More Choc Wrappers! - Monday 30th June 2014

Hello Friends,

Hope you all had a good weekend...I think I finally got around all your blogs this morning; we had a bit of a 'hectic' time and I didn't get on the computer or even iPad..except we did watch Dolly at Glasto in the garden yesterday, wasn't she amazing? I think it's the one time I wish I'd been there!!'

We finally ordered our new kitchen last week: we now have to think about the little extras we need and choose floor tiles, before finalising everything (it should be fitted in September) so that is what we were doing most of Saturday. 

Aside from that I have spent a lot of time providing TLC in the hen coop :(....Our lovely speckledy Lacey, is very poorly. She's on antibiotics, but to be honest they never really do much good..she's eating and drinking and scratching about, but losing weight to it's probably a tumor, which is quite common in poultry. All I can do is give her lots of cuddles really. Our Bluebelle, Bella gave us a bit of a cause for concern Friday, but she is fine now. In fact, Tom was gardening yesterday and I was trying to craft (all behind at the moment with deadlines!) and all I could hear was him telling her off....

I went down to have a look and she had been put back in the pen (the naughty corner, lol). Apparently he was trying to clear up our tiny little pond and the girls were trying to help (!), as they do, but frogs kept popping their heads out and Bella kept grabbing them. He managed to rescue one, but she ate two!!

Our oldest hen, Cara has been acting like she has taken some performance enhancing drug for 2 weeks now..totally manic, very odd!

Anyway, that's it for 'tales from the hen coop' today...

I have two of my chocolate bar wrappers to share (I love making these!)...

 For both of these cards  I used Indigo Blue stamps. The above card is made using papers from stash with some ribbon that matched it very well. I stamped the  greeting using archival ink  and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

 For the second wrapper, I used script paper from stash and inked the edges of the paper with Brushed Corduroy distress ink. I also made a little card to match. The stamped sentiment on the card is by Creative Expressions.

I need to go an craft whilst keeping an eye on Lacey  now (no work today)...I'll be back tomorrow with this week's DT creation for Sam Poole...this week it's something I love to make for every season..some of you will guess what it is, I'm sure!

Have a good day all,

Love and Hugs

Carole X

Sunday Stampers Week 294 -Diamonds

Hello again Friends..goodness twice in a day!

As promised I'm back with this week's Sunday Stampers challenge project. Sunday Stampers is a weekly challenge set by wonderfully inspirational crafter Hels Sheridan - to check out all the deets click here

This week Hels set the theme of Diamonds, so I as I'm not a particularly 'blingy' crafter, I immediately turned to my Harlequin stamp by Indigo Blu, but what to do? I decided to make a wall hanging and  return to the chalkboard technique I used on my 'Tom's Tag' this month.

I actually used the same stamp, again by Indigo Blu...

To begin with I painted the wooden plaque black, then I stamped the diamond pattern around the edges using Versamark ink, coated it with white embossing powder and heat embossed. I then stamped and embossed the main image in the same way. Once I'd finished stamping and embossing, I chalked all over the plaque and wiped off with the palm of my hand, leaving a chalkboard 'dusty' effect.

To finish I die cut flowers from Spellbinders various elements from Carnation Creations and Die-Lights Blooms Four

That's all for today friends, but later today I will be doing the draw for my 70 follower candy winner, so do drop by tomorrow..it could be you (anywhere in the world!)

Love and Hugs,

Carole  X

Pastel Heart - Tuesday 29th January

Hello Friends,

First of all, welcome to my new follower, Dee..thank you so much for choosing to join in my little piece of craft space! Thank you also for your comments on yesterday's post...when I set out to make the card I had no idea that it was going to take hours and hours to make, so glad you all seemed to like it!

Today is a simple little card, which was made in minutes and was inspired by a card in Indigo Blu's gallery.

 I covered a  6x6 card blank with dark red textured card and then stamped the Indigo Blu 'Love is" heart on a piece of sticky note paper to make a mask, which I placed in the centre of a square of white card.

I then stamped a script design randomly around the mask with Wild Honey distress ink (the stamp is from Vintage Labels by Sam Poole). I ran the heat tool over the stamping to make sure it was dry and then I inked it all over with a mix of Victorian Velvet and Spun Sugar distress inks.

To finish off I inked the stamp with purple, pink and green Colourbox inks and stamped the insert with the same inks, but very faintly so that I could stamp the sentiment across it...and that's all folks!

Thanks for stopping by,

Carole X

Sunday Stampers Week 241 - Tuesday 22nd January

Good Morning Friends,

Another project rather than a card or tag today...glad you liked my clock yesterday, it's on the wall in my craft room now so I've no excuse for losing track of time! Thank you for your comments, they were very much appreciated...I really do want to get cracking on a 'Wonderland' one now!

Today is a 'double heart' hanging decoration which I made for this week's Sunday Stampers challenge, whilst we were 'snowed in' on Sunday. Sunday Stampers is a weekly challenge from Hels Sheridan and this week the theme is birds, which I have to say, is one of my very favourite subjects for any type of art.

I bought these chip board hearts at the Ally Pally stamp show last September (along with quite a few other shapes) and hadn't touched them, but last week when I primed the clock with Claudine Helmuth Gesso, I decided to prep a couple of other pieces at the same time, these hearts included.

They are individual hearts, which at the end of my stamping, I stuck together with Pinflair glue.

First of all I sanded the edges to give them more of a shabby look and then I stamped the bird (an Indigo Blu stamp) and the quote (a Sam Poole stamp) with stazon ink. I then coated both hearts with a few layers of Ranger Distress Crackle paint, leaving each to dry in between.

Meanwhile I made the leaves and flowers using stamps from the same Indigo Blu stamp set as the bird. I stamped the leaves on some quite heavy kraft card from stash and the flowers on ideology Glassine (another Ally Pally buy). The leaves were then dipped in UTEE, heated in my melt pot and the flowers were coated in glossy accents...I was trying to create different textures as you would find in nature.

I was actually quite pleased with finished project...hope you like it too!

Carole X