1st Blog Birthday

This Candy post will stay at the  top of my blog until the 28th February . For new posts please scroll down. Thank you Carole x

Good morning everyone the weather must know its my blog birthday as the sun is shining brightly today gorgeous.
The first part of my post today is a small selection of candy I have I've put together as a thank you for the support I have had from Blog Land for my cards and projects over the last year. I have blogged with some  great followers and friends during the year and I even got to meet some of you. The inspiration from your comments is so lovely and  they make the time I spend crafting so worthwhile.

 

 

To be in with a chance to win the candy simple rules apply follow my blog, leave a comment  on this post and put a link back to my Birthday Candy on your own blog.. My husband will draw the winner from the comments posted by 12noon on the 28th February. Thanks for taking part and  good luck.

 

 

Birthday Card

 

 I couldn't celebrate a birthday without a card so this is the card I have just made using my new Heartfelt Creations Delicate Aster die I've been looking at this die for ages and finally got it. I want to thank one of my followers Pam who uses this die a lot on her amazing cards and I have taken the inspiration for this card from her work Thank you so much Pam.

 

 

 

 

 

Card Recipe

8x8 card Craftwork cards

Embossed card from craft show

Pearlescent papers Anita's cards

Tim Holtz white card distressed on edges and  stitched with white topstitch thread

Happy Birthday die from eBay

Marianne die

Heartfelt Creations Delicate Aster Die

Ribbon from my stash

Kanban pearls

 

 

Well quite a long post today cannot believe I've posted 86 times and put one tutorial onto my Blog in a year I've come a long way since the very frustrating day I spent setting it up. It has been worth it though as I do enjoy the crafty friendships it brings.

 

Finally just want to send my love to my friend Val who is being very brave and doing her first holiday in Lynton in Devon. Well done you enjoy yourself.

 

 

Enjoy the rest of the week what ever you have  planned make sure you do some nice things and  make time for crafting  Carole x

 



 

 

 



First CAS Card

Good morning to all my lovely friends and  followers and a Happy St David's Day . Firstly I want to thank you all for the lovely comments you have all left on my last few posts they are a delight and  make me feel so happy. Secondly I would like to welcome Kevin my latest follower thank you for following my blog Kevin   I hope you enjoy my posts.

My card today is a CAS (clean and simple) card not my usual style at all but I was given this stamp before Christmas from some craft items sent to our craft group from a lady who had too much craft stuff  I personally didn't think that was possible you just get more boxes but it seems her boxes were taking over the house. Anyway the stamp is a Bebunni from Crafters Companion and  its a very simple stamp so thought I'd give it a go I also noticed Crafters Companion were running a CAS challenge so that spurred me on.

 

 

Card Recipe

Blank 5x5 card Craftwork cards embossed with dots embossing folder

Spellbinder scalloped and  circle dies

Tim Holtz core'dinations card

Stamp Crafters Companion Bebunni

Painted with Pro marker and Copic pens

Neenah smooth stamping card

Twine from docrafts

Pearls Kanban

 

 

Hope you enjoy my CAS card and enjoy the rest of the week the weather is good so I'm catching up on jobs in the house as am out later in the week.

 

I'm entering this in Crafters Companion CAS challenge http://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/blog/crafterscompetition/2014/02/february-2014-challenge-clean-simple-cas/

 

Have great week  and enjoy whatever you plan to do.

 

 



 



 



First Easter Card

Good afternoon to all my lovely friends and  followers and  a special welcome to my new follower Rachel thank you for joining my blog followers and I hope you continue to enjoy looking at my blog posts.

My card today is my first Easter card and I've used a new stamp that I bought in the LOTV sale. I hope you like it .

Card Recipe

Blank card Craftwork cards

Papers free in a magazine
Card Tim Holtz 

Lace Durham indoor Market

Green pearl trim The Hobby House at GNPE

Stamp LOTV Armful of Daisies coloured with Promarker and Copic pens

Paper rolled flowers Spellbinder rolled flower die

Spellbinder floral oval die

Punch an old one from Hobbycraft not sure of the make

Butterfly punch Martha Stewart

Small roses, Medium rose , tulips and berries from WOC

Sentiment computer generated and cut with spellbinder circle die

Stitched with sewing machine and  white topstitch thread

 

Easter seems a while away but thought I'd make a start really like this new stamp he's so cute.

 

I hope that you are all enjoying the weekend the weather here is nice best we've had for a while. Waiting for my son and daughter-in -law to arrive they are staying the weekend .So I'm really looking forward to  seeing them as we don't manage to get together that often as they live in Didsbury Manchester and we are in the North East.

 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and hope you all get to do some lovely things

 I'm entering this card in Wild Orchid Challenge. It's a stitch up. http://wildorchidchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ and  Crafty Sentiments Designs. Anything Goes.

http://craftysentiments.blogspot.co.uk/

 

 

 



 

 

 

 



Get Well Soon

Good Morning to all my fab friends and  followers. I hope you have had a good weekend. the weather here wasn't so bad at least it didn't rain yesterday. We went to Durham on Saturday did a bit of shopping and I picked up some cute stamps in the craft shop in the indoor market. On the way back stopped at a pub/hotel my husband had been to before at Coxhoe called The Old Mill what a really nice place the food was great and they had a huge Gluten free menu I actually had a crumble for afters first one in more than 5years such a treat for me.
Anyway todays card is a man card its a get well card I've made for a friend of mine who has been a bit poorly recently. I used the same Michael Powell stamp I used for my husbands  birthday card in January but I've used  neutral colours this time and kept to a sepia theme. I really like the stamp as it is so versatile.

Card Recipe

Blank card 6x8 cream deckled edge from Hobbycraft

Backing paper My Minds Eye Kraft funday The Paperlane Northallerton

Grey card Ross Papercraft show

Mesh ribbon originally cream painted with Cool Grey 4 Promarker

Stamp Michael Powell Harbour side painted with Copic and  Promarker pens

Twine from my stash might be Docrafts

Banners from ebay but I've just bought the die as I like them so much. I stamped them with alphabet stamps

Charm from my stash

Card Candi Craftwork cards

 

 

I quite like this stamp painted in neutral colours I just added the tiny bit of colour with the red and  blue to make it pop a bit.

 

Now for something exciting. Tomorrow is My 1st Blog Birthday I cannot believe I have been blogging for a year I wrote my first post on the 18th February 2013 announcing I had finally set up my Blog.

So tomorrow as well as posting a birthday card I'm going to be giving away a small thank you and  am putting together a bag of goodies as I really do appreciate everyone's support.

 

Enjoy the rest of the day and  hope you can join me tomorrow for my 1st Birthday Blog

 



 

 



 

 



 

Love

Good afternoon to all my lovely friends and followers. Hope you have had a good week so far. I've just come in, been out this morning to my craft club and made a man card then to Thai Chi this afternoon . So feeling very calm and relaxed just right for blogging and catching up on my comments.
The card I'm posting today is a card I've made with a love theme so many of the challenges had this theme as its so close to Valentine's Day. I don't normally do many Romance cards but thought I'd give it a go. The only time I usually do this type of thing is when I have commissions or wedding anniversaries. I hope you like it I decided to do a step card for a change then when I got into it wished I hadn't as it didn't seem to be working at first. I'm reasonable pleased now with the finished card

 

 

 

 

 

Card Recipe

Step card from Craftwork Cards

Paper an old Do crafts pad I won about three years ago in a competition

Sentiment LOTV Anniversary Surprise coloured with distress ink pens

Spellbinder circle and scalloped circle dies

Lace hearts from Dovecraft covered in Shabby Pink Frantage

Lace from Dainty Crafts Washington

Roses WOC

Card from Ross Papercraft Show

Gold heart and  Love sentiment from my stash

Believe sentiment K&Co from Michaels USA

Small hearts centres from Martha Stewart hearts border punch

Pearl Trim local craft store Boyes

 

 

 

I hope that you all kept safe yesterday the wind here was terrific thankfully we are lucky and  have no damage just our ear drums !! I hope that you all have a lovely Valentine's Day. We've not got anything planned but might just open a bottle of Champagne to celebrate tomorrow evening.

 

Enjoy the weekend and  hope you manage to  do something nice despite the awful weather.

 

 

I'm entering this in the following Challenges, The Ribbon Girl Romance http://www.theribbongirlchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/, Live and  Love Crafts Love n' Lace http://liveandlovecrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/challenge-20-love-n-lace.html , Crafting by Designs Anything for Lovehttp://craftingbydesigns.blogspot.co.uk/   Deep Ocean Challenge Love is all aroundhttp://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ Whimsy Monthly Challenge Love is in the Air http://whimsyinspires.blogspot.com.au/ Grapitmarkers ChallengeFloral/Love http://graphitmarkers.blogspot.co.uk/

 

 



 

 



Champagne Supernova

Good morning to  all my lovely friends and  followers. I hope you have all enjoyed the weekend and  the weather has not been too awful. I do feel so sorry for all those people with flooded homes its dreadful. My card today is one  I've made for the LOTV monthly challenge which is Name That Tune. It took me ages to come up with a song to match one of the LOTV stamps I own. I picked a couple at the beginning only to find the designers had used the same one so  back to  the drawing board. I enlisted my husbands help and  came up with this song by Oasis Champagne Supernova as I had the Champagne Fountain stamp.

 

 

 

I've included a picture of the music by Noel Gallagher

 

Card Recipe

Blank Card Craftwork cards

Music paper from Melissa Francis 5th Avenue pad sentiment paper from the same pad

Pink card Tim Holtz

Grey card my Stash

Stamp LOTV Champagne Fountain painted with Promarkers and  Copic pens stamped with Memento Ink London Fog

Sentiment stamp Celebrate half of the LOTV sentiment Time to Celebrate

Spellbinder circle and  scalloped circle dies

Ribbon East of India bought at Chatsworth Christmas Market

Grey narrow ribbon from my stash

Stars from The Range

Flowers roses and pink Blossom from WOC

Small grey roses originally cream coloured with Cool Grey 3 Promarker

Beaded leaves from Ross Paper Craft Show one of the £1 stalls.

White topstitch Thread and  Sewing Machine.

Grey Pearls Kanban

Glamour dust on Champagne glasses.

 

 

I thought this  ribbon was perfect for the card but it does fray easily so had to  be careful cutting it. I also added some stars as Supernova is the brightest star. I do like to drink Champagne but not sure my knees can manage dancing on tables these days. The dancing on tables reminds me of Julie Walters in Mamma Mia. So my card even fits Name that Film as well !! 

  

As you guessed I'm entering this in LOTV February Challenge Name That Tune and  my tune is Champagne Supernova by Oasis.http://ideastoinspire.blogspot.co.uk/p/challenge.html

 I know its just fun but I enjoyed the research and the making of this card. I know my friend Val will say no surprise there its because you love Champagne so much !!

 

Anyway bit of escapism and fun with my blog today.I'm now going to do the ironing but I usually watch Create and Craft on the kitchen telly so not all bad . Have a great week take care and enjoy.

 

 



 

 

 

 



 

Black and White

Good morning to all you lovely friends and  followers. Hope that you are all keeping safe from this awful wet weather and hoping none of you have flooded homes. I've had a quieter week than last and  enjoyed a night out last night with my Golden Girl friends. We were one missing as Lorna is on her world tour currently in New Zealand and my friend Margaret just got back Wednesday from visiting her daughter in Dubai. She had a great time seeing her granddaughter who is two and enjoyed some lovely weather not that we are envious not much !!

Today my card is something a bit different. This stamp was one I got when I took out a magazine subscription last year and its by Indigo Blu and its called Ella Bella. I've made it all black and white and made some paper flowers for a change and  also used a shaped card as its quite a big stamp and  looked a bit lost on my normal 6x6 cards. Let me know what you think.

Card Recipe

8x8 Elegant shaped card Craftwork cards

Spotted paper internet freebie

Black card from stash

Stamp Ella Bella Indigo Blu

Sentiment stamps LOTV

Magnolia Doohickey Doily flower die

Resin roses from ebay Moon Jewellery

Punch Martha Stewart from Michaels in Florida USA

Black lace from my local craft store Boyes

Gems Kanban

The spotted ribbon lace was from a shop in Northallerton cannot remember the name

 

I hope you enjoy this card I quite enjoyed making it but it seemed strange not painting the image after stamping. I've seen this stamp done with gilding flakes so one of my challenges when I get some  time.

 

I hope you have some nice things planned for the weekend hubby is at football match tomorrow so  hope I can spend the afternoon crafting.
I'm entering this in Crafting by Designs February Challenge 'Anything goes'http://craftingbydesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/month-long-anything-goes-in-february.html

 

Just wanted to also say a big thank you to my followers who always take the time to comment on my cards I really do appreciate all of them it makes my card making so worthwhile. Thank you all hugs Carole x

 

 

 



 

 





 



Blossom

Good afternoon to all you lovely followers and friends. I've been trying to do this  post for a few days but just been busy and have not taken the time to sit down and do it. I've been out today did some appeals for  the LA this  morning and  had my annual coeliac check up at hospital this afternoon. Good news though I don't have to go back to hospital for my checks anymore consultant is writing to  ask my GP to do  them in the future as everything is going well.
Anyway back to my post this is another stamp I bought from LOTV last year called Blossom and  hadn't used. She is so cute and  I did the card in lilacs one of my favourite card colours. I painted the image at my craft group two weeks ago when the theme for that week was stamping and colouring. I used watercolour inks to paint the image only because it was easier to  take them along rather than all my Promarkers and Copics as I have quite a few!!



 

 

Card Recipe

Blank card Craftwork cards 6x6

Kraft card Tim Holtz from The Paperlane Craft shop Northallerton

Stamps LOTV Blossom, Background Bits Old Romance and sentiment Pretty Grungy Good Times

Painted with Distress Watercolour inks

Dies Marianne and  Spellbinders

Hessian trim Hobby Lobby Florida USA

Lace Dainty Crafts Washington

Ribbon from my stash

Slider buckle I think WOC

Flowers WOC

Background paper Kanban

Sentiment and  both photo stamp images stamped with Memento sepia ink

 

 

I'm doing well with my stamps I've not used but still have a few more!! I'm sure if I decide to give up there is always next year. I have managed to get a few cards made recently so hopefully might be able to put a few more posts on soon.

 

I'm entering this card in Crafty Little Fairies Challenge which is Lavender and  Lace.http://craftylittlefairieschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

 

I've noticed a lot of the challenges are love themes at the moment with Valentine's Day coming shortly. I'll have to try and get my Romantic Head on and you never know I might even have  a love stamp I've never used !!

 

Enjoy the week what ever you are planning but hope it includes lots of crafting and the things you love doing. Take care and  keep warm.



 

 

 

 

Summer Days

Good afternoon to all my friends and  followers. I hope that you are all well and  not too down with the dark miserable weather we seem to be having a lot at  the moment. It is good for staying in and  crafting but the light is terrible especially if you need to do photos. Anyway enough of that. today I'm posting another card made with a stamp I bought a while ago and had  never used its a LOTV stamp called Summer Days. I wish it really was Summer !!. Its such a pretty stamp but took a bit of colouring as its quite detailed in places. I decided on distressed inks for this one.

Card Recipe

Blank card Craftwork Cards

Card Tim Holtz

Papers from a Melisa Francis pad I think its 5th Avenue

Stamp LOTV Summer Days coloured with distress inks

Sentiment LOTV Grungy Good Times

Lace local store Boyes

Fence die Crafty Sentiments Designs

Birdcage die cut from Craftwork cards embossed with Vintage Rose Frantage

Ribbon, Doily and twine from stash

Flowers and  metal butterflies from WOC

Metal leaves Dawn to  Dusk Crafts

Small cream resin roses Michaels USA

 

I have been to  South Shields today with Hubby to meet up with my friend Val who is staying at The Little Haven Hotel its a nice Hotel right on the sea but it was absolutely freezing. We had our lunch at a  place called The Custom House food was OK but very glamorised in the web photos never mind had a good long chat over a bottle of wine which we all enjoyed

 

I'm home alone tonight as Michael is going to the football so planning to catch up on comments and  do some crafting. Sounds good to me.

 

Enjoy your evening and the rest of the week. Thanks to you all for the fab comments on my recent  cards they are lovely and so appreciated.

 

I am entering this card in  Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge ,  The Ribbon Girl Challenge and Crafting by Designs http://craftingbydesigns.blogspot.co.uk/

 



 

 

 

Skipping

Good evening to all my amazing Friends and  Followers. I'm now back to normal crafting and  one of the things I decided this year was to  try and  stamp up all those stamps I have  never used. So this is the first. Its a LOTV stamp called Skipping and I've taken some inspiration from their Gallery to  get me going . I painted the image with distress inks and  used  a shaped card for a change.

 

I decorated the inside but I haven't put a verse in yet because I've not decided who to send it to.

 

 

Card Recipe

Shaped card from Craftwork cards

Flowered and spotted paper from a magazine freebie

Doily Cheery Lyn Die

Stamp LOTV Skipping coloured with Distress Inks

Postcard stamp LOTV

Swirl Magnolia Do Hickey Die

Pleated Ribbon from Stash

Lace from Dainty Crafts Washington

White seam binding Live and  Love Crafts

Banner from ebay coloured with distress ink

Flowers from Wild Orchid Craft and  Hobbycraft

Pearl Hearts from stash

Sentiment stamps from LOTV one of my Christmas presents

 

 

 

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend I've been to the hairdressers this afternoon and going to do some crafting this evening started a card yesterday I  had to leave it last night as I hit bit of a brick wall when it was not working out but now know what I'm doing well I hope so !!

 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend whatever you have  planned. Hope your weather is better than here its cold and wet horrible.

 

I'm entering this card into Crafty Sentiment Designs Challenge Birthdays,  Crafty Little Fairies Challenge Sport and Crafting by Design Girlie. See my sidebar Challenges for links to  all these challenges.

 

 



 

 



 

 

 

 

 



 

Memory Box

Good morning to all my lovely friends and followers. Firstly I want to  say a big thank you for all your recent comments they have been so  kind and I appreciate the time you all take to view my blog.
Today I'm posting a Memory box I made to take for my friend Val last week. I didn't know what to  take and had seen these on a number of American blogs and on Pinterest so decided to  have a go.
I enjoyed decorating it and  hopefully it will be something my friend can treasure and also store some precious things of Ed's ..

Base of the box

 

 

This is a  photo of the box my friend took with the photos of Ed.

 

Box Recipe

Empty box painted with Gesso for distressed look

Sentiment from Internet

White Card Tim Holtz distressed on edges and  topstitched

Pearl trims from Hobbycraft and Boyes

Swiss Dots Frame from Craftwork Cards cut to fit sentiment

Flowers from Wild Orchid Craft and my stash

Lace Dainty Crafts Washington

Die cut corners from ebay

Glamour dust

 

 

I hope you enjoy looking at this box as much as I enjoyed making it. Enjoy the rest of the week just off to  the Charity Shop after lunch been having a Wardrobe clear out . Now have space for more new clothes !!

 



 



Sympathy Card for Val

Good Morning to all my lovely friends and crafty followers. Today I'm posting a sympathy card for my dearest friend. I found it very hard to make as I do not normally make sympathy cards. I knew though that I would not find exactly what I wanted or the right verse in a shop bought card.

Card Recipe

8x8 Blank card from Craftwork cards

Cherry Blossom Stamp from docrafts painted with distress inks

White card Tim Holtz distressed at edges and  topstitched in white topstitch thread

Matted onto silver mirra card

Embossing folder free in a magazine

Spellbinder Floral Oval die

Sentiments and pearls from my stash

 

 

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend I'm catching up on things in the house  as we were in London for three days last week at Ed's funeral.

 

I also want to tell you that I got a top 3 in Crafty Sentiment Designs Challenge with my husbands birthday card. I'm absolutely delighted its my first top 3.

 

I do  hope this dark weather goes quickly its so depressing having lights on all day . I do envy my friend Lorna who just flew off on Friday on an around the world trip and is currently enjoying the sunshine in India not jealous at all !!

 

 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and enjoy whatever you are all planning on doing.

 

 



 



 

Perfume

Hello to all my lovely friends and  followers. today I am posting a card I have specifically made for a challenge The Live and  Love Crafts Challenge is perfume and  it just caught my fancy. Its the first time I've done this normally I have something suitable.

I used the box and bottle from Prada Amber Perfume one of my favourite perfumes as my inspiration for the colours

This is the card with my inspiration perfume.

 

 

This is the close up of the card

 

 



 

Card Recipe

Blank card Craftwork cards

Maroon paper from my stash

Pattern paper Melissa Frances 5th Avenue

LOTV stamp Getting Ready painted with Promarkers and Copic pens

Spellbinder circle die

Tattered rose die from eBay covered in Vintage pink frontage from GNPE

Lace from Dainty Crafts Washington

Flowers roses and orchids Wild Orchid Crafts

Prada label taken from box

Small perfume file made from a sample bottle and  decorated with silver card and  bead cap

filled with coloured water.

Wooden heart from small gift shop in Didsbury

Melissa Frances hanger just seen from Live and  Love Crafts

 

 

 

I am not too happy with these photos even though I've had a couple of goes I think the frantage on the die is giving a reflection well that's the excuse!! Much nicer in the hand.

 

I hope you  have all had a good weekend doing some nice  things. I managed to get to Dainty Crafts at Washington yesterday. They sell gorgeous lace and I replenished some I had run out of. Also popped into the Papercraft shop to  get some nice linen and  hammered white paper for inserts.

 

I'm entering this card in Live and  Love Crafts Challenge Blog January theme Perfume and  LOTV monthly challenge Anything goes

 

As I wasn't too happy with the original photo I am adding this image think its a bit better .

 

 



 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Birthday Card for my Husband

Good afternoon to all my lovely friends and followers. Firstly I want to welcome Mag's my latest follower to my Blog. I hope that you enjoy looking at my posts.
My card today is the card I made for my  husbands birthday yesterday. I've used a Michael Powell stamp I picked up in a sale a while ago and  this is the first time I've used it. It seemed strange doing something that's not Christmas colours and so I decided on some pale pastel colours.

Card Recipe

Papers docrafts

Card Tim Holtz

Stamp Michael Powell Harbour side painted with Distress Inks

Mesh ribbon Live and  Love Crafts

Cream twine docrafts

Happy birthday ticket stamp from Local Craft shop not sure of the make

Banners die cuts from eBay stamped with some small alphabet stamps painted with distress ink

Ribbon from my stash

Charm from Ross Papercraft Show

Other embellishments from craft/sewing shop in Whitby

Small black gems Kanban

Hanger just seen Melissa Francis Live and Love Crafts

 

Michael loved this card and he had a good birthday we had anice meal out last night at one of our favourite restaurants Café Lilli.

 It was tinged with great sadness as our best friend Ed who has been ill for a long time sadly died yesterday afternoon My thoughts at this time are with Val and  her family

This card has got me back into craft mode again so hopefully I will have some more posts soon.

Enjoy the rest of the week whatever you  have planned and I hope you can all make time for the things you love to do.

As this is a NEW stamp first time I've used it and  a NEW paper pad I'm entering the card into Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge NEW

 



 

 

 

 





My last Christmas Card of 2013

Good morning to all my lovely friends and  followers. I hope that you have all had a lovely Christmas  and  New Year and  are back to normal and finding time for lots of crafting. Took down all the Christmas decorations yesterday the house always looks so bare you do get used to the festive colours and cards around the house.
Today my post is the Christmas card I made for my husband Michael. I couldn't post it before the holidays in case he looked at my blog  which he does sometimes. I am sure he does it to keep me happy as he's definitely not a card maker !!
I used the Lili of the Valley Stamp Santa's coming  to town on this card

 

 

 

 

Card Recipe

Blank card 8x8 Craftwork cards

Papers LOTV

Hessian trim Live and  Love Crafts

Cheesecloth Wild orchid crafts edged with liquid snow and  glamour dust

Felt Reindeers Hobbycraft

Memory Box Frostville border

Sentiments LOTV and  docrafts

Stamp LOTV Santa Claus is coming to town painted with distress inks

Liquid snow and liquid applique

Trim from my stash

Blue card Tim Holtz

 

 

Hope you all have a great weekend going to put the decorations in the loft now and then might go  out if the weather stays OK