Friday 28 June 2013

Sugar Block Club - June BOM finished in time

Gooood morning Folks, how are you doing ?  good I hope.

As it's the last Friday in the month, today I'm sharing my Sugar Block Club Block of the Month for June.  I found this block quite quick and easy to complete and really enjoyed it.


My pals Linda and Karen and I are all working on the SBC BOM and share pix on our blogs each month, follow the links to check out their June blocks.

I've had my lovely Dad staying with me again and I gave him lesson 2 on the sewing machine a couple of days ago, here's what he made

 
this is the meant to be the front and we used up lots of really pretty and colourful strips that I had in my fabric stash
 
Here's the back, which is also very colourful and makes the runner reversible I think
 
 
He's such a Star !


I've pre-scheduled this post to go live today as, sadly, I have a family funeral to attend so won't be around blogland much.   

Thursday 27 June 2013

Fly Like a Bird

Happy Thursday Bloggers, we've got a new challenge starting today over on the Cute Card Thursday Challenge Blog.  The theme this week is 'Fly Like a Bird' and our prize sponsored by Alota Stamps.


After buying some great stamps by Paper Artsy last weekend, I just knew I wanted to use this JOFY 15 set for my DT card this week.  I tried hard to resist this set of stamps whilst I was in Snazzy's but these owl images were just so darn cute that resistance was futile and they HAD to come home with me !

I woke up with the design for this card in my head and had to sit down immediately (before breakfast even) and make it.  I've a pal who is going through a difficult time right now and I wanted to make a special card for her to let her know I'm thinking of her and hopefully to make her smile.  I'm hoping this will achieve both of these aims.

As the three owl stamps in this set are different sizes they were perfect to layer-up totem pole style.  I created the sentiment on my computer then stamped the three owl images above and coloured them with my Copics.

Using some scraps of patterned and plain card I layered the image with narrow borders showing.  To add a little texture to the white base level I wrapped bakers' twine around, before attaching the image layer. 

For a finishing touch I added Glossy Accents to create 'googlie eyes' - just for fun !

That's it from me today, hope you've enjoyed your visit.  You can check out the creations from the rest of the DT over on the CCT blog.

Have a great day.

Tuesday 25 June 2013

May was a little delayed... but it's here at last !


As I have been away from home rather a lot lately - away from my fabric stash and sewing machine - I wasn't able to get my Sugar Block Club Block of the Month for May made until now.  Each month my pals Linda and Karen and I attempt to finish our BoM and post pix to our blogs on the last Friday of the month.  It's not an official challenge it's just the three of us trying to keep up with each other and adds a little more fun and incentive to keep up-to-date with getting the blocks finished.

Here's my finished block using my chosen fabrics - Linda's and Karen's finished blocks look completely different in their fabric choices, do pop over to their blogs and check them out. 

 
 
Once I've completed all twelve of the BOMs I plan to sew them together into a quilt, adding some borders of matching or toning fabrics to finish off the design and make it large enough to fit on the bed.  I'm not sure what Linda is planning to do with her blocks but Karen has been using each one to make different projects.  She's turned this one into a cushion cover as her fabrics match a bed quilt she made a while ago.
 
After getting back into the swing of cutting, piecing and sewing on this block, I just went ahead and made the June BOM.  I'll be sharing pix of this next block on here on Friday - I wonder if Linda and Karen will get theirs finished by the deadline this month eh ?  
 
Thanks for dropping by to check today's project, I'm enjoying a lovely warm and sunny day down here in Cornwall although it is a little breezy.  Hope you are having a great day.

Monday 24 June 2013

'Happy Birthday Jen' - LIM #125

Well, it's a brand new week starting today, we've passed the Summer Solstice and still no signs of any real Summer weather !  At least it's dry here today so far, a tad warmer than it was yesterday and the strong winds have gone, so I guess this is as good as it's going to get for now and we'll have to make the most of it. 

I have my lovely Dad visiting with me at the moment and I had lots of fun yesterday helping him with a couple of quilting projects.  During his last visit he learned how to use my sewing machine and was just itching to get more projects started. 

Firstly we finished off the fabric key fob he has made for my Niece and then we embarked on a much larger project.  We had a few strips of lovely brightly coloured fabrics and he's stitched these into a lovely colourful table runner.  There is a little hand sewing still to do to finish off the binding and then I'll share some pix with you.  I'm so proud of my Dad, he loves trying new things and learning new skills and he's a great crafter. 

Now on to today's post and the reason for the title.  This week's challenge over on the Simply Less is More blog is to create a birthday card for one of their DT members Jen, hence my 'Happy Birthday Jen' post title.

Here's my entry for the challenge, I just had to get my new PaperArtsy JOFY stamps inky !  This set (JOFY11) includes some fabby individual words which can be used to create a number of different sentiments.

 
I stamped some of the flowers from the set onto a piece of cardstock which I'd coloured using Distress Inks, then added a little colour to the stamped images using Copics.  I stamped the butterfly from the set directly on to the base card and added a little colour, again using my Copics.  Finally I selected some of the individual words from the stamp set to create a sentiment then stamped it just below the butterfly image.
 
Thanks for visiting today, hope you like my latest project.  Thanks also to my lovely new Followers for deciding to join.   I'm always thrilled to see my follower numbers increasing when I check my blog and I try my best to keep on sharing projects that I think visitors will enjoy seeing. 

Sunday 23 June 2013

Didn't we have a luverly time the day we went to Snazzy's !

Happy Sunday morning Folks, hope you're having a great day, weather isn't looking promising here so far - dull, windy and a tad chilly - hope it's better wherever you are in the world.

I had a wonderful start to the weekend, travelled by train to Bristol to my crafting pal Kathy's on Friday afternoon.  We spent the rest of the afternoon grappling with my newly acquired We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board !  We had a bundle of laughs and by the end of the afternoon I had no mascara left, but we still couldn't get my new toy to produce what we wanted.  Seems to me that some of the measurements on their charts given to help you create the size of envelope you want are just not correct.  Either that or it's a bad case of 'Operator Error' so I'll have to investigate further before consigning the said item of equipment to the part of my craftroom designated to store all the 'must haves' which never lived up to their hype !

On Saturday morning we set off for Swindon to meet up with two more crafting pals (Lauren and Debs) for a workshop at Snazzy's craft store.   As we all live so far away from each other and for the most part are in touch only online, it was a rare treat for us to get together for a little crafting sesh.  We met up at the outlet mall, deciding on an early bite of lunch before setting off to Snazzy's.  We just happened to go past the Cadbury outlet, so we wandered in, only to check what was in there of course !  Each of us exited with a bag of goodies with which to surprise our loved-ones when we returned home - and to sustain us on our individual journeys home ..... !  

The owner of Snazzy's - Val - said they would provide all necessary materials and equipment and I actually went there without a single item from my own stash - not even my fave pair of scissors or beloved guillotine.... scary !  I need not have worried as they really DID supply all that we needed for our projects.

Here's the project I created


All of us proudly showing off our creations 

 
It always amazes me how, despite working from the same example each of our finished creations turned out slightly differently as we approached each step of the project in our own style - that's why art and crafting are so AMAZING. 
 
 
I'm afraid I just HAD to bring home these yummy new JOFY stamps by Jo Firth-Young
from Paper Artsy - well it would have been positively rude not to wouldn't it ? !
 
 
There are a couple more JOFYs that I NEED, but I was limited by the amount of cash I had on me as Snazzy's don't take credit cards for payment - maybe it was just as well as I could have run amok amongst the fabberooney stash in the shop and we may have been in danger of not being able to eat for a month !  

I can't wait to get these babies inked now so you may see them appearing in projects on here very soon.

Thank you so much Kathy for organising us and Snazzys facilitating such a grand day out for us. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, whatever you have planned.

Saturday 22 June 2013

A Cushion for Chloe

Hi Peeps !  Hope you are having a wonderful day.

I've been busy stitching again and thought I'd share one of my latest projects with you.  A pal recently asked me if I would make a snuggly fleece cushion for her Granddaughter's bedroom after she saw the one I made for myself.  I just love how these crazy patchwork projects turn out using fleece pieces.

Here's the cushion - very Pink and Girly I think you'll agree !


I used up lots of small pieces of fleece offcuts I had in my stash, stitched them to a square of cotton fabric to reinforce the fleece as it can stretch out of shape very easily.  After stitching all the pieces on to the foundation fabric I used a decorative stitch on my machine to emphasise the edges, using red thread.  I considered adding a few pretty buttons, but decided it would be more snuggly without any hard embellishments attached.  

Hope you enjoyed your visit today, thanks for taking the time to check out today's project.

Friday 21 June 2013

Dad You're a Super Star

I was Blessed last Sunday to spend the day with my gorgeous Dad, we had a lovely day and my Hubby, Son. Niece and her Hubby also shared the day with us which was fabulous.

This is the card I created for my Dad, I was away from home on the actual day and this is the first chance I've had to share the card with you, hope you like it !

 
This cute little teddy and both sentiments are from a set of magazine freebie stamps.  I coloured ted and the banner with my Copics before fussy-cutting out.  The background paper is also a mag freebie and the star and scalloped oval were diecut using Spellbinders dies.
 
Hope you've enjoyed your visit today and that you'll swing by my Bloggy again real soon. 
 
Have a Great Day !

Thursday 20 June 2013

In The Summertime

It's Thursday and the weekend is within reach - Yay !  As it's Thursday there's a new challenge starting over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog.  This week our theme is 'In The Summertime' and our prize is sponsored this week by Whimsy Stamps.

Just lately I've been trying to use some of the stamps that have been in my stash for a long time and haven't been out to play in quite a while.  It's so tempting to keep on buying stamps when all the new and exciting images start appearing in Blogland, but my house is rapidly filling up with crafting stash and storage of stamps is becoming a bit of a problem ! 

So I decided to dig out these cute stamps by Hanglar & stAnglar for my DT card for this challenge, they are perfect for the theme as when I think of Summertime I think of beaches, bathing in the ocean and BBQs.

 
I selected a couple of yummy papers from the Nanna's Kitchen range by DCWV,  I love the citrus colours and the fun BBQ designs.
 
I coloured the images with my Copics before fussy-cutting out.  The 'Sun' was created from a scrap of yellow cardstock and diecut using a spellbinders die.  The sentiments are from a set of digi freebies from the U Printables by RebeccaB site - you should go check out this site as there are fabulous things on there all free to download.  I think her designs are really targeted at Smashbookers but there are lots of great designs useful for cardmakers too.  All available free for anyone to download but she has restrictions on her designs and does not allow the sharing of them either digitally or printed out.

Thanks for taking the time to pop by to see today's creations, do swing by the CCT blog to check out the amazing projects from the rest of the DT. 

Bye for now !

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Hand Stitched Hexagons

Happy sunny Wednesday Folks - well is very warm and sunny here today !

The Simply Less is More Challenge this week is to use Hexagons on our CAS cards.  If you've visited here in recent weeks you will have noticed that I'm in a bit of a hexie zone right now so this challenge theme is right up my street.  I've been busy hand sewing hexagons which I shall be sewing together to form a handmade quilt.  It's going to take me quite some time I think as I've chosen to sew 7 hexies into flower shapes and I've worked out I will need approximately 140 flower shapes to stitch together - lots of hexies needed !!

Anyway, I digress.....  my copy of the latest Simply Homemade magazine dropped through the letterbox a couple of days ago and it came with a free gift of a set of stamps - all sewing related and including a tiny hexagon image, how cool is that ?  Perfect to use on my LIM entry this week.

Here's my first attempt...  I wasn't all that pleased with it, so made a second one.


Here's the second one.... what do you think ?  which one do you prefer ?


Thanks for taking the time to drop by to check out my crafting bits and pieces, it's lovely to see you !

Thursday 13 June 2013

Once Upon A Time........

Happy Thursday Bloggers, this is my first Thursday since returning from holiday, being reunited with my stash and today sees the start of a new challenge over on the Cute Card Thursday blog.  This week our theme is 'Once Upon A Time' and our prize is sponsored by Whiff of Joy Stamps.

This phrase makes me think 'Fairy Stories' so I chose a pretty fairy image by Lili of the Valley for my DT card design - isn't she a real cutie ?


This stamp is actually from their Christmas range and she's called 'Snow Queen' - I do like to get the best use of my stamps and I don't this pretty fairy should be hidden away until Christmas !  What do you think ?

I coloured her with my Copics and added Glossy Accents and Stardust Stickles to give her some pretty sparkle and bling.  By colouring the 'snow flakes' in green I think it gives the image a more magical and ethereal quality. 

The background papers are magazine freebies and I've used some scraps of SU! cardstock to mat and layer and to diecut the scalloped oval behind the image.  The sentiment is - I think - my favourite SU! sentiment and I think it fits right in with the challenge theme.  I used a Memory Box die and more scraps of the SU! card to diecut the delicate bows.  I used another small SU! stamp to add the pretty floral border down the edge of the pink layer on the right.

Thanks for visiting to check on today's project, hope you like it.  The projects created by the rest of the DT can been found on the CCT blog if you care to check them out.

Have a great day whatever you have planned. 

Sunday 9 June 2013

Sooo good to be back home !

To all my regular visitors, followers and anyone who has dropped by during the past couple of weeks, I'd like to apologise for not having many new posts for you.  I've been away from home for a while, visiting (so called) sunny Spain - which was not very sunny and decidedly not warm for much of the time I was there !   However, it was a change of scenery and the weather did begin to improve just before I left to head home and the weather here has been really lovely since we got back.

I didn't have time to share pix of my latest quilting project before I went away, so here they are now.   This is a quilt I've made for a very special little girl who has a birthday coming up at the end of this month.

This view of the folded quilt shows the appliqued detail I added in one corner

 
My trusty 'Quilt Holder' did a grand job of displaying the whole quilt, the pic was taken in the sunshine in my garden earlier today.
 

 
I created the special label on my sewing machine

 
I hope to get back into the swing of crafting now I'm reunited with my stash and should be posting on here a bit more frequently.

Thanks for visiting to check out today's project, hope you enjoyed your visit.