I'm still here!

Goodness life seems really busy at the moment and much of the crafting I have managed to fit in has been projects that sadly I am unable to share here at the moment. This is a simple thank you card I made for friends who we stayed with recently.

This card uses a set of Papermania clear stamps which are designed to build up the petals of a poppy. Here I stamped into red mulberry tissue paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink before cutting out and decoupaging all the layers. I added a sparkly butterfly and a little bit of black glitter at the centre of the flower as my friend likes a little glitter in her life! I have recently posted a couple more of my makes on the Chocolate Baroque design team blog here and here.

We really enjoyed our time away Gloucestershire and nearby sights in Avon. We visited the wonderful house of Tyntesfield, just south of Bristol.

I also fulfilled a long standing ambition to visit Kelmscott Manor, one of the homes of William Morris. It is a really interesting house and garden

This is a carving of William Morris on cottages in Kelmscott village. We also visited the lovely Arlington Row in Bibury, an archetypal English village. 

Plus some beautiful poppy fields, guaranteed to bring a smile to my face.

We are so lucky to have some amazing places to visit in Britain.

Thanks for popping by!

Elaine

Gorgeous new stamps launched at Chocolate Baroque today!

Four new sets of gorgeous new stamps are being launched today by Chocolate Baroque! I have been lucky enough to be working with these stamps behind the scenes along with the rest of the Design Team and during this week, you can see some of our work.

Do pop over to the DT blog here and the Chocolate Baroque website here and see these irresistable stamps and to get some ideas of how to use them.

Meanwhile here is a sneeky peek from me!



Have a great creative week.


Elaine x

Delight!

I have been madly busy on the crafting front, but hardly anything I can share at the moment. As  a result my blog has been sadly neglected.

This is a little card I made for my lovely friend Lesley. I used a 6 x 6 kraft card blank and stamped it with the Heidi Swapp delight stamp. I stamped the bunting with a great Marion Emberson Personal Impressions stamp set onto some Do Crafts pastel coloured paper and stuck the flags onto fine paper string.

This is a remarkably simple card for me, I do wish I could do this more often!

I continue to have difficulties commenting on quite a few blogs at the moment, so forgive me if I don't seem to be taking any notice of your posts, it is not for want of trying to comment!

Elaine  

A slightly saucy pen pot!

I recently purchased a lovely pack of Do Crafts Kraft paper in 12 x 12. This is right up my street as it is patterned liked different stationery papers, squared, ledger etc and as anyone who knows me well will be aware, as well as having a serious stash habit, I am obsessive about stationery and especially love squared paper. I must be one of the few people I know who trawls stationery departments for notebooks with squared when I am on holiday in Europe. My poor OH is now resigned to it!

So, I decided my first project with the paper needed to have a stationery type theme and decided to recycle a baked bean tin into a penpot and here is the result.

I first painted the bean tin with black gesso and then added a panel of the squared Kraft paper that I had edged with a little Cranberry and Egglplant Adirondack ink. I added some gorgeous pointy black lace and some wooden scrabble tiles which were also from Do Crafts eons ago. I love these little tiles and will be very sad when I have finally used them all up. I made some roses from thinner kraft paper, inked again in Cranberry and Eggplant. The reverse of the pen pot hides a secret side!

Before I stuck the squared panel on, I used an X cut scalloped edging punch and added eyelets with my trusty Crop-a-Dile. I love using that tool, it is so sturdy and reliable! Under the gap, I stamped a piece of the plain card from the pack with a lace tag stamp from WS Designs. Then I added some lacing using a cotton fake leather cord. I realised then it all looked rather too Miss Whiplash, but at least her naughty side is generally hidden from view! Perhaps I can use some poetic license and claim it is speampunk!

I have to say the colour scheme and black lace takes much inspiration from the lovely project me and my CSQ pals did with Linda Elborne almost a year ago at our mini retreat near Bedford, which I posted here.

Elaine

As Free as a Bird

Well here is my take on the latest Crafty Individuals challenge Free as a Bird.

For some reason I had it in mind that I wanted to base my design on a patchwork quilt. The original concept didn't quite come together, so here is what I ended up with! I stamped CI 184 in Teal Stazon twice and then shaded with a mixture of DI, Eco Green and Adirondack dye inks. I mounted the birds onto nestie Fleur de Lis Square die cuts. I mounted the main panel onto a sheet of CI paper which I overstamped with the CI 182 flourish stamp in Aqua Vivid Ink. I edged that panel with more die cuts, this time cut with a Crealie border die in pink and lilac pearlescent card and mounted the whole thing onto a sheet of DCWV 8 x 8 paper. I added the little bird squares and then matted a couple of times with different shades of purple and some pink die cut edging strips that have been in my embellishment box virtually since I started crafting. The resulting panel is over 9 inches square.

The colours are a little washed out as I took the pic in direct sun.

Thanks for looking - have a great day!

Elaine



Saving Daisy

Do pop over to Kirsty Wiseman's blog here. She has organised an amazing crafty raffle to raise money for veterinary bills for a gorgeous little dog that needs urgent and expensive care. Please do your bit asap.

Elaine x

The Secret Garden

I have recently posted my latest contribution to the shared Craft Stamping Quartet blog I share with my three lovely crafty friends Lesley, Judith and Jo.

It would be great if you could pop over and have a look http://craftstampingquartet.blogspot.com/2011/05/secret-garden.html

Elaine x