Buttons, Bows and Brads at Crafty Time Challenges

Good morning.  Gosh it's February already. Unbelievable!! That means it is time for another challenge at Crafty Time Challenges.  Our sponsor this month is Aurora Wings.

My Card

Recipe
5" x 7" card  made from ivory pearlescent card stock - Crafters Companion
purple pearlescent card stock - Jellybean Crafts
Digi image - Butterfly Mask from Aurora Wings
Backing papers - Papermania French Lavender
Mask die - SB Venetian Accents
butterflies - SB
brads - ancient stash
heart shaped button - stash
lavender/silver ribbon - local haberdashery store
gems - from stash

We would love it if you were to join in with our challenge this month.  Please pop across to teh blog and check out what the DT have come up with.

Thank you for joining me today.  Take care. 

Tic Tac Toe

Good morning dear friends and fellow bloggers and I hope you are all well.  It is time for another challenge at OSAAT and this time we have had great fun playing Tic Tac Toe.

If you are looking for my Christmas Card Club entry then please 

scroll down to the previous post.

My Card

Sorry it's a bit picture heavy but I wanted you to see the lovely images and all the layers.

Recipe

5 x 7 " easel card made from The Range card stock

digi image - doves and heart frame from Floppy Latte

backing papers - LOTV Petal Fresh

blue pearlescent card - Pennies Worth

classic ovals large - Spellbinders

petite scalloped ovals - Spellbinders

Oval Bliss - Spellbinders.

satin ribbon - local haberdashery

pearls - from stash

sentiment - computer generated

Promarkers to colour

I chose to use  horizontal row one for my card and as you can see I certainly managed more than three layers!  We would love you to join us in our challenge # 254 at OSAAT this time. This is what you have the chance to win from our sponsor Stitchy Bears Digital Stamp Outlet. so go ahead, choose a line and make a card!

That's all for today.  Take care!

Cracker Boxes

Good morning and another extremely cold one.  It is certainly winter now isn't it? I didn't like waking up to the snow yesterday and it continued snowing most of the day but by late evening it was turning to rain thank goodness.

I realised the other day that I hadn't shown these cracker boxes so I have remedied that now.  We had some friends over for lunch at New Year and I did these as table decorations/gifts.  I filled the base with chocolates and in the top lid/box I put a couple of little glass Christmas tree ornaments already for next year. They seemed to go down very well with our guests.

My Project

main gift box

lid which is also a gift box

Recipe
Ivory pearlescent card - Crafters Companion
gold mirri card - craft shop in Evesham
ribbon and gems - stash
snowflake dies - SB Create A Flake 4 and 5

These little boxes look so effective and as the main box is 3.25 x 3.75 inches approximately  it can hold a decent sized gift. Overall the cracker box stands 5.25 inches tall and looks really great on the table.

Well that's it from me today and I am just off to the dentist for an early appointment, but only for a check up fortunately.

Hope you are all well.

Male CAS

Hello to you all.  Just a quick post this morning because we will be going out shortly.

My Card

My card is 5" x 7".  I used some white card stock and coloured it Hessian using Pink Petticoat Natural Neutrals. I ran just over half of it through SB M-Bossabilities Bark folder. I added a piece of Hobbycraft jute ribbon to a strip of brown card and glued it to the base card. The stars were punch outs from the same brown card with a brown pearls added, and then Happy birthday was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa.  A nice quick and easy card to add to the box.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the glorious sunshine.  Take care!

Christmas Card Club - # 10 - Poinsettias

Good morning and I hope you are all well and enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend.  Friday was almost like winter here in Oxfordshire but yesterday, although it started very chilly turned into a beautiful warm sunny day.  When I drove to the next village to collect the newspaper the ice warning alarm on the dash came on, which gave me a bit of shock.  I assumed it was  a malfunction but no, the temperature was indeed only 3 degrees Celsius. I'm glad it was warmer because John needed some help in building a new fence and I told him that if it was cold he would be on his own!!!  I make a good labourer even if I say so myself!

My Card

click to enlarge

Usually our little Christmas Card Club post a card every two weeks but in order to fit them all in it was decided to fit in an extra one.  Rather took me by surprise so I had to hurriedly make a card. I had something in my mind but thinking I had an extra week I had to come up with something in rather a hurry.  This time it was Karen B's turn to choose and she chose  poinsettias.  They really are so indicative of Christmas aren't they?  Karen also celebrated her birthday on Friday so Happy Birthday again! 

My card is 5" x 7" and I used the Poinsettia Box Clear stamp by Woodware.  I stamped with Versamark and heat embossed it using Detail Gold embossing powder. I coloured it with Promarkers and then used tiny gold seed beads for the centres. It was matted onto green glitter card, red card and then onto the white base card. A gold bow and gold gems in the corners finished off my quick Christmas card.  This is a very flat card so very mail friendly.

If you are interested in joining our little group please contact me.  It is not a challenge club, we only want to get ahead with our Christmas cards throughout the year so there is no panic in the last few weeks.  If you would just like to see what the other ladies have made you will find their contact details in my right side bar.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the log weekend - particularly you ladies who work and so will really appreciate the extra time off! 

Entered into :
http://suzysmarty1.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/completely-christmas-challenge-10.html
http://christmasblogchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/bows.html
http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/chnc-challenge-175-something-beginning.html - bow, bling

Decorated Sweetie Jar

Hello friends and fellow bloggers.  Thanks for popping in to visit.  I would love it if you were to leave a comment so that I know that you have been and I can then hopefully return the visit.

My Project

side view  showing  the pretty vellum paper

Just a quick post today to show a little sweetie jar that I decorated.  I decorated a couple at Christmas and filled them with sweets for the children but with all the hustle and bustle I totally forgot to take pictures. 

For this one I used some really pretty vellum that was in my Paddle Prize from Mrs Duck ( Ang). The lace and narrow pink ribbon are from my stash . The pink velvet ribbon with the saddle stitched edge was from some ribbon (lots of ribbon!!) that I won from Crafty Ribbons last year.  It was all in shades of pink and the variety was amazing .  I think, and I'm sure Ang will be able to confirm this, that the crochet flowers are from The Range.  It just looks so pretty and is very useful for all sorts of things eg buttons, ribbon, sweets lol! but will also make a lovely gift.

Well that's it from me for today.  Hope you are all well.

French perfume

Hello everybody. Can you believe it is February already? It seems only yesterday we were all wishing each other Happy Christmas. Yikes!!! Where does the time go? Thanks for visiting me today.  I also want to say hello to my new followers. Great to have you and if you leave a comment I can return the favour and visit you too. I do love this little crafting community we have. Everybody in Blogland is so kind and helpful.

My Card

Click on image to enlarge picture

Showing the image stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with Pearl Gold

My card today is quite a girlie card with flowers, ribbon, lace and perfume. I'm afraid I don't know the name of the stamp - it was one of those I removed from the wooden block and forgot to take down the details, silly me! I die cut it with Spellbinders Labels 8 and Decorative Labels 8. The backing papers are HOTP from the Soft Florals and Patterns scrapbooking paper pad. They are so pretty that I didn't want to cover them up too much so, unusually for me, I decided to go with an 8x8 card for a change. I ended up covering most of the ribbon except for the bow but that's okay - I know it's there! The sentiment is Craftwork Cards Circle Sentiments. I cut up a pearl flourish from Want2Scrap and added it as you see. The pretty lace was given to me by Linda from Creative Harmony. The  papers actually look quite washed out in the picture when in reality that's not the case. I guess the overhead lighting must leach out the colour, but by the time I was ready to take a picture it was getting dark.

Well that's it for today. Have a good day everybody.

Love and hugs from Christine xx

Gift For The Bride

Hi

Still cannot find my mojo!

Click on image to enlarge picture

When my nephew was married my sister was looking for something that her grandson could give to the bride. Poor Sébastien was feeling very left out - his dad was best man and his sister was bridesmaid! In his words  he was going to be "the most least important person there"!  We all had a good laugh at his phraseology.  Anyway she looked everywhere but couldn't find anything she really liked, or of a reasonable quality - most of the stuff in the shops seemed to be quite shoddy and she isn't in to technology and doesn't have a computer so wasn't able to go online. She was looking for something other than a horseshoe. So big sister saved the day!

 I bought a cheap wooden spoon and embellished  it. I wound white satin ribbon all round the handle and then added lace, ribbon, flowers and pearls all of which were in my stash, so it was a very cheap but very personal gift.  I decorated both sides and on the reverse put the names of the bridal couple and their wedding date. I computer generated the details onto Letraset Safmat so that when it was applied to the back of the spoon it looked as if it was actually on the spoon itself.  If you haven't tried Safmat it really is excellent.

Again I didn't photograph it but Jeanie did - maybe not not how I would have done it but it does give you an idea of what it was like and at least it was actually captured on film.  Séb then felt very special when he had his photograph taken handing it to the bride!  You've got to keep the children happy !!

I made a box for it and embellished it using Spellbinders Parisian Accents and lined it with batting or wadding or whatever it is called - anyway, it's the stuff you use for quilting. The sentiment was an LOTV stamp. I was actually quite pleased with how the spoon turned out since I really had no idea what I was going to do and just kept adding bits.

Have a good day everybody and hope you find time to fit in some crafting.

Love from Christine xx

Tag For A Friend

Good morning everybody.

First of all let me offer a very warm welcome to my new followers! I hope you enjoy what you see and that you come back for return visits. When I first started my blog in August I couldn't actually envisage anybody wanting to  follow it, so to now have 48 followers is really exciting. I think I might have to think about some candy!!

Click on image to enlarge picture

I came across the flowers that I made using the Melt Powder and moulds that I got at the NEC and then started looking for some way I could use them. I found this card in my bit box and decided to make a tag with it because the flowers were a good match. I have quite a collection of rub-ons which were all the rage some time ago and thought this quote would  be a nice addition. There was also a flower on the page, which was a great match so that went on too. You will need to actually enlarge the image because what looks like a dirty smudge behind the sentiment is actually a musical stave. The ribbon loop looks very pink in the picture but in real life it is actually much more of a coral colour. The cream lace is from my stash.

Well that's it for today. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Love from Christine xx

Seaside Snowman

Hi! Another Christmas card. This is for a friend of  mine who lives  near the coast at Eastbourne so I think she will find it amusing. I have just  realised that I have omitted to colour the robin on the snowman's hat! Just as well I saw it now before I sent it!

Click on image to enlarge picture.

The Beach Hut stamp and the Christmas Sentiments stamp are both from Little Claire Designs,  coloured with promarkers and  matted onto gold mirri.  The sentiment is stamped in gold ink, although it doesn't look it in the picture. Maybe it is the light reflecting off the mirri.  The design paper and ribbon are both Papermania's Home For Christmas. I've kept it very flat because it is going in the post and I don't want to have to pay even more, especially when there are so many. It never seems quite right when there is no dimension to the card but needs must, I'm afraid.

Well, a very quick post today.  Hope you all have a good day.

Love from Christine xx

I am entering this card into Fab 'n Funky Challenge - Not Traditional Christmas:  HERE
 Incy Wincy Designs Challenge - Non Traditional Colours : HERE

Christmas Accordion Book

Hi everyone, sorry I've been away for a couple of days. We've been quite busy and I was working on a project which took a little time to sort out  in my head. I saw a similar project being made at the NEC and managed to get the measurements so I was able to create my own. Today's post is very picture-heavy but it's the only way I can do the book/card justice.

Click on image to enlarge pictures.

 Just to show how the accordian resembles the pages of a book

 Showing the spine of the book

 The open book

 Close up of the LOTV image

I computer generated the book title for the front page and diecut it using  Marvellous Squares. I added WOC flowers and Marianne flourishes, with some pearls. I again computer generated the book title for the spine. The small flowers are actually snowflakes from Create a Flake 4 and I added a pearl in the centres. ( I have now adjusted the top pearl - didn't realise it had slipped till I saw the pic!)

Inside - at the left side I made a pocket , decorated the edge with Venetian Accents and used a  Marianne Creatables die as a tag so that  my friend can write her own message inside for her first grand daughter. At the right side I used LOTV Angels With Crib stamp,  coloured with promarkers and added lots of glitter - which doesn't show in the picture. I again used Venetian Accents to make a frame . The book is fastened with pink organza ribbon. It was so dark all day that not only did I need to use flash,  I also needed the overhead lights on. I ended up taking the photographs in the kitchen because it was the least shadowy there.

 I have yet to make the box, but I'll save that for another day in case you've all fallen asleep! Sorry this has been such  a long post!!!

Well I hope today is better than yesterday. It poured with rain all night and all day and the road was quite badly flooded yesterday when John drove to the next village to see his GP.

Have a good day everyone! Love and hugs from Christine xx

Gift Bag and Roses

Hi friends.  Well, I'm sure Patricia will be pleased to know that I have actually made the gift bag and roses from her tutorials.

Click on image to enlarge pictures.

Side view

I used Grand Labels 11 which I got at the NEC and the double side card is Isabelle from First Edition. I folded the side gussets so that I could hold the handles together better with the ribbon, but the picture doesn't really show it.  My mistake is that I don't think I made the holes for the handles big enough, though it's not the end of the world..

But I hope you've checked out my roses!!!!!! I used the same card to make the roses and I diecut the leaves in white from Spellbinders Foliage and used a Ranger ink pad called "Seashells - Starfish Green" which I have had for ever, and it is a brilliant match. The  roses aren't brilliant but I'm quite pleased with them and I can only get better. Anyway - thank you Patricia!!  I'm not keen on the ribbon but it's all I had that would tone (apart from white and I didn't want to use white) but I' ll have a look next time I go to town for something different..

Anyway, I'm rather pleased with my first gift bag, and I can assure you that it certainly won't be the last. I love to make boxes, bags etc. It makes a nice change from cards.

The link is HERE

Well I hope you all have a great day. 

With love from Christine xx

Hanging Star

Good morning blog friends.  Today I have a very simple hanging star to show you which was made from only two pieces of 6x6 card,  plus the embellishments.

Click on image to enlarge pictures

Back of star

I found the simple tutorial  HERE if you are interested.

I used Spellbinders standard circles and lacy circles for the centre. I used a large, bought poinsettia but I pulled it apart and covered it in red rose glitter - I didn't have any true red, but it doesn't look too bad. I disposed of the yellow centre and replaced it with a small rose, both flowers from WOC. I just used some narrow red  to form a hanging  loop.  The joins at the back don't fully meet and  I didn't like the white strip that showed  so I used peel off borders to cover each edge. This way if it was hanging from the Christmas tree and swung round it would still look quite neat from behind. Easy peasy!

Hope your weekend is going well. 

With love from Christine xx

Bird and Butterflies

Good morning blog friends, thanks for stopping by  today.

This card is again a little different for me but I must admit I like it. However, the picture really doesn't do it justice.

Well, as you can see I took to my distressing tool again today. The main cardstock is beautiful and from a pad called Gemsones and has the most gorgeous jewel colours but I wanted to stay very neutral. The distressed cardstock is Core'dinationsWhitewash Collection. The main image is from a freebie I found on the internet by a lady called Astrid McLean and she has the most beautiful  free papers.  If you haven't seen her work you really should take a look. I decided to print out the full page and I cut out a portion of the paper with Spellbinders Labels 8 to make a topper and matted it with  the gemstones cardstock. The rest of the paper I can use on another card.

The butterflies are Marianne Creatables, as are the swirls. The leaves are Spellbinders Foliage.The flowers were bought at Lakeland a few years ago before they stopped selling crafty stuff.  (I think they might be Prima.) I added a little punched sun and a taupe coloured pearl to the centres. The ribbon and cotton lace are from my local haberdashery store. I have deliberately omitted a sentiment because I don't really know who or what it is for and so can add it later.

I thought I would enter this into
Ladybug Crafts Challenge: Anything Goes.
The Poodles Parlour  :  Things With Wings
MAWTT :   Flying High
Allsorts :      Anything But Square

Maybe by doing this it will build up my confidence a little. Thank you to Sue (Bearhouse) where I cribbed these challenges from - hope you don't mind Sue!

Anyway, have a good day everybody and I hope you find a little time to craft.

With love from Christine xx

Sunflower - clean and simple

Hi there blog friends!

The colours of this card looks so springlike it should have a daffodil instead of a sunflower - except that I don't have a daffodil stamp!!

The sunflower stamp is from Papermania and coloured with promarkers. The ribbon and pearls are from my stash.  I wrapped the ribbon round the punched centre strip but it is barely visible. The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards. I decided not to add too many embellishments, but to follow the freshness of the papers and keep it clean and simple.



Well this week has been very busy but hopefully things will ease off next week and I can settle down to do something a bit more challenging. But no matter how simple, it is always nice to do some crafting.

If you have anything  planned for the bank holiday I hope you enjoy them - and let's hope the weather is okay where you are. Dream on eh? Fine bank holiday weekend?  Who am I  trying to kid.  It is pouring down here in Oxfordshire.


Have a good day.

Love from Christine xx

Masculine card

Hi,

A late start for me today.

Yesterday we were out all day and this morning I have been helping John scarify the lawn i.e. John does the work and I empty the wheelbarrows!! This year there is so much moss in the lawn it is an absolute disgrace. He was going to dig it all up and start again but he decided to try this first.  On the internet there are many varying opinions on scarifying  - some think it is great, others say don't do it at all. Ah well, it can't look much worse than it does now.

I had in my mind a masculine card and when I was going through my stuff I came across this Hero Arts Wordstamp - another of those I haven't used for years. I don't usually use mirri card in such quantities,  normally I would just use it as a narrow mat.  However, I tried it with some dull gold cardstock but because the dark green was very dark  I felt it needed something to lighten it. I stamped and embossed it with detailed gold embossing powder onto more of the dark green card.   Before attaching the gold mat I punched out the maple leaves. The other leaves are Spellbinders foliage and then I attached some   green and gold ribbon - with a masculine knot rather than a bow. A very simple card but  I think it looks quite classy - oops! I meant classic!

I have never entered a challenge before but I thought this might be a good one for the http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/
Well that's it for now. Hope to be back tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Lots of love from Christine xx