Wonderful News!

Hello friends

So life hasn't been treating us too kind recently but thankful for the brilliant news I received

yesterday....I've made it through to the second round of Spellbinders Design Team!

It was hard for me this year to sit down and focus but I knew I really had to -

I cannot imagine my life without Spellbinders! 

Wish me luck with the further rounds.

I am also delighted to see some familiar and new names too - congratulations to you all.

Back to some craft.....

In light of my good news I thought I would revisit one of my first Spellbinders projects

I created.  A trio of goodies and using a variety of dies including Square Bracket Edge Box,

and Floral Flourishes.  The flowers are actually created from 2011 Snowflake Pendant. 

I was asked if there are instructions available for the envelope

gift bag I featured yesterday.  I can actually go one better!

This is my You Tube video showing how to make a gift bag from an envelope.

Enjoy your weekend and may it be sunny and bright where you are.

Take care.

A Friday Round-Up

Hello friends

Firstly - thank you Rita for claiming your prize yesterday,

Vintage Lace Accents are on their way to you.

Next I must announce the winner of Fanciful Flight...

the winner is....

BUTTONS

Congratulations - please drop me an email with your address and I will post them out,

I could ask them to fly but not sure they would flutter in the right direction!

Sorry Bella did not pick out the winner (again!) I seem to type my blog posts very late at night or 

very early in the morning and she is snuggled in bed - I am way too soft I know! 

Today's craft project is a scrapbook page for Spellbinders™.

It has just appeared in their Gallery so all the details are here.

I wanted the page to look like a pretty pin-board, I've used a variety of dies including Edgeabilities®,

the new A2 Scalloped Borders One and the very pretty Adorning Squares.

I just kept adding bits, layer upon layer and then finally a butterfly!

Now it wouldn't be a Friday unless something nice was happening....

this week I have a set of pre-loved Decorative Dress Forms dies to give away.

Some time back I created a little envelope gift bag using these.

Ideal for girlie cards etc.

Normal drill please - just leave a comment and I (or hopefully Bella this time) will pick out a winner.

Have a wonderful weekend dear friends.

The Return of the Butterflies

Hello friends
Thank you for all the praising comments for my new lawn,
also Mitchell does deserve a big pat on the back!

Today I am sharing with you my Advanced project for Spellbinders™ Featured Tutorials.
As mentioned, I was lucky to be using Butterfly Corner die set
for my projects and we know how much I love a butterfly...or two!
I chose to create a card, it is slightly different to my usual style, it
has a rather busy clustered look but I was delighted with the finished result.

 You can see that I've used some thin cork to cut one of the die cuts, always good to experiment
with other mediums and your dies.  I also used one of the new Media Mixage blanks,
a flower and used some glitter glue and paint over the top.  It was really sparkly in real life!
Full instructions for this project can be downloaded here.
There are some step by step photos included too.

I haven't forgotten to do a draw for Fanciful Flight...it will be announced soon.
Also...very last chance Rita...please get in touch as you are the winner of Vintage Lace Accents!
Take care friends.

Grass!

Hello friends

A different blog post today but something I wanted to share with you.

The VT (Victorian Terrace) has had a garden makeover! 

My garden is small but amazingly it still takes a lot of gardening time.  

Over the last 10 years or so I've re-turfed the lawn a couple of times but it never looked good,

certain areas always refused to grow and it was never going to look bowling green standard! 

My eldest son Mitchell hit upon the idea of artificial lawn - after some research we discovered

it is pet friendly, weather resistant and permanently green! 

I was able to buy an off-cut to fit my garden and taking on the job ourselves meant it 

would be economical too.

So the task began...

 Mitchell lifting the old lawn.

 As you can see it wasn't a great lawn!

 Tiring work.

 Very exhausting for Bella!

 More than half way lifting the old lawn.

Ikea bags - so useful for gardening!

 A wooden frame was needed (thank you Dad!)

 Levelling the soil - again big thanks to my Dad who stepped in to help.

'Stepped in' is what we all had to do at this point - trampling the ground to make it firm.

For ages we waddled around like penguins - I'm sure it gave the neighbours a giggle.

 13 bags of sand later....

 and plenty of paw prints!

 The artificial lawn at last ...it is like fitting a carpet.

 Finished - much greener and nicer!

 I'm thrilled with the end result.

So grateful to my family.

 Mitchell worked so hard, he said he wanted to make things easier for me over the Summer.

(I think he really meant he didn't want to end up mowing  the lawn each week!)

So - not craft related today but I will be back soon with some projects.

Take care friends.

More Butterflies...Yes Please!

Hello friends

As mentioned yesterday, I recently created three projects for a Spellbinders™ Featured Tutorial, 

all using the very lovely Butterfly Corner.

This is the 'intermediate' project and I chose to create a little purse,

there is a bag of chocolates inside...I promise you there is, I didn't eat them!

I wanted it to look like a vintage clutch bag and I think this wonderful Graphic 45 - Birdsong 

paper truly helps.

Full instructions (that can be downloaded too) can be found here.

Enjoy your Bank Holiday Monday - we are promised a heatwave here in the South East.

I may have to get out and do some gardening....!

I will be back soon with some more projects and the winner of Fanciful Flight.

Also...RITA...not heard from you with regard to winning the Vintage Lace Accents - it appears

I just cannot give this set away!   

Hopefully Rita will be in touch soon but if not I will make another draw

next week.

Take care friends.

Never Tire of Butterflies!

Hello friends

It was my turn recently to create three projects for the Spellbinders Featured Tutorials section

and you can imagine how thrilled I was when they asked me to use 

Butterfly Corner - right up my street!

The idea of the tutorials is to have three project levels - easy, intermediate and advanced.

Today I'm going to share with you the 'easy' project.

A kraft card base with cream cardstock embossed only with the corner die.

Cut/embossed and stencilled butterfly, stamped sentiment and twine. Now that's easy.

You can view and download the full instructions here.

I think this could work in many different colour combinations, perhaps an idea for invitations.

I will be back soon with the other projects.
Hope you are all enjoying the weekend, fingers crossed we get sunshine and not
typical Bank Holiday weather!

Take care friends.