Back at last!

Well at last I have something to blog. Just a few Christmas cards assembled using ready made toppers would you believe! I made these cards when I was on holiday in Kent recently. I needed simple elements I could take away with me, without needing the entire contents of my shed and these were the results.

The background papers are from a Marianne A5 pad I bought on my recent visit to the craft show at Ally Pally. I love these papers as they are very Scandinavian feeling. I added various toppers, including from East of India, some buttons, hearts, bakers twine and pretty ribbons.

We had a great time in Kent. We visited some special places, including Great Dixter, a garden I have always wanted to visit.

It was a great time to visit Kent, the Garden of England, as the orchards are bearing their fruit right now and we indulged in plenty of local fruit and delicious local apple and pear juice. We had some juice made from a variety of apple called Red Pippin, it was truly wonderful. We fitted in a visit to the national fruit collection at Brogdale, which includes over 2,200 varieties of apple alone.

We paid a return visit to Canterbury Cathedral.



For me one of my special moments, was a visit to Camber Sands on the coast, the place where I went on my first every proper holiday with a school friend and her family. The day we visited it was quite blowy and the sand was blowing in patterns along the beach. I also collected some of the same sort of shells I had collected when I was about 8.

We went past Prospect Cottage at Dungeness where the late film-maker Derek Jarman made an amazing garden in the windswept shingle.



We had been to Sissighurst before, but very much enoyed our return visit on a perfect day and we managed a day in France stocking up on smoked garlic, Normandy cider and my favourite mint tea bags!



We also went to Whitstable, where I spotted these bikes, completely covered in knitting. I couldn't resist a picture!

It was a really great holiday, and an added bonus for me was managing to visit some great craft shops, The Craft Barn, Pickleberry Papercrafts and The Glitter Pot. Needless to say a little self induglence was in order.

Since being at home, we've had a busy time, getting the harvest in and preparing for what promises to be another cold winter, splitting logs and making jam and chutney and enjoying the last few warm days of autumn. I can already feel the chill in the air, winter draws on methinks!

Thanks for popping by!

Elaine x

Apologies

Sorry, sorry, sorry for being so neglectful on the blogging front. Life is very busy for me lately on so many fronts. Work, harvest time in the fruit and veg patch which means chutney and jam, visitors and decorating. I have taken on a job as a craft demonstrator doing things I can't share here, plus my DT stuff for Chocolate Baroque so projects to share are a little thin on the ground right now. I am also behind on blog commenting and there are some I still don't seem to be able to comment on for some silly reason. Very annoyng when I do try and find the time to comment , so please forgive me.

I have managed to fit in a couple of breaks. I went to spend a couple of days with my special crafty friend Jo in August and we visited Wightwick Manor. This house is a favourite destination of Arts and Crafts fans like myself as it houses a wonderful collection of William Morris artefacts and interior design. It was a perfect place to visit and I would never have got there without Jo and her husband taking me. We also had a day with another of our dear Quartet friends Lesley. Our planned day out in the country was rained off so we managed a day of crafty shopping. I also managed a visit to one of Jo's local craft shop. It was a great trip - thank you Jo!

This weekend I have another treat I am meeting Jo and Judith for a weekend at Ally Pally. As so often is the case with our Quarter get togethers we are only three quarters. It is always bittersweet as we feel an important person is missing and this time it will be Lesley, who knows we will be thinking of her. We love our trips to Ally Pally and we will be staying all weekend to make the most of it. I have to try and not spend too much, but I know I will really enjoy the experience.

Hopefully I will have some real crafty stuff to share here before too long.

Elaine

A butterfly card

This is a card I made recently for a work colleague who was leaving.

This is a green and purple colour combination inspired by the main papers which are gorgeous designs from My Minds Eye. I added a stamped panel using nesties, which are stamped in Imperial Purple Versafine on a Quietfire word stamp with a little Crafty Individuals butterfly added. The die cut leaves use a Crealie die, the butterfly edging is an X-cut border punch cut out of pearl green parchment. The purple butterflies are cut using a Martha Stewart punch. I added olive green ric rac, purple gros grain ribbon, purple paper roses in two different colours and a few green gems. 

Life is pretty hectic right now, so I don't seem to be posting so often at the moment or managing to visit many other blogs either. Hopefully, things will settle down a but soon.

Elaine

Home Sweet Home

This is the name of a gorgeous new set of Chocolate Baroque stamps launched this week and we girls in the Design Team have had the pleasure of playing with these behind the scenes for a while.

Between us we made several cards inspired by the work of Clarice Cliff. Of course everyone made something that reflected their own favourite approaches and styles so we ended up with a real variety of interpretations. My card used masking and quite intense coloured dye inking to make the sun rays and the cut out cottages to make the layers of a stepper card. The full instructions for my card and how to make the mask and folding dimensions are available in the July issue of the Chocolate Baroque Guild newsletter. If you want to know more about the many benefits of joining the Guild you can find out more here.

You can see several of the different projects on both the DT blog and the personal blogs of the Design Team members which are all linked from the DT blog too. Just click on the DT logo in my side bar to get there. There is a really good reason to pop around and visit the blogs of all my teamies, because one random commenter on one of the blogs (both DT and personal) gets the chance to win this scrumptious little set of stamps. Not only do the cottages have a wonderful vintage feel, but the words are a wonderful stylish font too.

For more inspiration, Glenda has made two videos with instructions of how to make a masked sunburst panel and I was really thrilled when she told me my card had inspired her to work on the videos. Pop over to Glenda's own blog here to see the two videos, including how she used lovely Coloursoft pencils to build up colour in her design. 

Thanks for popping by and please visit the other girls to be in with a chance of winning these gorgeous stamps.    

Elaine

Sweet Madeline!

Well, I have just finished work on some DT deadline projects and other secret squirrel stuff, so I indulged myself playing on this card for a work mate and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Sadly the pic looks a bit washed out thanks to the dull and gloomy day we have here. These papers are from the Prima 6 x 6 Madeline pad which was recommended by my dear crafty friend Jo.  They are really delicious and these browns, teals and greens just got my imagination into overdrive really quickly. You know how it is when you are inspired by certain colours and you put stash together from around your craft room and somehow it comes together so comfortably.

The only stamping is the sentiment which is a Bild Malarna stamp from Sweden that I bought from their stand at Ally Pally mounted using the oval nesties. I used the leaf and Flutterby punches from Papermania and added these vibrant green paper roses that were a pressie from one of my other special craft friends Judith. I finished off with cream and green gingham ribbon, some teal and olive rick rack and some buttons and brads. When I showed my OH the card he said "what do the buttons do"!

Hope you have had a better day weatherwise than us as it has been virtually non-stop rain all day here.

Thanks for popping by!

Elaine x

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