Good Luck

This one of the first cards I did yesterday using my new sets of stamps. In this case, I used the Punchable labels - good luck message, Labels and numbers - Journaling spots - the grey graph pattern and the circle journaling spot - and Filled with Flowers - the Hugs and Kisses message.
I made the glimmer mist background quite a while ago, maybe even a year ago. Thing is sometimes I just like to have a play with the latest products that inspire me, having a play with them allows me to enjoy the crafty stuff without the added pressure of creating a card. I usually keep all the bits and pieces with potential in a box, ready to be used when I need to make a card with a striking background.


The punches that I have used here are:

1.  Photo Labels from EK Success - available from Personal Impressions stockists among them Crafts U Love and The Glitter Pot.
2. 1" circle punch - any will do, does not matter manufacturers although I prefer EkSuccess ones as they seem to be extremely durable and strong. Woodware has it too and it is quite good value for money.
3. 1 1/8" circle punch - the lime green circle on the card. It is one of the ones I used to layer under the 1". It is from EkSuccess and it is hard to find at the moment but hopefully soon will be readily available.

Ink pads:

1. Versafine Black ink. If you do not have one, do yourself a favor and buy one pad, you wont find a sharper, more solid and precise black ink pad, specially for clear stamps. Besides, the little 1" cubes are just under £1.50.
2. Versafine Smokey Grey and Versafine Spanish Moss.
3. Memento New Sprout. I find that Memento inks are the dye based pads that work the best with clear stamps.
   
   To clarify the ink pads statement: Versafine Black is the best overall black ink pad that I have found for any type of stamps and it is a pigment fast drying oil based ink. Other colours are also as great inks however the colour range is a bit limited so I tend to use often only a handful of the other colours - Spanish Moss and Deep Lagoon mostly. 
   Memento ink pads are the best dye based inks for clear stamps and besides they have a lovely range of colours which Versafine lacks - light blues, greens, pinks and purples. Dye based inks by nature are not opaque and offer less crisp results than pigment based ones.
   So, the best ink pad for clear stamps is Versafine, and Memento is great too but not as fantastic. Clear now?

Tutorials on the new stamp sets coming up soon, hopefully early next week.

Super excited!

Look what I just received in the mail. It is my latest release of stamps, yes only three due due simply to the fact that i was rather busy with different sort of stuff when I had to design them. But do not worry, I have lately been working on a few more sets! 


They will soon - over the next couple of days - arrive to craft shops around the country.


Off to play with Journaling Spots, Punchable Labels and Punchable Tags. 

Products I am loving right now

Honestly, I did not expect to love them so much. But I do. they are part of my essential tools now, so easy, quick to add colour to chipboard, card... You can find them here.

The Sizzix Tim Holtz tag die. Fabulous!

Movers and shapers. They are a great addition to the Bigz family. Butterflies and Hearts alike. Hopefully i will take some photos of the tags i did recently to share here.

In other news, we are having our bathroom renovated. I am a bit stressed out and so is Wasabi, but it seems that he seeks comfort by sitting and sleeping on my lap. I can't complain then.

PaperMood

Today I would like to share with you PaperMood. My good friend Fabrizio runs it and I think is a brilliant idea as is the perfect place for looking out for cards and forthcoming new products from different communities.
Plus, it's a perfect site for crafters on the go as it's designed for mobile devices. 

Colours

This is the non Christmas version that I did of this seasonal card that you can find here. Obviously the original one was mounted on to red card and it was large. But the important thing I like to share is to be able to look back at Christmas cards and get inspiration from them. With a little change of colors, you have a bright spring card. All the stamps are from the Filled with Flowers set.


Also, for those who like walks in the country side I would like to recommend my friend Deborah tours at Great Oaks Walks. They organize walking tours around Kent. I am not really into walking around nature (unfortunately, I prefer cities) so I haven't tried them myself, but knowing Deborah and her husband, I know all the walks will be great.

Japan

I am, like I imagine all of you, extremely sad about what has and is happening in Japan. Pretty much all hope that the nuclear situation would be solved seems to have disappeared. So, to the destruction of nature, it is now added a man made destruction. However, if I learnt something from Japan when i went there -in 2004 is that they love beauty and are committed to continuing life even among the hardest of hardships. With all my love and prayers.

Simple Flowers

As a huge lover of all things from Japan and Japan itself, I just want to say that my heart aches so much for all the people in that beautiful country. I hope and pray that they will will find strength to survive and rebuild what nature has destroy. It also comes to show how small we are and what we built is completely at the mercy of nature.

A very dark card, or is it the photo? I think probably is both. Anyway, it is what I call a refurbished card which is a base card that I made a few years ago but revamp it recently to add more elements that are recent and/or new. 

And this is the inside. I used the Simple Flowers set, both the sentiments and the flowers belong to that set.


I am sill trying to balancing all aspects of my professional life. Yesterday, I spent some of my day redoing Dawn Bibby's blog, I hope you will like it too. Also, lately I have been doing a simple website for my photography. I am finishing the details today and I will be able to share it tomorrow.

Quick and easy?

This card is made out of elements that I made in several demos. So one day i sit down and made cards using bits and pieces. I rather like it as it was quick and easy to put together although the elements in themselves took rather longer to make.
I used Simple flowers as the stamp set for the main motif and the sentiment.

Selling off stamps

Since January I have been cleaning up my studio. Not really cleaning as in removing dust and passing the vacuum cleaner, I have been doing that since day one.
I mean like clearing up the studio, going almost drawer by drawer revising what I had that was unlikely that would ever use again. Unsurprisingly, I had loads of stuff to give away. So I offered the stuff that I thought my friends would like to them and also some people who do cards for charity.
I was still left with a lot stamping up and other stamps that decided to try to eBay them. So if you fancy having a look click here to see one of them and then click on see more from this seller to see the whole range of stamps. I still have at least another batch of sets to put up next week, so I will keep you posted.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Coming out later this month

My new stamps sets.

They are all punchable!

This one bellow is my favourite! 

Click here to go to the Personal Impressions page where you can find all my designs as well as some info on when they will be available.