Tuesday 30 December 2014

Christmas a Time for Love

Good afternoon to all my great followers and friends. Today I'm posting the Christmas card I made for my Son and  Daughter in Law I only gave them it on Christmas Day so couldn't post it before they had seen it.
I used the LOTV stamp Christmas Kisses. Sorry the photo is a bit dark it was a rubbish day when I photographed it.

 

Card Recipe

7x7 card
Papers LOTV Twas the Night
Stamp LOTV Christmas Kisses painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils
Kraft card Crafters Companion
Hessian Chatsworth Christmas market
Lace my stash
Trees Marianne die covered in Wow embossing powder and pearl string
Fence die Crafty Sentiments Designs snow is made with Wow puff white embossing powder
Spellbinders floral oval and  scalloped circle dies
Sentiment LOTV
Burgundy organza rose ribbon Boyes Stores.
Shabby white Frantage around the image and sentiment
 
 
 I hope that you are all enjoying the Christmas holidays and  getting some time now before New Year to relax. My friend Val is arriving for New Year today so going shortly to pick her up from the train. Thankfully the East Coast trains seem to have got sorted
Enjoy New Year whatever you have planned. Also a big thank you for the wonderful comments you have all left on my Wedding post. Hugs Carole x



Saturday 27 December 2014

Happy Christmas and a Winter Wedding

Good evening to all my lovely friends and  followers. I hope that you have all enjoyed a very Happy Christmas and Santa brought you some lovely surprises.
My post today is a bit photo heavy but I thought I would do a wedding theme so I'm showing you the Wedding Stationery I made for the wedding ,the Wedding Card I gave to the Bride and Groom and finally a photo of Rosie and Scott as they arrived at Durham Castle. Those of you who have been following my Blog all year will know I have been making this stationery for several months.

Wedding Invitation


Evening Invitation



Order of Service


Wedding Stationery Recipe

Hammered Cream Card Paper Craft Washington
 Bazzill dotted Swiss embossed cardstock Salt
 Berisfords ivory double sided satin ribbon Boyes Stores
Wording computer generated
Diamante Hearts ebay

 My Wedding Card for Rosie and Scott

 


 Wedding Card Recipe

7x7 Blank Card
Papers Lili of the Valley Timeless Victorian
Stamp Lili of the Valley Bride and Groom painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils sprinkled with Shabby Pink frontage.
White flowered ribbon Whitby Crafts
Heart lace Dainty Crafts Washington
Rose white organza ribbon Boyes Stores
Pearl flowers Wild Orchid Crafts
Pearl String The Hobby House
With love for you stamp from my stash
Forever heart from a gift shop in Didsbury
Pink twine docrafts
Love Charm Dawn to Dusk Crafts Ross paper craft Show
Sewing Machine and white topstitch thread
Heart punch and computer generated sentiment
 
 
 

Rosie and Scott arriving at Durham Castle


We had a beautiful day on Monday at the wedding the weather was kind to them Rosie looked so beautiful, the service and venue just amazing. . Durham Castle was so romantic we were welcomed with mulled wine and canapes followed by a Wedding Breakfast in The Grand Hall it was superb with gorgeous food it looked so pretty in the candlelight. .
I was very proud in the church when I looked around to see everyone holding my Order of Service it made all those hours of making them so worthwhile.
I hope you have all enjoyed the Christmas holiday and are getting ready to enjoy the New Year celebrations. I  hope you enjoy my wedding post today even thought it is a bit long !! . Hugs Carole x
 
 
 


I'm entering my Wedding card into Crafty Sentiments Designs anything Goes







Saturday 20 December 2014

Cameo Boxes

Good evening to all my lovely friends and  followers. I hope you are all ready for Christmas its not long now. I'm just about there and I have to be as we are going to a Wedding on Monday not home till Tuesday afternoon. I'm icing my cake tomorrow and still some parcels to wrap.
My post today is some boxes I made for my girlfriends and I gave them to them yesterday at our Christmas lunch . We had a lovely afternoon at Wynyard  Hall and I just love making something to give to them they are very special friends.
So these are the three boxes I made they are all the same. I hope you like them my friends certainly
did.

The Box




The Lid



All Three Boxes




Box Recipe

Wooden Boxes from The Works
Tim Holtz white card
Lace Whitby Crafts
Pearl flower String Whitby Crafts and The Hobby House
Cheesecloth Ribbon from my stash
Cameos Wild Orchid Crafts (sadly they no longer stock them)
Flat back pearl string Hobby Craft.
Marianne die tinys flower one trimmed to fit.

I put a small Nottingham lace lavender bag inside each box so when it was opened the wood would give the scent of lavender.
I'll be back before Christmas and may even have a wedding photo to show you along with the photo of the Wedding Stationery. I think I'll be really proud when I see everyone in the church on Monday with my Order of Service.
Enjoy the last few days before Christmas and please take time to relax hugs Carole.x
I'm entering my boxes into Dragon fly Dreams Challenge Vintage




Wednesday 17 December 2014

Pure Innocence

Good morning to all my lovely fellow crafters and  friends. Today sees the launch at Crafting by Designs of our last challenge of 2014. The theme this week is embossing. We have two sposors each giving generous prizes.
Heather Ellis etsy store  
digistampcharacters 
Prize - winners choice of 3 digis

For my DT card I am using an image from Heather Ellis its called Pure Innocence 037. It is just so cute and I loved making this card. As the theme was embossing I used a spellbinder die that I embossed around the edges and I sprinkled the image and sentiment tags with Frantage and heat embossed.


Card Recipe

Shaped card from a friend at Craft Group
Covered with Pion Paper Wintertime in Swedish Lapland Northern Lights from Which Craft at GNPE last year. The edges are painted with Gesso and  sprinkled with Glamour Dust
White net cut to fit over the card from Boyes Stores
Spellbinder Opulent Oval die
Image Pure innocence 037 Heather Ellis painted with Copic and Promarker pens
Flowers and berries Wild Orchid Crafts and my stash
Lace is very old think it might be Boyes but not certain
Shabby White Frantage Live and Love Crafts
Sentiments LOTV Christmas Wishes  I stamped two Christmas Angel then cut into two to fit the side of the card
Bird cut from Kraft card and  painted with Promarker pen is from a Marianne die set Ivy, birdhouse and bird
Resin Angel Wild Orchid Crafts
White Gesso on flowers and sprinkled with Glamour Dust

Well I hope you can find time to pop over to the challenge and enter one of your cards. It's very close now to Christmas so I hope you are all prepared for the big day. Hugs x






 

Friday 12 December 2014

70th Birthday Card

Good evening to all my lovely followers and  friends. I hope that you are all coping in the run up to Christmas I feel its sneaked up on me this year and I've still got stuff to do. I've got the decorations up, the cards done and  posted today. So I have now just got food shopping and wrapping up to do also some cards and  commissions to finish before Christmas.
Anyway I'm sure it will all get done it does every year . So onto my card this is a 70th I made recently for a commission.  I have used the Lilacs LOTV stamp that I used recently on a retirement card in slightly different shades of lilac so I hope you like it the person I made it for certainly was very pleased.

 
 



Card Recipe

8x8 Blank Card Craftwork cards
White card Core donations cardstock
Papers Pion Studio of Memories Rose and  Ocean Roses Live and Love Crafts
LOTV stamp Lilacs painted with Derwent Inktense pencils
Spellbinders floral oval die
Organza Ribbon from my stash
Lace Dainty Crafts Washington
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts , Boyes Stores and my stash
Resin frame and 70 numbers from a Pion cut out sheet both from Live and Love Crafts
Cameo from The Works
Sentiment Tags LOTV
Box from Stella Crafts
Large pearls from The Range
White topstitch thread and sewing machine
Box sentiment made on my computer
 
 
I hope that you all have a great weekend.  Hubbie is at the football tomorrow so after collecting my door wreath its some house jobs then crafting for me . I say this every time but I really appreciate all your kind comments hugs Carole x


I'm entering this in A Creative Romance Anything Goes and The ribbon Girl Anything Goes
 


 



Wednesday 10 December 2014

Silver and White

Good morning to all my lovely followers and friends. Today sees the launch of a new weekly challenge at Crafting by Designs and our theme this week is use Silver and White. Our sponsor this week


 
 

 
Prize - winners choice of 3 single digis from Etsy store
 
For my DT card I decided to use an image called Three Trees. Its quite a plain image but I've added a lot of sparkle so hope you like it.
 
 

 
 

Card Recipe

6x6 blank card Craftwork Cards
Image Three Trees by Oakpond Creations lightly coloured with cool grey 1and 2 Promarkers then glittered with silver glitter
Silver Mirra card and silver star vellum
White ribbon from Hobby Craft
Tree charm GNPE
Flowers Magnolia Doo Hickey die doily flowers cut in silver mirra card and the vellum which is edged with silver glitter
Silver berries and  metal corner Wild Orchid Craft
Silver lace from a haberdashery store in Ashbourne
Narrow silver ribbon and bells from my stash
Mother of pearl star buttons Whitby Crafts
Sentiments Whimsy Stamps Holiday Circle Pennants from The Hobby House stamped in silver ink
 
 
I hope you are having a good week and are enjoying doing some nice things. I know its getting close to Christmas but if you have time to pop over and take a look at the challenge that would be great, better still enter a card . I apologise for the photo very difficult getting all the sparkle perfectly !!
 
 



Friday 5 December 2014

Christmas Candles 2014

Good morning to all my lovely friends and  followers I hope that you are all well and enjoying the preparations for the Christmas holiday. I'm doing Ok and I say this every year now how did I ever do Christmas when I worked full time I'll never know.
For those of you who have been following my Blog for a while you may have seen this design of candle last year. I've made them for the last two Christmas's and they are always popular I think I made about eight last year for commissions. Anyway I've made these three this year to give as small thank you gifts. I hope you enjoy looking at them especially if you haven't seen them before.



 
 

Candle Recipe

Six inch ivory candles from Tesco but I have had them from Homebase they are normally about £2
Spellbinder poinsettia die
Spellbinder circle and  scalloped circle die for the base  
Wild Orchid Crafts magnolia flower, holly leaves, white, silver and red berries
Gold and  silver leaves  and some of the trimmings from Boyes Stores the rest from my stash
Sentiment stamps Christmas Grungy Messages LOTV heat embossed in gold ,silver and red.
Papers are silver snowflake vellum and the gold paper and holly paper are both Kaiser craft.
I put the candles in cellophane bags with tags and matching ribbon but it doesn't photograph well so this is before they are bagged up .
 
 
I get a lot of visitors on my Live Traffic feed Feedjit who visit my blog specifically to look at my Gold and Red candles I made last year so for those of you who come to look at the candles I hope you like this years version as well.
 
Well I'm going out shortly to do some food shopping and pick up a couple of small presents then I'm in all weekend writing Christmas cards, ( I love making them, love getting them, but hate writing them) putting up decorations ,finishing some cards and baking so that should keep me busy I'll have to think of something for my spare time it might involve a glass of wine!!
 
Thank you all for the gorgeous comments on my Aurora wings card they are all so lovely . 
 
Enjoy your weekend and  find some time to relax as it can be a hectic time Hugs Carole
 
 


 
 
 

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Aurora Wings Anything Goes Challenge

Good morning to all you lovely crafters. Today sees the launch of the new Anything Goes Challenge over at Crafting by Designs 
We have three sponsors this week with some great prizes
  
   Prize: $10 credit to Etsy store
 
Flatfriends  
    Prize: winners choice of 2 digis from Etsy store
 
Di's Digis -

 


 
 
Prize: 12 voucher to store
 
I do love the Aurora Wings stamps and so decided on Icy Snow Queen for my design and here she is
 
 

Card Recipe

7x7 Blank Card
Stamp Aurora Wings Icky Snow Queen painted with Promarker and  Copic pens the image is sprinkled with Twinklets and Glamour dust and some viva pearl pen dots sprinkled with glamour dust when wet., also some silver pen highlights
Silver snowflake ribbon from a  haberdashery stall on Bakewell market
Silver and white organza wide ribbon from Whitby Crafts
Papers Timeless Victorian LOTV
Edges of the image and papers are done with double sided tape (very narrow) and sprinkled with Twinklets
Lilac snowflakes from my stash
Sentiment tags LOTV
 
I think she's gorgeous unfortunately this is a very sparkly card and a photograph doesn't capture all the sparkle. I hope that you go over and take a look at the challenge this week the prizes are great.
 
I'm entering this in into Graphit Markers Challenge Two Colours mine are Lavender and Silver and Crafty Sentiments Designs Anything Goes Challenges
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 



Saturday 29 November 2014

Craftwork Cards Christmas Snowflake Candi Card

Good morning to all my crafting friends and a special welcome today to my two new followers Elise and Tracey M. I hope you will enjoy my future posts and visit often.
My card today is another of the Craftwork Cards Candi Cards I bought the pad at the GNPE I've now made three and  had hoped to do all six designs but time is against me at the moments so they may not appear till the New Year.
I hope you all got some bargains during Black Friday but I was inundated with emails yesterday it seems like every man and  his dog was doing something for Black Friday, am I wrong or is this the first time its happened in the UK on this scale.
I went to Newcastle to finish Christmas shopping (well nearly finished !! ) it was hectic but I got some good reductions on the things I wanted John Lewis had some great offers.
Now for the card

 

Card Recipe

Blank 7x7 card
Kraft card Crafters Companion
Blue paper from my stash
Craftwork Cards Candi Pad winter Botanicals
Silver snowflake, blue and  cream Candi Craftwork Cards
Pearls from a set I won from Mags Candy .
Felt snowflake I thin is from Whitby Crafts last Christmas
Wooden Joy sentiment was from Michaels Florida .
 
I hope that you are all enjoying a great weekend expect a lot of you will be shopping this weekend so hope you find all your gifts quickly. I'm in this weekend and hope to catch up on lots of things but I'm getting the inserts for the Wedding Order of Service today so that's my job for tomorrow 115 insets to fix in should keep me busy for a short while !!!
 
Thank you for all your great comments on my fairy card so lovely and kind of you all. Enjoy the rest of the weekend hugs Carole x
 
 



 
 


 

Wednesday 26 November 2014

Fairies

Good morning to all my lovely friends and followers. I hope that you are all well and enjoying a great week. Its the 26th November and this time next month Christmas will all be over bar the leftovers . Its going to be here before we know it . I always plan to have everything done but never do always loads of  last minute stuff. I tell myself its part of the fun not sure about that though .
 
Today sees the launch of a new challenge at Crafting by Designs and  our theme this week is Fairies. Our sponsor this week is  Delicious Doodles with a great prize of 4 Digi stamps.

Prize - 4 digis
 
 
 
For my card I chose the stamp Ivy Fairy its a bit of a different fairy as she only has ivy for clothes. I did think of giving her a little woolly vest but thought it may upset the designer!! So here she is
 
 
 
 

Card Recipe

Shaped card from Craftwork  Cards
Papers LOTV Baskets and  Bunnies
Image Ivy Fairy Delicious Doodles painted with Promarkers and Copic pens sprinkled with shabby blue Frantage
Spellbinders Labels Three
Marianne die ivy , birdhouse and bird.
Lace from my stash
Sentiment Tags LOTV
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts
Crochet flower ( I think docrafts ages ago).
Ivy leaves from Dainty Crafts Washington
 
 
Well now you've seen her she is different but I did enjoy the colouring the wings and hair are fabulous. I hope you can dig out your fairy stamps and pop over and enter this challenge.
 
Enjoy the rest of the week I hope you find the time to enjoy something nice and relaxing could that be crafting hmm !!




Friday 21 November 2014

On your Retirement

Good evening to all my friends and  followers after a busy week I've finally made sometime to put a post on my blog. We had a good week in the Peak District although the weather wasn't good we did a lot of nice shopping at Chatsworth Christmas Markets and a lot of relaxing but not so much walking as it was very wet in the middle of the week. I'm now back to normality and  I 've been Christmas shopping today I was surprised how busy the shops were but I got some things but will need another one or two trips to finish all the present buying.
Now onto my card its a Retirement card commission I did for a friend just before my holiday she asked for flowers so I used the very pretty LOTV Lilacs stamp. I did make a matching box but silly me forgot to photograph it!!

 

Card Recipe

7x7 Blank Card
Tim Holtz card and  paper distress tool
Pion Paper Studio of Memories Photo Frame and Anemone from Live and Love Crafts
LOTV stamp Lilacs painted with Derwent Inktense pencils
Spellbinder Floral Oval die
Lace from my stash
Lace butterfly by Martha Stewart from Michaels Florida USA
Flowers WOC and my stash
Sentiments LOTV For You Retirement sentiment and Sentiment tags
Sewing Machine and white topstitch thread
Glamour Dust on the Lilac flowers
Metal corner Dawn to Dusk Crafts originally white but tinted with a Copic pen to match
 
 
I thought I'd finish my post with a lovely photo I took of Lathkill Dale it was one of the dryer days and I took it just before the sunset. It is a really beautiful dale.
 

I hope that you all have a great weekend what ever you all have planned. I hope to do some more shopping tomorrow I'm determined not to be last minute shopping this year as we are going to the Wedding on the 22nd December that I have been making the stationery for so that will take out a couple of days leading up to Christmas Eve. Thank you all for the great comments on my recent posts they are all so lovely hugs Carole x



 
 
 

 
 
 
 


 

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Get Ready for Christmas

Good morning everyone today sees the start of a new challenge at Crafting by Designs this is another one of our Get Ready for Christmas challenges we've been having one every month since September and they are proving really popular .
Our sponsor this week is

  Rick St. Dennis    

The Prize - 2 digi stamps
 
Its a great prize and his stamps are very popular so I hope you can check out the web page. For my design I have chosen Holly Berry she's quite saucy with her basque and fishnet stockings so I need to think of some man who will appreciate this !!
 
 
 

Card Recipe

7x7 blank card
Image Rick St Dennis Holly Berry painted with Promarkers and Copic pens
Red Glitter card from a Craft shop in Litchfield a couple of years ago
Spellbinder Floral oval die
Shabby white frantage
Berries and holly leaves from Wild Orchid Crafts and my stash.
Sentiments LOTV Christmas Wishes
Sequined gold ribbon Whitby Crafts
Gold star string from my stash
Merry Christmas ribbon Boyes Stores.
Paper LOTV Classic Christmas

I hope you enjoy this card she's such fun. If you are still making Christmas cards you might find something suitable and pop over to enter this weeks challenge.



Friday 14 November 2014

Rosie Posey for Rosie's 30th Birthday

Good morning to all my fellow crafters, bloggers and friends. My card today is on I have made for Rosie she is the Bride to be who I have been making the Wedding Stationery for . It was her 30th Birthday this week and this is the card I made to send to her. I bought this Rosie Posey stamp when LOTV first put the retiring stamps up for sale it was a stamp I always liked but for some reason never bought so I thought straight away of Rosie's 30th when I saw it was being retired. Anyway enough of this rambling on, this is the card.

 

 
 
 
 

Card Recipe

6x6 card cut with Tim Holtz Bracket die
Papers are LOTV Timeless Victorian
Image LOTV stamp Rosie Posey painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils and  sprinkled with shabby blue Frantage
Marianne die Flower ,Leaf and Circle.
Flower organza ribbon Boyes Stores
Heart Lace Dainty Crafts Washington
Sentiment tags LOTV
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts
Pearl string my stash
Resin frame and number 30 cut from a Pion cut out sheet both from Live and  Love Crafts
Pearls from my Candy win from Mags
Paper edger Tim holtz
 
I decorated the inside of the card to match and added the same die cut to print the verse on.
 
I hope you have all had a wonderful week . I'll be in the Peak District when this is posted so I hope that we have a great week as well. Look forward to seeing all your lovely posts when I get home . Hugs Carole x



Wednesday 12 November 2014

Give Thanks

Good morning everyone and a special welcome to all my lovely friends and  followers. My post today is to launch a new challenge along at Crafting by Designs and our challenge theme this week is Give Thanks. I know they celebrate this time of year a lot more in the USA but we have to admit it is a glorious time when we see all of the wonderful Autumn colours and they have been especially lovely this year in England after our good warm summer.
We have two sponsors this week for our challenge

Prize - $12 credit to store
 
and
 
 
Prize - $15 credit to store
 
I decided on an image from Sami Stamps and its called Acorn in my hand .
 
 
 
The inside of the card

 
 

Card Recipe

6x6 Cream scalloped card Craftwork cards
Papers LOTV Enchantment
Stamp Acorn in my hand Sami Stamps painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils
Marianne die flower leaf and circle
Hessian ribbon Hobby Lobby Florida
Flowers Wild Orchid Crafts
Purple organza ribbon my stash
Wood bobbin Michaels Florida
Sentiments computer generated
Kraft card Crafters Companion
Metal leaf Dawn to Dusk Crafts Ross Papercraft Show
Acorn from the top of a Christmas Cracker last year
 
I hope you enjoy this challenge and  its a bit different and nice to use the Autumn colours for a change. I was lucky as I won these gorgeous Autumn papers in a LOTV Candy Draw earlier this year. I hope you can find the time to pop over and take a look.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 



Friday 7 November 2014

Craftwork Cards Christmas Cards

Good morning to all my fellow crafty bloggers and  friends. I hope you are all well and enjoyed your week. Today I'm posting two Christmas cards yes you read right Two !!. When I went to the GNPE I shared one of these Craftwork Cards pads with my craft friend Carol. I've made three cards so far using it and  have enjoyed making them so quick and also perfect for posting


 
 
 

Card Recipe

7x7 blank cards
Craftwork cards Christmas Candi pad Winter Botanicals
The bow is from the bow pad given to me by my Crafty friend Carol
Candi is from GNPE and my stash
Christmas ribbon from my stash
Sentiment stamp LOTV Christmas Wishes
Pearls from the Range and Green gems Michaels Florida
Kraft card Crafters Companion
 
I coloured the inside of the bow with a green promarker pen as I didn't like looking down on the white reverse. These are so different for me but I did enjoy them especially as I made two in a morning.  I'll be posting some more as there's a few more designs so watch this Blog. I'm going away tomorrow to the Peak District for a week relaxing and walking depending on the weather it might be more relaxing !! I have some posts scheduled though for while I'm away . I'll have to catch up with all your lovely Blogs when I get home as the cottage we go to does not have wifi. I'm seeing my Son and Daughter in Law they are coming for the weekend so looking forward to seeing them.  I'll be handing over the new roman blind. its all finished and looks very smart.
Thank you for the lovely comments you have left recently I really appreciate the time you take to look at my Blog. Enjoy the weekend Hugs Carole x