Christmas Day card - Friday 23rd November

Good Morning blog friends,

Well what a confusion yesterday! I got home from work and logged into Emergency Crafters to upload my project for the new challenge and.... couldn't (see last night's panic post for detail!)...Now I like computers, fiddling about with them, love my Mac etc etc but it had never even occurred to me that all the photos we upload are actually stored somewhere by blogger..."Picasa?" I said to myself in frustration when it threw the message at me that  I'd exceeded my 1gb of space..I don't have a Picasa account, I upload from my PC!!!

I logged into my own blog and tried...for some dopey reason I thought it might be to do with Emergency Crafters..wrong!

I wrote my 'help' post...and thank you to Wilma and Anne for your help and suggestions, it seemed I wasn't the only one having the problem in the last few days. So I accessed the Picasa account that I didn't know I had and it did seem to suggest my space was running out and wanted me to pay a monthly fee for more space...well I wasn't going down that road! However, I uploaded my photo to that album and then uploaded my DT card from there and it was fine, but not a solution as I didn't want to have to upload my photos to Picasa every time I post or worse still have to pay a monthly fee for the privilege. Lots of peeps have been blogging for years and I've never seen mention of a charge before.

Looking at blogger help and forums, some of the feedback to other complaints was that Picasa or blogger {can't remember which) has to do an update every now and then and this can cause the error report until it's completed.

I did think that maybe my photos were too large a size, so as suggested by one of the lovely crafters yesterday I followed the link to a site where you can reduce the size of your photo file: 

http://www.webresizer.com/

It is actually a good tool and I will keep it to hand, but as I'd really suspected all along, the size of my image was quite small....

A few hours later I came back and tried again and it was fine...so maybe it was just a blogger blip? It's fine this morning as well...long may it last!

So to my card...this is a simple little Christmas card made using a Woodware stamp.

I used a 6x6 card blank and covered it with some paper from one of my Christmas paper stash, lightly distressing all the edges with Pine Needles distress ink. I stamped the image, coloured with berry, holly and silver promarkers, no shading, I kept it quite straightforward, because I wanted to try out my  new roll of Tim Holz Frosted Film with it.

Unfortunately the photos just don't show the lovely shimmery effect..hah humbug!!! I noticed a little mistake after uploading the photo too...You can see a little 'white' showing on the holly, it's funny how you notice little things in photos...was cut away as soon as I'd spotted it!

I finished off with some deckled edge organza ribbon, simply tied, a button and some bakers twine..thanks for stopping by and hope I didn't go on too much about my blogger problem last night, thought it  might help if it happens to any of you.

I'm off on the bus to Bath today to have a look at their always wonderful Christmas market and have some lunch with a friend...looks like we have picked the one fine day this week!

Have a super Friday,

Carole X

Blog misbehaving! Thursday 22nd November

Good evening blog friends,

I hope you are all well and not been too affected by this awful wind and rain? Well I've been missing  a few days and actually busy crafting for most of my waking hours (when not in work!) - so - I got home from work today and tried to upload my latest DT card for Emergency Crafters and got the message that my Picasa web album is full so need to pay for more space...but I don't use Picasa...I upload from my Mac.

I hopped back here and tried to upload to my own blog...grrrrrrrrr! Same again...

I searched blogger help and apparently all the photos we upload are stored on Picasa, I don't have a Picasa account myself, but I clicked on that upload button and all the photos I've uploaded popped up...some of them in triplicate! So, what do I do? I can't see how to delete them and will they disappear from my blog history if I do? I've only been blogging a year, surely I can't have used up my allocated space already? Anyone had this problem?
Is blogger just misbehaving?

If you have the answer....pleeeeese let me know!

Thanks,
Carole Z X

Sunday Stampers week 232 - Tuesday 20th November

Good Morning Blog Friends!

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments about my Dreamweaver Tutorial, I'm really pleased you liked it and found it easy to follow, I hope some of you will have a go, it really is a fab technique. Welcome also to my new follower and thank you so much for joining me on my crafty journey!

I've been missing a few days, because I simply ran out of 'made' projects, or at least ones I had photographed. I simply can't make enough cards or projects for a daily post, certainly not at the moment...tis the season for catching up with friends and relatives outside work, so less time in the craft room! I've also been busy with Design Team makes - I am really excited about my next Fantastic Ribbons one, it took ages but I really like it -and that's all I'm saying for now!

I did however make my Sunday Stampers project for this week, actually on Sunday! This week, after working with Tim Holz's new stamps (Did you hear his phone call when Hels was on C&C last week? Wow!!), one set featuring the most amazing face, Hels set us the task of creating a project with a face.

This led to a frantic search through my stamps and I found three....an Inventor from a Steampunk set that I've used a lot, a 'Venetian' lady that I only recently bought, haven't used and am not 'sure' about and this one that I finally decided to use: 'rocket scientist' from Paper Artsy. I have had this very small stamp for years and never used it...so this had to be the time!

So, I've made a grungy steampunky tag...to begin with I smeared Antique Bronze Distress Stain over the tag, followed by  a  mix of Vintage Photo, Tea Dye and Wild Honey  distress inks. I then went all around the edge with the distress stain.

Next I stamped randomly across the tag using the Thomas Edison quote from Sam Poole's Vintage Inventor stamp set by Creative Expressions (at this point I was still poised to use the face of the inventor from that set). For those of you not familiar with the set and are interested, the quote actually reads:

"I have not failed 10,000 times, I have found 10,000 ways that do not work". 

I wanted it to be quite faded so I stamped a few times on scrap paper before inking the tag.

I stamped the 'Rocket Scientist' using black Archival ink, which I then heat embossed using black embossing powder. It's actually quite a 'grainy' stamp with lots of black areas and it embossed really well. The photo doesn't really show how raised it is in reality and the result very tactile.

The word 'Inventor'  and the light bulb from the Sam Poole set were stamped next. I coloured the bottom part of the bulb with brushed pewter distress stain and then inked the word and the bulb with Vintage Photo - then - although it doesn't really show here, I opened my new pot of Ranger Rock Candy Crackle paint and brushed it quite thickly over both the bulb and the word. Again, pictures don't do it justice, it is really fab stuff, I can't stop running my fingers over the cracks!

The cog is part of a 'Special Touch' mask that I inked with Perfect Medium before running through the Grand Calibur and then heat embossed using  a black sparkly embossing powder. I cut it out and just arranged it at the side. To finish off I added some Ranger pewter brads from my stash box and some ribbon and lace which I grunged up a bit with distress inks.

Phew! That was a lot of description for such a little tag!

Thanks for stopping by,

Carole X

Dreamweaver/Mega Flake Tutorial - Saturday 17th November

Hello blog friends,

I hope you are all well and have had a good week - mine has been a bit 'messy' and not in the nice, crafty sense! Wednesdays and Fridays are my non working days and the days where I get my commissions made, work on designs and at the moment, finish making the family and best friends cards...but this Wednesday I took a day out, the bus to the shopping Mall and met a friend for coffee. We do similar jobs for different charities and don't get time to meet, compare notes about work and have a general chat - and this was our only chance before Christmas. So I got nothing done Wednesday except some Christmas shopping (nearly finished) and it was a really long day, so I was tired.

Thursday I had to attend an event out of the office: because I work so few hours having to take time away from my desk is a real nuisance, but heigh ho, I'm here to talk craft not work! Suffice to say, have been feeling really tired this week...

But I did get the final piece of the promised Dreamweaver tutorial photographed, so here 'tis...

I started off with the Indigo Blu Flitter Glu, Winter Dawn Mega Flakes,Scoochie sponge, phat foam and a bowl of warm soapy water

Using removable tape, secure the stencil and card to your mat

Using a palette knife coat the phat foam with the Flitter Glu

Dab the flitter glu all over, you need to move fairly quickly, 'kissing' the stencil but at the same time making sure you coat every bit - especially hard with this intricate stencil!

sprinkle the flakes all over

smooth the flakes with the palm of your hand to get rid of the excess , but don't waste any, tip it back in your container

Using the scoochie rub all over the image

You can rub quite deeply, it will bring up the shine

 Here is the card I made with the resulting image from this tutorial...thanks for stopping by!

Carole X

Sunday Stampers week 231 - Birds - Wednesday 14th November

Hello Blog Friends,

First of all welcome to my new follower and thank you for following me! Please leave a comment when you visit, I really do appreciate and read them all.

Today it's Sunday Stampers time again and this week Hels Sheridan has set the theme of Birds, one of my favourite things! I actually had a lot of ideas, the cute stampavie stamp I have used on here sometimes, using a stamped background with my Spellbinders cage dies..but in the end I decided to go all Steampunk again and use the Steampunk Christmas stamp from  Sam Poole (Creative Studios).

My taste in cards, in fact all the craft and paper craft I make, is very eclectic...I'll go from the cuteness of LOTV and House Mouse to the grunge of Steampunk at the twinkle of an eye...well it keeps me on my toes at least!

I actually made this card late last night whilst watching Hels bring us Tim Holz crafts on Ideal World, so that's my excuse for it being a bit 'thrown together' this week..how could I concentrate whilst drooling over all that Tim temptation and Hels' amazing creations and demos?????

Have to say Hels, if you read this (I know you will be even busier than usual with the shows), I had promised myself that I wouldn't buy anything else from anywhere crafty before Christmas, but you do too good a job! The Rock Candy and adhesive frosty film are on their way! I've got to say that there couldn't have been a better person to bring Tim to us last night...well done Hels!

The base card is kraft card and to begin with I used a cogs mask from 'That Special Touch' and inked it with versamark before putting it through the Grand Calibur. Then I heat embossed some transparent holographic powder over it, just to give some sparkle to the background. I stamped the steampunk robin, 25, 'Christmas' and the festive lightbulbs and coloured the robin with metallic silver and grey promarkers before cutting him out. Then I used a versamark pen over the top hat and 25 and heat embossed using tinsel red embossing powder. The lightbulbs were coloured in with glitter gel pens.

Finally, used the Sprightly Sprockets Spellbinders dies with some cardboard from packaging and coloured them with Ranger Brushed Pewter metallic distress stain (yes there is some Tim on this card!) and arranged them on the card with the robin perched on the middle...all a bit of fun!

No much crafting time for me today, I'm actually having the 'day off' to meet a friend for lunch and do some Christmas shopping and then tomorrow it's back to work..catch you all later and thanks for stopping by!

Carole X

Good Evening Blog Friends,

First of all, thank you very much to Jenny for my Liebster Award yesterday, that was a lovely surprise first thing in the morning! If you aren't following Jenny, please visit her blog at http://cardsarus.blogspot.co.uk for some super lovely designs!

I'm not really very good at picking people to pass on to, because I think you are all just so inspiring, plus quite a few of us follow each other, so I am trying not to duplicate...however my first award to Oksana (every day crafting) is duplicated rom Jenny's because I really admire her cards and we started blogging  and following each other at more or less the same time..hope your computer is fixed soon, my friend and you are back blogging those lovely cards!

These five bloggers are inspiring and quite different from each other in their styles. I had never heard of this award before Jenny wrote about it on her blog yesterday, but the idea is to pass it on to five more people who have less than 200 followers and spread the crafty inspiration, so it's over to you ladies, if you would like to join in..if you've already been 'awarded' in the past, and I'm sure some of you have,  then I guess you've already passed it on...:)

http://everydaycrafting.blogspot.co.uk

http://bollyanne.blogspot.co.uk

http://patricia-summerhousecrafts.blogspot.co.uk

http://christinescardsandcrafts.blogspot.co.uk

http://scrappyjens.blogspot.co.uk

I'll be back in the morning with a new post! 

Carole X

Birthday Shoe- Tuesday 13th November

Good Morning Blog Friends!

Thank you for your lovely comments about my poppy card on Sunday, it was one of those cards that was a joy to make from beginning to end! I was really pleased with it, so I'm glad you liked it.

We had a family day on Sunday, so I didn't get any crafting done and weekends are going to be much the same between now and mid-December, whilst we catch up with everyone. Even my crafting week days are shaping up to be doing other things but crafting, so I see some late nights ahead to get things done! 

However, I am more than pleased to report that on Friday I finished all my 'general' Christmas cards and cards for abroad and on Saturday I wrote them all whilst watching 'Strictly'! I made and wrote 71 cards and I still have the special close family and friends ones to make, but at least now I can take my time over them. It may sound mad to make all these, but they were simple cards using just two stamps, a cute LOTV mouse and a House Mouse. I stamped them all in the summer and coloured them in with my promarkers on evenings when I felt in need of some colouring time. I find it a good way to relax. I know that any one of those people who find it odd if I didn't make a card to send, I really don't remember the last time I bought a card of any sort!

So to today's card, which was a commission. I'm really glad I got this shoe stamp set (Creative Expressions)as they are going to be really useful for female and 'girly' cards...

I used a deckle edged 8x8 card blank and inked the edges with Spun Sugar (though you wouldn't know from the photo). The shoe was stamped with versamark ink and then heat embossed with black sparkle embossing powder, I just coloured the flowers with pro markers. I then cut it out with Spellbinders Grand Labels 23 and shaded the edges with a  mix of Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet. I matted and layered the base card with pink and then white; the top white layer had been out through my Grand Calibur with a "Venetian' M-Bossability.

Before sticking the layers to the card I added a thin length of dark pink shimmer ribbon, and a wide length of silk and the tied a double bow with the silk and a pink/brown stripe, finishing off with a zipper flower.

Thanks for stopping by, I have that Dreamweaver tutorial photographed except the finished card. I just wasn't happy with the photo so have to re-take, dam having to use artificial light and flash this time of year!

Have a great crafty day all!

Carole