Friday Die Day

Hello friends

Back today with Friday Die Day.

With love in the air with Valentine's yesterday I have chosen

a heart themed card using Die D'Lite die set - Industrial 2.

This is a six piece die set and the approximate measurements are:

Light Bulb: 1.20 x 1.90 in
Wire: 0.60 x 1.00 in
Small Wheel: 0.90 x 0.90 in
Medium Wheel: 1.00 x 1.00 in
Large Wheel: 1.10 x 1.10 in
Inspire: 3.00 x 0.70 in 

Using Classic Hearts I cut an outer and inner heart from 

silver engraving card.

The heart die cut.

Using an assortment of engraving card colours - silver, gold and copper,

I used Industrial 2 and gut mutiple gears.

Just using an emery board to reveal the colour beneath and leaving a little 

of the black in place for a vintage look.

I roughly set out a design that would fit inside the heart outline.

Once I was happy with this (and realised I had the light bulb upside down!)

I mounted them onto kraft card.

I used some liquid glue and affixed the light bulb with 3D Foam Squares.

I typed a sentiment (font is Bell MT), cut and inked the edges with distress ink.

The finished card with some black matting.

Not necessarily a Valentine's...

Items used today with clickable links:

Industrial 2

3D Foam Squares

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, I've got a list of things

for this weekend inluding doing a roast on 

Sunday now I have my dining room back!

Take care friends.

Back to the cabin...

Hello friends

Today is a serious craft day in the cabin,

then I will have some things to show you! 

I still don't think I've got to crafty grips with 2019, 

being poorly set me back and I've been playing truant

trying out other crafts which has been fun but distracting. 

What I have managed to do is set up quite a lot of workshops 

which are now detailed on my Spellbinders on Tour page here.

I've got regular workshops here in Gravesend and also over the

Thames in Basildon, Essex.

Along with those you can find me in Bury St Edmunds  next month,

Peterborough in April and Lyndhurst in September.

Possibly more venues coming too.

If you live nearby any of these it would be so nice to see you,

guaranteed lots of crafty makes, chatter and laughter! 

Also what has set me back a little is having some decorating

done at home. We live in a very small house but to have the lounge/diner

decorated has been a big upheaval.  

Pleased to report it should be finished tomorrow and

I can get back to normal after what has been nearly 5 weeks,

relishing the thought of sitting on a sofa!

Thank you to those who have asked after my Mum,

she is recovering slowly.  She has quite a few other conditions that

hinder her getting fully back on her feet and she has lost a lot of weight.

She reads my blog and comments and I know she's very touched

by you asking about her.  I've told her she's got to be up and running 

around as she likes to come along to my workshops and I need her help! 

OK so rather than me talk about it I need to get to it!

It's a chilly one here in Kent so the heater will be on full in 

the crafty cabin and I'll be cranking that Platinum handle furiously.

Take care friends.

Friday Die Day

Hello friends

This week's Friday Die Day is a festive die so I'm either 

late or very early! 

It's Charming Snowflake Doily one of the Charming Christmas

Collection dies designed by Becca Feeken.

It occured to me that the main snowflake element could be used 

all year round especially as it features hearts and with

Valentine's on the horizon....

There are six dies in total and the approximate measurements are:

Star Charm: 1.20 x 1.25 in 3.00 x 3.20 cm

Snowflake Charm: 1.20 x 1.35 in 3.00 x 3.40 cm

Bell Charm: 1.25 x 1.35 in 3.20 x 3.40 cm

Snowflake Inner Rim: 1.80 x 1.80 in 4.60 x 4.60 cm

Snowflake: 4.00 x 4.25 in 10.10 x 10.80 cm

Snowflake Outer Rim: 4.50 x 4.75 in 11.40 x 12.10 cm

I have placed the large snowflake inset die onto the right hand 

bottom corner of my 5 x 5 card front and I'm going to emboss only.

The sandwich for this with the Platinum is card with die taped in place upwards,

embossing mat and blue embossing plate. 

I recommend you use good cardstock with a reasonable weight for 

embossing only otherwise it may cut through.

The embossed only card front.

Next I discovered my box of washi tape - goodness I've accumulated a lot of tape!

Time to use some up. Applied strips of tape to a piece of card.

Positioned and die cut a circle.

Positioned and held in place with 3D Foam Squares.

To finish my card, I added twine, a stamped 'thank you' sentiment, gemstones

and a little flower and leaf set.

White, clean, simple and not Christmassy at all!

Photographed in between rain showers!

Items used today with clickable links:

Snowflake Doily (on sale!)

3D Foam Squares

Charming Christmas Collection - all in our sale can be viewed here.

Tomorrow I will be at Marie's Emporium for a Spellbinders workshop,

looking forward to catching up with ladies who used to visit my shop.

If you are local to Kent it is possible to book via their website

and Facebook page.

Take care friends, wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Gift Wrap Card

Hello friends

Snow came...snow went! 

It was very pretty but I'm grateful to get about without worrying.

Still extremely cold so I suspect we may be in for some more white stuff.

In between a project I created for Scrapbook Adhesives popped up

on their blog here.

It features recycling gift wrap to create a Valentine's card

and those wonderful 3D Foam Squares.

I used 6 x 6 Matting Squares along with a combination of heart dies.

If you have chance to pop along to their blog to leave

a comment I could be grateful, all the details are here.

At my class last Saturday the ladies were super impressed by the 

Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares, they really are so easy to 

remove and peel off the backing.

We have the full collection on the website here.

Take care friends, hope your week is going well.

Quilting - it's fun!

Hello friends

I finally got back to my sewing machine to create my third quilting block,

this one is called Churn Dash.

It's one of the Hayley West designs and available from Hochanda.

I deliberately left this one to last as I thought it was going to be tricky

but I was wrong. Once I grasped that it is just a series of triangles 

and rectangles and as long as you position them correctly it's super easy.

I also figured out the exact 1/4" sewing line on my machine and that made a big 

difference.  My machine is very old but still works perfectly and 

I now feel guilty for thinking about buying a new one!

The little iron and pad I purchased is invaluable.

Placing and deciding the rectangles and triangles.

I actually think I should have had the outer triangle/squares

the other way around but hey ho, I quite like this different design! 

All stitched, some very minor misalignment but, as Hayley says,

the quilting police will not call! 

The finished panel with border strips. So much easier than I anticipated

and a joy to make.  I think I could get quite hooked on quilting.

Check out Hayley's designs on the Hochanda website and

she has just launched a further three panels

along with panels where you can create your own fabric designs,

clever stuff.

Take care friends.

Friday Die Day

Hello friends

Brhhh - it is truly winter now, I returned to my London job

yesterday and even in the city it was -4! 

I prepared this week's Friday Die Day with my cabin heater 

running on high!

This week it is Lisette Oval, one of Becca Feeken's lovely designs.

It is a 6 piece die set and the approximate measurements are:

Large Oval 4.25 x 5.50 in. 10.80 x 14.00 cm
Large Pattern Oval: 4.05 x 5.25 in. 10.30 x 13.30 cm
Medium Oval 2.70 x 3.60 in. 6.90 x 9.10 cm
Slat Pattern: 2.50 x 3.40 in. 6.40 x 8.60 cm
Small Oval: 1.65 x 2.55 in. 4.20 x 6.50 cm
Accent: 1.40 x 1.40 in. 3.60 x 3.60 cm

I created a tri-fold card and positioned the largest oval inset die 

to the far right for partial die cutting.

By keeping the cutting plate in line with the scored line 

it cut just a section of the oval.

I then die cut the mid size oval and insert die from the same ivory card 

and chopped off a little bit! 

Attaching Anna Griffin patterned paper inside.

Returning to my card front, attaching the snipped mid size oval die cut.

I then used the smallest oval in this set and the reverse of the patterned paper

for the centre piece.  Again, chopped a section (it does look like an egg!)

and stamped 'thank you' to the middle.  All held in place with 3D Foam Squares.

The finished card with the addition of twine and inked little flowers and leaves.

This shows the patterned paper inside.

I can't help myself - just adore little flowers!

Lisette Oval is available on the website here,

on sale too! 

The Anna Griffin foiled paper is available in paper packs here.

3D Foam Squares available here. 

I'm off to Crafts Plus in Basildon tomorrow

and Sunday I'm hoping to get my sewing machine out to do another 

quilting panel, that's the plan or I may just be staring at snow! 

Take care friends and keep those mittens on!