Nicecrane DT - Stationery set - Saturday 16th May 2015

Hello Friends,

I can't believe that once again it's been well over a week since I last wrote a post or visited any of your blogs! What can I say? There just seems to be so much going on at the moment that although I've managed to craft, I'm afraid blogging is having to take a bit of a back seat. We've had a busy time at work. Charities and community groups are always reliant on funding and grants and April sees the start of a new year (or a new three year contract as far as the charity I work for is concerned) and with a new government and local Councils there will be new faces and policies to get used to and  it is time to start planning again and looking around for more grants to apply for...but it's all good 'busy', I enjoy it.

I did manage to get around your blogs tonight - if my iPad didn't freeze every time  I go on blogger I could keep up with all your blogs in the evenings, but I'm afraid anything to do with blogger on my iPad drives me to the verge of madness - every time I make a mistake and try to go back it freezes...aaargh! I think my iPad is just getting old (like me, lol!)

By the time we get home, cook, eat and spent any daylight left having some relaxing time with the hens, all I want to do is relax by the TV with Tom. I can't just watch TV, so I surf Pinterest to my heart's content - the iPad is great for that, just not blogger! To those of you I'm friends on Facebook with, I've been missing from there too...the truth is, I do quite a bit of social media at work, I'm on the computer all day and it's the last place I want to be at home...at the moment anyway.

Anyway, I am waffling too much...and I will be making sure I blog more often from now - back to crafts! Today I'm sharing a stationery set I made for Nicecrane Designs as my Design Team project this month. For this set, I used the 'So Fun & Cute Dogs' set of digital images as shown below

I used all the images in my set...they really are cute!

The set consists of a 7x7 base card with a selection of mini note cards, envelopes and tags. I made the stationery holder using a card blank. I took some  ivory heavier weight linen effect card and used a 'Stamps Away' stencil and bundled sage distress ink to create the same background on 4 pieces of A4, which I then cut to size.

First of all I die cut four squares to cover the  front, insides and  back of the card. I then took some green card from my stash, used a Martha Stewart edger punch along one edge and placed across the front. I die cut the printed image using another square die (I used Spellbinders Classic Squares), added some twine and adhered to the front.

 For the inside I made two wallets for one side and a closing envelope for the other side. I decided to add a small image to one side of the lower wall, which I matted and layered on to a square made from the free card I used on the front. I also added a calendar (a printable from the internet) and die cut a clipboard top using Tom Holz Alterations Clipboard top die.

I made the envelope with plain card and mat and layered with the stencilled card. To finish I attached two button brads from my stash (K&Co) .

The mini cards are very simple, just using images from the set on little card blanks.

 I made some tags using left over stencilled card, green card and some of the images.

These are just a few of the many images available at Nicecrane...just click the link to have a look!

ttp://nicecranedesigns.com

Thank you so much for stopping by, I'll endeavour to be here more frequently!

Love and Hugs
Carole X

Beatrix Potter & Tussie-Mussies! - Saturday 14th March 2015

Hello Friends,

Well it was good to visit all your blogs yesterday after being missing for yet another week - nothing seems to be going as planned this year so far. I needed to get a lot done at work and one of the days I was in was meetings all day, which means you lose a lot of office time when you're just part time anyway. The good news is that we have another three years funding, it's a bit less than before, but that was to be expected, so I'm quite happy about that. The bad news is that my throat/cough is still rather a nuisance!

Anyway, I came back to blog land yesterday to discover that my butterfly Venetian Mask has been chosen as the winning entry in the Artful Times Challenge for last month...great news!

Nicecrane Beatrix Potter image sheets

Today I am posting another Design Team creation for Nicecrane Designs. This time I have been working with some pre-coloured Beatrix Potter images....

Firstly I made boy and girl nursery wall hangers. I die cut the frame using Spellbinders polka dot frame die on heavy card and then die cut again with checked card and covered, inking the edges with Worn Lipstick distress ink.

I printed the Jemima Puddleduck image and cut out. The image was adhered to pink card and then given a coat of clear Mod Podge to speak. I punched two holes at the top to thread the gingham ribbon through and tied two bows. To finish I added a die cut flower, lace and buttons.

For the second hanger, I used the image of Peter Rabbit and made the frame in the same way as above.

My final project with these images is a Tussie-Mussie or nose-gay. These posies actually date back to the 1400's and nose gays were carried for their scent..a way to make life smell better! In Elizabethan times judges carried them into court to ward off 'gaol fever' and apparently Old Bailey judges still carry out this tradition 6 times a year.

The popularity of Tussie-Mussies really swelled during Victorian times, when they were given to suitors at the beginning of courtship and that is when the art of Floriography really took off...that is to send messages in flowers, with each flower and herb having its own meaning -  floral dictionaries were written, a few of the meanings are rosemary for remembrance, ivy for fidelity and basil for best wishes. Today these lovely posies are used at weddings, celebrations and for general well wishes.

I printed some of the Beatrix Potter images from the clipart collection and cut them out. I drew a cone shape on some plain card and cut out, then folded it into a cone. I then adhered the images to the cone using Mod Podge to stick and seal.

I decorated around the top of the cone with lace, which I hand-sewed in place and I die cut various Spellbinder flower dies with wool felt in pink and deep purple. To add some streamers, I cut narrow strips of pale pink paper and and curled them, just by running them through my finger nails.  To finish I added some ribbon to hang it.

These lovely Beatrix Potter images come on a sheet as show below and are available from Nicecrane by clicking on the  image or on this link: http://nicecranedesigns.com

They are also available as Vintage Postcards, bookmarks and picture packs

I have scheduled this post as we have a busy day, but I will catch up with you all later and will be back tomorrow to show you the Mothers Day card I made for Tom's Mum.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend,
Love and Hugs,
Carole X

I'm back again! - Sunday 1st March 2015

Hello Friends,

I hope you are all well...I can certainly say that I am ecstatic to see the back of February..first that little bug a few weeks ago and then "Pow!!!!", I don't know what 'hit' me last week, but it kept me off work, which doesn't often happen. I don't think I have sneezed and coughed so much in years! All I did for two days was be a bit of a couch potato and catch up on the the TV we've recorded and not watched...oh well at least the space on the Sky box is looking good now...! I also finally started a book that I've been meaning to read for ages.

Two of my office volunteers were off sick as well with similar colds and coughs, I still have the cough and keep getting told it hangs around for ages..oh joy!

I kept telling myself to get up to the craft room and do something creative, but that didn't happen until Friday and I'm afraid I had no inclination to look at a computer or iPad screens until yesterday  and that was just to look at my overflowing email inbox! I did manage a smidgeon of time on Pinterest, but that was it!

I will be around to catch up with all of you,if not today, first thing in the morning, but those of you who (somehow) manage to post every day, please forgive me for not commenting on the whole week!

I did find a lovely surprise in my  email inbox: my first entry in the Butterfly Challenge, the Venetian Mask, had won me a $10 gift certificate from 'Just Inklined'...I was thrilled and will be over to choose my prize later on.

Design Team Project: Nicecrane Designs

Today I am sharing the first of a few upcoming projects I made before last week. They are my Design Team Projects for Nicecrane Designs, where there are some fabulous new images for Easter. Nicecrane has over 1200 designs to choose from now, so if you like digital images, whether pre coloured or for colouring, do have a look..you can go straight to the site from the image below.

My first projects are Easter cards made using these adorable Easter Teddy Images, which come to you as shown below:

I made the following cards, which were coloured with a mixture of Chamelon pens and Promarkers.

The beauty of digital stamps is that you can make them as large or small as you wish. These cards are 7x7, so the images were enlarged to quite a decent size and still looked perfect when printed. I have some more projects in the pipeline using the other designs from the set.

If you prefer not to colour, these same designs are available pre-coloured in this gorgeous vintage set:

Thank you so much for stopping by, I missed you all...let's hope with Spring now in the air, that's the last of the ailments!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Valentine re-visit..Monday 26th January 2015

Good afternoon Friends,

TBT - January: Valentines

Good afternoon Friends,

I hope you all had a good weekend! We had some friends with us, which was lovely and why I have just done a bit of a hop catching up with you all since Friday!

Today I am sharing a creation I posted almost a year ago and I would like this to be my Throwback Thursday (TBT) Challenge entry for this month.

TBT is a monthly challenge hosted by the lovely and oh so talented Bibiana. Entries must be a project that we have already posted, but revisited in a new post and this month the theme is Valentines.

This plaque was originally part of a set I created as a design team post for Nicecrane Designs in February 2014 and I am also sharing the card on this post....

 For the wall hanging, I painted a wooden base  and a wooden heart with Indigo Blu English Cottage Pink Iced Gem Acrylic, and tore off part of the image, plus papers from a Fairy Belle Collection paper pad, which was free with a magazine. I adhered the papers to the wood with Indigo Blu's "Slap it on'. I treated the wooden heart in the same way, making a collage of torn pieces from the same paper pad and the sentiment from the main Nicecrane image.

To finish I added some crackle glitter glaze by Mod Podge to the heart and some vintage pink ribbon The roses were made from Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms.

To make the card I printed the image on to linen textured paper, which  gave a slight water colour effect. Next I die cut it using Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles and used this as the actual card. 

The edges were inked with Tattered Rose, as were the petals of the roses, which are from the Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms set and were die cut using the same paper.

That's all for today, work tomorrow so will be back in a few days time!

Love and Hugs,
Carole

I would like to enter this project in TBT Challenge #5  Valentines

http://stampingwithbibiana.blogspot.co.uk

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

Seaside Belle - Thursday 5th June 2014

Good Morning Friends,

Once again I have to say a massive thank you for your comments on my last post and for hopping over to Sam's blog and leaving a message there....you are all too wonderful for words!

Today's card is a DT post for Nicecrane ...the fabulous collection of vintage images, both pre-coloured and for colouring yourselves. You can view and buy at Nicecrane Designs

I usually colour for my DT posts, but I have a few lined up and this one is pre-coloured. I just love these vintage post card images. I have combined my DT project with my Sunday Stampers offering this week, as Hels theme is 'Girls Talk'  - projects featuring females -and well this certainly fits!

I have combined the portrait from Nicecrane with a bathing belle stamp from Crafty Individuals. I stamped on some ' I do like to be beside the seaside'  paper from Pink Petticoat using black archival and heat embossed with clear powder, but otherwise left uncoloured.

I used my sewing machine (it is so handy that it's now on the next desk!) and stitched around the edge of the image, which I had matted and layered on to some pale turquoise card (by Tilda, left over from another project).

The pre-coloured image was die cut using a scalloped oval die by Spellbinders and inked at the edges. I inked the edges of virtually every element of this card using Rusty Hinge distress ink. I cut a rough oval shape using Tilda card and sewed around it, then mounted the image on it. I used some turquoise card, die cut with the Oval die to make a small divide on the card between the images.

To finish I embossed a piece of kraft card with the 'That Special Touch of" Rope Mask that I have been using a lot with my projects for Sam, through my Grand Calibur and then stitched around the edge. I then added the sentiment, some hessian, string, voile and a little sea shell from my California Collection (yes I really have a collection of shells brought back over the years... they don't usually get used on cards though, so this card was honoured!)

That's it from me for today...I have the next week off work, except for attending one meeting and today I am off on the bus to Bath to meet a friend for lunch. With work schedules we don't get to see each other often enough, so I'm really looking forward to catching up with her.

This Saturday, Julia Watts is coming along to demo all day for my friend Amy's shop, so I am going to be helping out and  am really looking forward to it. I will be back tomorrow though!

Many thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!

Love and Hugs

Carole X

Nicecrane Designs Valentine - Tuesday 4th February

Hello Friends!

Today is a Design Team card and wall hanging for Nicecrane Designs... a world of wonderful vintage images..check out the website here....

I normally work with images that are digital stamps and require colouring, but I loved these pre-coloured St Valentine images so much I really wanted to create with them!

 For my first two projects (there will be another tomorrow), I worked with the same image to create a card and wall hanging. I printed the image on to quite a fine linen textured paper that I found in one of my paper boxes and I was quite pleased with the way it printed with a slight water colour effect. Next I die cut it using Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles and used this as the actual card. 

The edges were inked with Tattered Rose, as were the petals of the roses, which are from the Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms set and were die cut using the same paper.

 My wall hanging on wood painted with Indigo Blue English Cottage Pink Iced Gem Acrylic, uses just a part of the image, plus papers from a Fairy Belle Collection paper pad, which was free with a magazine, torn around the edges and fixed to the wood with Indigo Blu's "Slap it on'. I treated the wooden heart in the same way, making a collage of torn pieces from the same paper pad and the sentiment from the main Nicecrane image.

To finish I added some crackle glitter glaze by Mod Podge to the heart and some vintage pink ribbon The roses were again made from Bitty Blossoms.

Hope you like these, please check back tomorrow form my second Nicecrane card...

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Little Women - Saturday 4th January 2014

Good Morning Friends!

From a pretty simple card yesterday, to one that took much longer to make! Mr Mojo is still feeling a little lazy and lacking in enthusiasm  but once I got the idea for this card and once I'd started, he did sit on my shoulder and play along for a while!

Today's card is my Design Team project for Nicecrane Designs - if you love vintage images of all kinds, from romantic to quirky, cute and humorous you should visit this website for an exceptional choice of coloured images and digi stamps. Click on this link to check it out http://nicecranedesigns.com

For this project I chose to work with one of the latest releases 'Your Magical Name'. The files are for you to colour and add the name of your choice to the banner, either writing, stamping or digitally!

These are the images

I chose four of the images and used my Sissix Accordian Die to create the card - the names I chose to use are from Louise M. Allcott's novel, Little Women, even though  the ages of the girls don't match the story! With four images to work with, it seemed like a nice idea!

I coloured the girls using drawing ink: I wanted to create the effect of old hand-coloured photos where just the main image is coloured, usually in blue,green and pink hues,which really stand out. Drawing Ink is great for this effect and for colouring Vintage images in general, I love it.

 I then die cut the images on to Spellbinders dies that matched the inners of the accordion die and inked the edges of the shapes.. To complete the card I added die cuts, ribbons, flourishes and paper flowers - all the details are listed below.

Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment, if you choose to - I really appreciate it and love to read them!

Love Carole X

Materials used:
Images: Your Magical Name: Nicecrane Designs
Drawing Inks: Cosmic Shimmer
Sissix Accordian Die; Decorative Flourish set
Spellbinders : Labels 1, Fanciful Flight,Floral Corner One
Papers: Graphic 45 Secret Garden
Distress Inks
Ribbons, gems, paper flowers