Saturday 30 January 2010

Friday 29 January 2010


Although I do not like the heat, sun, sand or sea, for the last week I have been in a place that has all four ingredients: the Dominican Republic. My brother in law got married on the beach to the lovely Debra, so most of Omar's family was there.
Yes, it was challenging for me with the heat and sea, but I had a lovely time!

Thursday 28 January 2010

Large sequins


Simple, quick and easy. You can use die cuts instead of the large flower sequins.


Tuesday 26 January 2010

Chipboard Hearts


Quick and easy, that is my motto. And then some Basic Grey papers. And I am happy.

Sunday 24 January 2010

Crate and Butterflies


I did this card last year, still I like it as much now as I did then.

Friday 22 January 2010

Something different


Sometimes, I really like to push my own cardmaking boundaries. Sometimes, I go maybe too far. Here the opening of the card is not on the right as it is with 99.99% of cards.
I used an old Hero Arts stamp and the message is one of my Circle Essentials stamps.

Thursday 21 January 2010

Missing the Snow


Am I glad the snow is completely gone? Not really, because it may be a hassle but it is so pretty.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Sometimes...


My Spanish roots show in my card making. I did this cards a few months a go for an article that never got published, so I thought I would share it here.
I used Dawn Bibby's flourishes.
Yesterday I went on air again at QVC, first to talk about the TSV on the Morning Show, and then at 11:30pm to do the rest of the hour after Dawn did the TSV. This time around I wasn't as nervous as last time, although I still was nervous. I do need to improve so many things, though!

Tuesday 19 January 2010

QVC

Last Friday I passed my Guest Audition, so today at 9 am I will be on air -at some point- with the TSV, yes right I will be demonstrating on air one of my all time favorite tools, the Cuttlebug!

Monday 18 January 2010

This month in Cardmaking and Papercraft


I have a Designers Challenge article, featuring six cards for the month of February. For this romantic one, I used one of my favorite paper collections from My Minds Eye.
For once, I took ok photos of my own cards.

Friday 15 January 2010

A few thoughts

Some may think that I am pushing the Letterpress tool because it benefits in some way. Well, it does not. I do not work for Quickutz -the manufacturer-, nor DOcrafts -the UK distributor- nor QVC -the retailer.

I do, however, work for Dawn Bibby on a freelance basis, assisting her behind the scenes at QVC and teaching and demonstrating at her shop. Since she knew of my love for all thing Die cutting related and Letterpress effect, she suggested for me to have a go with the tool and check it out. I did, loved it so much, and raved so much about it to dawn that she suggested I go on air with it. And I did, for the first time ever I demonstrated on live TV. It may seem easy to do, well let me tell you, it is not, no matter how much prep work you have done, how many successful demonstrations you have done before, live TV is a completely different thing.

I am not saying I did not enjoy it, because I did. It is fun, it is exciting, its many things and certainly, easy is not. My respect for what Dawn does week in week out, craft days and TSV days has grown immeasurably since I started to work alongside her on QVC, even more so after I did those demos.

I am not sure if it is because I am a bit of a perfectionist, I am always left that I could have done so much better, that i could have done this and that, basically improved my demo. However, I do realized I could have explained things better, had gone into more detail on how the Letterpress tool from Quickutz works on air. Well, I can only say I will try to improve with time.

However, there are certain critiques of the tool that are objective -cracking plates- and some others that are not, but overall, even with some faults, is a great addition to the crafting world.
The cleaning issue is still a big one for most crafters. Personally I have settled for cleaning the printing plates and roller with UNDU or Herma's Label off -remove liquid with a regular baby wipe-, and the inking block and my hands with olive oil, top tip from Sharon Betts.

Like any elaborate craft product, it does require certain level of commitment, i.e. is not like a paper punch that just works effortlessly from day one. Niche product? Maybe, but not more so than the Bind it all, or the Melt pot -all machines I adore, but I do understand they are not for every single crafter out there.

Thursday 14 January 2010

Recycling Wrapping paper - Part 3


Attach the wrapping paper to chipboard and then die cut it using a Stars die from Sizzix.
Message is part of my Mixed Sentiments stamp set.

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Due to the Snow, my workshops at the Glitter Pot tomorrow have been cancelled, as the snow makes it hazardous to get to the shop.
I am so sorry, specially for those ladies who where also booked on my December class that I had to cancel.

Recycling Wrapping paper - Part 2


Emboss it with a Cuttlebug folder and punch some circles out with matching papers.
Message is part of my Mixed Sentiments stamp set.

Monday 11 January 2010

Simplicity


Sometimes, my Christmas cards are not very Christmassy. The case in hand above, with this past Christmas cards. I miscalculated my times and left with only a day or so to make all my Christmas cards so i ended up going for extreme simplicity cards. Like the one bellow, which was the one I sent to most people, apologies if you thought it was too simple, but at least it was a handmade card using first rate products: Fabriano card, Making Memories paper and glitter card.


Fabriano Medioevalis is the most gorgeous card, perfect for stamping with a chalk finish ink pad. It used to be available from The Craft Barn, although they do not have it on their website at the moment, so I am not sure if they do still sell it.

Sunday 10 January 2010

Weddings...

Have I told you before that I love weddings? I mean really love them? I honestly spend hours and hours looking at wedding sites, wether they are inspiration for brides, photographers blogs or videographers showcase. It does not matter, I love that they are about weddings. There is something so magical, so beautiful about them that nothing else can equal. Sometimes I wish I could get married again -to the same man of course- even though we have got married already four times -very very long story- but only one was what we call a proper wedding with reception and everything.

So you can imagine how excited I am about my brother in laws wedding in a few weeks time.
I though I would share a couple of those websites that I love so much, but I wont put any photographers one as it is a very very long list!

Wedding Chicks

Ruffled Blog

Joe Simon - videographer

Friday 8 January 2010

Sorry, but more portaits talk



One of this years resolutions is to take more portraits. I just love them. So, I was thrilled when I saw this today at the QVC UK website.

The same happens every time I see this photo of Jane Gill I took in 2008, specially when it was in the front cover of Cardmaking and Papercraft and saw it at a bookshop in Canada.



Soon, Omar and I will be going for a few days to an exotic destination because his brother is getting married. And they have kindly asked me to take photos of the wedding, which has made me very happy as they are both gorgeous, very photogenic and more importantly, not camera shy unlike some of my friends (yes, Julie, I am talking to you!).

Thursday 7 January 2010

When it is cold and snowy outsite



It's the best time to stay in and color in! Using Copics I colored in this Chipboard circle and scalloped framed. The stamp is from Penny Black and the message is one of my Essentials Circles. The main card was a 12 x 12 die cut paper from Yellow Bicycle that is really thick so can be made as the blank card.
By the way, the Fiskars trimmer I reviewed the other week is available online now.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Some of my favorite portraits of 2009



You may recognize some of those faces, two to be specific. Every day I enjoy more and more taking portraits, there is something amazingly beautiful in each and everyone of ones.

Tuesday 5 January 2010


So, this post is the 500th post in this blog. For many, many months I did not think I would reach a 100, let alone 500 as I am not the most regular of bloggers. But I am happy I have reached this blog's milestone. And yes, I waited a couple of days to post it on the 5/01/10.

Also I wanted to thank everyone of you for reading it and leaving lovely comments. Honestly, I love reading comments so thank you specially for them!

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year, for me, as it is for most Spanish people, Christmas does not end till the 6th of January, because we have the delivery of the Christmas presents on either the night of the 5th or the morning of the 6th by the Three Kings or Wise men as they are called in the UK. I do not expect any presents tonight, since I got all mine on Christmas Eve as all the family was present then. I got very lucky this year as among my Christmas presents was a DVD of one of Rafa's Roland Garros finals and for my birthday I got really nice pressies, the new Apple mac mouse is one of them, is brilliant!

Saturday 2 January 2010


This is the last one of the Letterpress cards for a little while!

Friday 1 January 2010

More Letterpress?


Well, yes, It may be a new year but I still have a few more cards made with the letterpress that i put together for the show. What can I say? I am loving this tool.

Embossing folder: Quickutz
Butterflies and Edge punch: Martha Stewart.
All available from Crafts U Love.
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