Happy Birthday!!

Raining again this morning - where has the sun gone!! Just over a week ago, I went to another workshop at Pickwell Farm, where we were able to have a play with some great Creative Expressions dies and embossing folders! As soon as we were shown the layout of this card, I knew it was what I wanted to do for Denise's 50th birthday card!! Denise is a lovely lady that my husband and I have got to know through parkrun!! 

The 8x8 card base was actually white, but as the card was a combination of duck egg blue and cream, I decided to ink it with Broken China DI. The large mat of Foundations Duck Egg Blue card was embossing with Creative Expressions A4 Tapestry embossing folder, and inked over with Broken China. The edges were inked with Black Soot DI. 

The image is Birdsong Meadow - stamped with Versamark then embossed with a gorgeous Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder called (I think) Duck Egg Speckle. It's predominantly cream, but there are tiny bits of blue in there! This was then cut with (again I think) the second largest of the Sue Wilson Seville dies - the black mat with the largest. I have to admit to not knowing the name of the die used for the cream mat - but it was cut in half lengthwise to sit underneath the black. 

The black strip across the background, and the bow were cut using the 3D lattice bow set. This is one set that I really like and am thinking of investing in. I finished it off at home with a great big sparkler in the centre of the bow, letters cut using my XCut Rome alphabet die, and numbers from an old XCut die set. 

Enjoy your day whatever you may be doing!! 

Cxxx

Sunflowers on a rainy day!!

Good morning to you all!! Have a busy day ahead of me - so thought I'd start with a blog post before I shut myself away to work!! Had a great time yesterday evening as it was the first ladies SUP session of the season (Stand Up Paddleboarding). It was idyllic weather with the sun shining, and the water so flat and still - a perfect first session. 

All of us balancing on our boards for the photo!! I'm 3rd board from the right!!

 Standing in the surprisingly warm water!! I'm 6th from the right - with the yellow buoyancy aid!

And this was the sun setting as we arrived back on shore! What a wonderful end to the day!! 

If you have never tried it - then I would recommend you having a go!! This will be my 3rd year with this particular group. Although the company run general sessions this one evening a week is just for ladies. It's a great evening spent in like-minded company - a great core workout - and snacks on the beach half way round. To be fair - it isn't always as calm and warm as yesterday - but even the wet and windy sessions are memorable and provide a great workout as you battle the current!!!

Anyway, enough of me. Today's post is Sunflowers!! Such gorgeous flowers - have just checked my seedlings in the greenhouse (4 different varieties!!) and they are doing well!! This is another card from the Craftwork Cards workshop I attended.  I love these papers - which are from the Vintage Flora paper pad!! Some gorgeous papers!!

The 'tags' are made from Kraft card, with the sunflower paper cut to fit. We cut down a larger sentiment to fit the tag - and I decided to use the off-cuts as decoration on the other two 'tags'. A little bit of candy and ribbon finished this off beautifully!!.

Well, time to pop off to get some creative stuff done!! Am eagerly anticipating the arrival of the postman - have a few parcels on route with goodies to play with!! Although I do think I am being optimistic to think they will arrive today!!

Back soon!!

Cxxx

Something cheerful to end the day!

Am feeling a little 'ho hum' this evening - think it is probably the prospect of returning to work tomorrow. So, in order to cheer myself up, I have decided to blog one of the gorgeous cards I made when I attended the Craftwork Cards workshop at Pickwell Farm a few weeks ago.

This is a very simple layout when you think about it - but it is so effective. A piece of the background paper was stuck onto the 6x6 card, and four smaller pieces were mounted onto four white squares. The papers are from the Kitsch collection - and are just so cheerful!! 

Onto each of the four squares, we mounted four white scalloped circles, and four circles of the patterned paper. The bows on two of the circles are also from the Kitsch collection - and then we stuck circle sentiments onto the other two circles.

I really like this card - both for it's cheerful colours - and also the simple and effective layout!! Will probably use it on other cards in the not too distant future.

Well, I suppose I better head off to bed to get a good night's sleep before work tomorrow!  

Will be back again soon!! 

Cxxx

Here's one I made earlier!!

Have had a 'busy' couple of days. I use the term loosely, as yesterday was mostly spent with family - and then I indulged myself in a bit of sewing!! And today I have been to Pickwell Farm for a Craft Workshop!! 

But because I haven't blogged for a few days I thought I should do something! This is a card I made quite a while ago, but never got around to blogging. So here it is. I made this birthday card for my niece Amy.  

The topper is by Kanban from their Steampunk Range. I love the teal and brown colour combination - and used that for the rest of the card. I used two pieces of co-ordinating cardstock from the Steampunk set - one provided the large floral mat, and the other - the smaller striped mat. All of this was placed onto brown Bazzill, before matting on the A5 Kraft base. 

The finishing touches include a border strip from the Kanban set, pearls, ribbon and silk flowers from my stash. The letters were glazed with Glossy accents.

So - just a quick post today. Will blog about the stuff I did today - and have realised I still have three cards from the last workshop I still haven't shared!! Need to get the camera out and take a few piccies then we'll be back in business.

Back soon!!

Cxxx

My Final Camden Town Sneaky Peek - No. 6!!

Starting the day again with another blog post. I could quite get used to this - spending my days blogging, crafting, gardening.... Still, have another week before I go back to work so can enjoy it for a little longer - although am going to have to start looking at the planning for next week at some point!! 

Yesterday I shared with you my bunting. And today it's another piece of sewing!! This time it's a Mug Rug!! I can hear choruses of  'A WHAT?'  Well, Mug Rugs are quite the rage don't you know!! It's larger than a coaster, and smaller than a place mat. The idea is that you can put your mug on it and there is still room for your biscuit/cake etc. This one is approximately 24cm x 17cm. 

Anyway, I decided to have a play - this is the first one I have ever made - and I didn't use a pattern!! I found a topper I liked on the CD (it's not just the Fabric Companions you can print onto the Iron on Transfer material) - printed it out and ironed it onto plain white fabric.

I chose this topper because I just love the blues with the red! The right hand side is made from patch-working scraps together, and I then attached it to the image. This was stitched onto some wadding and plain white fabric to give it a kind of quilted effect. The whole thing was then bound onto a backing of plain red cotton, and I used a decorative machine stitch to attach the binding (as I am too lazy to hand stitch). I need to get to grips with binding corners as I think I could have made a better job of those!!

Anyway, this is my last sneaky peak, as this time tomorrow I will be getting myself prepared to sit and watch the launch. The lovely Dawn Wheeler will be on Create and Craft TV (Sky 671, Freeview 36, Virgin 748) at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 4pm and 7pm. I've already set the recorder for all of them!! 

The CD's will be selling separately, so if you prefer just the male or female ones, then you can get what you need. There are also papercrafting kits too - so plenty to choose from even if you are not a CD crafter.

Am really excited about seeing my things on TV - but I bet it will just be a fleeting glimpse - so I need to be realistic. But even so, it's really amazing to be part of the launch of a product on national TV.

So, will see you in a couple of days - happy crafting!! 
Cxxx

Back to the Sneaky Peeks - No. 5!!!

So, after yesterday's break - I'm back with another Sneak Peek at the Crafter's Companion Camden Town Male CD. Can't believe there's only 2 more days until the launch on Create and Craft. Today's project is a little different as it's not a papercrafting project at all. For this one I have done a little bit of sewing!!

One of the parts I love about the new CD's are the Fabric Companions. I really fancied making some bunting  - with a difference!! This is not your usual girly bunting!! This is one for the boys - with an abundance of camouflage material!! 

The image from the CD was printed (three times) onto Iron On Transfer Sheets, and adhered to plain white cotton. Because the image was rectangular I decided to mix up the usual triangular shape with rectangles, and alternate them down the bunting.  Each piece is backed with more camouflage material.

And because I am a lazy sewer and can't be faffed with hand-stitching the binding on, I used a decorative stitch on my sewing machine in a contrasting thread, and made it a feature!!

So, tomorrow I will be back with my last sneaky peek - and on Thursday I will be glued to the TV watching Dawn Wheeler on the One Day Special on Create and Craft!! 

Take care,

Cxxxx

CCM&M Challenge #114 - A Floral Profusion!

Hello to you all!! What a beautiful day we had yesterday - was absolutely perfect for walking in the Purbecks - a great family day out - and lots of money raised for Dorset Wildlife Trust too!! 

A break today from the sneaky peeks - as it's Challenge time over at Crafty Cardmakers and More! This fortnight, Fiona would like to see your creations that showcase your handmade flowers - the more the merrier. 

We are sponsored by Crafty Sentiments Designs, who are offering the winner three digi images of their choice! 

I have used an image from our sponsors called 'Benson Bear - A Bundle of Hearts' as the focal point for my card. 

As I have been very much immersing myself in all things Crafter's Companion for the last couple of weeks, it will come as no surprise that I used my new Spectrum Noirs to colour with. I am still getting used to them - but am fairly pleased at how it turned out. 

The colours I used are: Bear = FS1, FS2, FS3. FS7, EB6, TN2, TN5, TN7; Hearts = PP1, PP5, DR4, DR6; Background = LY1, LY2, LY3

The image is mounted onto a Die'sire Chantilly Lace stamping frame.

I then spent a little time watching Leann Chivers You Tube video about how to use my new Die'sire flower quilling dies. I have the Sunflower dies - but decided to use the Rose ones (both large and small) I don't have the Stamen die - so quilled a piece of yellow card to serve as the centre, then doubled up two shades of pink/red Bazzill card for each flower. I'm not sure they turned out exactly right - but am happy enough with them as a first attempt. The little bit of greenery peeping round the back is cut with Die'sire Leaf 2 die. 

I finished off with some pearls from my stash, and some glitter glue on the centres of the flowers. 

Please make sure you pop over to the Crafty Cardmakers and More Blog for more great inspiration. Looking forward to seeing what you create!!

I would like to enter this into:
2 Sisters Challenge - Teddy Bears
Digi Galore Challenges - Flowers

Back tomorrow with another sneaky peek at the Camden Town CD.

Cxxx

Camden Town - Sneaky Peek 4!!

Am off today to do the 'Walk for Wildlife' to raise money for Dorset Wildlife Trust. Am waiting for the rest of the family to arrive before we head off for the glorious Purbecks. My husband is already out there setting up, as he works for the Trust.

But, before I go here's another sneaky peek of the Camden Town Male CD!! Today's project is a notelet set. This one has lots of photos as there are lots of parts to it - and it's the first one I made when I received the CD! 

The folder itself was made from Co-ordinating papers from the CD, printed onto Centura Pearl Hint of Gold card.  I decided to decorate the outside with some good old teabag folding using a variety of the Design and Co-ordinating papers - which I also used for the little squares at the side. A little bit of embossing with the Embossalicious A4 Dottie folder added some texture - and I used Core'dinations for matting and layering.  

Inside the folder there is a little shadow box style part on the right hand side for the cards and envelopes. The cards are printed from the Notelets section of the CD onto Centura Pearl Hint of Gold. There is also a pocket to tuck in the matching tags.

This is what it looks like without the cards in there!! The decorative shapes are cut from Core'dinations card using my Die'sire Nouveau Stamping Frame. 

Here you can see, there are also matching envelopes with the cards - made from the corresponding Design Sets and printed onto Satin Finish Paper. The tags are also from the Design Sets, and I used the co-ordinating Toppers on each one.

Don't forget, the CD's launch on Create and Craft this Thursday at 8am with Dawn Wheeler. 

Back tomorrow with the new Challenge from Crafty Cardmakers and More!!

Cxx

Camden Town Sneaky Peak 3!!

Just got back from parkrun! First time in four weeks due to having not been well. Nowhere near my PB - but a decent time nonetheless. This time last year I couldn't have run anywhere near that time in full health - so things are improving!!

And I have just been playing around and added the Bloglovin widget to the side bar -so now you can follow me that way too. Can I say a HUGE welcome to the 15 followers who have already signed up there!! I'm so sorry I haven't said 'hello' before, but having only just found Bloglovin, I didn't know you were there. It's an incredible boost for me knowing that you are out there - so thank you for your support!! 

Anyway, before I head back out into the garden, it's time for another sneaky peak at the great Camden Town Male CD, that will be launching alongside the Female CD on Create and Craft on Thursday 17th April at 8am with Dawn Wheeler. 

This is a 'quilted' card (I use the term loosely) - the first time I have attempted this but wanted to try to find different ways to use the fantastic Fabric Companions from the CD. 

I printed this gorgeous image onto a Ink Jet Iron On Transfer, and ironed it onto plain white cotton. I then attached some brown gingham around the edges, before 'quilting' it onto some wadding (I use the term lightly as I just ran a couple of zig zag stitch lines down from top to bottom). I made an aperture 'case' for the card, and attached the fabric to it with Collall Textile glue.

This was then stuck onto a roughly 8x8 tent fold base - no real reason why I did a tent-fold other than it was just something different.

The front was decorated with two strips cut from one of the co-ordinating papers. I printed it onto Centura Pearl Hint of Gold, and cut with Die'sire Lace Border 4. The little watering cans are from the Embellishment sheet.

I decorated the inside of the card with the same co-ordinating paper - but this time printed onto Satin Finish Paper. I does look like I creased the paper slightly before I stuck it down - but it's just the printed effect on the paper. I embossed some of the brown card with Embossalicious A4 Dottie folder, used a flowerpot image from the Embellishment sheet. The message is from the Verse Writer on the CD. 

Back tomorrow!!!

Cxxx

Sneaky Peak 2 - Crafter's Companion Camden Town!

An early post today, as I want to spend the morning in the garden and then finish an order that I have been working on, this afternoon. So, here is another little sneaky peek from the new Camden Town Male CD from Crafter's Companion. Remember that this is just one of the two CD's that will be launched by Dawn Wheeler on Create and Craft on Thursday 17th April.

This project used one of the Create Companions. When I saw this image, I thought it would be perfect for a ticket wallet - I often get asked to make ticket wallets for friends - usually for bands or shows! I printed off the matching Design Paper onto Centura Pearl Hint of Silver card, and a Co-ordinating Paper onto the reverse side of the card. I built up lots of layers - so this is a very substantial wallet. 

I mounted the main Create Companion onto red card to bring out the feature of the guitar - I'm really loving the red and teal combination!! Having done some paper pricking for a challenge recently, I decided to use a simple border of holes to create a little interest on the top layers. 

The wallet is made from a basic tri-fold - with part of one third cut away to allow the tickets to be put inside the pocket. The little version of the topper, as well as the sentiment come with the Create Companion - as does a gorgeous section of backing card. I finished it off with some pearls and ribbon from my stash! 

Would love to know what you think of the new CD - so, if you have the time, please leave me a message!! I know that load of you are popping by, as the page views on my blog have skyrocketed recently - and I really value your feedback!! Don't forget you can follow my blog through Google or email from the icons on the sidebar - or if you prefer to do so through Facebook, then feel free to 'like' my Papercraft By Carole page where I will post all my blog updates. Have noticed that the page is also getting quite a few views recently - so I know that a lot of you are finding me that way!! Thank you to all of you who are taking the time to have a look. I really appreciate it!!

Will be back tomorrow with my next sneaky peak!! 

Cxxx

Fanfare Please ---- it's Crafter's Companion Sneaky Peek time!!!

Good evening one and all!! This is soooo exciting!! Having had a really relaxing day yesterday pottering around and tidying up in my garden, I am now feeling really excited to share with you my first ever sneaky peak for a Crafter's Companion Launch!! If you have loved the Camden Town stamps that Crafter's Companion have brought you in the past, then you will love these two new Camden Town CD's packed full of crafting goodies. One CD is full of fantastic things for the ladies - and the other is crammed with cool stuff for the men!! 

Dawn Wheeler will be showing off the CD's on Create and Craft (Sky 671, Virgin 748, Freeview 36, Freesat 813) on Thursday 17th April at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 4pm and 7pm. 

I have been working with the men's CD - and found loads to keep me busy!! This project is an A5 Pocket Card with a tag and envelope for a gift tag - made from two pieces of A4 card.

I printed the toppers in both A4 and A5 sizes onto Centura Pearl Hint of Gold card - this fabulous wine topper with the burgundy colours looks fab printed onto it!! I did the same with the tag from the Tag Companions section of the CD - and it's a very generous size.

To decorate the card, I used a combination of the Design and Co-ordinating papers, along with some Core'dinations card. I embossed the card with Embossalicious 8x8 Chantilly Corner folder, and sanded it back with my Sand It and Dust Buddy. 

The 3"x4.5" envelope was made using my Enveloper board - perfect size for a gift card.  I also made it portrait rather than landscape, so that it would peep out of the pocket. The decorative oval is cut using Die'sire Cameo Stamping Frame. As you can see, the card does stand up - and inside is a A5 insert printed from the CD.

So there you have it - my very first sneaky peak!! There are more sneaky peaks from other DT members that will be appearing on Twitter and Facebook over the next week - and I will have more for you over the coming days!! So stay tuned!! 

And if you have ever wondered which of the Greatest British Craft Fairs will be taking place near you.  Or fancy a little trip away for some crafty shopping. Then look no further.!Crafter's Companion has a great map showing their pick of the major Craft Fairs. Click here to go to the site to check it out!! 

Would love to know what you think of the new CD - so, if you have the time, please leave me a message!! Don't forget you can follow my blog through Google or email from the icons on the sidebar - or if you prefer to do so through Facebook, then feel free to 'like' my Papercraft By Carole page where I will post all my blog updates.

Will be back tomorrow with my next sneaky peak!! 

Cxxx

Three little houses!!

Something different today. Very simple - but quite effective. I started with a blank wooden birdhouse shape. I didn't want to make it look 'fussy' so decided to paint it first with Eco Green Butternut and then with Magnolia emulsion paint. Once it was dry, I sanded back the edges to reveal the original wood and some of the Butternut underneath. 

The sentiment is from Creative Expressions Thoughtful Sentiments, stamped onto cream card with Walnut Stain DI. This was mounted onto a piece of card painted with Eco Green Acrylic Paint. The beads are from a broken bracelet, and the fabric flower and button are from my stash.

And because I can never just do one of these things, here's a second! Similar idea - just different sentiment and a couple of metal butterflies to fit the theme!!

And of course there has to be a third!! This time I have used little fabric roses and a button for embellisment!! 

I would like to enter my little houses into:
Craft My Life: Anything Goes (No Cards)
My Craft Creations: Anything Goes

Cxxx

Dancing Diva!!

Firstly a big, warm welcome to my newest followers - Donna E and Donna A. Thanks for joining me here - hope you like what you see and will become regular visitors!

Today is my niece's 10th birthday!! Popped round to see her this morning and to give her her present - the last two books in the Lord of the Rings trilogy!! I loved reading them when I was younger (although not as young as she is) - and she has become interested in them since looking at The Hobbit at school. She has finished reading that - and has just started The Fellowship - and wanted to have the others ready and waiting!! 

One of her other loves is dancing - and she has recently been in a production at a local theatre! I was looking for a dancing image for her card. I really wanted a street dance style one - but struggled to find something I liked. So in the end I went for this lovely image I found from Anne Bodil. 

Her favourite colour is pink - so decided to mix that with aqua and brown for the overall colour scheme. The brown base card was embossed with Spellbinders Dainty Dots A4 folder, and I used Ovals, and Scalloped Rectangles to cut some of the papers for the matting and layering. The papers are all from my scrap box! 

The image is coloured with Spectrum Noirs. This is my first try with these markers - and I am fairly happy with the results. More practice is needed - but I'm getting there. The pens I used were:

Skin: FS1, FS2, FS3

Hair (and ground) : EB1, EB2

Clothes: CR2, PP3, PP5; BT2, BT3, BT4; EB5, EB6

I also used BG1 for a little shading around the image.

To tie the background in, I embossed another piece of white card with Crafter's Companion 8x8 Embossalicious Flower Power folder, and used PP3, BT3 and EB6 to colour in some of the flowers. 

I'd like to enter this into the following:
The Cutie Pie Challenge - Cute with Dies or Punches

Love to Create - Anything Goes for Kids

Having been working hard on a few things recently - watch this space for sneaky peaks coming soon!! And I shall be looking into adding Bloglovin to the ways in which you can follow the blog!! In the meantime, feel free to follow through Google or email - or even pop over to my Facebook page and give me a 'like'!! 

Back soon!! 

Cxxx

A little bit of Frou Frou!!

With many of the projects I do, I begin with a topper - a picture, image, or some sort of embellishment - and then use this to decide on colours etc. This topper was from the Frou Frou download from the Crafter's Companion website. 

I started with a papier mache box base, and painted it in grey - mixed from Eco Green White and Black paint. I then scraped Lime and Orchid paints over the top. Using a textured 1-ply serviette and Dove Grey Stazon, I stamped out Sheena Douglass' Ivy Paint Fusion Stamp, and Swirls from the Rose set. This was applied to the box with Matt Modge Podge. I sanded the edges of the box and inked them with Victorian Velvet DI.  

The rosette was made from the pink and green papers from the download. I cut two Chantilly Lace stamping frames from each, made a cut into the middle, and concertina folded them before sticking them together. This was topped with a pink button and pearl beads from my stash.

To finish off the top, I also used little green flower buttons and more pearl beads, along with a butterfly cut from the topper sheet.

On each side, I used a piece of pink card embossed with the Embossalicious 8x8 Rose Garden folder, and inked with Victorian Velvet DI. This was mounted onto a piece of the green paper, and the 'front' side was finished with more buttons and beads.

I would like to enter this into:

Crafts 4 Eternity - Anything but a card

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Cxxx

Flower Box!

I had a fab time at Pickwell Farm last Saturday, with the wonderful Julie Hickey! She had so many great projects for us to make. This is just one of them. When I saw what we were going to do, I just knew I had to make it for a good friend of mine who has been very poorly.

These box cards seem to be all the rage at the moment, and Craftwork Cards have made them really easy with pre-scored blanks. The papers and flowers are all from the Monochrome range. I have added some colour with Peacock Blue DI - and coloured white Candy to match. 

It's quite straightforward to make - once you know how - and Julie gave us some really useful tips to ensure that it would fold down (relatively) flat and fit inside an A5 envelope. 

Will blog more of the projects later.

Cxxx

Crafters's Companion Blog Challenge - Flowers

So, today sees the launch of the new look Crafter's Companion Challenges. Rather than being posted on the CC Blog, it will all be done through a new area on the Facebook page. Click here to visit the page to enter.

And that means that - at last - this is my first official blog as part of the Crafter's Companion Design Team. Haven't quite made it to the launch of a new product yet - but am happy to start with this project for our monthly challenge which this time happens to be Floral!!

I decided to make a little 5"x7" canvas and use this gorgeous image from the Rachelle Ann Miller CD (Kids at Play), which I printed onto Watercolour card to give it texture. I painted the canvas with Pebeo white paint - strange you might think as it was already white - but it brought out more of the texture. I then scraped a combination of Greengold, Tangerine, Naples Yellow, Cherry and Bright Pink over the top.

On top of this I glued a border cut from the gorgeous check pattern Co-ordinating Paper, using Die'licious Lace Border 4. I also fussy cut 3 of the red/orange flowers from the Embellishment section and pasted them down too. 

I printed more of the Co-ordinating Papers onto Satin Paper - making them double sided. I then cut out spiral circles, and wound them round a quilling tool. I edged them with Barn Door DI. The leaves are from Die'licious Leaf 2.

The sentiment is from the Sentimentals Range - Memories are Made, and was stamped onto Watercolour card with Barn Door DI. This is mounted onto a Die'sire Elegance Frame cut from Core'dinations Card (from So Mod). The image is also mounted onto this card. 

I finished off with pearls and ribbon from my stash - and edged the canvas with a mixture of Cherry and Black Pebeo paint.

And there you have it. There will be inspirational projects posted onto Facebook throughout the month (mine should be in there sometime - not sure when) - so plenty of time and ideas to get you motivated!! It will be wonderful to see all your creations. Remember - the Challenge will now run on Facebook (click here for the entry page) - and not on the old Blog Challenge page.

Be back soon!!

Cxxx