Friday 31 January 2014

Stamping with the Inkadinkado Stamping Gear & Stampin' Up

Hello Friends,

I am so happy, a lady in one of the Facebook groups that I belong to, has found my blog and left me a wonderful comment on FB.  With that in mind, I thought I ought to post something else, so here are the cards that my ladies had the chance to make at my Crop last weekend...



I used the Inkadinkado Stamping Gear for the circular pattern on the larger card at the back.  I love pattern building and the Stamping Gear makes the whole process a delight, in my opinion.

Here is a closer look at that card....


on the smaller card I decided to do some hand stitching, which believe me, is far neater than my machine stitching will ever be!  Here is a closer look at the smaller card....


I went through a stage of keeping samples of card stock in my handbag, so that when I past any shop selling cotton I could pop in and buy some cotton to match.....well I have so many cottons the colours of Stampin' card stock than I care to admit to, but at last - I've used some (although) I've matched the Stampin' Up ink with this one!

Oh well back to put a link to this on the FB page, for all my new crafty friends to see.

Thanks for popping by and happy crafting.

Carole
x

Monday 27 January 2014

Party invitations - Silhouette Cameo

Hello Friends,

Just popping in with a few photos of some party invites I've just made for a "commission"!




They are simple, but I'm sure the lady who has requested them will be pleased with them.

The card stock is Primrose Petals and Whisper White from Stampin' Up, the paper - I've had for a while and is from K & Co (I think) and the cut file was from the Silhouette America online store!

Enjoy and happy crafting.

Carole
x

Thursday 23 January 2014

Backyard Basics - Stampin' Up

Hello Friends,

I'm back with a very quick birthday card I made immediately after seeing this card last night!

It was made by Darnell Knauss, who is one of my lovely followers and as soon as I saw her card, I knew I wanted to "CASE" the idea of embossing those stripes onto the top part of a card layout, so thanks Darnell for the inspiration.


The butterfly is from a Stampin' Up stamp set called "Backyard Basics", which I coloured using my very old SU watercolour crayons (retired).  The little sentiment is from another Stampin' Up set called "Express Yourself" - a great set with lots of useful sentiments in!

Got to get ready for my Crop on Saturday, so must dash...

Have a fab weekend and thanks for popping by today.

Carole
x





Tuesday 21 January 2014

52 Pick (me) Up 2014

Hello Friends,

It isn't too late to join me on the journey of this wonderful uplifting class!

Here is what I've made today.....


I've very much enjoyed my day - sticking, gluing, painting, punching, decoupaging, gelli plate-ing and sculpting!  All on one little playing card - how amazing is that?

Believe me we can all do this!

Carole
x


Saturday 18 January 2014

Craft room - Ikea Galant range

Hello Friends,

I've been tidying up my craft room and have conjured up the courage to take some photos for you to see where I craft.  I took photo's around the room clockwise....here goes.....

These drawers are pretty well organised, the top drawer is for all my Silhouette Cameo supplies, the next one down is everything Stampin' Up, which can be fitted into a draw, next down is 6 x 6 paper, envelopes and bits I haven't used yet, next down is full of tiny embellishments and the bottom drawer is full of old stuff, punches that don't cut well, extra heat guns and just stuff.....


here is a closer look at the top of that chest of drawers....


This was a built in wardrobe, which my DH kindly refitted completely with shelves last year (bless his cotton socks)......


The shelves, they are really very deep, one of the shelves is full of magazines, 3 piles deep....


This is the new Ikea Galant furniture I had last year, I hadn't organised it very well until yesterday :)!......


I love how I planned this furniture, I planned it to be the perfect height for me to reach my dies and stamps from the glazed shelving unit, with extra storage on top (for the odd giraffe and pics)........


This is a closer look at what I'm calling my cutting station, my trimmer, Cameo and Vagabond do not leave this space......


Here is my A4 Stampin' Up card stock, lots of my unmounted stamp sets are in the white Ikea container on the bottom shelf, next to one of my scrap card keepers........


Moving around to under the window, this is a small Ikea Galant desk, just enough room for my computer, tissues and ancient pencil sharpener......


Had to show you a closer pic of my pencil sharpener.....


Moving around the room to that last wall space, is my huge desk, I'm a lucky girl to have such a big one ;)!  It actually measures 180 cm wide by 90 cm deep.  It is electronic and goes up and down too (actually it isn't really mine, it sort of on long term loan)!  You will see that I have my t.v. in the corner, next to that are two lamps, my daylight one and a torch type one that I can move really close to my work if I wish.  Next to that is another scrap card box (it's an antique, real wood desk tidy, type of thing - I love it!).........

The other end of my desk has pencil pots and one of those fabulous crafting carousels.  You can see the blue card stock on my desk is the 12 x 12 page I'm working on to show my crafting ladies next week, it gives a bit of a comparison on how big my desk actually is!......


Under my desk I have a cupboard, its full of stuff I've made and needs organising, I might do that soon ;) - next to that is our printer - it's huge, but a great place to keep it, well out of the way under my desk!......


As my desk isn't quite big enough, I have a temporary table, one of those t.v. dinner type of tables, always at the side of my desk.  It fills a gap and I keep my big crafting bag on there permanently.  You can see behind it is another temporary hobby table, which I do put up when I run out of crafting space ;)!.....


I hope this inspires you to organise your space.

Now for a little crafting, but I don't want to mess it up!!!!!

Happy crafting and thanks for popping by, leave me a comment, let me know what you think and if you could see any easy improvements I could make.

Carole
x

Wednesday 15 January 2014

Mixed media art... Gelli Plate & Silhouette

Hello friends,

I've got something different to share with you all today.  I signed up for this great class and here are my first two cards......



I had such fun making them.  I started with two normal playing cards, out of a pack of 52.  Coated them with Gesso to make a tooth on them, so I could add any medium from then on.  I decided to get out my Gelli Plate, which has been in the back of a deep cupboard since it's first outing.  I used a sheet of old music paper for the "Try" background, which I laid on top of the paint and for the "Begin" background, I used a sheet of old map, which you actually can't see, but there you go, it's under all that paint!

I cut the words out with my Silhouette Cameo and the shape of the heart is one I adapted from one I got with some of the inspiration provided in the class.

I hope you like my new style......I wonder if I can keep it up all year and do a card a week?

Happy crafting.

Carole
x

Thursday 9 January 2014

New Job card - Sprinkled Expressions (Stampin' Up)

Hello Friends,

I've got a "New Job" card to share with you today.....


This is for a lady who is a real star and is progressing up the laddler fast, in her chosen career. I decided to use the star image from one of last years Sale-A-Bration stamp sets called Sprinkled Expressions, as it seemed to be fitting for the occassion.

The card stock used is from Stampin' Up, as is the ink and ribbon.  The papers are from Maja  and everything has been cut using my Silhouette Cameo!

Wishing you all a lovely crafty day and thanks for popping by.

Carole
x


Sunday 5 January 2014

Maja Designs Paper - Birthday card

Hello Friends,

I'm back with another version of the card I showed you yesterday.  As soon as I'd finished it, I decided to set to and make a couple of birthday cards similar.  Once you've done all the calculations and worked everything out in the Silhouette software, it seems a sensible use of time to make more of the same, so take a look......



I'm very sure they do look much better in real life.  I used an embossing tool on the back of the flowers to make the a little dimensional, which I think is a little hard to see from these photos.

Oh well, gotta get on......

Happy crafting and thanks for popping by.

Carole
x

Saturday 4 January 2014

Silhouette - Text to Path feature with Maja Design Papers

Hello Friends,

I'm back with a quick post to show you a swap card I've made for a lady in our Silhouette Crafting Friends FB group.


I'm really pleased with it.  I designed it all in the Silhouette software and used the "text to path" feature, which I think is amazing.  I love to use my Stampin' Up markers in my Cameo to write with and using them with the text to path feature makes them a little extra special!

Now I have this saved in my Silhouette software, I might just make another birthday card or two using the same sketch only changing the words!

Happy crafting.

Carole
x


Thursday 2 January 2014

Silhouette Crafting with Maja Designs Paper

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends,

I'm feeling really positive about 2014!  I'm hoping it's going to be a great one.

My hope this year is to be more organised!  In some ways I'm so lucky to have very little structure, but on the other hand with lots of time and no structure to my day, I find myself constantly surfing the internet looking to find the perfect card or scrapbooking page for inspiration, rather than looking where I really ought to start......MY STASH!!!

It seems many of us crafters, who have been crafting for years, want to buy less and use what we have and I'm definitely going to try and spend less again this year!  It worked pretty well last year, but this year I'm really going think about what I really "need", rather than what I really "want"!

My year will focus on Silhouette crafting, for sure.....it's so fantastic for the crafter who aims for perfection!  I'm always looking for perfection....the straight cut, the perfectly sized embellishments, the perfect sentiment etc.  All of this can be achieved using the Silhouette.

My cards this year will also feature lots of Maja Design papers, I bought quite a few last year, they are fantastic quality, with the most delicate and usable designs.  Along with Maja paper, I will be using lots of Stampin' Up ink and card stock, I find a near match most of the time or a great contrast - again suiting the perfection I'm looking for!

So to kick the year off, here are three cards I've made using my Silhouette Cameo, Maja Design papers, Stampin' Up card stock and ink.....





It made sense to make three cards all similar, I made a cut file to cut the papers the perfect size, so by cutting three different papers at the same time meant I could intermingle each paper for each card.

So there we are, three birthday cards handmade, ready and waiting to go - gosh it does feel good to be organised!

Hope you all have a great 2014!

Happy crafting,

Carole
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