Gilded Wedding - Saturday 27th June

Hello Friends,

Have you missed me this week? Sadly I haven't been on holiday, but off work with a flare up of my ongoing back condition..it has been agony and I have the hens to blame (LOL) because it was whilst cleaning them out last Sunday morning that it flared up, with a vengeance!

Those of you who have been following me for a while will know that whilst my friends were playing hockey and netball as a teenager (as was I), I preferred mucking out stables for rides and the chance to compete in riding school show jumping and eventing..as well as play ice hockey! All this has left me with a recurring back condition - well it was mostly that fall from  a horse that did it!  Sometimes I can go a couple of years without an attack, but this year I've had a few mild ones and it really makes it impossible to sit at my desk for long and craft or use the computer..and believe me I have it all set up for perfect back support! So I went to see a doctor and he has suggested I visit a Sports Massage Therapist, which he reckons is better for my problem that physio etc. I haven't tried any therapies for a while, so I've made an appointment for Wednesday.

So my friends that is why I haven't posted or visited many of you this week and right now I'm posting a card I made as a commission back in May...a Wedding card..

 I'm not going into much detail if you'll forgive me today..the hearts are from Scrapbook Adheives, coated with gilding flakes.

Hopefully I wil get to boghop tomorrow, probably using the iPad and am desperate to resume normal crafting as soon as possible!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Wedding Day - Sunday 21st July

Good Morning Friends,

I hope you are having a lovely weekend and enjoying the sunshine..thank you for your comments on my Tag Book yesterday, which I really appreciated. I saw from Facebook last night that Christine had a great day at her shop and raised lots of money for the Ronald MacDonald House charity.

We had a super day in Cardiff yesterday, enjoying the atmosphere by the water at Mermaid Quay and lunch outside on the terrace of a quay front restaurant..it was gorgeous!

Today's card is a wedding card I made recently as a commission: the lilac printed background paper is Damask by PInk Petticoat; I matted and layered this with white. lilac and mirri card, finishing with white card embossed with the Sue Wilson lattice hearts folder.

The 'To Have and to Hold' was typed, as were the names. The flowers are all made from a Britannia Rose die, except I didn't actually make some of them into roses, choosing to layer instead. To finish off I inked them and the edges of the sentiment with Milled Lavender. 

That's it, a quick post from me today! Happy Sunday all,

Love,
Carole X

Seaside Memories Tag Book - Saturday 20th July

Good Morning Friends,

The weekend is here! I hope that you are all able to enjoy some sunshine...Tom and I are taking the train for the short trip to Cardiff today, where we are going to meet up with my cousins from Swansea for a stroll at the Bay and some lunch, it'll no doubt be crowded but I'm looking forward to being near the water!

Today's project is a little tag book...I've been trying to make a start on scanning the photos from my Mum's albums to make sure they are saved and scrap-booked. Recently I bought a charity tag kit from Christine Emberson (Hope & Chances Creativity). Some of you also follow Christine's blog and will know that her youngest son, Elliott has been undergoing treatment for a brain tumour. During his stay in hospital earlier this year, Christine was able to remain close by because of Ronald MacDonald House, a residence opposite the hospital where parents can stay whilst their children are undergoing treatment. Although MacDonald's provided the initial start-up the running of this so much needed House is all due to donations. Christine sold these packs to help raise funds and today she is having a fund-raising event at her shop/Spellbinders Academy in Kent (wish I could be there!). There has been a raffle with so many big names in the craft world (including Spellbinders) donating wonderful  prizes...all such generous people.

You can still buy raffle tickets until Midnight tonight by following this link 

The tag kit consists of some die-cut shapes, papers, ribbons, embellishments for us to do as we wish with..I didn't use some of the embellishments because I needed a seaside theme, so they will be used in another project and I added some extra shapes, papers and embellishments of my own.

I decided to create a tag book of holiday memories from my very early  years. I began with a heart shape as  the cover, stamped with a quote from the Crafty Individuals Bathing Belle stamp set. I inked the edges of the heart with Brushed Corduroy distress ink. The first photo I added is one of my favourite photos of me with my Mum. The photos were taken in the sixties, so aren't brilliant in definition!

To the back of that tag I added some papers from the new Pink Petticoat Beach Cottage  papers - this one features ice cream cones, so the photo of me with an ice cream seemed to fit well. The little post card is an image from Tilda papers. I then added a little photo of me with one of my cousins, on one of those horse rides, with my Dad and finally building sandcastles!

Have a great weekend and please join me in wishing Christine a successful fundraiser today!

Love Carole X

This was a lovely little project to make and I'd like to enter it in the current  

Our Creative Corner Challenge: Captured Memories
Click on above for details of the challenge

More workshop photos! - Friday 19th July

Good Morning Friends!

Last night was the second of our 'Out of the Blue' workshops using the hats and bonnets stamp from Crafty Individuals. This week I decided on a variant of last week's card and asked the group to make their card based around the design I posted on Wednesday and these are their magnificent creations! I never fail to be amazed by the different 'takes' everyone has on one 'sketch', because in effect that is how I see my example - a sketch.

 The above card has a very rich, bold feel to it doesn't it? This was made by Sharon, who has also started her own blog and I am sure she will be uploading this card to it...check out her blog here  - Sharon brings some of her cards along to the group and they are stunning.

I am truly overwhelmed by all the cards these ladies come up with - some of them are seasoned crafters but many have only been crafting a short time..shows how addictive this is and why we become so passionate about it doesn't it?

Thanks for stopping by..I really have to succumb to housework this morning..including a spot of ironing in the garden..yes I mean it, it I have to do it I may as well get a tan at the same time! Then hopefully an afternoon of crafting!

Love,
Carole X

Feathers and Fur - Allsorts Challenge week 215 - Thursday 19th July

Good Morning Friends,

This week's theme over at the Allsorts Challenge is Feathers and Fur, so I thought I'd go with both!

Of course as my blog pals know my husband, Tom and I are keepers of some adorable,pet hens: I can just sit and watch them as the wander around the garden chitter-chattering away and are always guaranteed to make me smile and chuckle at their antics, so they would have to figure in my entry wouldn't they?

I have had this stamp a long time - it's a big wooden stamp from the House Mouse range and the hen is so much like our Buff Orpington, Penny! I coloured the image with Promarkers (trying to capture her varying colours of caramel, honey and pumpkin, which is her nickname!)  and stamped it twice, cutting out the hen and mice to layer on the front of the original stamped image.

The base layer paper is by Graphic 45, as is the central layer and the buttons. The remaining paper is from my stash. I added some ribbon and for a final touch, my dear Penny actually gave up a few feathers in the garden today, so I added one to the card.

Thanks for stopping by,

Love,

Carole X

I would like to enter this card in the Allsorts Challenge Week 215 Fur and Feathers

Sunday Stampers week - Wednesday 17th July

Good Evening Friends!

I haven't blogged since Saturday and it feels as if I have been away from here ages! The truth is, I decided that a weekend off just enjoying the sunshine would do my neck good and it seems to have worked, as it is much better now. All I've done is some stamping in the garden - I've had this idea to create and art journal of sorts for our holiday road trip and have been stamping images to colour in at times of relaxation!

Thank you for all your good wishes - and Jenny - I got some lavender oil and it's great! Thank you for suggesting it.

How are you all finding the heat? It's great when I'm not in work, although even with all the windows fully open, the craft room is pretty hot and I have been doing what I can out in our little Summer House!

Up until the weekend the hens weren't very bothered, but they are finding it a bit much now I think...we have extra water in their run, where they have plenty of shade and when they are out in the garden there are lots of shady places and we have been putting water everywhere for them...but other than lazing under bushes, they seem to be carrying on much as usual!

Today I am back using the hats and bonnets stamp again, this time a different design and it is also my creation for this week's Sunday Stampers challenge. Hels has set the theme of  creating layers...

I started with a blank A6 card and inked all around the edges with Dusty Concord Distress ink.

For the next layer I used a piece of Damask patterned pink card (the pattern is very pale so can't be seen in the photo). I cut it to about 3mm smaller all around and used a decorative corner punch on the edges.

The image was stamped and then die cut using Spellbinders Labels 17 and whilst I was doing this, I made an extra die-cut to use as a mask.

I placed the mask on the pink card, where I wanted the final image to be and secured it on the back with some low tack tape; then I stamped some script and flourishes around the edge and across the mask, again using Dusty Concord. To complete this layer I inked the edges with the same colour.

The stamped image is coloured using watercolour pencils and I stamped and cut an extra model to layer her on top of the original. Once I had finished colouring I out the shape back in the die and inked with Spun Sugar to give a little contrast. I  then added this to the front of the card in place of the mask.

The flowers were cut using the medium and large Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms and the leaf came from a set of leaf dies. Before adding the finished flowers I placed some lace along the card. To finish I added a bow and a little card candy script button, coloured with distress ink, plus a little pearl in each corner.

Thanks for stopping by, I really so appreciate your visits!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Workshop Photos - Saturday 13th July

Good Morning Friends,

I'm a little later than usual to share photos from the latest Out of the Blue Craft Group, I'm afraid that still suffering a little with my neck/shoulder and with it being so hot, my craft room and computer got ignored yesterday, although thanks to the iPad I was able to visit most of your blogs whilst keeping the hens company in the garden!

Again, I was thrilled with all the variations on the original idea - and all of them absolutelybrilliant..one of my ladies even made a matching tag....

I think they all really capture the vintage feel to the stamped image don't you? Fabulous!

Have a great Saturday everyone, it's supposed to be a hot one here, so I hope the sun is shining where you are too!

Love,

Carole X

Little Donkey: Sunday Stamper wk 265 - Thursday 11th July

Morning Friends,

Aha...did anyone think my creation this week was going to also be my first Christmas card? Sorry, not today, I'm still crafting for the beach!

For this week's Sunday Stampers - full deets here -  Hels has set the theme of ' showing some depth' and this was a very quickly made project. I actually had lots of much 'grander' ideas but I'm afraid this painful shoulder and neck  of mine, is severely restricting my ability to craft for long periods at the moment :(

In case you haven't recognised it, this little picture is made from the lid of a totally dried up distress ink container. 

I painted it with  PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in Mermaid and then once it had dried, sanded it a little to remove colour and make it look worn.

I stamped the seaside donkey ride image (Crafty Individuals), cut it out to reveal the painted sky areas and attached it to the lid. Then I stamped it again, cut out the donkey and girl, coloured them and attached them with 3D foam pads.

To finish I also stamped some bunting (Crafty Individuals), coloured it and stuck it across the top. To finish I added some starfish and  a sandcastle button I found in my button box!

This little stamp brings back childhood memories - on days out to our nearest beach when I was a kid, Weston-Super-Mare, being horse mad from a very young age, all ever wanted to do was ride on a donkey! I even remember my favourite was called Molly! Don't every remember wearing a winter coat like this little girl though :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Love Carole X

Vintage Ladies - Wednesday 10th July

Hello Friends!

I do hope this weather lasts a while, I want to get a bit of a tan before we go on holiday..wow, 8 weeks on Friday, I'm counting down now! One of my office volunteers and her husband have just been to California and flew back on Saturday - just before- that awful plane crash, so they were lucky. I've flown into that airport many times and never really thought much about the water since the first time I flew there as a teen, but it is very similar to Venice and we have been in planes that have overshot the runway there twice in the past five years and yet ive been going there for almost thirty years and never before! Fortunately each time the pilot was able to pull up and circle, scary though and maybe I will be giving it a little more thought when we land at SF in September.

Anyway, for todays card...this is the design for my group at our workshop tomorrow. When I made the box card last week I coloured it in purples and greens with promarkers and really liked it, but then I experimented just using coloured pencils and liked that too. We've never used pencils in class and although these were watercolour pencils, the colouring is so light, I used them dry. I like to bring along different colouring techniques and have a lot more pencils to go round than promarkers!

 I matted and layered kraft card and script card (Pink Petticoat) on to a card blank and then with the third layer I stamped very lightly (ink-blot-plot!) using versafine ink (sepia).I used a script stamp and anemone floral from Indigo Blu. The Crafty Individuals image was stamped with the same ink and very lightly coloured. Before matting and layering I inked the edges of the layers with Vintage Photo, Antique Linen and Spun Sugar. The die flourishes are Spellbinders from Venetian Motifs and the little roses are Bitty Blossoms. I made them with white card and coloured with distress inks. To finish I added lace, the sentiment from the Indigo Blu "Aloysius'' set and some pink vintage ribbon which I spritzed damp and dried.

I really hope my group likes this card and enjoys making it: to say crafting this last week or so has been 'agonising' would be an understatement! I have a pinched nerve in my neck and sitting at the computer or crafting has been really painful. It's another relic from my teenage riding accident back injury, but if I would do sports like eventing and ice hockey I have no one to blame but myself!

Hens and the heat...
Yesterday Susie asked how the hens like the heat...well to be honest the carry on as  normal, just drink more water, so they just don't seem bothered! Maybe it's because they all originate from the Indian Jungle Fowl??? Thanks for asking :)

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Summer Days and Holidays - Saturday 6th July

Good morning Friends,

Challenge success and a design team project...

Well it looks like Summer has finally arrived! What a scorcher yesterday! Well when I entered blogland  last night to visit your blogs and I had two lovely surprises..first I have another new follower, welcome Viera and thank you so much for choosing to follow me!

..and then I saw that I had been chosen in the top 5 for my Lavender & Lace entry in Allsorts Challenge blog this week...it was the first time I had entered this challenge, although I had been meaning to for ages so I was thrilled! I think it's probably the card I've been most pleased with in a while.

Today is time for my Design Team post for Emergency Crafters and the theme for this months new challenge is summer days and holidays. I decided to make a wall hanging this time...I made a very similar one before and thought I had posted it, but someone saw it and asked to buy it, so it must have been before I posted it...

I used an MDF art part plaque base, covered it with stripey paper and gave it a coat of modge podge to shine and seal. The beach hut stamp is by Michael Powell and is coloured with promarkers. I matted and layered this on blue and white card and added some sparkle netting as the  base layer. I had some striped material which was a good match for the paper, so I cut this into bunting and secured with bakers twine. To finish I added some starfish and craft rope to hang.

Before I go today, I thought you might like to see this photo of one of Bristol's Gromits. You may know that this year Bristol has  placed Gromits  decorated by celebrities, schoolchildren and other invited peopleall over the city and they are a colourful bunch! Last year we had Gorillas...I don't live in the City (though I was born there) but 13 miles outside and in a neighbouring County, we still have a couple of Gromits of our own...this one was decorated by the children of a local Primary School and is just yards away from my office in our local library...when we get to go into Bristol and I find some more, I will post photos...

Have a super sunny Saturday!


Love Carole X

Happy 4th July USA! Thursday 4th July

Hello Friends!

A quick post today to wish our American crafty friends a great 4th July...hoping you all have an Independence Day filled with Love,Hope, Happiness & much celebration! Enjoy!

Love & Hugs,

Carole X

All papers from Nitwit digital collection

Sunday Stampers week 264; Home - Wednesday 3rd July

Good evening Friends!

A late posting for me today - I had one of those days where I seemed to be working on so many projects in my craft room that I didn't  feel as if I was getting anywhere very quickly! However, I did complete a commission (I'm getting near the end of them, then I can relax a while - though I do already have Christmas orders!); I think I have decided on my group's card for our next workshop; I made my bro-in-law's birthday card and I made my Sunday Stamper project - so looking back, I guess it was a productive day afteralll!

This week, Hels Sheridan gave us the theme of 'Home' and I discovered that amongst all my stamps I don't have one with any quote or sentiment with this word! I set out to make a card, but last week when I was having a rummage in Bristol, I found a plain wooden little birdhouse ornament for just a few ££'s - of course I bought it just so I could alter it in some way!

It really was a blank canvas and half way through painting it I realised I should have photographed it in its 'naked' state! Hey-ho :)

I gave it a coat of  Wild Honey distress paint and after making a pattern for the measurements, especially as there is a heart 'hole' in the front and a little step, I cut some  pretty Teresa Collins paper to cover each side. After sticking in down I inked all the edges with Wild Honey distress ink.

The owl stamp is by Woodware; I stamped the image several times on different scraps of patterned paper and then paper-pieced them. The sentiment is a digital stamp by Pink Petticoat. I cut the sentiment into a banner shape and attached it at a slight angle to the front of the bird house. The owls and sign were also given a coat of glossy accents (or actually in this case Modge Podge). To finish, I die cut some little flowers in felt.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting - I have a busy day at work tomorrow and we are out in the evening, so I may not get around my next blog hop until Friday,

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Lavender and Lace - Tuesday 2nd July

Good Morning Friends,

I love purple and its its relative colours and my favourite plant is lavender, honestly I could have my whole garden filled with it! I love to visit Hidcote and Cotswold Lavender, not too far from us, where you can get quite 'heady' with the abundance of this herb growing in the gardens and fields.

This stamp from Crafty Individuals is the one we will be using in our next workshop, but from the moment I got my hands on it I  knew what I wanted to make  - an easel-drawer card using these colours.

I used my Zandra template to make the basic card with cream linen effect card and I also die cut an extra base and Easel using Spellbinders Grand Labels 23. I inked all the edges with Antique Linen. I also cut two extra layers for the easel, one in patterned paper and the other white card, on which I stamped the image. The image is coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers.

The paper I have used is from Graphic 45's 'Secret Garden' collection: I decorated the sides, front and back of the box and also added a lace trim. For the drawer front, I also added a very old belt buckle that was in my button box and that came from my Mum, but I think it may have originally belonged to my Grandmother! Through the centre I tied a lovely vintage ribbon, which I had misted with water and crumpled before drying.

 For the base at the front of the easel, I made a pleated strip with the paper and added three rolled lace flowers to the centre to act as the stopper.

I stamped the tape measure and cotton reel from a set that was free with a magazine and wound some lilac cotton around it; I also added two hat pins. Both the tape measure and reel were made to appear more vintage by inking with Vintage Photo.

I made the roses using Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms and also added two flourishes. All of these were inked using Milled Lavender.

To finish off I added some sewing items to the drawer!

Thanks for stopping by today and
please do leave a comment,

I love to read them!

I would like to enter this card in

Allsorts Challengehttp://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk

Week 213 -Lavender and Lace

Sister Act

Challenge #13: Anything Goes

Stampin' for the Weekend Anything Goes

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Fantastic Washi! - Monday 1st July

Good Morning Friends,

I hope you all had a fab weekend and the sun shone wherever you are! Thanks to those of you who commented on my post yesterday; it is a such a shame that so many have become almost afraid to 'love' our Country and more to the point show it! I thought we had turned a corner last year when we were all celebrating the Jubilee and the Olympics, I will never forget the images on TV of the sea of flags in the Mall. As for our armed service personnel, none of us like the idea of war and fighting, but without those prepared to fight for us we would have no defence. I felt very humbled listening to Jake on Saturday. Just as a quick side to this...he explained that having lived with three other soldiers in nothing more than a hill fort for 6 months, firing at Taliban, he was sent home on 2 weeks leave..can you imagine the transition and how you couldn't possibly adjust? After his first term there, he came home and went back to his banking job in London(he was a Reservist), with no real adjustment time and obviously couldn't settle..it's frightening isn't it?

Yesterday, Hazel mentioned in her comment about sending cards to Forces overseas, I don't know of any collections to do this, but one of my crafty twitter and facebook pals, Cazz Wright, has been collecting cards to send to an RAF Squadron for them to post back to loved ones at home for some years now and they are always so grateful. For details of this please check out http://obws.webs.com - I do send some when I can, but lately have had a hard time keeping up with my own makes I'm afraid.

Fantastic Ribbons Design Team project...

                                                         Wonderful Washi!

This month our Design Team project at Fantastic Ribbons is to alter household items. Washi Tape is a must for your craft stash, as you can do some much with it and my immediate thoughts went of course to my craft room (afterall most of my spare time is spent here!).

I decided to alter a few of my desk top items: a little plain wooden desk top tray, some flash drives, pencils and notebooks.

For the pencils I simply wound the washi around the barrel and hey presto you have a brand new, colourful pencil! I also found an old cardboard tube at the bottom of my box of card I've saved for projects and wound some washi around it to create a small pencil pot and washi tape stand.

The wooden tray has been on a shelf waiting to be 'loved'; I think it was originally part of a gift pack, but I can't remember what was in it! This was the time to give it a new look, so I gave it a coat of salty ocean distress paint and lined the base with some pretty scrap paper; then I covered the rest with some blue polka dot tape - now it sits proudly on my desk.

Washi tape is great for labelling - electric cables have never looked so attractive and neither have flash drives! I stuck this pretty floral washi to some card, cut it to size, punched a hole in one end and cut the other end into a banner shape. As you can easily write on washi, I just used a pen to write on each one,what the drive contains and then I tied them on with narrow ribbons (all available from Fantastic Ribbons).

These two books started out as  plain notebooks and with the addition of some washi they could be given as gifts. I haven't included a tutorial because if you look at the Fantastic Ribbons website, Kirsty Wiseman has already added a brilliant video tutorial.

I decided to use two different tapes on each book, to co-ordinate with the pencils. On the shopping list I also made a ribbon banner from washi and on the note book I stuck some washi to card and then die-cut the butterflies. To finish off both books, I added some cover titles using Spellbinders die-cuts.

If you haven't tried washi tape I hope this has inspired you to try some, it really is a simple way to give something a new look. I used rolls of washi tape that had already been used on cards and other items previously and after completing all these projects, I still have lots left - a little roll goes a long way!

Why not pop over to Fantastic Ribbons, they have lots to choose from

Love,

Carole X