Tuesday 31 May 2016

Always with a Heart - Sketch 22, Groovi & Tinker N Co

Hello Crafty friends,

My friend Jules, over at Always with a Heart left me a comment on my blog post yesterday, which reminded me to go and check out her blog this morning.  I'm always inspired by her work, her sketches, her stories and her photography.  Everything is clean, neat and easy on my eyes.  Please pop over and take a look, if you've got a moment.

Today I noticed that she'd been given the opportunity by Tinker N Co Digital to do a "give away" to five of her blog readers.  I'd not heard of them before so I hopped straight over, using the link, as you do ;)!

I found the most gorgeous downloadable papers and more in store.  I quickly chose Two Little Birds, as I needed to make a couple of "new home" cards and I often think of birds when I'm wanting to make cards for people who've moved!

When I've got Jules on my mind, I hop straight to her sketches - for my card today I chose number twenty two!




I really enjoyed my morning making this card, it was nice to mix up my Groovi kind of cards with one of Jules sketches and the gorgeous paper I purchased from Tinker N Co Digital.

I did phaff a little though trying to attach the vellum - I decided to sew it on!  I used the Pergamano four needle tool to make the holes, they were a little bit too small really for my double thread, but I learned from it!

I cut the papers and wrote the sentiment with my Silhouette Cameo!

Hope I've inspired you to craft today.

Thanks for popping by.

Carole x








Monday 30 May 2016

Groovi - Meadow Grases & Occasions Border plates

Hello Craft Friends,

I'm sharing a card that is a little bit more masculine with you today. I've attached the vellum in quite a different kind of way than usual, to the base card for this one.....



....I used a whole piece of A5 vellum (Clarity) for the parchment work, which I wrapped completely around the card stock.  I attached it using my Tim Holtz tiny attacher, stapling the little stripped blue flag onto the card, which secured the vellum on the top left.  I hid the staple with the little red heart.   I then needed to secure the bottom part of the vellum towards the right side, so I searched my crafty stash and found the little dragonfly brad - I've had that brad for years and now I wish I could get some more!

It was more by luck than judgement that the "with love & best wishes" fitted perfectly ;)!

I finished off the card with some Stampin' Up Linen Thread which I left loosely with just a knot.

I hope I've inspired you to get out your Groovi stash and get into the Groove :)!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting.

Carole x







Sunday 29 May 2016

Groovi Tag - Butterfly Wreath.

Hello crafty friends,

I've got another Groovi kinda tag for you today.....


I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the hexagons, the Groovi diagonal grid plate for the outside embossed dotted edge and three of the accents that are on the Groovi Butterfly Wreath plate.  The sentiment is from a Groovi border strip.

I'm sure Clarity will bring out a nested hexagon plate soon, they do know that we NEED one ;)!

Hope you have a great week and are able to get crafty with your Groovi stash.

Carole x





Friday 27 May 2016

My Clarity & Groovi cards story!

Hello Friends,

I have been trying to work out how long I've been playing with the Groovi Parchment system, I checked back through my emails and have found my first Clarity order, ordering my Groovi stash...I'm not saying how much I spent but I can tell you - I got a lot of plates!  My order went in at the end of February so to my reckoning I've only actually been having a go with them since the beginning of March.

I'm also a very slow crafter, I'm someone who has to think about my crafting and procrastinate for a while!  I really do like to get perfect results, I want everything neat and tidy, just as I vision a card to be.  I expect it's the teacher in me, I've taught card making for lots and lots of years and have always wanted "my ladies" to go home with cards they'll be wanting to keep, not send!

So with all this in mind, I wanted to give the Groovi system the best possible chance, especially bearing in mind that I am supposed to be a retired craft teacher and have been pulled out of my retirement by W.I. Denman to cover some Parchment courses for a very poorly Parchment craft tutor.  I knew I'd have to give this Groovi system the best chance I could, so I've taken it really slowly and enjoyed every moment.

Speaking to the head of Denman after the course I covered in January, she asked if I'd consider being a regular tutor and be able to include Parchment craft if necessary.  I told her that I was happy to cover what I could in the Parchment courses that were already booked, the best I possibly can but if she was looking for a new Parchment tutor, I'd really only want to use the relatively new "Groovi" system by Clarity.  I'm not a person who'd want to step on anyones toes, I'd like to consider myself as a fair and considerate person and I really thought I'd retired from my craft teaching (due to health & safety issues and requirements in rented hall type of accommodation - two fire officers and a first aider, don't get me started on that again!) and was trying to get to grips with what I was going to do "now" to keep me occupied!

So I've not had all that long and I've made a few mistakes trying to work backwards with the Groovi system.  When I worked in a craft shop many many years ago and when my boss was trying to teach me how to do Parchment craft so I could teach the class ladies who attended my classes there and demonstrate in her shop (I had to call any of my classes/demonstrations where I taught Parchment - "playing with vellum" as the shop had a Pergamano tutor and we sold Pergamano tools) I was taught how to trace properly with ink, where on the vellum to start tracing so that you knew where the fold line would be, how to do the white work from behind etc....., so getting into the groove with Groovi working backwards, caused me to make a few mistakes, meaning I couldn't make a folded card out of my Groovi work, if you see what I mean.

Anyway, I worked really hard and enjoyed designing and making the Parchment design on the front of the card I'm sharing below, only to realise once I'd finished all my Groovi(ing) it was on the wrong side of the vellum!  I've been looking at it for ages, it has reminded me for more than a month now that I have to concentrate.  Anyway today was the day, it is a great design, I'm totally pleased with how it turned out so I chopped it away from the wrong side of the A5 vellum I'd used, added a bit of Groovi Diagonal Grid work on the side and mounted it onto a card!


Phew!  I hope you like it!

I hope you've enjoyed my Groovi story.  I do have more samples to share, which I will over the next week or so and I might even start up a Groovi kinda class, just a small one or even two, back around my dining room table, like I did before I rented halls, if any of "my ladies" remember that!

So if you've read my little Groovi story and you'd like to come and play, my contact email is over there on the right hand side of my blog ;)!

I am a retailer of Groovi, thank you Barbara & Paul at Clarity, but I'm not taking orders and shipping items, Clarity does that best, I'll have a little stash of plates, tools and vellum for you to buy if you come along to a Groovi session at my place in Oxfordshire or attend one of my courses at W.I. Denman, for that matter ;)!

Oh and if you are local to me and want to pop by to see what Groovi stash I've got available to purchase, then you can email me and we can arrange something, for sure!

I hope I've inspired you to get into the groove with Groovi, as you will have seen over the last couple of blog posts.....imjustlovinit ;)!

Happy crafting and thanks for reading Groovi my story.

Carole x











Thursday 26 May 2016

Groovi Diagonal Grid tags

Hello Friends,

I promised you yesterday that I'd post a picture of the tags I made using the Groovi Diagonal Grid plate, for the East Sussex Federation designer day at W.I. Denman.



I showed the ladies how to emboss the dots and prick the holes around the hexagon vellum piece and how to do a little bit of white work on the stamped butterfly.

From a previous lesson I'd got many yellow circles and dark red hexagons left over, so decided to mount the vellum onto those.  I joked with the ladies, I told them I hadn't got enough of each for them all to have the same and that when they'd done their parching onto the vellum hexagon they were to come up and we'd decide together whether they'd mount theirs on a yellow one or a red one.  They did laugh when I told them my plan.....I told them if they'd made a mistake (or two) they might like to choose the yellow one, as the mistakes wouldn't show up so much and if they concentrated and made a perfect one, they'd probably choose a red one!

I do love Denman, it really is an amazing place for ladies to go and relax, stay over in beautiful accommodation, take a workshop or course, be fed really well and the grounds.....well, they are delightful.

Better get on with some work and practice my own Parchment skills, I have a beginners class to stand-in for in a couple of weeks!

Happy crafting and thanks for popping back again today.

Carole x



Wednesday 25 May 2016

Groovi card & tag - Designer day at W.I. Denman

Hello friends,

I thought I'd share a card with you today that I had the pleasure of making with 24 ladies, all from the East Sussex Federation of the W.I., a couple of weeks ago at Denman college.  I was standing in again for the lovely and very talented Parchment tutor, who was unwell and unable to show the ladies the traditional way of Parching ;)!



I had two groups of 12 ladies for a couple of hours each.  They worked in pairs, whilst one lady got into the groove with the Groovi Plate Mate and Groovi Meadow Grasses plate, her partner was having a play with the Groovi Diagonal Grid plate.  Both sessions were fun but crazy, I guess being a new/stand-in tutor it will take me a while to work out exactly how long it takes to teach 12 ladies something totally new - and a few of the ladies hadn't really crafted before either - I wasn't expecting that!  At least the ladies seemed really pleased with the cards they'd made, which makes me smile as I type this, thinking back :)!

Check back tomorrow if you'd like to see the tag they made using the Groovi Diagonal Grid.

Thanks for popping by again today.

Happy crafting.

Carole x





Tuesday 24 May 2016

Groovi & Silhouette Cameo - a perfect match!

Hello Crafty Friends,

I'm back today to share a card I made for a friends husband, he celebrated a special birthday yesterday.


I've been playing around with ways to attach my Groovi Parchment designs to the fronts of cards.  This is one of the most simple ways I found, using my Silhouette Cameo.  I first designed the Groovi Parchment section, measured it and made a perfect frame for it!  It really couldn't be easier to attach a vellum design to a card without any adhesive showing :)!

For the card I used my Groovi Plate Mate for the letter blocks and letters, one of the Groovi background plates and one of the Groovi border plates.  I used Stampin' Up card stock, ink and stamp set for the rest of the card.

Thanks for stopping by today and happy crafting.

Carole x

Monday 23 May 2016

Groovi card using Groovi plates, grids & Stamps by Tina Cox

Hello crafty friends,

I've had a little bloggy break!  I can't believe it's been more than a couple of months since I posted but I'm back with you all now, which is all that matters, if you're looking for Groovi inspiration.

I really enjoyed a day out all by myself last Sunday, I went by train to the Parchment Guild exhibition in Bristol, it was totally inspiring.  I met so many very talented parchment professionals exhibiting and sharing their hints and tips there.

One of the ladies I met was Tina Cox, she designs wonderful patterns and cards for the Parchment Craft industry.  She has recently designed a new set of stamps purposely to use with Parchment craft work.  The set is called Butterflies and Flowers....here's my first card using them...


I used my Groovi square plate to make the simple frame, my Groovi grid to embellish the corners and my Perga Cutters to make the crosses in the corners - don't look too closely at those little crosses - I messed one up!

I used the 'rock'n roll' stamping method on to the front of the Parchment for the sunshine.  The Stampin' Up ink colours I chose were So Saffron & Crisp Cantaloupe.  The flower heads, leaves and stems were also stamped on to the front using Crushed Curry & Old Olive.  I embossed from behind giving them dimension using a fine stylus tool.

I hope you like my card, thanks for popping by.

Happy crafting.

Carole x