Happy Valentine's Day - Friday 14th February 2014

Happy Valentine's Day to all my blog friends!

I can't believe it's been almost a week since my last post! I had a bit of a 'dilemma' this week as there were quite a few crafty projects I wanted to get going with, but that meant no time for blogging! I have managed to keep up with most of your wonderful creations this week though and I do have quite a few makes to post over the next few weeks. Having not posted all week, there will be two from me today, as I will be back later with my Sunday Stampers project for this week.

As it's Valentine's Day, I thought it would be nice to share with you photos of some of the gorgeous wooden hearts decorated by the lovely ladies at our craft group last night. They were each given a heart to decorate - Amy and I had made some examples to give them ideas, but once they got started the creative juices started to flow...aren't they lovely?

That's all for now! Have a lovely day everyone,

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Tim's Tags 2014: February - Saturday 8th February 2014

Good evening Friends,

I hope you've had a good day! We've had  busy one, out this morning shopping and putting new curtains up this afternoon. I spent most of yesterday taking them up, not a job I relished :) No crafting for me today unfortunately.

Last year I started to take part in Tim Holz monthly challenge to make a tag following his tutorial...I was doing well until about July and then everything else got in the way - I resolved to try again this year, but January came and went so quickly! However, I was determined to make this month's tag. I enjoy this challenge because it encourages trying out new techniques and Tim's tutorials are very easy to follow.

This is the tag made by Tim for this month:

This is mine:

As is often the case I used different stamps and other materials to Tim, because I don't have everything he uses, but I did have the heart mask used on the original project. I won't explain how it was made, just click here and have a look at Tim's instructions.

When I was over in the USA last year, I saw the chalkboard technique used a lot and one of my friends showed me how she did it. I have seen it coming in quite a lot here lately, but had never tried it again, so was pleased to see it used in this project.

Tim uses  a different method to how I was shown and whether it was because I didn't have the same embossing materials that he used, I just couldn't get it right - so I went back to the way I was shown and was pleased with the result. I stamped on to black card and heat embossed with white powder. I then drew a line around the edge with white pen before chalking all over. Once the image was entirely covered I rubbed over it with my finger.

I didn't have the stamp Tim used or any Valentine/love stamps that were large enough for the tag, so  I improvised with this one by Indigo Blu.

These are the materials I used:

Tag made from kraft card

Tim Holz alterations layered heart stencil

Distress inks: Aged Mahogany, Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick, Pumice Stone, Milled Lavender, Brushed Corduroy

Versamark ink

White detail embossing powder

Glossy Accents

Red Glitter

Glossy Accents

Cardboard for hearts

Sizzix heart dies

Chalk

Craft foil - silver

Spellbinders border die

The 'arrow' is a clock had from Chronology by Ideaology

That's it for today folks, I hope you are all managing to stay dry...the winds and rain have just arrived here as I type!

Love

Carole X

Crocodile Love! - Friday 7th February

Dear Friends,

Today is international 'Send a Card to a Friend Day' - I only know because I get an American craft magazine and they mentioned it in there, it's an annual 'event' - SO - friends, today is a fun card and I'm sending it to all of you! Thank you for following my blog and leaving your comments...I love to visit yours too, so much, and I love the community we have here: sharing ideas, tips and artwork - you are all amazing!

This card was made to be a bit topical down here where I live, which is about 12 miles outside the city of Bristol (about the same to Bath as well, I'm a lucky gal!)...now the talking point in Bristol all week is that a few people have reported seeing a crocodile in the river running through the city centre!

Well, the Zoo and animal park have confirmed that they aren't missing any and a film crew working close by in Somerset recently, making a horror film about escaped crocs (honest!) have also issued a statement to say that all the live animals they used were safely returned to the zoos from whence they came. I guess that there really isn't one lurking in the waters, but it has given people something to talk about, outside of the weather.

Our minds can play tricks -  some years ago we took Tom's parents and brother with us on one of our trips to my family in California. We were driving (in two separate cars) along the coast near Carmel, when I suddenly was sure I'd seen a whale...Tom pulled over into a lay-by, as did his parents and I rushed to look with great excitement - it was a large rock: the waves lashing it, made it look like it was spouting water. I've never lived that down!

I love this cute image - who ever thought crocodiles could be cute? It is a digital image from The Paper Shelter and comes both coloured and digi-stamp (this is the pre-coloured). I simply matted and layered on teal and kraft card..the sentiment is typed.

On a more serious note, I do want to mention the poor people who are suffering incredibly from the floods. Although we are warned of more heavy rain and winds over night and through the weekend, we are muddy but fine here and as I type, the sun is shining and the hens are enjoying it (I am so relieved we built their coop so high off the ground!) - but this week and last night especially, on both the national and local news (we are only 50 miles from all this devastation), I was totally moved by the plight of the people being evacuated from the Somerset Levels, especially the farmers, some of whom have farmed the land for generations, having to mostly sell on their livestock and leave their farms to be taken by the waters. One of them was in tears, sure that he had lost everything. My heart goes out to these people. 

That's all for today, keep warm and dry wherever you are!

Carole X

Sunday Stampers Wk 293: Black & Gold - Thursday 6th February 2014

Good Morning Friends!

Today it's time for my Sunday Stampers  card for this week - this is Hels Sheridan's weekly stamping challenge, all good fun! For all the deets hop on over to Hels'  blog -here-

This week the theme is black and gold and I have made a little card. I will list all that I used at the end of the post.

To begin with I made a 6x4 card blank and added a base layer of mat gold card that I'd embossed. I then matted and layered die cut black and gold card, the topper stamped  with a stamp by Crafty Individuals and heat embossed in gold.

I wound gold thread around the layers and added tiny die cut leaves. Finally I added a bird that I had made using a mould and air dry clay - this one by Martha Stewart is paper light and adds no weight to a card. I coated the bird with gold Rub n' Buff..I have been using this for years and love it!

 I also decorated the inside of the card, by adding a strip of left over embossed card and a thin strip of black to the bottom edge. I stamped the greeting and heat embossed in gold, then matted and layered. I had one dilemma, because the stamp (by Kirstie Allsop, free with a mag), had a floral flourish to the side, which wasn't very defined. I decided to add a die cut flower, but it couldn't be too 'full' or it would be squashed, so I chose this one, which is Spellbinders Blooms Four and a very useful die too!

Materials and Tools:

6x4 card blank
Mat gold card
Black Card
Crafty Individuals Flora Stamp CI-149
Versamark Ink and gold embossing powder, heat tool
M-Bossabilities 'Flora'
Martha Stewart Bird Mould and air dry clay
Gold Thread
Gold Rub n Buff
Spellbinders Classic Circles
Stamps by Kirstie Allsop
Spellbinders Blooms Four

Have a great day everyone, hope you get some crafting time...not for me as it's a work day!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Nicecrane Valentine 2 - Wednesday 5th February

Hello Friends!

Goodness last night was pretty sleepless with all the wind and rain (should be used to it by now!); I hope none of you were affected by more flooding. Thankfully, a sodden lawn aside, we are very very lucky but I do really feel for those who aren't, especially considering so many are all around us in Gloucestershire and Somerset.

Today I would like to  welcome my latest follower, Helen Phillips, who has her own blog: Helen's Corner. You really should pop over and visit for her gorgeous vintage style designs. Thank you Helen for following, I hope you enjoy looking at my cards as much as I do yours!
The link to Helen's blog is http://at-helens.blogspot.co.uk

Today's card is the second of my design team cards this month, for Nicecrane Designs. There are some gorgeous vintage  images available here - both pre-coloured and ready for you to colour yourselves. I have linked the logo picture at the bottom of my post to the shop.

Today's card uses another pre-coloured image, as did yesterday's but whilst that was muted and given extremely vintage 'treatment', this time I have (I think) given it an updated twist.

 The front of the card is a simple mat and layer on black and red to compliment the colours on the image sheet. Whereas yesterday I printed the image on a thin, linen paper, this one is printed on photo paper. All I added to the front is a ribbon and a glittered  3D foam heart from Scrapbook Adhesives.

It is inside this card that I had added a littler surprise! I covered the base of the inside, top and bottom with black card and used printed heart paper from a Pink Petticoat download as the insert.

I cut a  1in x 2in pop out from the centre of the card and adhered two hearts cut with Spellbinders Classic Hearts. The card was some left over card that I had embossed and used on another card.

I do like making little pop up's, but haven't done so for a while, so this was a bit of fun!

Next I used a digitally downloaded sentiment, cut on Labels 17 and matted and layered on red card. I inked the  edges of the hearts and  white label with worn lipstick distress ink and to finish I added red ribbon and a bow.

By the way, I haven't forgotten the blog candi I promised once I got to 70 followers, it was just that last month 'ran away with me' a little....I'm planning the draw for February 14th, just to spread a little love :)

That's all for today folks, stay warm and safe wherever you are!

The link to Nicecrane is 

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

Zentangle Valentine - with a twist! -Sunday 2nd February

Good Morning Friends!

I can't believe we have already said farewell to January! Not that I'm ever sorry to say goodbye to this month, because it means we are at least a little closer to Spring.

We had a lovely sunny, though very cold day here up until mid-afternoon when the wind started to howl and the rain came, but staying in meant some crafting time - I did some more sewing, cutting out  and sewing up some more ducks and hens for the Spring craft fair in March, that will come around very quickly!

My card today is a St Valentine's card and is my Design Team card for this month's Emergency Crafters challenge, where the theme for February is pink or red...so why not take part? The challenge runs for the whole month and your entry doesn't have to be a card or paper craft, all crafts are welcome. Pop over to take  a look and check the rules, there is a prize every month.

 I say this is Zentangle with a twist, because I didn't use my micron pens to create it - instead I stitched it!  I will admit that  I didn't hand embroider this, I did use my sewing machine. The thought did cross my mind, but I had so little time to make it!

The idea was one of those that come to you during the night and you usually forget when you awake - luckily I remembered this time. 

It's only a small 6x6 card and I used the Sue Wilson Heart Lattice embossing folder on the front of the card and die cut the heart aperture. I also die cut the felt with the same die and  I used the die cut heart to back the felt heart, once I had embroidered it, just to give it more stability.

I finished off the card with some heart ribbon from stash. Even with my very basic sewing machine, this was pretty easy and has given me the idea to make some little heart hangings for craft fairs..it looks quite Christmassy and Nordic, I think!

A few of your comments during the week mentioned that Zentangle looks difficult - believe me it's not at all, but stop by tomorrow and I'll try to give you a quick guide :)

Have a great Sunday,
Love and Hugs,
Carole X