One Layer, First Attempt!!!

Good morning all.

I'm making headway in the craft room, I managed to move all the existing drawers and clutter so I could give the floor a good sweep and now have four new sets of drawers fitted in. I managed to sort my stamp collection (see below!) out whilst watching Liverpool beating Sunderland in the afternoon, hubby made the tea and I got some of the empty drawers filled.

Now I'd class myself as a bit of a non stamper for most of the 9 years I've been card making so how the heck did all this lot find it's way into my stash!

I managed to clear a space to make a card last night too after finding these stamps in my collection I thought I'd make a card for the new parents to be and pop it in with my nephew's birthday card.

It's the dreaded one layer week at Less is More this week but I gritted my teeth and set to!

This evolved first time...no re runs; no wasted card; no tantrums, hair pulling or swear words!!

I was chuffed as a bag of monkey's!!

I started by masking off the card before stamping and heat embossing a baby background stamp from Rubber Stampede (whoever they are!) with white detail EP. This was then inked up with spun sugar and tumbled glass distress inks. The sentiment is from Joanna Sheen from a Messy Rabbit set, stamped and heat embossed in silver detail EP.....this was the point I nearly messed up as I didn't re-dust the card with the anti-static bag before stamping and the silver EP stuck everywhere it hit, luckily with the help of a paint brush and lots of blowing and tapping it cleaned up enough to be usable - just needed a gemstone where I'd inadvertently brushed the dot.

At this point I felt it needed a little something else and luckily the largest stitched frame of my Spellbinders die set fitted perfectly width ways and following Chrissie's tutorial I lengthened it to fit..thanks Chrissie :)

I really wanted to add a bow but curbed myself as I needed the card to be flat.

Challenges entered:

Less is More - one layer new beginnings

A Gem of a Challenge - something new

Happy Little Stamper's - CAS watercolouring

CAS.ology - date

STAMPlorations - stamps and ink

Shabby Chic Calendar

Good morning all.

I think we had everything weather-wise yesterday, a day to stay at home! Made a start on the tidying and cleaning ready for the Christmas tree going up.

I spoke to my Aunt and Uncle the other night and my cousin is much improved but will probably need to go through the operation again as they found a second valve which needed replaced during the first op but couldn't go ahead without his permission...the first valve will have to be replaced too so that both valves are the same!! You couldn't make it up!

A calendar to share today.

Made with a Melissa Frances kit to which I've added butterflies, small flower ribbons from my stash. Ivy die cut is a Signature die from Joanna Sheen. Border punch from Martha Stewart. Backing paper from K&Co. Calendar blank tab from Hobbycraft.

Challenges entered:

Decorate to Celebrate - anything 3D

Penny's Paper Crafty - anything but Christmas

All Crafts Challenge - anything but a card

Not Just Cards - anything goes

Sugar Creek Hollow - no cards

Artist Trading Block

Good morning all.

A week or so ago I was trawling around mixed media blogs when I saw some decorated wooden blocks, of course I forgot to bookmark it and can't for the life of me remember where I saw them. Hubby had been playing in the garage so I asked him if he had any spare bits of wood, after being told what I wanted them for he gave me one of those looks...then indulged me with a few various sized and shaped pieces. Here is my first transformation...I chose the smallest piece and a Christmas theme to start off with.

I started by coating the whole piece in gesso, then painted a panel on the front in blue acrylic. Once dry I added snowflakes with texture paste and a Joanna Sheen stencil using some diamond dust whilst it was still wet to make it sparkle. The Christmas sentiment is a Clearly Besotted die cut four times from card and layered up to make it quite chunky and sturdy, this was inked with festive berries DI. The piece was finished with ribbon, a bow, snowflake button, snowman, star, gems and a pearl all from my stash.

The finished piece is about 3" square and 1" deep and I love how it turned out!

This is how it looked originally - a lovely piece of teak, hubby thought I was mad painting over it but when I showed him the finished article he turned round and said "actually it's very good"!!

Challenges entered:

4 Crafty Chicks - make it sparkle

DL Art - Christmas

Crafter's Cafe - anything goes

Decorate to Celebrate - anything 3D

Divas by Design - snow

Inspiration Destination - anything goes

City Crafter - just a word

All Crafts Challenge - anything but a card

Craft-Dee BowZ - anything goes with a handmade bow

Altered Eclectics - anything but a card

Rhedd's Creative Spirit - anything altered art goes

Allsorts - anything but a card

Not Just Cards - anything goes

Snowflake Tag

Good morning all.

Spent yesterday battling with an unco-operative computer and a migraine...I think I won both battles eventually although it was touch and go!

A tag to share with you today.

Blank tag has been coated with Gesso before being painted with aquatints (the pale blue 05). I then used a Joanna Sheen snowflakes stencil to add some texture and sprayed this with a dark blue before removing the stencil. After leaving this to dry I stamped small snowflakes with Versamark and heat embossed with WOW blue lagoon EP. The glittery snowflake is from Asda, sentiment is from Tattered Lace, ribbon (which I've dyed with the same dark blue ink) and buttons from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes

The Sailing Pineapple Blog - make a tag

Not Just Cards - anything goes

Vintage Stamping - anything but a card

Completely Christmas - anything goes (twist let's see some blue)

WOW - mixed media

Artist Trading Post - use a stencil

CRAFT - Christmas

Crafty Ribbons - Christmas with ribbon

Baffies Kreativladen - Christmas

Stamping with Loll - 12 tags of Christmas

Soft and Silent

Good morning all.

On Wednesday I felt quite envious of a few of my blogging pals who were flying out of Edinburgh yesterday headed for the Nec...when I work up yesterday morning and heard the weather I was more than happy to turn over and snuggle under the duvet again!! The wind howled most of the day with squally showers...I didn't venture over the doorstep at all.

Another simple Christmas card to share today.

Stamp is from Stamping All Day, inked with silver metallic ink. Dies are from Spellbinders. Embossing has been done with a Joanna Sheen snowflake stencil. Finished with silver metallic ribbon and some gemstones.

Challenges entered:

CHNC - make it sparkle

CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes

Moving along with the Times  - sparkle or shine

Crafty Ribbons - Christmas with ribbon

CRAFT - winter

Inspired by Stamping - silver

Crimbo Crackers - clean and simple

Christmas Card Club "Snowmen"

Good morning all.

Another fortnight has passed and it's time once again for our little Christmas Card Club to show what we've been up to. The theme this time was chosen by Lorraine and she asked to see "Snowmen".

The Penny Black tree was a recent magazine freebie and I've inked it in two shades of Memento green ink and stamped three times to create my background. The snowmen stamp is from Joanna Sheen which I've coloured with promarkers, added some stickles for sparkle and fussy cut before attaching with foam pads. The snowy foreground was created using a snippet of white card and an edge die from Clearly Besotted. The sentiment stamp also came from Clearly Besotted.

Another all finished inside.

Challenges entered:
I Love Promarkers - 3 of a kind
CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes
CHNC - sparkle
Brown Sugar - anything goes
Crafty Catz - anything goes
QKR Stampede - 3 of something
Stempelsonnen Challenge - it's winter
CCEE Stampers - make a scene
Moving along with the Times - winter or Game of Thrones
Fab n Funky - Christmas

Newsprint

Good morning all.

We had a beautiful mild day yesterday and there appears to be more of the same forecast until early next week. I managed to get my treat bags all filled yesterday after a walk over to Asda to restock...I've now got a few extra sweets in case it's very busy.

The challenge over at Less is More this week is newsprint....I had all sorts of thoughts then I remembered a recent purchase of a pack of newsprint wooden shapes from Joanna Sheen. 

Mat dies from Spellbinders, flower die from Memory Box, sentiment from Craft Companions, flower heads from Joanna Sheen. Some of the many snippets put to good use too.

Challenges entered:

 Less is More - newsprint

The Sailing Pineapple - newsprint

Daring Cardmakers - sentimental

Crazy for CAS - sketch

Wish, Believe

Good morning all.

Yesterday was a little better...I got happy post in the morning...a stamp order and a goody bag I'd won on FB from Cowling and Wilcox which contained lots of sample sizes of various paint mediums and a couple of paint brushes, one of which was exactly what I needed to use with my aquatints!

 With a lingering migraine I hadn't managed any crafting during the day as I just couldn't concentrate but I did manage this last night.

I used the Grunge set of aquatints to make my background and used a little gesso around the edges and some water drops as a resist. The dies are Signature dies from Joanna Sheen and although bought a little while ago this is their first outing! The tickets are from LOTV and were one of my purchases at Harrogate. the bow and gem are from my stash. I did edge the topper with stickles which is still wet in the photo...hopefully it will look better dry!

Everything has been put on with foam pads/tape to give some dimension but it will probably still be flat enough to post.

Challenges entered:

4 Krafty Girlz - anything goes

Inky Impressions - anything goes

Inspiration Destination - anything goes

Penny's Paper-Crafty - anything goes

Papertake Weekly - things with wings

Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes

Artistic Inspirations - anything goes/make your own background

Pile it On - use two or more die cuts

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - anything goes twist stripes

All Dressed Up!

Good morning all.

Another Halloween treat bag to share today.

Image and papers are from All Dressed Up. Image is coloured with promarkers before being die cut. Square dies from Spellbinders, banner die is a Signature die from Joanna Sheen with the waste hearts used in the corners. Fibres from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Crafting By Designs - childhood memories

Divas by Design - anything but a card

The Paper Shelter - ribbon, twine or floss

All Dressed Up - favourite colours

Dies R Us - fall festival

The East Wind - feel the fall

All Crafts Challenge - anything but a card

Fitztown - fall colours

Whoopsi Daisy - colours of autumn

Hiding in My Craft Room - banners

Crafting for all Seasons #79 "Don't be Square"

Good morning all.

Sorry I haven't been around, real life is getting in the way of blogging and crafting at the moment.

Hubby and I took an impromptu weekend over to the Lake District at the end of May/beg of June which was lovely, the weather was very kind to us too.  Hence the plethora of blog posts on the 31st...I'd forgotten I had them all sitting waiting to be finished and slotted between my DT stuff, so apologies for bombarding you all!!

Today it's time for our next challenge at CFAS and this time the theme is "Don't be Square". We're  looking forward to seeing all your makes. Our sponsor this time Stitchy Bears Digi Outlet who gave the DT images to work with.

I've chosen to use an image of my own this time...."Airborne" from KennyKdigistamps. I've printed onto kraft card and coloured with promarkers, before die cutting with a round Spellbinder die and making a rocker card. Cogs and wheels embossing folder is from Couture Creations; sentiment from LOTV; sentiment die from Spellbinder; stars die from Joanna Sheen; cogs and wheels stamp is a magazine freebie.

Both my sons have birthdays this week so this is for my eldest....not that he'd dream of wearing a helmet when skateboarding!!

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see the rest of the girls inspiration, you won't be disappointed.

Birthday Wishes

Good morning all.

Pleased to say Gary arrived in Auckland safely, he's booked into a hostel near the Sky Tower and is staying there until Monday. He's hoping to pick up a camper van fairly cheap to travel around in!

Another of the cards I made before Christmas to share with you today, I think this was for one of my sisters.

A pearl card base; backing papers from Papermania; decoupage image is a Meadow Cottage Bear from Crafter's Companion; banner die from Joanna Sheen; other dies all from Spellbinders; ribbon, pearl, sentiment and gems all from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Crafter's Cafe - anything goes

Crafting by Designs - birthdays

Divas by Design - let's celebrate

Penny's Paper-Crafty - anything goes

A Little Bit Crafty - celebrate

Crafter's Companion - hearts

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - anything goes

The Crafting Cafe - anything goes

Craft-Dee Bowz - anything goes with a handmade bow

Crafty Cardmakers - bears

Carol x

First Christmas

Good morning all. Hope you're all well.

Had a lovely visit home yesterday including lunch out with my Mum, niece and two of my sisters followed by a visit to my third sister and two nephews. All cards and pressies delivered so that's cleared a little space. Hubby shampooed the carpets whilst I was out so I need to finish gutting the kids bedrooms today.

Sharing a Christmas card today made for our neighbours who had a second daughter in October. I'd made a special card for the elder one's first Christmas so thought I'd better make them both the same. Hopefully my last Christmas card this year!

Kraft base, red layer punched with a Martha Stewart snowflake PATP, gingham paper from a Holly Hobbie magazine freebie. Topper from LOTV highlighted with stickles. Ivy corner die from Joanna Sheen, all other dies from Spellbinders. Ribbons, pearls, lace and sentiment tag from my stash. Small snowflakes are punch waste. Snowflake sentiment computer generated.

Challenges entered:

Baffies Kreativladen - last minute Christmas

Crafty Creations - anything goes

Creative Belli - Christmas

Divas by Design - anything goes

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - punches and dies

LEJ Designs - anything goes

Papertake Weekly - Christmas

The Shabby Tea Room - red and white or gingerbread

Unstampabelles - Christmas

Winter Wonderland - ribbons and pearls

Die Cut Divas - let's celebrate

Carol x

Christmas Crafting (with sketches) #104 Blog Hop

Good morning all.
Well no sign of the cleaning fairy so far so I had to make a start myself yesterday. I'm off down home today to start delivering cards and pressies and hopefully make some space in my bedroom so I can get in and clean!

It's time for another challenge over at CCWS and if you've played along with us this year you'll have a good stock of Christmas cards and projects by now. This week both the Snow Angels and the Holiday Fairies are taking part and we're having a Blog Hop.

Sadly this will be my last challenge as a design team member as I've taken the decision to step down to concentrate on weddings and other projects for the time being. I will miss all my teamies though...they've been such a great bunch of girls to work with :)

You should have arrived at my blog from CCWS if not pop back now so you don't miss any of the instructions.

Here is my project made with the sketch Janneke designed.

My third sister bag! Image is from Wild Rose Studios, coloured with promarkers and highlighted with stickles around the edges. Papers are all Papermania; square and bauble dies are from Spellbinders; corner ivy and starburst dies are from Joanna Sheen; embossing folder from Cuttlebug; ribbons, lace, poinsettia and sentiment from my stash. Sister tag from East of India.

and a close up of the embellishment. 

We've no sponsors this challenge, instead each DT member will pick a winner from those entering the challenge who've also completed the blog hop and send a Christmas related prize to that person. The blog hop will close at 8pm (European Time) on Saturday December 28th and winners will be announced at CCWS on Monday the 30th December at 12 noon (European Time).

My prize will be the set of Layering Flowers from Alota Rubber Stamps which I used for my last DT project along with some bits and bobs :)

From here you need to go to Wilma's blog.....Happy Hopping!

You will have to pop over to the challenge blog to see the sketch for yourself and you'll find full details of the hop in case you get lost.

Challenges entered:
All that Stickles - happy holidays
Speedy Fox and Friends - use 3 DP's
Totally Gorjuss - special Christmas
Brown Sugar - Christmas
Craftitude - anything goes/Christmas sparkle
Crafts 4 Eternity - Christmas chaos
Cut it Up - Christmas
Fairy tale Challenge - box or wrapping
All Crafts Challenge - anything but a card
Victorine Originals - red and green + embossing

Carol x

Christmas Card Club "Get your Skates on"

Good morning all.

I managed to get most of the decorations up yesterday but what is with men?? I asked for everything to be got out of the loft...1st shift I got about 6 boxes each containing one item....2nd shift several hours later was a box and a bag...3rd shift was just hard work and I'm sure we still don't have everything yet! Nobody will listen to me and sort the loft so all the Christmas stuff stays together so we have this problem every year....sigh!

Sharing a second card as a Guest Designer at The Joanna Sheen Challenge blog. The month long challenge is to "Make it Sparkle". Fabulous goodies can be found on the wobbly shelves at Joanna's online shop

It's also time for our next challenge over at the Christmas Card Club, it was Sue's turn to choose the theme this time and she's asked us to "Get your skates on ...it'll soon be Christmas!".  Here is my card made to cover both:

Using a gorgeous snowy Thomas Kinkade image from Joanna Sheen printed onto artists canvas, simply matted and layered. Ribbon, brad and sentiment from my stash; snowflake die from Spellbinders. Lots of glamour dust and stickles to add some sparkle.

I really must get my CD's out more often...the cards are so quick and easy to make....it's choosing the image to use that takes forever lol!

You'll find the rest of the girls listed on my sidebar if you'd like to pop over and see their creations.

Challenges entered:

CHNC Extra - anything goes

Happy Campers - Christmas

Moving along with the Times - winter wonderland

Creative Moments - winter wonderland

Scrapper's Delight - Christmas

Sisterhood of Crafters - Christmas sparkle

Party Time Tuesdays - winter wonderland

CHNC - whatever is urgent

Carol x

Woodland Delights

Good morning all. 

Monday again...and only another three left for this year...EEK!! Gary leaves for New Zealand on the first Monday of next year and whilst I'm very excited for him I'm not looking forward to the day :(

Yesterday I went to the races for the company Christmas party...a first for me! We went to Kelso where the going was good and all seven races went off without mishap. Unfortunately my betting skills still need to be honed greatly and whilst I had a few seconds and thirds I won not a hapenny piece! We'd hired a members box for the afternoon and had a nice meal and a good view of the proceedings in the warm and dry....well dry on the outside, there was a fair bit of liquid flowing!!

Today's share was made for a card swap with the theme of "Woodland Delights".

I chose an image from Joanna Sheen's Thomas Kinkade CD and printed it on artists canvas, simply matted and layered onto cream pearlescent card, silver mirri card and added a red velvet ribbon which I think was recycled from last years crackers. The tree die was a freebie from a magazine.

Challenges entered:

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - recycle

Craftyhands Challenge - winter theme

Jo's Scrap Shack - winter wonderland

Scrappin' 4 Fun - anything goes

Shelly's Images - welcome winter

Carol x

Christmas Crafting (with sketches) #102

Good morning all.

It's time for another challenge over at CCWS and we hope you're playing along with us this year and stocking up on those Christmas cards and projects. It's the turn of the Snow Angels to inspire you this week and Jacqueline designed the sketch. We are being sponsored by Alota Rubber Stamps who supplied stamps for the DT to use.

I've chosen to turn the sketch this time and made my first gift bag of the season.  I still need several more as I have 3 sisters and a brother plus I'll probably make one for my niece and my Mum too. If I'm really good my sister in law may get one as well....don't hold your breath though!!

I was given Layering Flowers to use which I stamped onto vellum with DI embossing ink and heat embossed with gold detail EP before cutting out and colouring with promarkers. I added gold stickles to the centre after I'd layered them up. Papers are all from Papermania; the topper is a printed panel from Wild Rose Studio; embossing folder is from Cuttlebug; starburst and ivy corner dies are from Joanna Sheen; all other goodies are from my stash. I've had the large poinsettia for several years...it's way too big to use on a card but was perfect for this bag.

A close up of the sentiment embellishment...the sister heart is from East of India.

And a close up of the layered flowers...a bit too fiddly for my liking, I'd rather buy them ready made!!

You will have to pop over to the challenge blog to see the sketch for yourself, remember to check out

 the inspiration of the other DT members whilst you're there. 

Challenges entered:

CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes
All Crafts Challenge - anything but a card
Craft-Dee BowZ - anything goes with a handmade bow
Crafty Bloggers - girly
Created with Love - Christmas
Lexi's Creations - Christmas
ABC Challenge - A for almost Christmas
Crafting Musketeers - layer it up
Dream Valley Challenges - anything but a card
Ribbon Girls - hohoho Christmas
Crimbo Crackers - anything but a card
LEJ Designs - Christmas
Our Daily Bread - double embossing
Ribbon Carousel - anything goes

Carol x

Guest Design Spot

Good morning all.
Still busy here trying to get organised plus I had a family funeral yesterday so nothing much else got done! I'm off to a Christmas Market today and hopefully we'll have Sunday lunch out too. I'm hoping to get some time to myself this week to pop around and catch up with you all...I am missing you!

I was very lucky (and honoured) to be chosen to Guest Design at The Joanna Sheen Challenge blog today. I've been a fan of Joanna's products for many years now...indeed a fair portion of my retirement income has been spent in her online shop!!

The challenge this time is to "Make it Sparkle" and this will be a month long challenge.

I've used this gorgeous House Mouse Decoupage image which I've die cut with a circle nestie and layered with a gold fancy circle - both from Spllbinders. I've added glamour dust and red stickles to the image to make it sparkle. The background layers are gold mirri card, red and green foil card which looks like glitter (had these for years and found them a few days ago when looking for something else!) and white pearl card which I've embossed with my tied together folder. Gold sparkly ribbon, a sentiment, gold brad and more stickles finish the card off.

And a view showing the layers.

Challenges entered: Craftyhands Challenge - sparkle and bling Totally Papercrafts - ho ho holiday Winter Wonderland - a Christmas mouse 4 Craft Chicks - Christmas Charismas Cardz - Christmas Crafty Ribbons - anything goes with ribbon Crafting by Designs - Christmas/winter Rhedd and Rosie - Christmas Shopping our Stash - holiday/winter CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes Carol x