Mini Book - Fun at a Workshop !

Good Morning Bloggers, how are you doing today ?  I'm happy to report that there has been a little more activity in Stamping Grandma's crafty space  in recent days, Mr Mojo has put in the odd appearance after going missing for a while - whoo hooo !

The project I'm sharing with you today is the mini book I created at a South West Arty Crafters Group Workshop run by Bernie Simmons - thanks Bernie.

The front of the book (back cover is the same)

 



view of the mini book from the back/spine angle

 



The mini book was constructed using envelopes, cardboard (for the front and back covers) and LOTS of sheets of 12 x 12 papers.  It was fun to do and being with a group of other crafters was really nice.  Despite all starting out with the same materials all our mini books looks very different - it was interesting to see the colour combos and papers that each of us chose and how the finished books looked, quite a rainbow of colour seeing them all together !

I chose to make mine predominantly pink and used some lush papers - apologies but I didn't pay attention to the manufacturers of each paper whilst rummaging through the great selection Bernie had provided for us.  As I was thumbing through the paper stack the 'Fabulous' paper and the pink hearts on a black background paper called out my name and inspired the whole theme/colour scheme of my project.

I won't go into a detailed description of the construction method, I'm sure you would be able to find a YouTube vid or other tutorials online explaining how this type of book is made. 

My mini book will be stuffed with all things Pink and Fabulous as and when I find them and it will be great to pick up and glance through occasionally to reinforce how FABULOUS my crafting life is - filled with lovely friends, great stash and learning new skills all the time !  In fact I have something newly created so I plan to put a pic of it inside my new book.  It's a needle felted brooch that I created during a recent workshop, which was also HUGE fun, and I got to meet the other lovely ladies joining in the fun, plus tea and delish Lemon Polenta Cake ... slurp !  I'll share pix of my brooch at a later date.

Hope you've enjoyed your visit today, let me know what you think of today's project by leaving me a comment - if you have the time.  Have a wonderful craft-filled day.

Bit of a Knit !

Goood Morning Bloggers - I caught a glimpse of sun early this morning, it then disappeared and black clouds were yet again on the horizon.  We have sunshine again now and I hope it sticks around for a while, but this may well be the pattern for the day - mixed sunshine and showers.  I just hate the dark days of winter but at least seeing some sun today makes me feel that we are heading towards Spring, at least the days are growing longer.

No paper crafting projects to share with you today, but I do have a knitted project for you. 

Having had a couple of not so good days, I just needed to find some crafting to do even if I couldn't manage to get to my table of craftiness or my sewing machine.  What else could I do but sit comfortably and dig my knitting needles out. 

I had a couple of balls of this sock yarn in my (rather large !) yarn stash and thought it would look pretty knitted up as arm/wrist warmers.  Being fingerless they are a doddle to knit and needed very little concentration and both were knitted from one ball - perfick!  So, here they are in all their 'glory'

 

used my trusty 'hand model' for this shot !

 

the wrist warmers all alone !

 



This is very 'clever' yarn and as knitted forms itself into - what looks very like - a fair isle pattern, but much easier to knit than real fair isle.  I just knitted a tube in K2 P2 rib to a length of  20cm, cast off for the thumb hole and cast back on in the next row.  They may well come in very useful as, according to the weather forecast, it looks as though we might be in for some colder weather soon.

Today I have a little more energy and although the 'great Craftroom sort out marathon' continues, I plan to spend some time crafting and need to get at least a couple of cards made today. 

Might even fit a bit of sewing in if my energy levels last, I am making a baby quilt from soft and cosy flannel fabric for a pal whose little girl is due to arrive any day now.  I've done all the preparation work on it and have just machine quilting and binding to be done, so will try and do some of the machine quilting if I can.  I'll share pix when it is completed.

Following the advice given by my Rheumatologist, I need to learn to pace myself -  rather than keep going well after my body has told me to stop - to try and reduce the number of days when I barely have the energy to get out of bed. 

This is proving a real trial to me as there are so many things I'm itching to do - none of which are remotely associated with housework I might add LOL.  As I'm booked into a Needle Felting workshop this evening I need to monitor my energy levels, it would never do to 'drop off' whilst brandishing a sharp needle or two would it ! 

So, although I have lots of plans for today, I'll see how many things I get crossed off my list and learn not to worry about the ones I didn't get around to - there's always another day.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit today, I should have a card to share with you in my next post.  Have a great day whatever you have planned and thanks for taking the time to drop by here to see what I've been getting up to in Stamping Grandma's crafting space. 

Celebrating a Big Birthday !

It's never easy to make a card for a man, even more difficult when it's a 'Special' birthday.  To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of having big numbers on the front of a card shouting out one's age, although I know lots of people do like them.  The design I had in mind when planning my card fits the current challenge over on the Simply Less is More Blog which has a sketch to follow this week.

The project I'm sharing with you today is a card I've made for a pal who has a Big birthday coming up very soon - hope he likes it !

During the recent Sizzix sale I bought a few new dies and stamp and die sets - well, with prices up to 80% off, I just couldn't resist !  It took me a while and a great deal of perseverance as the their website is so very slow and I guess there were lots of transactions going on due to the sale.  However, it paid off as I was able to pick up a few Movers and Shapers dies for just over £1.50 each and stamp and die sets for just over £3 a set - bargain ! 

I used one of the Tim Holtz Alterations Bigz dies I got in the sale and cut the shape for my design from a scrap of black cardstock.  This is a great diecut shape to use on men's cards I think and I use the stamp of this design a lot, although it is a great deal smaller.

Rather than add a layer onto the base card at the bottom to follow the sketch, I drew lines with my fine Pitt Pen to suggest a layer.  The sentiments are from Stampin' Up! and 'Celebrate' was stamped using Raspberry Ripple ink and 'it's your day' stamped using black Archival ink.

A CAS card which is nice and flat for posting at small letter rate - result !

I hope you enjoyed your visit today. 

Heart Display Box

Good Morning Bloggers, I hope you're having a fabulous weekend.

As I promised in yesterday's post, today I'm sharing the other project I completed at my pal Linda's workshop a couple of weeks ago.  This was our main project of the day and we spent time on the other projects whilst waiting for paint/inks/glue to dry.

I started out with a plain pine box frame with glass front, dismantled it and painted white gesso over all the exposed surfaces.  Whilst the gesso was drying I prepared the other elements to go inside the frame.

The flowers were created by first punching out circles of card in two sizes, then cutting a spiral fashion from the edge to the centre, leaving a small round section in the centre which forms the base of the flower. Then rolling up the spiral, from the outside in, to form the rose - applying a little glue to the small section in the centre left when cutting the spiral hold the rolled flower in place.  Using my thumb nail I distressed the top edge a little. 

The pennants were cut using the set of 'Hearts a Flutter' framelits dies from SU! the hearts cut using various framelits and matching papers and cardstock.   The small heart elements on each pennant were created using a heart punch.

Once the gesso was dry I used a brush and inks to add a 'shabby chic' distress effect and then using stamps from the 'Hearts a Flutter' stamp set, I stamped a design around the frame.  Finally the frame was sprayed with varnish to seal the inks and gesso and prevent them from rubbing off.

All the materials are SU! products.

I now have a pretty box frame to hang on the wall in my craftroom, once I've finished re-organising my stash and the room and will add a pretty touch to the walls.  I already have more ideas and designs in mind to make more of these box frames in the future.

That's it from me today, I have a couple of Christmas cards to share with you in the next few days - I'm determined to start early with my cards this year and prevent the last minute November rush !  Are any of you planning to get your cards made early for next Christmas ? 

I give you my Hearts

Yee Haw.... it's the weekend !  What have you got planned, anything exciting ?  Nothing much planned here other than trying to avoid the rain and stay dry.  I'm so sick of looking out the window and seeing rain pouring down, when will it all end ?

Anyway, enough doom and gloom, I have a project to share with you today.  A couple of weeks ago I went to a workshop run by my pal Linda who is a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. 

This is one of the projects completed at the workshop

 

 and a side view....

Everything used in constructing this triple easel card is from Stampin' Up!.  I love the little pennant punch and matching stamp set, they're just so cute !  I'm thinking they may well have to go on my 'wish list' !  The colours of cardstock and papers match so well and I love the sweet little button used as the easel stop on the front heart. 

We used stamps from a number of stamp sets and a couple of different sets of heart dies and punches to create all the embellishments.  I will certainly make more triple easel cards, they were great fun.

Tomorrow I'll share the other project I completed during the workshop.

Thanks for visiting today, hope you enjoyed your visit.

So Sweet

Hi there Bloggers, sorry I haven't been posting much on here in the past week, life has just gotten in the way - as it sometimes does.  What with travelling and not feeling 100% myself it has meant inspiration and time have been in short supply.

As today is Thursday, we have a new challenge starting over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog.  This week the theme is 'So Sweet' and our prize sponsor is Bugaboo Stamps. 

Here's my DT card for this week's challenge

I haven't inked up any of my Magnolia Tilda stamps in ages and as many of these stamps are really sweet and cute, I thought I'd use one for my card this week.

The Tilda image was coloured using my Copics and fussy cut out before adding some Glossy Accents to her shoes to make them nice and shiny.  I found this scrap of pretty floral background paper in my stash and overlaid it with the trellis layer, which was cut using a Spellbinders die.  The pretty blue satin ribbon was in my stash and I tied it around the white layer with the scalloped edge, finishing with a simple knot.

I used Marianne Dies to cut the tag and the larger flowers and the Daisy Spray die by Joanna Sheen for the smaller floral spray.  The sentiment is from a set by Lilli of the Valley which I stamped using Stampin' Up! Midnight Muse ink onto the tag. 

Finally I added centres to all the flowers using a Waco Pearlmaker Pen.  Unusual for me, there's not even a hint of Stickles on the design this time ! 

Thanks for dropping by to check out my project today, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  Do check out the awesome projects from the rest of the DT over on the CCT Blog.

Another cushion finished.......at last !

Hiya Folks, how are you doing today ?  Hope you are having a happy crafting time.

Today I'm sharing pix of my latest finished quilted cushion.  I'd finished the patchwork front some time ago but was looking for the right fabric for the back, which I found at my local fabric store just after Christmas during a shopping trip with crafting pals.

Front

 

.. and here's the fabric I used for the back of the cushion

 

 



The cushion front was constructed by stitching together 2.5 x 2.5 inch squares which I'd cut from a charm pack I had in my stash.  I know it was fabric by the Manufacturer Moda but I'm not exactly sure which of their ranges it was from (I'll update this post if I find the details later).  The fabric used for the back is also a fabric by Moda and is from their French General range. 

After stitching all the squares together I machine quilted the front panel by 'stitching in the ditch' - sewing the quilting stitch in contrasting thread along the seams - with a layer of batting/wadding behind the top layer and a further layer of calico at the very back.  The quilting was stitched through all three layers. 

That's one more cushion to add to my pile of new home décor items, made in readiness for when we've finished decorating the lounge.

Warm It Up !

It's Thursday so we have a new challenge starting over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog.  This week our theme is 'Warm it up' - interpret it as you will.  The prize sponsor for this week's challenge is Whimsy Stamps.

I pondered over this theme for a while, sat and thought about it and reached for a nice warming cup of coffee to help me think - perfect !  What do we all reach for when we feel the need to be warmed up a little ?  A nice cuppa, either tea, coffee or hot chocolate works for many people I think, there's something so comforting about having a nice hot drink. 

 

I used stamps from a set by Fiskars - the cup, steam, coffee beans and sentiment to stamp the main design and coloured using my Copics.   This scrap of background paper covered by cups and teapots was sitting in my stash and I thought it would work well as part of my design. 

 

Using a base card made from a piece of kraft coloured card, I attached the background paper, which I had first distressed a little round the edges using Old Paper Distress Ink.  I applied the same DI to the image layer and the sentiment layer before attaching to slightly larger scraps of pink cardstock.  After attaching the background paper I used a fab 'coffee stain' stamp from Queen Kat Stamps and Memento Rich Cocoa ink to stamp the 'stains' in the right hand corners. 

 

Finally I applied some clear Wink of Stella pen all over the cup, lid and steam for a hint of twinkle, then Glossy Accents over the cup sleeve and coffee beans to give them dimension. 

 

I can't wait to see how you interpret this theme in your creations, don't forget to visit the CCT Blog to enter your project and check out the fabulous makes from the rest of the DT.  

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today and that you'll be back real soon !

A Couple of Thank Yous

Happy Wednesday Folks, got anything exciting on your Agendas for today ?  My Craftroom sort out continues, slowly but surely and I do plan to fit in a little crafting during the day in between the necessary chores that have to be done - as a reward for finishing the things I don't really want to spend my time on ! 

This evening I shall be creating a Christmas card during my regular weekly get together with crafting pals - we've decided to try and make at least one card each time we meet and are taking it in turns to choose a theme/set of stamps/materials for us all to use, so it should be fun to see how different everyone's card turns out. 

The project I'm sharing with you today is a couple of Thank You cards I made recently.  They are a very similar design to the Starburst Birthday card I shared a couple of days ago.

 

 

Both were created in the same way, various inks brushed onto the centre of the base card using Inkyliscious brushes, then the star image from the set of  Creative Expressions Urban Beats stamp set stamped over the top with the darkest ink. 

For the purple version I used Distress Inks in Milled Lavender, Dusty Concorde and Ripe Persimmon and for the green card Stampin' Up! inks in Pistachio Pudding and Pear Pizzazz.

I used the Joanna Sheen Starburst die and silver mirror card for the purple version and gold for the green one, to cut out the starburst topper. 

A simple design but I was very pleased with how it turned out, hence using it for a small batch of cards.

Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed today's project.

Star Burst Birthday Wishes

Happy Monday dear Bloggers how are you doing today ?  Good I hope. 

Today I have a card to share with you, this is one I made for a pal who has her birthday today

Happy Birthday Jan

 

 

To create this card I used some newly acquired stash -

*  Creative Expressions, Urban Beats stamp set
*  Stampin' Up! inks in Pistachio Pudding and Pear Pizzazz
*  Joanna Sheen 'Starburst' die
*  Clear Wink of Stella Pen

I applied the inks direct to the card, using an Inkyliscious brush, in a random manner, firstly the Pistachio then Pear over it.  I then stamped the stars image from the stamp set using Pear Pizzazz ink over the top.

To create the star flourish I used a scrap of SU! Pear Pizzazz cardstock and the Joanna Sheen die, then adhered it over the stamped image, scattering the stars over the design.  I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment using the Pear Pizzazz ink on to a scrap of white card, then fussy cut it out and adhered using Pin Flair glue to give it a little dimension.

Finally I applied Clear Wink of Stella pen over the individual letters on the sentiment and all over the diecut pieces to make them twinkle a bit.

Here's a close up shot showing the twinkle a little more clearly

I am loving the effect of the Wink of Stella pens right now. 

Thanks for visiting today, hope you enjoyed today's project.

Sewing Machine is back on the Table - Yay !

Hello from a depressingly dark, damp, windy and chilly (ish) Cornwall - the weather's flippin horrid here today.  Definitely a PJ day I think and a snuggle under a nice warm quilt or blanky and a few nice DVDs or TV films to watch - maybe even 'hoover' up the last few of the Christmas choccies, just to tidy things up of course !  LOL

I'm happy to report that my sewing machine is back on the table and working now the table is no longer required for Christmas eating and drinking.  I made a couple of cushions from some very pretty and cosy cotton flannel fabric to ease myself back into sewing after a break for the Holidays,  One cushion for a lovely crafting pal Allie, and the other for her daughter.

Here's a pic of the one I made for Allie - she is a fan of blue and loves birds,

so this sweet and cuddly cotton flannel fabric was perfect for her cushion

 

I added batting and a calico backing to the front panel of the cushion and hand stitched around the outline of the birds in the centre of the panel.  This has raised them slightly against the flat background for a little added detail.  The cushion is constructed very simply with an 'envelope' closure at the back to allow the cover to be removed for laundering.

Secondly, here's the cushion made for Allie's daughter Caitlin

 

 



This one is just a plain, un-embellished, cushion - again with an envelope closure on the reverse.  The fabric is so pretty with the sweet little pink birds and will go beautifully with her new pink quilt I hope.

I have one more cushion to finish off and will share pix of that once it's completed.  It has a patchwork front panel and is one of the projects I've been working on for new home décor.  I received some scrummy 'homespun' fabrics as a Christmas pressie and I've been mulling over ideas of what I'm going to do with it, watch this space................

Thanks for dropping by to check out today's projects and I do so hope your weather is better than we have here today. 

Christmas may well be over ... but for some of us it's 'Cold and Frosty'...

... and that, dear Bloggers, is the theme for our new challenge over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog.  We'd love to see your 'Cold and Frosty' creations this week and our prize is sponsored by Whiff of Joy Stamps. 

Apologies if you are sick and tired of Christmas cards, but to me the theme called out to create a Christmas card - which has gone into my stock ready to use next December.

I love this candle stamp from Penny Black, it's such a great image.  I stamped it onto white cardstock using Faded Jeans Distress Ink.  Once dry I added lots of Stardust Stickles, drawing with the Stickles over the stamped image to make it sparkle and give it a frosty feel.

The background is a trellis diecut made using a Spellbinders die, the snowflake border on the left was cut using a Sizzix border die.  The tiny snowflakes were punched from a scrap of SU! Baja Breeze cardstock and the image layered over a piece of the same cardstock.

A few more touches of Stardust Stickles on the snowflakes and the design was complete.  I didn't add a sentiment to the front, I wanted to keep the design fairly simple as there is so much going on in the background. 

I hope you liked today's project, do hop over to the CCT Blog to check the fabulous creations from the rest of the DT, they're well worth a visit.

Have a great Thursday and if this is your first week back to work after the long Christmas break, well done - only one more day to get you through to the weekend !!

Last Custom Order of 2013

Good Evening dear Bloggers, I'm very late posting on here today, been busy getting my craft room sorted, although it is going to take a few more days to get it how I want it !  At least I can actually walk into the room now ha ha !  which is a huge improvement, believe you me !

Just wanted to share some pix of the last quilting custom-order I completed just in time for Christmas.   My project was another table runner which was ordered by a friend after she saw others I'd made.

Here's the runner draped over the back of a chair, showing the front and the back - I made it reversible, one side predominantly greens and the other reds.

 

The runner folded on the cutting table

 



 

And from another angle

 



That's it from me for today, I have a couple more sewing projects to share with you in the coming days, just as soon as they have been given to the pals I made them for.  I'll be back tomorrow with a new Cute Card Thursday Challenge project.

Have a great evening - I'm off out to spend the evening with a few crafting pals, not sure what I'll be doing yet, but I can always do a little work on one of the hand sewing projects I have on the go.  I haven't worked much on my hexagon quilt recently, so I could do some of that although I know it is going to take a looooong time to complete, it will be so worth it once it's finished.  Hope to see you here again tomorrow.

Happy New Year - Banish the Blues

Hello Dear Bloggers, may I wish you all a Very Happy New Year - may 2014 bring us all Good Health, Happiness and Prosperity.

I'd like to apologise to my regular visitors as I haven't posted anything new on here since Christmas Day.  Unfortunately, I managed to catch some evil cold bugs which made me feel quite ill for a few days.  I'm recovering now, but the evil bugs have now attacked 'The Hubbs' although they have developed from a cold into 'Man Flu' - as you would expect LOL  - and he has 'taken to his bed' !  Guess I'll need to be wearing my Nursie hat for a couple of days then Ha Ha !

Anyway, I do hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year celebration, wherever you were and whoever you were with.

I guess that life will now return to 'normal' and as a first step in the direction of normality, today sees a new challenge starting over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog.  This week our theme is 'Banish the Blues' and our prize sponsor is Bunny Zoe Crafts.

Here's my DT card for this week's challenge

January can see a bit of a 'lull' for some people and after all the frantic effort preparing for Christmas and celebrating a new year arriving, energies and spirits can take a dive when 'real life' kicks back in again.   Nice bright colours and using new stamps can help to 'Banish The Blues' for me so it was fun to get back to crafting and create my DT card for this week's challenge. 

I received the fabulous 'Urban Beats' set of stamps by Creative Expressions from a lovely crafting pal as a Christmas gift.  They will be perfect for creating cards for men, and especially teenage boys - thanks so much Kathy, I know you'll be seeing these beauties quite often in the future! 

I created my design as a birthday card for a pal, it's his birthday on 10 January and he's a real music lover, so this design is just perfect for him. 

Firstly I used a tag-shaped mask and Distress Inks in squeezed lemonade; mustard seed and festive berries - applied through the mask onto the base card using Inkyliscious brushes.  I then used Archival Black ink to stamp the images over the DI background.  I stamped the record image five times along the bottom of the card, again using the Archival ink.

The cassette image was stamped on to a scrap of card coloured with DIs, cut out and layered onto a scrap of black card, to create an embellishment, before attaching to the base card.   I used the Happy Birthday sentiment from the same stamp set, stamping at the top of the tag shape, with the Archival ink.

Finally, using a clear Wink of Stella Pen, I added some twinkle and sparkle over the sentiment, records and parts of the stamped design.  It's such a pity that the effect isn't easy to capture in a photograph, particularly with the really bad light as it's been very dull and dismal here in Cornwall for days. 

Thanks for visiting and checking out today's project - I love to see how many visitors my posts receive and it's fantastic to read comments.  If you have the time do please leave me a short comment just so I know you've stopped by !