Beatrix Potter & Tussie-Mussies! - Saturday 14th March 2015

Hello Friends,

Well it was good to visit all your blogs yesterday after being missing for yet another week - nothing seems to be going as planned this year so far. I needed to get a lot done at work and one of the days I was in was meetings all day, which means you lose a lot of office time when you're just part time anyway. The good news is that we have another three years funding, it's a bit less than before, but that was to be expected, so I'm quite happy about that. The bad news is that my throat/cough is still rather a nuisance!

Anyway, I came back to blog land yesterday to discover that my butterfly Venetian Mask has been chosen as the winning entry in the Artful Times Challenge for last month...great news!

Nicecrane Beatrix Potter image sheets

Today I am posting another Design Team creation for Nicecrane Designs. This time I have been working with some pre-coloured Beatrix Potter images....

Firstly I made boy and girl nursery wall hangers. I die cut the frame using Spellbinders polka dot frame die on heavy card and then die cut again with checked card and covered, inking the edges with Worn Lipstick distress ink.

I printed the Jemima Puddleduck image and cut out. The image was adhered to pink card and then given a coat of clear Mod Podge to speak. I punched two holes at the top to thread the gingham ribbon through and tied two bows. To finish I added a die cut flower, lace and buttons.

For the second hanger, I used the image of Peter Rabbit and made the frame in the same way as above.

My final project with these images is a Tussie-Mussie or nose-gay. These posies actually date back to the 1400's and nose gays were carried for their scent..a way to make life smell better! In Elizabethan times judges carried them into court to ward off 'gaol fever' and apparently Old Bailey judges still carry out this tradition 6 times a year.

The popularity of Tussie-Mussies really swelled during Victorian times, when they were given to suitors at the beginning of courtship and that is when the art of Floriography really took off...that is to send messages in flowers, with each flower and herb having its own meaning -  floral dictionaries were written, a few of the meanings are rosemary for remembrance, ivy for fidelity and basil for best wishes. Today these lovely posies are used at weddings, celebrations and for general well wishes.

I printed some of the Beatrix Potter images from the clipart collection and cut them out. I drew a cone shape on some plain card and cut out, then folded it into a cone. I then adhered the images to the cone using Mod Podge to stick and seal.

I decorated around the top of the cone with lace, which I hand-sewed in place and I die cut various Spellbinder flower dies with wool felt in pink and deep purple. To add some streamers, I cut narrow strips of pale pink paper and and curled them, just by running them through my finger nails.  To finish I added some ribbon to hang it.

These lovely Beatrix Potter images come on a sheet as show below and are available from Nicecrane by clicking on the  image or on this link: http://nicecranedesigns.com

They are also available as Vintage Postcards, bookmarks and picture packs

I have scheduled this post as we have a busy day, but I will catch up with you all later and will be back tomorrow to show you the Mothers Day card I made for Tom's Mum.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend,
Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Baby's First...... - Saturday 3rd January 2015

Hello Friends,

OK so I chickened out and omitted the word 'Christmas' from my blog title...I noticed there are still a few seasonal cards being posted and I didn't get the chance to show this one before. It was for a neighbour's baby, who was born in July. They loved the card, I'm pleased to report.

It is one of the tent fold cards, ever since I designed one for a DT post for Sam Poole and we used it in a workshop, I have made quite a few using this fold and will continue to do so as they go down well with the recipients. The Christmas card I made for Tom, with the little light inside was a big hit, not only with him (men do love cards that they can fiddle with!), but with all our guests: note for any craft fairs I do!

 This isn't a quick card, but it's fairly easy. I didn't want to add lots of inking, more and more I like the 'clean' look and I think on this card distressing even the edges would have taken away the pure and simple idea of a Christmas card to celebrate the first Christmas for a baby.

I embossed the background wit 'Merry Christmas' and the teddy is cut out for the Tilda Sweet Christmas paper pad, then I just added ribbons and a typed greeting.

I learned some valuable lessons this Christmas season...previous years I had struggled to make cards for everyone and I send and give about 150 cards. This year, I let the sewing take over and I had no choice but to buy about 60 of them and they were sent to people I rarely have contact with through the year or who probably don't really notice I make them! Close relatives, friends and fellow crafters(Of course) all received hand-made and that's the way it has to stay I think..AND....taking the inspiration from some of you who carry on making seasonal cards and enter them in challenges through the year, all my Christmas stash and stamps have remained close at hand so that I can do the same!

Tom and I are finishing our little project for the craft room today...so I hope to post a photo tomorrow. 

Tomorrow we will be dismantling the Lemax village for another year (sobs!), the rest of the decorations will stay for Epiphany, it's sad that Christmas is over so quickly, so it's nice to have an Italian side to the family, which extends it those last few days.

That's all for now, enjoy your Saturdays! If you find any 'h's missing during this post it's because the key on my keyboard seems to have developed a sticky 'H' :)

Love and Hugs

Carole X

Baby Girl - Wednesday 14th May 2014

Good Morning Friends!

It's a beautiful morning here  and I hope it is where you are too! First of all, can I say another massive thank you for your comments yesterday on my Creative-Studios post and to those of you who hopped over to Sam's blog and left a comment  -  thank you so much, it really really meant a lot to me!

I have a busy craft day ahead, but before that can really begin I have to pop down to the local Council  offices for one of those meetings. You know, the ones I really don't want to go to! I have told them that it is my day off and I'm very busy, so I am literally going to just 'show my face' and rush back to get on with my work here!

Today's card is a baby girl card I made earlier this year and never posted before...I've posted so many guy cards lately that I thought I would go a bit 'girly' today!

This is a small card, about 5x5 and pre-shaped. I used some papers from a little pad that had come free with a magazine: the banners were also cut from a paper sheet. The stamp is by LOTV, coloured with promarkers and the greeting is computer generated.

A simple little card for today! Thanks for stopping by!

Love and Hugs,

Carole Z X

L'il Baby Girl - Friday 4th May

Good Morning Friends,

First of all, welcome to my new followers..thank you so much for following my blog and checking in to see my cards..one of my favourite times I try to make every day, even if I don't 'post' myself, is to have a look and see what all you wonderful crafters are sharing.

Also, thank you to those who posted comments on my House Mouse card yesterday, it was the first challenge I had entered and I actually found I was quite a bit nervous doing it, but it's done now and was actually quite a pleasant and fulfilling experience! So much so, today I am going to enter a challenge I have been wanting to enter for a long time..you know that I love making cards with LOTV stamps, so it had to be done!

For today's card, I am back to LOTV and one of the stamps I bought at Ally Pally a few weeks ago..this really cute baby stamp...

 I started with some paper from stash, a polka dot in yellow and pink and some lemon glitter card. Using a die from Spellbinders Grand Labels 23, I die cut and embossed one edge of the polka dot paper and mat and layered over the lemon glitter to form the base of the card.  I stamped the image on coconut white card and coloured with Promarkers, then I die-cut using Labels 24 and shaded the edges with Spun Sugar distress ink. I stamped the sentiment from another LOTV baby stamp set that I own and die-cut this with Heart Circles.

The paper flowers, buttons, pearls, lace and ribbons are all from my stash box.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Carole Z X

I'd like to enter this into:

Lili's Little Fairies Challenge: Anything Goes


http://liliofthevalleythursdaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/