Designed to Colour Challenge 1...Rolled flowers

I recently stumbled across Designed to colour's E magazine ...it's a mag dedicated to colouring techniques primarily but it also has  fab ideas and inspiration to draw from too.

I think colouring images is one of the most important elements and one most of us strive to perfect, well I know I do lol.

So I thought I would take part in their first  monthly challenge which is rolled flowers as featured in the latest magazine.

The fab prize is 3 digis from the talented Krista at Saturated Canary

Now I don't have a die though I know there are some out there....Memory Box spring to mind

 Pinwheel Posie

OR

Marianne Die Chinese Rose

I just cut random circles and cut a spiral into them.

I don't have a quilling tool either so I rolled them around a pencil and hoped for the best...

I'm fairly pleased with the result ?

The Image is a sweet stamp set Pure Innocence called Rose

Papers are Basic Grey again...Loving these

I seem to have a thing about Red at the mo ?

The pearl swirl and Pins by The Hobby House...we have them in store....yummy :)

Lastly I coloured her with Copics and Lyras...my new best friends..... loving them.

Well that's all from a rainy Yorkshire for now....

Love Katy xx

Have a lovely day

A quickie post....I'm in the middle of sorting through and tidying up all my craft stash..I'm trying to be organised to make it easier to actually find what I need lol, a nightmare most of the time :)

We now stock Stampingbella stamps at work...these have been a favourite of mine for some time, so thrilled we have them now.

The stamp is a Ketto called Phoebe

Papers are Basic Grey find them here...

The scalloped top to this card is actually one of the papers with a scallop design which I cut, inked and layered.

Spellbinder die is.....Persian motifs 

Coloured with Lyra polycolour pencils from Pencils4artsists..........yes I bought some a few weeks ago and dare I say LOVE them slightly more than Prismas, they blend better and the skin tones are great ! though there are more colours in the Prisma range..

Dorcas gives a great comparison between the two on her blog here 

Well back to my sorting out, have a nice sunday everyone

Love Katy xx

Things can only get better

Well I'm feeling much better today and have got my brain into gear and remembered to bring my cards home to photograph...........

I think this stamp is one of my fav Mo Manning stamps....... Jill is two..........  which you can find here 

Papers are Baby Jane .....Cosmo Cricket

Leaves are a Woodware Punch

Flowers, butterflies and Ladybirds are all Craft for occasion embellishments

I used copics to colour her

The pretty frame is a Spellbinder die.............Floral Doily Motif you can find here

Love Katy xx

A little randomness.....

Bleaughhhhhh...that's how I've been feeling since thursday with a 'orrible' sneezzy cold, always at a time when I'm my busiest mind you...how rude !!

So I thought I would share a little randomness today...have been creative ( before the lurgy landed) and shall share once I get my brain back and remember to actually take photos of the cards before I take them in to work lol....

So here are two photos of tattoos that I absolutely would have on my body if I was lucky enough ...I've toyed with idea of having one for ages but only get a REAL urge when I see art work of this standard and not just your run of the mill body art like pretty butterflies etc.....no disrespect to anyone if you have a butterfly tattoo :/

When I first saw this my jaw dropped...it is simply gorgeous !! By the amazing David Corden a tattoo of KuKula's amazing art who's work you can find  here 

and the second is a winner anyway cos it's Alice inspired ! This is by Jason Jacenko of 696 Ink Tattoos

Pretty amazing huh ?

My next little bit of randomness.....have any of you been watching The Bridge on BBC 4 ?

 link here to BBC iplayer ...I've linked to episode one by the way in case you haven't......... it's one of a few brilliant Danish crime dramas..like The Killing ( the original of that was Danish but the Americans did a pretty good remake  and Those who Kill....I love Crime dramas and although they are subtitled don't let that put you off....well worth a watch.

And finally whilst I was eating my breakfast in bed this morning .....believe me that happens rarely lol...I was catching up with last nights first episode of Planet Earth Live....here...... Awwwww those little bear cubs and the gremiln are so cute !

So hope fully back to normal tomorrow with a card to share, enjoy what's left of the Bank holiday...
Love Katy xx

Well impressed !

Blimey another week gone ! This year is absolutely flying...cant believe we are heading into May already ?! Before you know it we'll be thinking about Christmas AGAIN lol...well for me that will start in June with Christmas in July at work....yikes !

Anyways I have been busy creating for work tonight...shall hopefully have pics to share with you tomorrow but in the meantime I wanted to share this lady's work here....Dorcas Designs is a blog I only fell upon last week, you know how it is one blog leads to another lol...well I was so impressed with Dorcas colouring skills with pencils ! She has some fantastic tutorials ...needless to say she is responsible for a purchase over the weekend of Lyra Rembrandt Polycolour pencils ! Sheesh like I really need any more but I HAVE to give them a go :)

Lastly....I don't know about you but when I'm crafting I have to have music on in the background so I thought I'd share a little of what I listen to ...........

Have a great week everyone, back soon...

Love Katy xx

wE lOVE cANDI pARty

Just wanted to share this here ......

It's party time here at Samuel Taylors .... Embsay Mills !

We are thrilled to invite you all to our ' We LOVE Candi ' party this Saturday 28th of April.

Hosted by the lovely Julie Hickey from Craftworkcards.

The fun begins at 10am till 3.30pm !

We will have make and take sessions throughout the day with Julie costing £2 per person ( £1 will be donated to charity )

She will be sharing with you fab ideas on how to use the popular card candi to create pretty flowers and how you can personalise a card with stamping on them too.

As well as the make and take we will have demos sharing with you some of the latest products from Craftworkcards and a fantastic Prize raffle too.

There is no need to book a place, just come along and join in with the fun...........

We look forward to seeing you......

for more details you can call 01756 700946

Faith ....Hope......Love

It's very rare that I have any idea how a card is going to pan out when I'm putting it together...are you the same ?.......... but this is one of them where I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do.

I think what I like about this card........and I'm my own worst critic so there's not may I do lol, is that it depicts my favourite time of year..Autumn....I love the cooler days and changing colours.

 I used a sizzix die Autumn gatherings to create the foliage

Stamp is "I Love you little rabbit " here

The sentiment and background are both Hero Arts stamps.

Well how quickly has this week gone ? I'm a busy girl working all weekend too !

Enjoy your weekend whatever you are doing ?

Love Katy xx

I see spots ! Mo Manning challenge # 130

I thought to get me back into the swing of things I'd enter a challenge...........so here are my entry's to this weeks challenge over at Mo Manning's challenge blog which this week is I see spots....I LOVE any spotty paper !!

This is one of the lovely toppers by Hobbyhouse....so no colouring as these are pre coloured toppers..fab for a quick card ! and such good value as you get multiple toppers per sheet.

Papers are Craft Creations....35p per 12x12 sheet ! Bargain !

Sentiment stamp is a little wooden stamp from Woodware.

Same again this is a topper with Craft Creation papers....the little pins are by Hobbyhouse too. Sentiment is another Woodware  stamp from a clear set.

Thank you so much for all your lovely feedback over the past few days, and lovely "hello's" from familiar faces and new..it's much appreciated.

A little catch up...........

Good Morning.......hope you are all enjoying some nice sunshine today ? It's a bright sunny day here in Yorkshire. I thought it may be nice to share more photos of what I've been making in my 7 month absence from Blogger lol, these are some of what I've uploaded to my Facebook over the past months.

I have a thing about toadstools and this Magnolia toadstool stamp has to be one of my favs !

I really enjoyed making this tent card with an aperture...the lamppost is by Kaisercraft.........

Okay so now we move from cards to Art Journaling......we were thrilled to have the lovely talented Kate Crane teach some classes at Samuel Taylors last year and this is one of my pages i made on the day in my Moleskin...a mixture of paints, papers, digital downloads, doodling and stamping...great fun !!

And another..................

A little atc...........

There are more for me to share., I have to admit that I'm always forgetting to take photos of cards I make for display at work so I will have to take my camera in with me this week so I can share them here.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend...it goes way to quickly !!

Live the life you love..........

Yayyyy back in the land of blogging...yet again it's been so long since I posted but I've missed popping my cards on here, not only is it lovely to hear from my blogging friends but also it's such a good way to record what you've made....I have still been creating ( mainly for work ) just not sharing here ( slapped wrists lol ) So I'm hoping to put that right today with a card I made today on my day off from work.

See this another reason for my lack of shares... my photos are hopeless ...i so need a new camera..this was taken on my phone and tweaked on Instagram..still pants but saving pennies for a decent camera one day!

 STAMP is Big Shoes by Mo Manning

 COLOURED with copics 

 PAPERS are Cosmo Cricket Baby Jane

 DIE is Cheery Lynn Cuties # 4 which I layered twice

 FLOWERS are Crafts for Occasions

 I love the sentiment ...quotes like this really give me a pick me up when needed.

 Back soon..............might be 7 days but not 7 months :) xxx

GORGEOUS PRIMA PAPER STACKS TO BE WON !!

September Blog Challenge September Challenge!! You can find our challenge HERE PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS AND LINKS ON SAMUEL TAYLORS BLOG The challenge this month is to create a Christmas card using any rubber stamp. We will leave the image up to you! We know many of you have now started your Christmas cards and we are getting exciting new products in every day! So come into one of our stores for some fabulous inspiration. Once you are inspired you can enter the challenge and be in with a chance of winning a spectacular prize which is FOUR 6 x 6 Prima Paper Pads.... They are gorgeous!

As usual the rules are: - post your entry on your blog with photos and details - post information about this challenge & prize on your blog and please link back to this post - leave a comment directly under this post and your name will be entered into the September prize draw! - you can enter as many times as you wish but we would like to see creations that would be submitted to no more than THREE other challenges. This months prize is a 4 Prima 6 x 6 Paper Pads. So get crafting for your chance to win this great prize!

ULTIMATE PAPERCRAFT DEMO DAY

Saturday 8th october 2011

10am till 4pm

featuring at least 11 fabulous demonstrators !

including.........

SHEENA DOUGLAS..Paint Fusions

JENNY MAYES...Hobby Art

CLARE ROWLANDS...Molly Blooms

FRANCOISE REED...Woodware

JULIE HICKEY...Craftwork Cards

NIKKY HALL...Polkadoodles

PAUL HAMILTON...Go Create

DIANE WHITEHOUSE...Clarity Stamps

SARAH McCROSSAN...Personal Impressions

KAY HALLIWELL-SUTTON...Indigo Blue

JOANNE AUSTIN...Docrafts

We are offering transport from our Brighouse branch and Embsay Mills to this event..to enquire about the cost of travel and to book your place call Brighouse on 01484 401419

or Embsay  on 01756700946

CLICK ON THE POSTER FOR MORE DETAILS

Back again....

Another card to share with you this morning......pretty good for me two posts in 24 hrs lol......

I LOVE the new Gorgeous Girl stamps....I'm sure they are bigger in size too since Personal Impressions took over the distribution of these...or is it just me ?? They have been a favourite of mine to use in my classes when teaching Copic colouring...

DP is My Minds Eye again....

Well the sun is out again, so I'm going to make the most of my last day off work and hopefully squeeze more crafting time in, it's been lovely to get back to it.

Enjoy your day, thank you for the lovely comments left yesterday and I hope wherever you are the sun is shining.....

Love Katy xx

How long ??????

Hello there ...has it really been that long ?.....well what can I say...no excuses..just a busy time...a few changes here and there..( all good I have to add and VERY happy ) but still around in  the Bloggersphere lol...just quietly in the background. I've had this week off work, the first since all that 'orrible' stuff last year so it's well overdue and much needed ! And YAAYYYY the sun has decided to make an appearance today !

So the last few days I've been having a play with my crafty stash...much neglected I'm afraid to say.....

The image is obviously Hanglar and Stanglar and the papers are from a gorgeous 6x6 My Minds Eye pad called Fly a Kite.

I hope you are all keeping well and I hope to pop by and visit you all and say " Hi "

Till next time.........lots of love Katy xxx

Leanne Ellis digital stamps.......

The uber talented Leanne Ellis has made my day by making her work available as digi stamps !

You can find Leannes shop HERE and what's more is she has a Buy one get one free offer till this Friday the 4th of march....am a happy girl I am xx

Simply Sassy.....

Another flying visit here with a card to share with you/me lol .....I think you will have all pretty much given up in me, posts are so far and few between !

This sweetie is from the Simply Sassy range, a joy to colour teamed with Echo Park papers...I do have a thing about EP....gorgeous !!

Tooodle Ooooooo xx

Going dotty for Candi and NEW copic ciao colours !!

Have you seen the GORGEOUS new dotty Candi by Craftwork cards ?
Here is a peek at what arrived at our Embsay store yesterday.....lots of Oooooo's when I opened the box....

there's more !!

They are a yummy accent to your cards and scrapbook pages and a fab price at £1.99 a pack.

We also have in stock the 36 BRAND NEW colours in the copic ciao marker pens

We have them available not as a set but individual pens at £2.50 each.
For enquiries you can contact the Embsay store on 01756 700946

You got to be in it to win it !!

Hellooooo......just a quick post to share this with you...

To be in with a chance of winning this cool prize click HERE to read all about Samuel Taylors new challenge !

Hellooooooooooo.....

yes I'm still here :D
Did you all have a nice Christmas and New Year ?
Well at last I've had the time to make a card, I do miss it, time just goes nowhere for me lately !

Loved colouring this stamp 'Pillow Talk'....

Have a lovely Sunday peeps....sun is shining yayyyyyyyyy xx

Catching up........

A quick 'Hello' and catch up from yours truly, sorry AGAIN lol for the lack of blogging, I just don't seem to have the time these days what with the demands of work, not that I'm complaining I LOVE my job, it just doesn't give me much time to be creative for myself.

Here are a couple of Atcs I traded last month for a Halloween swap, have to say if you have not yet stumbled across OCTOPODE and the talented artist Lily who illustrated these two lovelys then visit her Etsy shop HERE, they are Digi stamps so no waiting for postie !

And here is a tiny 3.5 inch by 3.5 inch card that my ladies made in my promarker workshop last weekend.

Well that's all I have to share for now, hope you are all well....have a lovely weekend xxxxx

"A few of my favourite things" Celebration Candy

This post will remain at the top until Monday the 25th, please scroll down to catch up on further posts......


Hello Everyone, I'm very excited to share with you our very first candy giveaway in celebration of Samuel Taylors new blog. It's named "A few of my favourite things" because that's just what it is ! I did enjoy putting this together for one lucky winner, hope you like it ?
Please visit our blog to enter HERE
Click on the photo for a closer peek....

It consists of the following......
8x lovely Echo Park 'Everybody loves Christmas' papers
1x sweet 6x6 Jack and Jill Prima paper pack
1x adorable Mistletoe and Mice stamp by Stampavie
2x Card candy by Craftworkcards
1x In bloom embossing folder...new in store this week !
2x assorted bags of punched shapes
A metre of yummy pom pom ribbon
1x cute Swinging Emmylou stamp by Kraftin Kimmie
A pack of doilies

So what do you have to do to be in with a chance of winning this ? Visit our blog HERE
1.We would love you to leave us a comment telling us a few of your favourite crafty things right now.
2.Please become a follower of our new blog
3.Please share a photo and details of our candy on your blog and pop a link on your sidebar.
4.You can find us on Facebook too....

Here is a little inspiration for you .....

and more.....

This candy will be open till Monday 25th of October, Good luck everyone !
Katy x

New, exclusive to Samuel Taylors dies from Go-Kreate

Make your own shaped cards with the brand new dies from Go-Kreate! This exclusive design is available only at Samuel Taylors and it sold out first thing in the morning at Newcastle craft show last weekend. The unique design cuts through two layers of card stock with no problem and creates full size shaped card. Now you don't have to sacrifice even a millimeter from your card to achieve this effect. It's a limited edition, so don't miss out and be the first to get those amazing dies!

Available in two sizes:6x6 and 5x5
- pack of two sizes for only £19.99

Both of the cards below were made by my talented colleague Asia at our Roseville st branch ....aren't they GORGEOUS !

Miss Sunflower

Hello All, well I thought it was time to start sharing some of the cards I've been making over the months I've been awol, though they've admittedly been few and far between and mostly for work including this one....one of my favourite stamps designed by Mary Hall for Sugar Nellie.

Huh I'm really not enjoying the new post editor on Blogger, apologies for it being a little all over the place !

The papers here are BG Origins, perfect colours for this time of year...of which I'm loving, all the changing colours..so pretty !

Hope to be back soon, take care, love Katy x

FREE P&P this weekend at Samuel Taylors

Back again to let you know that Samuel Taylors are offering FREE p&p this weekend, from today Friday 8th Oct starting at 5pm through to midnight on Sunday
Find our new blog here and our store here

Enjoy your weekend everyone, thanks for all your lovely comments,
Love Katy xx

It's me....................back at last

Firstly I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone for your comments over the past few months and personal emails, it's meant alot truely and even though I've not been actively blogging for sometime I've still been around to see what you've all been creating and trying to keep up to speed with whats going on in blogland. 

Life can take a turn at times usually when you least expect it and it's helped to have some time out to re-adjust and get back on my feet. It's proved I'm tougher than I thought and that I'm worthy of better .....what dosn't kill you makes you stronger hey ?

So now I'm looking forward to getting back to my creative self...shall have more to share with you soon and again huge thanks for the comments, lifted my spirits when I needed it most...take care, Love Katy xxxxx