Oh I do like to be besides the Seaside...

Happy Monday Morning Everyone!

How was everyone’s weekend?

I thought this morning I’d share with you what I did over the past few days.  Unfortunately there is nothing I’ve created for you guys to see today but hopefully you’ll still enjoy the read.

After work on Saturday we (me and Adam) drove to Kessingland in Suffolk for a weekend at our friends.  The sun was shining and the sky was blue.  When we got there we were automatically handed a nice cold beer –which is always good.  After a quick catch up, we started walking to the beach which was only about a 20 minute walk and set up camp.  The beach was beautiful and practically deserted.  The sand was so soft under your feet and the sea was the most amazing colour.  We had a bbq on the beach and ate lots of yummy food and had a couple more beverages! As it started to get dark, the boys decided it would be fun to go for a swim- rather them than me, I stood on the beach and took pictures (far more sensible) After a leisurely stroll back to the house we then sat and had a couple of cheeky G and T’s and went to bed.



Beautiful Beach



Much deserved chilled beverage

A very smily Adam



Very yummy BBQ



Night time Beach

Sunday was another beautiful sunny day! The sun streamed in through the curtains which I have to say is one of the best ways to be woken up.  After a hearty breakfast we took a drive to the perfect town of Southwold.  We took a stroll up by the harbour and stopped for some scrummy fish and chips! Then unfortunately it was time to head for home.

Quaint Beach Huts

Yummy Fresh Fish

Best Fish and Chips

Stormy Harbour

I had such a lovely weekend – it was great to just jump in the car and drive to the beach, I think sometimes I take for granted how close to the sea I actually am. I thought I’d also share a few pictures; hope I don’t make anyone jealous with the fish and chips!!

So I think its going to be a very busy couple of weeks on the blog! I purchased a new website over the weekend – I managed to squeeze this in-between various trips to the beach! I had one before but it lapsed.  This new site is to bring both cards and jewellery together and also anything else I try my hand at that’s good enough to sell.  Also my friend is in the process in designing my new logo – which I have to admit I am so excited about.  Hopefully it will be on the blog and website within the next week or so! As well as this exciting news I’ll also have a lot more designs and creations to share with you – its all going on.

Don’t forget the jewellery give away ends tomorrow- all you have to do is leave a comment on any of my posts to be in with a chance to win.  I have made it easier to comment – you now don’t need to sign in you can just comment and leave your name!! Now there are no excuses!

I hope you all have a lovely day – the sun is shining at the moment so fingers crossed it stays like this!

Kate xx

Flutter By...

Hello Everyone

It’s Saturday and the sun is shining for now- yay!

I thought I’d just do quick post today to show you something I made as an order for a friend.  Her brief was something girlie and butterfly related. And here’s what I made.

I am loving this butterfly die. It’s from Joanne Sheen’s website and it’s in the Crealies Range. I have quite a few of the flower dies but I couldn’t resist this butterfly one. I like the 3d effect you can create with it- I cut out two large butterflies one in a pale pink and one to match the pink frame around the card and then staples them together.  I gently folded the top one to give it more dimension and to hide the ghastly staple I used adhesive gems from Wild Orchid Crafts. This sentiment stamp is from a set from Papertrey Ink called Birthday Bash Sentiments.  I had a slight mishap with over inking so had to use gems to cover it up! I don’t think it looks to bad though! Nothing wrong with extra sparkle!!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I’m off to Lowestoft to play on the beach! I’ll hopefully have some photos to share with you on Monday!

Thanks for reading.

Kate

xx

P.S Don’t forget to leave a comment on any of my posts to be in with a chance of winning some of the jewellery from Tuesday’s post!

Lost Faith...

Hello Again!

Can anyone make any sense of this weather? I don’t think it actually stopped raining yesterday – and then today its nice and warm again! I’m supposed to be going to Lowestoft this weekend with the boy to visit a friend.  I was looking forward to taking a nice long walk along the beach, with chance to try and take some snaps and gather some inspiration. But…I just looked at the weather and it looks like we might get a bit soggy. Nevermind.

So I had one of those nights last night everything I made I thought looked awful.  It probably didn’t but I had no faith in myself.  I had 3 cards to make last night, two cards for my friends that have just got themselves new jobs and an order I received for a birthday card.  I had already created the fiddly bit for the “congrats” cards the night before (or so I thought) so I would just have the paper and stitching to sort. But no! As always the idea in my head didn’t quite transfer into reality as well as I had hoped. 

I recently got asked to make a card for a graduation and I had stumbled across a rosette stamp from Hero Arts and thought it would be perfect. Bearing this in mind I decided I would try to recreate this stamp but using paper cut out using Spellbinders Nestabilities for todays cards.  I cut a series of scalloped and classic paper circles from kraft and patterned card and layered them up.  I attached some wide grosgrain ribbon by stapling it to the largest circle to form my rosette!  On the purple card, I found some gorgeous ribbon whilst traipsing John Lewis during my lunch hour its velvet.  It has to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen – well this week anyway!

So here are the finished cards…they have grown on me slightly but I’m still not sure, what do you think?

I used kraft card from Craftie Charlie and patterned paper from Echo Park.  I always feel it is such a waste using their paper as its double sided! I finished the cards with two different “congrats” the italic is from Papertrey Ink and typewriter font is a Hero Arts release.  I then added the final bit of sparkle with adhesive gems from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Let me know your comments – maybe you can reassure me!

Hope you have a good day.

Kate xx

English Weather

Morning!

What is going on with this weather? I know I should be used to it by now but I’m not.  After being in an office with air conditioning all day yesterday, stepping out into the tropical heat was a bit of a shock to the system.  We decided to have a BBQ last night, but didn’t manage to eat until nearly 9 o’clock as it was just too hot and humid. Yuk! My aim was to make a couple of cards for two of my friends who have just got themselves new jobs.  I had a great idea in mind and everything started off well but in the end, I had to give up.  I was so hot and sticky and it really wasn’t pleasant.  I was really annoyed as they were going to be today’s post!

So instead I’ve decided to show you a card I made back in May for mine and Adam’s four year anniversary.  I am a bit of a sucker for a play on words- and I thought it was quite cute, but not too cute you see as it had to be masculine enough for him to like! I had ordered these sentiment stamps from Papertrey Ink a while back, to be honest I’m not really sure why, probably because they were only $5 – I’m also a sucker for a bargain! I convinced my self they would come in handy somewhere down the line, and they did.

So here’s the card.  I’m not really sure what else I need to say about it! I love the simplicity of it. I tied two matches together with button twine and glued them to the card using glossy accents (those matches are going no where!) I then stamped the image using a simple black ink from Versa and finished it off with a few adhesive crystals from Wild Orchid Crafts.  What do you think?

I am afraid that’s all I have for today. However I am going to leave you with a teaser for tomorrows post!

Can you guess what it is yet?

Don't forget to enter the competition! Just leave me a comment!!

I’m going to go and try and stay out of the rain!

Have a great day.

Kate

xx

Man Card..eek!

Happy Wednesday!

Hope everyone is well.  It is so lovely and sunny outside it’s enough to put anyone in a good mood.

I wanted to share with you something I hate making- man cards! What is it about the idea of steering away from pretty, flowery, girly cards that scares so many people? I know it petrifies me.  There are so many great colours and products out there to create the perfect “man card” it should be appealing.  I have struggled with so many Fathers Day cards, boyfriends’ birthday ideas I feel like giving up and just buying a stash of cards with pints of beer and sports cars on! But after receiving an order from Papertrey Ink last month I decided to give it one more chance.

Whenever I go on there website, I just want everything.   Unfortunately I have to refrain and control myself.  One set I did allow myself to purchase was Up, Up and Away.  I think this set is just so versatile, great for my man card attempt.  So the card I had to make was for my Boyfriends, Dad (yes it just gets more and more complicated, I want to impress) I didn’t want to make it too fussy, but on the other hand I didn’t want it to be too plain.  So this is what I came up with (no pun intended!!)

I decided on a plain card base, and then I used Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Square on kraft card- can’t create a card without it, and a Classic Square on white card.  Now for the balloon its self I didn’t really want to use just one colour, so I experiemented!  I carefully applied Versafine Ink in royal blue and baby blue to the balloon its self and brown ink for the basket, they managed to blend quite well!  For the sentiment, I seem to have a habit of always using them in the same place – under the image. So seeing as I was trying new things I decided to try it with this too and stamped it on the side of the image- I think it looks rather good even if I do say so myself.  Of course no card of mine would be complete without ribbon of somekind – I used some from my new stash from The Ribbon Girl – I thought this type of bakers twine would be appropriate, can you see why?

One more thing for today, I said I would show you when it arrived!! My first and most definitely not last order from Paper and String!

I can’t wait to start making things, I have so many great ideas for that felt!

Hope you all have a great day and enjoy the sunshine!!

Kate

Xx

P.S. Don’t forget to comment on yesterdays entry for a chance to win some of the jewellery featured!!

A bit about me...

Hello!

Since starting this blog I feel as if I wanted to tell people a bit about me rather than just show you things I’ve made. (don’t worry if your not interested in anything about me, I do still have something to show you – just skip this next bit!)

So… I’m Kate, I’m 24 years old and live with my parents, my boyfriend of 4 and a bit years Adam and our Jack Russell, Flo (she’s super cute- as you can see)

I work in the beautiful city of Cambridge for an Insurance Company- might sound a bit dull but I really enjoy it.  As you’ve probably guessed in my spare time I like making things! I’ll try my hand at anything really- I’m not always very good at a lot of things but I still give it ago. I love music- I find I can’t craft with out something to sing along to! I also like reading and going to the cinema, also I like nothing better than sitting in the sunshine enjoying a nice cold glass of Pinot!

Ok so enough about me… today I want to show you one of my jewellery pieces I made. I especially love these because green is my most favourite colour. Anyway, I made the necklace using the base of a charm bracelet but cut the toggles off and added links for the suede thong. I absolutely love all these different shades of green- and the best bit is I used up a lot of odd beads I had left over from other things.

I liked it so much I had to make a matching bracelet. I also love charm bracelets for the sound they make, Adam jokes that when I wear mine he can always hear me coming!! Most of these gorgeous beads were bought from Bijoux Beads – they have one of the best selections of beads which you can either buy singularly or in packs, so they are great for any make.  I also had to use some of my favourite Swarovski Crystals to give it extra sparkle. This necklace is such a great focal piece and so versatile you could wear it day or night!

 

I have been overwhelmed by how many people have read and showed an interest in my blog over the last week. I also have had a lot of new followers on twitter (@flutterbyboo) so I wanted to give something back to all of you! I’m giving one lucky winner the chance to win either this necklace or bracelet, depending on personal preference! All you have to do is leave me a comment below – a winner will be chosen at random next Tuesday (9^th August). 

Thank you once again so much for reading.

I’ll be back tomorrow to share with you a man card- cringe!

Also I wanted to apologise for the photos of my card yesturday - they were awful, so I have uploaded some better ones!

Until then, have a lovely day.

Kate

xx

A "Summer" Clean

Morning!

Hope everyone had a lovely sunny weekend!

I definitely had a very productive weekend. After putting it off for so long I decided to clean out my wardrobe.  Well after 2 hours and three bin bags later – I had finally whittled down a keep, chuck and a maybe pile down to just a keep pile! I felt rather proud of myself.  What is it when you get the tidying bug, you just can’t stop!  I had been neglecting my craft “corner” for a while and had just been shoving things in a drawer when I’d finished crafting, not cleaning stamps after using them and creating a pile of paper scraps. So yesterday I felt enough was enough and sorted through everything.  I thought I’d share it with you this morning!

I dream of one day having my own craft room.   I often do sit at my desk and day dream of colour schemes and storage ideas.  The idea of having shelves and shelves of jars, filled with every colour of ribbon and buttons, drawers of paper, boxes upon boxes of stamps and punches. Hmmm a girl can dream!

After hours of tidying I thought it was about time I made something.  It is coming up to my friends 1^st Wedding Anniversary – so I thought it was a perfect excuse to make something using my new Papertrey Ink Heart Print stamp set. I’ve been eyeing these up for a while and this was the perfect opportunity.  I’m always aiming to try new things on my cards so I decided this pretty heart would look extra special if it was embossed.  I stamped it using Versafine ink in orchid and then applied a layer of WOW clear embossing powder and then heated using my heat tool.  I really like the outcome – it gives it a 3D effect.

Layering up Pink Petticoat washed paper and craft card and finishing with bakers twine (I really can’t get enough of this stuff)

What do you think? 

Check back tomorrow – for a jewellery related post.

Have a great day.

Kate

xx