Sunday Stampers week 299: Happy - Wednesday 19th March 2014

Good Morning Friends!

How exciting, another Birthday! Thank you to those of you who sent me greetings in advance yesterday! I'm home with the hens today, Wednesday isn't a work day and Tom is going to have Friday off..we are planning my annual birthday trip to Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm, but we'll see as the forecast isn't good.

My lovely blog pal Patti, over at Stationery Styles has made a special card for me on her blog today and I was thrilled - do hop over and take a look! Thank you Patti!

My card..or cards...today are two more or less the same, using different colours. They are my project for this week's Sunday Stampers challenge and the design for my group at this week's workshop. The design is based on one of the videos on a recent Sue Wilson blog. I really liked it and had to try it...you can view the details by clicking on Sue's name above.

The theme set by Hels Sheridan for this week's challenge is something that makes you happy, or including the word or a subject that brings happiness - well playing in my craft room makes me happy. Full stop. But I love nothing more than getting messy with my inks, using stamps and trying new techniques, so I guess I ticked all the boxes here! You can check out all the deers and wonderful inspiration from Hels - here -

To create the background, I just dabbed three different distress inks in various shades (top one Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters and Squeezed Lemonade, bottom Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick) over my craft mat, spritzed with water and smooched my card over them to create a mottled effect. I had cut three layers of  card in different sizes, plus an extra piece for stamping.

Once my layers were dry, I mounted them on top of each other and stuck them together with a tiny amount of double sided tape. I then stamped my flowers across the three layers. Stamping like this you are left with a void between the layers, but matting and layering with black card, somehow  creates an optical illusion and you lose the void. I matted and layered using 3D foam pads.

To finish I stamped extra flowers to create movement .... Thanks so much for stopping by!!!!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Royal Hens! Monday 17th March 2014

Hello Friends!

First of all thank you so much for all your comments yesterday and for my owl the day before, he was fun wasn't he? I always love to read your comments and really appreciate them.

This Wednesday is my birthday and I had some early 'presents' when I checked out blog posts this morning...I had been a prize winner in two draws...some lovely digi images from Desire http://desiref.blogspot.co.uk  and an original card by Patti at http://stationerystyles.blogspot.co.uk  I love Patti's cards so am really looking forward to receiving it! Thank you!!!

Today, I thought I would share a couple of hens that I made recently: they are 'royal' hens, complete with crowns. The were made using a pattern by Tilda, which I adapted slightly from the original. I have made one more, slightly different and more in keeping with the original pattern, but I haven't photographed it yet, so will share it closer to Easter.

I made the little baskets to go with them, lined them with shredded tissue and all that needs to be added are so chocolate eggs (or real ones)!

 ....and finally, not a great photo, but here are our girls in their dust bath area, enjoying the sun yesterday. I swear our Black Rock, Cara always hides her face from the camera on purpose!

Thank you so much for stopping by and all of you, have a wonderful day!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Easter Card & Craft Fair - Sunday 16th March 2014

HI Friends,

I don't believe that it was Wednesday that I last posted! That was a very busy but lovely week off work...buried in my craft room, the space around me becoming smaller and smaller by the hour..emerging only to hug the hens and make the meals..lol, I am exaggerating of course, but all the hard work last week paid off, as I had an incredibly successful craft fair yesterday!

For reasons of time mostly, I only do two craft fairs a year now (both in support of the same local Hospice), but over the past few years I still seem to have built up a some regular customers..and if  any of you are reading this, thank you for all your lovely comments and for liking my cards and art work enough to buy some!

For the first time in a long time, I didn't just take cards...I made some sewn Easter gifts, some wooden hanging decorations and took some of my mixed media art wall hangings. Most of the decorations and all of the wall hangings sold - I was thrilled! I am also amazed at how many people keep pet chickens close to here too..there was lots of chicken talk yesterday and quite a few cards and gifts with a hen theme sold!

Of course, as always, I meant to take some photos of my stall  and totally forgot! Before the doors opened and after setting my stall, I was catching up with some of the other stall holders: there are two ladies who are always my 'neighbours': one sells knitted items and the other earrings and it's great to have a chat and a laugh with them through the day. Then as soon as the doors opened people started coming in and after that, taking the photo went right out of my head. It was also lovely that so many of our workshop ladies stopped by - in fact one was helping at another stall - and also some of my office volunteers. At the end of the day, I was very tired and hoarse, but it was all worth it!

I did however photograph all of my new designs and gifts (except the plaques, all of which have already been posted on here), so I have quite a few days of posts ready to blog!

So, to kick off...an Easter card made with one of Mo Manning's fabulous digi stamps..

I do love her quirky and fun images, which are a delight to colour and for this one, I used both Promarkers and Flexmarkers. The card is 7x7: for the patterned paper, I chose Graphic 45, Secret Garden and matted and layered with purple card from Paper Mill and yellow adorable scorable by Hunky Dory. The flowers are all die cut from Spellbinders dies and the eggs are actually little wooden embellishments covered with the papers and painted over with glossy accents.

That's it for today friends, I do apologise for not visiting you for a few days, but I caught up with you all earlier this morning (I hope!).

I hope the sun is shining where you are, we were out early doing all the things we had to do and visiting family...my next craft 'must do' is prepare for this week's workshop!

Enjoy the rest of the day,

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Zentangle revisited - Wednesday 12th March 2014

Good Morning Blog Friends!

I do get blog withdrawal (lol), when I haven't been here for a few days or more and hopefully will be back to normal blogging patterns next week..I'm having a great week off  work; loving being in the craft room, busily preparing for the craft fair Saturday (today is going to be a sewing day), but I can't believe that it is already Wednesday.

I have been managing to get around most of your blogs and leaving comments, if I have missed you - a thousand apologies! I did notice that quite a few of you mentioned that you went to the craft show at the NEC last weekend and were disappointed by the fewer exhibitors etc...I have a theory of my own about this...I used to go to the NEC November show regularly, but always found it way too crowded. Then  about four years ago, Tom and I decided to try the Alexandra Palace show, mostly because we could factor in a weekend in London. It was smaller; I love stamping, so all the major stamping companies were there and I loved it! We decided not to go to Birmingham any more and have been to Ally Pally ever since. 

Last year, they sold tickets for the first time on C&C and all of a sudden, the show was as busy as the NEC and not nearly as fulfilling as previously. We are going in April, but I've noticed on the list of exhibitors that quite a few 'names' are missing, so I'll let you know! But I actually think that there are too many shows now..I'm seeing them advertised all the time and only the massive companies, can afford to attend them all... It's gone from one show a year at the NEC and Ally Pally, to virtually one a month! 

It's getting a bit of a case of same old..same old...isn't it? Or is it just me? There is one big Company, that I go out of my way not to buy from, that seems to dominate, which never attends Ally Pally, so that's something at least! Creative Expressions organises it, so it's mostly stamping, die cutting and altered art and I hope it stays that way!

We actually feel quite 'deprived' down in the Southwest - we have a few shows at Exeter (which somehow I never manage to get to) and that's it really; but then most of the companies are from the North, I guess. Let's hope that when Bristol eventually gets its arena, things will change!

Anyway, this was going to be a short post! See I have got blog withdrawal! Ha! On to the card....

I still have several Zentangle cards from when we did the workshops, that I haven't posted as yet - so today is my owl. 

For the owl, I simply drew around a circular Spellbinders die for the outer shape and a smaller one for the eyes, the rest I created myself. I actually prefer the freehand style to using stamps and stencils, but you have to be in the mood and this one did take rather a long time. 

I used an 8x8 card and decided to create a bit of a wacky shape, just for fun! The flowers and leaves are cut from Spellbinders dies and just given the Zentangle treatment!  So that's it for today, no special materials, stamps etc...just a shape to draw around and a pen!

Have a good day everyone! No WOYWW for me again: you really don't want to see my desk at the moment...no really you don't!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Fabulous Shoes! - Friday 7th March 2014

Hello Friends,

Hope you are all well and enjoying some better weather than of late, wherever you are in the world!

I have next week off work  - just me, using up annual leave before the end of the month - well, Tom will be in work, but the hens will be very pleased with the extra free range time, especially if the rain holds off!  I am also sure that they will all get extra cuddles, except Lacey, our Speckled hen, who just refuses point blank to be cuddled (she much prefers to pull at my trousers and peck my legs!). So I will be crafting to my hearts content next week, getting ready for the craft fair - and I am so looking forward to it!

I am going into the office for a few hours this morning: one of my Friday volunteers recently left as she found a job, so I've been trying to pop in some Fridays to see my other lady, Kay, until we find a new colleague for her - well today, we  are welcoming new volunteer Diana to the team (hopefully)...great news!

Before I go on, I want to say a big welcome to my latest follower Vikki, - thank you so much for choosing to join me in my crafty journey! Also more news, almost as soon as I had posted my project for Fantastic Ribbons last week, all us DT members got the news that the Company had decided to close the blog as it wasn't getting enough 'traffic' to keep it going. They have recently been using Social Media in the form of Twitter etc a lot and found this more beneficial. I wasn't surprised, as to be honest, we had been creating projects and none of them had been posted for months, but it's a shame nevertheless.

Talking of Design Teams, we would love you to join in with our latest challenge at Emergency Crafters: the theme is Flowers and there are some prizes up for grabs, so head on over and enter! The challenge is monthly, so you still have a few weeks. All winners are chosen, not randomly..but fortunately I'm not involved in the judging, which is just as well because when I go through the entries I have to comment on, I love them all!

My card today is one I made a few weeks ago for one of my  cousins; she's in her 30's and loves shoes, so I thought this would be something that would make her smile!

I used a shaped card blank that was in my stash (not sure where they are from!) and folded it to make an easel. I then covered it with the paper (again from stash) and inked the edges with Worn Lipstick, distress ink.

 I made the topper using  double sided red card and Spellbinders Teardrop Circles die. I actually cut it twice and joined it in the centre  to make it larger.  The shoe is printed on glossy photo paper and is from the Katy Sue, Fabulous Shoes CD and die cut using Spellbinders Classic Circles Small. I only wanted a very small mat and layer for this, so I made a faux die cut, by drawing around the outer edge of the die and cutting freehand.

I then matted and layered on to the tear drop circles. The Happy Birthday sentiment is using  a die that was free with a magazine. I cut it using the same red card and backed it with silver mirri.

To finish off I made the paper bow - I was thumbing through some old magazines one evening (as you do) and came across these paper ribbon templates. I decided that for this card, it might actually work better than real ribbon. I love ribbons and adding them to cards and I tried both on this one and the paper ribbon seemed to work better - especially as at the back of my mind, whilst my cousin likes fashion and shoes, she's not a girly girl in the sense of ribbons and lace. I used a gemstone brad to hold the bow together.

Well that's it for today friends, have a lovely Friday!

Love and Hugs,

Carole Z X

House Mouse Easter - Thursday 6th March 2014

Hello Friends,

I'm afraid my posts will be short for the next week as I am too busy actually crafting, finishing off projects for the Craft Fair on 15th..the good news is that I have a few days off work next week to use up my holiday.

Today's card is a little House Mouse Easter card..this is a House Mouse  wooden stamp I've had for a long time and love it for the hen (of course!)...I love the little meeces tucked in the warmth of her feathers.

I decided to make this little 3D Aperture card - to be honest I have heard this type of card called so many things, that I'm not sure of the exact term!

I stamped the image and coloured with Promarkers, then  I cut the actual image out from it's background. I printed some wood effect card from a Pink Petticoat download and used this as the back of the card, adhering the hen and mice to it with 3d foam pads, then I added some raffia to the bottom for her nest.

For the front I measured the card and cut an aperture with a Spellbinders scalloped oval die. I then made an accordion fold in each side (see below) to create the depth. 

To finish I added another little stamped mouse on the front, stamped eggs and die cut flowers. The sentiments are also by Pink Petticoat.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

I would like to enter this card in the current House Mouse and Friends Challenge:

HMFMC #164 Anything Goes

Sunday Stampers - Week 297: Bright Colours - Sunday 2nd March

Hello Friends,

March already...I like March....Spring is (hopefully) around the corner and it's also my Birthday  this month! Yay!!

Yesterday it really did feel like Spring, it was gorgeous! Tom was even out pruning the vine with the help of the hens! Every afternoon, the hens have their corn balls: little plastic balls, which I put some corn in and they chase around the garden to knock the corn out. One of them has worked out that she can grab it with her beak, toss it in the air and when it lands it all spills...little monkey! So yesterday, I took us a cuppa out and we sat on the bench watching them and after they've finished, Penny, our great big fluffy Orpington always comes up for a cuddle...and you know I can't resist that!

I'm sorry to have been posting less than usual of late, but I have been crafting. This month I have a Spring craft fair and workshops to prepare for...at the craft fair I want to try and sell some of my sewn and wooden shape decorated makes, just little Easter decorations, so I have been 'head down' both sewing and paper crafting. On top of all that, work has been busy, so trying to fit all that in with blogging has been a stretch. The good news is that once they are all photographed I will have a lot of creations to blog!

So I hope Hels  will forgive me this week for including my Emergency Crafters DT creation as my Sunday Stampers challenge project? The Emergency Crafters challenge this month is Flowers  and there is a  lovely prize up for grabs....and Hels this week has set the challenge of bright colours...as I was about to post this today, it seemed to fit.

This is a wooden wall hanging, which I coated with gesso and then stamped with this Jane Austen image by Indigo Blu. I then masked the stamp and randomly stamped a crackle stamp, also by Indigo Blu over the whole paque.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and  once the base design was finished I gave it a coat of Mod Podge to seal. Once dry I added die cut flowers, all from Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms in corresponding colours. The butterfly is also a Spellbinders Die cut and the flourishes are Sizzix.

To finish I added a little lace border across the bottom and inked the petals of the flowers with a little Brushed Corduroy distress ink.

Thank you so much for visiting and commenting, I really do appreciate it!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X