Monday 19 November 2012

Holly and Ivy

I've not blogged recently but have the excuse that i've been visiting family and not able to craft, back now and i've done 7 large square cards and 1 smaller this morning, everything was printed out last week.
A couple to show as the glue is all dry. Not good photos as the light here today is terrible, i've got the main light and my daylight lamp on and it still seems dark and miserable in my craft area.


Both using the same printed image from the cd i've been using for a while now. This time a simple outline image from Ladybug Crafts Ink, coloured with Promarkers. Matted and layered to within an inch of their lives using pale purple card and silver mirri card on a background of dotty holly leaves which I found in a box of papers printed last year.
I've made each look a bit different in the choice of ribbon and placement of sentiment plaque.
That's me you can see reflected in the mirri card, it was either that or having it black in a scan.

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Owls!

I'm really not keeping up with this card blogging as I should but here are the results of last night's crafting. Not cardmaking, i'm off to do that next.
I finally finished a few more little owl puffs, just 1 more to do now then they all have features. It was very late last night (early morning really) when I found I was short of 1 white circle and really couldn't be bothered to get the Cuttlebug out to cut one. It will get done!

Aren't they cute little things and all looking so different.
Sallie and I have made a facebook selling page and put a couple on there but the rest are for a craft fair that we are doing next month in her local library. That's another reason why I need to get cardmaking.

If you want to see what we have been making take a look at Swardy's Creations on fb.

Thursday 8 November 2012

'Funky' Christmas tree

I finally got back to making cards after spending all yesterday beading and all the evening sewing eyes onto little knitted owls. I still have to do the beaks and feed them some stuffing before sewing them up.
In my last post I used a cd from Complete Cardmaking magazine, well the cd was still in my laptop so I decided to use it again. This time I chose the Funky Hand section and printed out a cute little tree and a couple of backing papers. I coloured the tree in pink with promarkers and added a bit of glitter glue. I used Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut this and the green backer into oval shapes. The pink was cut to size and used as a backing strip. A simple peel-off greeting fills the empty corner.
I'm never sure with ovals as to whether I have them straight or not on the page, I hope these are.

I was very brave and did a bit of dash/dot doodling round the shapes on the card in the same pink as the tree.














Monday 5 November 2012

Digi Christmas

I bought the last couple of issues of Complete Cardmaking as I liked the look of the cd's that came with them. I had a play this morning with the Christmas one and found some cute nativity images by Nitwit Collections.
As these are just click and print on the cd I opened up my MCS programme and imorted the images into it and payed around with sizing and layering so that everything could be printed out a single sheet with no actual cutting out to be done.
Here's the first 2, simply trimmed to size and embellished with Papermania jewels and pearls. Quick and easy but effective and ideal for children to give or receive.



I've seen that Funky Hand have contributed to the cd as well so will have a look at those images in the days to come. I'm particularly liking the pink tree card that is shown in the magazine.

Sunday 4 November 2012

Ooops, missed 2 days.

Well this blogging everyday didn't last long for me. I had this ready to blog on friday evening but got caught up with stamping in cards and bagging them. Then I had to clear and tidy the room i've been using to photograph things as my daughter was coming straight after work to stay the weekend and needed to be able to get to the bed.
Yesterday we were out for a good deal of the time and then spent the evening sorting the jewellery we'd made and making more. Anyway she's just left and hubby has just gone to work so I can settle down to myself again. It's suddenly gone very quiet round here though. It always seems worse when hubby is on nights as they both leave at the same time :-(

These are the cards I finished thursday evening ready for friday's non existant blog.

 I've used the same Kanban stamp for both but made them look quite different with the colours of Promarker and backing papers. Not sure where they are from but I seem to have gone for my fave purple and lime green again, a simple organza knot on one and a Martha stewart corner punch on the other. Both have a touch of glitter on the belt.
She really is a a cute little stamp and came last year in a set of 3 with a few Christmas greetings. Not sure how she fits in with the festive theme, the other 2 have a Christmas hat and fur tipped clothing. This is the one I have used most though.

Thursday 1 November 2012

There's a wise old owl......

Just finished these 2 little owl puffs, only 8 more to put features on, stuff and sew up. It's taking as long if not longer to finish them than it did to knit these little birdies.

These 2 stand about 3.5 inches high, but it will depend on the thickness of yarn really, some of the others do vary in size.
As I was sewing them up this morning, when I eventually found the needle, I was reminded of the rhyme we used to teach the children in Playgroup.

There's a wise old owl with a pointed nose
2 pointed ears and claws for his toes,
he sits in a tree and stares at you,
he flaps his wings and cries
twit twoo, twit twoo.

The pattern was a free download from Ravelry and very easy to do, in the end I wasn't referring to the instructions at all. You can find the pattern by Jenna Krupar HERE
They are ideal for using up scraps of yarn, in fact no 2 of mine are the same colourway, even if i've used the same for the base of 3 of them.

Same but different.

A couple of cards using the same image from a pack of toppers by Lili of the Valley. Very clean and simple with the topper layered straight onto the card blank with just a touch of red ink on the edges.
 She really is a little cutie in her red coat and long trailing scarf. The only difference in these 6 inch square cards is the washi tape - gold stripe on one and red polka dot on the other. Oh and a star brad instead of round in the centre of one flower. I must put a spot of glue on that flower as it has twisted so you can't tell there are two layers.

Wednesday 31 October 2012

More haste.........

.......less speed. Well I proved that saying this morning while I quickly tried to put together the pieces for my BIL's birthday card before we went out.
I prepared the backing paper and topper yesterday and left the ink round the edges to dry. All I had to do today was stick them in place. I managed that all right then opened the card to write inside and found......


Yep that's right stuck on the wrong way, couldn't even use it as a tent style card as it would have been completley upside down then.
I cut the front off the card and put it along with another smaller topper and peel-off greeting onto an A5 card. thank goodness the sheet of toppers had lots of sizes on it. It's a cute little cat holding a cake and balloons from Lili of the Valley and the backer is from Dovecrafts.

Lousy pictures but I did say I was in a rush to get it done. ;-)



Tuesday 30 October 2012

Look teddy.

Ooops didn't get round to blogging yesterday, naughty me, didn't even make any cards - too busy knitting.
I've made up for it today though as it was lovely and warm and sunny in my craft room.
I bought some Lili of the Valley toppers last week and have made about a dozen cards this morning.
Here's one that's dry and all finished, isn't she cute holding her teddy up to see the Christmas tree fairy?
As I said the topper is from Lili of the Valley, the doily and the paper are from Dovecrafts with a scrap of ribbon from my stash.
The topper was pre-cut so I mounted it onto white card and coloured the edges with a red ink pad before layering it all up. The fairy has a touch of Stickles glitter glue in her hair.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Daisy die-cut

I bought some Kanban die-cut sheets at the craft show I went to recently and sat making them up into really quick easy cards.

This one is Daisy. I've simply layered her up onto co-ordinating card on which i've used Martha Stewart round the edge punches, a peel-off greeting and she's done.
These sheets are quite good value as there are 2 large figures and several smaller ones on each as well as some flowers to use as embellishments. I may show another tomorrow ;-)







Saturday 27 October 2012

Bah humbug!

This poor dog with his Christmas hat seems to me to be thinking 'Bah Humbug' and wishing it was all over.  

It's a lovely image from the Furry Friends cd by Joanna Sheen with artwork by Rachel Hale.
I've used a complimentary paw print backer from the same cd. The main image has been set at an angle with an added holographic snowflake in the top corner.









 

Friday 26 October 2012

Cheating already

I've not done any cardmaking today so i've bent the rules of Kathy's challenge a little and am showing not a card but something made from card.
I needed something on which to display any necklaces that I make so searched and came up with this little stand. The necklace on it is not one of my creations I hasten to add.
The template came from boo-jewellery and is very easy to download and make.
I've used quite thick card and brads in the folded areas at the bottom to make it sturdier. It's all explained on the website, there's even a smaller one for earrings although it does say on this that holes can be punched to display earrings as well. I've just got to round off the edges a bit to take the sharpness away on the 'shoulders'. 2 of these can be made from 1 A4 sheet of card.

Thursday 25 October 2012

Finished a couple

Day 2 of the Card a Day blogging and i've got 2 finished Christmas cards to show.
My daughter went to the craft show at Donnington in the summer and received a goodie bag for her troubles. Her partner went also so I had his bag. In it were several sheets of Christmas decoupage from Hunkydory (I think), not my usual style of choice but they make up quite well.


I added a couple of flower heads to each and layered them up with a bit of foliage onto A5 cards. Quick and easy but isn't that what we all need to do at this time of year.



Wednesday 24 October 2012

Kathy's facebook Challenge


Kathy has set up a group on fb to get us to make and blog a card a day, since my blog has been neglected for well over a month I decided to join in with her.
I've assembled quite a few cards today but left it too late to photograph them before the light went.
So here are the two I made for my Grandaughters' birthdays last month. One 8 years old and the other 11 years old.

This is an image a friend stamped and sent to me ages ago, i've used Promarkers to colour it and added die cuts and a doily as well as a few well stuck down seed beads.


This is a Kanban stamp which i've used again today. I used the same die cut and a circular greetings stamp, again coloured using Promarkers with addition of a bit of glitter glue.
Looking at it now i'm not sure about the flowers added onto the washi tape but it must have seemed ok at the time.










Tomorrow I will make an effort to take some pics while the light is good so I can show more recent cards.

Sue xx

Thursday 13 September 2012

It's Official!

As from the end of last month I can now say I am retired not a housewife as I hit the age of 60 and am now officially retired.
I had a super day for my birthday, relaxing by the swimming pool in sunny Tenerife, followed in the evening by a special meal at our favourite restaurant where the Manager had a table waiting for us. He even gave us complimentary champagne cocktails and an extremely large piece of chocolate cream cake complete with candle.



We managed to get a photo with Yussef the restaurant manager who remembers us from previous years. Of course one of the regular friendly waiters managed to sneak in as well.   

I was very spoilt with my pressies as Mick gave me a voucher for a helicopter flight, something which has been on my 'wish list' for many years. I'm not sure when we will make the flight but we'll be going from Cardiff airport hopefully so we can see more of the area wher we live.
Before we were married he bought me a pair of ear-rings to match my engagement ring but i'd not worn them more than a handful of times so I suggested having them made into a pendant. He collected it before the holiday but i'd not seen it so it was a lovely surprise for my birthday.
Before



After
It's much more practical for me now and will get worn more i'm certain.


He also bought me a Wales Rugby shirt, not that i'm particularly interested in the sport, I just fancied having the shirt and it's proven to be really warm in the cooler evenings since we've been home.
Sallie came to stay the weekend we got home and amongst other things gave me a voucher for a spa day. We're hoping to use this at the end of the month and have a relaxing massage as well as a gym and swim session together.

We went into Cardiff yesterday and I collected my bus pass for free travel within Wales, makes me feel really old but at least it's a decent photo ;-)

I'm not sure how this post will turn out as i'm using the very slow old pc as my laptop won't access the internet since we've been back home, not sure why but it's very annoying.

Sue xx

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Cards for Mum

It's Mum's birthday this month and a couple of days later the annniversary of her marriage. This will be the 3rd anniversary she's been alone but I still send a card to recognise the day and let her know we are thinking about her.

 Simpy stamped and coloured with Promarkers this cute little lady is layered up onto mustard coloured card with 2 strips of toning ribbon.
This is still one of my favourite stamps and since owning my own i've used it in many colourways.

Much more challenging is this Michael Powell stamp, again coloured with promarkers but in softer shades vaguely following the colour on the front of the stamp as a guide to shading etc.
 I think the pale green border just brings out the colours a bit more.
The photos look a bit washed out due to the poor light today but I wanted to get some cards on here as opposed to all the knitting and beading.

Saturday 28 July 2012

Quick Knit - finished.

I've just finished the little sweater I started at the beginning of the week.

I've done a 16 inch as it's for a baby due in September. I love the different look given by the textured stitching on the body, both back and front and the little fold over collar.

I added little blue check buttons in a heart shape.
I'm already planning to do it with pink buttons as I have plenty of yarn, all hidden from male eyes ;-)

Tuesday 24 July 2012

A quick knit

Talking to my neighbour on Sunday I discovered her baby is due at the beginning of September.
As we are on holiday for the due date I wanted to make sure I had a gift ready but looking through my bag of already knit items I found that all the newborn things are in girly styles and colours. As they do not know the sex I decided i'd better get knitting something boyish. I was tempted to knit my 'old favourite' matinee jacket and even got the pattern and yarn ready but then decided to do something different. I found a lovely little sweater pattern in seed stitch and am using the white yarn to knit it in.

I sat out in the sun yesterday and soon got the back done and am halfway up the front. The sleeves are plain stocking stitch.
It looks far too warm and snuggly for the weather we are having now but i'm doing the 2nd size and September may be chillier.
I'll have to remember to photograph and blog the finished garment.