I have been tagged

Well it is actually quite embarrassing to admit it but the truth is that this is the first time that I have ever been tagged. And no less than by Anam a true crafter and a very impressive human being. So now I am a:
So I am tagging:
Julie Hickey of course(whose blog I have messed up pretty badly, sorry Julie and Caz) , for her creativity, generosity and above all friendship.
Saffa, a another great person, very refreshing and motherly.
Sam Currie, a fellow Quick and Crafty designer.

And, of course, my better half, Omar. (Edited to say: it was a joke, kinf of, because he rocks my world.)

The fruits of an Ikea visit

This is my favorite wall in my studio. Still not perfect though.
The white unit on the right was what I bought at IKEA on Saturday, an small addotion that is just a pretty fill up.
Today I had a blast. I spent the day with the faboulous Julie Hickey. We had lunch at my locel Pizza Express and they we venture ourselves to Ikea, only two days after I went alone but it is actually not far at all from me 10-15mins. I bought the small cookie jars that i had love from day one to fit in the shelving unit. On them I put all the prima daisies by colour, love the colour splash in the wall in front of me while I am working.
This is one thing I have been after for so long. The actual metal thing is from Tesco, is an over the door rail for towels. It is fantastic to store all my ribbons. Another splash the colour in my sight that inspires me to create.

Brights

If ten years ago you told me that i was going to be making cards with loads of bright pink on them, I would have laugh at you. Honestly. Most of the people who read this blog (yes, there are some other readers beside you) are from the UK so pink or purple seem to be kind of the obvious choice. For a continental -love the sound of that since my friend Jane Gill used it- oranges and reds are much more eligible. I guess it's because I have been leaving here for a while but now a days most of my projects seem to have pink or bright pink on them.
Is it the sign of me becoming a real British?

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The card was part of an article published in July's issue of Quick and Crafty. Fancy Pants papers and stamps, sentiment is a Basic Grey Rub On, Oval scallop punch by Woodware in size 2" and Craftwork Cards card (not sure if it is Rio Rose or Chile colours).

The IKEA experience

Let's be really honest. How many of us do really, really love IKEA? I mean the whole IKEA experience and not the catalog/furniture. I very much doubt that there is crafter in the world that hasn't gone or dreamed to IKEA in order to buy some key piece for their studio. The product is cheaper than anywhere else, the design is good, and tends to go well for storing crafty bits.
But going back to the experience, how many of us have gone through the following:
- looked a thousand times the catalog looking just to get ideas,
- measured the wall in every way possible to check that the item would fit,
- changed our mind a thousand times thinking about which finish would look best,
- decided upon one item and one finish, and even maybe a size,
- checked on the website that they DO have the item in stock,
- gone to the nearest IKEA - going to the not-so-nearest-IKAE would be plain stupid,
- found parking!!!!!
- gone through the whole shop just in case you see something that you have been looking your whole life but until you see it you don't know what it is,
- found several of those essentials items,
- got to the warehouse at the right aisle, right location and Voila, an magician has decided to impress his girlfriend making all of the items disappear.
- got to the information desk, just in case they know where the magician has put them,
- got really upset because the boy/girl at the desk is a useless help,
...

Do I need to continue? I mean the story has still a few chapters but for someone like me that has just came back from one of this experiences, well, let's just say that telling those last phases it has lost its charm by now.
However let me add that I now have a system to rate my shopping visits to IKEA based on success achieved at the end of it and I think it is a rather objective way. You see I make a shopping list previous to the trip to the shop, the list needs to contain more than say 4 items and I need to rate how much I need/want this items in relation to the others. That will give me some percentages: table 35%, chair 25%, bin 15%, box15%, hooks 10%, which adding all up should be 100%. So at the end of the shopping visit I can see how many of those things I got and how much of my need/want list represent. Today I had 75% success, which considering how it is most times, it is a great result.
Am I too weird?

May 05'

I always want to create a very graphic and clean pages. The problem is that most of the times I get sidetracked by the lovely new or not so new stash that I have got. Therefore my pages end up looking like nothing I had planned. For once I think I kind of achieve that goal of clean and simple.
The background is an old Rhonna Farrer patterned paper, by Autumn Leaves which means that is terribly thin grammage. For that reason I needed to use a backing card. Also the transparency is by Rhonna Farrer, to attach it to the card I use InvisiDots, the most invisible glue that I have come accross but very low tack.
Normally I don't journal with the computer, for several reasons, the most important one I like inmediate results and when I use the computer it takes me hours to make it perfect. Here I decided to printed in a transparency and then attached to the page.
Paper flower is by Prima and letter stickers by Scrapworks.

Happy Birthday Julie

Today's is the birthday of one of my favorite people in the whole world, the unique, the wonderful, the incredible Julie Hickey. She is the greatest cardmaker and even better if its possible friend to so many.
Julie, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Christmas is coming!

Really. Really. Well at least in a cardmaking sense. Or when did you think that Xmas projects for magazines were made?
Actually this two cards were made last week as part of the samples for the demo at The Art of Craft (Farnborough). I was demonstrating one of my favorite tools (right, I have lots of favorite tools) the Cuttlebug. Its embossing folders are one of the best things ever. I just used some non-christmassy Basic Grey for the cards, I guess as much as I want it, I can't really get into festive mood just yet.

Because Omar means the world to me

I decided that I would give him a map of the world, a big one, one that is a 1,50 metre wide, just below my height (yes, I am THAT short!). To go with it I made this card. Making cards for Omar is relatively easy, easy because I know what he likes very well, relatively because he has very high standars when it comes to handmade cards.
So, the easy part: green (in real life is way more greener than in the photo, no photoshop in this computer) and flowers (yes, he loves flowers!). I wanted to incorporate a map so i used an old HerArts stamp for the background, stamped with Versamark and chalked with my lovely Pebbles Ink Pearlescent Chalks. The Big flower is a bazzill blossom, button by I-forgot-who, old ribbon, tag punch by Woodware, 7 Gypsies rub on and Quickutz die (metro alphabet).
Let me say that I never pre plan my cards, well there is no much point on me doing that, because I always change my mind.You see, I just have an idea of the stash I would like to use and then look in my studio for matching colours, themes and so on. When I have a choice of stuff on the table I try and see how the things look together. That is the way it works for me, which may or not work for you too.

5 years today

Yes, 5 years ago Omar and I got married in Mallorca. For me, 19th of July means the date that I left Mallorca and Spain for England although I didn't quite leave until the 21st. It was a great day!
(I will explain some more tomorrow, or today.)

Excuses

Yes I know I promised that i would post photos of the mini albums that i did for a class. The thing I forgot to take them, and since the albums are at the shop, well there is no way I can post them.
As a consolation, here you have the second layout I did using the new Basic Grey Infuse collection. Also I used Rusty Pickle Jigsaw chipboard and SassafrasLass Stamps.