Let's Chill

Hello Chums!

Hope this post finds you all fit and well! I've had a fairly lazy day today, but I have managed to make another Christmas card.

I love the colours on this one. I was inspired by an old collection of Bo Bunny 'Tis The Season. I have used my fave stamp set of the moment, Swanky Snowdudes by Paper Smooches. I punched a scallop edge onto some turquoise card using the Scallops On the Edge die by Tim Holtz. I then attached this to the top of an A6 blank.

Next I stamped and heat embossed the images with black Versfine and clear embossing powder and coloured in with Promarkers. I punched out the images using various sized punches, along with circles in lime, red and chocolate. After mounting each image onto a coloured circle, I wrapped a length of white sparkly ribbon around the turquoise section and knotted at the left. The images were then arranged and stuck down with foam pads. I finished with some Shimmer Dots by Papermania on the snowflakes.

I think it a fresh, fun and simple card. I had a lot of fun creating this one.

Well, that's it for today. Got to go and get ready, off to an Indian restaurant in Aylsham with some friends for a curry (nom nom). I bet we'll all smell lovely tomorrow!

Take care and thanks for looking.

Colette

Rudolph Card

Aft'noon peeps!

It's a bit breezy here today in Norfolk, but there is blue sky out there. We had a terrific thunderstorm last evening, it went on for ages too.

Amongst the thunder and rain, I made another Christmas card. I have had this Rudolph stamp for a few years now and I love it. So in my usual style I kept the card clean and simple.

The stamp is Whimsy Rudolph by Magenta (code 37234.H) and is still available.

The spotty card is Black & Kraft Mini Dot Reverse by Canvas Corp. Other supplies used were an A6 kraft blank, red bakers twine, a red button, a rub-on sentiment by Studio G, and a couple of red gems by Bo Bunny. Black Versfine ink and clear embossing powder were used for the image and I coloured it in with Promarkers.

The beauty of this stamp is that Rudolph doesn't have a nose! In the past I have given him one with a gem (as above), a blob of red Stickles glitter glue or a red brad.

This card somehow gives me thoughts of a big mug of cocoa on a cold chilly day!

Hope you like and thanks for popping by.

Colette xx

First Christmas Card!

Afternoon peeps!

At last! I have started on my Christmas cards. This card was inspired by a sketch I had seen. As I like things simple, I thought it would be a perfect layout for a Christmas card.

I used a 13.5 cm square kraft blank and with the fold at the top, trimmed 1cm from the side. The snowman is by Paper Smooches Swanky Snowdudes and the lettering is Alphadot also by Paper Smooches. The patterned paper is from the Holly Jolly Christmas 6x6 pad by Echo Park.

I simply stamped and embossed the image and lettering, coloured in with Promarkers and cut out. The speech bubble is a die from X-Cut, I mounted it onto black card for impact. One large circle was die cut in patterned paper and another in white card. These were adhered to the bottom right corner and trimmed, the snowman and speech bubble were then mounted with foam pads.

I think this has got me in the mood, ideas are swimming around thick and fast. Hope you like! Thanks for visiting and happy crafting!

Crafts Beautiful October 2012

Good Afternoon!

It's a lovely day again here in Norfolk. Just thought I would post my projects from the October issue of Crafts Beautiful. When they asked me to come for a idea and theme, well it had to be Halloween! I love Halloween, I love doing up the house and carving pumpkins (see a post from Nov 2011 for last years pumpkins).

Of course when I did these for the magazine there wasn't really many crafty Halloween items about. So after the success of my pirate drawings, I did a set of witchy themed ones. I was really pleased with the way they turned out, more comical than scary.

The other project is a couple of Christmas cards I did for Bo Bunny and their Father Christmas range. I don't usually go for traditional colours and images, but I have to say, this range is gorgeous. Me being me, I put my own modern twist on things! I love Bo Bunny anyway, so working with these was great.

Crafts Beautiful has done me proud with fantastic photography and eye catching layouts! Check out the rest of the magazine for some fantastic projects, plus there's a fab free foil embossing kit with this issue. For more crafting ideas visit Crafts Beautiful, a great website where you can find more projects, hints, tips, download papers and templates and there's a friendly forum too. You need to register to download or post on the forum, but it's really quick and simple.

Well, that's all for the moment. Hope to post some more very soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Butterflies

Aft'noon Peeps!

Three posts in one week! I'm on a bit of an energy kick at the mo. I'm hoping to post a bit more often. We'll see....

Just finished another commission for Crafts Beautiful, all I need to do now is to check the instructions and it's ready to post. Then I must start getting on with Christmas cards before I start the next commission. Loving all this creativity!

Here is today's creation. I made it for my Auntie Elma's birthday. I haven't really done butterflies in the past, but I fell in love with this stamp set.

The cloud paper is by American Crafts, the ink pads are Violet, Lime and Mountain Lake by Versacolor and the stamps are Butterflies and Blooms by Craftwork Cards. The card is an A6 portrait top fold. Teal card, purple ribbon, teal twine a few adhesive gems and a rub-on sentiment were used.

The clarity of these stamps is amazing, even when using a normal pigment ink rather than a Versafine. The stamp set has the patterned butterflies, but also some solid ones so you could stamp in layers!

Righto, off to make a brew. Thanks for popping in!

Colette x

Floral Best Wishes

Hello!!! Today's card is a birthday card I made for my Auntie Jean. I've had the stamps for a while and have been itching to use them. As usual with me, I wanted to use really bright funky colours, I knew what I wanted, but did I have the right paper? You know how it is, all the papers/card/stamps etc. you have, you never have the exact pattern/shade/image.

I remembered I had recently purchased an Amy Tangerine Sketchbook 6x6 pad by American Crafts. The colours were just what I was looking for. The stamps are the Friendly Flowers set by Paper Smooches and the black ribbon is seam binding (great if you dampen it, scrunch it up and dry with a heat gun). It was then a matter of stamping, heat embossing and colouring the images in with Promarkers.

I had great fun creating this card, and speaking to my Auntie Jean, she was thrilled. Hope you like and thanks for having a peep!  Colette x

Feel Better Soon Card

Mornin' all!

Today I'm showcasing a card I made for a lovely lady, Dawn. She works in a craft shop near to where my Mum & Dad live in Yorkshire. When I took Emily back home, I popped up to the shop. I knew Dawn wouldn't be there as she's recovering from a recent op, so I took this card and a friend who also works in the craft shop passed it on.

With the fold at the top of a white square scalloped card, I trimmed off both sides. The paper is from the Springtime 6x6 paper pad by Echo Park and the stamps are from the Healthy Vibes set by Paper Smooches. I stamped the images in black ink and heat embossed with clear powder, then coloured in with Promarkers. It was finished off with a length of shocking pink grosgrain knotted under the image.

I was aiming for fresh colours with a clean and simple look and I was really pleased with the result.

Thank you for stopping by!

Colette xx

My Niece Emily & Crafts Beautiful September 2012

Aft'noon Peeps!

Well, it's been a tiring but fun filled couple of weeks. My nine year old niece Emily came to stay with us on the 21st July. I'm taking her back home to Yorkshire this coming Friday. I wonder if I will have six hours of non stop blabbing, singing and alphabet games on the way like last year?

Emily isn't here at the moment, Simon has taken her to Bewilderwood for the day, it's only at Hoveton (nr Wroxham) so they didn't have to set off early. Not sure what time they will be back or what state of collapse Simon will be in.

We've had a couple of days crafting, and yesterday she made a head band. I showed her how to make gathered fabric flowers, she picked fabrics centred around pinks and lilacs and away she went. I promised her I would post it on my blog for all to see.

I think she has done a magnificent job. She is going to show my sister Yvonne how to make the flowers.

Emily is also obsessed with our spa bath. Well, more like obsessed with creating mountains of bubbles. Anyway, the other night she decided to do an 'Afro look', here are a couple of head shots.

Very 'cool', Emily!! She also did and Elvis 'quiff', which was hilarious and happened to be my favourite, the Afro is funny though.

On another note, have you seen the September issue of Crafts Beautiful? Here is a peek at my new home cards in this issue.

I just loved creating these. The Dwelling stamp set by Claudine Hellmuth is a particular favourite of mine. They are so versatile, you could actually create a snowy house scene for Christmas cards.

The September is packed, as always with fantastic projects, hints and tips. For more crafting ideas visit Crafts Beautiful. Along with downloadable templates for all projects, including the house shaped card, bird house and sun and cloud motifs used in my feature.

I've got another couple of cards to show you, but I'll pop them on my next post (hopefully next week - after a few days 'rest').

Take care all and thanks for popping by!

Colette xx 

A New Look!!!

Evenin' Peeps!

Well, I've been pondering for a while whether to change the look and colour scheme of my blog. After much searching I've found a background that is just what I'm looking for. The colours are perfect and I love birds and bird cages. So here we are!!

I hope you like :)

Colette xx

A Bit Obsessed With Flowers....

Hi Chums!

I know I said I was going to post soon after the last one, but I just don't know where the time went! Simon's been off on hols for this last week, the weather has been a bit up and down, so we've had a few days out and some pottering around at home, plus, I've had an extra commission to do for Crafts Beautiful - busy busy busy!  I have managed to do a bit of gardening and catching up with the plants. Though I still have some new pond plants to pot (I'm sure they are not bothered about all the rain).

I don't think we're going to get any apples or plums this year, we had plenty of blossom, but with all the wet weather the bees haven't had chance to pollinate the flowers. Oh dear, we'll have to wait and see. It's a shame because the apple tree produces the most wonderful Granny Smiths.

Right, onto the cards. I've got a bit of a thing about making shabby chic roses at the moment, it's so relaxing sitting scrunching and twiddling paper. The first is a birthday card I made for Simon's Mum.

The flowers are a mix of punched and handmade shabby roses in various papers.They were  randomly attached along the top half of the card, then finished with some flat backed pearls and a rub-on sentiment.

Patterned papers - Country Drive; Hello Summer; Summer Days - Echo Park

Dies - Chinese Roses - Marianne Design Creatables

This next card I made just for the sake of it (plus good chance to make more roses). It is only 9cm x 12cm, perfect for a thank you or note card. I kept it quite simple, using a background paper that would not distract from the floral corner.

I chose a 6x6 paper collection with small design, which would be more suitable for a small card. Again the roses are made with the Chinese Rose die. It was then finished off with a simple flat bow.

Patterned Papers - Green at Heart - Basic Grey

Dies - Chinese Roses - Marianne Design Creatables

Lastly, this is a wedding card I made for someone I know. Not really being into the over sentimental slushy cards, I again kept this really simple.

I think the colours are unusual for a wedding card, blues, red, brown, lime and white. But it does work. For the roses, I matched solid card to three of the colours in the paper.

The paper was attached to the lower right hand side of the card, I die cut a heart on the left hand side of a smaller piece of white card (missing off the edge of the heart) and then embossed it with a dot design. This piece was then adhered onto the patterned paper.

The card was finished off with a stamped sentiment, a diamante and a brown scrunched bow.

Patterned paper - Alora - Bo Bunny

Dies - Homespun Hearts - X-Cut

Embossing folder - Swiss Dots - Cuttlebug

Well, that is it from me at the moment. I'm on with another commission for Crafts Beautiful.

Hope you like the cards, thanks for looking and happy crafting!

Colette x