Birthday Banners - Friday 3rd January 2014

Good Morning Friends!

First of all I'd like to welcome my latest follower Patti, thank you for choosing to visit and follow  me Patti! 

I discovered her blog just last week and really like her style - do take a look -http://stationerystyles.blogspot.co.uk

Today's card is my first card of this year: I made it yesterday to send to a friend who's birthday is this month. Of course, after the break for the Holidays and spending the time tidying my craft room, I sat down and Mr Mojo was still off somewhere  - celebrating New Year no doubt, or may be I just didn't want to mess up my nice tidy desk (I'm joking of course!)....

Anyway I started to look through some of my 'Paper Crafts' magazines  for inspiration. I get this magazine from the USA and have done for quite some years and it's style suits the type of card I wanted to make - not too fussy.

I was inspired by a particular layout and this is what I came up with:

I inked the top of the card with embossing ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I then inked over the design with Peacock Feathers distress ink and wiped away the excess, just leaving a slight ombre effect beneath the design.

I punched the paper ribbon used across the top of the card and made banners from paper. I adhered this to the card together with some blue ribbon tied in a bow.

Finally I die cut and made three paper roses to finish and added a greeting. I didn't photograph the inside, but I added a strip of the polka dot paper across the centre of the card, before adding the greeting.

Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. The actual dies and papers I used are listed below.

Love and Hugs,

              Carole X

Materials used to make this card:

Stamp: Crafty Individuals CI -171

Peacock Feathers distress ink

Stamps Away Clear embossing powder

Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms

Britannia dies - rose

Papers: Teresa Collins, Graphic 45 and other pieces from 'bit box'

Ribbon from stash

Greeting from stash

Martha Stewart Border punch

L'il Polar Bears - January 1st 2014

Good afternoon Friends and Happy New Year!

Goodness it seems odd to be typing 2014! Seriously though, I wish you all health, love and happiness through the coming year and I am so looking forward to seeing all your creations.

I want to say a big welcome to my new follower Desire Fourie. Thank you for following me! Desire has a blog filled with gorgeous creations, do take a look at Doing Life: http://desiref.blogspot.co.uk

Have you made any New Year Crafty Resolutions? I have promised myself to not let my craft room get so cluttered, which is going to be hard because I have decided to dust my sewing machine off and do far more crafty sewing this year. The weather has been atrocious, but the upside of that means that Tom  has finally been able to relax before going back to work tomorrow and whilst he has been doing lots of cooking (which is relaxation to him!) I made a start on the declutter! I am happy to report that I can now see the floor in my craft room! I can take the few steps to my desk without fear of tripping over a box or spilling something...really, it got that bad  before Christmas! I have  had a big clear out  and decided the only way I am going to function stress free this year is to move all my art parts and art stuff to the craft barn. This is the little summer house we built about 7 years ago with the intention of it being my craft room.It worked well the first year, but to be honest it wasn't big enough from the start and has sadly been neglected altogether these last few years.In the lovely sunshine of last summer I did intend to clear it out, give it a clean and take my art work out there, but then came the bad back and it never got done.

All my art parts are now packed up ready to move out there when the weather permits, I think keeping this separate from  my paper crafts will enable me to do more of it at a more enjoyable pace as I won't have to pack it away every day and who knows? I may even keep the craft room tidier! I've nearly finished in here and when I have, I'll take a photo.

Now on to today's project!

As some of you know, in the past I used to love making the primitive/folk style angels and ornaments and over the past few years or so I have become very interested in the Tilda designs, for both paper craft and all the lovely dolls and projects in the books. I already have quite a few of the books, but for Christmas a friend gave me two Christmas/Winter ones and the fur fabric to make these adorable polar bears!

My sewing machine needs a repair and this is being done next week, but I was SO excited to make one - thus I cut out the little one and sewed it by hand. It took me an evening in front of the TV. The fabric is gorgeous to touch, but really hard to work with as it's so stretchy! After I'd made the little one, he looked lonely (!) so I decided I could also hand sew the medium one, but not the large (pattern has 3 sizes). Believe it or not, the medium one took the same amount of time: there was more to sew but it was less 'fiddly'. I am already making notes from the Easter book for little bunnies for Easter!

I do actually prefer hand sewing, but whichever way, sewing for me is quite a private and personal craft. It isn't something I could do in a class, I like to get lost in my own little world when I am making something from fabric.

Baby Bear

Mummy (or Daddy!) and Baby

The baby bear is also my Design Team project for this month's Emergency Crafters Challenge site. The theme is cold and your card or other craft project must include blue and/or a snowflake. Why not pop across and have a go:

http://emergencycrafterschallenge.blogspot.co.uk

 that's me for today, back to tidying up the craft room  now!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Five Favourite Christmas Creations - Sunday 29th December

Hi there friends!

I hope you all had a great Christmas! We had a really lovely time...in fact it continues, as we have some friends coming tomorrow. I had some super crafty pressies - Tilda books, dies and stamps.I have taken a little break from the craft room (papercrafts anyway, as I have made a sewn that item I'll post later in the week) and will be back properly on 2nd January. 

I also hope that you all escaped the gales and power cuts; I feel so sorry for those who have spent days without power. It was really bad here Monday night and we awoke Christmas Eve to discover the roof had been blown off the Chicken coop! I went to let them out and it was one of those moments when you know something is wrong but it takes a moment to sink in! I opened their hatch and they came trotting out as if nothing had happened. It's a big walk-in coop, so the roof goes right over their bedroom, which means that from whenever it happened they were left exposed. Tom's Dad came over to help put it back on and thankfully it wasn't damaged, so all's well that ends well!

Although no new makes to show today, I thought I would enter a challenge that Debby is hosting on her blog 'A Scrapjourney' 

http://debby4000.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/favourite-five-christmas.html

The challenge is to post the five favourite Christmas creations that we have made this year...and these are mine...

Winter Wonderland

Reindeer Games

Gift box card

Poinsettia Wreath

Sleigh Bells

I wish you all a very happy, healthy and crafty New Year and look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing all your creations through 2014,

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

Merry Christmas to you all! - Monday 23rd December

Hello Friends!

Just two more sleeps! Thank you for all your comments on my sleigh yesterday...it did take a while and was quite 'fiddly', but I really enjoyed making it and was pleased you liked it!

I have one final House Mouse card I would like to share with you all to wish you a Merry Christmas!

I am feeling very festive now: the house looks like a really cosy winter wonderland, inside and out! A few years ago, we bought one of those Lemax Christmas Village Houses at our local garden centre...now we have a village! When we were over in the USA in September I saw them in the big craft stores, except they were mostly the Halloween one as it was a bit early for Christmas (loved it). We've gradually added to it, it's just a bit of festive fun.It's really hard to get a photo of it though, so this just gives the general idea! It looks really pretty in the dark at night.

Our tree is adorned with lights and decorations collected over the years and even dating back to childhood. I'm not one for designer trees and colour schemes. When I decorate the tree I just love the memory every decoration brings with it - from family, to holidays and decorations that not only I have made, but friends and family have made as well.

Today will be spent getting the house ready for our visitors - there will be 6 of us on Christmas Day and we are very much looking forward to it.

This year was far too 'busy'; my Christmas cards were all very last minute and I do I confess start to get a bit stressed over it...it was all going back to three weeks away from crafting with the back problem (I'm happy to report that my doctor is a hero for suggesting a sports therapist...my now regular visits to Hayley have made a world of difference to pain I have been prone to all my adult life)..the three weeks unable to craft were followed by another couple where Mr Mojo had decided that he wasn't coming back from his enforced sabbatical! Of course by the time this all happened, I was already half-way committed to making all those presents for my family we were soon off to visit in the USA. I do actually think that knowing I had to finish what I started, combined with the workshops I teach with my friend Amy actually forced Mr Mojo to get moving again! But thank goodness I had already decided to not take any more commissions for the  rest of this year.

Our trip to California in September was another break from crafting..over three weeks in total and right when I would be making Christmas cards! But when it all started to get stressful, I took a step back..wait a minute, this is meant to be something I enjoy...no...LOVE to do..it's a passion..it's fun..and do you  know it worked?

So I didn't finish my Tim's tags..which was a shame, but not the end of the world. I didn't make all the Christmas projects I had planned, never mind, they aren't going anywhere and crafting never stopped being fun!

However it has been a really good year on the whole, seeing almost all my family from San Francisco to San Diego was fabulous - I think in all my trips solo and our many more together, we both agreed that this was the best ever!

Thank you also to my crafty friends, the ladies who come to our classes and special thanks to my friend Amy, who with her Mum, Diane, runs the best shop in Chipping Sodbury! I am so looking forward to another year of our crafty workshops, thanks Amy for asking me to join you in delivering them almost 2 years ago and to Diane for helping with the very important job of tea and cake!

This will be my last post before Christmas and possible New Year, so I'd like to wish you all a wonderful time and a very Happy, crafty 2014. Thank you for visiting my little piece of blogland. I do hope you get a little bit of inspiration from my projects as I do from all of yours. I really enjoy my daily trip around your blogs, looking at all the fabulous cards, layouts and other projects you share and I look forward to seeing many more next year!

I am now up to 67 followers so a huge thanks to all of you..when I get to 70 there will be some more candi to give away!

The weather here this afternoon is dreadful, so much rain and wind - I hope you are not experiencing the same - or worse - but if you are, stay safe and dry!

Happy Christmas everyone!

Love and Holiday Hugs,

Carole X

Sleigh Bells Ring...Sunday 22nd December

Hello Friends,

Yesterday I said that I had spent an afternoon working  on a project that I had been wanting  to complete for some time...in fact since I got these dies a few months ago and here it is...the dies are both Sissix dies by Brenda Walton: Reindeer and Sleigh. The sleigh is actually a favour box or table centre piece. My big idea was to create a much more grungy, Tim Holz inspired project, but I think I will be making that to post here next Christmas now!

Instead I made a far more traditional piece and it is now sitting on our coffee table!

It needed to be sturdy, so I cut out 4 sleighs with quite a thick card and glued them together to double the strength and because the card was white one side, to make sure that both the inside and the outer of the sleigh matched.

 I then cut 2 more sleighs in gold to decorate, but cut the bottom away, so that only the sleigh runners are gold.. The die cuts are really easy to put together, but do take a little time and care; I used cosmic shimmer dried clear.

For the reindeer I used so corrugated card - they needed to be even sturdier as they have to stand up on 4 legs between them! Once I had die cut them, I inked the card to change the colour to dark brown.

I then cut 4 more reindeer in felt, which I glued either side of the corrugated.

I made the bridles from red cord and hooked the end of the rein around a jewelled brad which I'd attached to the sleigh. To finish off I added ribbons and bells. Then I made a base from left over corrugated card, covered with a piece of fake snow sheet and cotton wool snow. I added a little icicle stickles for a final touch.

Next to fill the sleigh..of course as a favour box you could add little choccies - I kept thinking that all made in  white or ivory, wouldn't it be a lovely centre piece for tables at a winter wedding?..I digress...I decided to make some tiny parcels and boy did they take a while and were they fiddly! I also remembered some tiny decorations hanging on the tree. We got them at a Christmas market in Italy some years ago and the little rocking horse and train made excellent additions  to the presents in the sleigh.

Hope you like it! 

I will be back tomorrow, one more time before Christmas,but in case you have finished your blogging and blog hopping for the Holidays, a very very Happy Christmas to you and thank you for visiting my blog!! Hopefully 'see' you tomorrow though!

Love and Hugs,
Carole X

I would like to enter this project in the current Country View Crafts Challenge with the theme of 'Bah Humbug!'

http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk

Ribbon decorated wreath

Good morning friends,

Today is my DT project for Fantastic ribbons: we were asked to create a  festive home decor project and you know how much I love creating wreaths! Nothing is being posted on the blog at the moment, but I had made it so decided to post it here anyway.

I started out with a plain vine wreath, which I decorated with twisted lengths of  traditional red and green satin ribbons, fixing them at the top, bottom & sides with wire. I then sewed buttons to the bottom & top to create a hanger. To finish I die cut 5 poinsettias (Spellbinders) and glued them over the wired ribbon.

This is an indoor wreath..good fun to make!

Whilst on the subject of wreaths, I haven't shared my front door wreath this year..and it's been up since December 1st! Actually for those of you who were following me this time last year, it's the same wreath. I usually will keep a wreath I've made for at least a few years, maybe make some changes, but as long as I still like it and it's still looking tidy, I'll keep using it. This one will stay up until the end of the month and then be replaced with a simpler winter wreath for the rest of January. I love having a seasonal wreath on my door and it's something I've done for many years.

Are you all ready for Christmas? I still have Tom's card left to make, but I'll wait until he's back in work on Monday and I can concentrate. However, after we had a lovely morning today...visited local garden centre, had a coffee, went to the hen farm to restock food for our girls...I had a lovely afternoon crafting whilst watching the horse shop from Olympia on TV! I made a table centre-piece from some dies I got a few months ago and have been excited to finally use...As long as I can get a decent photo, I'll post it on here tomorrow.

Bye for now and thank you for stopping by,

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Blue Christmas - Monday 16th December

Hello Friends,

I hope you all had a great weekend, we had another that was a mix of  family gatherings and 'getting on with Christmas preparations'...and I also managed  a fair bit of crafting time, so it was all good!

Firstly, I would like to welcome my new follower, Donna Hanley - a crafter who like me, has a passion for everything House Mouse! Welcome Donna! Thank you so much for choosing to follow my little corner of blogland!

Today's card is a box easel: I have been making some of these in various designs lately as they are ideal for giving a little gift or some chocolates in the drawer.

I used my 'Zandra ' template, which I bought at Ally Pally in April;  adorable-scorable pale blue card to make the card, with Pink Petttocoat snowflake papers for the design base.

The stamp is from the Papernania Urban Stamps range, coloured with Promarkers. I inked the edges with Adirondack ink (Pool). The dies are all Spellbinders, but the holly is an old and trusty punch that comes out every year and does a great job!

I finished the card with ribbons and buttons from stash and added a printed sentiment.

I'd like to enter this card in this week's - week 237 -  Allsorts Challenge, which has the theme of 'Snowflakes'

That's all for today, thank you for stopping by!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X