Love is All You Need -Friday 14th June

Hello Friends

Well here we are on the last day of  Beatlemania week - I hope I'm forgiven for repeating a song title, but this card was made weeks ago and I just HAD to do the pet cards with words from the same song yesterday...hmm there's a song there!

I've loved reading your comments about the Beatles and memories and that seeing the lyrics has made the song repeat in your head all day..me too! Yesterday I couldn't stop humming "all you need is love..." !!!

This afternoon Amy and I have a special workshop and as the theme of the Festival is  The Beatles, we wanted to do something inspired by them, but whilst during Saturday last week the ideas for these cards popped into my head, they were easy cards and we do had to come up with cards that are more group and workshop 'friendly'...

It was when we were at the Craft and Hobby Retail Show at the NEC back in February, chatting to the lovely people at the Crafty Individuals stand and loving all the examples, that Amy spotted the wording on this stamp and I think we decided there and then that we were going to build our class project around it!

I can't tell you how many designs I played with before deciding I liked this one and this is what we decided to go with. Amy was keen that we make a mono card because that is the colour theme of her Beatlemania window display (I saw it Monday evening and it really looks FAB).

To make this Easel Card, I stamped the little stamp many times over 6x6 sized white card and heat embossed.

I matted and layered on black and white, finishing with a white layer, which was cut from the base that I'd embossed with the Lattice Hearts folder.

For the flower I again stamped the wording on thin white card, both sides and then die cut using the Tim Holz Tattered Florals die, finish off with  a button and ribbon.

For the stopper I matted and layered, finishing with the stamped wording that I heat 

embossed with white embossing powder.

I finished off by adding black and white ribbon and two little die cut hearts from Spellbinders Classic Hearts set, the very smallest dies in the set!

Well I hope you've enjoyed my themed week, I know I have - I'll have to do it again some time using songs made famous by another group or singer - any suggestions welcome!

Thanks so much for stopping by and remember - Love is All You Need!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

All You Need is Love - Thursday 13th June

Good Morning Friends..

Well, we're getting to the end of my Beatlemania week, I'm so thrilled from your comments that you've been enjoying it!

I know that many of us in our little 'community' here have pets, so this one is for all all us animal lovers! I've made three quick cards, chosen our two most popular pets and of course, I had to include hens! So here we go...

 Starting with a dog.. we love our doggie friends don't we? I love this Crafty Individuals stamp and just had to add something British, but psychedelic to match the latter end of the Beatles span. I stamped him and heat embossed with clear embossing powder (I do this so much now when I'm stamping) and I just added a touch of Picked Raspberry ink around the edges to make him stand out. The flag is by Clarity Stamps and comes in two parts to allow stamping in different colour inks. I used it quite a bit last year when we were making all the patriotic celebratory projects. I stamped it in Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers. I made the card and sentiments monochrome so the image would really stand out.

 Now on to our kitty's...oddly enough no cat stamps...well I know I have one and a good one too, but could I find it? No! So I printed off and image from  Digital Designer Tulip and Friends and die cut it using Spellbnders Classic Scalloped Circles. I then made a second die cut and put it through the Sue Wilson lattice hearts folder and chose to ink the debossed side for a change. The paper was printed off from one of my Pink Petticoat collections.

And finally, but dearest to my heart of course, little back yard hens or Chooks as they are lovingly known! I'm actually building quite a collection of hen stamps, so if any of you come across any do let me know! However, I bought this stamp before we had even thought of keeping hens, so it must be at least  7 years old -it's a wooden stamp too, I re-found it rummaging in my drawer of wooden ones!

I stamped it four times for each of my little ladies, coloured them as closely as possible (with promarkers) and lined them up in their pecking order!! The straw bales are again from an old stamp, but not a wooden one. It's from a farmyard set by Sam Poole. I stamped it with Scattered Straw and inked it with Wild Honey. I added some raffia and inked the edges of the card.

Just one more Beatlemania card to come! Out of the Blue Craft Club has a special one off workshop tomorrow afternoon as part of the Chipping Sodbury Festival and Amy and I will be taking a card inspired by some Beatles lyrics to the group..so please drop by in the morning for a peek!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

From Me to You - Wednesday 12th June

Good Morning Friends!

'Beatlemania' and Sunday Stampers week 261

Today I am continuing with my Beatles week (see Monday's post for reason!), but my card and tag today  is also my Sunday Stampers project for this week!

This week Hels Sheridan gave us the challenge of using purple in our projects..great, my favourite colour..I even have a pair of purple Doc Martens that are twenty years old, well worn and still looking good!

Anyway, I digress!  My card and tag are inspired by the lyrics of 'From Me to You'  - I made a little card, die-cutting the background with Sue Wilson's gorgeous lattice hearts folder and stamped the image on white card, heat embossing to give a gloss.Then I die cut using Spellbinders Classic Rectangles and inked the edges with MIlled Lavender..

 This is a  little stamp of a girl reaching out to a heart shaped balloon. I got it some time ago from Bee Crafty and the reason I was attracted to it is that it is an 'inspired by Banksy' stamp. Born and raised in the city of Bristol, some of us are very proud to acknowledge the world's most famous Graffiti artist as one of our own. A few years ago I queued to see his exhibition in Bristol's museum and I was not disappointed, it was amazing!

On the card I didn't stamp the balloon that comes with the stamp, instead I used a double-sided adhesive heart from Scrapbook Adhesives and coated it in purple glitter. I typed the sentiment and inked with Milled Lavender.

Inside, I stamped an Anemone from an Indigo Blu stamp set, three times and coloured it with a purple promarker, then cut it out and layered it. I added a wooden button, also coloured with a promarker and tied with very narrow purple ribbon.To finish I added some more lyrics for the verse.

The base tag was white; I stamped the girl in the corner and heat embossed with clear powder, then I inked all over the tag with a mix of milled lavender and dusty concord, spritzed a little water over it and dried with a heat tool. Next I added a few squirts of Cosmic Shimmer Pearl Mist for some silvery flecks, which I also zapped with a heat gun. I also used a crackle background from Indigo Blue, just stamping randomly over the tag whilst holding it in my hand.

Finally I rubbed Vintage Plum gilding wax around the edges. I heated up the melt pot and melted Blue Raspberry UTEE..ooh this is a lush colour!  Then I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to make the  balloon embellishment, thinking that if I was doing it again I would make it a gift: a brooch or pendant. I added a little heart gem and ribbons to complete the tag.

So there we are...the third day of my Beatles week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

All My Loving - Tuesday 11th June

Good Morning Friends!

Well here I am bright and early despite the late night wine tasting! Another lovely evening and we didn't have to walk either way because our neighbours' lad dropped us off and picked us up!

Today's Beatles inspired (see yesterday's post for the deets) card uses the Sam Poole vintage typewriter stamp.Once I started on this 'mini' project I could think of a few song titles that would fit with this image, but I decided on ' All My Loving'.

I matted and layered black and white card - all using up pieces from my scrap box, which since my clear out-and following our lovely blog friend Patricia's idea - is now cleared out once a week. I embossed the top layer through my Grand Calibur using the Sue Wilson heart folder and stamped and heat embossed the typewriter. I typed the words on my computer and added this to the stamp before adhering to the card.

To finish off I added some Vintage ribbon, a little bow, stick pins, the top two layers of a tattered florals die cut(with script stamped on it) a button and some seam binding..and that's it for today!

After yesterday's very long post, a short one today and I am off to work..my one complaint about this annual wine tasting event is that they always hold it on a Monday!

I'll be back tomorrow with some more inspiration from the Fab Four! Thanks so much for visiting and your comments on yesterday's post,

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

It's Beatles Week! Monday 10th June

Good Morning Friends,

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend filled with sunshine and a little crafting at least! Thank you to those of you who left such lovely comments on Friday's workshop post...I am so pleased Amy and I started these classes last year, they are fun, we all  learn from each other and we have brought new techniques to quite a few ladies, who now use them all the time. We are repeating Thursday's class with a different group in a few week's time and I'm really looking forward to it and more interpretations of the design.

So, you may well be asking what this 'Beatles week' title is all about...I'm not a big fan, they weren't really my musical era, but of course, nevertheless, Lennon and McCartney are songwriting legends.

I live a few miles away (walking distance if you've about 40 minutes to spare or 5 minutes by car!) from a small mediaeval and very pretty little town on the edge of the Cotswolds: Chipping Sodbury. It has one main shopping street running through it, with butchers, bakers (did you see the Fabulous Baker Brothers on TV?, well their main baker and butchers is here), Amy's shop 'Out of the Blue' is there and it's where we hold our craft group ...all in all, it's quite delightful! Every year is the annual Festival running over two weeks - lots of events and entertainment and culminating in a Carnival parade and the new Carnival Queen. The Festival always has a theme..this year, in celebration of the Beatles 50th Anniversary, they are the theme! 

On Friday afternoon Amy and I are holding a special Festival cardmaking workshop and our card has a  Beatles Lyric theme, but you'll have to wait until Friday to see my workshop card...until then I thought I'd have a week of cards using Beatles songs/lyrics as their inspiration. I only had this idea Saturday and made all these cards at the weekend, so there isn't anything difficult about them. They weren't 'quick' cards, but only because I find it impossible to make a card quickly!

So here we go with number one, inspired by the song 'Blackbird'.I've tried to do a bit of delving into the interpretation of this song and most writers attribute it to being about the civil rights movement, others say they treated it as a simple lullaby loved by their children and even more a song of hope. For the purposes of this card, it's just about hope and  change of fortune...wishing someone well for the future..

I started with a  6x6 square of Kraft card, and matted and layered with a square of  Kanban card with a rose design  from stash, on which I'd printed the words from the song, typed on my computer. 

I also cut a border using a Spellbinders die and kraft card.

The blackbird is an embellishment I made using a mould and paper moulding clay. I have quite a few moulds and do make embellishments using the air dry clay quite a lot (well in phases!) and since Christmas they have had a new lease of life with the melt pot, but I had never used this 'paper' clay  from Martha Stewart before and I have to say it's absolutely gorgeous..smells and feels lovely! I left the bird and branch overnight to dry out and whereas the air dry clay feels hard when dry, this feels soft, like foam and it think would be less inclined to damage if posted. Whilst I was using it I got all my moulds out and made a selection of embellishments, so you'll be seeing them in some future projects.

Before matting and layering on to the card blank, I tied some vintage gold ribbon to the front and tied in a knot, then I added some stick pins (although the photo makes two of the pearls appear black, they are all brown!) and a little bird cage embellishment, coloured with gilding wax was tied to the front with bakers twine.

To finish off, I added an insert typed with more lyrics from the song: 'All your life to  you were only waiting for this moment to arise'

Looking at the rest of the cards I've made, I think they all have a fun element, so don't worry I'm not getting too deep here!

Tonight Tom and I are off to the Festival Wine Tasting - an event we have been attending with our friends/neighbours for several years now and I hope it stays dry, because we all take the 40 minute walk there and back!

Thanks for stopping by,

Love and hugs,

Carole X

"Out of the Blue- Craft Group Workshop Photos - June 7th

Good Morning Friends,

First of all, sorry if I haven't visited your blog these last few days, my blog-pals, but it's National Volunteer's Week, so has been pretty busy at work, plus have had a workshop to prepare for...I will do a blog hop today and visit you all, promise!

Last night was the first of our new style workshops...Amy and I were having more people wanting to come than we could comfortably work with in one session, plus trying to come up with new ideas every two weeks can be difficult, so we decided to run the same workshop twice, with different ladies..it's a trial to see how it goes.

This was the  design I came up with for  my group to base their cards on last night - we were using the Bathing Belle Crafty Individuals stamp, with which I made my pop up card earlier this week. I have a very odd thing going on with this stamp -I just have to make the image stand 'proud' of the card..if she's not popping up she has to stand up somehow! How odd is that? I just can't explain it!!!

This time I made a twisted easel card, using the girl as part of the stopper...I stamped the beach huts and seagulls on white card and heat embossed with clear powder. I then inked the card with Broken China, Worn Lipstick and Wild Honey distress inks, spritzed with a little water and dried with a heat tool to move the ink around the card. I did exactly the same with the layer on the base of the card. I then spritzed with Vintage Gold Cosmic Shimmer Mist and again blasted with the heat tool for the mottled effect.

I stamped and heat embossed the bather and coloured her with watered down distress inks and stamped the quote, heat embossed and inked the card. When I cut out the figure I left a tab at the base to fix her to the stopper.

The card is finished with hessian, lace, rolled lace and a little shell.

My group of ladies, as usual came up trumps last night and made some beautiful cards. As I was going around taking my usual photos to share with you all, one of them commented that I must feel proud to see all the different variations on my design and how pleased they are when they've completed a card that has their own 'stamp' on it - and yes indeed I am, they are all wonderful! Some of the group have told me that if they didn't come to the group,they wouldn't get the chance to really sit down and craft at home, so it's great to see them all having a lovely time and making some gorgeous cards.

One of my group, Sue, showed me a photo of a card she had made for her son using some of the techniques she had learnt over the past year (yes we've be going a year now!) and it was beautiful, again..so proud because I know that this time last year she just wouldn't have made it.

Last night one of my group couldn't come, so we had a spare seat and even I got to make a very quick card in between helping out some of my ladies! Here are their lovely creations:

and finally my quick card!

We are putting on a special 'one off' workshop on Friday afternoon for the annual 'Chipping Sodbury Festival' and the Festival theme this year is the Beatles, so our card is based on a Beatles song, but you'll have to wait until  next Friday to see it!!

Thanks to Amy for asking me to run these classes with her..long may they continue, I've had such fun!

Thanks for visiting!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Sunday Stampers week 260: Dream - Thursday 6th June

Good Morning Friends,

This week Hels Sheridan set the theme of 'Dream' for the Sunday Stampers challenge - full deets here - I really seem to be chasing my tail this week, so to speak...preparing for our workshop tomorrow and still lots of commissioned cards to make before I can take my 'sabbatical' from them to try and get into making some art work that I really want to do..and some home crafted presents for my family in the USA  for when we visit. 

Most of the female members of my family enjoy crafts of some sort and would far rather receive something I've made than bought..now I just have to get cracking and make the items, it's only 3 months away!

The new layout for the craft room/study is working really well..I have my smaller 'messy' space for all things inky and a larger area for the computer and die cutting etc. We are having a new wardrobe delivered for the spare room in a few weeks and that will solve storage problems for my art parts, which will have a proper cupboard/shelf space here in the craft room and I will actually be able to move again (yes the floor space around my desk still resembles a very ill kept stock room...or an obstacle course - take your pick!

So, a very quick little tag this week I'm afraid Hels!

I used a large manilla tag and dabbed it all over with Broken China distress paint.I then daubed Forest Moss across the bottom quarter of the tag to make more of a sea green colour and a little Picket Fence distress stain over the rest of the tag  to give a hint of clouds. I then randomly stamped the map from Sam Poole's Nautical Journey stamp set. I didn't use an acrylic block, just held the stamp and moved it around the card.

Then I decided it needed some shimmer, so I added Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Mist, Egyptian Blue (note the travel theme here) and finally in highlighted the edge all around with Bronze metallic distress stain. Not that any of this shows in the photo of course!

The globe and ship are from the same stamp set and it's quite pointless me telling you this, but I fixed the globe with a brad (hidden behind the ship), so that it spins round.

The seagulls are from the Crafty Individuals Bathing Belle set I've been using a lot this week and the tiny sentiment stamped on ribbon and  hidden behind the hessian is from the same set - it reads 'May you always have a shell in your pocket'.

I stamped the 'Follow Your Dreams' sentiment from Sam Poole's  Art Flowers set, using Peacock Feathers distress ink, heat embossed with clear powder.

That's it for today, I'll be back tomorrow with photos from our workshop,

Thanks for taking a look!

Love,

Carole X