks and some embossing powders!
 ...To start with, I sponged the gravestones with Tuxedo Black Memento then inked the edges with Walnut Stain DI and overstamped with a My Mind's Eye texture stamp and Walnut Stain DI.  I found this cute Halloween poem online and printed off in Chiller font then mounted onto slate coloured cardstock...
...I used the bat digistamp from my A Year in Cards disc and printed it onto cream parchment card then inked a misty sky with Weathered Wood and Walnut Stain DI - I highlighted the moon and details with a white gel pen (not sure if this shows very well!) and wrote the RIP by hand.  And then for the rustification!  ( I just love that word!) I printed off a large bat and cut 4 MFT photo corners in black and stamped with a My Mind's Eye texture stamp, then embossed with copper EP, I restamped with Versamark, embossed with Mica Boss then rubbed over some dark green chalk to give an aged look.  I used the same technique on the hinges on the opposite page...
...The spider started off life as a wooden ladybug but got attacked by a Black Promarker and some copper wire!  The pumkpin is one from the Scarecrow set of A Year in Cards and I just cut out a face and attached some bright orange card behind. (You can see a close up of my rustification on the photo corner and hinge)  I did so enjoy making this (despite the fact that I have 3 card orders to make!) and hope that I've inspired you to join in with a challenge that you wouldn't normally do!  Thanks for dropping by and have a great day!  Lisa x
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :
Rustification
Let's see those shapes!
Distressing

Monday 8 October 2012

Silver Bells...

...That was quick, wasn't it?!  I did colour and assemble the image for this card last night, so was ahead of myself!

I am in love with the Spellbinders Parisian Accents border die at the moment, after using it on the Halloween frame card a few posts ago and decided to create a card using it as a border frame for the card base...

...I started with a 14.5cm square piece of white card and attached 4 border die cuts, cut down so that they were 5 designs in length, then used the corner die with a bit removed (see below) to join the corner pieces...
...I used the snapshot tool to highlight the sentiment on the May wedding sheet from A Year in Cards and printed it on A5 cardstock with the Page Scaling set to None, so that it wasn't resized.  This printed the sentiment in the middle of the card, allowing me to position my Go Kreate Frilly Frame #2 die over the top  so that the text was on the left hand side.  I embossed the top and bottom of the die cut with my Lovely Flourish Texturz plate and inked the edges with Antique Linen DI...
...I printed the wedding bells digistamp from the jpeg and png folder using Windows Picture Viewer, 4 to a page and printed using the Draft settings to get a light outline.  I used 3 images, coloured with my Promarkers and paper piece decoupaged them to give a bit more dimension, then highlighted with glitter and diamantes.  The Promarker colours I used were :
Bells : Blender, Cool Grey 1, 3, 4 & 5 (I've lost my no.2!)
Ribbon : Pale Blossom, Pale Pink, Cocktal Pink, Dusky Rose
Leaves : Lime Zest. Lime, Pear & Olive Green
Flowers : Blue Pearl
I punched out the small blue flowers and attached over the top of the image ones, then added a Marianne swirl to the top left and bottom of the bells...
...I finished off with some wide lace (which has been in my stash for donkeys ages!), cream satin ribbon and bow, and of course, a few pearls.  I love the elegance of this card and am really happy with the way it turned out!  As always, thanks for dropping by, Lisa X
 I'm entering this card into the following challenges :
Inspired by a Song
Silver Bells by Bing Crosby
(Oldie is my lace which I must have had in my stash for 3 years at least, scandalous I know!)
Anything Goes (2nd entry)
My Sentiments Exactly (2nd entry)
Glimmer and Sparkle
(Diamantes and glitter on the bells)
Shine On
(Glitter, diamantes & pearls)

P.S. I'm going to be at Ross Papercrafts show at KC Stadium, Hull on the 28th October - check out their website for more details.

Card shop....

Hi, guys!  Just thought I'd let you all know that I've got my design shop up and running again where you can purchase some of my cards...


..Ill be back later with a card to share, Lisa x

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Oh no, it's a Christmas card!...

Good morning, Bloggers!  Well, as you may know, I would not call myself a stamper, but I love to have a play now and again and try new things.  So I set myself a challenge to create a card using only plain cardstock and without the use of my computer!  I do admire the many cards created, by the likes of Sue Wilson, that use their Spellbinder dies to full effect and decided to have a go myself...
...Amazingly, I created every patterned element myself...
...the base card I stamped with Stormy Sky DI and Versamark embossed with Psychedelic glitter powder, the white Swiss dot embossed layer has a Parisian Accents border frame, the lilac scalloped square is inked with Dusty Concord DI and stamped with Versamark embossed with Psychedelic glitter powder and the blue scalloped square is inked with Stormy Sky DI and stamped and embossed with MicaBoss powder, then brushed with Mica Powder...
...As I don't have a snowflake die (scandalous, I know!)  I created my own using the accent die from the Parisian Accents set (with a bit cut away) and an accent die from the Renaissance Hearts Pendant set.  I added a stamped sentiment cut with a Beaded Oval and some white satin ribbon with MFT Buckle die in silver...
 Although a very different style of card to my usual, I was amazed at what you can make from nothing, well, blank card anyway!  Sometimes it's good to challenge yourself and try new things, you never know what you might create...and you might even like it!  Why not challenge yourself to something new today?!  I hope I've inspired you and thanks for taking the time to drop by, Lisa X
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :
Anything Goes
(Happy 5th Birthday Guys!)
Make your own embellishments
Pretty Pastels
No patterned papers
Crafts and Me Challenge
My Sentiments Exactly!

Monday 1 October 2012

Halloween frame card...

Hi, guys!  I decided to have a play and create something for the Craft Us Crazy Challenge blog - the theme this fortnight being Halloween and/or anything goes and this is what I came up with...

...I decided to make a Halloween wall hanging using one of the box frames that you can find on my tutorials page and the October digistamp sheet from A Year in Cards CD-Rom.  I coloured the front of the frame with Dusty Concord DI and Black Tuxedo Memento, then rubbed on some Versamark around the edges and brushed with black Mica powder...
...I used the October dotty paper as a backing for the frame and then added 4 Parisian Accents border strips around the edges - I used the waste from the border strips to create the points on the wrought iron fence!  I used Stromy Sky and Dusty Concord Distress inks to ink the moon scene and added a large black glittered bat to the frame...
...I coloured Frankie with my Promarkers and gave him a few glitter highlights, the colours used were :
Skin : Moss, Khaki, Pastel Beige,
Top : Slate, Purple, Amethyst, Orchid, Lavender, Olive, Pear and Lime Green
Trousers : Walnut, Cinnamon, Spice, Honeycomb
Shoes and Hair : Black, Cool Grey 5, 4, 3, 1 (because I've lost my number 2!)
I mounted the image onto Black card using foam pads and cut around, leaving a border, to make the image pop more.   I added a purple polka dot ribbon hanging loop and 4 MFT corner die cuts to finish.
I can't believe that it is October already, time really is flying by! Thanks for droppping by to see me and I hope you like my little project!  Lisa x
I'm entering this project into the following challenges :
Halloween and/or Anything Goes
Anything Goes
Anything Goes
Starts with F
(Frame card, Frankenstein, Fence)
Something for the guys

Wednesday 26 September 2012

Ha, ha...two posts in one day!

Well how about this?!  I'm back again to share a card with you (at last, I know!)  I decided to sit at my crafty table and have a play, to make a card to enter into a couple of challenges and this is what I came up with...
...I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, though it took a while (about 2 hours) and I thoroughly enjoyed colouring this pretty Saturated Canary image - Jules.  The background is embossed with Love Letter Sizzix Texturz Plate and inked with Victorian Velvet DI, then I added 4 of the Memory box Madera corner dies, highlighted with diamantes.  I mounted the image onto an oval nestie with scalloped oval behind and added 2 of my new Joy Crafts Floral Flourishes Heart...Cotton lace, pink satin ribbon and double bow, a touch of Glamour Dust and a simple sentiment finished off.  I used a Martha Stewart Punch around the Page punch to create the card base...I love Mandy's cards done like this over at A Sprinkling of Glitter, the only pain is that they're too big for a standard envelope, so I'll have to make a box...though I think it'll be worth it!  I coloured the image using Promarkers and Flexmarkers :
Skin : Coral, Sunkissed Pink, Dusky Pink, Satin (as usual!)
Hair : Walnut, Cinnamon, Spice, Honeycomb (I went for a change and went Auburn with this one!)
Clothes : Antique Pink, Dusky Rose, Pale Pink, Pale Blossom FM
Olive Green, Pear Green, Lime Green, Lime Zest, Ivory
Shoes : Walnut, Cinnamon, Tan, Light Fawn FM
Cat : Cool Grey 2, 1, Soft Mauve FM, Blossom
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :
Damask or Swirls
(I've used swirl embossing and swirl corener dies, plus theres swirls in her petticoat and hair!)
Anything Goes
For the Love of Sparkle
(I have Glamour Dust glitter on her petticoat and diamantes on the background)
Colour Challenge #23 Pink and Green
#4 Embossing
(There is dry embossing on the background)

Christmas is coming...

...whether I like it or not!  It's not that I don't like Christmas - I love all the twinkly lights and atmosphere, it just seems to come around so quickly!  Unfortunately, here in Wales we never really had a Summer (a couple of weeks of sunshine, and not consecutively, does not warrant a summer in my book!) and now the nights are drawing in and the days getting shorter, I start to lose my motivation!  BUT, I decided to try and plan ahead (yeah right!) and get some projects made for our church Christmas Fair, which is on the 1st December this year - I always try to make some sort of contribution and run a little craft stall with all proceeds going to the church, so need things that won't cost the earth to make or for people to buy.  So here's a couple of the things I've started...
...firstly, I made a couple of wine bottle labels - I will be making more of these and different styles...
...The flower is made from different sized daisy punches and I love these Marianne leaves.  A nice plush ribbon, a wire twirl and some red Stickles give a festive feel (I hope!)...
...Next, I picked up a pack of small notebooks to cover.  The first one I covered and attached to a piece of covered mountboard with a string hanging loop and a piece of magnetic tape on the back, so that it can be hung or attached to a fridge.  I wrapped a pencil in coordinating paper and attached with a small paper loop, then decorated with Love News Tilda, coloured with Promarkers...
Colours used :
Skin : Coral, Sunkissed Pink, Dusky Pink, Satin
Hair : Henna, Cocoa, Caramel, Sandstone
Top : Marine, Duck Egg, Cool Aqua, Tea Green
Trousers : Shale, Khaki, Pastel Beige, Ivory
Shoes, Shale, Caramel, Sandstone, Soft Fawn FM
Papers : Vanilla, Ivory
...The other 2 I covered and added Judikins Praying and Peeking Angels coloured with Promarkers...
...I'm hoping to get the sewing machine out and make some fabric projects, too, but we'll see how they turn out!!  Hope everyone in the UK isn't too affected by this terrible weather we've been having and that you're all safe and well.  Thanks for dropping by to see me!  Lisa x

Saturday 22 September 2012

New blog...

...After his five minutes of fame, my little man decided he wanted his own blog, so Little Man's Crafty Place is born!  His first post is titled 'Things to make you go mmm....' as he's been in the kitchen this morning, baking (with a little help from Mum, just the oven stuff mainly)  Be prepared to drool a little and yes, they are as good as they look...better even!  Lisa x

Friday 21 September 2012

Five minutes of fame...

I am sick of this stupid cough!  It's been hanging around for weeks now and just won't go...it's the sort of cough that leaves you alone for a while, giving you a false sense of security, then grabs you round the throat and irritates until your gasping for breath!! The doctor put me on antihistamines to see if they would help, but so far, no joy!  Hubby and little man seem to have it too, so we're like a coughing choir, especially at night!  Anyway, moan over and onto something to share from a special little man...

...We had a workshop last Saturday and as hubby was taking big man to his footie match, little man had to come with me - this is no bad thing to little man as he loves to come and 'help' and join in.  So, he decided he wanted to make a card along with everyone and as I had a pack spare, I let him have a go.  The first card, he followed along with us, making it exactly the same...well, nearly...he put his bats on the opposite side to us - artistic license!



...For the second card, he decided to 'do his own thing' and though he had the same ingredients, his card turned out completely different...
... He is very strong when it comes to his design ideas and would take no direction from me or anyone else and I was pretty amazed at the result!  The spotty paper was double sided with the stripe on the reverse, so he cut the strip in half ad turned one piece over to get the two patterns.  I love the jaunty angle that he put the first layer on, but the way he wanted the ribbon parallel to the card base - he even solved the dilemma, after putting the orange layer on, as to how his card would stand up straight, by cutting off the bottom corner...not bad for a 9 year old?!  So, I promised him that I would give him five minutes of fame on my blog and enter his creation into a challenge or two..
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :
Celebrations (Birthday)
Anything Goes
Lovely Layers
Autumn Colours
Well done and GOOD LUCK, my little man! XX

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Getting messy...well, a little bit!

Good morning, everyone!  Well, after my post yesterday I thought, 'What the heck!' and decided to have a go at a Sheena style background...I have to admit I didn't get anywhere near as messy as she does, but I had a play and really quite enjoyed it (I know!?!)  I saw her use a bit of cereal box on Paper Clinic yesterday and liked the look of it, so went for a rummage in the recycling bin...of course, yesterday was bin day, so not a cereal box in sight! (This is called Sod's Law!)  Near the bottom (thank goodness it is only a paper recycling bin) I found a Southern Style Mini Chicken Breast fillet box (what a healthy lifestyle I lead) the sort that has the chicken in a bag inside the box, so not the plastic coated ones and got to work...
...I started by splodging (this is a Sheena technical term) Distress Inks on the background - I used Rusty Hinge, Peeled Paint and Stormy Sky.  I then got my Cuttlebug Clockworks embossing folder and inked the inside top of the folder with Versamark, ran it through the Big Kick, then chucked (another technical term) gold and then copper embossing powder over the top...I inked the edges with old faithful, Walnut Distress Ink and the result was the picture above.  I found the quote online and realy liked it, poignant, but not mushy or cheesy.  I printed it onto printable acetate and attached it over the top, securing the top half with 2 metallic brads...
...I then printed off the watch decoupage from the January folder of A Year in Cards and decoupaged up with acetate behind the final layer.  The ribbon across the card hides the DST that secures the bottom half of the acetate, but you have to have a bit of ribbon anyway!  I matted onto gold and dark brown cardstock, then onto a white card base to balance the lightness of the image, et voila!
A, really, quite simple card apart from the background - I thought it would be nice as an Anniversary card for a man.  So there we have it...I now have to go and make 5 card orders for the same person...aaaaghh!!  Enjoy your day, whatever you are doing and thanks for dropping by to see me, Lisa x
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :
Anything Goes
Autumn Gold
Anything Goes

Monday 10 September 2012

Christening card...

Hi, guys!  I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but where on earth are these days going to?!  It's really quite scary to think that we are now in the second week of September...September....who stole summer?!  I'm feeling a bit flat at the moment and don't have the inspiration, or inclination to craft at the  minute, just doing what I need to do really...it may have something to do with the fact that I have had the most annoying cough ever for the past week which decides to be at it's most aggrevated between the hours of 9pm and 6am!  I do not work well on lack of sleep...heck, I don't do anything well on lack of sleep!!  There was a glimmer of hope whilst watching Sheena on C&C, whilst having my dinner - I SO wanted to have a 'play' and get inky and messy!  Unfortunately, I had a card order to fulfill, so will have to keep the messiness for another time, but I thought that I would share my creation with you anyway...


...I was asked to do a special Christening card for a friend who is going to be a Godmother, so decided to use the vintage pram digistamp from my A Year in Cards disc - I do love the way this image turned out and it can be used for any baby occasion.  The image was coloured with Promarkers and cut using the Classic Oval nesties, then mounted onto a silver faux nestie by drawing around the outside of the die.  I used 2 Marianne circular doily dies behind the oval, cutting a couple of scallops off, then attaching them together to make more of an oval and hiding the join with the ribbon.  The flowers are a mixture of paper and satin ones and I also used a couple of wired bead sprays instead of leaves.  The background was embossed using a Crafts Too embossing folder which has small flowers all over and I finished with a touch of Glamourdust, a nice big satin bow and a few self adhesive pearls.  I printed off the blue baby paper from the September folder and created a box to keep the card safe and that's it...
...I hope that my creativity starts to flow again, as I hate it when crafting is a chore...it's that bad that we even managed to have Sunday roast at the table because it was empty!  Come back craftiness, all is forgiven!!
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :
'W' for Wishes
#73 Anything Goes
Layers
Something Old, Something New
(Old is the ribbon and flowers which ahve been hanging around my stash for at least a couple of years! And new is my pram digistamp)

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Box frame template and instructions

Good evening, everyone!  Well, as promised, I'm back with the template and instructions for the box frame as requested by so many of you at Leigh Show...
...I decided that it would be easier to do a template to share (I use my score board) and I've put the instructions on the tutorials page, which you'll find by clicking on the tab at the top of my blog.  I hope that they are easy enough for you all to understand - I tried to take as many photos as I could to explain it, but it's always so difficult putting instructions into words.  You can download the template for free from 4shared, here, and I would appreciate if you could direct people to my blog to download it. 

Hope you enjoy using it and I'd love to see what you do with it, either leave me a comment with a link to your blog or email (I won't publish comments containing email addresses)  Happy crafting!  Lisa x

Monday 27 August 2012

Jammin'...

Firstly, can I just say a big 'Hi!' and thank you to all of you that came over and said hello to us at Leigh show, over the weekend!  It was lovely to get such positive feedback for my designs and I hope that you're all enjoying playing! 

After my eureka moment of making the tool caddy gift box with the strawberry papers, as I said I would, here's the finished result...
 ...you will have to imagine that there are 2 jars of jam in there, as I could only find one in the cupboard!  I printed off the plain tool caddy box, then printed the strawberry and gingham paper from the Teatime set (March) as I wanted to decorate both the inside and outside of the box.  I turned the patterned papers over and printed the tool box matt template on the reverse, then cut out and attached the different papers to the panels.  Instead of using the tag as a tag, I attached it to the handle (just because I liked it there!) then printed 2 strawberries from the march jpeg and png folder, using Windows Photo Viewer contact sheet size and checking the mirror image option before printing the second so that they would go back to back on the plastic teaspoon.  This would also be lovely done in other papers with sample size body lotions, etc or tool shaped chocolates?!  Great Christmas gift ideas and can be personalised too!

Before I sign off, I would just like to announce the winner of my latest disc 'A Year in Cards' from the Art Stamp Wales show in Wrexham last month...and the winner is...No.15 Carol Jones...Congratulations Carol and I hope you enjoy using my latest designs!  Well that's it from me for now, I'll be back soon with a template and tutorial for the box frame card that everyone loved at the show...until next time, thanks for dropping by!  Lisa x

Saturday 25 August 2012

Hi, guys!  I'll now be setting up at Leigh Show, ready for the doors to open and hopefully, a busy day of meeting people and sharing my designs.  For the duration of the show (Saturday and Sunday) my latest disc, A Year in Cards, will be available to buy here for £17.00 with free UK mainland P&P, then afterwards both here and in my digi shop for the usual retail price of £17.99.  If you live outside mainland UK, please contact me for postage costs at contact@ellasdesign.co.uk

Friday 24 August 2012

It's the final countdown!!

...Only one day to go to my first solo stand at Papercraft@Leigh Show - getting a bit jittery now!  More for the fact that I remember everything...I am a checker and re-checker and still end up forgetting something stupid!  My hubby's motto is as long as you've got your phone and purse, everything else you can buy, whereas I'll still be going through my mental list whilst travelling up the M6!! (Not that it would do me much use then, but hey ho!)  The pile of stuff in the hallway is getting bigger by the minute and I'm just hoping the boot's big enough!  My poor old Epson printer is working like a trojan again printing off posters and sample pages (it must be about 8 years old now, I don't know what I would do if it finally gives up the ghost!) and my head is full of mental post-it notes to do before I go!  So, amongst all this organised chaos, I thought I would come on and share some more of the samples that I'll be taking along to the show - although photographs never do the finished result justice...mind you, it probably has something to do with my naff photography skills, too!




  Have a great weekend, whatever you are doing and here's hoping the weather is kind (doubtful!?!).  My new disc, A Year in Cards, will also be available to buy here on my blog from tomorrow at Show price with free P&P, so if you can't make it to the show, you won't miss out!  Thanks for dropping by, Lisa X

Thursday 23 August 2012

More samples...

Hi, guys!  Oh my word, where is this year going to?!  I can't believe that it is September next week and that Leigh Show is this weekend!  The dates seem to just creep up on you and what seemed to be an age when the summer holidays started, quickly turned into headless chicken preparation with less than a week to go!  I think I've just about managed it though and there is a large pile of boxes cluttering the hallway ready to be transported north!

I hope that we have a good weekend (though it is a Bank holiday weekend, so the weather will probably be atrocious!), but it will be nice to see everyone and share my new designs.  If you're coming along, I'd love if you pop over and say hi, it's always nice to put faces to some of you lovely bloggers.  If you can't make it, my new disc will be available to purchase here on Saturday and Sunday for the same price that I'll be selling at the show, with free P&P and then both here and from my digi shop after that, at normal retail price, plus the usual retail outlets.

So, to whet your appetites, I thought I would share a few more samples...



...hope to see some of you on the weekend, take care and Happy Crafting!  Lisa x