So delicate and feminine

Here is a card that I made ages ago but I needed to wait until after my friends birthday as I was giving her a pink version of this card and didn`t want to spoil the surprise. I have to confess that this embossing folder isn't the one that I have listed for you to use (here is a spoiler alert), this folder which I have used was sent to me because I was working on a feature for the next Crafters Inspiration magazine and it is slightly smaller than the one you can buy.

 

 

 

 

what was used:

Crafters Companion , Ornate Lace 3D embossing folder

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic, Chic Butterflies dies

Woodware sentiment stamp

Crafters Companion, Aqua Pens, Primary - teal & magenta

Crafters Companion, Aqua Pens, Nature - sea green

Crafters Companion, Luxury Cardstock, Gold pack

Crafters Companion, Sheena Stamping Card

blue card

cream base card

Pebio, Empire Gold gilding wax

black Versa Fine ink pad

 

The background paper is the time consuming part to this card but it is a technique that is easy enough and just needs to be done in advance as the card needs to be left to dry.

 

Cut a piece of Sheena card in half and using the Aqua Pens make a line of each colour along the longest side of the card. Turn the card over and using a wide brush apply the water to the card. Turn the card to the right side and using the wide brush apply the water to the front of the card starting at the coloured edge and dragging the colour up to the opposite edge. Repeat this process until you are happy that the colours are blended and then allow the card to dry.

 

Cut the dry coloured card to a size that will fit the embossing folder and run through the embossing machine. Further cut the card to neaten the edges and with your finger lightly apply the gilding wax.

 

Use a left over piece of coloured background card to stamp the sentiment onto.

 

The rest of the card is straight forward die cutting and mat and layering from here on.

 

I used a combination of double sided tape and some wet glue to stick the embossed backing to the mat and layered gold card. This was for two reasons, firstly the gold card is slippy and will eventually give up its grip on any tape stuck to it and also the 3D embossing folder makes such a deep impression that tape alone will not form a proper bond. I do not use only wet glue to stick large areas as I find wet glue bends the card when it dries. 

 

I absolutely adore all the elements on this card, the embossing folder, the gilding wax, the gold card and even the Butterflies.

 

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My friend loved her pink birthday card and I thought it quite a fitting card as she saved me from a particularly big moth that took a shine to me. I don't like things fluttering around me and this moth actually landed on me, my friend allowed it to go onto her hand so she could put it in the bushes, a very brave lady in my estimation.

 

I was all set to go to the local car boot this morning but it poured down with rain last night and as the car boot is in a big field and the sky still looks full of rain I think I might pass on it today and see if next Sunday is a better day. I love car boots and the one I go to at Hemswell has an indoor market with a very well stocked craft stall and a ribbon stall outside, but apart from the crafty stalls I just love to browse and try to bag a bargain. Talking of bargains I found quite a few craft things on sale at one of my local charity shops and bought a couple of embossing folders. I am finding more and more paper craft appearing in the charity shops but of course its all about being in the right place at the right time but still always worth a look in just in case.

 

 

 

No paper anywhere in sight

The open day for the Lincolnshire Cats Trust is looming (3/9/17) and I promised that I would make some teacup pincushions which can be sold on the gift stall. I asked for some pretty cups/mugs that were struggling to sell in the shop and now hopefully they will sell as a novelty gift for someone who sews.

The pincushion base is made from a large curtain ring which is padded by wrapping wadding around until it fit nicely into the top of the cup.

Wrap a strip of Tshirt material around the padded ring and stitch it into place on the inside of the ring (it gets covered so don`t bother how neat the stitches are).

Cut out a circle from some pretty fabric using Tattered Lace essential circles die (circle No 16).

and sew a running stitch around the edge of the fabric. Place a handful of stuffing in the middle of the fabric and then draw up the running stitch to make a cushion.

Pin the cushion onto the ring and then neatly stitch into place trying to eliminate as many tucks as possible. Add extra stuffing from the ring base to make the cushion nice and firm.

Using Tattered Lace essentials circles die No 8 cut out a circle from grey board (I used a piece of board from the back of a reporters notebook, I always tear them off and keep them when the notebooks are full).

Cut a circle of Tshirt fabric slightly larger than the grey board circle and on the reverse side of the grey board run a strip of tacky glue around the edge, stick the Tshirt material in place.

Carefully stitch the circle base to the ring base.

Decorate the pincushion with lace, flowers, bows etc to hide the stitch line where the cushion is attached to the base ring.

I didn't want to start making these pincushions as I haven't sewn for ages but when I had finished my first one I couldn't stop and ended up making all of them in one day.

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I really did enjoy doing a bit of hand sewing for a change and am inspired to keep my sewing box out for a while longer. I have a shop bought quilt which managed to get torn whilst in the washer so I think I am now inspired to get out my material stash and have a look how best to patch it up and of course I will show you photos if it all goes well.

I am so lucky to have a lovely view of my garden and my old Apple tree from my craft room window and once again the tree is laden with cooking apples. The tree is the oldest Apple tree in our little village and sadly it has canker which I am not sure how to get rid of so I guess it is coming to the end of its long life but it is a beautiful tree and still giving great crops. My freezer is still full of last years Apple harvest so I think I will take some of this years crop to the cat shop and see if they can sell them (or even give them away for a small donation).

I

Quick and easy

I`m sharing with you today a tag card I have made using another of the Little Claire Christmas stamps which will launch on Hochanda today at 11. Its a simple card to make and is made easier because the tag shape has already been cut as a base card, you just add the cute little image and a bit of trim.

 

 

what was used:

Little Claire Designs stamp

Little Claire Designs berry red tag cards

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic, Rustic Lattice die

Crafters Companion, Luxury Cardstock, gold pack

corner punch

black Versa Fine ink pad

Glossy Accents

Pebio Empire Gold gilding wax

1" wide fancy gold ribbon

 

This card is so quick and easy to make. The only thing which I did that is perhaps not noticeable from this picture was to apply a bit of gilding wax to the edge of the card where the lattice die cut was stuck so as to define the lattice trim.

 

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It was so hot yesterday at work in the school kitchen, it was sports day and I managed to get outside to serve some burgers but even there on the playing field it was hot and sticky. We had a fantastic thunder storm last night and I sat outside for ages watching the big black thunder clouds roll in. I love thunder storms, the way the air becomes charged and the lightening is always a spectacle I will never grow tired of watching. The air feels much fresher today but as I am going to work again I don't suppose it will be feeling fresh in the kitchen.

 

I didn`t get any crafting done this week and I am feeling withdrawal symptoms so I keep looking at the lovely crafty things on Pinterest. I do get inspiration from all kinds of things but Pinterest provides instant gratification. I must knuckle down and try harder next week.

 

You couldn`t have Chrisrtmas without Robbins

This is a much more traditionally coloured Christmas card which I am sharing with you today and again it features one of the new stamps by Little Claire which will be launching on Friday morning at 11 on Hochanda. The base card is also a new product from Little Claire and also comes in red, they are £1.99 for a pack of 10 cards and envelopes.

 

 

what was used:

LC Designs stamp

small snowflake stamps

Pine green elegant rectangle card base

red card

cream linen card to stamp onto

gold mirri card

gold embossing powder

black Versa Fine ink pad

Versa Mark ink pad

gold liquid pearls

opal liquid pearls

decal edge scissors

Glamour Dust glitter

1cm wide green sentiment satin ribbon

1cm golden yellow faceted gem

 

This is a really easy card to make.

 

I stamped the image onto the cream linen card and coloured it in, cut it to size and dribbled the gold Liquid Pearls along the edge. Leave until completely dry and then mount onto mirri card.

 

I made the red background card by heat embossing golden snowflakes onto red card. I then cut the card to size using decal edge scissors and mounted it onto mirri card.

 

Its plain sailing from here on.

 

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I am at work for the next six days so I was out in the garden with Stu yesterday trying to get the hedge cut now that the birds have finished nesting (its definitely a two man job). The hedge in our garden goes all around the perimeter of a 3/4 acre plot and it is a massive job to cut and not something that I look forward to doing. I tend to let Stu work the hedge trimmer as it makes my arm weak for days after with the vibration, so I was on tidying up and bagging up duties. Tiding up is not without its perils as the hedge is Hawthorn, wild Rose, Holly and fiercely stinging Nettles and always seems intent on causing as much pain as possible. I did manage to not get too beaten up by the hedge but any one walking on the outside must have heard a lot of bad language as I got pricked and hooked up on the thorns. It does look so much neater now that the sides have been cut but the top will have to wait until after the weekend and Stu can take a trip to the tip to empty the garden bags which are full and overflowing.

 

I managed to catch one of the Crafters Companion Scandinavian Christmas shows on Hochanda yesterday and as I suspected from looking at the design samples I really NEED quite a lot of the things I saw on the show. The samples were fabulous and Sara did a fantastic job with her domos. I did manage to stop myself from ordering straight away on impulse and will wait and see if they come up for sale on the Crafters Companion web site, so there goes my over time money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer colours for Christmas

A new week and another Christmas card made using a Little Claire stamp which will be launched on Hochanda on Friday morning. If you`re in a Christmas card making mood why not tune in to Hochanda today and see the Crafters Companion Scandinavian Christmas launch, I`ve seen some of the samples for this show and they look amazing.

 

 

what was used:

Little Claire stamp

Creative Expressions, Festive Collection, Poinsettia Additions dies

flower middle die

Kanban snowflake stamp

Little Claire dinky scalloped card base

pink card scraps

pink paper

green pearlescent paper

white glitter card

2 x small AB gems

pastel chalks - to make background

Crafters Companion, Sheenas stamping card

black Versa Fine ink pad

Versa Mark ink pad

clear fine detail embossing powder

masking tape

lead pencil

 

Another easy card to make once the background is prepared.

 

Simply mask around the base card and stamp the snowflake image, sprinkle with embossing powder and heat emboss.

 

Colour the masked background using the pastel chalks.

 

Carefully remove the masking tape and using a ruler and pencil draw around the edge of the coloured background area.

 

The rest of the card is straight forward from this point on.

 

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I am really getting into the spirit of Christmas crafting after seeing the fantastic samples for the Crafters Companion Scndinavian Christmas show but sadly my Christmas cards will have to wait a little longer as I have a few other projects to make first. I`m sure its a crafters thing but I have so many things that I want to make but at the moment not enough time to do them - roll on the summer holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its that time of the year again

I know we have had rain, rain, rain, grey skies and I even gave in and lit the fire on Thursday but  it  is still the middle of summer and that is the time when all crafters start to think about Christmas. Next Friday Little Clair are launching a new set of stamps on Hochanda which are all Christmas themed and this is a card I have made using one of those stamps.

 

 

what was used:

Little Claire stamp

snowflake stamp (mine was from a Kanban stamp set)

small hole punch

5" x 5" base craft card

green & blue backing papers (mine were from Kanban and Do Crafts)

Crafters Companion Sheena stamping card to stamp onto

black Versa Fine ink pad

Tim Holtz distress oxide - faded jeans

brown twine

craft card from stash

Glossy Accents

Glamour Dust glitter

snowflake embellishment

 

A very simple card to make the only tip I can give with this is that I stamped the snowflakes using 2nd generation stamping with the faded jeans ink pad (2nd generation is where you ink up thee stamp and then stamp it onto a piece of scrap paper before stamping it onto the image).

The snowflake embellishment was cut out of air dry clay using a cookie cuter and then I stamped a pattern onto the wet clay and made 2 holes using a cocktail stick. When the clay was dry I coloured the snowflake with the faded jeans distress oxide and varnished it with clear varnish.

 

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Its been a funny sleepy week here with the weather being so miserable so I had a bit of a break from crafting and got lots of jobs done that I had been meaning to do for ages. The first job was to get my broadband changed from my terribly slow (less than 1 megabyte) speed to a blisteringly fast speed (up to 10 megabytes) and I can`t tell you what a massive difference this has made. 

 

Then we had fleas which were brought in by Rosie and I saw them on her ear when they arrived. Of course the cats were administered with flea drops but the fleas were in the house and decided they wanted to stay. The fleas took a real liking to me and my legs and so they just had to go and it has taken the best part of a week to get rid of them and now we have to make sure they do not return. My house has never been so clean what with vacking and steam cleaning every day not to mention the constant washing at 60 degrees of clothes, bedding and any soft furnishings I could fit into the washing machine - its exhausting.

 

So now I can go into my craft room without being bitten I will be crafting again and because I have been able to watch video tutorials on the internet I have seen some really interesting techniques that I will be trying out, I may be in here for quite a while.