Bean Sidhe

Got a bit of my mojo back.

I've been doing bits and bobs of things here and there. 

Beading

This pendant is part of an abalone (paua) shell and looks really pretty.  I think I may have strung the green chips a wee bit too tight but I'm learning as I go along.

I tried to get some dangly bits on here but again, I may be tightening things up a bit too much as they don't move as well as I'd like.   It is actually blue although it looks black on here.

I really like the sheen on these beads (in my favourite colour of course!)

I've been asked to make some more baby clothes.  Here's what I've done so far.

Lindsey arranged for a lady to do our demonstration this month - she was very organised and had cut out the mats and layers using her own dies.  Thank you Lindsey for arranging this.

Easel Card - mini

Decorated box - we made the box

A card

Knitting

Random dye yarn cardi - I love the rainbow effect you get with these yarns

Bonnet and mittens - I love these wee mittens with the thumb but am never sure how you get a baby to fit it's thumb into the right place!

Girls' bonnets

Crochet

An angel top - I haven't seen one of these for years, do babies still wear them?  They fasten down the back.

..................... as cabbage looking.

This week, at art group, we used pastels to illustrate a cabbage.  We all had half a cabbage and this is my attempt. 

Thank you Rita.

I think this is quite good - for me!  However, someone did comment that it looked like a lilly.

Craft Club

Lindsey designed this project - it's a wee mini book with a card and tags inside - the card and tags are removable from the cover.  My version is a bit pale, it needs a bit more contrast, which I'll use when I do another one.

I need to finish the inside and add words to the tags.

THIS IS LINDSEY'S EXAMPLE - you get a better idea of the whole project from this one.  Thank you Lindsey!  Isn't it lovely?

Knitting

Here's a little cardi I've knitted to add to my collection - it's actually a lovely pale lemon but not sure you get the full colour effect from this photo.  I love doing cables.

The Craft Club members made lots of lovely pieces to sell for charity.  The nominated charity was the RSPCA, to which we sent £60.00.  The sales went quite well bearing in mind it was a gala day and the tables and stalls were very mixed - not specific to crafts.  We did take a lot of stuff back which was a shame but the stall looked lovely.  Lindsey, Melanie, Dorothy and Amy did a lovely job in dressing the table and making the display.

Our apple juice sold quite well, with the help of Barbara who touted brilliantly and didn't let any prospective customers go by.  The apple juice funds were not donated to charity tho'!

As well as the other items shown in previous posts, I'd made some tissue box covers (none sold on the day unfortunately but I was quite pleased with them).

The craft table

Our apple juice and some of my knitting (the knitting didn't attract any interest).

Karen's jewellery seemed to be going well.

There was a lady demonstrating spinning - she spun seal fur (collected when the pups shed their baby coats), dog's wool. alpaca wool and ordinary sheep's wool.  Fascinating.

The cake stall seemed to do a roaring trade.

Gift box

This is a wee pillow  box I made to put a gift in for one of my friend's birthdays.

Noooooooooooooo, don't be silly, not THAT sort of kissing - but stamping kissing.

Last night, at Craft Club, Zoë did the project.  She had organised (and when I say ORGANISED I mean just that, wow girl, you really got your act together) a demo of different stamping techniques.

Zoe's a Stampin' Up demostrator - you can see the FULL catalogue and  MINI catalogues by using these links and on Zoe's own site.

We learnt how to kiss AND how to kiss with a twist - see her tutorial here.  You can find the stamps and materials used in the Stampin' Up main and mini catalogues - any queries or orders, go to Zoe's site.

KISSING

For this card she used the

Flower Accent Stamp (see mini catalogue page 22

and

flourish background stamp, mini catalgue page 23.

Here's my version - yes, ok, it's NOT like the sample Zoë made - but never mind.

Meet Fergal  (Fergal the Pheasant that is) - make your own ink pad

 This technique demonstrated using re-inkers and felt to make your own stamp - hence, Fergal is multicoloured (as any self respecting pheasant would be). 

Stamps used - Autumn Days, page 45 of the Main Catalogue.

 - again, it's not as per her demo piece.

Heat N Stick

This product overcomes the problem of trying to stick glitter onto your card so that it STAYS on the card.  You cover you image using an embossing pad (e.g. Versamark) or, if you just want to glitter detail, using an embossing pen.

You apply the Heat & Stick Powder which you heat using your heat gun (similar to using embossing powder) - it goes tacky (don't overheat tho').

Sprinkle fine glitter over the area on which you've used the embossing pad or ink and heat for a short time, this fixes the glitter onto your card.

Stamps used - Silent Night - page 20 of main catalogue.

 ...no surprises, it's not as per Zoe's demo!

Double Stamping

I didn't do this project (what do you mean, I was talking too much)? 

The stamp used for this was - A Rose is a Rose - page 44 of the main catalogue.  You will see there are two versions of the elements, which facilitate the double stamping.

Something Sweet

This is a really novel project which has a slider when, pulled out, releases little sweets!  I didn't do one of these myself but you can see it on Page 8 and 9 of the mini catalogue.

See Zoe's blog here.

So, a hearty THANK YOU to Zoe.

Charity Stall

Yes, I'm still doing stuff for the charity stall.

Firstly, I've done some wee trinket boxes.  They are very small, about 1.5 inches across but I thought they'd be nice for jewellery and other bits and bobs.  I've coloured them using Lumiere Paints, which give a lovely sheen.

They are pre-made, compressed cardboard boxes, so I can't take credit for making the base box.

Here are the finished ones.

Decorated Candles

I need to 'dress' these up with some nice cello paper and ribbons but these are the base candles.  I've applied the images by stamping onto tissue paper and then melting it onto the candle.

The stamps are from Crafty Individuals.

Cookery       

Some of the family visited for the day - part of the meal was a birthday cake (coffee and walnut) for our brother in law.

......... and the pudding (very easy to make) Mille Fueille (strawberry) YUM

Before and After

Well, harvest time is here and the redcurrants have cropped well again.  We bought a new piece of kit to speed up the juicing process and it's a great success.  The first thing we made was redcurrant cordial.

Before

After

Of course I had to make a pie as well!

Under the weather

I was out of action for a while with an upset tummy.

Here are some of the get wells I received

Rita sent this one  - very elegant

Sam sent this one

And Christa sent this one

I also got lovely flowers from the Art Group and Craft Club members.  Thank you all.

Craft Club

Barbara is having her craft room refurbished so last night we both worked on some charity cards for a stall next month.

We used a combination of Crafty Individuals images and some Stampin' Up stamps and punches and a Martha Stewart Punch plus other miscellaneous bits and bobs.

Here are the ones Barbara made

And hereare the ones I made

We were quite pleased with them.

On the Time for Crafting Forum we had a slide mailer swap.

Here is my entry.

You can see all the entries here.

We also had a tag/bookmark swap, themed cuisine.

Here's mine

I got this one from Jill in France (pity I can't read French!)

Craft Club

Last night Zoë did our project (thank you Zoë;).  She's a Stampin' Up demonstrator and brought us some lovely materials to work with.  Check out her blog to see some of her gorgeous stuff.

Of course mine looks nothing like the lovely sample she had brought.  Firstly, it's a bit wonky (well that's usual for me) and secondly, we were supposed to stamp the card BEFORE we stuck the elements together - I forgot that bit so my stamping's a bit haphazard.  I added flowers and leaves instead of cutting out stamped ones as per her example (I think the leaves I've used are a bit too big but never mind eh?)

The stamp set used is SU Greenhouse Garden Set.

Here's the sample.

Here's my effort.

Crochet

I've been looking at the baby hats that seem to be very 'in' just now and made a couple while I lounged about.  Pattern from here.

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.

I made some Cuttlebug Cards

I've used my Cuttlebug embossing folders to make these.

You can see the rest HERE.

Decoupage cards

and another Kinetic card

Craft Club

This week Dorothy did the project - thanks Dorothy.  We did a little wallet into which we put birthday reminder pages but it could be used for anything, recipes, addresses, reminders.  Quite versatile.  My little stamped image is a bit anaemic so I will change it for something brighter.

Well, I've just typed ALL this in and then lost it - so - here I go again!

At craft club we had a great demo by Monica, a Stampin' Up demonstrator.  She brought beautiful samples and did brilliant demos of the stuff but wasn't pushy and didn't pressure us (no need with all that lovely stuff to hand I have to say!)  We did a make and take, here's mine.  There is glitter on it but it doesn't show on the san.

I made this card for my sister in law's birthday.

Again, it hasn't scanned too well.

This is a vintage card I've made using one of the Crafty Individuals images (great little books with these small images in, so useful).

Here's a card I made for my neighbour for her son who has just passed his trainer's exam for training other fork lift truck drivers.

Pop out (?pop/up) Card

Kinetic card

I made this for my brother in law's birthday (lots of birthdays this month).  I got the template here.  I found the decoupage image on photobucket Created by Di's den for personal use only September 2008.

Here's the verse I've used:

Why is it that brothers never seem to be able to tell each other how important they are to each other?

We can talk and joke about so many things; we reminisce about the times of our lives when we were growing up; we try to keep in touch with each other's comings and goings...

But of all the things I've ever said to you, I don't think I've ever said something that I feel inside and something I've always known was true...

And it is true; you're a very special part of my family and a very important part of my life...

Crochet

I made these wee crochet flowers for Lindsey who spends so much time keeping our craft club up and running.

She sent me this lovely THANK YOU card (you're very welcome Lindsey)!