Sarah Kay (3) - Monday 30th April

Good Morning Friends!

Well for once, I didn't mind that it was an awful day weather-wise yesterday, because in between a few family things (where we never even had to leave home), I got quite a bit of crafting done - including a commission, some more 'playing' in advance of our workshops, making a few personal cards and I even got to play with the brayer I got from Clarity Stamps at Ally Pally!

But today's card was made last week when I was trying out some designs with one stamp, a cute Sarah Kay image from Stampavie.

This time I die cut the card using Spellbinders Grand Labels 23 and also cut the green check paper to match. I then also cut a Spellbinders Heart Square using Coredinations card. I was mostly using up bits of scrap card from my 'bits' box on this one and I also found some lighter green stripey paper and a lighter green piece of Coredinations, which I  cut square and mat and layered for the front panel.

The girl was coloured with Promarkers in violet and pink tones for the clothing and green for the doll and then cut out and placed on the front of the card using 3d dots. To finish off I added some violet blossoms, gems and a few pieces of ribbon,which we actually at the bottom of my ribbon box and I felt had a vintage look to them. I stamped the tag, but didn't want to 'overdo' with another die-cut shape, so cut a simple tag shape, which I mat and layered the same as the front panel and tied with a piece of mauve and white vintage bakers twine.

Thanks for stopping by and have a good Monday, whether working or playing!

Carole X

By the way, thanks to Linda for pointing out I had the word verification on...I didn't know I had and I know that I also find it annoying when visiting blogs. It's turned off now and you should find it easier to leave messages X

Fairy Cupcake - Sunday 29th April

Good Morning,


Today a  change from the Sarah Kay stamped cards that I've been sharing these last few days (though there are more to come). I'm back to LOTV today with a sweet little fairy cupcake!


I stamped the image on coconut white card and coloured with a mixture of Promarkers and Flexmarkers:
Promarkers: Ivory, Blush (skin), Caramel (hair); Flexmarkers: Sorbet, Wild Orchid (clothing) and I then cut out the image using Spellbinders Grand Scalloped Ovals, shading the edges with Spun Sugar distress ink.


I cut a card blank using Grand Labels 23 and then using a paper from stash, I cut three  more pieces from the same die. Apologies for  not photographing the inside of the card, but I adhered one piece to the front and the other two to the inside, where I also added the stamped sentiment, which came with the stamp set.  

I then cut flowers in purple wool felt, using Flower Creations and Spiral Blossom One and added buttons and embroidery thread to the smaller blossoms. To complete, I added three tiny heart buttons, a Greeting (I think, from Craftwork Cards), some pink ribbon, tiny star gems and some Cosmic Twinkles on the icing and wings.
Thanks for stopping by, 
Carole X

Sarah Kay (2) - Saturday 28th April

Hi Friends,


Thank you for your comments on yesterday's card...I think it's one of my favourites that I have made recently. I did say yesterday, that I would be back with a different card today and I'd spread the Sarah Kay's out a bit -but-  I was in Bath, meeting a good friend all day yesterday - we had a good catch up over lunch and got soaked! So I didn't get a chance to photograph my latest cards, so I will do that today!


For the second card in this 'series' I wanted to use the Spellbinders die I bought at the Ally Pally stamp show a few weeks ago...The Decorative Chateau Gate..which I used as a window...


The first picture is a close up of the view through the window: I stamped a background from a Jayne Nestorenko background stamp and leaves from an Artemio stamp, both with Bundled Sage distress ink; then using a water brush I lightly coloured the images with the bundled sage, just adding a little tea dye for the gate and shabby shutters for the sky. This was then cut out and placed behind the frame.

I shaded the shutters with Shabby Shutters too and in 'reality' the colour looks nothing like as dark as in the hoot!
The paper used to cover the card blank is from  a lovely designer paper pad (Spring Jubilee by pinkpaislee) that was free with Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine this month. I just thought it gave the card a vintage feel.


The image was coloured with Promarkers and forgive me for not listing the colours today because I have temporarily mislaid my 'list' - I'll add it later...


Then I cut out the little girl this time and placed her in front of the window. Finishing touches were all from stash...buttons, ribbon, flowers and little pearl gems to finish of the window. I really like this dye and eventually will buy the stamps that go with it...got to save first though!



Have a great Saturday and see you tomorrow...we are in Bristol today for most of the day as my brother in law has his car in an Italian Car Show (it's a bright red Alfa Romeo sports car that he restored and is very proud of, but that's as far as my knowledge of cars goes!), so it looks like we'll be getting wet again..so I'll be catching up with those blogs I follow later!
Carole X

Sarah Kay (1) - Friday 27th April

Hello Friends,

Well I promised I'd be back today with a card that is much more 'me', though as I confessed yesterday, I do like manga art/anime quite a lot too!! But, give me a girly, floral project with Spellbinders,Promarkers and ribbons and I'm a very happy gal...in fact the only item missing from this card is ribbon, because for once, I thought it would be that little bit too much.

I have titled this Post Sarah Kay (1) because on various days over the next week or so, I will be uploading a series of different cards using the same stamp! I've been having a play with this Sarah Kay image from Stampavie, just to try out possible designs for our next workshop..and that is all I am saying about the workshop, the final cards and dies chosen to use there won't be uploaded to my blog until after the workshop in May.

I have no idea why, but this is the first time I have used a Stampavie stamp; I have watched Mel Heaton bring them to Create and Craft and really admired her demos and examples, but until our local shop, Out of the Blue, started stocking them, I hadn't seen them in the shops. However, having used this one I can safely say it certainly won't be the last! Apart from the stamp itself being the super high quality that Mel has always professed, I really like the cute Sarah Kay design images. Followers will know that I'm a big fan of LOTV as far as stamping goes and I think these images lend themselves to the same type of cards.

On to my first card...and what fun I had making it, with everything I already had in my stash box!

 I always choose my paper/card before colouring, otherwise it's a lot of time wasted finding colours to match...it's far easier to match the Promarkers. I decided on a twisted easel style card and covered the base and front triangle with some paper I had recently got free in a pad with a magazine. I then used a Grand Oval die to cut from purple pearlescent card. I stamped the image on cocoanut white card and coloured with the Promarkers: Ivory, Blush (skin), Sandstone, Cinnamon, Chestnut, (hair), Satin, Ivory (underclothes), Lavender, Bluebelle, Amethyst (pinafore,bow, doll) Caramel, Sandstone (shoes), Pale Pink, Baby Pink (doll).


After colouring I used the next size down in Grand Ovals to cut the image out and shaded the edges with Milled Lavender distress ink. Then, using cocoanut white again, I die-cut from the Antique Frame and Accents set, the Frame. I cut this in half to make a faux stand for the card.

The frame was adhered to the back of the Grand die and then I cut another die from the same purple card stock to stick to the back and hide the mess within!

To finish off I used mulberry roses in a lavender colour, some craft flowers and gems, all from stash and made a small pink simple ribbon rose. Finally cut the small butterfly from the Spellbinders Fanciful Flight set to balance the roses I had added to the top of the frame.

Hope you like this and thank you for visiting!

Carole X

Teen Anime Rocker - Thursday 26th April

Hello Friends,


Yesterday, one of the days I don't go to work, so can stay home and craft was an ideal crafting day...way to wet and windy to leave the house!


I've been working on some cards using new stamps and will be sharing them from tomorrow, but today's card is a quick card made for a thirteen year old boy. Teens can be really hard to make cards for, but Kenny K has some super stamps that always seem to hit the right note...

This is a Kenny-K digital stamp,which I coloured with Promarkers...the stamp is 'anime rocker' so I wanted to colour it quite boldly, in manga fashion.


I die- cut the stamped image, using the out of the box method to make it look like the image is bursting out of the background.  I used a Grand Scalloped Rectangles Spellbinder and shaded the edges with faded denim distress ink. I also cut another background from the same die in silver mirror card. I covered a card blank with some paper from stash, added a ribbon and typed greeting using labels 24, which is also shadowed with silver mirror card. I just added a few stars to finish off.


Thanks for dropping by, I'll be back tomorrow with my much favoured 'girly cards' !


Carole X

Mad Hatter Tunnel Card - Sunday 22nd April

Hi Blog friends and thanks so much to those of you who visit and comment, I really love reading them and following your blogs too...so let me know if I'm not already following!


Today's card, I have been wanting to post for a while and finally I can! My friend, who is a brilliant artist (mostly working in sculpture with metals) asked me to make something for her daughter's 18th and to go wild if I wished! I had a list of her 'likes' and the one that struck me was the Johnny Depp film of Alice in Wonderland. I loved the book as a child, have the Polkadoodles stamps and the MCS program and I have been looking at some other related stamps lately: Octopode Factory has some super ones, which would fit in with Steam Punk...anyway back to the card. Well, yes it is a card, but it's also a picture, a 3D creation that took -forever- to make and will be a long time before I have the time or the inclination to do again!

Front view of closed card

I began with 2 sheets of 8x8 card and 3 sheets of A4. I used the MCS Alice in Wonderland design program to print  background designs on to all the card pieces,except for the back where I printed the greeting. I chose something quite fun and very much 'fantasy' for the front and back inner of the card and Mad Hatter quotes for the sides. I scored concertina folds on 2 o the A4 sheets to hold the tunnel together. On the front of the card, I cut an aperture using Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles and then used the die-cut for doors by cutting it in  half and distressing it with Antique Photo distress ink.


I decorated the front of the card last, but as the photos are here, I'll explain now: basicallly, it's a very mixed media project! I cut flowers from Spellbinder dies using print from an old book & felt. The White Rabbit and toadstools were stamped using Polkadoodles Wonderland set (coloured with Promarkers); I made rolled flowers from felt, and used Tim Holz metal clock face and miniature bottle, which was filled with gold glitter and tied with  bakers twine. I stamped 'drink me' from the Polkadoodles set and added a key charm and rusty heart from my stash box. The polka dot door dressing was cut from Spellbinders Fancy Tags 3 set. The name and age were made using the Cricut.

Card with the doors open

The MCS program also has some playing cards, so I printed and cut them out, then distressed them with Antique Photo again. I found the  Alice, Hatter and Queen images from the film on the Internet. It was actually part of a print and make set that was free to download. I cut out Johnny, using Romantic Rectangles again and adhered the image to the back of the card. I cut out smaller images of Alice and the Queen and then used digi stamps from MCS for the Tweedle Twins and the Dormouse, which I coloured with Promarkers. Keeping in mind the 'growing' and 'shrinking' aspects of the story, I made the dormouse large in comparison to the other figures.


These images were stuck to the strips of card that are attached across the base and to the concertina fold to give the card depth and weight.


Well I think that's just about covered it! It was really hard to photograph, fun but very time-consuming to make and has given me the idea for something similar for both Steam Punk and Vintage...when I get the time! Thanks for stopping by,


Carole X

Close up - sorry, please excuse photography!

Mice Day! - Friday 20th April

Hi Friends!


I'm back! Sorry to have been 'away' all week, but it's been a busy one and whilst I've managed to dip into and try to comment on all of the blogs I follow, there has been no time to update my own.


Today's card is a simple one, I just made whilst setting aside a small amount of time to just play with design a few weeks ago...


I first of all stamped this cute little House Mouse on Coconut White card, which I just love for both stamping and die-cutting. It's available through Creative Expressions. After colouring the mouse with Promarkers, I die-cut using Labels 24 (Spellbinders) and shaded the edges with a mix of Worn Lipstick and Spun Sugar distress ink. All the coloured papers I used were from a pad that was free with a magazine recently. I first of all stuck the pink paper to the front of a 6x6 card blank and then using Labels 24 again, cut into the front of the card. This left me with an aperture and a spare die-cut shape.


The die cut shape was used to mat and layer the original die-cut, after first shading with worn lipstick ink. 

I covered the inside of the card blank (the side facing the aperture) with yellow and pink paper from the same pack and mat and layered the other die-cuts on top to fit snugly within the aperture, adding a few gems and a little cosmic twinkles.


Finally I cut some bunting from the yellow paper and attached it to the front of the card with some ribbon and a few tiny brads. I stamped the sentiment on one of the smaller dies from labels 24 and shaded the edges.

Have a good Friday and thanks for stopping by!
Carole X

Ally Pally report! - Monday 16th April

Hi Friends!

Tom and I arrived back late last night from a wonderful weekend in London..we went to see the musical Sweeney Todd, starring Michael Ball and Immelda Staunton...terrific!!! We strolled through Covent Garden and yesterday, we visited Camden Locks and Camden Markets...we visit London a few times a year...as a child I had an aunt and uncle who lived there, so I visited the Capital quite often..but never before had either of us 'done' Cambden..and we wonder why! It is a vibrant place with a really buzz...next time we will factor in much more time to visit!

But the real reason for this trip was to visit the Alexandra Palace based, Big Stamp & Scrapbooking Show (BSSBS). We go to the November NEC show most years and I love it, despite the enormity of it and all the pushing and shoving, but it would be fair to say that I take my carefully saved stash money, from the sale of my cards and don't actually spend that much..because it's too busy and too big!

We had never been to Ally Pally before, but as it is run by Creative Expressions, probably my favourite craft producer/distributor, I wanted to give it a go...plus a weekend in London is not to be sniffed at..we both love visiting, going to a show and thought the chance to go before it gets too manic this year would be  a good idea.

Tom isn't a crafter, but he is interested in what I do; he does make the cards he gives to me and he has a good eye for design, so he is always up for coming to these events! I have to say that having spent Saturday at Ally Pally, I think this may replace the NEC as our annual trip. It had so much in it's favour, even if you don't factor in a weekend in London''s West End!

First of all, with only about 60 stands, it was much smaller than the NEC shows - but it really did attract the 'best of the best'. I got to meet the crafters who inspire me most of all, through having seen them on Create and Craft or buying their products. First and foremost, there was Sue Wilson. It's fair to say that without Sue's inspiration, I probably would not have discovered Spellbinders or The Grand Calibur and Sue was just lovely in person, plus it was so nice to see her demos 'live' and actually get to not only see, but touch some of her oh so beautiful cards.

It was also great to see Leonie Pujol again...I had met her on the C&C stand at the NEC, but this weekend she was crafting, demo-ing for Creative Expressions. Her usual bubbly self, she was obviously enjoying getting 'mucky' and chatting to all of us...after watching her demo of grunge-paper and acrylic paints, I went back and bought some to 'play' with!

I noticed Indigo Blu were presenting a demo in the hall downstairs and lately have been using their stamps and flitterglu with gilding flakes, so I was keen to watch Kay demo. We took our seats and it was superb - if not a little noisy from the cafeteria adjacent and a little 'dark'. Kay also used Pan Pastels, which Tom was really taken with. They didn't have their own stand, but were working off another (Samuel Taylor) and when we went back up to get some, the stand was quite small and you just couldn't get close, so it will have to wait...lots more to play with anyway..

After Kay's demo, along came Sam Poole for Creative Expressions, so we had to stay for her superb journalling demo. I had also said hello to Sam upstairs...I follow her blog and love her designs and stamps, they are right up my alley...Sam was lovely and chatty and it was super to meet her.

We'd only originally gone for one demo, but then we stayed for Barbara Gray..who wouldn't? She played to a backed 'house' and I would stay there were seats for about 100. Despite losing her voice to a chest infection, Barbara was on top form. Clarity Stamps is something I have been meaning to 'get into' but never quite got there. I am in awe of Barbara, truly an amazing artist and stamper. Her demo was beautiful.. even Tom was dumbstruck by her amazing skills and the beauty she created from her stamps, ink and a brayer; Barbara also used gilding flakes,but in a different way. Watching her live convinced me to go back and get her starter kit and some stamps...more to play with!

Clarity's demo was an hour, so we'd decided that we must get back upstairs after and have our picnic...but then it was Leonie, so we had to stay and we were so glad we did. She was as fun and superb as ever!

Apart from all these people I've mentioned, there was the brilliant Hels Sheridan, Lilli of the Valley, Pinflair, Craft stamper magazine, Paper Artsy, Inky Fingers, Artful Splodger, Stamp Addicts...and much more! I would definitely say that this show attracted the 'creme de la creme' of crafting. The only people who were missing for me, were Joanna Sheen and Jo Channon. It was just the right size to be enjoyable without being too downright exhausting. There were more demos on the stands than you get at the NEC (there's no room there) and whilst, like the NEC of course, everyone is there to sell..there was much more emphasis on actually crafting and techniques...Tom is already talking about the next one, which is in September (on our anniversary weekend!) so he must have enjoyed it too!

Sadly I didn't get to take any photos, except the one below of Leonie and that one is 'snatched'. There was not a chance of getting near Barbara Gray, and when I returned to take Sam and Sue, they must have been on a well earned break!

Never mind, next time!

I will be back with cards later in the week, when I've sorted out what to upload!

 Carole X

some 'art' at Cambden...motor bike seats!

There was lots of this at Camden...love them!

Leonie Pujol at Ally Pally

The stash I got with my cash (excuse my messy desk!): Sam Poole stamps; Lilli of the Valley stamps; Clarity Stamps starter kit including stamps, a brayer and a Big & Juicy, some distress ink, paint, grunge paper, Spellbinders, Rubbernecker stamps and ribbons, Masks...now I need time to play!

Workshop news! Friday 13th April

Hi Bloggers,


I am actually writing this at almost midnight on the 12th, for posting in the morning....tonight, I joined my friend Amy, who co-owns a beautiful local gift and craft shop in delivering our first card-making workshop and boy was it a really fab evening.


Tonight we concentrated on using alcohol inks, there were about 10 ladies and we each worked with a group. I hope they all enjoyed it, I'm pretty sure they did. I wasn't nervous, which really surprised me and I enjoyed every minute, realising this is something I really enjoy.


It has been so nice to work with Amy as well and I think we made a super team...long may it last!


These are the cards our groups worked on tonight...
This one was Amy's design and the one below was mine...it was lovely showing  the ladies how to use the alcohol inks and to heat emboss, which some of them had never tried. Next month we will be stamping and colouring with Promarkers, so I'm really looking forward to that.

I won't be around for a few days, Tom and I are off to London for the weekend and Saturday I am going to the stamping and scrapbooking show at Alexandra Palace...will report back on Monday, with some photos, I hope!

Bye for now and have a good weekend!

Brits & Bikes - Thursday 12th April

Good Morning Friends!


First of all I'd like to say Thank you and welcome to my new followers..I hope you will drop by often and leave comments. I love to read them and if you like what you see please spread the word!


I try to post at least every other day, this week has been a bit busy so I've missed a few. I'm very excited today because I will be teaching my first card-making workshop tonight! I'll be teaching the workshop with my friend Amy, who owns an absolutely wonderful gift and craft shop in nearby Chipping Sodbury and who has also organised the evening. I was thrilled when Amy asked me to join her with the workshop and I think we are both nervous and excited for this evening. We have a full class and we spent all Tuesday evening making the final preparations for it.


Tomorrow, Tom and I are off to London for the weekend and will be going to the Stamp and Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace. I've been to the NEC craft shows several times, but never this one, so that's something else to be excited about - however, if I'm not too tired when I get home tonight, I will post for tomorrow and report on tonight's craft class.


Today's card is one I made today for a commission..my remit was a 30th Birthday card for a male who likes motorbikes. I do use this Lambretta stamp from 'Little Claire' quite a lot, especially as it features a Union Jack - so we'll forget it's an Italian bike!

I coloured the bike with Promarkers and then cut it out using Spellbinders Grand Scalloped Rectangles and shaded the edges with faded denim distress ink, adding a mod button from stash. I cut a larger rectangular using paper from Docrafts British papers set, which is also the background. I then cut a small Labels 24. The letters and numbers were cut using the Cricut. Finally, I stamped "Happy Birthday' along the top and bottom of the card and added red, white and blue gems.


Thanks for stopping by....have a good day!
Carole X

A Spring Day! Easter Monday 2012

Morning friends!

I hope you have been having a lovely Easter weekend..the weather here has changed this morning, but for the moment at least, the rain is light and quite refreshing! We have spent a lot of time with family, been to a local Outlet Mall and whilst I would love to be staying home to craft today, I think Tom will be restless as with the change in weather, it's not a good gardening day.

When we have been able to relax at the end of the days over the weekend, we have enjoyed spending time in the garden with our hens. Buffy, our 'old gal' is especially liking a cuddle on my lap before bed nowadays. We have also been enjoying the garden birds: this year seems to be much better than of late with the variety...we have a resident pair of blackbirds and robins. This year they have been joined by Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches, Green Finches, a pair of sparrows and far fewer thrushes than usual.

My favourites are the robins. I often wonder why this tiny little creature, above all our wild garden birds are so trusting of humans. Both male and female readily feed from my hand and don't just land, take the mealworms and go, but hang about and perch! They have built their nest in a large plant pot and are busily feeding their young. I can't help but be mesmerised by them!

Now to crafts...one of the blogs I follow is Christine Emersons Hope & Chances bog: http://hope-chances.blogspot.co.uk  (see link on left). You know I love Spellbinders and my Grand Calibur and Christine is the only British Spellbinders Design Team member and for good reason..her  cards, projects and page layouts are so inspirational.

A few weeks ago, she posted some lovely Spring photos and asked her followers to send her a photo of a project that inspired us from looking at them. It wasn't a challenge, just a wonderful way for us to share our creations with Christine and her blog followers. The projects are all on her blog today and are lovely.

This is my contribution...

I made a scrapbook page layout for a change from a card, inspired by our recent visit to Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park. We are lucky to live on the Southern edge of the Cotswolds and this farm isn't too far from us, so we go when we can. But I especially like it during the Spring, when all the young animals are bouncing around in the fields, or you can seen chicks hatch and if you are there at the right time, a lamb being born. This is a truly magical place for all ages. With this in mind, I wanted to create a kind of 'magical' theme to the page, whilst making it fresh and colourful. I used Serif Craft Artist to create the background and Spellbinders did the rest. Original I was going to include a few of my photos, but I think this little lamb says it all!

I also sent a second project, which has been included in the gallery. This is an Easter Egg bag, totally inspired by one of Christine's projects. I bought the egg to give as a present (it's actually a big fat round sheep) at the Cotswold Farm.

This is simply 2 pieces of A4 card joined together and cut to fit the egg and then decorated with ribbon and Spellbinders die-cuts...easy but definitely effective!

 I hope you enjoy the rest of Easter and thanks for visiting my blog!

Carole X

Easter Chick - Saturday 7th April

Hello and hope you had a lovely Good Friday! 


We had Tom's parents, brother and cousin over for our annual brunch...we had lovely hot cross buns, bagels, I made mini yorkshire puds and chic chip muffins and we had home made bread and lots of other Easter treats...it was a super day!


Today's card is an Easter themed Easel card...featuring the lovely little hen I had free in Craft Stamper magazine a few months ago. I love this little stamp, but I always seem to end up colouring it in the colours of our Bluebelle hen, Buffy.


She's getting on now, she's 5 years old, but although we've had a few vet visits lately and she's slowed down with a sprained leg, she's one tough chick and also very beautiful. I won't explain the makings of the card today, but hope you like it!


Carole X

Happy Easter - Good Friday 2012

Good Morning Friends,


Hope you all have a wonderful Good Friday...we are having family over later this morning for our annual brunch, so I am just grabbing a few minutes between preparations to post this Easter card today..there will be a different one for the next two days.


This card is  a Lilli of the Valley stamp, coloured with promarkers...

The stamp could be for birthdays, Mother's Day, to say sorry...but I figured that the bunnies also lend it to Easter! I cut out the card using a recent Spellbinders buy..Grand Labels 23. I decided it was time to increase my collection of Grand Nesties and I am really pleased with this purchase. I cut the card with the die and also backing paper from stash, which I used as the base. Then I cut the stamped image with the same die and shaded the edges with Spun Sugar distress ink. I added a little lace, flowers and a punched out butterfly to finish. The greeting was typed and die cut using Spellbinders Fancy Tags.


Hope you all have a lovely day...I did so much baking after work yesterday that I'm already worn out, but looking forward to the day!


Carole X

New Baby Boy - Wednesday 4th April

Morning!


Aah my first favourite day of the week...I get to stay home and craft! Today's card, was made for my American cousin, Bree and her husband Jonny, in celebration of the birth of their first child. It really doesn't seem more than two years ago we were over in California celebrating their wedding!


As I write the card is on it's way to Florida, where they now live as Jon's career as a US Coastguard helicopter pilot, means they have to move wherever he is posted. Bree is a true California girl, but I guess their first move to Florida is pretty good!


I'm safe posting it, as I'm sure they won't be looking here...

This is an 8x8 card, covered with blue polkadot paper I printed from DoCrafts Digital Designer - Me to You. I think I have said before, that I do have a lot of craft CDs and they do come in useful, but I use them a lot for papers...there is usually something suitable.


I also printed the matching plain blue, but a smaller layer and using the Tim Holz ruler made tiny stitching holes..to think I used to do this freehand!


I took some of the Coredinations polkadot paper in yellow and die-cut this with Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles. This was primarily my choice for this card because it seemed to fit perfectly with the stamp. The stamp is another Lilli of the Valley, which I clouded with Promarkers and die-cut with a smaller nestie. I used some lace to make a border around the larger die-cut and added the flowers before attaching it all to the card.


Finally I added three miniature polkadot buttons and a double bow with a larger button tied with some embroidery thread.


I was really pleased with the finished card, hope you like it!


Thanks for stopping by,
Carole X

Mouse Celebration - Tuesday 3rd April

Good Morning,


Today's card is another Lill of the Valley stamp and could really be used for any celebration...

I wanted to give it a fresh Spring feel so I kept to light, pastel colours. I really like using yellows at this time of year!


The base card was covered with paper from a 12x12 scrapbook pad in my stash (a Dovecraft pad of pastel colours). Then using my Tim Holz ruler I made tiny stitching holes all around the edge and made faux stitches with a white jelly roll pen. I cut a strip of Coredinations polkadot paper, sanded it and added to the centre front of the card. I then punched 2 strips in white, using a Martha Stewart punch and added this top and bottom.


I die-cut a small die from Teardrop circles on to some of the polkadot card and added a greeting from stash to the front if it.


The image was stamped on coconut white card  and coloured with Promarkers. I do try and keep a list of which ones I use for projects, but last week I was so busy and well, you know how untidy our desks end up, that I just couldn't find the notes!


I die cut using Grand Scalloped Rectangles and lightly shaded around the edge with faded denim distress ink. Polkadot ribbon was added to the centre layer before placing the image at an angle and the final touch was a hint of cosmic sparkle.


Thanks for stopping by and have a good day,
Carole X

Golden Wedding - Monday 2nd April

Morning Bloggers!


Well  I wonder how many others watched Sue Wilson's 6pm show on Create and Craft yesterday, in the garden on their iPad, whilst nursing one of their pet hens?! Well I certainly did! Buffy our 5 year old Bluebelle has been a bit poorly of late and in the fine weather has been enjoying an evening cuddle..she also seemed quite mesmerised by the iPad, bless.


It was quite an eventful afternoon in the garden actually -my husband, Tom whilst sorting out his plant pots inadvertently uncovered the rather large nest our very friendly robins had made and there were young inside! Fortunately he realised before touching it and they were left in peace, with both mum and dad flying back and forth all afternoon and getting some extra mealworm treats (much to the hens' annoyance because they love them to!).


Anyway, on to the card...

Today's card is a variation of yesterdays. Another commission, this one for a Golden Wedding anniversary. I made it in the same way as yesterday, except I omitted the heart circle and added a greeting cut on the Romantic Rectangles die (Spellbinders).


The quote is one of my favourites and I have it in the little book of useful quotes I keep. I have seen it used on a Golden Anniversary card before, so it wasn't an original idea to use it - had I not remembered seeing it,  I may not have looked it up.


It's actually a lyric by Carmine Coppola, who was the father of film director Francis Ford Coppola and was set to music and sung on the soundtrack of Coppola's 1983 film, The Outsiders, by Stevie Wonder. The era of the brat pack was when I really got interested in movies and stars and at the time I was a big brat pack fan!


Thanks for stopping by!
Carole X

Sunday 1st April

Good morning!


I can't believe it's April already and what a lovely end to March we had! I was busy during my week off work, with lots of craft projects, but of course house 'stuff' always gets in the way as well when you are home. I completed a few of my commissions (though not ahead as much as I had hoped) and did some playing with alcohol inks in preparation for a workshop I am helping to teach in a few weeks time..my first proper one and I am really quite excited. I will say more about it, after it has happened!


This card was actually made as a commission for an engagement, but I changed the greeting for the photo in this instance. It was a 'rushed' request, I normally ask for at least 2 weeks, this time I had 2 days!! The person who commissioned it asked for a 'fussy' card, so I hope I've delivered. I've made a similar one since, which I will upload tomorrow, for a Golden Wedding, where I left off the heart circle and I much prefer it. 

 I started off my stamping an Indigo Blu heart stamp with flitterglu and gilding it with  Winter Dawn gilding flakes. The base layer is black card, matted with a layer of white and then I used some pearly quite thick paper from stash to emboss with an M-Bossability.


I then made up three flowers from the Spellbinders Layered Flowers set, a circle from Heart Circles and the stamped heart was cut using Classic Hearts.


The finishing touches were crushed white ribbon, hatpins and matching gems for the flower centres and  a black diamante flourish. The greeting was printed and die cut using Labels Four Small and layered using three sizes of the die.


Holding this card in my hand, I much preferred it to the photo!


Enjoy your Sunday, we are seeing family members and I'm trying to forget I have to leave my craft room and return to work tomorrow!


Carole X