My Blog List

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Hippo Birdie to You

Hello there, hope your week is going well.  I have had a few days off work this week, Monday was unexpected so that was a bonus, I managed to do housework, shopping and some washing.  Today (Wed) I have had as holiday so I am spending some time crafting and relaxing.  I have spent this afternoon making some dividers for my stamp storage boxes, so I guess that is classed as crafting :)  Hopefully this evening I can make a wedding card that I need to get to my sister in law before she flies over to the states for my nephews wedding.  

A few days ago I made this little card using a Lawn Fawn stamp set and matching dies, the set is just called Year Four, it's one of the little sets.  I stamped and cut out the little hippo, bird, balloon and party hat and then coloured them all with Copic pens.  I added some glossy accents to the balloon to add some shine to it.  I mounted the cute characters onto a panel of white card that I cut using a Mama Elephant die, Femme Frames and then stamped the sentiment and cut that out using a Sizzix die, Word Bubbles.  I used three little gems to finish  it off.   




On a none crafting note, I thought I would share with you where we went on Sunday.  Kevin has always wanted to go down into the cave, Gaping Gill, which is on the way up to one of the three peaks of Yorkshire, Ingleborough.  They only allow the public to go down Gaping Gill on certain days in the year as you have to be winched down on a chair using a powered winch.  The drop is 365 feet, which in new money is 111 metres.  It was a very wet and windy day and the walk to the entrance to Gaping Gill was a long one, once we arrived we were told that there was no queue and if we wanted to go down we could go straight away.  I took a little persuading but in the end I decided that I would be really brave and take the plunge (fingers crossed not literally!).  It was a long way down in the dark and the running rain water was icy cold but once I arrived safely at the bottom it was just incredible!  The cavern was enormous, it really made me feel quite small and insignificant.  The guide that was already down there gave us a bit of information about the rock formation and pointed out some of the tunnels that had been explored.  Then it was time for the journey back up in the chair.  I must point out that we had to wear hard hats the whole time.  You can have a read about it and see some photos here.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and to those that leave comments, thanks very much it means so much.
Dawn x

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Colour Swatches

Good evening, just a quick post from me today, I have been busy making  a swatch book of my inks and Copic markers, it's been a labour of love, I have to say it took me loads longer than I thought it would!  I have heard that it is supposed to help to choose and match colours, especially if you are wanting to use patterned papers and colour images to match the colours in the paper (I have yet to see if it works as not had chance to use the system yet).  At least I have an up to date record of my inks and Copics :)  I used a pretty folder that I got from WH Smiths several years ago with the addition of some ATC pocket inserts.  I used a stamp set from Avery Elle called 'To The Point' it had a solid chevron that I used for the ink pads and a strip of chevrons that I was able to stamp and colour with my pens.  I used my Tim Holtz ATC die from Sissix to cut loads of cards so that they would fit the pockets perfectly.  I now just have my Distress Markers to do, but as I don't use them very often, it may be sometime before they get done :)

Ink Pads


Copic Markers


I will let you know how I go on with the swatch system once I have used it for a while.  Thanks for dropping by.

Dawn x