MrsBeez

The Little Mermaid

Posted on July 20, 2014 by MrsBeez

This week’s challenge over at City Crafter Challenge Blog is to use at least one chipboard on your project. I love chipboard, both as a base and as an embellishment. I don’t know if it’s just me but I find blank chipboard shapes quite hard to get hold of – there seem to be lots available on the other side of the pond. I’m trying to build up a collection of Sizzix Bigz dies as these do the job on chipboard brilliantly. Today I’ve used a frame for my little under the sea scene:

I covered the chipboard with some paper from the Gecko Galz La Isla Bonita papers before running it through the Bog Shot to cut the frame shape. In reality the frame is an oval shape but I snipped into it to make it sit more snugly against the tin which forms the base of my project.

I coloured the tin with alcohol inks to give the appearance of something that had been sitting on the seabed for a while. This would be brilliant if it weren’t for the fact that I have covered most of it up!!The mermaid image is from the Gecko Galz Merry Little Mermaids collage sheet. I use the complete image on the base of the tin and then cut into several more, building up the layers using glue gel, to give lots of depth and dimension. I’ve given her tail a glittery coating and popped some white Icelandic moss on the bottom of the tin.

The finishing touch was to add some shells.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Sail Away 2

Posted on July 19, 2014 by MrsBeez

I’m sorry if the title of this post gives you ear worms in any way. I have been alternating my choice of tunes firstly by singing the Enya song and then Rod Stewart’s “We are Sailing.”

This little canvas was made using an image from the Crafter’s Companion Halcyon Days CD. This CD is jam packed with fabulous images from original embroidery pieces by Abigail Mill. The yacht image was left over after I had made a card. First I created the background using a mixture of paints, ink and stamping.

Then it was just a case of applying the image and adding a little shading and the words.

Wonder where this boat is heading?

On a different note, look what arrived in the post for me today:

It’s Mrs Beez in lLgo form! Look at that cute little honey pot. I couldn’t resist and made a dramatic last 10 seconds bid on Ebay to secure her. This is going to be my little mascot to help me through my gruelling work schedule. I might just add a tiny bit of glitter to her wings.

Thanks for buzzing by.

The final goodbye

Posted on July 17, 2014 by MrsBeez

If I tell you that today’s post is again about the departure of my work colleague you’ll be thinking “hasn’t she gone yet?” Well, yesterday really was the final goodbye – as in the work sense as we shall be keeping in touch. Yesterday we met for the final time for a formal handover and to say goodbye away from the chaos of the office where the “official” leaving do was last week. You can see the card I made for that occasion here. Having previously made and blogged what I intended to be her leaving card I had a change of heart and made her this instead:

I am keeping the butterfly one I made earlier for her birthday. I found this vintage image, an old cover from Good House Keeping magazine, on Etsy and decided it would make a great card for Sue.

When we were out delivering training(ooh past tense now:( !!!!) I took responsibility for all the equipment and very possessive and protective I was about it too. People didn’t dare touch the boxes as they knew they would incur my wrath! That’s the nature of the job you see, if things are not in order it can all easily fall apart. Some things I would only allow out if you had a passport, a letter from the Queen and vial of blood!! Rolling pins was one of them – strictly for high days and holidays – and don’t even get me started on lemon squeezers or wooden spoons! (Can you see why perhaps I need a new job?!) So this card was made with that in mind.

I’ve used red card and kraft paper to create mats and layers and then added lace, ribbon and tiny roses. It was hard to find the words to put inside and yesterday when we finally parted I decided it was best just to go! The tears came later in the evening when I opened the card and gift she had given me. Take a look:

How perfect is that?

Thanks for buzzing by.

Book of houses

Posted on July 16, 2014 by MrsBeez

Right now, I don’t feel I have a lot of time for playing craft and when I do find those precious moments I feel it should be quick, simple and easy. This is not the time for major mucking and messing about. But this week’s Sunday Stampers challenge – books – had the power of Narnia (book reference see?!) and pulled me to the land of let’s do the opposite

As soon as I saw the challenge that Hels had set I knew I was going to make a concertina book. Then I realised that here was an opportunity to try out my new Invoke Arts stamps AND play with inks – it was a done deal. Now I know this could have been more complicated and detailed but after mucking it up once I kept on the straight and narrow for attempt two.

The book was made with a piece of black A4 card cut in half lengthwise and folded into equal portions. I cut the leftover bit off one, for there was a little, and used the other to join the two pieces together. Then I made backgrounds from old booked pages and stamped a different border on each one using mainly my Lindsay Mason Zendoodles String Theory set by Papermania.

Each of the houses was stamped on to card, cut out and then inked with distress inks. A few have white highlights add – some even have them where I didn’t mean to put them!

This stamp set is amazing, not only are there five houses (the sixth, the one with the stars, is a separate stamp) but loads of little extras such as swirls, stars and hearts. I added one or two here and there but not as many as I would have liked. The cover has stamps from the set too plus a bit of doodling by me and a hand cut heart left over from yesterday’s project.

I think making little books is one of my favourite things to do – throw in whimsical houses and distress inks and you have crafting bliss.

Thanks for buzzing by.

In the navy

Posted on July 15, 2014 by MrsBeez

Today is all about Every Inchie Monday and you will have probably guessed from the title of this post that this week’s theme is navy. Now as you know, I love a colour theme but this week, decided to force myself to go down a different route and I have to tell you I’m really glad I did.

Not only were these fun to make they were also quick and easy and I’m very happy with how they turned out. I’ve used some vintage images from The Graphics Fairy and The Gecko Galz plus some words from the Fishy Tales collage sheet by Artchix.

Here I’ve combined the music image from The Graphics Fairy with one of a sailor boy from the Gecko Galz Red, White and Blue ephemera set. On the other one I’ve combined designer paper and washi tape and used an image from the Red, White and Blue Jewel it set, also by the Gecko Galz.

This one is a naval flag image from The Graphics Fairy and the words and little ship were all part of the same image on the Artchix Fishy Tales collage set plus a tiny piece of knotted baker’s twine.

The last two are more images from The Graphics Fairy collaged on to starry paper and finished with words from Fishy Tales.

Now these may have been fun to make but the experience was slightly spoiled by my singing, never great (or so I’m told!) at the best of times, the Village People song which is the title of this post!

Don’t forget to buzz over to Every Inchie Monday and see what the other players have been up to, you can be sure to see tons of creative thinking.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Always in my heart

Posted on July 14, 2014 by MrsBeez

If you are a regular over here you will know that I am a big supporter of Amy and Friends, the charity that supports sufferers of Cockayne Syndrome and their families. I learned about Cockayne Syndrome through the amazing blog of Scarlett Clay whose youngest son, Knox, was a sufferer. Their story touched my heart so deeply I vowed to do as much as I could to raise the profile of this disorder and the work of Amy and Friends. You can read more here. Today would have been the fourth birthday of dear little Knox, but all too sadly he lost his battle against Cockayne Syndrome earlier this year. In his honour and memory I have created this postcard:

The background was created with Dylusions ink sprays and then overstamped using my collection of various sized dots and that fabulous spiral by Neil Walker. I added the main flower, by Stampotique, and then stamped around the edge with my favourite Dylusions border. I’ve added a bit of colour with watercolour pencils.

The flower has been paper pieced and I made a couple of extra flower heads.You will recognise the Hero Arts butterfly and here I’ve used distress inks to add colour.

The little hearts were cut freehand from paper that had been coloured with red distress inks.

If you would like to show your support for Amy and Friends they would love it if you left them some words of encouragement on their Facebook Page or, if you are on Twitter, you can tweet @AmyandFriends. You can also make a donation via the website. Thank you

Butterfly kisses sweet Knoxy, I will never forget you

“Some people come into our lives and quickly go.
Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to
new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom.…
Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon.
They stay in our minds, leave footprints
on our hearts, and we are never ever the same.”

(Flavia Weedn)

Thanks for buzzing by.

Sunshine and Lavender

Posted on July 13, 2014 by MrsBeez

Have you worked out that when my blog posts appear at 10am that I must be on top of my game and scheduling ahead? Conversely when they appear at random during the day I am playing catch up?! Today is definitely a catch up day, but how therapeutic it has been making a card for this week’s City Crafter Challenge Blog “Sunshine and Lavender” theme:

Sitting and punching out all the flowers and then placing them was sooo relaxing

I layered up lavender card and yellow designer paper and distressed the edges. The final layer was a piece of card embossed with swiss dots.

I used a Martha Stewart punch to make lots of blossoms from a variety of lavender papers and cards plus a little yellow. Then it was just a question of arranging them into a wreath. I did about three layers in total to give it some depth and on the final layer added some of the smaller blossoms. Each has been topped with a blob of vanilla Cosmic Shimmer glue.

I added a few more blossoms to the corners of the card and then added a stamped and punched butterfly to the centre of the wreath. A little yellow bow is the finishing touch.

Funnily enough it has been a bit of a “sunshine and lavender” kind of a day. After overnight rain the sun has reappeared – not helpful when you are trying to take photographs! Then Mr Beez has been busy planting some flowers in the garden, not lavender, but two different types with a purple hue. Very pretty they look too.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Summer love sensations

Posted on July 12, 2014 by MrsBeez

Hooray for the weekend and it looks like it’s going to be a very warm and sunny one over in my corner of the world. To celebrate this summeriness I thought I would share two of my Gecko Galz DT makes with you.

First up is this simple card that was made using a paper from the La Isla Bonita paper pack. Who can resist little seahorses? They have such a magical quality about them. I’ve made a topper by picking out two of the seahorses and coating the paper with Mod Podge glitter.

Then I’ve layered it up with a bit of silver glitter card and some more paper, added some seam binding and topped it off with punched, glittery red heart.

Confession time. I’d forgotten that I had intended to give this to my brother and his wife for their anniversary until after I created the card that I shared earlier this week. What a forgetful numpty I am!

My second card again uses a La Isla Bonita paper but this time I’ve teamed it with an image from the She Sells Seashells collage sheet (you’ve no idea how difficult it is to type that!). Originally I was going to layer the image with other but decided it was such a shame to cover any part of it.

I added some muslin, twine and a scattering of pearls.

Don’t forget that there is a buy one get one free offer over at the Gecko Galz and, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to pick up this month’s freebies.

By the way, if the title of this post rings any bells I’d love you to let me know – if you recognise where it comes from, without resorting to Google, then we probably have more in common than just a love of craft.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Bee girl

Posted on July 11, 2014 by MrsBeez

Today I have a mini canvas to share with you, something I made just for fun:

This uses one of my new stamps from Invoke Arts - a cute little tag shape. If you look very carefully you may just spot the bee hiding amongst the flowers. As ever I was short on time so just made it up as I went along, generally just picking up scraps and bits that were easily to hand. I used Rusty Hinge distress ink to stamp the image and then added a little colour here and there using water colour pencils. I made a feature of her crown by adding glitter.

The canvas was waiting to be put away so instead I grabbed it, covered it with book page and then some dusky rose acrylic paint. Once dry, I blobbed on some texture bead gel, left it to dry and then rubbed on gold acrylic paint.

I have a special box that I keep all my lace type trims in, including any scraps and offcuts. I layered on scraps, popped on the tag and then some more scraps.

I am sharing this over at Craft Hoarders Anonymous for challenge #11 – Tag Your It.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Playing Catch Up

Posted on July 10, 2014 by MrsBeez

I hardly dare start this post with another whinge about my job but the last three days have been a whirlwind! I have also had to factor in to the mix a back injury which is the last thing I need in a job that requires a lorra lorra lifting, loading and unpacking, especially when I am about to embark on the most intense delivery programme over the summer. I can’t tell you how much it has meant to come home to some lovely comments left by you fabulous peeps – thank you. In the flurry, I have completely overlooked my 2nd blogiversary which fell earlier this week! Yay, happy anniversary to me!!! I had thought I would have a celebration and give away but that will have to wait until a little later, but it will happen I promise you!

Today’s project is celebrating a different anniversary, my brother and his wife will have been married 13 years next week and I am sharing the card I have made for them.

Of course their anniversary would fall on a Monday which is always an awkward day when you are relying on good old snail mail and you have to be super organised. I don’t worry too much when it involves my brother as he is a bit..er…rubbish, quite frankly, when it comes to getting cards sent. I have done a clean and simple single layer card to make it easy to post. Of course I have discovered that I only have large stamps so it wouldn’t have mattered any way.

I have used some fabulous new stamps that I got from Invoke Arts. I was super excited when they finally arrived and very frustrated I haven’t had a proper chance to paly yet. I need to warn you that if you choose to visit their website you will want every single stamp they produce. I simply stamped in black and then used a combination of Promarkers and distress ink to add colour. The original stamp does have a little window but I have used a separate stamp that had the window plus heart and the word. I paper pieced the heart so that it was red and then added glitter. The greeting is by Darkroom Door.

I’ve mounted both image and words on some cardstock and then added a piece of coordinating twine.I shall be sharing this over at Sunday Stampers where this week’s theme is to use a greeting. Be sure to buzz over and take a look at Hels’ fabulous butterfly thank you card.

Having got myself organised and made this card ahead of schedule I must not forget to post it. There is absolutely no way I can let my brother get one over on me!

Thanks for buzzing by.