There are angels amongst us...

...honestly there are.

Monday morning I was at my local station before my alarm clock would normally be going off - why? - because I had to get to Cambridge for a meeting at 10am.

Not the most enjoyable way to start the week but hey, ho.

Now I've done this journey several times before so I know what time trains I need to get for the best connections. However, with it being a Monday I didn't want to run into possible "over running engineering works" so I aimed for an earlier train to give myself some breathing space.

Lot of good that did me...

I walked into the station to be faced by an indicator board showing - cancelled; cancelled; cancelled!!!

Signalling problems - and station staff were waiting for confirmation of when replacement buses would turn up - not a promising start to the day.

As I made my way out of the station to await the arrival of the buses (???) a lady came up to me and said she had overheard my enquiry about services and could give me a lift to West Ham station if it would help - see, there are angels around.

I've driven this route before and the traffic is not great during the rush-hour build up but Stephanie does this journey on a regular basis and was able to avoid most of the hold-ups. As we chatted, it turned out she works at the court just across the road from my office - so instead of taking me to West Ham she dropped me off by the court house so that I could cut through to Stratford station.

We had made fabulous time and I got my connection to Liverpool Street earlier than if I had done the whole journey by train...

...no running through Liverpool Street station to find which platform they had put the Cambridge train on this time. I met one of my colleagues on the platform and a text confirmed the other one was on the other end of the train.

We all arrived at Cambridge...

...on time and by sharing a taxi we all arrived for the meeting earlier than anticipated.

The journey home was pretty un-eventful...apart from the fact we got on a 'slow' train that stopped at every lamppost along the way LOL

I hope my angel Stephanie had a good day - she wouldn't allow me to compensate her for any fuel costs as she said she was doing the journey anyway. I really hope that if she should need assistance at any time that there will be an angel for her...............................................................................

Footnote: I arrived at the Cambridge office before my text to my boss did...ain't technology great!

February already...

...just where is the time going?

I can't believe it is over a week since my last post - what happened to those days - do you lose track of time too or is it just me?

Anyhoo...

We are a week into February and however we got here there is still time for a bit of Valentine crafting. Dipping into the "Romantic Valentine Collection 1" from Nicecrane Designs...

...which you can find here. I made another Valentine card.

This card was created using a fancy 8x8 die-cut card blank and one of Ignacio's sweet images...

 ...the image nestles amongst some pretty blooms...

 ...and is matted upon a panel of lace paper from the Papermania 'Parisienne Blue' range...

 ...the large paper blooms are also from this range and I have used red brads for the centres to pick out the reds in the image - a sprinkling of tiny red paper roses have also been added...

...flowers and lace are always felt to be romantic symbols so I hope that has been achieved here.

The DT over at the Nicecrane Design blog have been creating with more of Ignacio's wonderful image sheets - why not hop over there and take a look.......................................................

It's Saturday...

...and how did you spend yours?

I spent my morning in one of Andy's classes (Pinnacle Crafts) playing with Pan Pastels.

This was what I made...

...using a mix of basic Pan Pastels and the newer metallic ones.

Starting with three colours - Orange Shade, Turquoise and Phthalo Green Shade...



 ...a piece of white smooth card was covered in blended stripes.
To create the background card a square of white smooth card was covered...

...with a blend of Diarylide Yellow Tint, Phthalo Green Tint, Turquoise and Phthalo Green.
Using a black Archival ink pad the angel fish image was stamped onto the striped card...

 ...and to create a reverse image, the fish was stamped onto acetate and then pressed onto the striped card. I used a bone folder to help transfer the image.
Once dry, a parchment eraser pencil was used to create some highlighted areas...

 ...this is one of the benefits of the basic Pan Pastels - until they have been sealed they are erasable.
Both images were then carefully cut out...

...taking care not to smudge the colours.
The fish were then sealed using Crafters Companion...

 ...Spray & Shine. Three coats were used to help enhance the colours...

 ...and small googly-eyes were added to give a bit of fun. The fish image was from a stamp set by Sheena Douglass.
From the same stamp set I used two of the seaweed stamps...

...they were stamped randomly using Versamark and then coloured by gently dragging a sponge loaded with the Copper metallic Pan Pastel. This was then sealed using the spray & shine.
Once dry, the fish were mounted onto the background using 3D foam...

 ...a bit of matt & layering and I had a completed tent-fold card.
We were able to play with some other techniques...

 ...some black CS was covered in Versamark and then covered with Pewter, Light Gold, Rich Gold and Copper before using Versamark on some stamps to "stamp off" some of the Pan Pastel...

 ...gradually building up a scene...

...the clouds and covered bridge stamps...

 ...are from Stampscapes...

...the sheen of the metallic pastels made this quite difficult to photograph well but I think you can get the idea - this is a really great technique.

Once finished this was also sealed with spray & shine.

Thank you Andy for a wonderful class - it was great fun playing with the pastels and trying out new things.............................................................

A rose...

...by any other name.

Today I bought some pretty card blanks which are proving to be a perfect base for more of Ignacio's Valentine images. "Be my Valentine CS" can be found here...



...and if you hop on over to the Nicecrane Design site you will find many more fabulous sheets of Valentine images.

This is the card I made earlier...



...using a rectangular 'Elegant Ribbon card' blank, I used the image of a pretty little miss with a basket of roses. The roses cascade to the floor so I decided to pick out a few to add some paper roses to...

 ...and I also added some flat-back gems to give a bit of sparkle...

 ...the image was mounted on some PP and wrapped with some pink organza ribbon...

...this angle gives a better view of the blooms & bling.

I love these card blanks and the die-cut design. It is great having something a little bit different to play with.

If you want to see what other members of the DT have been creating, hop on over to the Nicecrane blog and take a look. You will also get to see some previews of some of Ignacio's latest design sheets..............................................................................

Woop, woop...

...I was one of the winners.

After a week of fun challenges it was lovely to get an email saying that I had won a set of the Birthday digi stamps - and my winners badge above features JJ...how cool!.

Thank you Bugaboo for a great birthday celebration and thank you for my prize.....................

What's next on the calendar...

...it has to be Valentine's Day.

Whilst catching up on my blog reading over the weekend, I came across this clever idea over on the 'Polkadoodles and Studio 12' blog. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be a perfect way to use one of Ignacio's lovely images from the "Romantic Valentine I" set...

 ...which you can find in the Nicecrane shop here.

So the idea that I adapted from the site is a card that is more than a card...

 ...it is a gift as well...

 ...the base card is folded to create a box down the leading edge of the card which holds four tea-lights - held in place with some pretty ribbon.
I made my card out of red CS and then covered the inside, the top of the box and the front panel with some PP that came free with a magazine...

 ...the chosen image was attached at a slight angle and embellished with some roses and a couple of foil hearts...

...as I said, a card that is more than a card. It really is very easy to make and would be great for various occasions.

The Nicecrane DT have been making some fabulous items with Ignacio's latest images so why don't you hop over to the blog and take a look.............................................................

Happy 4th Birthday...

...Bugaboo Stamps!!!

To celebrate there has been a week of challenges over at the Catch the bug challenge blog.

The has been a super Blog hop and a different challenge each day.

Saturday 18 January - Bingo
I decided to go with Bugaboo image/cupcake/scallop...

 ...quite a CAS design for me. The Bugaboo image just happened to be a cupcake...

...and the card blank has scalloped lace printed down the side.

Sunday 19 January - Birthday celebration sketch
This was my take on the sketch that was provided for this challenge...

 ...I kept to a colour scheme of black/white/silver and fairly clean lines as I wanted this for a male birthday card...

...I used an off-cut of the wrapping paper I used on the gift to create one of the layers. The rest of the layers are all black or white CS and I coloured the cupcake image with black & silver pens. A strip of black washi tape with polka dots on and this one was finished.

Monday 20 January - Colour challenge
The photo showing the colours over at the challenge site had me stumped for a while as these are not colours that I would normally use. However, this is what I came up with...

...another CAS card and another cupcake...

...the black polka dot washi came in handy again too.

Tuesday 21 January - New release and/or Bling it up
Sticking with the cupcake image...

 ...I added some holographic miri card...

...and some stickles to give this card a bit of "bling". 

Wednesday 22 January - "Humour me" (something funny)
I do love the "JJ" images - they are so me!. So it had to be a JJ image for this challenge...

...isn't she fab...

...I have coloured her with Spectrum Noir pens.

Thursday 23 January - Just kidding around (something for the kids)
An angel teddy seemed the perfect thing for this challenge...

...coloured with Spectrum Noir pens and given a bit of sparkle with some crystal stickles...

...teddy has been rough cut and attached to a kraft card blank using 3D foam pads.

Friday 24 January - Freebie/Theme (the theme is to include something with increments of 4)
Last of the challenges and we are back to cupcakes but this time a stack of them...

 ...my increments of 4 are the four bands of washi tape and the four pieces of card candi...

...I went with a touch of red/white/blue on this one.

There we have it, my seven entries for the Bugaboo birthday challenge..............................................