Bean Sidhe

Did these cards today.  I've used my Stampin' up stamps for the images.  The blue on is all Stampin' up products.  Not my usual style but I'm quite pleased with them.  If you are interested in Stampin' Up products, you can get some here.  When I first saw the stamps, I thought they were a bit pricey but I have to say, now that I've used them, they are the best stamps I've used and the image comes out really well for me.  These were hostess gifts and the best price ever - free!

More hats

This one's similar to one I've already done but it's knitted - the other was crocheted and this one has a pom pom on the top as well as the long dangly bits, which seem to be in vogue just now.

This one reminds me of a night cap.

Tonight Dorothy hosted a Stampin' Up demo.  Our demonstrator was Monica who did a really good job again  -  thank you Dorothy and Monica.  Dorothy is awaiting eye surgery and so couldn't see as much of the demo as we did but I can promise you, when you get your op over with Dorothy (hope it's soon) you will REALLY enjoy what we did tonight.

We did this 'make 'n' take' which is a little invitation card with a pull out bit.  The scan doesn't really capture it but you get the idea.  I love that sentiment stamp.

Lindsey did the demo at our craft club (thanks Lindsey) and we made a favour box for Valentine's day.  Mine's not as fancy as the demo one and we had a little Magnolia girl to colour in but I'm not too good with the colouring so I used a Crafty Individuals image instead.  You can get the Magnolia stamps in the UK.

Star Card

We had an all day craft session (with some lovely food) and the project was a Star Card.

Thanks to Lindsey, Dorothy and Melanie for the food and for the beautiful card and papers you chose for us to work with.  The card doesn't show up properly at all, it has a sort of glisten (not like mirri - I can't really describe it).  We had lots of embellishments, papers and ribbons - in fact, all you'd need to make a beautiful card.

On the day I only managed to part make two sections.  It's taken me all week, working every day, to finish it.  I have added some of my own stash as well, although it could have been completed without doing this.

I didn't start off with a theme, which would probably have speeded things up a bit but it sort of developed into a 'techniques' project.

I've included tea bag folding, iris folding (bit dodgy), heat embossing, dry embossing, stamping, paper punching, stitching and beading and lots of gluing and some very technical craft words (when things went wrong!).

Here is the general idea, although the photos don't pick up the colours.

Dry embossing, heat embossing, stamping.

Paper punching, cuttlebug dry embossing.

Tea bag folding, paper punching.

Paper punching, iris folding, embossing.

Paper punching, heat embossing.

Dry embossing, 3D Decoupage

The front cover with the verse on (just matting and layering)

The whole thing view one.

View two.

From the top (you can see why it's called a star card).

I just don't seem to have had much time to be on the computer lately.

However, I have made some cards, including, finally, come Christmas cards.  You can see them here.

Art Group

I wanted to take my turn at our local art group but as my art is, lets say (to be kind), at an elementary level, I wasn't able to demonstrate any painting/drawing techniques.  Rita said it would be ok if I showed some paper craft projects.

As it's near Christmas, I did some little favour boxes which are suitable for table settings, together with a decorated candle and a couple of tree decorations - a bauble and an icicle.

Pillow box, cake box and napkin ring.  The napkin ring is just a piece of card fastened into a circle.  The cake box and icicle templates are from here.  The pillow box template is from here.

The instructions and template for the bauble are here. 

This card is patterned but it doesn't show up on the picture.

This flower is cut from a paper napkin.  You can make this match the napkins you are using on your table.  The instructions are here.

Craft Club

Dorothy did the turorial this week.  We did a tissue box cover using stamps and distress inks.  Thanks Dorothy, a lovely project.  Here's mine.

More cards

As well as the cards on the slide show (link at the top of this entry) I made this for a cyber bud who had a recent 'special' birthday.

...and this one for my elder grandson who has just jetted off to Japan.

Well, it IS time for crafting, or, at least time I got some crafting done.

It is also the name of Sara's site where she has lots of hints, tips and free templates, including some cutting templates for the Craft Robo. 

I'm signed up to her VIP area (I've never been a VIP before) and subscribe to her on line magazine where she has additional projects, techniques, product reviews and great prizes on offer.  The latest magazine, as well as Christmas projects, has this lovely heart card with a fancy cut out.

Now my efforts fall far short of Sara's lovely card.  Firstly, I tried to heat emboss the card.  Either my embossing pad is too dry, or the card is to absorbent (probably both) but it certainly didn't have the wow factor.  I also forgot to put my wee bow on before I took photos.  However, I will try again and post what I hope will be a more successful card.

I embossed the heart using my Cuttlebug paisley folder but not sure whether it shows up at all.  The swirl stamps are from Third Coast Rubber Stamps.

My mojo's still in hiding but I did manage to do these few croched flowers, which seem to be all the rage just now for card making and scrap booking.  I could have done with a more suitable yarn but they're not bad for starters.

A couple of cards

I nearly forgot craft club (how could I?)

Dorothy did the project on Monday and for some reason they keep talking about this thing called C*****mas!  (Thanks Dorothy).  You can see lots of lovely examples of her work on her blog.  Well, I'm still in summer so I just can't get my head round this. 

Still, I did enjoy what we did.  I didn't have any pearly and metal bits for the middle of my flowers, so I put little gems there instead.  I didn't realise there were any bits until it was too late but still, it looks ok(ish).  I still can't get this colouring business so did another image using my glitter gel pens - a bit vibrant but at least I didn't smudge!  You can't see my glitter very well but it is there.

I seem to have been away sooooo long.

My computer's crashed twice and then I lost my connection so I've been off line for quite a while.

I tried to tidy up my images on my blog and lost them all.  I'm in the process of putting them back now.

However, as well as putting back the old stuff, I need to add what's happened while I've been away so the first thing is to let you know what I entered into this year's craft section of our local horticultural show and let you know how I did.

I didn't actually get to the show myself this year but Dorothy kindly staged my entries for me.  Thanks Dorothy!  The show was held in our local school this year so it was a new experience. 

You can see all my entries here.

I was fortunate enough to get first prize in the origami category with my swan and it also won best in show - I was well chuffed.

It should have a base but I was (as always) on the last minute and so didn't get that done.  It takes 500 pieces of paper and took me two days to complete.  I did do the base later and then gave it to my daughter who said she'd like it for her dining table to hold the after dinner mints.

If you want to make one, this is where I got the instructions.

Workshop

Today I went to a workshop at Hobby House.  You can see Bev's beautiful work here - Bev did the tutorials for the workshop.  She showed us how to colour using Ranger Distress Inks from the bottle using a water brush and Cosmic Shimmers.  It was just a half day because there were a lot of people wanting to do the workshop and I didn't feel I grasped things fully in the time we spent on the painting but this was no fault of Bev's who was kind enough to take pity on me and colour an image for me to use on my finished card.  The image is from the Whiff of Joy range.

So, here's a picture of the sample card we were making.

Here's my sample.  We were given a stamped image on which to practise and then another one to do 'for real.  My practise dress turned out better than the 'real' one and so I cut it out and mounted it up.

Here's my finished card, using Bev's image which she painted for me.  It's not exactly as the example we were given which I could say is because I adapted it but actually it's because I didn't read the instructions as usual.

Cards

This is another Cuttlebug Embossing Folder card I made - it looks a bit bare on the scan but looked ok in real life (well, it did to me anyway).

Card for a great granddad.  A bit plain but I found a nice verse to go inside.

Knitting

Yes, I am STILL knitting.  This is another new pattern so this is the first time I've knitted it.  I feel the skirt is too full so will change that next time I do it.

I like this (another new one).  I don't usually care for set in sleeves but this one has a bit of shaping at the start of the sleeve and it's let it sit in neatly (I'll remember that for when I'm doing other set in sleeves).

This is one of my old patterns, which I've adapted a bit  -  I think it's quite pretty.