A new year and a project on our joint blog

Well it was back to work this week after a nice long break for Christmas and New Year. It's always sad to see the Christmas decorations come down ready to be packed away. While I am still in Christmas mode though I have already made a start on making Christmas cards for this year!

I am popping by with two projects today. First of all a sneaky peek of a project I completed between Christmas and new year for our shared blog Craft Stamping Quartet. Lesley has already posted her smashing project, she is a hard act to follow. For more information about he pic below, what I have made and how I put it together, please do go and have a link via the link above.

Secondly a card assembled from lots of die cuts. I made this for my friend's recent birthday. The design uses Die Namics, Memory Box, Impression Obsession and La La Land dies. I loved that little caravan, I had to have it and it was crying out for vintage caravan colours to guide the overall design. The only inking was the cloudy background, inked using a scallop die cut as a mask. The backing paper was from a cheap pack I bought in The Works.

 

 

Thank you for visiting. Whatever you have planned I do hope you have a great weekend

 

 

Elaine 



A snuggly blanket

I know this is mainly a place for me to share my papercrafting, but I have shared a little of my crochet here before. However in October, I hatched a plan to make my sister a blanket for Christmas. I think following the blogs of Lucy at Attic 24 and Bunny Mummy Jacqui have made me feel blankets are more manageable than maybe I had previously though. By the time I started it was 25 October, so I had two months to get it made - I must have been mad! Good job I am also good at meeting deadlines and very determined!

 

 

My colour choices were inspired by my sister's love of all things Kath Kidson. Not sure if I quite got it right, but I did  agonise over it quite a bit and also changed a couple of choices along the way. My design was inspired especially by Julie's crochet along blanket project on her Little Woolie blog. The wool I used was acrylic Stylecraft DK recommended by both Lucy and Jacqui for blanket making and ordered from The Wool Warehouse.



This shows my first Flowers in a Row pattern which was really easy, but I really loved and I also liked the colours of the rows I placed either side of it as well.

Seeing the blanket get to the stage where I could fold it and it started to feel like it was gaining momentum was really exciting!

My first row of bobbles was another new stitch to me and I know my sister would love them!

 More growth and I was getting about half way here!

The blanket is double bed width and my aim was to make it 6 feet long!

Incredibly I did it! Finishing the crochet on 15th December to leave me a few days to finish the edging before delivery on 21st December when we did the rounds of gift delivery for different family members.

 

I had this mad idea that I wanted to bind the edges with fabric to make it even more in keeping with the Kath Kidson inspiration. I don't honestly think this is to be advised really. It did twist a bit in places, but it was OK. I made my own giant bias binding to do the job and sewed it all on by hand which I find quite restful thankfully!

The edging was finished on 18th December and I was ready to package the blanket up ready for delivery.

I wanted to add a special message about why I had made the blanket for her.

 I used the organza bag the Wool Warehouse used to send the wool as the inner wrapping.

I then held my breath while I waited until it was opened on Christmas Day. I know my sister loves granny squares but I knew I didn't have time to sew lots together, so the stripes were a bit of a gamble.

I know she loved the blanket though, it was pressed into action straight away and had kept her cosy over the holiday reading her Christmas books - here is the pic she sent me on Christmas Day.

I was relieved to have the blanket finished and thought I would enjoy a break from crochet over Christmas, but after just one day I had to get my hook out again, my fingers were itching and I am making good progress on a long cardigan for myself, especially over the Christmas break with my feet up in front of the woodstove. That will be the first time I have made anything to wear, except mittens so it will be a bit of a challenge. Even so I am planning to tweek the pattern!!!  The difference this time is that there is no deadline and I will take it at a much more gentle pace! It would be nice if it is ready to wear for Spring though when I hope I can wear it instead of a coat!

I am also looking forward to getting back into some more papercrafting too!


Have a good week!

Elaine

Happy Christmas!

I am pleased to say all is nearly sorted for our festivities. We have a quiet Christmas at home, but I still like to have my decorations including fresh evergreens in place. This year I have added a silver theme into my displays and battery operated LED lights have added a new sparkle too.

 

 

I get such pleasure as I unpack my decorations each year. It is like welcoming back old friends and this year I have welcomed quite a lot of new ones too!!!!

I have not been able to post some of my special cards until now as I was waiting for them to arrive, now they have I can share them.

 

This first card features Chocolate Baroque Klimt baubles embossed in silver sparkle EP, coupled with Memory Box, Marianne and W Plus 9 dies in a simple monochrome palette. 

 

No stamping at all on this next card. All die cut and incredibly difficult to photograph. This card uses Prima, memory Box, Impression Obsession and Tim Holtz dies among others. 

I also made some stamped wrapping paper and tags this year using the Stampin' Up Endless Wishes stamps.

I have been very busy on a rather large secret squirrel project which has finally been completed and delivered ready for the big day. More to be revealed in due course.

Tomorrow I have cooking to do, to make life on Christmas Day more relaxed. Then it will be feet up in front of the woodstove with a good film or two.

I hope your own festive preparations are nearly there. Whatever your way of celebrating the season, I hope you have a happy and peaceful break with those that matter most to you.

Elaine x

Festive baubles

Now that my Christmas cards are starting to reach their destinations I can start to share some of my special cards that were made for my friends in the card making community. Making something for such talented people is always a little daunting. Here is one inspired by using the Chocolate Baroque Indian Textiles stamps which I felt lent themselves to covering baubles.

Once again I am struggling to take decent pics in the dull light this time of year, so I apologise for the poor picture quality.

I die cut the baubles with a Marianne die, using the hanger from an Impression Obsession bauble set as I prefer that one. I then pressed the die cut to the stamp, rather than the other way around to try and get the positioning of the stamp as central as possible to the bauble. I added colour with Distress Ink shading with highlights added with DI markers. The pine branches and sentiment are stamped with the Stampin' Up Ornamental Pine stamps, with the branches embossed in a WOW platinum sparkle powder and the sentiment in silver detail EP. I mounted the baubles with some teal coloured fine velvet ribbon and finished off with a few random gems.

I hope all your Christmas prep is going well. I have thankfully finished my present shopping and most gifts have been wrapped now. It seems like work is going to be very busy for me in the run up to the holiday so I am having to be well organised. I just have one mammoth present project to finish, but I think the finishing line is finally in sight with that one! I have until Sunday when I am doing a present delivery run for completing the task, so please keep your fingers crossed for me. Then I will look forward to getting my decorations up and final finishing touches done for our quiet Christmas at home in the country.

Elaine

A watercoloured birthday!

It is one of my special friend's birthdays today and it is always a challenge to try and make a special card for a talented crafter. This is the card I made.

As with so many of the cards I have been making recently, it is hard to get a good pic. I have been watching a number of videos of people making watercolour backgrounds. This was inspired by some cards made by Jill Foster for Penny Black. I started with a piece of thick smooth watercolour paper and added some different watercolours onto a wet background. I had roughly marked out the areas with tiny pencil marks to guide my planning with the stamp I was to use for the design. When thoroughly dry, I ironed the panel to make sure it was flat to stamp on. I added the Penny Black stamp Woodland Wonder  in black archival ink. The deer from the Penny Black Nature's Friends clear stamp set.

I finished by mounting the panel onto a patterned 6 x6 paper and then onto an 8 x 8 black card base. The Inkylicious sentiment was embossed in a metallic EP and the die cut leaf, cut with a Prima die, was decorated with Onyxite and Amethyst Treasure Gold paste.

I am currently really enjoying my crochet. This is my first ripple blanket made to try and master the pattern. This is a lap blanket which used a mix of yarns I had in my collection. It is not perfect, but I was quite pleased with the result. I am sure everyone who makes blankets has sections where the colour scheme appeals more that another. but overall, I feel happy with it and if I am feeling under the weather, I do find snuggling on the sofa with this blanket makes me feel a little bit brighter. This pic was before I sewed all the ends it.

Whatever you have on your agenda this week, I hope you have a good one. Time for me to get back to writing those Christmas cards!

Elaine

Die cut poinsettias

I wanted to make Christmas cards for our Mums and decided the central focus would be poinsettias. These cards are the result, entirely die cut except the sentiment.

The background panel is cut with a Sue Wilson die using white linen card from the Range. I find this excellent card for die cutting as it almost seems to have a plastic coating that gives a nice clean cut. I backed the filigree panel with a background of dark green for a nice contrast. The poinsettias are a Tim Holtz Bigz die Tattered Poinsettias and I cut these from red velvet mirri card. This is hard to come by so I used it sparingly. The fir leaves are a Dee's Distinctively die that I really like and use a lot. I added a die cut centre from the Memory Box cherry blossom die. I finished off with a heat embossed sentiment in gold using a Stampin Up stamp from the Ornamental Pine set.

My posts are few and far between at the moment. Although I have been making quite a few cards, most cannot be shown here because they are for people that read my blog! These secret squirrel projects will have to wait until they have arrived at their planned destinations!

Autumn continues to give some lovely colour in our garden and a great cluster of toadstools appeared on a log recently.

Hope you are keeping warm and dry!

Elaine

A die cut scene

I recently had to make a card for a two year old. I always struggle with this sort of thing and decided that an idea I saw on Pinterest would be ideal. In the end mine turned out fairly differently though!

 

The dies I used were Taylored Expressions trees, Memory Box branch and deer family, Impression Obsession squirrels, Poppy Dies grass and Joycraft toadstools. Most were cut out of white card and ink shaded. I struggled to find the right colour of backing paper and the one I found had a small design on the edge, so if you knew it was there you could just about see the edge of an upside down bicycle!!! The sentiment is from a Woodcraft clear set and I have to say it looks seriously wonky in this pic, which it didn't do in real life I am sure! 

The autumn weather is really upon us now. We managed a gorgeous walk the other day, I had to snap these lovely pink spindle berries against the blue sky. I had my first porridge of the year today, I can't eat it in the summer, so I know my body is going into winter mode now! I don't relish the cold parts of the year living in a draughty house, but I am glad we can enjoy the cycle of the seasons. Life would be pretty dull without it wouldn't it?

I hope whatever you have planned you are enjoying your weekend.

Elaine