cards from my demo and others

As promised, here are a couple of cards from my demo at the Range in Hull. I will post more over the next few days.

Butterfly Wishes
I was inspired to make this card from one of the beautiful cards by Jenny Pearce in the latest issue of Do crafts creativity! magazine
This card uses the beautiful new vellums from the Papermania Exquisite Collection. The greeting tile is one of the chipboard frames, I have changed the colour with Whispers permanent pens. I love them, they're so versatile!

I have also used vellum as a mat for the main images of flowers and a butterfly which are created using the wonderful new embossing stencils available from X-Cut. I then used a pricking tool from the Papermania Tool kit to create a frame around the embossed images.


Just Married



I was inspired to make this card from one that my wonderful friend and fellow Do Crafts Designer Sheila Halliwell had made for her demo. I changes it slightly by just making it black and white using the Papermania Colossal Ivory black creative tones range.





The other thing that i changed for my card is that unstead of using the Papermania Stamp for the bride and groom, I used the Papermania Glitter stickers, colouring in on the adhesive side to change the colour of the groom's coat. I then attached this to white card, and shaped the sticker to create a domed effect. In order for this still to be obvious on the card, I put two layers of foam pads in the centre of the image, and only one aound the edges. The glitter stickers are really gorgeous, and as they are irridescent, they take on the colour that is below.

Well... thats it for now, must get on with some more work. I'll post some more tomorrow. Until then Happy Crafting!

A card on the thing I do best!

Hi everyone,

So sorry it's been such a long time - I've been sooo busy preparing for the craft show at Olympia, where I'm doing cardmaking demonatrations. Have a look on the Do Crafts home page for more information on this. My cards for the show will be on the same website, but in the meantime, my card is project of the week this week! The subject is the thing I do best - shop! Please look here for more details of how to make the card. I really enjoyed doing this one - it was really fun.

Also, I haven't forgotten about putting on the cards from my demo at the Range in Hull, I will do this, hopefully tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by...Clare x

What a great day!

Just a quick post to say thank you to all of you lovely ladies that came to the range in Hull for my Do Crafts demonstration on saturday.

As promised I will be publishing the photos of the cards I made for you very soon, but some of them will be available via the do crafts website (www.docrafts.co.uk) very soon, so I don't put them on here, they will be on there together with instructions.

I look forward to seeing you again sometime soon!

love, Clare x

Gorgeous, Gorgeous, Gorgeous!

OOh, I just had to show you the gorgeous new papers that I've been using over the past few days from Papermania. I'm such a lucky girl (as are all the Do Crafts Designers). We now have to come up with our own designs rather than taking them from project sheets, which is great as you can let your creative side go wild!!! I always made my own samples but now it's completely down to me. the paper packs I particularly like are...

Veneitan Skies: This is such a gorgeous colour and so different from anything else that papermania has at the moment.

Ivory Black: I think Black and White will always have a special place in my card making, as I think that if you want to produce a sophisticated card with the minimum of effort, black and white is the way to go. If you add just one colour to this monochrome look too, it takes on a whole new look. You can't go wrong with a little bit of black and white.

Raspberry Champagne: Who would say no to champagne (especially you, Em!) ? Pink and girly, these papers would be perfect for little girls right through to the fashionable 60 something!

When I've done cards using these papers for my demonstration at the Range in Hull on Saturday (please do come along and say hello) I will post them on here for you to see. I think it will be towards the end of the week as I'm still working on projects for the Do Crafts Creativity! Magazine. Bye!!

Brrrrr...!

Well I don't know about you, but I'm freezing! the weather here in good old North Lincolnshire is sunny but windy and therefore very cold! Someone also told me today that it's meant to snow this week also! I'm so glad I'm back in the house now after dropping Joseph off at Nursery and in my lovely warm craft studio. I can't as yet show you the cards I've been working on as they're for the Do Crafts Creativity! magazine which is not due out until May, (when they've been published I will, of course) but I can show you a couple of other cards I've been working on....




On this card I've used Papermania Designer Papers and Anita's retro outline stickers. I was messing around with the mats (they were originally going to be all straight) but I liked the effect so it stuck.





This card uses the Marie Curie Daffodil stamp sold by Do crafts to raise money for the Marie Curie cancer care appeal. £2.50 from the sale of each stamp goes to the charity in order to fund nursing hours for the care of patients with cancer and their relatives. It's a cause close to my heart, as my husband's grandma had help provided by them, and they did a wonderful job. I also used to be a nurse on an Intensive Care Unit up until December of last year, so I know how hard the job can be sometimes. I've used the Whispers strokes waterclour pens to colour this in, using them as a watercolour in order to blend the colours together. I think the black mats also help the image stand out. I hope you like it.

Anyhoo, I can't stand here chatting all day - must get on! until next time!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's day to all mothers out there! This morning david and joseph initially forgot what day it was ( so did I), then after I had gone down to the kitchen to get us all a drink in bed (our weekend treat) David remembered it was mother's day and Joseph got out the present and cards he had made at school and the childminders. It is sooo lovely! it's going to have pride of place in my craft studio.

Today won't be a day of rest for me though, I have to work on projects for the magazine and for the olympia show. I love it though, so it's not like work. I'm very lucky.

scrummy, yummy!!

Ooh, I just remembered to tell you about the last couple of days - how could I forget??!I set off bright and early (5.30am) on Wednesday morning to Leeds/bradford airport for my flight down to Dorset for a couple of days at DO (Do crafts to you and me) head office for a couple of meetings and to catch up with all that's crafty there.It was great seeing everyone again, Especially Sue, who was jetting off on holiday the day after, and Marcus, whom I haven't seen since the buyers' event. It was great catching up with him.

We had a couple of meetings about my pages for the next issue of Do Crafts creativity magazine, and the show at Olympia in March. If you're coming along, do come and say hello! I'm going to be demonstrating Do Crafts products during the four days (times to be confirmed) and the NEW products we have out at the moment are so scrummy, it's going to be a pleasure coming up with the designs.

Talking about scrummy, boy do Do Crafts have some treats lined up for us all!! Firstly we were ushered into Andrew's office at DO where everyone ooh-ed and aah-ed (including grown men!) No, we weren't cooing over a newborn baby, but all the new lovely papers, stamps, lettering and embellishments that had just arrived in the office from BasicGrey!!! I just can't wait to get my hands on these! I was salivating just at the thought of it! If that weren't enough, Emma, katy and designer natalie showed me whats planned from Papermania from July. WOW! is all I can say, girls, you've done a fantastic job and we will not be disappointed. I got butterflies from looking at it all.

Then Lou did some photos of me for the magazine, and for Library shots and for the website. I think they turned out quite well, even if I do say so myself!

Anyway, onwards as they say, lots of work to do .....bye for now x

Whoops!!

I washed Joe's bed sheets this morning, including 'Flat ted', Joseph's prized teddy that he just can't do without at bedtime. Unfortunately, there was a red sheet in with his white sheets and flat ted, and so now flat ted, along with joe's lovely new bed sheets are pink....Whoops, sorry Joseph! I'll try and get some of that stuff to make whites white again!

What a week!

Well it all started with Stitches trade show on Sunday and Monday, where I was down with Do Crafts (Who I have now teamed up exclusively to use their products). Last year I worked the show, so it was great to have a look around and see what was going on. Last year we were so busy demonstrating that we never got the chance to look around. I walked the show with Emma and helen (product managers for D.O) and Sian (P.R.) and also with Phil. It was great to hear some of the up and coming plans that Do crafts have in store - it's so exciting!!!

we went to the awards in the evening, where Phil gave out an award or two and we picked up an award for one of the creations in the fashion show, made from Papermania Vellum. I've included some pics so you can see what went on.

On Monday, Sian and I had a couple of meetings with editors of National crafting magazines, they looked at my portfolio and everything so far seems promising. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Got back from the show on Tuesday night, but then started to feel jippy and not at all well (I'll not go into minute detail) on Wednesday, but I'm feeling better today.

I've also included some pics of my little boy Joseph, having a great time with the X-Cut Impress machine. He was really good with it, although he did need some help turning the handle sometimes. I think we have a crafter in the making (yippee!!) Until next time....

messing about

Someone at where I used to work once told me that if you have your picture taken from above and you look up to the camera, it makes you look thinner - I don't know about that - maybe a little demented!