Christmas Crafting

I have been megga busy doing lots of Christmas crafting for various things of late so I haven't had much time for blogging.  Last weekend I was teaching at a Christmas Craft Workshop at our church (Bradfield & Rougham Baptist Church) and will be there for another workshop on 8th December if anyone cares to join us.  We crafted from 1.00 pm to 4.30 pm but as you can imagine my day was much longer than that.  For starters Jilly and I went along early to set up tables and chairs and to lay everything out but I had been cutting and stamping for days ahead of time.  I had a helpful crew of gals that took bits home to stamp up or cut out for me too.  Boy is there a whole lot of work involved in this kinda thing!

This was one of my samples for the workshop and was probably the easier of the two cards we made.

And here are a few of the cards that everyone made.  We used a Waltzing mouse wreath stamp, a 'Season's Greetings' sentiment, a 'hand stamped the old fashioned way' stamp and even a further sentiment inside the card (all WMS) which read:

'May Christmas at your house in goodness abound and may health and good cheer live there all the year round.'  You can find the set here - it's called 'Compliments of the Season'.

I thought it was just perfect for a 'house' type card.  We also used real music sheets to make square envelopes and then made a mini square card to match using the WMS 'sleigh bells' sentiment also from the same stamp set.

Our next workshop will feature a paper craft gift basket, tag and bow if anyone is interested - same time on the 8th and just one round pound to play!

I am also running a make 'n' take at Rosina's shop 'Parlour Crafts & Collectables' in Risbygate Street this coming Saturday if anyone wishes to make this front door card - again it's just one round pound to play.  If you're in town between 10 am and 3 pm why not pop in to see us.  here will be a couple of other projects to choose from too.

And then of course there are the adorable snowman baskets we've been making at my mother's house on Wednesday evenings.  These were made by my sister for the residents in the nursing home where she works.  I think she plans to fill them with chocolates or something similar.  She's always looking for quick, easy projects to make that will put a smile on their faces.  It's hard to see from this shot but the handles are actually ear muffs with round scallop muffs down the sides.

My mother has made a few of these (as well as some nativity scene cards that you stamp and colour in). I will also be teaching them to the 5yr to 9yr olds at the church youth group real soon too.  I made a couple up with Rosina today to show her as well.  Plus I played around with a 'Santa hat' box design with her and Kay that I am working on for a  Sunday School project.  Who'd have thought I'd be teaching the kids how to craft?  It's been a while since I did that but I am loving the simple projects you can create.

So far I've done no crafting for myself to date and Christmas is fast approaching but I'm not taking on anything else after the 8th!  My friend's wedding is on 22nd December - boy that's rolled around quick! and I have cupcakes and boxes still to make for that plus I have booked the week before Christmas off so I can relax and do my own crafting then.

All my crafting lately has been for very worthy causes but I'm starting the New Year with a calendar so I can keep track and not let things get out of hand!  Plus I can squeeze some of my own crafting in their too - like the WM Sketch Challenge that I keep missing out on lately.  For now I'm off to my mother's house for dinner and crafting.  I think it's time she put the snowmen aside and tried her hand at some front door cards.  I find it really heart warming that my mother has put away her knitting to join us these past few weeks and that we get to spend this special time together.  We always have fun together!

Hope you've all been crafting something lovely lately.

Blessings to all

Suezie

Still Crafting

I have been busy crafting various things of late - nothing for me tho', but I'm still crafting.  I should have an evening entirely to myself tonight so I'm hoping I can whip up a card for the latest Waltzing Mouse Challenge.  I actually sketched out a design in my lunch hour at work would you believe? LOL.  Whether I get it done or whether it turns out to be completely different remains to be seen.

Anyhow I'm sharing just what I've been up to.

I needed a gift for something and it was due on 8 December so since I had a deadline I figured I'd better do it sooner rather than later.  Does anyone else feel like things are really rushing by right now?  I'm sure Christmas approaching has something to do with it.  I am getting booked up with all kinds of dates for things and I'm still trying to squeeze in a workshop date for Church too.  I was aiming for 17 November but somebody got that date before me and we're now celebrating American Thanksgiving a week early at church (we have several American families that attend).  I'm struggling to get an available date!

The specifics I was given was an apron and tea towels, red to match the kitchen so I ran up a red & white polka dot apron on my day off yesterday.  Next I trimmed a couple of store bought tea towels to match.

Then before I knew what had hit me I started cutting into a third tea towel and whipped up a couple of matching hot pads.  I even hemmed up the left over tea towel for a matching dish cloth.  Am I sad or what? LOL.  I can get really carried away with co-ordinating handmade gifts - SERIOUSLY!  But it does make a lovely bundle all tied up with some wide cotton twill tape and a handmade tag to finish it off.  The tea towels came wrapped with the tape so I am recycling too.

I have been waiting for this Nestabilities ornament die set for ages and this is as much chance as I've had to play with it but since I needed a tag once my sewing was finished I thought one of these would do nicely - thank you very much.  I ud=sed a bunch of other WMS stamps to stamp up the back so I could write on it.

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And I have finally made enough handmade card kits to get some into the post this weekend.  Hopefully these will sell and make a whole bunch of money for charity.  They're such a cute idea and I just love em'.  I finished a whole bunch off at my mother's yesterday on our usual Wednesday dinner & crafting evening.  I am really enjoying these evenings and even my mother is getting involved rather than just sitting and knitting while we craft.

Each kit has 2 cards (stamped with 'handmade') on the reverse, 2 matching envelopes, 2 liners (stamped with 'sharing with you in the miracle of the season' inside), 2 scalloped mats with adhesive strips on the back, 2 colouring nativity blocks with adhesive, 2 'Christmas Blessings' sentiments with foam pads on the back and even 4 colouring pencils to get you started so it's a complete kit.  How cute are they?

This is an old set from StampinUp! that I rarely use but since I'm getting together with a few girls from church on 9 November to make cards to sell and then with the youth group on 30 November for crafting with the kids I think it might just get a whole bunch of use this year alone.

I think I may have to have the grandkids make a few of these too - they absolutely love to colour.  I have been purchasing the card blank packs from Denny's for just £3 for 25 cards.  I know, I know I always make my own but when you mass produce to this extent it really isn't worth doing so I am very grateful I found these.  I think they're 'Anita's' but I don't have the wrappers any more so I can't be sure. I pick up a pack of 48 small colouring pencils at the Pound Store which are perfect for these kits.

Oh and before I go.  Have you seen some of the fab samples Claire has been posting the last couple of days for Waltzing Mouse Stamps?  She is launching large background stamps and shared a really neat way to use them.  You can check it out here.  I love that you don't actually need a block if you use them the way she shows cos I'm guessing you'd need a pretty large block to use them.

I have been popping onto her blog over the last few days waiting for the next release.  She has some really different stamps this time around so I can't wait to see the sets in full.

Well hubby's home so I'd best go cook dinner.  He's out at the men's group this evening and Jessy is working so I think I'll pop my PJs on and relax with some crafting after dinner.  Sounds pretty good to me.

Hope you've been busy crafting something fab. Oh and for those of you in Bury there's a craft fair this weekend at the Sports & Leisure Centre.  With Christmas around the corner I shall be popping in to see if there's anything I can use for my Christmas crafting or for gifting.

Hugs

Suezie

More Mini Cards

I am a bit later getting these posted than I expected.  We have only just gotten back from our home bible study group where we had a whole feast of wonderful food to celebrate our hosts 8th wedding anniversary.  I did make a cake but sadly I didn't try out the rose cake idea from Pinterest.  I knew as soon as I began layering up the cake that I was going to be short by about a whole extra batch of frosting and there simply wasn't time to make more!

Instead I frosted it up the best I could (under the circumstances - it was a beast of a cake!) and then topped it with fresh strawberries dusted with powdered sugar.  It looked and tasted great so that was all that mattered in the end.

I promised to share more of my mini cards for charity and I have about 9 shots to share so here goes.  The one on the left uses flower stamps from Papertrey Ink plus a quote stamp from WMS as well as these pretty swirled corner stamps.  The rest is done with a fine line pen.  The one on the right uses the same PTI flower stamp but with the solid stamp as well as the outline and the verse is a plain Jane from Verve.

The card on the left uses a plain Jane verse from Verve, scrolls from WMS and the circles are from the WMS tiny trees set.  The one on the right is just a repeat from the one above.  I am lovin the kind of brown/beige leaves instead of the usual green ones.

The one on the left above uses a Verve plain Jane scripture stamp, WMS swirled corners and PTI flowers and exactly the same stamp companies & supplies for the one on the right too.

The one on the left uses a pretty leaf spray and verse - both from Verve stamps and then just WMS swirled corners.  The one on the right is PTI flower stamps, WMS swirled corners and a Verve scripture stamp.

The one on the left of this shot features WMS tiny trees set, WMS swirled corners and a StampinUp! quote.  On the right is PTI flowers, a Verve scripture stamp and the WMS swirled corners again.  I just loved how using a couple of really small swirled corner stamps could create such fun frames when they were joined up with some basic pen lines.

These ones both feature StampinUp! sets and of course - those swirl stamps from WMS.  I've had this set from SU! for such a long time and I hardly ever use it so it feels good to finally be creating cards with it.  Sorry this shot is a bit out of focus.

Both of these cards feature PTI flowers and WMS swirled corners.  The one on the left has a quote from WMS and the one on the right has an SU! quote.

On the left is a Verve verse, PTI  flowers and WMS swirled corners.  On the right is a PTI set which features a couple of different crosses, verses and encouraging quotes and more WMS swirled corners to complete the look and create the frame.

And last but not least more Verve, WMS & PTI on the left and more SU! & WMS on the right.

I've booked a date for 9 November to get together with about half a dozen ladies from our church so we can get more cards made for fund raising and I'm so excited to be able to share these encouraging cards with the girls.  In fact I've booked a couple of days off work just so I can 'get in the zone' so to speak LOL!

Since tomorrow is my day off and I haven't made plans to go anywhere I think I'll just mooch around, do a bit of housework and a whole load of STAMPING!  How cool does that sound?

For now - it's been a very, very long day - I've worked from 7.30 am to 5.00 pm plus been busy with cakes once I got home, rushed out to home group and am yawning my head off as I type this post so it's off to Bedfordshire for me I think.

Blessings

Suezie

At Last!

At last my Waltzing Mouse stamps arrived!  Yay!  I absolutely LOVE gettin' packages.

They have been on quite a journey I can tell you.  First up they were delivered goodness only knows where but then marked as 'addressee gone away' and thankfully returned to Claire at WMS HQ.  After a few emails back and forth they were then re-posted and headed back to me and this time they arrived at the correct destination.  I couldn't be happier.

I have been wanting a seed packet set of stamps long before Claire ever released them so it's exciting to finally get my hands on some and I have a whole bunch of pumpkins from our plot ready to cook for pies.  I plan to toast the seeds to make a home made snack and now that I have these stamps I can package some up for sharing that look really cute too.

The Nestie dies are some that have been on my wish list for far too long now and the stamp die set is one that was out of stock a couple of times so I'm thrilled to finally have this now.  All I need to get are some more clear CD cases to store all these in.

I have been pretty busy this evening packaging up my mini cards for charity that I've been making since the weekend plus I baked a cake for home group tomorrow ready to frost just before we leave so I haven't had time to play much.  That said I did take just 5 minutes to create a couple more mini cards.  Can you believe these took just 5 minutes - that's for both of them together!  When I have finished making all my cards I plan to make some for myself to have on hand.  I have set a date for about half a dozen ladies from church to help me make a bunch to sell as well which should be really fun.  I can't wait! LOL

I am just having way too much fun making these mini cards - all stamped, not a bit of designer paper in sight and with some lovely frames made using a couple of small WMScorner scroll stamps and a black fine liner felt pen.

Here's a peek at a couple more.  I pulled out several sets of 'faith' stamps from Verve, PTI, WMS and StampinUp! plus a few floral sets and have created some adorable mini cards.  I promise I will be back tomorrow to post a few more pictures.  I hope 'hot potato' you will be inspired when you see some of the 'plain Jane's' I've used and what I've done with them plus lucky for you, you have a delivery on the way huh?

For now I need to go whip up my frosting and then head off to bed I think.  I'm toying with the idea of trying out the rose cake frosting idea that I've seen on Pinterest here but I need to see just how deep (high) my cake sits when I layer it up first.  I figure if it works - great and if not - well then I could just smoosh up the frosting and make it look somewhat presentable huh?  I'll see how I feel tomorrow when I come home from work since that's when I plan to do it.

Wish me luck!

Hugs

Suezie

A Berry Sweet Card Tutorial

I was in need of a whole stack of cards to donate for fund raising after listening to a lovely couple speak at our church the other evening.  They were talking about their work with Caring for Life which is a Christian charity that helps care for people with all manner of physical, emotional or social difficulties.  You should check it out here.

Their talk was very thought provoking and I genuinely admire them for their commitment so it was only natural that anyone would come away wondering what could be done to help.  My mind was pondering if I could do anything even before they'd finished so I felt as though Debbie might be speaking to me individually when she jumped back up at the very last minute and added as a last thought 'Oh and if anyone wants to make handmade cards that we could sell, we can really use some'.  That was all the prompting I needed - this was definitely something I could do!

I chose today to get busy on these cards since I'm desperately waiting for Mr Postie to deliver my latest Waltzing Mouse stamp order.  I was in hope it would come today as it's my day off but nothing so far.  Still I have spent the entire morning playing with stamps so it's cool and besides I know me.  I would've been very distracted if they had arrived so I might not have gotten these cards done.  See how good God is to me?  He knows me sooooo well.  My stamps will arrive that's for sure but most likely not until after these are finished LOL.  Just a s well I think cos I'm hoping to use the new dies I ordered for the WMS sketch challenge this week - well as long as they arrive before Saturday that is.

Since I knew I needed several and I needed them quickly I decided to keep it pretty clean & simple.   I also knew I wanted to use this super sweet berry stamp set and whilst I was about it I decided to take a few shots for a tutorial too.  It's nice to get back to tutorials.

First up I had purchased a pack of 25 pre-made mini card blanks with envelopes for just £3.99 with this project in mind.  I usually make my own card blanks and envelopes but doing it this way wasn't really any more expensive and it was a fantastic time saver too.  I started off by stamping one of the Waltzing Mouse handmade stamps on the back of each card.

Next up I used my pattern tracing wheel and ruler to run a faux stitch line around the front of the card.  I just love this technique.  Hopefully you can just about see it in this shot but click on it to enlarge it if not.  Maybe that will help.

Once that was done I cut a square measuring the same as my card front (4" x 4") and die-cut a heart from the centre.  I then used the relief by centring it over the card front and shading in an area using distress ink.

Then I stamped my sentiment where I thought I wanted it to be.

And after that I decided to stamp up all my strawberries - don't they just look yummilicious?   I'm gonna try this card again as a gift set and maybe do some fun colours like pink berries and lime green leaves, plus I think I might try the WMS gingham stamp instead of shading next time too.  Ooooo and I can see a shade heart with the text stamp over the top too - endless possibilities!

Then I used the same heart shaped die, traced it onto a scrap of card stock and stamped the sentiment in about the same place as I had on my card front.

After cutting out my strawberries I was then able to position them onto this scrap piece where I thought they would appear on my card.......

....and then re-stamp my sentiment to get just a portion onto my strawberry.  I set my strawberries aside for a moment to do the next step.

I love to doodle so I used the heart die to trace around my inked heart with a black fine line marker.

But because this fine line was too neat and because I also wanted a kinda hand stitched pen detail I traced around the pen line freehand weaving in and out and then added a few stitch strokes so it created a piece of patchwork.  On reflection it kinda looks like barbed wire too but what the hey!

All that was left to do was adhere my strawberry taking care to line it up to the stamped sentiment.  After that I inked the edges of my card - yes I love this technique too.  It's kinda like adding another layer without actually doing that. 

Finally I finished it off with a few doodled pen dots (which you can't see in this shot so go back up to the first shot) which again I love to add.  And there you have it!  One quick, easy, pretty card - ten down and only 15 more to go!  Then all I have to do is line them, bag them up and pop them into the post.

I am at my mother's house for dinner and crafting this evening so no prizes for guessing what I'll be doing tonight huh? LOL.

And as an added bonus keeping myself occupied today has helped keep me on track with the diet.  Can you believe I kept my weight steady and maintained the entire time I was out of action with Labyrinthitis and NOW I gain a couple of pounds?  Aaarrgghhhhh!!  I'm hoping it's back off when I see the nurse this Saturday and that I'm getting back on track.  Jessy has been out walking with me plus I played on the Wii fit board this week too - first time ever and it was a blast.  I don't usually do any computer games but I about pee'd my pants laughing when I tried to hoola hoop and then when Dave got on to try it I nearly pee'd em' again laughing at him!  In the new year I plan to join a Salsa class or something but I'll keep plugging away at what I can when I can until then.  I'm still just a bit too giddy to put myself out there in public LOL.

Blessings

Suezie

P.S.  I will be running a couple of Christmas workshops at my church before Christmas if anyone's interested in coming along.  I'd love to catch up with you all.

I Blinged it up Big Time

Well I made my decision.  I went with the giant gems since I figured my bow detail was somewhat oversized too.  I figured it was a good balance in the end.

Here's this week's sketch......

I chose to turn it sideways to suit the tag element of my design and then to make the bow element really large for a change.  I pretty much always use a thinner ribbon but I love the wider ribbon too - I just don't have too much of it on hand so often that's all.

I was working on the basis that an over sized bow at one end of the tag demanded something over sized at the other end.  And besides I have had these giant gems for ages and never found a project that I could use them on until now.  They've actually always been a bit too large.  And whilst it doesn't show up in this shot - I'm guessing because of the camera angle since I tried to defuse the glare off the gems - I added red glitter to the tips of the crown. You can see a few more shots of this (and a variation or two) in my previous post.

I don't have the Waltzing Mouse music stamp so instead I used a piece of music sheet from a book of music I purchased at a local charity book store.  I free hand cut the larger scallops which on reflection I maybe should've used dies or my CM circle cutting system even.  Sometimes you don't think of these things at the time but hey I have everything I need to make this card up again - several times over in fact so I will keep it in mind for the next time.

And I have to confess I've had these stamps out for the past week and was playing around with them on red & green card stock for a workshop project but I was super inspired by 'Cammie's' card which you can check out here.   She used the 'Nordic Winter' stamps which just happens to be another set I don't yet own (darn it!) but I loved her tag creation.  In fact I've pinned it for future reference for when I do get that set!

Now go check out all the other fab entries this week.

Blessings

Suezie

Decisions, Decisions!

As of up to yesterday evening I was struggling with a decision.  My dilema?  How to embellish the element of three on my Waltzing Mouse Sketch entry for this week.

See what you think.

Do I go with the oversized bling in the centre of my stamped circles?  I won't tell you how many shots I took of this version to try to get a better picture of those giant gems.  Soooooo frustrating!

Do I tame it down some and add some green alphabet pebbles - which just happen to work out really well for a three letter word 'JOY'?

Or do I go for something much smaller like these red flat backed dewdrops?

Who knew when I started my card for the sketch that I would have such choices?  And to think I wasn't even crazy about this element on this week's sketch!  Go figure!

What d'ya think?  Which one would you choose?

Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge 112 (& a birthday lunch)

Well quite unexpectedly I found myself being able to play this week after all.  I got a phone call from my sister yesterday afternoon inviting me to lunch today with my mother and us girls.  There are 5 of us - 6 altogether if you include mum.  I knew my sister's birthday was due and this was to be an early celebration since Wednesday is often a day that most of us don't work and we would all be busy on her actual birthday.

As my mother gets older (us too) these times together become all the more important and I know she really enjoys having her girls buzzing around her, just chatting, laughing and generally getting along together and having fun.  It's never quite the same when we go to her house - too many cook's in the kitchen kinda thing so going out is way nicer.

Anyhow I swung by the grocery store yesterday evening and picked up the most gorgeous sunflowers for my sister.

I hadn't seen sunflowers quite like these before and they were just so vibrant and cheerful - I simply couldn't resist!

Each of the heads - and there are several - are so jammed full of petals that there's hardly any centre to them but don't they just look stunning!  These are going to look beautiful in a vase I just know it.

I already had a card made up but I wanted a pretty tag so since I had to make one I decided I might as well use the latest sketch (WMSC 112) as my inspiration.  I had die-cut some felt flowers a while ago so all I had to do was grab one and add a touch of yellow with a flat gem.

To give you an idea of size - this tag is the large tag die from Sizzix so it's pretty chunky.  I used the flourish stamps to add a bit of background interest and the sentiment is the same as the one on her card.  A quick bit of trimming here and there for the base of the design, some hand cut leaves (cut with a deckle edge, crimped & inked) and that pretty felt flower and there it is.  My take on this week's sketch

I re-wrapped the flowers in extra cellophane to bulk out the wrap a bit more, I have a reel of pretty polka dot wrap that comes in soooooo handy for baskets and bouquets and finally added a raffia bow. 

And there you have it!  One quick, pretty gift and card plus a tag that allowed me to play again this week.

We had a fab lunch, Theresa got to celebrate her birthday early and I stuck to the diet pretty well - I'm trying to get back on track to lose that last couple of stone!  Plus I got to do a bit of impromptu crafting this morning.  Now I'm off to get my pickles made, pop in a movie so I can work on Caroline's wedding invites and then off to my mother's this evening for a 'light dinner' and more crafting.

I left these sitting on the kitchen counter whilst I was at lunch and the entire house smelled of garlic and onion when I got back!  Phewey!!!  It's pouring with rain outside so it feels like a snuggle up indoors kinda day.  Hubby will be pleased tho' since he won't have to go water the allotment tonight and can relax and chill out.  Relaxing's good huh? LOL.

Enjoy!

Suezie

Random Stuff

I haven't blogged for a few days - we have been busy over the bank holiday weekend plus I have wedding invites to get made as soon as possible.  Before I go any further I want to share the latest  Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge and encourage you to play along - remember there are always freebie stamps to be had if you're lucky enough to have your name picked!

It's a really sweet sketch this week and I sooooo want to play but I am back to work tomorrow plus I have to put the wedding invites ahead of anything else.  If I can get a move on I may get a chance to play tho'.  My heart goes out to Claire right now.  She has had manufacturer difficulties and had to almost retract the latest release of stamps - major BUMMER!  It means I will just have to be patient a bit longer to get my hands on these fab stamps but this is the best release EVER in my opinion so I'm more than happy to wait.

We travelled to Northampton on Friday to collect Jess and bring her home for the day - she really needed to be with family and friends for a few hours but it meant an early start and then taking her back late and we didn't get back home again until midnight that same day.  Then because we promised to take the grand kids out for the day on Saturday we were up early again and in for another long busy day.

We stopped off in Colchester first to have a picnic lunch in the park and take in a museum.  The weather was not the best and we ended up sheltering from sudden rain showers several times.  Once it brightened up we headed to the nearest coast and the kids enjoyed this most of all.  They are just fascinated by the sea and could spend hours on a beach.

As chance would have it there was a festival in Colchester park and it was absolutely heaving with people all enjoying the live music, exhibitions and activities but it was all a bit too chaotic and busy for the kids.  I have to say it was a beautiful park with a fantastic play area for kids so we will be making a second trip and maybe take in the castle next time too. Well worth a visit if you're looking for somewhere to go for an afternoon.

Sunday was taken up with church, allotment most of the afternoon and then church again in the evening which is kinda how I like a Sunday to be.  Nothing too strenuous, a good sermon or two - especially if it's thought provoking (which a sermon should be) plus getting some more work done outdoors which I also love especially as it's something hubby and I do together.  Today (Bank Holiday Monday) Dave & I got up early and headed off for a drive to a car boot sale which we also love to do when we can.

I picked up several things but I'm especially please to have bagged a few children's books.  It's hard trying to find character books with just the right kind of picture pages inside and ever since I used my WTP book to make story book bunting for our friend Jo for her new baby nursery, I have been hankering to have another go.  The Dandy and Beezer are probably my favourites but the Sponge Bob Square Pants one should be interesting.

It's fine to have some text on the bunting but mostly you need brightly coloured pictures back and front.  Once I get my invites done I will be cutting these out and sewing them up at my mother's one Wednesday evening.  

I promise I'll post pictures when I do.  They come up so fab and I'm excited about making more so I can't wait to share them with you all when I do.  

Well for now I have to take up the hem of a pair of trousers I'm planning to wear to work tomorrow.  I told myself NOT to leave it until the last minute but that's exactly what I've ended up doing!  Guess I'd best go do it before my eyes get too tired to sew - they're black trousers and it's hard to see black on black at the best of times.

I will be back as soon as I can.  Stay well & happy crafting!

Blessings

Suezie