A new look...

It's all change here! Firstly I was tired of how my blog was looking but didn't just want to pick a new background from a site- I wanted something that was just mine and all coordinated! I loved the colours of the Stuff to Scrap April Blog Train 'Spring Picnic' papers and elements so have used them to create this all by myself! I used Photoshop and lots of tutorials from Kevin and Amanda, Cutest Blog on the Block and Shabby Blogs. Even with the tutorials I was hugely out of my comfort zone with computers- I am not the IT bod in our family and he isn't interested if it relates to my blog! It has taken alot of time and much head scratching, but I'm really pleased with the result and I have learned loads.
I created the background first because I wanted it to be really clean and simple and if I couldn't get that to work there was no point. I had trouble getting it to look right at first because it wouldn't fill the screen- I'm not sure what I did but it seems to be working now! Please leave me a comment if it looks wrong on your computer so I can have another go- I'm a perfectionist!!
Next came the post dividers which wasn't too bad because I did one before during my first scary attempt at changing my blog.
Encouraged by what I had done so far I tackled the header next. I like the way it turned out and especially that I managed to remove the box that Blogger always puts around it.
Blogger was only giving me quite pale colours for the post titles, links etc so I found out how to add custom colours using hex codes.
Finally I followed a really complicated tutorial to change the fonts on my titles- this was where I nearly gave up!
So what do you think?

Another change is that I am going back to part-time teaching- yay!!!
I love my class so it will be hard to hand them back to my colleague, who is now much better, but I am really looking forward to having more time and may even manage a card or two now- It has been soooo long!

Happy Mothers' Day...

I made this easel card for my husband to give to to his Mum for Mothers' Day; I didn't want to post it before the day because she sometimes looks at my blog! The papers are a download called Morning Mocha from Nibbles Scribbles and I particularly loved the retro looking circle paper and the brown with purple. I have really got to get to grips with promarkers because the watercoloured brush marker looks really blotchy here.
I have followed the sketch at Friday Sketchers, but although I had a roll of ribbon ready for the band across, it was still there after I had stuck everything down so I had to leave it off! One Stop Crafts have 'spots and dots' as their challenge. Paper Cutz and Secret Crafter both have 'anything goes'.

How do you like the new look? {Look what I managed to make- and it isn't a card!}

My blog has looked the same for nearly a year and I thought it was about time for a change. To be honest I was afraid to mess with it, based on the 'If it ain't broken, don't try to fix it!' principle.

Anyway, I took the bull between the horns earlier this week and tried a new background and added a header for the first time. After a few panics with the header I had it all on and looking right! I lived with it for a few days and then decided it wasn't quite what I was after!

So I looked again and found another design, made from a Summertime Designs kit that I love. (I have got really into downloading Digi Scrapping kits lately, but all I do with them is resize and print the papers for my cards. I have ambitions to try digi scrapping but I don't really know where to start.) With more confidence this time I put it on my blog and I like it.

Don't know what happened to me last night, but I started looking around the internet and admiring the really co-ordinated blogs with signatures and post dividers etc. and found a few tutorials. I had a go at making a post divider using Photoshop but could not figure out a few things. After a few questions to my very computer literate husband, who seemed amused that I was trying to have a conversation about transparent backgrounds and PNG files, I had another go this morning. I managed to create the post divider and saved it!

That was only half the battle! Now I had to get it onto my blog after each post! According to the tutorial I had to alter the HTML code of my blog to do this which was really scary, especially for someone who had been afraid to change the background only a week ago! So I backed up the template, as instructed, and began- I don't think I breathed again until I previewed it and there it was! I was so excited when I went through to tell my husband and all he could say was "See, it wasn't hard was it!"

I know this might not be rocket science for some of you out there but this was huge for me, so I just thought I would tell you about it!

Guitarist Birthday Card...

Another card for a member of my church housegroup. This is for Ben who is away at University at the moment so I will take it this week for us all to sign so he knows we are thinking of him. I wanted to use this image but did not want the card to look too young so I used dark design papers from two free downloads by Summertime Designs- Vintage Oreos and a Year to Shine. I always ink the edges of printed papers as it takes away the sharp white edge and gives them a 'finished' look.

I am entering this card in Allsorts recipe challenge of 1,2,3 as it has 1 image, 2 design papers and 3 stars.

My first easel card...

...I know I'm miles behind everyone else to try this one but now I have I can see me making more!I have recently joined a housegroup at church and we were sharing out roles- one was to remember birthdays and get a card and cake so I volunteered! This is for Rachel as she mentioned getting some new plants for her garden at our last meeting.

It fits in with lots of challenges:

I have followed the great sketch at One Stop Craft. The colour combo of 'green + one' comes from My Time To Craft, my plus one is pink. The theme at Spoon Full of Sugar was 'springtime' and the papers I have used are called 'Sweet Springtime', also I think the little flower hints at the start of spring. The papers also fit with 'something old that's new' at OCC because I downloaded them from Summertime Designs months ago and have only just used them. The card is easel style which makes it multifold- the challenge at Secret Crafter. Finally, the ribbon is Pink Elephant's challenge and the brads fit with Cute Card Thursday's 'metal mania'.

Two Valentines for the men in my life...

...don't get excited! I mean my husband and my son!

This cheeky little number is for my husband. I thought I might be pushing it with the image AND the sentiment but it made him laugh when he opened it this morning! You see he is rather 'cuddly' and this Murray and Ethel image reminded me of him- in the nicest possible way! I love that Murray and Ethel sentiment too. We have always said "Do you love me?" and replied "I'm still here, aren't I!" so you get the picture of what we are like! The papers are a free (for personal use) download from Shabby Princess.This is for my son so it had to be boyish rather than the traditional Valentines colours. I found the right papers in a recent download which was a free collaboration called Dr Love from Collies Corner and Sweet Digi Scraps. 'Billy' images from Pink Cat Studio are perfect for him right now and this set has mini stamps for the center of the heart- I chose 'Hug me' because I love hugs from him and dread the day when he decides he is too big for them!

Not surprisingly, quite a few of the challenges have Valentines as their theme this week so I am entering these cards for My Time to Craft, Cute Card Thursday and Dutch Dare. Charisma Cardz has 'male' as their theme so I am also entering them both for this.

Goodbye Beavers, Hello Cubs...

Now my son has turned 8 he is leaving Beavers to move on to Cubs so I wanted to make a card to thank the leaders.

The papers I have used were a download which I got for free from Growing pains Scrapped (I think they are now available to buy from Stuff to Scrap). The collection is called 'Dogs and Frogs' and was great for this card because it uses the turquoise of the Beavers uniform and the green of the Cubs.

I have to confess that I bought the stamp set especially for this card- but it is full of elements that I know I will use for lots of other cards! It is called 'Dress up Billy' from Pink Cat Studio and has a Billy figure and lots of elements to paper piece to create lots of outfits- rather like paper dress up dolls when I was a girl!

I used the sketch from Sketch Saturday for this card. I use Adobe Photoshop to resize and crop the papers before printing so was able to size the squared paper so I could cut the corners from it. I tore the edge of the coredinations cardstock to fit with the boyish, grunge look of the papers.

I added a little necker in the colours of his lodge to the back of the envelope to finish it off.