Happy Christmas!

Well, I made it to the end of my to do list and can't keep my eyes open much longer!

I just wanted to pop by and wish you and yours a very Happy Christmas and all the best for 2016.

Thank you for your visits here during 2015.

Elaine

Yes, definitely feeling Christmassy now!

Phew! The list is getting shorter and this morning once I have my veg shopping done I wont be going near the shops until after the big day! Although I don't go too mad on food shopping I still think we could withstand a small siege for at least a fortnight! There is even time to pop into a neighbours for our traditional Christmas visit and I have made some gingerbread cookies to take.

Here is another of my Christmas designs. I made these back in July! I bought a bag of cheap sequins (possibly in Poundland) and off I went! Sorry the pic is a little blurry, I zoomed in to avoid looking at all the mess on my desk!

The dies and stamps are by WPlus9 again. I die cut the words in red or black glitter card and then stamped in red or black. These were great quickish cards to make. Sticking on the sequins was done in front of the TV on a lap tray so I didn't really notice the time it took!

I finally managed to make OH's card yesterday. Fortunately we don't exchange those until Christmas Eve traditionally!

Hope you are still managing to keep sane!

Elaine x

It's beginning to feel a little like Christmas!

I don't usually do cute stamps and cards, but these little bunnies hanging carrots on the Christmas tree was irresistible as a card motif for my special veggie friends.

 

This is a Penny Black cling stamp, I used Versafine to stamp into watercolour paper. I coloured the image with Aquarelle watercolour pencils and then die cut and shaded with a little Vintage Photo distress ink. I heat embossed the sentiment (which is from a great Kaisercraft set) in gold.

 

I think things are a little more under control for my festive prep than the last time I posted. My last two parcels for the post were actually wrapped and taken to the post office this morning. More decorations have been put up today and I have even made some last minute mincemeat (better late than never!). This afternoon's job is present wrapping with half an eye on a schmaltzy Christmas film in front of the log burner, before I put my feet up in front of the Strictly Come Dancing final tonight on TV!  

Hope things are going well for you.

Elaine x

Feeling festive?

Right now I am running to stand still and meeting myself coming back to mix my metaphors slightly!!!

Here is another of my Christmas card designs.

The trees are stamped using the Stampin Up Wonderland set. I love these tall trees, them give such a gorgeous image and it layers up so nicely as well. I added some ink shading with different Distress Inks. The sentiment comes from a freebie stamp from a magazine. I finished off with a flourish stamp and some teeny tiny gems.

I'm not sure I am feeling that festive as yet. I keep trying to get in the groove cooking gingerbread cookies and playing Christmas CDs, but there is so much to do and not enough time so I am a little stressed!. Still, things are being ticked off the huge December "To Do" list at a faster rate than I am adding more tasks, so I must be making some progress!

Elaine

More Christmas

Phew! Most of our Christmas cards got posted yesterday! That feels like a good thing ticked off my massive December list. Here is another of my cards and one of my favourite designs this year.

 

This uses the Ornamental Pine stamp set from Stampin Up and the design is like quite a number that have appeared on Pinterest. This was one of those designs that actually takes quite a while as you have to let the ink dry properly between stages - the actual pine stamp, the ink shading and then the snow embossing. I stamped the snow using a stamp from the SU set Gorgeous Grunge. The cones are decoupaged. I added a few tiny gems for a little sparkle too.

 

Amazingly all my different card designs this year have fitted through the postal slot for thickness - result! All the more amazing as I have added gems and sequins.

 

I started to put a few decorations up last night as I have a visitor for the weekend. Quite a bit earlier than usual, but it has brightened the place and me up considerably. Photos to follow, but my mantelpiece is looking more like the pic in my blog header now.

 

I hope you are also getting some pleasure from your Christmas preparations and are finding time to stop and breathe some spicy scents and enjoy the experience!

 

Elaine x

Christmas is coming!

Goodness where has the time gone since my last post? So much for being retired, my feet don't seem to touch the ground. I certainly seem to manage to keep myself busy one way and another. My new(ish) hobby of crochet continues to bring me a lot of pleasure. It is also a useful way to add to my stash of Christmas gifts and I have enjoyed being able to make a number of different garments and blankets. There is something so nice about making snuggly things for your loved ones.

Today I am sharing one of my Christmas card designs. I am so pleased that I have managed to make all my cards this year by making smallish batches of several different designs.

I must confess this is a CASE of a card by Dawn Woleslagle I  spotted on the W Plus 9 Design Team blog when theses stamps were launched. These stamps are available in the UK from Make the Day Special, one of my favourite mail order companies these days as they carry a really original selection of products. The deer and bird images are die cut with a matching die set. The sentiment is from Kaisercraft. I die cut the snow drifts using a Die-Namics set. The finishing touch was a little glitter glue.

I hope all is going well with your Christmas preparations and I plan to be back a bit more during December to share more of my Christmas designs and other Christmas preparations.

Happy Weekend!

Elaine

Mists and mellow fruitfulness?

It seems to have been ages since I posted here, so I have a rather long, but I hope not too boring post today.

The first project I am sharing today is a 8 x 8 canvas made as a housewarming gift. I used a variety of techniques and mediums, using gelatos and acrylic paint to colour through stencils, collaging different papers, stamping onto tissue and adding home made crochet flowers with button centres. This took a couple of hours to make and as you might imagine it was a pleasant time of messy creative play.

My recently rediscovered love of crochet has continued to keep me busy. I finished my Cosy blanket following the pattern of Lucy at Attic 24. This pic reminds me of one of the pleasures of making a blanket - that you can sit under it when it gets bigger. Not a benefit to making a blanket in the summer months though for sure!

I also started and finished (just yesterday) another lap blanket using the leftover yarn from my Cosy and Lily Pond blankets. These are both presents for family members. I really love the idea of making cosy crocheted gifts for my loved ones. I have just started on a crochet wrap in some gorgeous yarn for my Mum which is already growing nicely and is a very easy pattern.

 

This was my first attempt at doing overlay crochet, following the lovely Circles of the Sun pattern. Now this is a real challenge, not least as the yarn is rather prone to splitting, but I keep telling myself it is a good learning experience! There are also some incredible tutorial videos over on the In a Nutshell blog, that lady is a saint to spend the time to make such helpful films!!! I have a lot of practising to do with this pattern I think!

 



I love this time of year. The light has a gorgeous quality, as I witnessed on a recent walk around the grounds, and along the beach of Osborne House.

There are beautiful colours out there in the trees and plants, fruits and veggies seem abundant in the garden and there is a bit of a nip in the air (but not too much). I always feel like it is time to gather in the harvest and prepare to batten down the hatches and get our homes and larders ready for winter.

Despite some neglect this year due to other demands in our lives, the garden has come up trumps with some lovely produce. Plenty of interesting tomatoes and some useful, if rather small onions.

 

 

I have been busy with preserving some of the harvest and some bought in goodies, including chutney, amazing seeing a panful like ....

...... this transform into rich thick loveliness. I think my camera steamed up a little at this point!

 

 

I made some stamped labels for the finished article using some magnetic WRMK alphabet stamps I got in the charity shop. They make rather wonky lettering which I rather like. The lids will be covered with some pretty paper before the chutney goes to new homes.

 

Some of our damson harvest has been transformed into jam.

The latest yields of crab apples picked yesterday are destined to become mint and crab apple jelly this week.

We haven't really had much in the way of mists here yet to be honest, but we have certainly had plenty of fruitfulness!!!

Happy autumn!

Inking, stitching and a thank you!

I am back with another of my inked and layered cards made for another of my special crafty friend's birthday which was this week.

I inked my background with Distress Inks in Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Iced Spruce. I added some interest with a doiley stencil and then overstamped with a Woodware Script stamp and then a Just Rite Fern stamp. The sentiment is by Honey Do stamps. The darker stamping is in Chipped Sapphire. I mounted the panel onto a 6 x 6 black card. I always love black as the background to my inking.

Next I would like to share my finished Lily Pond blanket. This is the most complicated crochet project I have ever tackled, a Crochet Along project which is designed by Jane Crowfoot and published in 8 fortnightly instalments by Stylecraft Yarns. It started in April and I more or less kept up to date with the different sections, just hitting the odd point where I was very challenged and slowed down.

Although my blanket is not 100% perfect, I am really happy with what I achieved and I feel much more confident for tackling more challenging projects now. In fact I have already ordered the new Jane Crowfoot Persian Tile blanket kit which is really beautiful.

One of the blogs I enjoy following is Mitenska - a simple blog from the blustery north. It is the blog of Sarah, an artist and photographer, Mum, wife, sister etc. I love Sarah's blog especially for her beautiful painterly photographs which I always find such a pleasure to browse through. A while back Sarah had a blog competition to win one of her hand drawn and painted name paintings. I was the lucky person chosen at random and this is my name drawn and painted especially for me.

I am hoping my OH will make me a frame for it and the plan is to display it in a new studio space that I hope is in the pipeline for me in the not too distant future. Sarah's work incorporates lots of natural images and fine detail. Look at this lovely daisy. I can't tell you how much I wish I could draw like that.

You can see more of Sarah's work here on her blog and there are links to how to order similar things for yourself too. Thank you so much Sarah for your generosity, it was such a treat to get this in the post.

Hope you are not too wet wherever you are. We seem to have escaped the worst of the wet weather here, but I see not too far up the coast it has been really wet and there has been flooding. Typical summer holiday weather and so different from my last post!

Elaine

Green leaves

It is one of my special crafty friends birthdays today and this is the card I made for her.

I started actually making one of my leafy backgrounds, then I added so much detail over the top I completely obliterated much sign of it!

I used a number of different green Distress Inks to build up my layers. After the leafy layers, I added some colour through a doiley stencil. The sentiment is from Rubbernecker, one of many I have picked up at bargain prices at different shows at Ally Pally. I then added leaves around the edge using a Just-Rite fern stamp and a Papertrey Ink gingko leaf stamp. I finished by adding some shading to the gingko leaves with Prisma pencils and finished with some ink shading around the edge before matting onto a medium green background. This is a 6 x 6 card.

I am feeling very inspired to make nature themed cards at the moment as things are so lush in the garden. Currently I have some gorgeous lilies out just outside our front door. The smell is truly heavenly.

I also picked the first blackberries of the season yesterday which are in the fridge ready for a crumble tomorrow. It is lovely getting more and more produce from the garden as the weeks go on. Our apples are swelling well and our leeks are promising a bumper year. The courgettes are at that point where they turn into marrows when you have just turned your back for a moment!!!

The other delight at this time of year is picnics, I really love them and this was a spot we chose on Friday for our lunch on top of the cliffs. It was so peaceful apart from the sound of the sea lapping on the shore. Perfect peace!

Whatever you are up to I hope you manage to find some moments of perfect peace too.

Elaine x

A graduation card

My sister graduated last week and I wanted to make a card for her. She has worked very hard and like many mature students really enjoyed her studies. Sandi Toksvig is the Chancellor of her University and she gave a brilliant and rousing speech about what is important in life. It was a happy day!

 

I started with a white panel and added colour with Distress Inks. I know I am rather boring in choosing this colour scheme, but it is like putting on a comfy pair of shoes! I used a Memory Box stencil to make the sunrise. It is only one sided, so I had to flip it round. The image and sentiment are both Inkylicious stamps, stamped using Memento Luxe ink. I did something I haven't tried before which worked well with this ink. The girl's dress didn't stamp too well as I hadn't really let the background dry enough. I have in the past used a Memento dye ink pen to colour in the gaps, but it is visible. This time as I had used the pigment ink, so I got a new sponge eye make up applicator (20 in a pack from Poundland bought for inking not beautifying!) and I gently added some extra ink and it worked very nicely. I added the hills using some torn paper as a mask and more shading sponged around the edge.

I was going to make a wallet in the shape of a mortar board, but I remembered I had some 8 x 8 white card boxes, so I decorated one of those. Apologies for the dreadfully washed out pic. I think I should be writing a permanent apology on this blog to that effect lately!

We seem to have had quite a few duller, cold days recently. I have missed sitting in the garden for my lunch break with my radio programmes on I player and my crochet. I am working my way back through the archives of Ramblings and The Pallisers, which keeps me out of mischief. I hope you are continuing to enjoy the summer whatever you are up to.

Elaine

A Lavinia fairy card

It is one of my lovely crafty friends birthdays today and this is the card I sent her.

The main image is a Lavinia stamp and I used Memento Luxe ink which was recommended to me for its coverage for silhouette stamps, and I have to agree is very good, but takes a while to dry. I am not a great one for fairy images, but I think I have said before I love their little hats in this image, like the knitted hats we used to wear when we were tots! I am showing my age a bit now!

All other stamping and ink shading is done with Distress Inks in Crushed Pistachio (fast becoming a new favourite), Peacock Feathers and Chipped Sapphire.

The other plant images are a mixture of Lavinia, Inkadinkado and Inkylicious and the sentiment a cheapie I picked up at the Rubbernecker stand at Ally Pally sometime, probably for 50p.

It has been so hot here this week, I hope we are over the real peak of temperatures as we have a family barbecue to attend on Sunday which could be a trial otherwise! Being past midsummer does mean more is starting to happen in the veg patch now. We have had our first strawberries and some sun berries with our breakfast this morning and the first courgettes will be ready to pick in a day or two. This is where I hope we will start to reap the rewards of the extra work in the garden that retirement has allowed me!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Elaine

Another thank you card

I recently made this card for someone who has made a real difference to my life in recent months. 

I wanted to use the hollyhock theme and started layering colour with a background of blended distress inks. I added the first layer through a Donna Downey stencil. I added some stamping using an Impression Obsession stamp and finished my hollyhock layers with die cuts using an Impression Obsession die in blue pearl card and a mid blue card. The last think I added was some stamping using a whirl from Stamps by Ryn.

I finished with a die cut printed butterfly and the sentiment which is a mix of stamp with matching die cut, from W Plus 9. I love the font on these sets sold by Make the Day Special.

I hope wherever you are you are enjoying a fruitful summer.

Elaine

A canvas project

I was asked to teach a workshop for a group of ladies taking part in a local respite weekend for carers. I don't generally run workshops any more, because I find the stress often takes more out of me, than the pleasure gives back, but this opportunity makes me feel different. The unusual thing is that those taking part are not crafters, so the group often includes very mixed abilities.

This was my sample, a reverse canvas with a stencilled background, a stamped image using a La Blanche stamp and loads of die cut leaves. The sentiment is a Jo Capper Sandon Stampotique stamp - one of my favourites. I wanted to try and create something like a tranquil glade, a little bit of peace in a busy world for these ladies.

I have to say I was so impressed with their work and everyone finished in two hours, despite some of them going off to have their nails done or to have a head massage.

Here are some of the results, as you can see there is quite a variety.

 

 

They all seemed to enjoy themselves. I have to say though if I ever have the idea of using so many leaf die cuts again, someone needs to talk me down. It took two evenings of cutting out and even my poor OH was drummed into service with the Big Shot!

The other thing that has been keeping me busy is the garden. Things are starting to bloom beautifully and some of my favourite cottage garden favourites are blossoming nicely.

Meanwhile though, someone is busy sabotaging my hard work eating my flowers!!!!

We have run out of nuts for the feeders, so maybe this one is just dropping me a hint!

Thanks for popping by!

Elaine

More butterflies and ferns

I needed a card for a friend. This is what I came up with.

I made the background with the Stamps by Ryn Maidenhair Fern stencil. I then overstamped with a Just Rite fern stamp using distress ink. I think the sentiment is from Hero Arts. I finished off with a couple of K & Co stick on butterflies.

It has been a really busy month in the garden. Last year I wanted to make some plant labels for the veg beds, but one thing and another got in the way of much progress. This year armed with a new Sizzix Bigz set of alphabet dies, I tried again. My OH cut me some wood which I first painted with acrylic paint. I stuck on the die cuts with two coats of outdoor Mod Podge. I will see how they weather before I make more for other areas of the garden, but I am quite pleased with the result.

I hope wherever you are, life is blossoming for you!

Elaine

Birthday card for a special friend

It was my lovely friend Lesley's birthday last week. This is the card I made for her.

Lesley's favourite colour is green, so I started with this green and pink paper from the Prima Firefly collection. These papers are so lovely, they were in danger of being kept in a box and only taken out and stroked occasionally, but I tool the plunge and put it into the guillotine before I lost my nerve, cutting the backing for an 8 x 8 card!!!

I added more green Distress Ink with a Stamps by Ryn Maidenhair Fern stencil. I added another stencil in the upper right corner. Butterflies are another favourite of Lesley, and these butterflies were cut out with a Tim Holtz die and matching embossing folder. This were coloured with more DIs and highlighted with some Treasure Gold. I felt the bodies needed more focus, so I cut out additional bodies which I shaped with an embossing tool and also added antennae using a Memory Box butterfly die.

The sentiment is stamped using a Carabelle Studio stamp and seems very appropriate. Sadly we get together IRL very rarely, so sending each other special birthday messages is all the more important.  I finished off with a couple of bling swirls.

I wish the photo was better, I just seem to be struggling to get the colours right at the moment.

Thanks for popping by! Your comments are always appreciated.

Elaine

Nature cards 1

I have recently been playing about with some collage stamping with some of my many plant silhouette stamps.

The colour in this card isn't brilliant. but you get the idea! I started by using ink duster brushes to add Distress Inks to the background panel. I used a mixture of Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Chipped Sapphire if I remember rightly. I then stamped with a script stamp from Woodware, followed by another Woodware Cow Parsley stamp in the three background colours. The sentiment is from Honey Doo stamps and the butterflies from the Kind'a Eclectic set from Stampin Up. I finished by adding a little Chipped Sapphire around the edge and mounted onto a 6 x 6 black card blank.

You may be surprised to hear that I rarely stamp in DIs as I find them too wet and not precise enough in their effect for my liking, but I really enjoyed this stamping session and went on to make quite a few more similar designs (to be posted in due course) and I think I may just be a converted stamper!

Hope you have had a good weekend.

Elaine

HapPea Birthday!

I recently found a Making Memories magnetic alphabet set of stamps in a charity shop for the princely sum of £1.50. A bargain indeed for a sturdy little set in two lovely tins. The font is a little quirky and an idea formed in my head as I was stamping images of with a lovely set of vegetable garden stamps that I treated myself to from Papertrey Ink. The card was for one of my veggie friends and I thought he would appreciate a humorous approach! This is the card I came up with. The background is stamped with the very useful Stampin Up Hardwood stamp.

I had a couple of spare pea images, so made a variation on this theme, trying to make the peas and words look like they are on a seed packet. The packet itself was die cut with a Papertrey Ink die.

I am looking forward to planning more cards with the other veggies in the series.

Whatever you have been up to, I hope you have enjoyed the Bank Holiday. Most of our day has been occupied with planting in our veggie patch.

Elaine

A golden wedding card

I cannot believe how long since I managed a blog post! You would think I would have more time on my hands since retiring, but I have been quite a busy bee, although I don't seem to have a lot to show for it, certainly not on the crafty front, although I have been tackling the first instalments of the lovely Lily Pond crochet Along which I have very much enjoyed. I will update on that in a later post.

Here is one card I did make for some dear friends who celebrated their golden wedding anniversary recently.

I have seen quite a few cards recently using embedded die cuts (if that is the correct term!). I decided to try this approach. I cut out the words using a Frantic Stamper die (carefully holding on to the little bits in the centre of the letters) then I recut the die using a gold pearl card and inserted a little red heart cut out of satin mirri. The hearts were stamped with  Quietfire stamp and embossed with gold. I can't remember where I got the sentiment from.

I also had a lovely trip up to the Big Stamping and Scrapbooking Show at Ally Pally on 11th/12th April meeting up with a good few lovely crafty friends and had a smashing a great overnight catch up with three of my special crafty friends. Although the show was not as good as some we have been to there in the past, I love the building and still managed plenty of shopping.

 

 

Here is some of the stash I purchased!

Now all I need to do is to make time to use some of it! The priority for the moment is a major blitz in the old craft shed. I am hoping to spend a bit more time out there over the warmer months of the year, and some serious reorganization is required so I can get in the door. I have made a good start and am hopeful I can get going in there again in a week or so.

Whatever crafty endeavours you have underway, enjoy it!

Elaine