Use Your Craft Stash - Bird Box

Hello! Been a few days without blogging over the Easter weekend. Was so beautiful, and I spent most of it in the gardening tackling the ivy situation.  So, it seems quite apt that this weeks theme for Use Your Craft Stash is Gardens and Gardening. We are looking for creations of any kind that have a garden theme - and that means not just flowers. We want to see trowels, pots, seeds, bird houses, watering cans, wellies etc.

I have really gone into my stash for this one. Many years ago - I don't even remember when - Hunkydory had a Little Tweets collection, which included some pop out and make 3D bird cages and bird houses. I don't know that I ever used either (although I have vague recollections of cutting up one of the bird cages to use flat on a card).  Anyway, I thought it would be fun to use one of the bird houses as the base for my creation. These photos show views of all the sides.

The Birdy Box was really easy to make - especially as I still had the instructions with it. 

To decorate the sides, I used several different sheets from Hunkydory's Little Book of Garden Treasures which I have had for well over a year. I used the box itself as the template for cutting the pieces. 

I then used additional copies of the sheets to fussy cut layers for each side.

And then stuck the sides together. 

I then turned to the roof - at which point, I realised that the large blue tit was going to be in the way of putting the roof on - so I had to remove it and attach it to the roof instead.

The wood effect paper is printed from Crafter's Companion Monthly Downloads - May 2018 - Spring Floral. The edges were inked with Weather Wood Distress Oxide.

I wanted a few flowers to add to the roof, so headed to my flower stash. Lots of choice of bought flowers - both cheap and expensive - paper and fabric. And others that I have cut out for projects and never used. 

And it was amongst these I found some blue and yellow die cuts perfect for layering for this project.

These were stuck onto the roof, and onto one side of the box.  I really enjoyed making this - and am looking forward to seeing what others come up with from their stash.

I hope you are all staying safe. Take care,

Cxxx

April 8th #3

Here's the last of my April 8th birthday card.  This one is for my stepson's partner - an avid runner - both on her own and with her gorgeous dog, Doug.  She is a vet - and is who we trust our Molly with as she has known her all her life. It makes going to the vets an enjoyable experience for her as she gets to see Hannah - which is always fun (except when there are injections involved)!

This is another Hunkydory Pick and Mix topper - this one is called Eat, Sleep, Run, Repeat. I just love the colour combination. 

For the matts and layers, I used silver matt mirror card, orange Core'dinations and teal card from Papermill.  

The letters are cut with Diamond Block Alpha, and I used one of my precious Hobby House orange flowers with a teal hessian one behind (can't for the life of me remember where it came from).

Take care and stay safe.

Cxxx

April 8th #2

Yesterday, I shared the first of my three cards for my April 8th family birthdays - my grandson's first birthday card!

Today I am sharing my niece's card- who was sweet 16. A very difficult time for her, as she is one of that group for whom her GCSE's will never be sat, and who will be hoping that the work she has done in her mocks and her coursework will get her the grades she wants. 

This is a 7x7 card using Hunkydory Pick and Mix - Girl Boss topper. It's pink - which is a colour she is rather partial too - and I like the message on there too.

The background is a combination of silver mirror card, some very old Create and Craft Textured Card (which isn't texture - just looks it), Crafter's Companion Matt Black card, and the pink is from Hunkydory's Floral Delight Card Block.

The letters are cut using Crafter's Companion Kinetic Alphabet, and the numbers using Diamond Press Block Alpha.  And as ever, it's all finished with ribbons and pearls.

Take care and stay safe,
Cxxxx

A very different time.

In one of the strangest years ever, we have come to one of the busiest days for birthdays in my calendar - 3 of them. And I am going to share them over three posts - because I can - and because it gives me something to do. For all three of them, it's most definitely a different day to the one that they expected or had planned.

So my first share is for my grandson, Arlo, who is one today! We will not all be meeting up this weekend as originally planned for a big party - but that will happen once this is all over. We will hopefully get to "chat" later. 

You may - or may not - know that there is a film with a dinosaur called Arlo - and Arlo has lots of dinosaur themed things. So his card had to be the same.

This is an 8x8 card base, and the topper is Hunkdory Pick and Mix - Dinotopia. I have used gold mirror card, yellow Core'dinations and the blue paper is from an old Papermania pack.  To cut the shapes, I used Spellbinders Grand Squares, Grand Scalloped Squares and Circles, with some Crafter's Companion Stitched Edge circles.

The 1 is cut using a really old Crafter's Companion 3" number die, and the letters using Diamond Press Block Alpha. And it's all finished off with some twine and flat backed pearls. 

Enjoy today the best you can - wherever you are, and whatever you are doing. Stay safe.

Cxxx

Easter at Use Your Craft Stash

As many crafters know, we all build up a huge stash of things as we race to get the newest dies, paints, stamps, inks etc etc And we're all bad at using up our stash.  So, over at Use Your Craft Stash, our aim is to get people to do just that - use your craft stash. We have no prizes on offer, but will be setting a weekly theme. And this week is Easter.

Now, I don't make Easter cards, so had to rack my brains to think what I had in my stash that would be suitable. And then it came to me - Bebunni!!  So, I had a look through and decided that Brighten My Day from Bebunni Floral would be a perfect choice. 

If you have seen my post from a few days ago, you will know I have a list of things in my stash that I want to get out and play with, and this seemed like the perfect time. So, instead of reaching for my watercolours, or my alcohol pens, I went for my Spectrum Noir ColourBlend Pencils.

As you can see, I have all the sets of pencils, along with the blending solution and paper stumps. I decided to restrict myself to just one set - the Essentials.

I started by colouring Bebunni, with White, Smoke, Taupe, Pewter, Black and Peach. 

And the Daffodil was coloured with Linen, Eggshell, Canary, Pumpkin, Nectarine and Pewter.

  

For the leaf I used Pistachio, Sage, Jade, Taupe and Black. I really like the blending solution to help get rid of the hard lines.

I decided that I needed to ground Bebunni, and used Smoke, Taupe, Pewter and Black. I then gathered all the papers - Core-dinations Brights Yellow and Green card, Papermania Yellow patterned paper (this has to be well over 10 years old), and I think the green stripe is also DoCrafts/Papermania. The Easter "words" card is another old one - and I really cannot remember where this came from.  I then dug out my XCut Egg des - these are the two smallest sizes, along with the paper strips that were for the Crafter's Companion Quilling dies.  

I also dug out some old embossing folders to add texture to the eggs. These are from Crafter's Companion - Verity Rose collection - Flutterby, Cupcake and Destiny.

And then I inked them with Mustard Seed and Lucky clover Distress Oxides.

 

The mats and layers were cut using another very old workhorse from my stash - Spellbinders Grand Scalloped Squares and Grand Squares, and also the Rectangles.

Even the ribbon has been around a while. You used to get packs with (I think) 4 ribbons wrapped around a piece of card. Not sure what make they were - but both of these were from packs like that. And of course, I used my trusty bow maker from Tattered Lace!! 

If you have craft stash to use, come and join us on FB at Use Your Craft Stash. You don't have to take part in the weekly themes if you don't want to, but get some inspiration and share your makes using your stash.  We look forward to seeing you.

In the meantime, take care and stay safe. 

Cxxx

Not a crumble - and banana loaf!

A bit of a random post today. I have been feeling a little lost with everything going on. I have cut down on what I watch on TV, but I do like my social media - although I am trying to not look at it first thing when I get up. 

As a teacher, it worries me that parents are feeling overwhelmed with the distance learning (on top of everything else), and that there is almost too much out there now - too many free access to this site or that site - too many ideas of what to do to keep your children occupied. For some of them, just getting through the day is enough.

I have also felt a little overwhelmed this week, with thoughts of all the things I could or should be doing during this enforced time at home. For the past two weeks, part of my day has been checking the on-line apps and answering questions, and praising what has been achieved.  I also do my daily exercise - with or without Molly (my dog) depending on whether my OH is at home and will take her when he does his daily exercise. 

And then I start seeing all these things on social media about sewing masks and bags and scrubs, and I think - maybe that's what I should be doing to help? But then I think - I am still teaching and working from home - do I need to be doing anymore? 

And then you see the "it's the perfect time to learn something new", or "plenty of time to craft". But there have been days when I just can't seem to motivate myself to do any of it. This new reality is proving difficult to adjust to.

The last couple of days, though, seem to have been better. I have made a concerted effort to do things - but not to necessarily plan them. I was finding that if I said I would do x, y and z during the day, and then didn't, then I would feel rubbish about it. So, now I have an idea of what I would like to do - but nothing fixed and no pressure to get it done (after all, we could be here a while). And actually I have achieved lots.

On Saturday, I finished all my foam flowers that I started a couple of weeks ago - I will share those in another post - I went out on my bike and I made sourdough bread.  I also felt quite satisfied that we had not been wasteful with our food. Dinner included left over roast potatoes and parsnips that we sliced and fried and ate with some lovely sausages from our local market. And I also made use of the ends of the sourdough loaf (it was a tad crusty) to make a version of a crumble. I found the recipe online, and it involved oats, breadcrumbs and orange juice.

The fruit was from the freezer - stewed apple and blackberry form last year (we have two apple trees in our back garden).

The result was alright! Not as rich as a normal crumble, but it saved my precious flour, which seems to be at a premium right now.

 

And today has been a whirlwind of things. I started by cleaning the kitchen, then stripped the beds, did multiple loads of washing, walked Molly - and bathed her, and made a banana loaf - another new one on me, but I didn't want to waste the bananas my OH was going to bin. I hate the things myself, but he'll demolish this all on his own with no problem.  

Then this afternoon, we planted the shrubs that we had bought pre-lockdown, I tidied the shed and my OH assembled one of my old plastic greenhouses from our old house so I can see if any of my (very) out of date seeds will germinate. 

So, this is how I am coping. I need to take one day at a time, be happy with whatever I achieve - and don't put pressure on myself to do things. 

I hope you are all finding ways to cope. Take care, and stay safe.

Cxxx

Sourdough and Pimm's for breakfast!!

Morning. Hope this finds you well. On a FB group I am in, people have been making sourdough, so I thought I would give it a try. Had to use wholemeal bread flour as it was the only bread flour in the shop. I made my starter, and fed it, and last night I was ready to make my first loaf.

Well, straight out of the blocks there was a problem. I had obviously done something wrong with the starter as I had nowhere near enough to make the loaf - and I was also supposed to have some left to keep feeding for my next loaf. Not to be put off, I ploughed on and made the loaf anyway (and made a new starter at the same time). 

I put it in the airing cupboard overnight to prove.

And, miraculously, this morning, it did seem to have roughly doubled in size! I tried putting it into a loaf tin which was not successful as would have meant forcing it into a different shape and knocking the air out of it. So put it flat onto a baking tray instead.

Didn't come out too bad.

Was a bit crusty, and a bit dense - but perfectly edible. So, fresh, warm bread and Pimm's Jam for breakfast!!

And if you haven't tried Pimm's Jam - it's strawberry, tangerine and mint. Scrummy. Enjoy your day - whatever you may be doing.

Take care, stay safe.

Cxxxx