Box full of flowers!!

Morning - and what a fine, warm one it is!! Have had to have a fan on all night, as we currently have a bees nest in our roof - and they are going in and out just outside our bedroom - so we can't open the windows!! Ah well! 

A while back I blogged about three pallet art canvases I made for friends' birthdays. Well, I also made them each co-ordinating box card. 

The box itself is made from Sheena Stamping Card as it is nice and thick. I laid it landscape onto my Big Score, and scored at 7cm, 14cm, 21cm, 28cm. I then turned it portrait so the small flap/tab is at the top. I then scored at 10cm and 17cm BUT only through the flap/tab and 3 of the side pieces. The bottom one will form the back of the box so you don't want to score into that.

I used the same images and papers as I did on the canvases along with a (hopefully) inspirational quote!! 

I used just one strut inside the box which I decorated with flowers made from the papers using several different Spellbinders dies . The bird and the boat images are from Crafter's Companion Halcyon Days, and the flower from Sugar and Spice.

Enjoy the rest of your day whatever you are doing!!

Cxx

Crafty Cardmakers and More #142 - Sentiments!!

Afternoon!! It's that time again - time for a new challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and More. The lovely Jackie has chosen 'Sentiments' for this challenge. We would love to see your creations where the sentiment is the main focus, but as long as the sentiment is there and clear enough for us to see, then that will be fine!!

I initially thought I would do a white on white card, then changed my mind, deciding on a cream on cream card instead.

So, I had a rummage in my card box, and came up with the plain, hammered and pearl cream card. I used the plain to make a base card, and used more of it to cut with my Die'sire 6x6 Aurora Create a Card die, and inked through with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

With the hammered card, I made a large mat for the base, and cut a strip of pearl to go across the middle. Around this I wrapped wide cream organza, cream satin, organza edged with satin, and a thin satin. The Create a Card needed cutting down a little to fit, and I used Die'sire Essentials Circles and hammered card, to create a mat for the sentiment, and Scalloped circles to create a smaller pearl mat. 

The sentiment is Die'sire Only Words Special Day, and I cut this in pearl and also in a slightly darker scrap of taupe to create a drop shadow so it would stand out. The cream roses, a large bow, and the pearl embellishments finished the whole thing off.

Don't forget to pop over to the Crafty Cardmakers and More blog to check out all the inspiration from the rest of the design team. 

I would like to enter this into:

Creatalicious Challenges - #76 Ribbon and Pearls

Paper Creator's Crafts - #39 Anything Goes

Back soon.

Cxxx

Happy Birthday!!

Morning!! Back today with a card I made for my sister-in-law for her recent birthday! I used one of the Card Frames from Crafter's Companion's Sugar and Spice CD. I printed it twice, cut the circle out to make an aperture frame, and then decoupaged the gorgeous fuschia image.

The base card is made from Centura Pearl, matted with one of the papers from the CD. I embossed another piece of Centura Pearl with my Embossalicious Elegant Orchid folder, and used a different paper across the middle with more embossed CP. I finished off with a big bow of different ribbons, a few pearls, and lettering cut with Die'sire Only Words Decorative Alphabet. 

Enjoy your day!!
Cxxx

Wedding Time!!

I realise it's been nearly a fortnight since I blogged - so will hopefully make up for it now and blog a little more regularly. 

A friend's little sister got married recently - at the same place my husband and I got married. She asked me to make a boxed card for her, based on one I made a couple of years ago for a challenge. I'm not that keen on re-creating layouts - so always have to give it a little twist. Anyway - please excuse the photos - am not sure why they didn't come out too clearly.

So, I dug out my Angelina fibres (it took a while to find them - it's been a while since they've seen the light of day!) and my iron (yes - that doesn't get used that often either!) - and created the material to cut the large hearts from. 

I used a combination of  Centura Pearl Snow wWhite Hint of Silver and plain white card. For the horizontal mat on both the box and the card, I used Embossalicious A4 Dottie folder and an insert from Spellbinders Classic Bracket Edgeabilities. For the vertical mat, I used Embossalicious 8x8 Elegant Orchid folder and an insert from Spellbinders Classic Postage Stamp Edgeabilities. 

The silver embossed card used for matting, is from my local market - and I printed the sentiment from the computer. All the hearts were cut with XCut dies. 

If I'm honest, I would have liked to change the layout and materials a lot more - but she was very specific. And while I know she was really pleased with it - a little bit of me is disappointed with how close it is to the original!! Silly really, I suppose, as it was the original that she really liked and wanted!!   

Anyway, back soon (hopefully!!)

Cxxx

Crafty Cardmakers & More - #141 - For a Man or Boy

Evening! It's challenge time over at Crafty Cardmakers & More. This fortnight, Vania is hosting, and would like to see your cards for a man or a boy. Here in the UK, Father's Day falls right in the middle of the next fortnight, so I am sure many of you will already be working on cards suitable for this challenge. This will be the first year since I have been crafting that I will not be making a card for my Dad. He passed away earlier this year, and I will be spending part of the day running Race for Life in his memory.  

So instead, I have a card that I made for my stepson to share with you. He is car mad, so I chose this Kanban topper. I wanted to keep the colours really simple so stayed with the black and grey tones from the topper

In my stash I had some matt silver card, and textured silver paper, both of which I used with Crafter's Companion Matt Black Card. I embossed the silver card with my Darice Diamond Plate folder - and left the paper as it was. The letters are cut with Die'sire 1" Alphabet and the buttons are from my stash.

A very unfussy card, but definitely a masculine card. 

I would like to enter this into:
Get Creative Challenges - For the BoysCome and Get It Challenge - For the Guys
Take Care,
Cxxx 

A bit more Scruffy Little Kitten

Here's another of the samples I made for the Scruffy Little Kitten Launch. 

I love the colours of this topper - and it was just crying out for a Kraft card base. So I combined two pieces of Crafter's Companion Kraft card to make a roughly 8x8 card. Along with the topper, I used the Blended Tag, and the matching gingham paper from the CD. The sentiment is also from the CD - and I echoed the shape using Die'sire Essentials Scalloped Circles and Blossom dies. And of course, I finished it with some ribbon and pearls.

Cxxx

Running, birds and birthdays!!

Evening!! Am sat half watching the Grand Prix, and am feeling a little tired after my 5K this morning. But thought I would try to do something useful and write another blog!! 

Last weekend my OH and I were up in Edinburgh as he was running the Marathon on the Sunday. He ran a really great time, getting a new personal best - and while we were away, on the Saturday it was his birthday. 

As well as running, one of his loves is wildlife - and he has been a "twitcher" since he was a boy!! So, this image from the Times Gone By CD was perfect for his birthday card. This particular one is the Fabric Companion, and I teamed it up with a couple of the papers from the CD. I decided to keep it simple and just used Die'sire Essentials Hearts and Scalloped Hearts to create a little embellishment. 

It also gave me an opportunity to use my new Die'sire Classique Only Words 1" Decorative Alphabet dies!! I LOVE alphabet dies - and this one is just brilliant as you can create the effect of joined writing!!  I used a little bit of ribbon and a few pearls to complete the card. 

Back soon,

Cxxx

A Birthday Gift!

Evening - over the past few weeks three of my friends celebrated their birthdays. And as usual, I have been busy making gifts and card for them.  

This is one of the gifts I made. I decided to use one of the A4 fabric companions from the Halcyon Days CD, printed onto canvas. I distressed the edges with my Tim Holtz distress tool, and mounted it onto a couple of the co-ordinating papers from the CD.

The pallet art that I have used is from Stamps Away. I wanted to go for the distressed whitewashed look but was feeling a bit lazy and didn't really want to face all the sanding involved. So I had a bit of a trawl on the internet and found a great blog post called 'How to Distress Paint with Vaseline". And it's really that simple. You just apply Vaseline to the places that you don't want paint - and then paint!!

You let the paint almost completely dry, and then wipe it away. I did two layers with white Gesso - and wiped while the paint was still a little wet - this left some thinner, streakier layers. I assembled the pallet with wood glue.

Here are the other two - the image and papers for the top one are also from Halcyon Days, while the bottom one is from Sugar and Spice. 

They absolutely loved them - so I was very happy!! 

Back soon,
Cxxx 

The Mirror Crack'd - Challenge 10 - Shadow Box

Well - May just flew by, and here we are in June. That must mean its time for a new challenge at The Mirror Crack'd. This month the lovely Shilpa is hosting - and our theme is Shadow Boxes.

When I first saw the theme, I knew that I wanted to make a sewing themed shadow box. I have loved sewing since I was a teenager - and my first machine was one of my Mum's old cast offs. As children, many of our clothes were hand sewn by my Mum. My sewing box contain many things that were left in my Nan's box when she passed away - Silko threads, her needlecase, embroidery scissors, buttons galore - and the pin tin that I just can't bear to part with as it would have at one time belonged to my Grandad - I can still picture him puffing away on his pipe. And the pinking shears were another donation from my Mum many years ago - they are not the best anymore - but another thing I don't want to get rid of.

Now, some of these things are a little too precious to use - so I improvised a little - and included some of my own bits and bobs too.

I started with an ordinary photo frame - one that had a very deep edge - and removed the glass as it was not needed. I rubbed the frame down and applied Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. 

I wanted some vintage sewing images so went for a little mooch on the Internet where I found The Old Design Shop - Vintage Image Treasury which allows use of its' images for projects such as this. 

I selected some of the sewing related ones and printed them onto Crafter's Companion Printable Parchment to give them an older feel. I then Mod Podged them onto the back piece of the photo frame. 

Once dry, I trimmed the edges and applied some Vintage Photo DI. The printed cotton ribbons are from Fantastic Ribbons - and also had the DI treatment!!

After applying a strip of hessian across the middle, I replaced the back piece into the frame.

It was then a case of adding in all the bits and pieces. Some more of the images were mounted onto Kraft card embossed with Crafter's Companion Textures Wood Grain Embossing folder - inked with Vintage Ink DI. I used a couple of the cotton reels and filled a little glass bottle with some seed beads from my stash. Then I added the buttons - some old and some new - along with these fab hessian flowers and butterflies I got in Poundland!! I used a piece of calico to sew a mini sampler on my machine, and cut it with those slightly blunt pinking shears!! I then added one of my 'Stitched By Carole' labels - highlighted with a Tim Holtz Ideaology Ornate Plate. The scissors are a charm I bought ages ago - because I like them!! And of course, a little bit of lace to finish - and echo the vintage theme.

I have to say that I have really enjoyed making this shadow box - it felt personal and fun!! Make sure you pop over to The Mirror Crack'd blog to check out all the other inspiration from the rest of the DT. There's some incredible and inspiring work over there!!

I would like to enter this into:

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Dream Valley Challenge - Anything Goes

Come and Get It Challenge - Distress It

Cxx

Bags of Scruffy Little Kitten Goodness!!

Morning!! Fiona is back at 9am this morning on Create and Craft with the Scruffy Little Cat collection. Today I have a bag to share with you.

I started with a blank Kraft bag, and matted and layered Matt Black card and Kraft card with a couple of the papers from the CD. I printed one of the Topper Companions, and a Blended Tag onto Neenah Desert Storm, and mounted them onto more Matt Black card. I also cut a mat using the 6x6 Die'sire Aurora Create-a-Card die. I finished it off with a couple of ribbons, and some pearls.

Remember, Fiona is back at 9am - so tune in for more Scruffy Little Kitten goodness.

Cxxx

SLK - Circle Easel Card

Morning - am up bright and early ready to go out for a run this morning!! Not that I'm really feeling it today - but I need to keep up with the training plan for the 10K!! 

Today's share is a circular easel card using one of the fabulous little boy images from the Card Companion section of the CD.

I used a large circle die to cut out the base card from Sheena Stamping Card - onto which I had printed one of the papers. 

Other papers from the CD were matted and layered, and I used the small image from the Card Companion as the stopper for the easel.

Fiona will be back on Create and Craft on Thursday with the Scruffy Little Kitten collection - so be sure to tune in!!

Take care,
Cxxx 

Scruffy Little Kitten - Drawstring Bag

Evening - just popped on with a quick post this evening. The instructions I used for making the bag are found HERE. I changed the measurements slightly, as the printable cotton twill I used was US Letter size - so I worked with 11" width rather than 12".

I printed one of the papers from the CD onto printable cotton twill, cut it in half, and attached it to either end of a length of plain white cotton.

The fabric companion was printed onto another piece of cotton twill, slightly trimmed, and then sewn with a straight stitch onto the white cotton. 

I used a blue/green cotton as the lining fabric - which isn't visible in the photo. Once I had completed the bag as per the instructions (which were really easy to follow - and I love the way the lining is attached), I threaded the ribbon through the top to make the drawstring. 

Like I said - a quick post!! Back in the morning!!

Cxxx

Finally .....

... I have a chance to share my Scruffy Little Kitten samples!! The images on the CD are sooo cute - I can see me using this for quite a few children's birthdays that are coming up. 

My first share is my Umbrella card. I created the umbrella shape on my computer, and then printed it twice onto Centura Pearl Hint of Silver which already had one of the Co-ordinating papers printed onto it. I also printed the patterned paper from the Design Sets onto the back. I scored a line roughly two cm from the top of the umbrella, folded it back - then used this area to stick the two parts of the umbrella card together. The handles (again created on my computer and printed onto card) were stuck inside the umbrella, and I then played around with where to cut the flat edge to allow the card to stand.

I then printed the umbrella again onto a piece of Printable Light card which also had the patterned paper printed onto it. I then cut inside the lines to create the panels for the umbrella.

The image is from the decoupage section of the CD, and the sentiment is from the Rosie stamp set.

I will hopefully be back later today with another share!! 

Cxxx

Crafty Cardmakers & More #140 - Faux or Real Stitching

Evening!! Am a little behind in posting my blog for Crafty Cardmaker's latest challenge. Have spent the last few days away in Edinburgh as my husband was running the marathon there on Sunday. He did absolutely amazingly - beating his PB which he set in 1986!!! We have spent today travelling back home. We've had some dinner, I've put the washing on - so am now able to catch up with things.

So, this fortnight, we are being hosted by the fabulous Sue who would like to see stitching on your project - real or faux! Some hand stitching or embroidery would be just amazing if that's a love of your's. Personally, I like sewing with my machine, so thought I would use that on my card.

The digi image is from Crafter's Companion Vintage Floral CD - coloured initially just with my Spectrum Noir pens: Flower - BG1, CR2, CR3, CR5, CR6; Leaves - CG1, DG2, CG2, CG4, DG3; Flower centre - GB4, GB3, GB5; Stem - EB6, EB3, EB7.

And then I went over with Spectrum Noir pencils: Flower - 23, 28; Leaves - 58, 59, 60; Flower Centre - 16, 20.

To make the background, I printed a couple of co-ordinating papers from the CD. I used a combination of CC Matt Black card, with some green and pink Bazzill. I used a bit of black zig zag stitching and white straight stitch on the mats and layers - and black straight stitch direct onto the image!

I finished off with ribbon from my stash. The printed one is new from Fantastic Ribbons!! 

Make sure you pop along to Crafty Cardmakers and More to look at the rest of the amazing inspiration from the team. Then get crafting and make your creation!! 

Take care,

Cxxx