Nicecrane Two-fer - Wednesday 26th November 2014

Hello Friends,

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments and encouragement...I worked two long days Monday and Tuesday, yesterday helped by one of my office volunteers, Julia and we made a heavy dent in the web updates we have to do..in fact they have now put the big launch date back to January 5th as there have been so many problems...so that's good news!

I brought a bit of work home, but other than that, I'm not back in until next Tuesday, so time to finish off the cards and decorations I've been making.

Glad you liked my Tilda: really these dolls aren't hard to make and I find it very relaxing; I trace the pattern and sew (with Tilda patterns you cut out afterwards, which is much better). I then cut them out and the rest is stuffing and hand sewing, which can be accomplished at leisure in front of the TV. Nice.

Tom's Dad had a lovely 80th Birthday last weekend: as I mentioned, on Sunday we took Tom's Mum, Dad and brother (bro drove..yay!) to Highgrove for lunch. The food was beautiful, the restaurant is gorgeous and decorated for Christmas and everyone had a fabulous time. Now they want to do a garden tour next year, Tom and I have been twice and are due for a Spring visit, so we'll have to arrange it! It is a shame photos aren't allowed, just one of the menu I brought home! :)

Today I am sharing two  design team cards I have made from Nicecrane's Christmas releases. This time I have used the Vintage Christmas Collection 1.

There are so  many gorgeous vintage digital designs over on the website, just click the link at the end of the post to go an have a mooch around the shop!

For the first card, I used this gorgeous traditional Santa image, he looks so jolly!

The card is 7x7 backed with paper from Tim Holz. 

I matted and layered the image on cream silk card and also added a layer of red card beneath, which I had embossed with a holly embossing folder.

   

To finish, I added ribbon, holly, cones and buttons and die cut a little snowflake. I also painted over the highlights in the beard and hair with my  clear Twinkle of Stella pen.

For my second card, I used a really sweet image and also made a matching tag:

For the card I used a 6x6 Kraft card blank. The script paper is from my stash and I stitched around the outside, leaving room the curl the card inwards afterwards. I printed the image on a silk card as for the Santa card and dusted with embossing glitter to highlight the snow on the trees and background.

I made a mini wreath from wire, which I covered with twine and then again dusted with snow embossing glitter. I tied red ribbons at intervals and added red paper roses, just for a change from holly! I then added a bow and twine to the side and placed over the image to frame it.

To finish I added some gems and snow glitter to the edges of the card.

I also used kraft card for the tag and covered with the same script card. I curled the edges of the printed image and inked the edges with worn lipstick distress ink, before adding the glitter.
To to finish I matched the bow and flowers and added some red twine.

This is the image sheet showing all the designs in the ranges:

I really enjoyed making these cards and there are many more gorgeous vintage images on the site, just click on the link here:

http://nicecranedesigns.com

Just to also add that Nicecrane is the sponsor of the current challenge over at

Our Creative Corner

Thank you so much for stopping by, I have some more images from Nicecrane to work with so will be posting them soon,

Love and Hugs

Carole X

Tilda Skater Angel - Saturday 22nd November 2014

Hello Friends,

Thank you very much for your comments yesterday, I am ok really and now just need to get back into the blogging (and crafting) routine.

I had a good day yesterday - found out that for the second month running I had made the top 3 in the Art with a Heart challenge - that was for my Psycho house and spooky graveyard. I got on well with finishing off 2 DT cards for Nicecrane as well and they will be posted as soon as I have managed to photograph them.

Today is Tom's dad's 80th birthday, so we are going to help him celebrate today and tomorrow Tom and I are treating his mum, dad and brother to lunch at Highgrove, which we are really looking forward to.

I am sharing one of my sewn projects today, a Tilda Skating Angel. I bought the kit after  last Christmas and just made her...

 She is quite fun to make, especially adding the ice skates and making the little muff.

That's all for today, thank you for stopping by,

Love and Hugs
Carole Z X

Merry & Bright - Friday 21st November

Good Morning Friends,

So sorry I've been awol recently, truth is I haven't been feeling that great...it's been a stress thing and I know that if I get it, then I just have to calm down and let it pass..crafting usually helps and it did, but not card making - sewing. It has been a culmination of work being pretty stressful, as there is so much going on. Without boring you, we (meaning myself and just one of my volunteers) have to work our way through records for 300 charities and groups, checking all the information before a  new national volunteering website is launched at the end of the month - and with web  problems (their end) it is proving a mammoth task...so much to get done and so little time!

I haven't even wanted to look at a paper craft project for a few weeks now and when I've tried, Mr Mojo just won't come out to play - it's my father-in-Law's 80th birthday tomorrow and boy did I struggle with his card!

However, at the end of the day I just have to keep telling myself that there are so many more people out there who have much more reason to feel not great about everything than me, some of you included my dear friends who I know have health problems or are coping with the poor health of loved ones, including one of my  close friends at the moment. 

I did make some CAS Christmas cards before this all set in and I have made the decision that this year for the first time in a great many years, I won't be making all my cards for Christmas. I send and give a lot of cards and at this stage I'll never do it! 

There is another reason too - with this year being such a special one of Remembrance, I wanted to support our servicemen and women, so I have bought some cards from Help for Heroes and The Royal British Legion, so the people I don't see regularly or only have contact  with at Christmas will getting those cards this time. You can't do it all can you? I think I've finally come to realise that :)

More Challenge successes: 

Speaking of Remembrance, my poppy card was chosen for the top 5 in last week's Allsorts Challenge - I was thrilled with that, it's even better than winning because the top 5 are actually chosen rather than picked by random, so it really cheered me up. My Poppy card (last post) that I submitted to the Stamping with Bibiana Throwback Thursday Challenge also made the top 3 there..what a good month it'a been for placements!

I do have to get to grips with some paper craft today - the lovely Ignacio from Nicecrane has just sent some gorgeous new vintage Christmas designs to the DT, so I'd best get working.

I said that sewing had helped me recently, well it has and my sewing machine has been working overtime, with lots still to do - but even with sewing I can't win at the moment because for many years I have suffered very slightly with attacks of repetitive strain injury and if I sew a lot by hand I do pay for it with tingling fingers..another reason I've been staying away from the keyboard, but thankfully it's not too bad. Actually reading this back I am starting to chuckle..`:)

Today's card:

My card was made using  JOFY stamps, coloured quite simply with Promarkers. In the background I stamped some snowflakes with embossing glitter and finished with some twine and a button.

Coming soon....

I will be back with some of my sewn projects soon...think TILDA (Tone Finnanger)...I am such a fan of Tilda and have all the books, which have such inspiring and gorgeous designs..I've been making more polar bears, snowmen and gingerbread men and I have completed an angel  doll as well...

Before I go, I would like to say thank you to one of my lovely blog friends for her email I received this morning. I won't say your name in case you don't want me to, but  thank you 'P', your kind words inspired me to get back and write this blog today..sending extra hugs X

I'll catch up with you all later, now I'd better get on with those DT cards...

Love and Hugs and thank you for your visit,

Carole X

Throwback Thursday Challenge - Poppy Meadow: Monday 10th November 2014

Hello Friends,

I am continuing with the theme of Remembrance today and would like to enter this re-visited card  in the Stamping with Bibiana Throwback Thursday challenge #4. 

I have been wanting to enter this challenge, where we share a previously blogged creation..but well, you know how busy I have been of late. I see the challenge will be taking a break until January, but it is one I will definitely be coming back to in the New Year!

The theme this month is 'Anything Goes' and I thought that as it is November, which here in the UK is a special time for celebrating our veterans and especially this year, I would share this card that I posted a year ago. 

It uses the same poppy stamps (Poppy Meadow) by Indigo Blu, that I used for yesterday's post. I created the background on linen paper, using distress inks, which I then spritzed with water to create an uneven watercolour effect. The poppy stamps were stamped in black archival and heat embossed with clear powder before colouring with distress inks.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set. I finished with black and deep red ribbon.

I would like to enter this card in

http://stampingwithbibiana.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/throwback-thursday-challenge-4.html

Many thanks for stopping by today,

Love and Hugs,

Carole Z X

Remembrance - Sunday 9th November 2014

Good Morning Friends,

My post today is a little card I made for Remembrance Sunday..it's just a simple poppy, but that was the idea, I wanted the poppy to stand out; the splashes of red are to signify Flanders Fields. I have to be honest, I'm not happy with the photo (too little time to concentrate to get it posted for today) and if I get a chance I may replace the photo at some point!

I painted the background using distress inks as watercolours. The poppy is from Poppy Meadows stamp set by Indigo Blu. I stamped it with Versafine as it is quite a detailed stamp and then heat embossed with clear powder. I also painted it with distress inks and just to the poppy head, I added glossy accents, although it doesn't show in the photo.

Whilst we reflect on the brave men and women who have given their lives for their Country right up to the present day, I also wanted to share with you something we have been doing at work....some of you know that I manage a Volunteer Centre, where we promote and help people into voluntary work.

Back in September we decided to have an event for people who may want to volunteer just small amounts of time..micro volunteering. There are lots of ways to do this, most of them using social media, but one of them(close to my heart of course) is crafting and quite a few charities collect crafted items such as (for example) blankets for  premature  babies and at the opposite end of the spectrum, animal shelters. We had a drop off point through to the end of last month for people who wanted to join in with Age UK's Big Knit and we also collected cards for RAF personnel.

When I started tweeting several years ago(something else I seem to have little time for now), I connected with a group of crafters. I am still in touch with most of them via Facebook and several of us  have met in the past at the NEC craft show. One of them is a lady called Cazz Wright. Cazz has been collecting cards for RAF Blue Witch Squadron, serving  in Afghanistan, for some years now. We decided to hold a card drive through September and I can't begin to tell you how overwhelmed we were with the response.

In remote places the servicemen and women can't  just go out to the shops and buy cards to send home, so these cards were there for them in their NAAFI. Cazz has now had to stop her scheme for personal reasons and mostly because the Squadron's work over there is done and she hadn't been able to get a new address to carry on sending cards for all serving RAF personnel, which had been the intention .

Our collection was the last to be sent to them and in just one month we collected 70 cards. They were dropped in to the office by local people who saw our posters and local news articles; some of my group at our craft class gave me some and one of my fellow Teamie friends from Creative Studios, Jackie, sent some fabulous cards. Cazz was thrilled and wanted me to say a big thank you. 

Thank you for stopping by, I hope we can all take time to reflect today and wear our poppies with pride,

I will be back tomorrow, revisiting aRemembrance themed card, which I originally posted last year.

I would also like to enter this card in the current Allsorts Challenge week 284 , which has the theme of Poppies/Remembrance -
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/week-284-poppiesremembrance_8.html


Love and Hugs,
Carole X

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Dasher in a Box - Wednesday 5th November 2014

Hell Friends,

Sorry I've been awol again...stupidly decided to clear out the craft room as I couldn't move here and 4 days later I've finally finished! I did get around all your blogs I think, but sorry if I missed any!

I've been finding it very hard to get into Christmas card making, in fact at the moment I seem to be happier creating  mixed media and altered art and doing some Tilda sewing for Christmas than cards!

Today I'm sharing one of the cards I made for Sam Poole's DT before she went on maternity leave.. and talking of Sam, she had a gorgeous baby boy, Max, last week so many congratulations! She has been posting lots of lovely pics on Facebook and her daughter Leah seems to be thrilled with her little brother.

So a quick post today..I think between  now and the end of the month I will still be posting less frequently as the more time I spend here, the less I have to craft - and with work being busy as well, you just have to 'give' sometimes don't you? 

Be back soon,

Love and  Hugs,

Carole X

Halloween Hocus Pocus revisited - Saturday 1st November

Hello Friends,

A late and quick post today and I will get around you all first thing tomorrow! I had one of those crazy days today where the craft room had been driving me mad, can't find a thing, decided to reorganise (why in the midst of Christmas crafting I'll never know!) and now I am surrounded, can't move in here and have made it 10 times worse...why when I have actually got rid of some stuff, will the rest not fit back in the room...now there's a conundrum!

Anyway, we had a fab Trick or Treat...well Tom got stuck at work so I was (sob) all alone, but 48 little spooks, princesses, pirates, pumpkins, witches and the like came a calling...and I got so many compliments for my porch..two 12 year olds exclaimed "amazing!"- chuffed! Yes I did count them...I was on my own, it was something to do!!!

Here are some pretty poor photos..

Today I also found out that my Psycho House/Poe graveyard made the Top 3 in the Artist Trading Post Challenge! I was so pleased as I had put so much time into that project, probably more than any before. I had it on my porch display and several of the parents stopped to ask about it. They all thought the house was the Psycho house, so it looks like I am going to have to start working on a Bates Motel to go with it for next year..watch this space!

Thank you for stopping by, I am leaving my mess of a room now to go and watch Strictly in peace!

Love and Hugs
Carole X