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Hello friends - I'm home!

Thank you for all stopping by my blog while I was away in Turkey and 

I hear you too had some sunny weather so that was nice.
I was pleased I could fit in a Friday Die-Day before I left and I've had quite a few enquiries regarding the advent box frame - a local framing shop made these up for me and I'm wondering whether to request some more and put this together as a kit later in the year...what do you think?

So..my holiday - I had lots of sunshine, a very relaxing time, plenty of scrummy food - in fact I think I'm going to find it a little difficult to pick up where I left off but I must...

there is that wondrous creative event called CHA just around the corner and I have 

quite a few projects to make and send off.  

For a while my blog posts may deviate from the 'daily' but I'm hoping you will understand.

Anyway..back to today and I would love to share with you some of my holiday pics.

I stayed in Calis which is near Fethiye - it is known for its beautiful blue bays and I can vouch for that having taken a boat trip ....but more recently because Daniel Craig has been filming the new 

James Bond film there - Skyfall.  I think I just missed Daniel by a week or two...!

You can swim off the back of these boats while the crew cook your lunch.

It is an amazing day out, setting off at 9am and back at tea time, cruising around the bays, dipping in the sea when you feel hot and then settling down for a delicious lunch.

Another rocks and sea picture...it was so beautiful...

The beach - I ate in the restaurants opposite frequently but chose to stick with the pool, 

not a big lover of sand! 

This is where I stayed - my friend's apartment is on the left, wonderful view of mountains.

 And this is a friend I made....

So I can most certainly say the best things about Turkey:

the scenery, the food, the people, the sun and the slow pace of life.

I also have to say that a Kindle is just amazing, I borrowed my son's and downloaded 

three books and read all of them - I haven't been able to read that much in years...

I still missed my home, family and Bella though!

Back soon friends and hope you don't mind this being a holiday dominated post and not at all crafty!

Father's Day Card 4

Hello friends,

Yes..another Father's Day card! 

I have to say I think this one is my favourite - isn't that a great photo!

I created the card to look like a notepad. I have a brilliant background stamp from Penny Black that is script and another one that is music notes - they are permanent fixtures on my craft desk.

I attached the photo and border strips at an angle and tied a simple Classic Heart and twine.

Keep your eyes peeled there will be a 'returning home' post tomorrow...possibly a few photos! 

Take care,

Friday - it's Die Day!

Hello friends...you didn't think I would abandon you on a Friday Die Day did you??

I know this is proving popular so before I jetted off to Turkey I scheduled a post.

I had a request to feature Square Bracket Edge Box....

I had no hesitation seeing as it is ranked it my top ten dies!

So here it is - this is one of the 'Grand' dies so a little more expensive but I have to say you get tons of use out of it..hence this very long blog post!  

You receive the box template - base and lid, (the lid features the classic shape of Labels One around the edge) and you also receive six little decorative flower templates.

 The beauty of your Grand Calibur™ base plate - it's large enough to cut/emboss a whole box.

 This is how the box looks cut/embossed - I've chosen a patterned base and a plain cream lid.

You can see the embossing creates your fold lines, use a bone folder to define these.

 Use adhesive on the little flaps, lift, insert, adhere and your box begins to take shape.

 Now a little idea for those decorative floral templates - how about some reverse stencilling...

select a flower and an ink pad..

 Liberally dab with ink, put a piece of scrap paper underneath.

 Transfer this on to your base plate, I just slide it off the paper so my fingers do not get quite so messy!

I'm using the smaller base plate here because I'm only cutting one little itty bitty die! 

 Cut/emboss and look how it turns out...the ink is transferred onto the cardstock, such a great technique and...

 also looks great in red!

 Clean the ink off your die template with a baby wipe or a damp cloth.

 I've just layered the flowers up with foam pads and popped them on the box lid. 

It is so simple!

Did I mention how much I like this die template....it seems I've used it quite a bit...

here using Core'dinations and Anemone Flower Topper ...

Recently a pretty Spring time box...

Creating quite a few to make a Christmas advent box...

Add ribbon, twine and more...

And it works in felt too...!

I hope you enjoy this box feature today...

as usual please mention/drop me an email if you have a certain die that you wish me to feature.

I will be flying home tomorrow and back to everyday posting very soon.

Take care friends.

Father's Day Card 3

Hello friends,

By the magic of Blogger (I hope) this blog post should pop up on your screens today!

Another Father's Day card but this time something a little different - I created a fridge magnet, so a little keepsake too.  I typed out 'Happy Father's Day' on my computer to create the backing of the magnet,

layered two Classic Hearts and positioned a tiny crystal gem...

only to realise the front of the magnet wouldn't close!  

I had to punch a tiny hole for gem to fit into..fiddly but worth it.

Quite a bit of distressing and placing the image, papers and magnet at an angle..I do struggle with straightness!

I do hope while I'm away you are getting sunshine. 

Take care friends.

Vintage Tag

Hello friends

A vintage looking tag today.  

This is what I created for Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L™  blog as one of my monthly projects.

There are more step by step pictures and instructions if you zip over there.  As always - 

if you are able to leave a comment on their blog I would be truly grateful.

I did just want to show you how brilliant it is to make Bitty Blossoms with their 

Adhesive Sheets, they run so smoothly through the Grand Calibur™ 

Adhere your patterned paper to adhesive sheet, cut/emboss.

Peel off the backing, roll your flowers and you get cute little rosebud flowers.

All of Scrapbook Adhesives products are available in the UK from Tonic Studios

Take care,

Going away....

Hello friends,

I've got a little bit of news..I'm going away today...

to Turkey.

A good friend of mine owns her own place there.  I have been lucky to have visited and stayed with her before when I took this photo below.  It is a stunning place - beautiful, idyllic and restful.  

So..I hope you will not mind that I'm going to be gone for just a little while... I have scheduled a few blog so please stop by...but not quite everyday....

I'm going to recharge my batteries, lay on a sunbed and make copious amounts of crafty notes!
I will be back - refreshed, revived and renewed(!) with lots of projects to share with you every day.

Normal service will resume!

(Apologies - if you live outside the UK you will probably not realise what this picture means!)

Take care my lovely friends.

Friday Die-Day!

Hello friends,

Yes..it's here..it's Friday and it's Die-Day!

Upon Lydia's request I've gone all Daisy!  I'm featuring Daisy Flower Topper.

I know I've used these on cards and projects frequently but I thought it would be nice to show 

you how I create these floral lovelies.  

You receive four dies with this set, three petals and one flower middle.

This is how they look cut/embossed.

 Stencilled through with distress ink - so much more striking.

 You will see from this image I also like to use some distress ink around the edges of the petals too,  it softens them a little.

My method of creating a dimensional daisy is to take the largest petal layer and tweak the outer leaves downwards, for the other petal layers I tweak the inner leaves upwards.

 It looks a little clearer here, the largest petal layer works as a platform.

Plenty of foam pads (much like the Aster Flower Topper featured last Friday).

You can flatten the flower a little bit, purely your choice.

 The finished flower with middle added.

 Equally as pretty using patterned paper.

 And extra nice if you use other mediums, here I've used felt.

It cuts like butter in the Grand Calibur® - if you haven't tried cutting felt please do...but it is addictive!

 I've decided I'm going to add a button to the middle and sew on a little brooch pin,

a quick and easy gift.

As always, please mention/email me any die requests for Friday Die-Day.

Before I go, I want to say a special hello to Ita, it is her daughter's wedding today, she has been working so hard on making all the invitations and more - wishing you a wonderful day and sunny weather!

Take care friends.

Home

Hello Blogland

A 'HOME' scrapbook layout today..well not actually my home because I'm in the tiny VT 

but this is my sister's beautiful home.

I took this photo last year and when I espied the gorgeous GCD Studios - Antiquities paper 

I thought it matched perfectly.

This time I've used Labels Twenty-Four as a tag - the shape is so useful.

Grand Scalloped Circles as a background to my picture, the tiny bird is from Cuckoo Clock and I created the border under the photo from Moroccan Motifs.

'favourite place to be' yes..spelt American...!

A simple(ish) layout but strangely this one took ages, I kept moving stuff around so much that I had to come back to it the next day!

I'm back tomorrow and we know what day it is....!