WOYWW 338

This is going to be short and sweet - well short anyway - too busy to do anything other than.  Photo one is staged as I put the lights out and used those battery operated candles in the churches - sorry did not have enough - now got to go and get some more.

The real desk shows a bird's eye view of my little village of churches.  Other bits and bobs on the desk as I am turning them into cards (hopefully).  That's a birthday card at the back - love that die and made a card for a friend's birthday yesterday (Happy Birthday Jeannie, somebody tell her, she doesn't go on my blog) in a similar vein but forgot to take a photograph.

So it's die-cutting all the way at the moment and then I might get down to some more cards later but tomorrow I am off for a super duper night out (hopefully) - VIP Invite no less.  Will blog it later but got a mad busy week ahead so will have to see.

In the meantime ho on over to see what Julia is up to and join in the great blog hop that takes place every Wednesday - you are sure to make friends.

Busy Busy Busy

Oh Gosh, hasn't it been hot again - we moan when it is cool, we moan when it is hot, but yesterday I had to get some birthday cards done so I found the heat a bit hampering.

Last weekend Tracey (Oyster Stamps) gave me some Crealies Modern Patchwork Dies to have a play with and Friday was the first time I had chance to give them a go.  Well, nothing on You Tube to show me what to do with them all so cut, cut, cut.  Made a hash of it with the first attempt and then realised I did not have to use all the shapes.

Checked some blogs and found that they did not use all of them. Tracey wanted me to use them differently to how others had used them - so here we are - two birthday cards for friends which will be delivered today in readiness for their birthdays later this month. Neither of them check my blog so I know I am ok to post.  I did do two others but as they had to be mailed out I forgot to take a photograph.

Black circle on white square card with clear stones

sorry it is a bit skewy, it is a white card with black stones

(just photographed on black)

As you can see I went for black and white for my first cards using these shapes.  Not sure what I will be doing next with them - watch this space.

The tutor we had lined up for today has had to cancel and so on Tuesday we found ourselves without anyone to teach the class. Luckily I had a Bargello class ready (ie samples and boards) so I asked if they wanted me to step in, which is a bit why I have been busy. Just hope I can remember how to do it 'cos that is where I am today.  I'll take some photos and post them tomorrow.

What are you doing today?

WOYWW 267, a Grumble, a Mess, Lovely ATC's and a couple of Cards

Wow, that's a mouthful of a header isn't it this morning.

Grumble first - went on Julia's blog earlier and she was saying that her pens had not been used in 18 months and some had dried up. Sorry, but I think we stampers/artists sit back and do not complain when really we should be doing.

I opened some paints the other week which I had not used - dried up to a sponge like consistency - fit only for maybe 'trowelling' on plant pots where texture could be a feature.  These were the last in a long line of products I have used and found to be unusable any more - yet my hard earned money had paid for these.  I think we should be demanding that 'sell by dates' be put on the products - how long have they sat in a warehouse, how long on the shop shelf etc etc.  At the prices I paid for these paints, and others before them, and more before them, I expect them to last.  Others do so why can't these?  My Lumieres I have had since I first began stamping and I have had my old Silks for about three years - they are fine.

Rant over.

Unexpectedly went away for the weekend with Oyster Stamps and Heartfelt Creations and made more cards with the delightful Emma Lou.  Here are a couple of them - don't want to give you overload so will spread them out over a few days.

and 

Came home from Broughton to be greeted by the Police who wanted to know if we had seen anything relating to a car that was close to our house.  "No" was our answer and apparently it was the dumped getaway car from an armed robbery in the area.  Ooer!

Monday I had to put all my goodies away - yes, I bought loads whilst on the weekend, well I have to make these flowers now, I am hooked!  So my craft room had a bit of a reorganise.  Gone is the printer to another room and I have moved some things to give me more stamping space where I sit.  Spent all day on it and as you can see below I now have to clear away some stuff to make my area nice and empty ready for flower making, journalling and whatever other projects I have up my sleeve.  Will someone extend the day by another 12 hours please!!

You can see the blank area of worktop, that's my new extension bit

and here is what used to be around that area in it's new home.

Now I have a huge apology to make - for the last couple of Wednesdays I have uploaded and published and then realised I had not shown my latest atc's so here they are:

Starting left and moving clockwise - Nan G, Dolores, Peggy (2) and last but certainly not least Darnell. Don't know how I got two from Peggy but I am certainly not grumbling.  Thank you ladies for adding to my beautiful 2014 collection.

Ok I have talked enough, pop along to see Julia, find out what she has been up to and then go and look at what others are doing.   

Continuing with Emma Lou

My final orange bloom card is here.  We were given sentiments to put on each one and this would have had the sentiment just inside the opening gate but I decided to wait and see what I used my card for before adding a sentiment.

After the morning session where we had made all five of the cards I have now shown you we had a lovely buffet lunch, sitting outside in the hotel gardens, and then came in to begin making different flowers using the Arianna Blooms set.  

Here's one of the cards

I just love the spidery stamens that you cut out with this one.  Oops, looks as if the bottom one got squashed a bit in transporting.  Not to worry, I have straightened it out now.  Want to see more?  

That cute parasol bows out and I can put some tissue underneath when posting out

The last two I added jewel centres to when I got home.  What do you think about the black?

If any of you are thinking about any of the Oyster Stamps Retreats let me just say, we did not need to take a thing.  Everything was laid out for us to use, fine nozzled glue, cutting mats to work on, ink pads, dabbers, water spritzers and on and on I could go.  And let's not forget the inner man - food abundant.  Forget slimming, just enjoy a day or a weekend of friendship and fun (and come away with makes like this).

A BIG Thank You to the Oyster Gang and to Heartfelt Creations for a wonderful day ... and more to come.

Continuing the Oyster Stamps Day

Here are another two of the cards we made at the Oyster Stamps Day in Chirk.  Hope you enjoyed yesterday's and you enjoy todays.  Will upload two more tomorrow

Again, yet two more flowers using the same die.  These, yesterdays and tomorrows cards all use the Majestic Blooms die.  Aren't they different?

Hope you enjoyed seeing them.  Want to have a go - just go to Oyster Stamps and buy those dies and stamps before they sell out!

Went on a Workshop with Emma Lou

Yesterday I went with my lovely friend Lorraine to a workshop in Chirk that Oyster Stamps had arranged.  The delightful Emma Lou from Heartfelt Creations is over here with her equally delightful husband Richard and they are doing a series of workshops for Oyster Stamps which Lorraine had suggested we might go to.

Now I know you all know I demonstrate for Oyster but I wanted it to be a surprise and for Tracey and Graham, and it really was.  It was lovely to see the big smile on Tracey's face when she saw me - obviously we had to have big cuddles.  The day just went better and better as an old friend, Chris was there on her own so she sat with us on our table and then I saw Isobel who I work with at the Leigh Shows.  I am not missing Ellie, dear loveable Ellie, out who was stood with Tracey outside and had a lovely big grin on her face when she saw me.  We first met on an Oyster Retreat and we get on really well.

Anyway, enough of this waffling, but it was good to see so many lovely friends, and then be introduced to the delightful Emma Lou and Richard.

Everything was stamped and cut out for us so all we had to do was colour and assemble our cards.  The whole aim of the workshop was for us to learn how to shape the die cuts into flowers.  In order to get through eight, yes EIGHT, cards in the day - all the hard work of cutting and stamping had been done - it was all about shaping the flowers.  How to get different looks from one diecut!  Fabulous.  Now we can make totally different cards having bought just one stamp and one die.

Here are two of my cards - I am going to space them out over the next few days and upload two (without the waffle) each day over the weekend.  Hope you enjoy!

Not sure if the bottom one should have been photographed as a portrait style card, but hey ho, you can decide which way it looks best yourself.  Can you see the centre of the second one is different?  Now what will I show you tomorrow?

A Bit of Alcohol for Christmas - Artful Times Challenge (Long Post - lots of samples)

Phew!  It was a rush to get these things done for the challenge this week, somehow my feet have been dragging (or should that be my hands?) and I have two poorly arms to boost.  The left one (thank goodness I am right handed) is really painful - I had the flu jab in my right arm and the pneumonia one in the left.  Whinge over!  Here's what I made for the ALCOHOL INK Challenge (yes, not Brandy/Whisky or Mother's Ruin ie Gin)

Here is my Alcohol Inking:

The bottom left is a piece of mirri card that has been covered in rust shades after embossing - the same has been done with the diecut clock.  Between them you see a Microscope Slide - how many of you remember the craze for doing those a few years ago?  There are another two at the bottom right.  Both of these were covered in AI's and then a circle stamped on them using Archival Ink.  This was then wiped off and it gets rid of the AI so you can then stamp something in the circle.  Those Hero Arts stamps work perfectly with Black Stazon.

You may wonder what on earth that green thing is - well it is AI's on clear plastic.  I have a little stand which I am going to make into a calendar next year so I can record just briefly, maybe one word, what I did that day.

The top line is just AI's on Glossy Card - it needs to be a slick surface.  Now for some makes:

This is the cuckoo clock cut on Mirri Card.  I love the metallic effect you get when you do this.

This colour combo gave me this

Which turned into a trifold card

I used a JustRite stamp set I bought from Oyster Stamps last summer.  I must say these do stamp out awfully well.

This colour combo produced a bookmark

This was my desk in preparation for the calendar I am making and that is the calendar base with a sheet of paper behind so you can see the colour - the other side had the blue tone in and came out more turquoise.

The slides and the colours I used

When you use AI's on your slides you can put a backing sheet behind them and depending on what colour of sheet you use it changes the colour of the slide - sometimes quite dramatically.  Why don't you try some?  Try cream, purple, gold, silver, light and dark blue etc.  It's fun to see them come alive.

As you can see I have just pounced my blending tool on the various things I have done but you can make a checkered pattern too by dragging your tool across the card one way and then at right angles again.  Here's a quick one I just did for you - you can spend more time and get your lines much better than I have.

You can also paint with your AI's.

The background for this atc was made by simply putting some Blending Fluid on the mat I was working on, to kind of start the cleaning up, and then the card dragged and swirled through the resulting colour.  I then stamped the fairy and painted with AI's some parts of his wings and the flowers.  You can see one of my Erte stamps waiting to be coloured also.  I bought this palette a while ago from Ali-Craft at one of the shows.  It has a lid and I just put a squirt of AI in the various sections and they dry, then when I want to use the colour I just add a little of the Blending Fluid and use a brush.

Some of the things I still have that I did quite some time ago but showing different mediums:

Remember my cut down milk carton (plastic)

and the metal flowers (as shown by Linda Brown)

Glass test tubes from a car boot sale

Shrink Plastic Jewellery

I would wear this jewellery as I still like it and find it wearable.  Just random cut shapes of clear SP coloured with AI's and then shrunk.  Gold Krylon around the edges finishes each 'shard' off.  In fact - I need to find some more Shrink Plastic, not used it in a long time.

If you have stayed through this mammoth post - Thank You!  You deserve a medal - but if you have I hope you will try some of the AI's on different "slick" surfaces and show us what you made.  Any queries just email me (see pretty child picture on right hand side, near the top, for email addie).

Bye for now!

Well, it's certainly been raining men in my house over the past few weeks.  No, not had lots of 'real' men but I have been putting the Tim Holtz stamps to good use.  If you look back at my post here you will see the canvasses I did with these same stamps when on the Oyster Stamps Retreat.

Well it has been Chas's birthday and so I wanted to make him a different card to the ones I have done in previous years (I always try to make something different) so this time I sent off for a Sizzix Die.  Then realised I needed another one for the joiny up bit!  Doh!

"Double Doh" because when I tried to get one everyone was out of stock!  Panic!  And still are.

Write to Rita, her daughter used this die with a lovely card maybe she can advise and I can "wing it".  Oh heck, just realised Rita is on holiday.  Anne (Redanne) she has used this die as well.  So off went another email.  Almost immediately came a reply from (Red)Anne - she would cut me some out and send them.  Then another reply from Annie, Rita's daughter (bless Rita she had got in touch with her despite being away) saying she would send me some.  Check out their blogs, they do some fabulous work.

Anyway, now to my card, which had to be created in a bit of a rush I am afraid

the front when open

and

the back

and the die is still not in stock!

Hope you find time to join in with a "Male" card - we would love to see what you do over on Artful Times.

I used Memento London Fog to stamp the background images, Archival Black for the main images and guess what?  Distress Inks for the colour.

Coincidence:  Pure accident that today happens to be the birthday of my Dad.  Still miss him (and my mum).  Didn't realise when I chose this theme or put it at this challenge number.

A Beautiful Baby Boy

One of my friends became a Great Grandmother for the very first time the other week.  Her grand-daughter gave birth to a healthy 8 lb 11 oz baby boy!  It was so funny when we were on the 'phone.  She mentioned that someone had sent the father's mother a "Congrats Grandparents" card and said she had never heard of that (she is a card maker) and how silly it was.  I sat there, not knowing whether to laugh or own up - I had made one for her. It was with the Birth Congratulations card and she would be getting it the following day.

How we laughed about it when she eventually plucked up courage to ring me and thank me.  Here are the two cards - I did not know what to do and got a bit tired of my usual baby cards so used a teddy bear on this one.

and for my friend

'another boy' card (they have lots of boys in the family)

Both using Spellbinders gorgeous frames (obtainable from Oyster Stamps) and painted with Twinkling H2o's.

A Total Air Head

That's Me!  Just in case you did not know already.  Read on.

Worked Leigh Show over the weekend for my favourite people, Oyster Stamps, and  it was mad busy on Saturday so Tracy who was demoing the NEW Spellbinders Artisan X-Plorer was so busy helping take cash that the machine was not getting seen.  In shot "I" to the rescue (that was my excuse) and snaffled it and set off on my table using it.  Fell in love with it - now known as "my baby" - and ended up demoing it all weekend  Guess what now sits on my desk at home?

It is an ideal machine for anyone who has a problem with turning the handle on a die-cutter but doesn't want an electric one and it is ideal for children (Chloe will love it and find it easy to turn, can't wait for her to come and see).  Despite its 4.5 inch wide footprint it can cut most of the thin dies and we found that it cuts beautifully the ones that you normally have problems with and have to cut, turn, cut, turn several times.

Of course, that is as well as it being primarily used to cope with the heavier jobs - it cuts metal and fabric - or at least it did for me last night - and Tracy cut chipboard with it last week (a very tiny bird at that).

The "Air Head" title comes from the fact that I was so enthusiastic about the two main products I was demoing that when I got home on Saturday evening, despite being a bit achey I set to and made a poster, adding a flower I had cut from Fabric, one from Shrink Plastic, one from Metal and on from thick Cardstock.  Nothing air headed about that you say.  No, next morning I left it and another one in the utility room!  Along with my list of dies I own, inks I own, etc etc - so much for non-duplication!  Have now got two of two PaperArtsy Fresco Paints.  You can see the paper on the photo above.

As well as the wonderful new Spellbinders machine I was using the Radiant Rain sprays.  Now to be honest sprays do not like me and I do not like them.  I have a tin overflowing with different makes and they all drive me up the pole with clogging.  I soak the nozzle, the 'straw' that connects the top to the liquid overnight but still they won't behave for me.

Five favourites 

BUT ... Radiant Rain sprays were used all two days by us and I fell in love with them.  The sparkle (and I am not a sparkle person) is fabulous, subtle, but very much there, lovely colours which mix (Sour Lemon and Teal Zircon or Bashful Blue made my favourite green). Tracy loved the sparkle and we enjoyed showing one another what we could do.  I think we ended up, with three colours only, left in the box and that was after I had raided the boxes under the table to stock up again and again.

Now I am going to make some cards using the ones I brought home.

As well as enjoying my time with my favourite family (the 'Oyster' one and the others who come with them to this show) I got to see my friend Ali from Ali-Craft who always has things to tempt me on her stand.  Bless her, she had brought the Dylusion Sprays I ordered in January and forgot about and I just had to buy some Artistic Outpost Stamps.  Check her website here as she has oodles of them and I don't know who else sells them.  Had to buy some PaperArtsy paints from her as well.

Over the weekend several friends called and some I managed to have a word with, apologies to those I was too busy to talk to but it was nice to see you.  As for you my dear Reader/Follower I do say check out the products I have been demoing - I am sure you will like them.

Maybe tomorrow I will get chance to use one or two of my new dies - and who knows - make a card as well.  We'll have to wait and see.

WOYWW 200

Oh Julia, do you realise, of course you do, you have now got to a double century, in number, of posts of WOYWW.  Congratulations!  and Hi WOYWW'ers who are out there.  Happy Day!

Ok, so some folks might think I have lost it, follow the above link and see who else has.

My desk today - well, busy doing prep for a workshop so this is it.  No time to stop and chat either so that will please you all as you are busily visiting others.

Yes, I have been die-cutting - and used my Vagabond for quick results plus I wanted to cut out in mount board.  Had to wheel it in - here is my die cutting station that sits outside (unless we have visitors when it is hastily wheeled in again or if I am wanting to use one of the two machines it holds).

top left - Cuttlebug, top right Vagabond, centre embossing folders.  Middle shelf plates for CB plus my small plates for my Grand Calibur, Vintaj dies.  Bottom shelf my Memory Box, Cheery Lynne etc dies in one of those fab Art Bin cases plus a big box of ephemera.

See you next week!

My First (and only) Christmas Card

Off to Vicky Stampers this morning so I needed to make a Christmas Card as we all are asked to take one and we have a kind of 'swap'.  Not a clue what to do, tried a couple of ideas - didn't work - so settled on using my die cuts.  Here is my card for the swap:

Using one of my all time favourites, the Poinsettia by Spellbinders, I cut one of each size, sparkled them up on the edges and put them together with a little pinch down the centre of each petal/leaf.  Then a sprig of holly and a doily from Cheery Lynne and we were ready to assemble our easel card.

Still in the mood I made a birthday card for a friend of mine - a week late I might add.

Two Spellbinders Frames

and my favourite image

That's all for now I have things to get ready - thank goodness the weather is a lot better this morning, that freezing fog was terrible yesterday.

Out of a Hat Want Us to Recycle

or do they?  Have I misunderstood?  It says use recycled packaging and I have simply used a box and recycled it.  Ooer!  Well, here it is:

This is my morning Muesli

Having searched for the perfect Muesli I have come down in favour of this one.  I just adore the pineapple chunks inside and take them all out when I put the cereal into its special box (Tupperware) and put them into a bag which then goes in the box.  Each morning when I put my cereal out my first treat is one of the pineapple chunks.  Yum yum!

I love the cut out butterfly on the front so I chopped the box down a bit and painted it all over with Gesso to give it some tooth.  Then began the painting of it with my Ranger Dabbers.  First of all a pale pink all over (why?  I am not a pink person at all.  Too tall for pink, you have to be small and delicate in my eyes.)  Then it was Blue and then Purple to create the sky with three shades of green painted on below for the grass.

I thought I had a die for tiny flowers which I was going to use along the bottom edge but guess I dreamt it - memo to self:  "Get one next time you are working."

So it had to be a frantic hunt for a suitable stamp, small and upright - thought these lollipop flowers fit the bill.  Then one of my favourite dies was used to cover the join of the grass and the sky cut from a tag type label from my new jumper - my only claim to recycled packaging.

Hope the girls from Out of a Hat Creations accept this as I doubt I have time to start over.

A Mode of Transport

That's the title of the Challenge over on Artful Times this week.  Chosen by Sam who has done a terrific sample for us all to see.

I hummed and aahed as to what to do for mine and then I remembered that I had some diecuts from my lovely friend Marie who lives in Greece and makes the most fantastic stuff with her Silhouette (and makes fantastic stuff without it too).  It was about time I did a diecut card too so I got my Grand Calibur out and cut myself a lovely big fancy square in black and mounted it on a very pale cream card.  Rather surprisingly it matched perfectly to the diecut Maria had sent to me.

Now you all know what a Steampunk fan I am, well, I could not let this card go out without some cogs and wheels so thankfully I had some of those as well - all the way from Greece again.  Here it is - my Mode of Transport card

I searched high and low for the stamp I have that says "Memories" as I felt it was in need of something to point out the vintage quality of the card - nope!  Not a sniff of it!  Thank goodness I had the sense to look at what else I had as I found this stamp with a dictionary definition of the word "Remember".  Quite appropriate I thought and so there it is.

I wonder what you will come up with?  You have all done us proud in the past and there have been weeks where we have had lots and lots of entries so I am hoping there are lots again with this one.  Wonder if anyone will do fairies - I did think of that at one time - they have wings and wings are a mode of transport aren't they?

Is this Pretty? It's an Oyster Challenge!

Ever had one of those deja vue moments?  I am having one right now.  Am sure I have already blogged this but cannot find it, yet I remember exactly what the words are that I am going to use. Remember in the way that I have already used them.  Searched through my scheduled posts but there is nothing there.  Most peculiar!

Anyway, here is what I was/am going to say - My *ex-friend, Barbara, another member of the Oyster Stamps Design Team, challenged me to do a "pretty" card.  She feels I am a bit of a "grunge" person and so the last time we met up she gave me this stamp from 'Whimsy Stamps' - 'Rose and Felix' with the instructions "make a pretty card". All I can say after attempting to colour this image in and make the card up is "thank you so much Barbara!".

I was really chuffed at what I achieved at Vicky Stampers a couple of months ago when I did a class with Vix but when it came to colouring this image in I found I had forgotten most of what I had been taught. Shows that you need to practice , practice, practice when learning something,.  Did I not learn anything at my psychology classes all those years ago when I was training to be a teacher?  Is it Skinner or Pavlov I should be listening to again?

I tried to use mainly Spellbinders dies, the circles and the scalloped ones for the main image, the ticket and the photo corners from old ones but I resorted to a Cheery Lynn die for the flowers as they needed to be tiny and to a MS punch for the vertical strip down the side.  All available from Oyster Stamps which is where the card has ended up - sent to The Boss (not sure which one) and a note sent to Barbara to tell her that the card is up.

I do have another cute stamp which I am going to use to try to make a "pretty" card with but this time will do it in lighter colours as I bet Barbara thinks this is verging on the grungey side with it being dark colours.  Will have to wait and see what she has to say.

*only kidding about Barbara being an EX friend.  She is one of the nicest people you could wish to meet and I have been dem'ing with her for quite a long time now and always look forward to seeing her at the shows.  Sorry Barbara, am sure you knew the EX thing was a joke.

Oyster Stamps Blog Hop Starts Today

Well, here we are at last, Oyster Stamps is launching its very first Blog Hop, in fact the first time the Design Members (Barbara, Linda, Martine, Pam, Paul and myself, Neet) have got together as a team.  I do hope you join in and visit each one of us as we upload our creations using our Grand Calibur and the Spellbinders Cut, Fold and Tuck Dies starting here today.

It all began with a bit of fun with our ‘boss lady’, Tracey, handing me four sets of Dies at Aintree show.  Four “Cut, Fold and Tuck” dies to do something with.  She then said she was going to challenge the team to come up with something using them.  Barbara and I chipped in and then the words “blog” and ”hop” came out into the conversation and before I knew what was happening it was taking off.

Here’s a short video to show you how these incredible dies work and a little snapshot of what I made with some of the ones I had been given to work with.  (This video went live yesterday to make sure it was working in time for the Blog Hop so it does talk about "tomorrow" which is "today".  Sorry.  Also the sound is fairly low but that is my itty bitty camera.  Please bear with me.)

Now you have marvelled at my finger nails (don’t often get them all to that length – wonder how long they will stay?) here is what I did with my dies.  It’s fun to buy more than one set of these dies as you can mix and match them - I threw mine in the air and let them land on my desk and then proceeded to make a card with a couple of them.  Now to puzzle as to which set they all belong to LOL.

It had to be a large card from me as I am always dem'ing the Grand Dies from Spellbinders so here I have used Grand Labels One and Four, CFT Angle Approach (Lg), Carnival Dream (Md) and Parisian Accents (thanks *Cindy - see link at end) for the corner pieces.

There are so many things you can do with these dies, not just restrict yourself to making cards, what about a candlestick (Spectacular Spin (L) drip tray ?  (NB please do not leave unattended when burning the candle – always take care with a naked flame or better still remove the tray when burning the candle)

A napkin ring (Floral Burst (M) to use on that table setting with the candlestick?  You could even make a placemat and put one in the corner – imagine them all in red, white and blue for a Jubilee celebration!

I used a sheet of A4 card, the Fleur de Lis border and made a place mat for my Party Setting

I even went and made a badge/rosette (Floral Burst (L) for George, one of the twins (sorry Tom, could not find your photo on my computer) which is what you could do for the kids who are having a party.  Either the child’s name or a number showing their age would be good fun and would fit in those party bags just fine.

There were so many things I wanted to make with these versatile dies – I thought a headband with one, two or three of them on the side would be rather cute, two or three brightly coloured ones on sticks to make some fun flowers.  The ideas are endless.  What can you come up with?

Once I see what the others have made I think I will get back to making more things.  Hope you do too – they are on sale here at Oyster Stamps so get them quickly as the orders will be flying off the shelves in no time.  In the meantime though, you need to follow all the wonderful talented Design Team to see what incredible makes they have all done.  Just leave a comment on every blog and at the end, 6pm Friday, 25th May, all the names of those who have commented (on ALL SIX Blogs) will go into a hat and a winner will be chosen who will receive two of the dies we have been using!

Be sure to peek in at the other DT Members  - tomorrow we are with Linda and then going on to

Sunday - Pam

Monday - Paul

Tuesday - Barbara

And ending with Martine on Wednesday.

Have fun!  And please leave us a comment to tell us what you think of our creations and our first ever blog hop!  Remember, there's going to be a lucky winner.

Links as promised:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vSpPO7o61U&feature=channel&list=UL – * Cindy Etchinaw’s You Tube video

http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/warmed-with-joy/ - Becca’s Amazing Paper Grace Blog