Crafts Beautiful July 2012

Aft'noon peeps!

After a glorious few days, the sun has gone! Boo hoo! I know the gardens want some much needed rain, but it was lovely whilst it lasted, and I got so much done. BUT I did get caught out when I was linseed oiling the patio furniture, the word lobster comes to mind!

I'm not a sun bather, even though I have black hair, I have pale skin and eyes, so I tend to burn easy. Freckles tend to come out and have a wild party all over my face. Usually I'm very careful when out in the sun, but Mr Sneaky got me on Saturday, grrr!

Anyhoo! Here are my projects from the July issue of Crafts Beautiful - out now.

I noticed there wasn't a picture of the 'I love u' card, so I've taken a pic of it and a couple of close ups on certain elements.

I also did three cards that you can do using the free papers. The papers are really bright and cheerful, perfect for summer birthdays!

Did you know you can download more of these papers from the Crafts Beautiful website? Plus there are loads of other downloads, papers and projects! For more crafting ideas visit Crafts Beautiful 

I'm loving Zoe Pierson's scrummy ice cream cards in the Cut Out & Keep section on page 31 and Corinne Bradd's cut crotchet cup cakes on page 104 & 105.

That's all I have time for at the mo, got loads of cards to do. Ideas keep popping in my head, then they pop out again. Weird!

I'll be posting back soon with some more makes, promise!!!

Colette xx

A twit and a thank you!!

What'cha Peeps!

I haven't posted for a couple or weeks, been so busy! Just finished another commission for Crafts Beautiful. Just the destructions to compile, then I can print them out and send it all off, hope they like!!!

Managed to get the plants done in the greenhouse last week and some of the pots done around the garden, herbs and stuff. I've also planted a few fuchsias, I love fuchsias, they are so pretty and uncomplicated. There are quite a few hardy bushes in pots that have survived the winter and are now coming back, though I did get some more the other week the replace the non-hardy varieties.

The fern is doing well too, it's still uncurling its fronds. I've never seen a fern as big as this one. When we first moved in, it was November, Simon took one look at it and said 'That's dead'. Shocked, I told him it was a fern, it wasn't dead, it will come back in the spring, they're not cheap to buy and not to touch it if he values his dangly bits. Needless to say he doesn't really do much gardening apart from mowing the lawn and any construction jobs that need doing, I don't think I could trust him to look after the plants - gulp!

You're probably wondering about the title of this post, well, it was my brother-in-law's birthday this week and I did him a card with an owl on the front. It does say 'twoo' inside though, he is not a twit by any means:) Here is a pic....

...and the inside.

Out of all the stamps I have, I couldn't find the right one. I wanted an owl with that 'Why are you bothering me?' expression they have (some might call it grumpy). So I drew my own!  The paper is from the 'Social Club' 6x6 pad by Cosmo Cricket. It's full of lovely manly colours and prints, very retro. I coloured in the owl with Promarkers, matching the colours to the paper. The branch and leaves are cut out from a piece of white card, then mounted over the patterned paper. A few leaves were cut by hand and added to give a bit more dimension. I stamped the 'twit' sentiment on to a piece of white card, wrapped garden twine around it and secured with a couple of staples. The card was finished with the 'twoo' sentiment inside and a 'Happy Birthday' rub-on from Kaisercraft.

My friend Caroline sent me a lovely card and gift voucher for my birthday, so I decided to send her a little 'thank you' card.

The papers and stamps are Doodle Deux by Prima, just a simple card with stamped elements, papers and buttons placed randomly, finished with a  'thank you' rub-on in the top left corner. I just love this collection, especially the little birdie stamp. It was so hard to choose which paper to put on the card.

Off now, going to make a coffee, then back to the typing of the ol' destructions. Have a lovely weekend and thanks for visiting!!

A cat, some fish and a card!

Hello Peeps!

Hope it's been a good week for you all! I've managed to get another coat of paint on the bathrooms. The main bathroom should be finished next week (praise be!). Then just the downstairs one to finish. Had enough for this year now. Don't mind doing it whilst the weathers crud.

I've started a cross stitch of a large rose stitched on linen to go in the main bathroom. It's a beautiful design, the rose looks so life like, it's got lovely juicy shades of red and deep pink in it. After every ten stitches or so, I keep asking Simon "Does it look like a rose yet?", "No" is the simple answer.

Cross stitching is another passion of mine, I've been doing it for about 20 years now (how long?????). I love intricate designs like Teresa Wentzler and Mirabilia and love working on linen or evenweave. I did a lovely Mirabilia mermaid a few years ago, called Mermaid of the Pearls, it's got over 1000 (yes, 1000) seed beads on it, loved every stitch of that project.  That's the only thing with needlework, the results are beautiful, but it takes a long time to get there. (For LuckyDawn - used to spend many hours and a lot of money @ Embsay looking at needlework charts, kits, threads fabrics.......  they knew me well - har har).

Right back to the 'ol card stuff.

Here's a card I made for Simon, no occasion, just wanted to let him know how I feel (bleughhh! soppy moment).

I used, Echo Park & My Mind's Eye papers, Sassafras "Head in the Clouds" stamps, Versacolor ink in Marigold, Versafine ink in black, yellow and aqua ribbon, black/white bakers twine and a crystal. Simple, but sweet.

Next is a peek at my latest project in Crafts Beautiful, out today!!

I really enjoyed doing these, they are so bright and cheery and definitely my style. For more crafting ideas visit Crafts Beautiful. Another brilliant issue this month, check out my friend Claire's quilled Queen and Duke to celebrate the Jubilee. Works of art indeed!!

More piccies - I went a bit mad with the camera today. Here is a pic of the Queen of the house, Bazoo, languidly laying around in the conservatory.

It's such a hard life.

You may have noticed at the bottom of my blog I have a bit of a daft thing called 'Feed the Fish'  Well, here are my other 'babies' the real fish being fed with real food, this morning. The pond is a raised one, under the living room window, as soon as they see me, they all rush to the surface, mouths open. The koi are funny because they have such big mouths you can hear them smacking their lips (do fish have lips???).

They are so funny to watch, I get mesmerised by them. In Summer, I love to sit on the wall of the pond with a glass of wine and just listen to the water and watch them. Bazoo usually comes and sits with me, the fish don't mind her at all. She does drink out of the pond, yuk, disgusting cat. Though the water is very clear. Also, the newts should be coming back soon, last year we lost count at 32.

Well, that's enough drivvle out of me, off to the Vernon tonight for a slap up and a glass of wine or three, bwah ha ha ha!! Have a good weekend. xx

It's been a while!!

Well hello!

I know, I know, it's been a while since my last post. Still on with the renovations of the bathrooms, nearly there, just painting and tiling left to do. At least the messy plastering is done. After living with layers of dust for the last 3 months, I've finally managed to have a spring clean this week. Waaayyy! So in honour of this great achievement here is a few piccies of my sparkly, shiny, dust free craft room.

I love my room. Bright, colourful and a bit kitch. It overlooks the back garden (which is nice and secluded) with a lovely big Tulip Tree. I get the sun most of the day and it's wonderful seeing everything coming to life. My room's not usually as tidy as this, no matter how hard I try to keep everything neat and my work desks tidy, I end up with mountains of stuff piled up and then can't find anything. Now it's all fresh and plaster dust free, I'll try to keep it that way. (Yeah, right).

In amongst all work going on in the house, I've been very busy with commissions for Crafts Beautiful, so I've not had much time to make personal cards. Here is a peek of my projects in the May issue of CB, which is out now. The cut out and keep is centered around stitching on cards and the 7 ways with... is very fruity! Oo-er!

Crafts Beautiful has had a mini makeover and the new look and layout is just fab. Projects really jump out of the page at you, and I love the mix of fonts used in the headings and introductions. Well done CB! The magazine theis full of yummy projects, hints, tips, ideas, articles and giveaways. For more crafting ideas visit Crafts Beautiful. Check out the forum too, it's full of lovely crafters and a great place to swap ideas or just have a natter.

Hopefully, I should be able to get a few personal cards done now. So as soon as I've created a few, I'll post them up.

Hope you all have a fab weekend, happy crafting peeps! xx

At last a few cards!!

Well, hello peepsicles! It's been another hectic week. Dust from all the renovations is still mounting up, I think I'm learning to live with it now.

This last few days I have viewed some absolutely wonderful blogs, come across some lovely people which I intend to keep in touch with via our blogs. The blogging crafting community is a really friendly place to be in, and I'm happy to be part of it now.

Commissions for Crafts Beautiful are coming along very well, just about to post my next lot off, hope they like!

I managed to take some piccies of recent cards I made, so here they are :)

This is the card I made for my Mum for Mother's Day. Usually I go for the whole retro flower theme, but I saw these stamps on the Crafts U Love site and just had to have. I luurrve the 'blah blah' one. The stamps are 'Gossip Club' and 'Blah Blah' from the Golden Oldies collection by Art Impressions. I coloured in with Promarkers and the paper is from my huge and much looked at and adored American Crafts paper collection. I love the colours!

So, I decided to do the same for Simon's Mum, but I used pale blue card instead of the yellow. It's amazing that by just changing a colour, you make exactly the same card, but it looks so different.

This one made me laugh so much, the stamps are 'Edna' and 'Don't have time' again from the Golden Oldies collection by Art Impressions available from Crafts U Love. The paper I used on this one was from the Petal Pushers collection by Bo Bunny, I kept the card simple and just finished it off with a yellow ribbon. I did this one for my Nan for Mother's Day, wonder what she'll think, har har!!

Now we come to a card I did for my Uncle Roy. Every year I tend to do him a card that's a bit daft or hasn't got an image of a boat, racing cars, golf, fishing, tools! Last year I did him one with Snoopy dressed as Joe Cool, the year before I did him one with a super hero on it (the superhero was attached by a thin piece of acetate, so he bounced about and looked like he was flying), I think I've even done him a card with a pair of birthday underpants on!!

This card this year is quite sedate really, you can't go wrong with kraft card, muted tones and a bit of string. The patterned cardstock is Kraft Funday - Happy Days, and the stamps are Kraft Funday - Everyday Fun by My Mind's Eye. I made a simple rosette, stamped the 'FUN' onto a piece of scrap card, cut it out and placed just under the spotty border, stamped 'celebrate' in the bottom right corner and finished with a button, string and garden twine.

I hope you like my designs, the photos don't really do them justice, but hey ho! Off now to type up my commission, then I'm going to start on the next one, and later I'll make a tuna lasagna for tea - sounds weird, but it's lovely, you do it with a creamy white sauce - going to make some flapjacks tomorrow, nom nom nom!

Thanks for looking and ta ta for now! Colette xx

The Versatile Blogger

I would like to send a big hug and thanks to Heike for The Versatile Blogger award. It's made my day. Please do check out her fabulous blog at http://heikescardsandcrafts.blogspot.com/, a very talented crafter indeed.

There are a few conditions to accepting the award:-

• To thank the person who gave it to you and include a link to their blog.
• Select 15 blogs that you have either recently discovered or follow regularly.
• Tell them you have nominated them for the award.
• Tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

So, here goes, this is my list of talented, versatile crafters :)

http://jennifer-lou.blogspot.com/ - Jenny
http://anniescardsandchat.blogspot.com/ - Annie
http://bootsblogspot.blogspot.com/ - Jo
http://spyder-spyderscorner.blogspot.com/ - Lyn
http://wedgieswonderfulworld.blogspot.com/ - Wedgie
http://luckydawns.blogspot.com/ - Dawn
http://jenzbitznbobs.blogspot.com/ - Jenny
http://arlinesallsorts.blogspot.com/ - Arline
http://creationsbycopse.blogspot.com/ - Karen
http://craftymagpieshop.blogspot.com/ - Sarah
http://crafty-or-dafty.blogspot.com/ - Becks
http://www.sparklingblackrose-craftmylife.blogspot.com/ - Elaine
http://nikbee-thedayseye.blogspot.com/ - Nikki
http://craftfairydesigns.blogspot.com/ - Craft Fairy
http://clare-buswell.blogspot.com/ - Clare

7 thingies about me:-

1. I am very much a night owl.
2. I do yoga (well not for a while MUST start again).
3. I love going to The Vernon Arms on a Fri night for a meal and a glass (or two) or red wine.
4. I adore pretty papers - especially from Basic Grey, Bo Bunny, Cosmo Cricket etc. I tend to buy two of each, one to use, one to look and stroke (VERY sad indeed).
5. I love fancy dress.
6. Next year I'm getting some chickens (I've already picked names for them).
7. Next year we are getting a two man inflatable canoe (living near the Norfolk Broads it'll be brilliant - though won't be venturing out to sea on it).


Thanks again Heike for the award, much appreciated :)

I'll be posting some more cards soon, probably tomorrow if I get time. Take care all!

Colette xxx

My first award!!

I had a lovely surprise this morning when I checked my blog. Luckydawn has given me my first award - The Liebster Award. You award it to five wonderful and inspiring blog sites with less than 200 followers. Of course you let them know you have an award for them to collect, and don't forget to thank the lovely person who sent it to you! You can then post the award logo on your blog! Hope I've done everything ok:)

Here is my list of winners:)

Arline - http://arlinesallsorts.blogspot.com
Karen - http://creationsbycopse.blogspot.com
Jenny - http://jenzbitznbobs.blogspot.com
Jane -  http://doodlesandscrapsofme.blogspot.com
Wedgie - http://wedgieswonderfulworld.blogspot.com

I wish I could give more awards, there are some fantastic blog sites out there. I've created a list of blogs I follow, I will keep adding more as I discover more!

I want to say a big thank you to Luckydawn, a lovely lady I had the chance to meet in person, when I visited family up in Skipton, North Yorkshire. Thank you Dawn!!!

Phew! What a month!!!

Hello Peeps!

What a month it's been. In amongst commissions for Crafts Beautiful, we've had all new radiators, new boiler and central heating system put in and we're trying to do up two of the bathrooms. Madness, utter madness...

Why do we put ourselves through it? Probably because we've been here nearly two and a half years now, the central heating needed doing and the bathrooms were crap ('scuse the pun, it's the only way I can describe them). Plus, we couldn't do one room with out the other due to the way the plumbing is. There's all new plumbing to be done, stud walls to build, plastering, tiling, painting, new flooring the list and expenses go on and on and on.The house is constantly dusty, with trails going in and out of each room. I'm sooooo itching to have a spring clean!

Despite all this, I am quite enjoying it really. We don't plan to move again, so we feel it's more for 'us' in this house. I've put getting my chickens on hold until next year now, and the canoe (another story).

Anyway, here's a sneaky peek of my projects in this month's issue of the magazine. Sorry about the quality of the pictures, the scanner decided to throw a wobbly (probably fed up with being covered in a perpetual blanket of dust).

  

   

For more crafting ideas visit Crafts Beautiful, or buy the magazine, there are loads of fab ideas and inspiration for Easter projects, with loads of hints, tips and articles, April 2012 issue out now.

I'm going to go now, I've got some filling and sanding to do (I feel more dust coming on), hopefully I'll get chance over the next couple of days to take a couple of piccies of recent cards I incredibly found the time to conjure up. Bye for now! xx

Snow and Cedric

Well, woke up this morning to find SNOW!!! Yippee! (such a big kid). So, I got dressed, and went out to feed the birds and I had the sudden urge to build a snowman. I would like to introduce you to Cedric (I name everything). I think he looks a happy chappy. I must admit it was great fun, I haven't built a snowman in years.

The good thing about going out and messing around in the snow, is coming in to a hot cuppa and a blazing fire. Perfect. Everyone gets so surprised when the weather is bad in February, but it is still the middle of winter.

Talking of February, St Valentine's Day will soon be upon us. I'm not really into the whole mushy stuff, so when Crafts Beautiful asked me to do a Valentine set of cards, I was up for the challenge. This is a pic of the project from the February 2012 issue. Actually, I really enjoyed doing these and I love the hearts, wings and crown theme.

Here is a sneaky peek of one of the projects I've done for the March 2012 issue. For more crafting ideas visit Crafts Beautiful. The magazine is packed with fabulous projects of all kinds of crafting, not just card making. There is a wonderful quilling project by a friend, Claire Willis, a very talented young lady. To see my other project and Claire's quilling, you'll have to buy the mag, out now!

I'm off now to get on with another commission (Bazoo has just come into my craft room and massacred one of her many stuffed mice - they all get a turn eventually, last night we massacred, in order, grey mouse, ball, white mouse, ball of wool and back to grey mouse. Grey mouse gets most of her wrath). It's quite hard to concentrate when the cat is in torture mode, at least she isn't interested in the real thing.

Enjoy the snow, watch your step and don't slip! Will post again soon, Colette xx

Could it be spring?

Greetings all!!

I'm just sat looking out of my craft room window and the sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky, the birds are singing, the fact that all the trees in the back garden are bare makes you realise it's still winter. Spring is definitely on it's way though. Is it just me or do birds sound different when spring is round the corner?

I have been busy with more commissions for Crafts Beautiful. Plus we've got loads of people coming round to give us quotes on new central heating, radiators and new bathrooms. All these things to think about at the mo, my brain aches. You know what I mean, when it hurts to think, or to put it another way, you can't be bothered to think.

It was my Dad's birthday yesterday. I did him a fab card, I used the new Portobello Road collection from Papermania. It was very British, the main focus being on Big Ben. I placed it on the card at an angle (well it is leaning). Both my Mum and Dad really liked it. Forgot to take a photo - oops - slap wrist!

I have a friend who has just started a new job at the vets where I take Bazoo, so I've done her a Good Luck card with a black cat on it (very apt). Very bright and funky. Also, someone we know is going travelling round the world for a year, so I made her a Bon Voyage card. I remembered to take a couple of piccies this time!

Here I used papers from My Mind's Eye - Good Day Sunshine collection, First Edition - Animal Antics pad and K & Company - Greenhouse by Carolyn Gavin. The aeroplane is from a Cuttlekids die set, the flowers and fence are from a K & Company die cut pad which matches the papers. The Bon Voyage is stamped onto canvas all wonky like.

I used the same K & Company papers and die cuts as before, the black cat is a Judikins rubber stamp and I used the Tim Holtz - Scallops - On the Edge die. A few brads, ribbons and a rub on....ta da!

The photos really don't do them justice, they are so bright and funky in real life. I know the Carolyn Gavin collection is really hard to get hold of, I had to get mine from the US. The Judikins stamp was still available from Stamping Mad last time I looked.

The whole thing about crafting and looking at other people's work, isn't necessarily to copy like for like, but for inspiration and to use what you have or is available and put your own twist on it and enjoy!!

Happy crafting!!!