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Saturday 27 December 2014

Update from Christmas To Do List

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas so far. I have especially as it's Isobel's first Christmas (she slept through most of it!) I made her a mobile for above her cot using a design featured in "Simply Homemade" magazine which I foolishly forgot to take a photo of. It has a sun at the top then four clouds with raindrops suspended under it in rainbow colours and it's all made from felt. I am ridiculously proud of it because with the exception of a furry water bottle cover I made for my late Grandma decades ago, it's the first sewing project I've ever completed as an adult - to make things better it even looked pretty good even though I forgot to add rays to the sun and the sun and clouds all had embroidered faces on them, I've never done embroidery before! *proud face*

I thought I'd just give you an update to my to do list. The ironing didn't get done nor did much dusting (just a token swipe lol) and to be perfectly honest we didn't bother putting up a tree. It turned out the crackers were for Christmas Eve not Christmas Day so we did without them! The ham defrosted and was soaked overnight then boiled before we left on Christmas Day. I then roasted it with an orange marmalade and whole grain mustard glaze on Boxing Day morning and it was delicious! Not as good as my father-in-law's it's true but not a bad first attempt even if I do say so myself. I did remember to make a card for Gramps (Christmas morning) and had a clean egg free coat to wear on Christmas Day. We never got round to buying olives but in the end it made very little difference - there was still plenty of food on Boxing Day and I was the only one to miss them. This Christmas has made me realise a lot of things - it doesn't have to be perfect and anyway no matter how much money you have or how organised you are it's never going to be perfect so why stress about it? Instead Christmas should be about being with the people you love even it they are just in your thoughts and doing things you enjoy and this is a lesson I want to take with me in the new year.

I have some thank you cards to make which I hope to share with you in the next few days so until then, enjoy the rest of the Christmas and keep crafting!

Love and Christmas crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Wednesday 24 December 2014

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Merry Christmas Eve crafty peeps (not too merry though - who wants to spend Christmas Day nursing a hangover??) - welcome to my crafty nook!

It's just turned 5 am as I'm writing this and I've already been up for 2 and a half hours after my passive aggressive cat Jinx yowled in my ear until I got up to feed him! I'm hoping this is not an indicator of the day to come lol. I'm sat here drinking my new favourite drink - Tesco Finest Chai Tea and it's like Christmas in a mug. The perfect thing to both wake me up and put me in a festive mood. I'll keep this entry brief (ish) as I've a to do list as long as my arm but I wanted to wish a wonderful Christmas/Festive Holiday to all my wonderful readers, old and new.

Sarah's To-Do List

Wash coat - I accidentally egged myself at Icelands (who puts a carton of broken eggs back on the top shelf in a shop anyway???)

Poke ham joint to see if it's defrosted yet.

Soak ham once it's defrosted.

Do all those niggling household tasks you've been putting off for the past three months (dusting, tidying, vacuuming, ironing etc, etc)

Cry when you realise it's not humanly possible to do three months worth of housework (and the ironing!!) in one day.

Start praying that you will metamorphoses into Domestic Goddess, Martha Stewart, an obsessive compulsive cleaner or similar.

Mutter resentfully when prayers are not answered even though it's totally one's own fault that you'd rather craft then clean (rather do anything than clean truth be told - ooh look some paint is drying!)*

Start tackling the housework in 20 minute segments (20 mins clean, 10 mins resting with cup of Chai and a book, repeat until completed)

Have nagging feeling you'e forgotten something - I know I'd like some olives for Boxing Day - send Chris to Tescos on the bus while I stay and clean, perhaps?

Is the card I still need to make Gramps?

CRACKERS!!! OMG I have 6 crackers to make for tomorrow and I don't have any jokes, snaps or hats to put inside.

Google cracker jokes.

Make crackers and take tissue paper, gluestick and scissors with you so people can make their own paper hats - it'll be "fun". Stamp out BANG on the outside of each cracker.

Go to In-laws for delicious Christmas ham late afternoon.

Wait for Santa to bring you lots of crafty goodies.

ENJOY!


Whatever Christmas brings you, I hope you enjoy yourself and have a wonderful time - until next time - happy crafting!

Love and crafty Christmas hugs,

Sarah xxx

* I hope no-one is offended by my jokey Christmas To-Do List. Neither praying or OCD are laughing matters but I hope people will read this with a light heart and with the same intention as it was written.





Sunday 21 December 2014

A few festive things to share

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook. I'm sorry it's been so long since my last blog post but life has a way of getting in the way of crafting and it certainly has this month! Are you all ready for Christmas? I'm not - eek! I've still got one Christmas card to make and about a third of the presents to wrap - AND I've still the tree to put up. Where has this month gone - it doesn't seem like five minutes ago since I was sorting my Christmas stash out. *Note to self - BE MORE ORGANISED NEXT YEAR!*  Anyway enough gripping - I sound like a grumpy old lady lol, here are a few Christmas cards that I'd like to share with you.

Art Deco Diamond Accordion Fold Christmas Card

Originally I was planning on making all my Christmas cards out of diamond accordion fold card blanks (I spent a few hours scoring and folding them a few weeks ago) but after receiving a gorgeous embossed card from Carolyn at the local craft shop I decide to scrap this idea as being too fussy and time consuming and instead made a load of white snowflake embossed cards with a silver greeting (very classy and extremely quick to make which was great as the last post date loomed!) However this left me with 20 pre-scored card blanks to decorate and I had no idea what design to go with. Vexingly I discovered that 8" x 8" papers were slightly too small to completely cover the centre panel (next time I shall trim a sliver of card off the longest side) and none of the A4 Christmas papers appealed to me so in the end I covered the side panels with Papermania Art Deco style foiled papers and used some "Great Gatsby" glitter card which I bought from Every Craft's A Pound ages ago. The black is especially sparkly and the above photo doesn't do it justice, the gold and silver aren't quite as twinkly but are very classy (warning the glitter isn't encapsulated so gets all over the place!). The Christmas Art Deco panel comes from the Debbie Moore Art Deco Christmas collection which was part of the magazine bumper pack last year. The images are visually stunning so I've kept the cards very simple and some of them don't even have sentiments.

Close up of Debbie Moore Art Deco Christmas Topper

The Silver Glitter Card lacks the "Wow" factor of the black so I've added embellishments
Close up of topper

The other cards I've made are of a similar theme so I thought I'd refrain from boring you by posting them all here lol.

I've still got lots of Christmas stuff to do which I hope to share before the big day but in case I get bogged down by Christmas crafting, cooking and cleaning - have a wonderful Christmas and I hope Santa brings you all that you could wish for. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and festive crafty hugs,

Sarah xxxx

Tuesday 2 December 2014

"Hark the Herald Angels Sing"...

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook and the second post today! Passion for ProMarkers has another challenge over on their blog and this time the theme is "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and I thought I'd enter again after last week's break.

"And Lo! An Angel came upon them..." Messy Rabbit Christmas Card

I rediscovered these Joanna Sheen "Messy Rabbit" stamps and background papers in the Christmas stash I sorted out earlier and thought that this combination would make a great Christmas card for my sister's children still living at home as I have many a fond memory of going to Charlie's Christmas plays - my sister moved away before I could go and see Jack's - I think I may have been to at least one of Liam's too! I thought it would be a fun extra if I added cord to the wings so that it looks like the Angel is floating in the air (a bit ambitious for a school Nativity - it would never get passed the Risk Assessment!) and I popped the Angel up on pop dots to give a bit of definition to the piece.

PRODUCTS USED

Messy Rabbit from Joanna Sheen ~ Rabbit Nativity MR169 + Messy Angel MR165
                                                      Christmas Backgrounds 4

Cream card stock
White card stock

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Pop Dots (Glue Dots)
Tattered Lace glue

Dovecraft Gold Glitter
Dovecraft clear Glitter

Brown Cord (The Works)

WRMK hole punch

PROMARKERS: Pastel Blue, Bluebell, Soft Peach, Ice Grey 1&2, Warm Grey 3, Cool Grey 1, Khaki, Umber, Sandstone, Caramel, Cinnamon and Gold

The images were stamped onto thin white card, coloured with the ProMarkers then fussy cut with a pair of scissors and a craft knife. I added a gold glitter halo to the rabbit, a little clear glitter to the side panels of his/her gown and stuck everything down once it was dry.

Close up of Messy Angel Image

Close up of Nativity Image

Another view of whole card
I really enjoyed this challenge and it was good to make a card that I have an intended use for. I just hope my niece and nephews like it too.

As always if you have any questions or comments about this card or anything crafty, please leave a comment below - I love to hear from fellow crafters or just interested people. Until next time - happy crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Christmas Cat in stash

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! It's hard to believe it's the 2nd of December already - with that in mind I've been rummaging through my crafty stash to try and get some ideas for making Christmas cards. I've got a staggering 7 boxes of Christmas stuff ranging in size from two the size of a generously sized shoe box through to a 20 litre capacity - and until tonight they've been all higgledy-piggledy. I've decided that this is no way for an allegedly organised crafter to go about things so I've spent the last five hours sorting the boxes into different catagories. I now have a box filled with embellishments, one filled with punches, metal stencils and embossing boards and folders, one filled with card blanks and card kits, one filled with paper either 6" x 6" or A5, one filled with A4 paper and embellishment packs and two boxes of stamps! If I'm honest I probably need another box for everything that's left over such as 8" x 8" paper packs and things I'm unsure about. I've also sorted out a few crafting goodies for my hubby (even though he's sight impaired, he now makes me birthday and Christmas cards - bless him!) and some stickers etc for my youngest nieces.

One of the reason I wanted to blog about when all said and done quite a boring subject (hands up those who honestly enjoy organising and sorting craft stuff??) is this photo below.

Kitty muffin top!
I had just labelled one of the large shoe box sized boxes and put some paper pads in when Jinx decided to be 'helpful' and squash them down for me and while he was in there he "paw"sed to have a little snooze too!! I was torn between thinking how cute he looked and feeling rather annoyed because he was stopping me from putting papers away. I couldn't help laugh at his furry muffin top spilling out of the top of the box while his head was tightly tucked inside. I took a couple of photos then convinced him that the sofa would be far more comfy and my box is now full of paper packs.

Now that I've got my stash organised and cat free I should be able to start my Christmas cards (finally!) so hopefully I'll have another post to share with you in the next few days. Until then - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,
Sarah and Jinx (honouree crafter)

Friday 28 November 2014

Robot card for Jack

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you've managed to get some crafty Black Friday bargains - I haven't due to lack of funds (we've only bought TWO Christmas presents so far - eek!!) but I've been drooling over all the bargains out there.

To distract me from all the stuff I can't afford to buy I've been looking through my crafty stash and have used a few things that I've had for a while but haven't had the chance to use yet, and I've made a Robot themed card for my nephew who celebrates his birthday on the 29th December.

Robot card with movable cogs.

This card was made using a Kaisercraft stamp set called "Technologic" and the HB2U stamp came from a Clearly Besotted Stamp set called "TEXT ME". I embossed the black cardstock using a Sizzix embossing folder called "Dots", the folder isn't that large so I embossed first one side of the card then lined up the folder to emboss the other side. To highlight the dots I rubbed over it with silver gilding wax (sorry don't know the make as it came free with a magazine and the packaging doesn't have any details). I stamped, coloured then fussy cut the gears and punched a hole through the centres so that I could add brads through them and the embossed background. It's not lined up perfectly and I should have used thicker card but if you move the cogs they do actually move the others which I LOVE!!! I'm not going to go into any further details about how this card was made because it's just stamping and colouring with a hint of dry embossing. Of course if you do want a more detailed "How to make" please leave a comment below.

Close up of Robots

Another view of the Robot card with movable gears!

PRODUCTS USED

Kaisercraft "Technologic" Clear Stamps
Clearly Besotted "TEXT ME" stamps

Dovecraft 3mm "Masculine" brads

Sizzix 657253 Dots & Flowers set #2

Silver gilding wax

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Kraft card
White card
Black card

ProMarkers in Ice Grey 1 & 2

Clear Wink of Stella Brush Marker

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my new creation, I'm planning on working on my Christmas cards over the weekend (I'm so behind!) so hopefully I'll have something to share on Monday. Until then - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Another sprinkling of fairy dust...

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! First of let me apologise for any typos that may occur on this post, I'm slowly recovering from a migraine that's laid me low for the last couple of days and as I still have the residue of it I'm trying not to look at the screen too often so I don't trigger it again - thank goodness for learning how to touch type, I'm practically doing this with my eyes closed! I've decided not to enter the Passion for Promarkers challenge this week but will be concentrating on making cards for birthdays in December so I can get them sent before the post gets clogged up with the Christmas cards etc. With that in mind I have one card to share today - another fairy sprinkles card, this time for my sister Teresa.

Fairy sprinkles Birthday Card

As you can see this card is very similar to the one I made for my sister-in-law last week. Ideally I would have liked to have made the fairy into a steampunk fairy but wasn't sure how to go about it with only very limited stamps (tbh I was afraid to start stamping gears in case I totally ruined it - I think this card is really pretty!) The main differences are the distress ink blending colours and I've layered the fairy topper onto gold holographic card instead of silver. Oh and I stamped the fairy sprinkles in black ink instead of the white I used last time which turned out to be a tactical error as it wasn't as easy to colour over the sprinkles with the jelly gel pens.

PRODUCTS USED

Lavinia Fairy Stamps free with papercraft essentials magazine

Distress Inks in: Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick

Blending tool and blending pads

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Clear Wink of Stella Brush marker

Cream card 300gsm
Black card (The Works)
Gold holographic card (the Works)
Black Holographic Glitter card (The Works)

8" x 8" 300gsm Card blank Craft UK Limited (local craft shop £7.20 for 25 with envelopes)

Sikorea 10 colour Jelly Gel Glitter Pens

Lol just noticed a really big difference to this card and the one I did for Sue - I've forgotten to add the butterfly rub-ons! I may add them later - I quite like the card as it is.

Well that's all my craft news for now, I have a card for my nephew to make and I'm thinking Aliens or Robots would be a good choice. So until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Gardening Pocket card inspired by thefrugalcrafter - Lindsay Weirich

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! Today I would like to share a card I've made for my friend Jean. It's her birthday at the end of the week and as she lives in the town I used to live in, it means I'm unlikely to see her on her actual birthday so I wanted to include a little gift with her card that wouldn't cost a fortune to post. Lindsay Weirich (thefrugalcrafter on YouTube) had a project a few days ago for making pockets to fill with paper and crayons to entertain the kids during Thanksgiving, I thought this was a fantastic idea to have as a card topper and fill with a few gardening goodies.

Gardening themed card using Lindsay Weirich's paper pocket technique
Please check out Lindsay Weirich's YouTube videos under thefrugalcrafter for instructions on how to make the double pocket, the only thing I would suggest is to stick the inside edges of the pockets with thin red liner tape as I found that the washi tape isn't strong enough to keep the edges closed. I used Docrafts Papermania Home to Nest papers to make the pocket and the green backing sheet which I stamped randomly with flowers and a butterfly stamp taken from a Katy Sue Simpler Times (sorry not sure which one I used) using Memento London Fog ink. I diecut the Happy Birthday sentiment using a few die from one of my magazine subscriptions using teal glitter card which I mounted on black card once diecut and I adhered it to the card using black foam tape (love this stuff it means if you put it a little too close to the edge it's not as noticeable as using white foam tape). I added two seed packets and a couple of plant ties and plant labels to the pockets then arranged the card as shown.

I hope you like what I've made and thanks to Lindsay Weirich for her original idea. If you have any questions or comments please leave them after this post. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Monday 24 November 2014

A sprinkle of fairy dust....

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! This week I need two cards for two special people - my sister-in-law Susan and my dear friend Jean. I've made a card for Sue and I'd like to share it with you.

Birthday card for my Sister-In-Law who's celebrating a significant birthday on Friday!

Originally this card was only 5" x 5" but I managed to mess up the verse inside so cut the card front off with a pair of scissors (next time I'd use a paper trimmer cos this is wonky!) I started off by colouring the card using Salty Ocean distress ink and a blender tool then added Dusty Concord until I had the desired effect. I stamped the main fairy image from a Lavinia Stamps set that I got free with papercraft essentials magazine sometime this year. I also stamped the three toadstools and the fairy dust twice using Memento Tuxedo black ink. The fairy wishes sentiment on the bottom right hand side came from a fairy stamp set that I got through the post yesterday with Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine (may not be available quite yet in the shops - subbies get it early). I coloured over the fairy wings with clear Wink of Stella and as it's a water colour and distress inks are water reactive, it bleached the wings as well as making them shimmer which I really like. I added some WOS to the toadstool caps too for added interest and shimmer. I coloured the fairy dust using some jelly gel glitter pens by Sikorea (not a spelling error, just a knock off brand from a pound shop type of place but actually really sparkly!). The butterflies are rub-ons from Crafters' Companion - a range called "Fairyopolis" (*I checked my packaging and I got the name wrong - this is the correct spelling, sorry for any confusion caused!) and it's hard to see on this photo but I added WOS to their wings too. Actually please excuse the quality of this photo, it really doesn't do this card justice (my camera is quite old and falling to bits - I have the battery fastened on with washi tape!). I mounted this finished panel onto black holographic glitter card then mounted this panel onto a 6" x 6" piece of Dovecraft "Fantasy" designer papers which features fairies and dragons, I've had it for years and wish I'd bought two packs as the dragons would look fantastic on a "Game of Thrones" themed card. I mounted this panel onto some more black holographic glitter card and added this panel to some silver holographic card. I matted this onto some plain black card which I added some clear WOS to as this card just screams to be blinged up. Finally I cut a piece of cream card stock to 7.5" x 7.5" and blended Salty Ocean and Dusty Concord distress inks onto it until I got a smooth blended effect. I added clear WOS to the edges of the card then centred the main panel onto it before sticking the finished topper onto a scalloped edged 8" x 8" card blank.

Here are a few more photos of the card.





PRODUCTS USED:

Lavinia Stamps "The Clouds Are Lined With Silver.."

Dovecraft 6" x 6" "Fantasy" Designer Paper Pack (DCDP72) copyright 2007 (blimey I have had these a long time!)

Crafters' Companion *"Fairyopolis"*  (see note in main text) rub-ons

Sikorea 10 Colour Jelly Gel glitter pens

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Tim Holtz Distress inks in Salty Ocean & Dusty Concord

Blending tool and pads

Clear Wink of Stella (WOS) brush marker

cream card stock
Black holographic glitter card (The Works)
Silver holographic card (The Works)
Black card stock (the Works)

Scalloped Edged 8" x 8" card blank and envelope (from local craft shop)

I hope you've enjoyed my latest card, as always please leave any comments or questions below and I'll answer them as soon as I can both here and on your blogs if you have them. I will add another post once I've made the birthday card for Jean (I have an idea or two!) and if I enter the Passion for ProMarkers Challenge on Tuesday. So until then - keep crafting!

With love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Thursday 20 November 2014

Entry For Passion for ProMarkers Challenge 274 "Entertain us".

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! I had fun doing Challenge 273 over at Passion for ProMarkers and enjoyed going out of my crafty comfort zone by using lace so I've decided to enter the challenge this week too which is themed around "entertain us", this can be either inspired by a film or song so I've chosen "On Top of the World" by The Carpenters. I've always loved this song plus it gave me an excuse to use one of my favourite stamp sets - santoro's simply gorjuss...! on Top of the World.

santoro's simply gorjuss ~ ....on top of the world stamped card
Close up of image coloured with ProMarkers
A little closer still! lol


Inspired by last week's challenge to make a lace flower!

Same card but with two leaf hat pins added

Close up of lace flower with added hat pins

PRODUCTS USED:

Stamp set - santoro's simply gorjuss...! ...on top of the world.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black ink

CARDSTOCK: White 300gsm (brand unknown), Papercellar Silver card, The Works holographic card, The Works black card. Scalloped edged 8" x 8" card blank (local craft shop), DCWV cloudy sky paper from all occasions scrapbook in a stack kit.

Lace from Boyes

Gems from Poundland

Woodware Ticket corner punch

Dovecraft "Brights" Chalks (the sky)

Clear Wink of Stella Brush pen (shimmer on hair and pigeons)

Leaf Hat Pins Every Craft's A Pound

Metal World Charm taken from Avon Keyring

PROMARKERS
Skin: Almond, Sunkissed Pink
Hair: Cool Grey 3,4,5
Leggings: Cool Grey 1 and 5
Pinafore and petticoat: Ice Grey 1
Dress: Pastel Blue
Pigeons: Slate and Cool Grey 2

I hope you've enjoyed my challenge entry and if you're inspired by my card please leave a comment below with a link to your creations. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Entry for Passion for ProMarkers Challenge 273 - Lace

Hello crafty peeps, welcome to my crafty nook! I really enjoyed the challenge last week hosted by Passion for ProMarkers so I've decided to enter another card today for challenge 273 - a card featuring ProMarkers and lace. I'm not a huge fan of lace as it reminds me of net curtains but I do like the crocheted lace you can get. This card was quite a challenge not least because I left it until the last minute to make as I was finishing off my entry to the card designer of the year competition.

Dimension Stamp card featuring Lace for challenge 273
I need to link this post to the Passion for Promarkers blog so I'm not going to go through the steps I took to make this card, if you are interested about how I made it or the materials I used (I have everything written down but the craft gremlins have run off with my notebook!) then please leave a comment below. Until next time, happy crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Monday 17 November 2014

The Cards For my Card Designer of the Year Entry

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! In my last post I shared with you all the project for the card designer of the year competition (closing date Friday 21st November 2014). I seem to be one of those crafters who needs a tight deadline to feel creative and if I'm honest when I was studying with the O.U. I tended to leave my essays until the last possible moment too, so it's no surprise to find that I've only just finished the two cards that I needed to make to complete the entry.

8" x 8" Katy Sue Simpler Times "Just A Note" card

My first card took ages to make because I kept messing it up! I love this Katy Sue Simpler Times stamp and I was lucky enough to get it and three others for the bargain price of  £1 each in the Mega Sale last July. The images are really cute and stamp like a dream! I stamped this image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 300gsm white card stock. The stamp isn't quite as wide as the 5" x 5" card so I drew a black line using a Letraset fine liner pen either side of the stamped image. The image was then coloured in using ProMarkers in a variety of colours (if you'd like to know what colours I used please leave a comment below) I added white detail using a white gel pen. The sky was coloured in using Dovecraft "Brights" chalks a product that I've had for many years but haven't really used up to now. I mounted this image onto black card and cut it so that there was a very thin border all around. I layered this piece on a 6" x 6" glitter card taken from DCWV "The Twinkle Glints" stack. I added this layer to a piece of black card cut to 7.5" x 7.5" and then mounted this onto a scallop edged  8" x 8" card blank. I stamped the sentiment from the stamp set onto white card and mounted it onto black card to create a thin border. I used black foam tape on the back of the sentiment and added it to the top left corner of the main image (confession time: I originally stamped the sentiment straight onto the sky part of the image but it went wonky!) finally I embellished the sentiment with three clear gems. To finish the card I stamped the image again inside the card blank using Memento "Summer Skies" ink pad, then stamped thinking of you over it using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

Acetate Accordion Diamond fold card

This card looks complicated but is really easy to make as its just a few scores and a bit of folding. I made this by scoring an A4 sheet of 200 micron acetate in thirds (I have a scoreboard that came free with Papercraft inspirations magazine and it has a score line for a zig-zag/3-fold card which is perfect for this initial fold) and folding the side panels in half again but in the opposite direction to the first folds. My first instinct when I was working out how to make this card was to fold down the outer panels but you actually need to fold the middle panel top corner over diagonally so its side edge meets the inner score line of the side panel (its like folding the page of a book over to mark your place - not that I'd ever do that! *tongue in cheek* lol) make sure you burnish this crease well with a bone folder. Open the fold out and push the middle crease down while pressing on the diagonal creases - this is how the diamond shape is formed. Repeat with all the corners top and bottom until you have a diamond shaped front panel and two flaps angled at the back - the accordion part of the name refers to the fact that if you pull on the back flaps the card moves like an accordion. I wanted to keep the card simple so I cut two panels of docrafts Papermania "Madame Payraud's Collection" paper to 2.7" x 8" and adhered them to the side panels leaving a slight border, the remainder of the patterned sheet was just big enough to cover the central panel so I cut it into a long diamond shape. I added strips of textured white card stock to the back of the outer panels because as it's acetate you can see the sticky tape and it looks ugly. However due to the way it's folded it's hard to see the inner panel so I didn't bother covering up the back. I die cut a Crafter's Companion Die'sire Classical Frame out of black card stock, then added a panel of DCWV textured white card stock taken from a 8" x 8" All Occasion scrapbook kit in a stack, leaving a thin black border, this was then glued to the front of the card making sure that the circles slightly overlapped the sides of the panel at the top. I die cut a large stitch flower out of black card stock using Lil' inker designs stitched flowers dies and a smaller flower out of textured white card. I layered these together and added a large clear gem to its centre. I adhered the flower to the centre of the white panel and added medium sized clear gems to all four corners of the white panel. Finally I added large clear gems on the four outer corners and on the diamond points. One of the best things about this card is that it fits into a DL sized envelope.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at my latest cards, as always if you have any questions or comments please leave them below. If my instructions on how to make the acetate card are unclear I will post a step by step photo tutorial on request.

Now that I've finally sent off all the competitions I shall be concentrating on Christmas, so until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Thursday 13 November 2014

Note Holder Box Entry for Card Designer of The Year 2014

Hello crafty peeps, welcome to my crafty nook! It's not that long since I entered the Papercrafter of the Year competition and the deadline for the next big comp the Card Designer of the Year 2014 is rapidly approaching - it's non-stop at the moment! As usual just as I need it my card mojo has vanished and I'm struggling to find something new to make without resorting to buying more stuff. As I usually do when inspiration is thin on the ground I visited YouTube and checked out some of the subscriptions I'm signed up for and although most of the videos are for Christmas/holiday cards and projects I did find a rather nifty project on Splitcoaststampers, a "fold over box" by Liz Walker. Liz's box was Christmassy (not surprising at this time of year) but I decided to make mine into a holder for memo papers to keep next to the telephone. As I want it to be on display all year round I made a non Christmas themed box.

Top of Note Holder Box

I used a sheet of My Mind's Eye double sided cardstock from a range called "Just Dreamy", I've had it for YEARS so I don't imagine you'll be able to get hold of it still but any double sided card will do. In the end I used a second sheet for the mats and flowers but you only need one sheet to make the basic design. For a really good tutorial pop over to YouTube and look up Splitcoaststampers and fold over box, but if you want to stick with me then here goes. I cut my card to 9"x6" and scored it long side at 3" and repeated with more card so I ended up with two 6"x6" panels with a 3"x6" hinge. I attached the two hinges together using a strong glue so I ended up with a something that looks like a binder. To make the box to go inside the binder, cut some cardstock to 10"x10" and score each side at 3". Cut to inner score line and trim off part of each tab then stick to the inside of the flaps to create the box shape - use a really strong wet glue and either keep a hold of it until it sets or use paperclips to anchor the two pieces together until it dries. Decorate the outside and inside panels of this box.

Inside Box (with note paper)

I found the lid a bit flimsy once I put it all together so I added a panel of black card to the inside of the lid, then I centred the box and stuck it down using more strong wet glue. I cut two strips of ribbon and added them to the centre of the lid and the base of the Note Holder using Anita's Tacky Glue. I matted more of the double sided card onto black cardstock and added these to the lid and the base covering up the glued part of the ribbon, using more strong glue.

I cut some flowers using Lil' inker designs flowers die in the patterned and black card, then diecut two swirls out of more black card using a Craft-Too "Swirly" Die Cutting & Embossing Stencil. I layered different sized flowers together to make the flowers (see photo) and added Sparklet Stickers from The Works to the centres. I added these flowers to the top left corner of the front using strong wet glue and slid the swirls under two of the flowers as shown adding a few drops of glue where needed. I embellished this front with a few black gems and some Craftwork Cards Black card candi. For a bit of shimmer I highlighted the black areas with either clear Wink of Stella or black Wink of Stella. Finally I cut sheets of paper to size and tied them together with waxed cord along with a pen. The finishing touch was to tie the ribbon in a bow.

Side view of Fold Over Box


Here are a few more images of the finished project - many thanks to Liz Walker of Splitcoaststampers for the original idea and tutorial - please check her out on YouTube, it's worth a visit.





I hope you've enjoyed my version of Liz Walker's Fold Over Box and I'd love to see what you come up with. As always if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the section below and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,
Sarah xxx

Thursday 6 November 2014

ProMarker Challenge week 272 Inspired by a Beatles Song

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook!


Card Inspired by "Rain" - The Beetles




Today I finally purchased the last ProMarker I need to complete my collection (not including metallics and the special addition collections they bring out) and as I want to become as proficient as possible at colouring and blending I looked on the ProMarker website to see if they had an accreditation scheme similar to the ones that Copic and Spectrum Noir run. I couldn't find one but they do have a blog at this link www.promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk that runs a weekly challenge so I thought I'd enter this card which I coloured in using Promarkers and distress ink. I thought it would be a good card for the Beatles song "Rain".

I hope you like it and if you have any questions please leave a comment in the space below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah x

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Woo Hoo - I beat my crafter's block!!!

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! For the last few weeks I've been trying to finish the card component of the National Papercrafter of the Year Competition. I tackled the project first assuming that it would be the element I'd struggle with most as I'm a cardmaker and scrapbooker (an infrequent one at that!) rather than someone who makes lots of mini books and home decor items. For some reason I had no trouble with the project but really struggled to come up with card ideas that weren't baby related. I had the dreaded crafter's block!  Maybe because the closing date is Friday but something clicked yesterday and I've been up all night putting the finishing touches to the two cards I'm submitting to the competition. Of course as they are wont to do when I'm up against the clock, lots of things have gone wrong with the cards which is why I pulled an all nighter - the most annoying was deciding Tea Dye distress ink would look better inside the card if I did second generation stamping only to not have enough ink left on the stamp to give a complete image - argh!

Coffee & Cream themed card using Katy Sue Designs Simpler Times Coffee Time stamp set 
This first card is a lot more embellished then I'd normally make and I may have gone a bit overboard with the paper and silk flowers. I've also used paper doilies something I've avoided up to now as they always look a bit daft on my cards like they don't belong there. However I really wanted to have a brown and cream colour scheme for this card and the doilies were a way to introduce the cream part in a decorative manner. I coloured the main stamped image using shades of brown Pro-Markers (the skin was done in putty and tan), the parts of the image that appear red were coloured in using terracotta pro-marker. Once the image was coloured I cut round it using a circle template, I had hoped to use a Sizzix circle die but it wasn't quite large enough. I looked through my flowers and picked out ones that I could colour using Pro-Markers and ended up with a mixture of silk and paper flowers. The silk flowers were extremely easy to colour - the paper ones took more effort but I like the way they turned out. I cut a sheet of 8" x 8" paper down to 7" x 7" and blended some walnut stain distress ink round the edges. I wanted to introduce cream into the design using a doily but all the ones I had were either far too small or just a bit too big, so I decided to use four small ones behind my main image, I stuck them down on the backing paper using Anita's Sticky PVA Glue. I added the main image to the centre of the doilies then arranged the cream and brown flowers round it. I used a hot glue gun to stick the flowers down once I had them how I wanted them. I had loads of glue strings from the glue gun and one of them landed on the backing paper, when I tried to peel it off it took the top layer of the design off so I found some brown ribbon and added a strip across the rip and made a bow out of a second length. Both were stuck down using red liner tape. I felt the design looked unbalanced at this point so I added some more brown ribbon at the opposite bottom corner, unfortunately I didn't use a long enough piece and you could see the frayed edge so I layered a lighter shade of brown ribbon on top and added some flat backed clear gems to the top ribbon. I added loads of red liner tape to the back of the panel and stuck it down on an 8" x 8" scallop edged card blank. I then messed up the stamping (see above!) and ended up cutting the front of the card off and adding it to a panel of kraft card cut to 8" x 9" and scored at 1" in to make a hinge to stick the front panel onto. I stamped the image inside using tea dye distress ink and added a "Warm Wishes" sentiment from the stamp set.

Tatty Button Rainy Days side gatefold card
This second card is probably my favourite and uses Creative Expressions Tatty Button stamps and lots of clear embossing. I stamped the image onto the card blank and made a mask for the image using Post It notes. I coloured the sky using distress inks and splashed droplets of water on it to make rain. The image and grass were then coloured in using Pro-Markers. Once completed I clear embossed the brolly, water drops and the puddles using an embossing pen and clear powder. The black background was stamped using a chevron design stamp and black holographic embossing powder. I cut a chevron patterned piece of paper to the required size and smeared embossing ink all over it and then embossed it using the clear embossing powder and a heat tool. I love the way this panel looks as it's like plastic. I mounted this onto black card and then added a threaded red button. I scored a piece of cardstock into the two panels and threaded some waxed black cord through the widest side. I covered this up with the stamp image raised slightly using black foam tape.I adhered the smaller panel on the right hand side using red liner tape. I tied the waxed cord round the button to make a closure.

Inside panel stamped with Tatty Button stamp and Kaisercrafts Stamp

I stamped the sentiment out onto white card using Versamark ink and sprinkled various embossing powders over the words allowing some of them to mix. I then heat set the powders before mounting the panel onto black cardstock. I stuck this to the right hand side of the inside section of the card then stamped the umberella image on the left hand side using Memento London Fog ink.

It's taken me almost as long to write this blog as it did to make the cards! lol.

I'll be taking my complete entry into the post office today so I hope you'll all keep your fingers (and toes!) crossed for me.

That's all my crafty news and share. If you have any questions please leave a comment below and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Card for Isobel

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! I would like to share with you the "welcome" card I've made for Isobel.

Little Star Welcome card for Isobel

I'm rather pleased with this card and of all the baby cards I've made in recent weeks it's got to be my favourite. I started off stamping a Baby on A Cloud stamp (can't remember who it's made by - sorry) using Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto 300gsm coated white card stock and while the stamp was out I stamped it onto a large post it note to make a mask. This stamp has a very thick outline so I cut it on it rather than just inside it to make the mask ready for some Distress Ink blending. I covered the stamped image with the mask and blended three Tim Holtz Distress inks all over the A6 card (I have a ready cut stock of A6 card so I can stamp as I want to and I renew this as it gets low.) I started with "stormy skies" and blended it all over the card being careful around the top of the mask as it didn't have any sticky on it. Then I added "chipped sapphire" and blended the two colours together until there was no blender marks - I really need to get my hands on the new round blenders. Finally I added "black soot" round the edges and blended it into the centre without adding more ink. I heat set the ink and tested the card surface with embossing powder to make sure it was dry enough to heat emboss without excess powder sticking to the surface (to test if a surface is dry just pour embossing powder over it and if loads stick you'll need to heat set it or use an anti static bag) Unfortunately I tested mine over the middle of the card and not the edges so some powder did stick, however it's a happy accident because I love the way it turned out! I got three magazines today through the post and one of them had a star stencil as it's cover gift. I used this stencil and an embossing ink pen to draw the stars then I added pinpoint dots all over the background (at this point the baby mask remains on the image) and sprinkled the card with Do-Crafts silver embossing powder which I melted with a heat tool until the  powder turned opaque and silver. I removed the paper mask from the image and once I shook out the embossing powder that had gathered inside I coloured the image using Pro-markers. I stamped "Little Star" from Fancy Pants Welcome Little Star stamp set on top of the clouds but it was really hard to read so I stamped over it using clear embossing ink and heat set silver embossing powder on the words. In all honesty it looked a complete mess so I stamped the baby image again, coloured it using Pro-markers, stamped the sentiment in clear ink and heat embossed using Rangers Blue Pearl embossing powder, then I fussy cut the image out. I added black foam tape to the underside and stuck it over the original image. I found the metal Lil Charms embellishment in my stash and attached  to the top part of the card with more of the black foam tape. Finally I stuck the whole card piece to a Papermania pink A6 card blank. I stamped "Welcome" inside and a sprinkling of stamped stars (also from the Fancy Pants stamp set) in the four corners of the inside panel. I also stamped these stars onto the outside of the envelope.

I've a few more cards I'd like to share but that's for the next blog post, so until then - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xx


Sunday 2 November 2014

Isobel

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! Yesterday I went to see my new niece Isobel - she is so gorgeous!!! Isobel slept through most of my visit apart from when she was being fed or having her nappy changed (my sister-in-law offered me that task but I graciously declined!) but I held her for what seems like hours while she slept. She really looks like her dad and has the longest fingers, I'm hoping it means she'll be creative like her dad and her Auntie Sarah - can you tell I'm smitten???


Isobel - isn't she a cutie?!?

The light levels in Sue's house are terrible so I'm afraid the quality of this picture isn't great, luckily I took a disposable camera with me and I'll be taking it in for development tomorrow - I just hope they come out ok as Bethany kept running off with the camera and took selfies of her top! Lol it was sweet but it meant that most of the film is useless and each picture she took meant one less of Isobel and the rest of the family. I'm hoping to make a mini album of Isobel as part of Sue's Christmas present which is why I wanted lots of photos of them all.

Everyone loved the cards I made though Steve (Isobel's dad) pointed out that I hadn't made one for Isobel herself so I've got another new baby card to make now.

Craftwise I'm suffering from crafter's block! I should have sent my entry to the Cardmaker of the Year Comp about a week ago, the deadline is Friday and I can't seem to find the inspiration needed to make the two card components needed for the entry. I really need to get myself in gear and make two cards so I can get it sent off tomorrow.

That's all my crafty news for now so until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Monday 27 October 2014

Welcome little one....

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! A wonderful day today, my new niece Isobel was born at 2.08pm weighing 6lb 15oz. Her mum was booked in on Saturday to be induced but nothing happened until late this morning. We are all pleased that mum and daughter are both well.

To celebrate this special day I made three more cards, I've decided to give the original baby card I made to the dad as Sue and Steve don't live together. So I needed a new card to give to Sue.



I thought this Crafter's Companion S.W.A.L.K. 'New Mum' stamp set was perfect for Sue (not that you'd catch her wearing an apron!) I coloured her hair, eyes and skin tone in to match Sue's own and just gave the baby blue eyes - I haven't seen the new arrival yet so aren't sure what colour hair she has or indeed if she has any!




The second set of cards are stamped with another Crafter's Companion Stamp set called 'A Little Bird Told Me' and I've made these cards for Isobel's older sisters Millie and Bethany. Again I've personalised the images by colouring them in to match the recipients. Inside I printed ...you've got a new sister! I really enjoyed using these stamps even though I had to cut them out myself and use stick and spray to mount them to the acrylic block - unlike a lot of new stamps I didn't have to sand them before first use as they give a crisp stamped image from the outset.

Well that's all my crafty news for now, I'll post a photo of baby Isobel once I've seen her and with her mum's permission of course! Hopefully I'll be back with some crafty goodness to share with you soon - until then keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Thursday 23 October 2014

Fed Up with FedEx! A Rant I'm afraid!

Hello crafty peeps, welcome to my crafty nook!

I haven't been writing this blog for that long but one of the things I've tried to be in my postings is honest and fair, if a company hasn't been able to provide me with a service (see Seriously Impressed... 9/9/14) through no fault of their own, I haven't named them as it would be unfair to imply bad service when it's as a result of events beyond their control. However I feel the need to name and shame FedEx after the experience I've had with them lately. On the 10th October 2014 I placed an order with one of my favourite online craft shops Every Crafts A Pound (www.everycraftsapound.co.uk) and as always I got a series of emails informing me of the status of my order. On Monday 13th October I got an email around 12.30pm saying my order had been dispatched and I anticipated it coming either the next day or Wednesday. So I stayed in and waited but no parcel arrived and nothing was in my post box so I stayed in all day Thursday and then Friday. By Saturday I was getting a little bit fed up so I emailed Every Craft's A Pound asking if they knew why it was taking so long for my parcel to arrive. Martin Crowther from ECAP quickly replied saying he wasn't sure why my parcel hadn't arrived and that he would ring them on Monday, he attached the FedEx status report regarding my order and the last thing recorded was Address Query on the 17th October and it also said that a delivery had been attempted on the 15/10/14 with a card left. This wasn't the first order I've had from ECAP in fact this would have been the 18th delivery to my address in three years. I looked online for FedEx customer services and typically they weren't available over the weekend so I sent them an email about the situation and highlighting the fact that according to the status report a card had been left on the 15th which was a total lie!

Monday 20th October: I rang the customer services number displayed on the FedEx Website and eventually got transferred to Christine at the UK customer services. She told me my package was on its way for delivery that day and because it was possible that my package was being delivered by a new driver she emailed the depot with my instructions on how to get to my home from the main road. I'm the first to admit that where I live is a tad confusing - for some reason part of it is at the bottom of the hill and the rest is round a bend and up the side of the hill and there is a street with a different name in between (when I first moved here I thought it was just a very small street!). I updated Martin by email and he replied that he'd also rung customer services and he was told that they would speak to the depot and my delivery would happen the next day (21st). So we now had two conflicting pieces of information and yet again I was stuck indoors to wait for my parcel to be delivered. 5pm came and went with no sign of my delivery so I rang customer services for a second time, spoke to someone else who told me that because there hadn't been any tracking inputting since Thursday there was a chance that my parcel had been "misplaced" and that I needed to get Martin to ring them ASAP (please note that's it's me having to do all the chasing here! - why FedEx couldn't contact Martin I've no idea!) So yet another email to Martin who'd left for home. I checked my emails at 6.15pm (ish) and discover an email from FedEx time stamped 18.50+2.00 which I assume means it came from abroad as time travel even in cyber space isn't possible as far as I know! It said my 12 digit tracking number wasn't correct and I had to provide certain information so that they could help me with my query. I replied at 18.34 with the requested information and pointed out that is wasn't surprising they'd had trouble getting the consignment details from the 12 digit tracking number because it only had ELEVEN numbers and for their information it was definitely the correct ELEVEN digit number because I had just inputted it into their tracking system and it came up with all my details.

Tuesday 21st October: After another poor night's sleep (I don't handle stress well and being cooped up inside was seriously stressing me out!) I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed etc ready to wait in again for the parcel. At 8.32am  Martin rings me to let me know that he had spoken to FedEx again and that they promised to deliver it that day and it was already in the van (is this sounding familiar to anyone??). It should be with me by 4.30pm at the latest but just in case he gave me the number of the depot in Knaresborough so I could contact them myself if it hadn't arrived by then. I waited and I waited and I waited but woo hoo surprise surprise, 4.30pm and no parcel! I rang the depot, spoke to some bloke who sounded as fed up as I was feeling and was told that my parcel was still in the warehouse and had been in there since Thursday. He did apologise and promised to dig out my parcel and put it on the desk of his colleague who started work at 4am the next morning who would ensure it went out first thing and that it would definitely be delivered the next day. So yet another email update to Martin! Martin replies and promises to ring FedEx in the morning.

Today Wednesday 22nd October 2014: Yet another bad night - I'm getting seriously frazzled at this point and have flu like symptoms. 8.18am an email from Martin - parcel has been scanned and is marked for early delivery but if I haven't by 11.30am to let him know. 11.30am guess what - no parcel so I ring Martin and we decide that he's going to ring yet again and he would ring me or email if there wasn't going to be a delivery today. At 13.45 a white van pulls up and I walk down the stair and wait in the lobby for my parcel and finally I have it! "There's been a bit of drama about this parcel," the delivery man says. "Yes I know - I've been waiting in for it since last Tuesday!" I said with gritted teeth.

I take it back to my flat and notice the parcel has not one but two bright yellow stickers on it saying, deliver before 9am. Do FedEx work to a different time zone perhaps??? Before I even opened it I emailed Martin to let him know it had finally arrived (after so much interaction with him this week, I almost added a x to my name!)

I want to stress here that in no way do I have any problem with Every Craft's A Pound - Martin has been brilliant helping getting this sorted and once Christmas is over and done with I'll be placing another order with them (do you realise Christmas is only 62 days away - how scary is that!). My problem is with FedEx and it isn't even the delay that annoys me but the lies and excuse the language bull crap they tell you. A genuine apology wouldn't go amiss either,

Well that's my rant over for now! I hope you've managed to bear with me and you'll excuse me using my blog to complain about poor service - but everyone has to vent sometimes!

I'm off to play with my new craft goodies (they are fantastic btw!) and I'll be sharing the ECAP haul with you in the next few days once I've regained my inner calm lol. Until then - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,
Sarah xx

Monday 20 October 2014

Storage Solutions for ribbons, baker's twine and crochet lace (plus a few odds and ends)

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! Hands up all you who'd prefer to spend their crafting pennies and pounds on craft goodies rather than craft storage? Me too! As much as I would like the posh custom made for crafting storage the fact of the matter is that the majority of it is way beyond my price range but with a little imagination and a lot of creative thinking, everyday items can be turned into craft storage.



My first craft storage solution I'd like to share is reusing sweetie jars, this one is an old Quality Street jar but if you go to an old fashion sweetie shop and ask nicely they'll often give you their old jars for free as they have to pay the council to recycle them (I was told this by the owner of a sweet shop when I was making rose buttonholes for all my wedding guests - the jar was the perfect place to store the finished paper roses). Just wash in hot soapy water and leave to dry and they are ready to hold whatever you wish - I've used mine to store my unused baker's twine.



My second idea started life as a peg basket from the pound shop, you can't see in the photos but this basket has a handle with a hook on it and I usually have it suspended from the shelf above my desk. I wanted some new pegs but didn't want to use the basket for them as I'd made one years ago out of a tea towel and coat hanger. I've seen ribbon storage boxes with holes cut out to thread the ribbons through and I thought this peg basket would be great to store my loose ribbons and trims. I've only threaded one side with ribbon so you can see how it originally looked but as I have it suspended above my desk I normally have both sides threaded. It's a great way to store all those short pieces of ribbon without them getting tangled and it's surprisingly roomy.




My final storage solution is actually a jewellery "tree". I was given it last Christmas and although I really liked it I knew I wouldn't use it for jewellery as I like to keep mine in it's original packaging or in a case. Because it was a gift I wanted to keep it and decided that it would be the perfect place to store packets of ribbon, trims, gems and other odds and ends where a hanger opening is build into the packaging - I've even threaded ribbon spools onto cord and hung them from the arms! You'd be amazed at how much you can pack onto something that's not very big, I tend to put 8 -10 items onto each arm and as there are 6 arms I've got my gems and pearls on one and different trims and ribbons on others depending on type and colour.

I hope this post has given you ideas on your own creative storage, if you've found it useful and would like to see more of my storage solutions, please leave a comment and I'll be happy to share more with you. Also if I've sparked some ideas I would love to see them so please leave a link below.

I'm hoping to have a couple of card making sessions in the next few days which I will share once I've made something worth sharing, until then keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,
Sarah xxx