Fun card today! - Saturday 2nd August 2014

Hello Friends,

Thanks for your comments on the ice skate card Thursday,  sometimes you make a card you are really pleased with and that was one for me. It was only a little card and to be honest, that ice skate stamp is so beautiful, you just can't go wrong with it.

Well where did July go? I didn't get a chance to enter any of the challenges I had earmarked, yet have been crafting in every spare hour!! I've got to say I'm not a huge fan of August, only because it's one month closer to the evenings drawing in...I am one of those people who really does not like winter....I loathe dark mornings and evenings, the wet and cold and the thought that we might even  get a smattering of the white stuff (see I can't even say the 'S' word!

Also, the 1st August...yesterday I had a very bad start...it was my day off, I put the washing machine on and then, because it was  raining, put the clothes in the dryer and went off upstairs to craft. My mobile went off and I'd left it downstairs, so I went back down and as I picked it up there was a tremendous 'bang' in the kitchen! I rushed out to see smoke coming out of the dryer, so I pulled the plug out and opened the door...it was just a burning smell and steam, so I pulled the washing out (all ok) and opened the kitchen door to let the smell out...well, if you open the door and the hens are out in the garden they rush in...so there I was shooing them back out whilst trying to rescue the washing!

Then I realised that the surge had cause the fuse to trip, so I had to go out to the garage to flip the switch..it was a bit scary really at the time, but at least there was no fire!

I shouldn't dwell,  Summer is still here and we have to enjoy it whilst it lasts...and today is my hubby Tom's birthday!!  I don't make him slushy, romantic cards - he would rather have something that will raise a smile and include a nod to our 'ladies'...so as I have been playing around (in my head so far), with Pop Up Box cards for our next workshop...this is what I came up with....

The card folds flat, but I went a bit OTT with the embellishing because I didn't have to put it in an envelope and post it: I just made a little wrap, tied with ribbon.

The papers are all by Pink Petticoat, as are the digi stamp trees, bees and butterflies. The chooks are a stamp by Magnolia and the sentiments, stamps by Dreamees. I fussy cut the grass and made the little coop myself. 

That's all for today, I don't know what the birthday boy wants to do yet and the family are coming over Sunday, so not much crafting for me this weekend!

Have a great weekend, whatever you are doing,

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Sunday Stamper wk 318 - A Winter's Tale: Thursday 31st July 2014

Good Morning Friends,

Thanks for all your visits yesterday, both here and over at Sam's blog..the shaker card was fun to make, took ages as there was a lot of stamping and I hadn't made a shaker in a while, but I was pleased with the end result!

Yesterday on my WOYWW post I showed the little  MDF shelf unit I'd made from a kit and decorated with the Tilda papers. I don't usually say where I source things on the WOYWW post, but I'll usually say the next day on mine and a few of you asked where I got it from: well I got it in kit form from www.clevercut.co.uk (Ali Reeve). The two lanterns I have show recently, that I am making into Halloween and Christmas projects also came from there and I am also working on a little cabinet and a clock. They are great kits, very easy to put together, designed by Ali's husband I think....need to have a word with Tom...

Talking of my lovely hubby, I am about to make a public apology...remember those wooden offcuts that had been made into pencil holders that I said his dad made? Well I stand corrected, Tom made them...ooops! Sorry Tom...I am so used to him being so not 'hands on' and it was quite a while ago, that my memory had played tricks :)

Sunday Stampers week - 318 - A Winter's Tale

I didn't get time to make anything for Sunday Stampers last week, and I do like to join in...I was very pleased with the theme of Christmas/Winter that Hels set this week, as I do need to get on with my own Christmas cards.

For anyone who doesn't know, Sunday Stampers is a weekly challenge set by Hels Sheridan..just click here for all the deets...

For this little card I used kraft card and stamps from a lovely stamp set by  Anna Marie Designs. I've been a bit of a fan of her stamps and papers for quite a few years..if you ever go  Ally Pally or any other craft event she attends, check out her stand because it is always so beautiful and she's a lovely lady too. I really like this 'Skating on Ice' set from her Christmas range (and she has some fab MDF art parts too!).

I stamped the ice skate twice on to custard Foundation card and cut them out; then I added a little colour to the checkered parts and the pine branch using promarkers. I inked the edges using Rusty Hinge distress ink and coloured the blades with a silver promarker.

I really can't remember when I last used a rectangular/oblong card shape, much preferring a square, but for the design I had in mind square wouldn't work.

The hessian was adhered to the card: I used cosmic shimmer dries clear as well as red line tape. The first boot was attached with cosmic shimmer and the second using Scrapbook Adhesives 3D sticky squares to give depth.

Finally I stamped the greeting (from the same stamp set) and added twine, a rusty bell, berries, a cone and a button. I inked the edges of the card with rusty hinge. I also dusted with Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels for a little sparkle

The scroll I used inside also comes with the stamp set, but the snowflakes and Christmas Wishes came from a set amongst  my Christmas stamps that has no packaging, so I'm thinking it came with a magazine!

Thank you so much for stopping by, I always appreciate your visits...that's the last Christmas card this week!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

WOYWW 269 - Wednesday 30th July 2014

Hi Friends,

That teaser yesterday....

Before I begin my WOYWW post today, a big thank you to those of you fabulous regular friends who popped over to Sam's blog yesterday to have a look at my DT card...sorry for 'teasing' you with the sneak peak....looking at your comments on my blog, I think I managed to confuse some of you into thinking I would be revealing the card here, but as with every Tuesday, it was 'over there' all the time! I'd love it if you'd pop over and have a look and here is the link:

http://www.creative-studios.co.uk/blue-christmas

WOYWW 269

This is the chance we get to share our desks with the rest of our lovely craft world, courtesy of Julia over at Stamping Ground...just click for all the deets and why not join in this week?

As some of you know, I am lucky to have two little craft spaces...a spare room in our house, where I do all my paper craft and a little summer house, kitted out for my art parts, paints and all the other 'arty' stuff. I call it the craft barn :). This year we totally 'gutted' it and began to remodel the inside as it had become so 'sad' that I just wasn't using it...I have painted one of the shelf units so far and updated a really tired old desk that I picked up for very little money and quite honestly, especially with the good weather, I have been spending a lot of spare time out there these last few months...

..these are the projects I have been working on....

 The box above was a plain MDF pen holder, but it never worked for me using it that way, so I painted it to match my desk and am using it to store my little wooden shapes.

 This was an MDF shelf kit I got recently (very easy to put together): I gave it a base coat of the same paint used for the box unit and then decorated it with these Tilda  Spring papers - they are from a pad that I loved so much that I didn't want to use (you know what I mean!), so this was a good way of holding on to some of them! 

 I used the left over scraps to cover my brush pots

...and finally, I know my regular blog friends like to see our 'girls', so this was a view I had from the 'craft barn' last week...Cara, our Black Rock and Bella our Bluebelle...Cara (lying down) is not flaked out, quite the opposite - she was actually enjoying a rather vigorous dust bath! Bella was waiting her turn: they have a large, shady garden to enjoy and they both chose to bathe in the same and rather warm place...must have wanted a spa experience. 

After losing two of our girls this year, I still find it very strange to only have two little hens (or in the case of these, rather large ones!) gracing our garden but goodness are they spoilt!

Thanks so much for stopping by, I so much appreciate it!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Shaker Card Teaser - Tuesday 29th July 2014

Good Morning Friends,

I can't believe I've been awol from here since Friday! It was such a lovely weekend that my little craft room in the garden beckoned. I don't think I touched the computer between Saturday morning (very early) and yesterday... and not the iPad either. It was lovely being out in the 'craft barn' doing some painting on MDF shapes...I'll show you what I got up to tomorrow. 

It was a great way of being outside without being 'outside' because this 'prickly heat' is certainly taking a time to go away...and I tried everything!..then one of my very 'out doorsy'  American friends suggested I try baking powder mixed to a paste with white vinegar or water, as they use it for Poison Ivy rashes...I tried it with water and am pleased to report the calming was instantaneous!  As I type the rash seems to be on the retreat!

Well I may be a bit of an old romantic, but do you remember the Peacock butterfly that got stuck in the craft barn last week? When I was working in there at the weekend, one came fluttering in and landed on my hand..it stayed there ages, so beautiful...of course I told myself it was the same one come back - mindless of the fact that these last few weeks our garden has been a pure kaleidoscope of butterflies, I've never seen so many!

Apart from painting, I did have a play with some pop up box cards, as our group is going to be making them at our next workshop.

Today is Tuesday, so that means it's my post for Sam Poole's Creative Studios...thank you so much for all your comments last week, I certainly seem to have sparked a debate both here and there about CAS cards!

I do hope you will spare  a few minutes to pop over there today and have a look at this week's card...it's a Shaker and that's all I'm saying...here are a few sneak peeks:

Ha! Not giving away much I'm afraid!

Here is the link: http://www.creative-studios.co.uk/blue-christmas

Many thanks and I'll be back tomorrow for WOYWW,

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Oldie for Friday - Friday 25th July 2014

Hello Friends,

I think I finally caught up with all of your lovely blog posts...yesterday was  an 11 hour day at work, so I didn't  feel much like looking at my computer when I got home - don't feel sorry for me, it was my choice! I'm on the library's committee, made up of library users, Councillors and those of us who work for community organisations with an office in the library. I don't much like meetings, but I always enjoy this one - a nice bunch of people. The meeting didn't start until 7pm, so there was no point coming home and it was a chance to catch up with a few things.

Anyway,  today I thought I would join Patricia and Hazel and take part in Oldie for Friday which is run by, Erica,   deets at http://snappycrafts.blogspot.co.uk

My oldie is last year's summer door wreath, which has lasted through to this year and is adorning our front door again My regular blog friends will know that I always have a wreath on my front door, sometimes I made new ones,  often I'll reuse them and I change them for seasons and/or Holidays.

  
I made all the flowers from ribbons and the leaves are felt; it was actually one of my DT creations for Fantastic Ribbons.

So folks, hope you enjoyed my little revisit! 

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

WOYWW #268 - Wednesday 23rd July 2014

Hello Friends!

I hope you are still enjoying the fine weather! Thank you for your comments yesterday and especially for popping over to Sam's blog and leaving a comment. Quite a few commenters mentioned that they can't make CAS cards...well neither can I!!! Honestly I was determined for that post to make three cards from the stamp, that had the same kind of 'theme' but were different. I knew the only way I could do that was to make three CAS cards...well those cards took me much longer that one card using stamping techniques, dies etc would have taken!

The thing is that I really like CAS cards, I follow some of your blogs where you make them regularly and I am in awe of them, honestly. I love using all the 'techniques' on tags, plaques, canvases and art work, but I definitely want to practice more CAS on cards...here's a thought to end on...I showed those cards to a friend who isn't a crafter and her remarks were that they were gorgeous and must have taken me ages to make....I told her that they did, because I took a while to design and  get them right, but I could replicate them quite quickly now...so she asked me to make her some..doh!!! So there you go! I need to get quicker with my CAS!!!

Anyway...on to my WOYWW post... 

WOYWW is our weekly chance to show what's on our desks courtesy of the lovely Julia over at Stamping Ground.

Last week I unveiled the old desk that I had been transforming into a new desk for my craft room out in the garden...I must say that especially with this weather it is nice to have a separate space just for artwork, away from my card making - and I can be close to our hens..bliss!

Just to prove that I am using it...here is my current project:

What is it you may be asking? Well it's going to be a lantern...I'm making two, one for Halloween and one for Christmas. Once I have finished painting this one I will 'rust it up' , decorate it, hang it from the stand and add a battery tea light! What fun!!!

Thanks for stopping by my desk today....I'll be doing my WOYWW rounds later!


Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Holiday Wreaths - Tuesday 22nd July 2014

Hello Friends,

Thanks for your visits yesterday, I always love to read your comments..Hazel, thanks for reminding me about Aloe Vera: I used to always keep some in the house (or a plant!) but didn't have any..I still have a few patches of the prickly heat irritating me, so when I go to work today I'll be getting some!

As it's Tuesday, I'm back with another Design Team post for Sam Poole's Creative Studios...this time I have used Sam's new and really pretty Festive Wreath stamp in three different ways...here is one of them...last week's card was quite OTT in colour and design for me, so I've gone a little more CAS this week!

There are two more and I have decorated the insides of all of them...please pop over to Sam's blog to have a look! I would be so appreciative.

This may look like a simple wreath stamp, but it really is very versatile to decorate! I think I will also be using it for a wedding card pretty soon...

Here is the link: http://www.creative-studios.co.uk/a-country-christmas

Thank you so very much!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X