Baby boxes - Sunday 17th November

Hello Friends!

I hope you are having a super weekend and not feeling too cold! It seemed to get dark really early last night, I always notice by the time I have to put the hens back into their run and last night was the first time before 4pm.

Last month when I did the craft fair locally, I was asked by one of the other stallholders if I could make her a few boxes for the baby mittens she was selling as Christmas gifts. She left the design up to me as she was just about to go on holiday, but she needed them for her next craft fair in the Cotswold town of Cirencester: a regular fair that she sells at during the year. Sue makes lovely baby clothes and I have spoken to her for several years when we've met at the fairs, so I was pleased to do so and these are what I made...

They are little 'milk carton' style boxes, made using a template out of paper by Pink Petticoat, as are the images and sentiments. I made and assortment of boy, girl and white boxes, with only the white one having a Christmas image. 

I'm happy to say she was very pleased with them!

Thanks for stopping by,

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Sunday Stamper week 282: Red -Friday 15th November

Good Morning Friends,

Well I may have been missing from 'blogland' since Sunday..I've been at work for most days as I'm training some more volunteers to help in our office, but in the little spare time I've had, I  have been busy crafting...I had to get stuck in to Christmas cards at some time didn't I? Having said that, I did take some Christmas card commissions before my 'sabbatical' and I am still working on them. I had to turn  down some this week or I'll never get to start my own. I have to make a lot of quick cards to send out, but at least I've got as far as knowing my design for them now! At least now I have quite a few cards to post here  over the next few weeks.

Before I get down to my card, I would like to give a big welcome to my latest follower Chris, thank you so much for your lovely comment and for following. I have just been looking at Chris's blog and there is some gorgeous Prim artwork, home decor and  gorgeous makes. Prim is one of my first loves in art, so I was lapping it all up. Chris, you were from Wales and live in Canada - my dad was a Canadian National who came back here to live and married my Mum who was Welsh (Maerdy) and now one of my best friends also lives in Canada.. so how about that?! Do check out Chris's blog: http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.ca

To my card...this is my red (and gold) offering for this week's Sunday Stampers challenge..do click on the link to take a look at Hels Sheridan's fab blog! To be honest, I would have posted it a few days ago, but I couldn't get a decent photo of it..the light when I've been home has been poor and trying to focus this particular card was a real pain!  A bit OTT for me, I'm not usually one for lots of glitter and bling, but heck it's Christmas and our card for next week's workshop (not this one) is very glittery so I thought that whilst I was in the mood....

I used the Indigo Blu Baubles flourish stamp, with Perfect Medium ink on red card. I stamped the complete image across the top and parts of the design around the side and base. I then heat embossed with gold embossing powder and matted and layered on gold silk mirri with a kraft card base, tying an organza ribbon around the side.

The sentiment stamp is also by Indigo Blu. 

Inside I followed through with the same theme. The greeting was a stamp free with a magazine.

Before I go, a wave to the ladies at the Thornbury craft group Amy and I visited last night. Amy really loves decorating glass and she'd been asked to demo Christmas glass ornaments with  texture paste and stencils, so I went along to help. It was a huge group of about 35 ladies and a very busy evening but we all had good fun.

Thanks for stopping by!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Remembering our Heroes...Sunday 10th November

Dear Friends,

Well looking around your blogs, it seems some of you had fab times at the NEC this weekend - and lots of new stash to play with!

Today I am posting  my favourite card from last year, so I hope those of you who have been following me a while and remember it, won't mind. It's today that Remembrance services are held throughout the Country and I do like to make a card in memory of our heroes who fought for our futures in the two World Wars and continue to serve in conflicts today. However, this year I just didn't get one made, so as I would like to share with you once more, my poppy card..

The card is long gone; I took it to a craft fair October last year and sold it for more than I have ever asked for a card. The truth is that I priced it so high because I thought no one would buy it, but they did and within minutes of the doors opening. I should never have taken it along! But never mind!

Thank you for stopping by,

Love ad hugs,

Carole X

Fantastic Ribbons DT Project: California Dreamin' - Saturday 9th November

Good Morning Friends,

My post today is my Fantastic Ribbons project for November: The lovely folk at Fantastic Ribbons gave me some very vibrant colours to 'play' with, so I'm going to bring you a taste of summer on a cold winter's day...

Fantastic Ribbons Design Team project November: Pleats, Stitches, Ruffles

With the emphasis on Home Decor we were asked to use pleats, stitches and/or ruffles in our projects. With quite bright summery shades to use, I looked back to our holidays this year and did a bit of California Dreaming.

For my first project, I chose my favourite holiday photo of Tom and I, taken in a wine tasting room, Casa Dumetz, where we had two fun evenings.

This is a small, but vibrant, colourful tasting room with such a welcoming, friendly, atmosphere and was for sure, a centre of community activity and gathering in a very small town. The labels for some of their wines reflect their sense of fun: pink, orange and purple blossoms, so these summer colours seemed to suit.

I decided to make a photo frame: the base is  simply cardboard, which I covered back and front with calico to create an off-white base layer. I printed the photo to 6x4 and matted and layered it on card, matching the ribbons as much as possible.

Next I wrapped a pink, yellow and orange ribbon around each side of the photo and made two little ruffles by stitching the ribbon lengthwise and gathering the stitches inward to pull the ends together. For the wider, pink ribbon I just layered loops of ribbon and stitched to make a half flower. I was going to add buttons, but instead I made wine bottle buttons from photos of wine bottles from the bar. 

Oh and the wine? Fabulous!

My second project is a photo memory ring..my regular followers will know how much I love to decorate wreaths! This is a bit different, as it's a way to display photos that are easily interchangeable by using little pegs to clip them on. It's colours make it definitely one for summer holidays, but in different colours it could reflect Christmas or other special occasions.

I used a foam ring, the type you can get in any craft shop and covered it with torn papers using modge podge to make them more malleable and stick to the ring, as well as give it a slight gloss. Once it had dried I added the ribbon ruffles (the same as for my previous project), a few pegs and a ribbon loop hanger which is secured to the foam with hat pins.

Finally I added the photos..I wanted this to be a 'people' memory ring, photos of my family over in the USA...

The photos are cut quite small, but could be smaller, so I didn't add too many and risk 'swamping' it.

I hope you like this idea for displaying your favourite photos! All the ribbons are available from Fantastic Ribbons

Thanks for stopping by!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Tartan Christmas - Friday 8th November

Hello Friends,

It's been another busy week, I have finally made a few Christmas cards, but for the few commissions I accepted before putting a hold on them..not for personal use. I really am starting to panic!

Anyway, I have hardly posted any Christmas cards this year on my blog -probably because I haven't made any, if I don't get a move on I won't be posting any in a pillar box either - but here is one for my Sunday Stampers project this week. Hels set the theme of 'You raise me up', cards with texture, so this is what I have made..

 This is an 8x8 card, which I matted and layered with red card and silver mirri, that has a silk rather than glossy feel and look.

For the top layer of red card, I used an embossing border folder that was free with a magazine. You can't really see in the picture, but the 'pattern' is Christmas words and I just repeated the embossing using my Grand Calibur over the entire card.

Because the folder is a strip, it left gaps in between which gave me the idea to use the tartan ribbon to cover the spaces! The stag stamp from Indigo Blu was stamped using the acetate and gilding flake technique that I featured here.

To finish I added two Spellbinders poinsettias and buttons tied with twine.

For the inside of the card I stamped the stag using versamark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder and added another bow

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Love and Hugs,

Carole Z X

Twice as Nice - Monday 4th November

Good Morning Friends,

I hope you all had a super weekend and it wasn't too blustery for you! We went to the town of Cirencester on Saturday and I actually got a bit of Christmas shopping started!

Today's card was made for a couple we know who have just had twins, a boy and a girl, so I got out this LOTV stamp and made a card for them...

This is a 6x6 card: I started with a layer of dark brown card - apart from the image, I didn't want to to be all pink and blue. I matted and layered the base brown card with this glittery little birdie pattern from a pad called 'Spring Feast' by First Edition.

I coloured the image with promarkers and matted and layered this on the same brown card, inking the edges with Spun Sugar. The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

I layered this on the card with two heart doilies between and decorated with paper flowers. To finish I added cream buttons and a touch of crystal stickles.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Love and Hugs,

Carole Z X

Steampunk!! - Friday 1st November

Good Morning Friends,

Hope those of you who enjoy Halloween had a good night? All my bags of treats went (and I made a lot) and I must say, the little trick or treaters this year excelled themselves with costumes and even the teenagers who called had really made the effort (we have had some in the past just giving a  'nod' to the Holiday with a solitary scream mask!). I had so many lovely comments about our decorated garden and porch (it was a bit of a grotto) and some of the parents event thanked me for making it all a bit special. My favourite costume was work by a little girl of about three: she had was a lady pirate, complete with dress and hat; I gave her the treat bag and she just stood for ages looking at the decorations, bless her. I did take some pretty poor photos of our porch and kitchen window, just to give you some idea..

Well we've reached November and  getting far too close to Christmas for my liking because I have done so little towards it as yet!

This month's theme for Emergency Crafters is Steampunk (yay!) and this project I do admit, took me a fair bit of time and planning, but I was pleased with the end result.

 This started off as a straightforward easel card, but then I had the idea to add cog wheels to evoke the sense of machinery and this is what I came up with!

I used a box easel card template  from The House of Zandra, which I have used many times before and which I bought at the Alexandra Palace craft event in April. I must say that for a few ££'s it's been a very useful item in my craft room.

All the papers I used are from Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells paper pad and sticker sheet. I love Graphic 45 papers, it's one of those designers where they are really hard to bring yourself to use them! I inked the edges of the papers with Vintage Photo before matting and layering and decorated back and front, but forgot to photograph the back!

 To embellish, I  die cut cogs, using my Spellbinders set,  some little glass bottles (ideology) and a steampunk metal butterfly from my steampunk stash box (can't remember where I got it), which I used as the handle. The cog wheels are attached with  screw effect brads and do turn!

Inside I lined the base with paper from the pad and put an assortment of stamped images, a little potion book  and a chipboard bottle (again I bought a bag at Ally Pally). I inked the bottle with spiced marmalade and then rubbed gold gilding wax over it - it gave it a shimmery yet distressed effect, which sadly the photo doesn't show.

This was such a fun make and although it was a DT project, it was also something I made for 'me' - which is something I don't feel I've done in a long while!

Thanks for stopping by - if you enjoy making Steampunk, why not enter the challenge this month? There are prizes up for grabs...just click on the link above or the link on my sidebar. The challenge should be up and running today,

Love and Hugs,

Carole X