Scorching!

Hello friends

Well it's a definite heatwave here in the South East,

I'm thankful my craft cabin is mostly in the shade.

That dinner I mentioned on Sunday evening prepared by Mitchell and his girlfriend...

I was massively impressed.  Mitchell really enjoys cooking so much so

he an interview next week to see if he can enroll on a Professional Cookery course,

he hopes to do this alongside his regular job.

My dream of a craft cafe/restaurant may happen...!

I hit the ground running this week with work and I'm pleased to report

that July's Charity Kit is prepared and ready to announce tomorrow.

In between here's a little sneak peek!

Please stop by tomorrow for all the details.

Now today before the sun reaches roast I have to do some ironing...groan!
And I will take some photos of my clematis chair - it's really growing :)

Take care friends.

Just...

Hello friends

Just stopping by to say hello and hope you are all having a good weekend.

Also apologies for the lack of blog posts, it's been super busy what with working

in London and then heading off to Nottingham to demo.

All went very well and again it was lovely to meet new crafter friends.

I will be back very soon but right now about to enjoy a dinner cooked by

Mitchell and his girlfriend... :)

Take care friends.

Friday Die Day

Hello friends

 

It's Friday Die Day and this week I'm featuring Floral Gazebo.

There's quite a few elements to this die set and the approximate sizes are as follows:

 

Bird:  ⅝ x ¾”
Flower 1: ⅝”
Flower 2: ¾ x 1¼”
Vine 1: ½ x 3” (2 pcs)
Vine 2: ¾ x 2⅞”
Gazebo: 3⅛ x 4⅜”

 

This is how it looks cut/embossed.

For my card design I've cut/embossed two of the gazebo pieces and cut

the second die cut as pictured.

I cut/embossed the vines and entwined them in the gazebo sections.

I then glued them into place, just down the outer edge to create a hinge door effect.

My card base is white card matted with floral paper - Arcadia Unity

cut/embossed with Pierced rectangles

From white card I cut/embossed Ivy and using the small flower from this die set

created shaped flowers using one of the Stylus tools for the Tool n' One.

The Stylus tools come in a pack of three and are available here.

Positioned the Gazebo on the card front slightly to the left.

I stamped a sentiment onto white card and placed this across the trellis area.

Added ivy and shaped flowers.

Close ups of the finished card.

Floral Gazebo is available on the website here,

along with Ivy and Pierced Rectangles.

 

 

Also I'm really liking using the Stylus tips for flower shaping, there is three in

the set and they come in a handy plastic pouch so you don't lose them..in theory anyway!

 

This weekend I'm demoing in Nottingham - PDA Card and Craft.

Mum is coming along too :)  Hopefully some of you may live that way.

 

More venues have been added to the Ambassador Tour - please keep a check on

the tab on the website here. 

Over the next month or so I'm a little more local to home and then heading 

off to the Midlands again.

I'm looking into getting to the South West - have Grand Calibur will travel!

 

Take care friends and have a lovely weekend.



Is it you??

Hello friends

Is it you?  Are you one of the winners?

Today announcing two winners, each will receive an

Enchanted M-Bossabilities folder.

And the lucky names are:

Little Lamb

Karen Lotty

Please email hope-chances@live.co.uk with your address details

and a folder will be on its way to you.

Don't forget to use the M-Bossabilities folder in your Grand Calibur you need

a Raspberry Spacer Plate.

Other news:  Utility Girl asked about Scrapbook Magazine and whether it 

was going to be published quarterly.  I'm sad to announce that Scrapbook Magazine 

has now closed.  As we probably all know scrapbooking is not as popular here in the UK,

I am going to miss creating pages for the magazine but I'm determined not to 

give up scrapbooking - it is where my crafting journey began and I love it.

As a fond farewell I'm sharing one of my very first pages I made for the magazine.

A Christmassy layout - Cute as a Button - that's my mum in the photo!

It features Labels Eighteen and Spiral Blossoms One.

Take care friends and stop by tomorrow for FDD.

Bella's Birthday!

Hello friends

So the most important member of the family celebrated her birthday

she is now 4 years old!

This is Bella at 8 weeks old, little did we know that she would grow up to be

the best dog in the world...okay I'm very biased! 

Her day was pretty much normal, walk in the woods, spot of breakfast,
cuddles and a rather nice dinner with roast pork added!

She did receive a new bag of treats and a cuddly toy.
She joined me in the cabin for a little bit of crafting...

I didn't tell her that I've made a phone call to the groomer!

Then it was the end of a rather busy day... exhausted pooch.

It's a dog's life.

It seems fitting I should share a craft project featuring Bella, how about 

a scrapbook page, created some time ago...

If you look hard you can spot Labels Four!

Take care friends.

Be Happy!

Hello friends

A little card today featuring Curved Squares and my flowers of the moment...
Marisa's Bouquet

There is a full blog post and tutorial here and I chat about some of my favourite adhesives.

Please hop over and take a look and you feel inclined ...I would love you to leave a comment :)

The Dentist!  Can't say I'm a fan but thankfully I'm just having some
cleaning work done, no major stuff...I think!
Have to admit I didn't keep up with appointments for the last couple of years so
I need a few now to get things sorted  I got 'the look' from the dentist!

In between I've been adding some bits and bobs to the website,
there are new dies to pre-order - Victorian 2 range...
these are just some of the gorgeous new ones.
You can see the new collection here.

 And the Stylus tips have arrived for the Tool n' One - they are in stock here.

Take care friends - wishing you all a great start to the week.

Kitty Play Dad!

Hello friends

Today is Father's Day (please look away Dad if you're reading this post first thing!)
My Dad is a complete animal lover and especially fond of his cat Lucy
so a Kitty card was the order of the day.
I used the stretching cat die from Kitty Play (on sale!)
and die cut leaving the aperture in a long piece of cream cardstock.

Onto kraft card I matted chocolate brown card and stamped 'Dad' in the bottom corner.

I tied twine twice around the bottom of the cream card piece.

The light is showing my card as rippled, no idea why!

I then die cut the paw prints from the set and applied those.

For some colour I added the vine and leaf die cut from Flower Bundle.

The finished card.

And some close up pics.

Bottoms up!

Wishing all Dads a very happy day, especially mine he is a star and I love him dearly.

My legs are working much better now, many thanks for all the kind comments and
messages, I'm celebrating with a week of dentist appointments! :(

Take care friends.

Saturday Giveaway!

Hello friends

Yesterday for Friday Die Day I featured decorated envelopes.
Along with Fancy Framed Tags Four I also used
M-Bossabilities folder - Enchanted.


Today I have 2, yes 2! of these M-Bossabilities folders to give away.

Really easy, just make sure you are a blog follower (please subscribe)

and leave a comment on today's post.

Two winners will be picked out next week so please pop back to check.

Happy weekend and take care friends.

Friday Die Day

Hello friends

Friday Die Day this week is focusing on tags,
Fancy Framed Tags Four.

There are 3 designs of tags in this set which have inserts so you can make
solid tags or die cut with the aperture as below.
The approximate measurements are:

Tag 1: ¾ x 1½”
Tag 2: 1⅜ x 2″
Tag 3: 2⅜ x 3⅛”

This is how they look cut/embossed.

I decided to decorate envelopes this week, the poor envelope

gets rather neglected!

Using an M-Bossabilities folder - Enchanted,

insert the entire envelope inside and run through your Grand Calibur -

remember you will need a Raspberry Spacer Plate.

I die cut the middles from two of the tags and stamped a sentiment.

Positioned the tags on the bottom left corner, on one envelope I attached

some ribbon first. 

Finishing touch, tiny flower and leaf - Marisa's Bouquet and black pearl.

This would work well in other colourways,

great for invitations, gift cards and more.

I'm at home this weekend, no travelling to demo which is probably a good thing.
I'm now on the mend so hoping to catch up with jobs....there's a lot of them :)

Talking of demos - more dates added, I'm in Lyndhurst, Hampshire in October and returning to
Cheshire in September.  Next  weekend I'm demoing in Nottingham.
Please stop by the Ambassador Tour page for all the details.

Have a lovely weekend and please stop by tomorrow...it's a giveaway!

Take care friends.

Are you the Winner?

Hello friends

Just stopping by to announce this month's Charity Kit winning number and it is...

Please check your kits and if you have the lucky 79 pink ticket please email me at

hope-chances@live.co.uk

A parcel of goodies will then be sent out to you.

This month's kit was a speedy sell out.

July's kit is being planned and Mum is at the ready to do the die cutting!

Thank you for all your kind wishes regarding my tootsies, ankles and legs -
I'm doing as I'm told and now awaiting some blood test results but hope to be
back rushing around soon - I'm not good at sitting still!

Please stop by tomorrow for Friday Die Day, that did get completed this week

unlike many other things - my ironing pile is scary!

Take care friends.

So lovely...

Hello friends

Reporting on my busy weekend away in Chester.

I demoed at Burleydam Garden Centre and it was a brilliant day,

the lady who runs the craft store there - Tracey is an absolute gem - 

she kept Mum and I stocked up with tea and a superb lunch.

The highlight of my day was a visit from a blog follower - Ann Edwards.

Ann had travelled from Liverpool by bus (2 hours!) to come along.

She also astounded me by the gifts she had made...

a chocolate wrapper for Mum...

 A huge bar of chocolate wrapped for the boys...

they are sharing!! 

 And a beautiful basket for me - full of chocolates and also a gorgeous butterfly 

(I intend to use that in a project soon).

Ann you are a very special lady and I'm so pleased we got to meet,

hopefully see you again soon.

Apologies that there may be some  slightly erratic blog posts,
it's been super busy and also I've had to put my feet up...literally! 

I've developed very puffy tootsies, feet and legs (not attractive!) and on doctor's orders

I'm having to keep them elevated as much as possible.

It's a blood pressure thing and being sorted but right now crafting is a little bit tricky! 

I have to say Bella is loving the fact that I'm sitting down quite a bit...

although yesterday she was helping Mum and Dad lay some new turf in their

garden...or sleeping on it!

 

Take care friends, I'm hopefully back very soon.

International Ambassadors are blog hopping!

Hello friends

  The Spellbinders International Ambassadors are having an informal blog hop again
and this time we are heading back in time and going Victorian!
 We have been having so much fun with these blog hops and delighted at how many of you
visit, play along and leave such lovely comments.  
I hope you are getting to know us and seeing our different styles,
each one of us is unique in our creative styles - so there is something for everyone!

From this beautiful selection of dies I've chosen to use Foliage Lattice.

The die set is two pieces, an inset and border.
For my project I chose to use just the inset.

I positioned this onto white cardstock on my cutting plate together with

5 x 7 Matting Basics.

Onto the reverse I applied 3D Foam Squares and affixed a piece of

patterned paper - My Mind's Eye - On Trend.

Attached this to a further 5 x 7 Matting Basics die cut and a white card front.

Now for some embellishments - Ivy cut from matching white card,

Pretty Petals C cut from the same pack of My Mind's Eye papers and a stamped

sentiment with a hand cut banner.

Clustered these together in the bottom left corner, tiny pearls added and it's finished!

Some close up pics - I love the embossed areas of this die.

 

For more inspiration with the Victorian collection

here is the list of blogs to visit, have fun looking at the all the different projects.

 

Yvonne van de Grijp

Christine Emberson (You are here)

 Christina Griffiths

Linda Lucas

 

Thanks so much for stopping by - we hope you enjoy your time with us.

We will be back with more!