Didn't we have a lovely time........

the day we went to Kathy’s!

Lythan, Anita and I meet up fairly often to ‘play’ with each others craft stuff but it must be 18 months since I’ve meet up with Kathy so it was really lovely to receive an invitation from her to ‘come and play’.

So yesterday the three of us set off up the A10 heading for Letchworth. We would have gone on the M25 but fortunately Lythan had heard on the radio that there had been an earlier accident that had closed part of the road and the traffic at the junction that we would have joined was at a standstill. I managed to get us there in one piece and for the rest of the morning we talked, stroked paper, Ooooo’d and Awwwww’d over drawer falls of ribbons and blooms and then we ate lunch and went back to Oooooo and Awwww some more.
Poor David (Kathy’s OH) must have felt a bit out numbered and it must have seemed to him that we had taken over every room in the house.

It was a fabby day, so thanks so much Kathy.

Now back to actually making cards!

I’ve not been totally lazy over the last few days and did actually manage to get some more made, so I guess that makes me a busy little bee too.

Here's a few for you to have a nosy at.

The first is uses those gorgeous Crate Samantha Collection papers, a chipboard letter and swirl that have been inked and had rub-on’s applied before being UTEE’d, a collection of blooms (mostly Dunelm I think), some Anna Griffin satin ribbon and a Dovecraft Charm Brad.

The next one (which I’m not so keen on) uses Doodlebug, Orange Dots paper on top of which I’ve used a Heidi Swapp Mask Mini and chalked over the top in Orange.
The various ribbons were from The Little Silver Hat and I’ve also used some more of my stash of blooms and a large brad.
The greeting was a freebie from a magazine.

The final card was made using my favourite Tapestry stamps with a layer of Crate, Avenue Collection paper and some ribbon. I stamped and embossed three butterfly images in black, 2 large and one small and then painted them with Twinkling H2o’s and added a little Stickles. These were layered onto the card and I added the body which was make by threading various sized pearls onto some gold wire. The greeting was stamped onto an oval of card and attached to the card with foam pads.

All Checked Out - DCM

The girls over at Daring Cardmakers have given us yet another fantastic challenge this week and it’s called All Checked Out


Well Hello!! Friday has come round again soooo fast! Its my turn (Jane) to dare this week. Okay -are you ready ? For my dare you can choose any theme for the card BUT it must incorporate 'Checks', whether it be gingham paper or ribbon or squares, any thing really as long as it incorporates some kind of shape with 4 equal sides....... so go on- I dare you to think outside the square/step out of the box ..............easy as, eh ?!!

I'm not sure if this will count but the rubber stamp was square and so is the chipboard plaque that I made, so fingers crossed.......here's my card.

I started by stamping directly onto a cream card using one of the free stamps that I got from Craft Stamper magazine some time ago and then chalking over the whole of the card.
I used my Distress inks to colour a sheet of music, tore off two strips and distressed the edges on these and another torn piece of coordinating backing paper before layering them onto the card.
Next I stamped two images using my Music Collage stamp from Penny Black and couloured them with chalks before cutting away areas of one of the images and decoupage them onto the card.
The next job was to make the square tile. This was done by taking a piece of chipboard, inking it with a brown ink pad and then adding three layers of UTEE. I inked up the free stamp again that I used for the background with brown ink and while the last layer of UTEE was still molten I pressed the stamp into it and waited for it to cool a little before removing it, leaving the stamped image debossed into the tile. I finally added the charm and stamped the greeting.

Busy Little Bee

No I don’t mean me......... a real busy little bee!

My Good friends Sue and Edd came round on Saturday to put up an awning over my French windows for me ready for when we get some sun this summer. The deal was that if the weather was good they would come over and Edd would do the work and I would provide a BBQ for when it was all the weather was fantastic on Saturday so when the work was finished I prepared the food which Edd ended up cooking (well, he did insist) While we were sitting having a drink waiting for the food to be ready we noticed a little bee that kept flying backwards and forwards carrying bits of leaf. Further investigation showed that the little bee was manoeuvring the bits of leaf into a screw hole under my garden table.

Sorry the photo isn't all that good but I was trying to take it upside down under the table .

The hole wasn’t big enough to make a nest in so I’ve no idea what he was trying to do but it was fascinating to watch.

Anyone know why he would have been doing it?

Midweek ‘Little Extra’

Over at DCM’s they are keeping us busy as usual with the challenges and yesterday they gave us a new mid week extra.

This week we have a numerical Little Extra challenge for you:
"We've Got Your Number"
Numbers and Fun? Those two words don't often appear in the same sentence, do they?Well, we'd like you to have some fun with numbers and put a numeral on your card - it's as easy as that

I managed to do two cards but the first one I needed to run past Kathy first before showing it on here.

You see, I had been looking back at Kathy’s blog and come across one of her designs that I really liked. Intending to just use it as a starting point I set about making the card but when it was finished it ended up looking so much like Kathy's it was embarrassing. I honestly never intended it to be a copy but that’s how it turned out. Naturally, I wanted to run it by Kathy before showing it on my blog and what a star, she was fine about it so thanks Kathy, I owe you one!

So this is the offending card.

The papers are Blonde Moments ‘Sugar Dumpling’ which I simply adore and the blooms are a mixture of Dunelm, Prima, and others were either punched out or cut on my Craft Robo.
I inked the naked chipboard letters and then covered them in diamond glaze with a touch of glitter added just for luck.
Other finishing touches include ribbon, snaps and gems.

This is the second card.




The number for this one was again cut on my Robo.
The papers are Junkitz ‘Summer Collectionz’ and the extras are star shaped clip and brads and some blue fibres.

Another challenge

Yesterday I was checking out some of the other blogs looking for some new challenges and came across Sketch This Card! . where they give you a template each week. At the moment they are running a competition where you had to complete three cards over three weeks, this week being the last and although I’m too late to enter because the cards had to be submitted each week, I decided to still have a go and see what I could come up with.

For my first card I played with my distressing inks.
I used my Clear Choice ‘Journey’ stamps and Brown & Orange StazOn to stamp a background onto a cream card and then sponged the card with three shades of distress Inks before giving it a quick sprits with water.
While this was drying I stamped the boat (Inkadinkado) onto another piece of card with Brown StazOn and repeated the whole process.
When dry this was then matted it onto some patterned paper and attached to the card with gold eyelets.
I also made a small tag to which I attached a small gold anchor charm.
Other embellishments used are a gold paper clip, brads and brown grosgrain ribbon.

The second card of the trio is made using an acetate jacket over the card.
All the papers are Chatterbox - scrapbook walls.
I used my Craft Robo to cut the three large loopy flowers that are mounted onto the actual card and the ones mounted onto the acetate were hand cut and layered from the Scarlet Sandbox Flowers sheet.
The card was finished off with lots of Stickles glitter glue and some fibres from my stash.

And last but not least is this anniversary card.
The papers are from DCWV Wedding stack and also HOTP Paper Pizazz Wedding & Romance scrapbook kit.
The faux chipboard heart was stamped and embossed in silver. I added three small gems and finished it off by covering half of the heart with Diamond glaze and the other with crackle glaze.
Lavender ribbon and flowers from my stash.
Black and white ribbon courtesy of Lythan, thanks hun.

Second post in a day……………..

whatever can have come over me.

This afternoon I decided to have a go at my first template over on CPS
(Card Positioning Systems) and it all coincided nicely with a 65th birthday card that I had to make.

CPS23

The papers are Crate – Samantha, and just like all the other Crate papers I’m loving them.
I have cut around some of the flowers to give an uneven edge and then used my punches to make some extra flowers which were stitched on using gold thread and seed beads to add dimension. I also used my Stickles glitter glue to finish off the centre of the smaller flowers. The chipboard 65 started off ‘naked’ but was soon transformed with a quick coat of Red Brick Versa Magic Chalk ink and finished off with some white Wholy Cow run-ons and three coats of clear UTEE.

Red Sky at Night

I just wanted to share some fantastic photos with you that my brother Michael took the weekend before last.

We spent a wonderful day soaking up the sun and enjoying a BBQ in my cousin’s garden and then in the evening we went to the Mersea Island music festival.
It was mostly local and tribute bands playing but the final act were SLADE…..yes, the real Slade……well at least Dave Hill and Don Powell were still in the line up.
It took me back to my teenage years in the 70’s

It was a fantastic evening but the real highlight had to be the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen.
I think Michael’s photos are amazing.

Pockets of this, that and the other.

Well, that's what the girls over at DCM's challenge is all about this week.........Pockets of fun.

It's my turn - (Lynne) - to set the dare this week.

OoooOOoooOOooooOOOoo!!!!!!!!My first Dare.

I’m so nervous, I can’t believe that it’s my turn already.I’ve gone for something nice and easy - had to break myself in gently.POCKETS I’d like to see lots and lots of pockets. Pockets full of posies, Brass in Pocket (love the Pretenders).Pockets on clothes, Pockets from clothes, Library Pocket, Pockets of this and Pockets of that. Get the idea? Pockets and Pockets of Pockets.

The colours on the photo haven’t come out too well because it looks blue here when in actual fact it’s really Green but hey ho here’s my attempt anyway.

I decided to use my Woodware Clear Magic Stamps for the first time. This set is called Francoise Fun Flowers and I love the way you can make up the flowers any way you please on the acrylic block.

I started by stamping onto a square of cream card and heat embossing it in Silver. The flowers and leaves were painted with Twinkling H2o’s and then masked while I used a brayer over the top to create the Silver Hessian effect background. I also made the tag in the same way but this time I used the Twinkling H2o’s all over the background too. The pocket was made by stamping and embossing the same image onto pale Green Vellum which was torn across at an angle and the edge embossed in Silver. I wrapped this around the square card matching the up the image underneath and finished it off by adding some ribbon and two more stamped flowers attached with big brads. The square was matted onto some Green textured card from the DCWV Old World Stack before being mounted onto a cream square card with some small green brads.

Faking It

I managed to fit in time to make one card last night after getting back from seeing Harry Potter so I decided to have a go at my first Little Extra challenge.


Fee Fi Fo Fum.....For our Little Extra challenge this week, we'd like you to "Go Faux it" Yes, all we want you to do this week is to use something fake on your cards. For instance you could make fake ribbon, fake brads or fake chipboard - we think you talented folk can come up with lots more "let's pretend" ideas so we can't wait to see your ideas.


Just a bit of faux ribbon weaving on this one using paper from Papermania.
It’s mounted under a square frame and as you can see I’ve gone mad with my tapestry stamps again but I can’t help myself………definitely need to get myself a few new sets of these!.
Other embellishments include Dunelm and Prima blooms, brads, snap and ribbon.

Thanks for the warm welcome

Thanks for the warm welcome girls and your kind comments about my first attempt at a dare.


I have to say it feels good being a part of something again and I look forward to catching up with more old friends as time goes on.

I’m going to the pictures to see Harry Potter (or it could be Shrek the 3rd) later so crafting for me today but I do still have something to show you.

I’ve been busy making some chipboard Friendship books for three special people who had birthdays recently. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the first two which were both round but a certain ‘Swiss Miss’ had a birthday yesterday……..Happy Birthday Nicki…… and I remembered to take piccies of that one before posting it off to Switzerland.

I decided to make her the accordion purse kit that came with the Crate Avenue Collection (Crate Paper) that I brought from Funky Kits a while back and I know it’s safe to show you because I know she’s received it.

All the papers used are Basic Grey – Scarlet’s Letter (I really had to force myself to cut these up because they are so gorgeous)
and the various embellishments are from my enormous stash.

Taking my first steps.

Please, please, please be very gentle with me because these are my first steps into the unknown.

I first signed up to blogger back in November of 2006 so that I could leave messages on the blogs of some of my crafty and very talented friends but that was as far as I got, I never had the nerve to venture any further than that………. until now that is!

Oh well, one giant step as they say:-

My name is Susan, Sue to my friends and I’ve been crafting for as long as I can remember.

This is me but don’t expect to see too many photos of me in the future because I’m very camera shy and hate having my picture taken.

So what crafts do I get up to..............well, cross stitching has to be my first love but I also knit and crochet, make cards and dabble in a little scrapbooking from time to time. My first recollection of stitching was stitching small crosses onto some Gingham curtains for our Wendy House in Infants school at the age of 4.

Crikey, I’ve just realised that was 46 years ago!

I got into card making about 4 years ago, which was around the same time that I found the Crafts By Carolyn forum and it was here that I founds lots of like minded friends who have given me loads of encouragement over the years. I still feel very uncertain when it comes to scraping but you never know, one day you might get to see some of my layouts if I can bring myself to use some of the gigantic mound of stash I’ve collected over the years and I sure that any true crafter will understand exactly what I’m saying here!

It was on C by C that I meet Lythan and Anita who are now good friends of mine and it turned out that they only live about half hour’s drive away from me so we are able to meet up for craft days now and again and have a good rummage through each others stash.

Lythan is on the design team for the Daring Cardmakers blog so I thought I would make my first post on Blogger a double whammy by also taking part in my first dare, so here goes…………..

G'day all, Gillian here, and it's my turn to dare you all this week
Your card can be any theme you like, just as long as it's got something you'd find in a Haberdashery Department on it
Alright then, grab that old sewing basket of yours or raid your sewing machine drawer, have a look at what creative bits are hiding away there....maybe it's buttons, a zip, hook & eye's, ribbons, braids, Dressmaking patterns, tape measures,Pins & Needles, lace, safety pins or embroidery thread....
so many wonderful little treasures just waiting to be added to your next card :O)
I'm going to add one more rule....
Yes you may stitch on your card, but that can't be your only haberdashery item....

Well I’m absolutely useless with a sewing machine so other than my cross stitch silks there’s not very much at all in my sewing box to be honest but I did manage to find a few bits and bobs to use.

For the first card I used embroidery thread, braid and a few buttons. The papers are 7gypsies Sunnyside and Rineback and I’ve picked out the flourish on the paper with brown embroidery thread to give it some texture.

For the second card I used some bits that came from a friend on C by C. Antique lace, a swatch of floral material .and I also found some seed beads left over from one of my cross stitch projects.

I didn't use any patterned papers on this card, instead I used my ‘Whimsical’ Doodle Genie to draw the stems of the ivy straight onto the card and then added the ivy leaves with my tapestry stamps.............I’m really loving these at the moment!

The flowers in the urn were made using Flower Soft.

Well that's enough from me for my first post.

See you next time.