Christmas in August

Hi Crafty Friends

Well, as usual, I am behind with my blogging. But it has been a lot of fun making the things for the card club. Here are some of them - first up a Christmas gift box. As you know, I love making boxes. The construction for this was quite simple, but the gorgeous Spellbinders Victorian Medallion 3 die really made it special. The poinsettias are Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettias

And here is a better picture of the top

I thought this was quite feminine, so we should make a gent's gift box as well. My brother always asks for ties for Christmas (goodness knows what I'll do when he packs in work!), so I went and found a tie and designed a box round that. It would also be great for gloves, silk scarf, home made sweets ....

Then it was back to cards - and a break fromChristmas. The scalloped borders are Spellbinders and the doily is quite an old Marianne one, but it's one of my favourites, though it's not so fancy as some of the new dies

But we were soon back to Christmas, and after all that die-cutting, we did some stamping. Mind you there was a lot of die-cutting of ovals first. The card as you can see was just a simple Spellbinders heirloom ornament matted onto Christmas paper and topped with a Sue Wilson bow. So we spent the morning/ afternoon making lots of different images. They all started with hills and a sunset (inspired by Card-i-o) and then everyone chose different stamps to make scenes - the ones that weren't used on the cards can be made into Christmas tags or toppers for other cards. It was great to see such a fantastic variety.

Then back to industrial strength Cuttlebugging. I love this border die (Lyra, by Sue Wilson) but it was quite complicated to cut the layers - still, being on red alert by the Cuttlebugs, did get me out of making the coffees! We stamped snowflakes on the background paper and embossed the bauble (another Spellbinder). In case you're wondering, the leaves are not a strange red colour - that would be my jumper, reflected in the silver leaves.

I was really pleased with how this next one turned out. Trish very kindly lent me her fabulous Frostyville border die (Memory Box). We made hills from torn card and added Marianne Tiny Pines and a stamped Santa (Dimension Fourth - now sadly I believe no longer in business).

This didn't take very long so we had time to make a small origami gift box, which I'll put on my next blog, when I've photographed it.

Hope you like what we've been doing
Happy crafting
J xx

Card Club Makes

Hi Crafty Friends

I don't know how that happened ! We have got to the end of August an I still haven't caught up with July's cards.

Here is some of what we've been up to

This one obviously inspired by the lovely Wendy at Card-i-o -and this one

This one was inspired by my good friend's husband whose birthday it was the week we made it.

It was nice to use my old Dimension Fourth music stamps which haven't had much of an airing.

And this is a very quick card using the fabulous Stampin Up 'Ornamental Pine' stamps - as requested by June.

It was quick to do, so we made tags from the off cuts - waste not,want not,

All for now

happy crafting

xx

July Catch-up

Hi Craft Friends

I've been AWOL for ages, as I've been working!! But it's finally done and I'm free, so it's a pity that just as I can contemplate loafing with a glass of wine on my new(ish) patio, it pours down. Still, it's given me time to catch up here.
The Card Club is going well, 2 groups a week, and they're a lot of fun.

I went to the Doncaster Summer Crafting show with two of my lovely friends from the Tuesday club, and met most of the rest  when we got there. We had a great time and spotted a few bargains!
Still no Christmas papers, and everyone wants to get on with Christmas cards.

So here is some of what we've been making

This used a free embossing folder (from Simply Cards and Papercraft, I think) and it set off a hunt for back copies of the mag. I should be on commission!

Next up was this

A lot of die cutting, but I got to use my new Sue Wilson corner die

Then by way of a change we did stamping and colouring. We heat embossed the flowers with white as a resist

Then it was time to tackle Christmas with no Christmas papers

OK, so orange may not be everybody's first thought when it comes to Christmas (you know who you are!), but hey ho.
A similar concept to the lovely Clarity stamp, but here the letters are die cuts and the O is an aperture. It features my favourite Christmas stamp of all time (probably my favourite stamp ever). We covered Santa with glitter using DS tape, which triggered a run on Ticker T Boo (bargain basement shop to non-locals) for the wide tape.

I'll be back soon with more of what we've been doing, but in the mean time

happy crafting

Jx

Craft Club

Hi Crafty Friends

Just a quick catch up. I'm pleased to say the open day did not deter people and we now have a thriving craft club. So far the weather has been kind and it's been fun having people round to craft.

We had a week off when I went to see my friend in Greece, but we're now back and at full steam!

Here are two of the cards we've made

The roses are hand made because I didn't have a die and we stacked the frame for extra dimension. The image has several layers of UTEE for a realistic effect

Thinking of Tracey, I decided to make a new home card. This one is a variation on a stepper card, and proved quite complicated. I'd started with the intention of making a card to fit the envelopes I have loads of, but needless to say, when I decided to add a pointy roof, it no longer fit, so we had to make envelopes as well. Still everybody managed it, and we had a good time. 

The fence is Spellbinders, the arches Go Create and I've no idea what make the trees are, but they're meant to be coral.

happy crafting

jan xx

My Open Day

Hi Crafty Friends

Well, it was a massive project, but my 'craftery' (aka the conservatory) is now a proper useable space.
I had an open day last Saturday, with crafty bargains, a make and take and my lovely friend. Maureen did sterling work manning the kettle.

Thanks also to Wendy, for loads of help (mainly involving heavy loads!) and also to the builders (M. Jakes) for some excellent work, and for helping out with really heavy lifting.

Thanks to all my lovely crafting friends who could make it, I had a really good time, and hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

here it is, nearly ready

as you can see, lots of items for sale


Most of these storage units are also for sale, so I'm hoping to get a bit more space for crafting tables

This is a super sunny spot for morning coffee

And here are some of my visitors, doing a lot more nattering than crafting!

When it got full, I was too busy to take pics

My lovely OH built this for me (over many years), it just needed a bit of finishing off by the builders. I am so proud of what he did, and pleased I have it, as both a memorial to him, and the start of new things.

I'm looking forward to a lot of crafting in here.

Jan xx

Easter Bunnies

Hi Crafty Friends

You might remember a few posts ago, I made some Christmas favour boxes. Well, I was delighted to be asked to tweak the idea for Easter. So I came up with these two Easter Bunnies, and shared them with the lovely ladies of Sue's class. 

I just hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did - I suspect quite a lot of grandchildren will be getting extra supplies of mini eggs in bunnies this Easter.

happy crafting

xx

Bro's birthday

Hi Crafty Friends

Just thought I'd share with you the card I made for my brother's birthday. I got the idea off Pinterest and when I can find it again, I'll put the link on here. The one I saw looked like the shapes were cut out with dies, Cricut etc, whereas mine are much less exact, being drawn and hand cut by me. The eye should be smaller, (or not even there) but hey ho ...

Many thanks to the lovely lady in Boyes who provided DS tape, biro etc etc and let me stick the eye on & finish the card on her desk, and thereby make the post in time.

happy crafting

xx