Christmas Bauble

Good morning everyone today I'm sharing a card I made a couple of weeks ago for the ladies at our craft group to make Its a Christmas Bauble Design made using mostly dies sorry bur the silver mirra card has not photographed  well .

Card Recipe

Circle shape card made from a 7x7 blank card using a Spellbinder Grand Dies

White card is Ross Papercraft

Silver Mirra Card is Jelly Bean Crafts

Poinsettia Die is Spellbinder

Holly Die is Creative Expressions

Happy Christmas Die came free in a magazine ages ago

Silver mesh ribbon is from Whitby Crafts

Frosted Berries eBay

Silver Twine Michael's in Florida

Well I hope everyone has a great weekend I'm finishing my post with a couple of photos of my trip this week with my Golden Girl friends to London to see the Tutankhamun Exhibition at the Saatchi gallery a fabulous exhibition and a great couple of days.

Love and  hugs Carole x

Miles First Day at School

Good afternoon everyone thought I'd share the card I made for my Grandson Miles Alexander for his first day at big school he is just four/ I've also added a couple of photos of him in this new uniform on his way  to school.

Close Up

Card Recipe

7x7 Blank card

Stamp is LOTV Back to School Boy painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils

Card is Ross Papercraft and Tim Holtz

Chalk board paper is a download from Pinterest

Stitched square dies

Frame die is MFT  

Metal alphabet tiles are from Studio Cards years ago

Card Candi Craftwork cards 

Sentiment made on the computer 

Miles on his way to Big School Gatley Primary 

What happened to those four years. I hope you enjoy this post he is such a gorgeous boy and we love him so much. Love and  hugs Carole x

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70th Birthday card for my Special Friend

Good morning to all my lovely friends and  followers .Today I'm sharing a card I should have shared with you all on the 25th September as it was one of my close friend Barbara's 70th birthday. Unfortunately I gave it to her for her birthday then realized I had not photographed it . My friend has now kindly photographed it for me so finally I can share it with you all..Better late than never.

The Box

Card and Box Recipe

8x8 Blank card

Stamp is Sweet Pea from Stamping Bella from Dies to Die For painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils 

Pearlescent paper embossed with an embossing folder that came with my ebosser machine
Paper for the flowers is Maja Design Celebration- Jubilee

Die is LDRS Gilded Oval set

Flower dies are Poppy Stamps Poinsettia 

Large Organza flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts

Small Organza flowers are from Hobby Craft

Pearls leaves and  flower pearl string The Hobby House

Resin Heart is Melisa Francis from Live and  Love crafts now closed.

Heart sentiment I made on the computer

Lace is from Whitby Crafts

Box

8x8 box from Mad Hatter Crafts at Ross Papercraft show

Sentiment I made on the computer 

Flowers and  papers to compliment the card

Pearl string The Hobby House

Barbara is one of my golden girl friends and we celebrated her birthday with a lovely afternoon tea at Brockley Hall at Saltburn by the Sea .

Enjoy the weekend everyone Love and  hugs Carole x

Top Knot

Good evening everyone I'm back today to launch out latest monthly challenge over at All Dressed Up Stamps Challenge Blog our theme as always is Anything Goes as long as you use an All Dressed Up Stamp in your design. If you have just dis covered these stamps and  don't have any there are some fab Freebies HERE to get you started.
The prize for the winner is three digital stamps of their choice and we also pick a top three one of whom is asked to be a Guest Designer the following month
For my Design Team card I used the lovely Top Knot stamp.

 Close up

Card Recipe

Shaped card is made with a Dutch Doobadoo Shape Art Stencil Square 2 from Noor Designs shop

Stamp is Top Knot from All Dressed Up Stamps painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils

Papers are Lemoncraft Gossamer Blue from Noor Designs 

Joy craft butterfly heart die

Stitched circle dies

Butterfly lace is from Brenda's Lace and Ribbon Facebook shop

Flowers are made with turquoise vellum paper and a Chloe stamp small floral embellishments then heat embossed with copper embossing powder

Love sentiment is from Whitby Crafts

The Penny Black Heart banner was a gift from a lovely crafty friend while I waited for my own die to arrive from the States

Brown pearls I won in a candy draw

Well I hope that you all have a great week and weekend and can find time to enter our challenge this month.

As I promised yesterday I'm ending with a couple of photos of my darling Grandson Miles at the seaside on Sunday I cannot believe he will be two in a couple of weeks . Love and  hugs Carole x

Mina-Return To Me

Good morning to all my friends and  followers this Wednesday and a very special welcome to my new follower Katrina I hope you enjoy my blog and visit often . Its Wednesday so a new challenge over at Crafting by Designs and  the theme this week is Fantasy.
We have a great sponsor this week

Nikki Burnette 

Nikki Burnette is a fantasy artist who paints all sorts of fantastical creatures in watercolor. Fantasy art is where her heart lies. She loves being able to escape the reality of our world for even just a few hours and enter a new fantasy realm where witches play tricks on Halloween Night, fairies fly around the sweet smelling rosebuds, and mermaids swim gracefully through the water with their dolphin friends. Nikki sells my original paintings as well as a wide range of different products that she creates in her studio.  All her artwork and drawings are original designs

Prize - winner choice of 3 digi images

For my design team project I decided on an unusual image called Mina-Return To Me and  I used it to make a wall plaque. Its different so I hope you like it..

Close up of the stamp

Wall Plaque Recipe

Wooden Plaque from Walmart in Florida $1. I then painted it with Dove Grey acrylic paint I bought in Michael's in Florida

I  used a Marianne nautical stamp and stamped and heat embossed with gold embossing powder to get the gold print border

The stamp is Mina- Return To Me from Nikki Burnett painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils

I used a dark blue oval frame and covered it with gold mesh and  edged with gold cord from Dainty Crafts  at Washington

Resin Fish is from Whitby Crafts 

I picked the mother of pearl type shells from the beach at Captiva Island in Florida when we visited last year on holiday

Gold Ribbon my stash

some Wink of Stella on the Stamp

I hope you can find time to enter this challenge Fantasy is a really fun theme. I thought I'd end my post with a photo of me at the restaurant on Saturday night in my posh gear with a lovely Gin cocktail.  I wore my high heels and Debra I managed not to fall over !!

A toast to all you lovely special ladies and gents.

Enjoy the rest of the week I'll be back tomorrow with another post. Love and hugs Carole x

I.m entering this into Squirrel.s Not So Random Challenge

 

Summer 70th Birthday

Good morning to all my lovely friends and  followers I hope everyone is looking forward to a great weekend.This morning I'm sharing a commission card I made a few weeks ago for a 70th Birthday The lady loves turquoise so this is the main colour on my design. I used the lovely Summer stamp from Lili of the Valley as well.

Close up

The Matching Box

Card Recipe

7x7 Blank Card

Stamp is Lili of the Valley Summer painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils

Papers are Lemoncraft Gossamer Blue 12x12 pad from Noor Designs

Stitched rectangle die is Lawn Fawn

Flower border die is Joycraft

Lace trim is from Whitby Crafts

The lace panel down the edge of the stamp is from Brenda's Lace and  Ribbon as is the lace butterflies and  box lace trim

Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and  Boyes Stores

Small flower pearls on the border and  flowers

Sentiments are Lili of the Valley sentiment tags

The small photo frame is from Michael's in Florida

70 today and  box sentiment made on the computer

Dots embossing folder 

Distress Ink on the edges Victorian Velvet

I'm finishing my post today with a photo I have just received from my Daughter in Law. Its a gorgeous family photo of them all especially Miles so I thought I'd share it with you all .

We are out to dinner tonight at one of our favorite restaurants Cafe Lilli so I need to dig out a posh frock and high heels !! We are going in a taxi so not a lot of walking involved I live in flat shoes these days and  cannot now believe I went to work every day in heel shoes . Enjoy the weekend everyone. Love and hugs Carole x

Kitty Mannequin

Good morning everyone well I'm back from my holidays and  eventually getting everything sorted just finished the last of the ironing yesterday what a task. We had a great time in Sri Lanka it was a beautiful place and  the people are so lovely Our hotel was in a lovely location and  great food. Definitely could of stayed a while longer.as I love the hot.sunshine. We had a bit of a journey home fight delayed from Colombo so only had about an hour for our transfer in Dubai airport which involved a  bus ride and several security checks. I now know I can speed walk !! Got to the gate with 5 minutes to spare. downside when we got to Manchester one of our bags was still in Dubai it couldn't speed walk !! fortunately the bag that did arrive had most of the things we needed for the wedding we were travelling to the next day in Dorset. Our bag came on the next flight from Dubai and was delivered to our house the next day by Emirates..
The wedding was gorgeous I've never been to a marque wedding it was perfect as the sun shone most of the day. The setting was beautiful at the village church then on the Groom's parent's farm.

Well that's a quick catch up and  now onto my card. Today sees the launch of a new Anything Goes Challenge over at Crafting by Designs We have three sponsors this week giving some fab prizes

SheepSki Designs   

Prize - choice of 3 digi images  

Shadow Clocksey

Prize: choice of 3 digi images.

Star Stampz

 Prize - choice of 3 digi images

For my design team card I decided on a image from Sheepski Designs I've been wanting to use one of these images for a while if you've not seen them before they are fab. I used Kitty Mannequin for my card. Isn't she stylish.

Close up of the Stamp

Card Recipe

7x7 blank card

Stamp is Sheepski Designs Kitty Mannequin painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils

Papers are Timeless Victorian from Lili of the Valley sadly retired.

Die is Spellbinder Floral Oval

Lavender net overlay my stash

Organza Flower Lace is Wild Orchid Crafts as are most of the flowers.

Cabochon is from York Craft Show formerly GNPE

Resin frame is Prima from Live and  Love Crafts

Sentiment is from a Crafters Companion stamp set called Shoppe

Small shoe button is from my stash was gold but painted with Gesso

Pearl pins Dainty Crafts Washington

 I thought I'd share a couple of photos of the wedding one of the Bride and Groom and  one of me in my posh frock and  heels how did I ever wear them every day!!

Well If you have got to the end I hope you have a great week and  find time to join in the challenge this month. I'll share some holiday photos when I get sorted Love and  hugs Carole x

Cup Cakes and Bunting

Good morning to all my lovely friends and  followers. Today I'm sharing something a bit different and something I've never made before.
 When my Daughter -in Law was pregnant with Miles she attended an NCT class and made friends with a lovely group of ladies who were all expecting around the same time. The babies have all turned one just recently and  yesterday they held a joint birthday for all eight children in The Cafe in Didsbury Park .
I was asked if I could make some Cup Cake Toppers and  Bunting with pictures of the babies on. Something they had seen advertised. So a new craft talent has emerged I'm now officially a Bunting and  Cup Cake Topper maker !!! I thought you might enjoy seeing them even if its just to admire the lovely babies.

Cup Cake Topper Cake

The Bunting

I used scraps of paper and Tim Holtz card for the hats and the Pom Poms and  Ribbon are from Boyes Stores. Straws from Poundland.  I needed 8 got 250 in the pack !! The  pegs and heart trim are from my stash. I made the templates from white card. 

Finally a photo of the babies 

Well I hope you are having a good weekend and  like my new craft talent and this fun post love and  hugs Carole x

Hello I'm Back

Good morning everyone just a quick post to say that I'm back in blogland after five weeks at our apartment in Florida I have to say its a bit of a shock after five weeks of temperatures in the 90's to this dull chilly day in the NE. We had a great time and a short holiday within a holiday spending a few days on Captiva Island on the west coast of Florida. Certainly a gorgeous place especially for the sunsets. We watched this one from the perfect beach bar
.

This is a picture from our boat of the Island as we left on a lovely boat trip to another remote island Cayo Costa. wonderful dolphins and sea life along the way.

I'm way behind with comments on everyone's blogs and  I will start to catch up over the next few days. I hope that you are all well. I've kept in touch a little better with those on facebook while I was away but my iPad really hates blogger so I'm not able to post from it. The posts you have seen I scheduled before I went away. Thank you all for all the lovely comments while I've been away.so kind.
I've not got a lot of crafting to show you so I'm finishing with a photo of a set of cards I made as samples for the ladies at the craft group I go to to make a couple of months ago.They are all using butterfly shaped cards from Craftwork cards and papers from my stash bows and butterflies are also Craftwork cards. Apologies for the photo getting all three onto my black background sheet was a challenge as you can see.

Well I think I'll go and find some warm clothes now to go out in no more shorts for a while. I've only been up a little while it will take a few days to get back to English time but we do need some fresh food.
Will be back soon with some more pictures of my holiday and some crafting I hope. Got to get back to my Design Team schedules Love and hugs Carole x

Heart Flower Wreath

Good morning to all my lovely friends and  followers as its Wednesday I'm her to launch this weeks challenge over at Crafting by Designs and our theme this week is monochrome
We have two great sponsors this week

Sassy Studio Designs   

Prize - 4 images

Eureka Stamps    

Prize - 3 images

For my Design Team card I used a pretty stamp called Heart Flower Wreath from Eureka Stamps

Card Recipe

7x7 Blank Card

Stamp is Heart Flower Wreath from Eureka Stamps painted with Copic and  Pro marker pens.

Embossing folders are Sue Wilson Lattice Hearts and the heart one is from a Magazine

Pink card is Tim Holtz

Organza flowers are from my stash may be from Florida

Other flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts

Sentiments are Lili of the Valley Simply Sophisticated set. 

Pearl String The Hobby house

Lace bow cut from a lace trim

Wink of Stella on the flowers

Well I hope you all find time to enter the challenge I've seen a lot of monochrome cards around recently in blog land they seem popular. 

Before I go a bit of an apology I'm a couple of days behind with commenting and that's because I've been out the last two days School Appeals Monday and a training course all day yesterday so I'll get round to all your lovely blogs as soon as possible. 

I thought I'd share my latest photo of Miles with you all in the meantime. This was him in the restaurant with his Mummy on her first Mothers Day.

He's growing so fast we are seeing him at the weekend so excited and looking forward to lots of cuddles. Enjoy your week everyone Love and hugs Carole x