Rainbow Bunting With Chocolate Baroque

Every year on the Chocolate Baroque group there is a swap organised, this is the fourth year that I have taken part. The first year was Quintiles (4x4 squares worked around a theme), the second was Technique Tags (each month a different technique to try), last year was Postcard Potpourri (Each month there was a different flower to use or if you had no stamps with the flower you could use a that months colour instead). This year we are making Rainbow Bunting, one each of the shaped flag working around a set colour for each month, this can either be the colour of the flag or the colour you used for your stamps. I decided to go for the colour of my flags being red. After cutting them out of white card I took some red tissue paper and crumpled it, used some glue and seal and stuck to the white card. When this was dry I lightly rubbed some gold gilding wax over the top. Finally I dug into my vast stamp stash and found these two stamps that are from a set that was released back in 2006 when Chocolate Baroque was Graphicus. They were coloured with distress markers and I added some stickles to the flowers and a couple of gems too. I then cut them out and mounted them onto the flags. Now all I need to do is send them in and in a couple of weeks I will get two (one of each shape) back from someone else. It really is fun and everyone has different ideas and it's lovely to see all the finished results. At the end of the year I should have 24 (12 of each shape) flags.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Happy Birthday Mum

It's been a while since I last blogged, but hopefully we are now straighter (after all of the alterations and decorating), I should be getting back to normal. Well that is until we start looking after our gorgeous Grandson two days a week from February, when my daughter returns to work. I also had a small operation on my back last week, which I'm glad to say has healed very well. Anyway onto my card today which is for my Mum's birthday today. I've used The Janet Kruskamp Collection CD from Joanna Sheen for the 8x8 decoupage card, using gold mirror card for the matting. The die cut doily is from tonic, the happy birthday from Sue Wilson, the fern from Tattered Lace and the flowers are from a die that I have had so long that I can't remember who's it was. I would like to enter this into the CD Sunday challenge this week which is Wild Flowers.

Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Merry Christmas

What a bad blogger I've been recently, but I hope to rectify that now and show you two Canvas's that I started back in the summer, in the shed, while I was unable to craft indoors. They were never quite finished, until yesterday when I decided not to bury them till next year and get on and finish them. They were made using a mixture of spray inks, glimmer mists, stencils and grunge paste, silver and gold gilding waxes and plenty of die cuts. Some where layered to make chip board (let it snow and deck the halls), the rest then arranged on the canvas's.

 I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of my followers for your wonderful comments and support over the last year. It's been great having you visit and I've enjoyed coming and visiting you as well. I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you in 2016.

Sue

Thomas Kinkade For Special Friends

Every year a friend asks me to make a card for friends of his family in Ireland and this year was just the same. As the people to receive the card are huge Thomas Kinkade fans (as I am) each year I try to make a different card. This is my effort for this years card, a beautiful church nestled in the valley, with a footpath winding through the snow. The topper has been decoupaged and mounted onto some textured silver card, before being mounted onto the backing paper. The die is a Sue Wilson die which I cut in card and then sprayed with stick and spray and covered in glitter.

Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Rudolph Days and Getting Back To Normal

Well I know that it's been a while since I last posted. Thank you to those who expressed concern but it was just life (and decorating) getting in the way. I'm glad to say that after 4 months of not having a Craft Room, I moved back in this week. Below are the first results of makes in the new improved room. Because everything had to be moved out and then moved back again it gave me a chance to explore some stamps from Chocolate Baroque that have not been for an outing for a few years. They were stamped onto white card and then coloured with pencils before getting the distress ink treatment. Then mounted onto some matching card and backing papers from Artylicious Seasons Greeting CD. I made these with the Rudolph Days Challenge over at Scrappy Mo's. This is the last challenge this year but I will continue to join in next year, it's a great way to get a head start on the Christmas cards.

I hope to have some more cards to share over the weekend, but next week I'm taking a short break with some crafting friends from the UKSN at the Manor House Hotel in Devon. Lots of different crafting things to try, so I'm looking forward to this.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Lavinia - Glitter and Gems

Wow, it seems like ages since I was last here. We have been so busy trying to decorate after having the builders in. We have at last finished our bedroom and have manages to paint some of the ceilings, there are still some to do and a lot more decorating too. But we are going to have a rest for a while as we are off on a cruise tomorrow, we're going to the Caribbean and will be gone for 24 days. A nice length of time to recharge the batteries before starting again when we get home. While the builders were here and I cowered in my shed I got the brushos out that I bought last year and had a play with them. I love the results I got with them they are very random. So when I saw the challenge on Lavinia's blog this month I had a go at over stamping them. I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

The challenge is to add Glitter and Gems. The glitter is on the wings and I've added the gems to the corners of my cards.

I hope to be back later or first thing tomorrow with another card I've made for another challenge,  but I'll have to see how time goes.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Rudolph Days And More Playing In The Shed

Today I have some cards that I made for Scrappymo's Rudolph Days challenge. It's three cards made with two ink pads (Tumbled Glass and Spun Sugar distress inks) and one stencil (Snowflake Flurry from Imagination Crafts) but three different finishes. After covering three pieces of card with the two colours I set about decorating. The first I used Grunge Paste and then when it was dry I popped the stencil back over and used Inka Gold in Silver and then buffed with a soft cloth before addng a ribbon and the die cut snowflakes. I then matted onto silver card and added the sentiment which was from a Tim Holtz Sizzix set.

The second card I used a ready made polyfilla (hubby just happened to have some lying around) and got a slightly rougher look to the finish, when this was dry I took Pebeo's gilding wax and rubbed over the top without putting the stencil back over. I love the shabby look that I got with this finish but wish that I had distressed the edge of my card before mounting it.

For my last card I used some silver sparkle medium that I had bought at a show a couple of years ago. I was not the tried and tested variety that I had used in the past from Imagination Crafts but one that can be dried with a heat gun. I have to say that I was pleased with the finish, but it does not look so nice in the jar. Both of the last two cards I used the same sentiment as the first.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Playing In My She Shed

Well I can't believe how fast time has gone by since my last post. I'm glad to say that the builders have now finished. The plasterer had done his bit for the builder but we want a couple more ceilings taken back to smooth (rather than artex) and they are coming in at the beginning of next week. At the moment we are trying to get our bedroom painted just so we can move some furniture into there while the other ceilings are done. Anyway while the builders were here I slipped into my She Shed and had a play with the Lavinia Stamps again. When I had to move stuff out of my craftroom in the house I found a box of die cut shapes for stamping and matting, part of a bundle that I had bought a few years ago from QVC. The card was from Kanban so all good quality and was crying out to be used. Below are two of the cards that I made while I was playing, the first made with the same colours that I used in my recent challenge card for Lavinia and the second in blues and greens.

The flowers were made using a Tattered Lace die and embossing folder set and coloured using distress inks, the sentiments are from a collection that I bought from Crafters Companion. I had quite a few play days in the Shed before I had to come in and join in with the decorating (not my favourite way of using paints, but needs must I suppose). I still have some bits from my playing to show you but they do need finishing properly before I post them on here.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

CD Sunday Gorgeous Gowns

Well the builders have almost finished, there is just 1 and 1/2 ridge tiles to go in place, which can't be done until next week. They have finished knocking the house about (it's so peaceful now), just the plasterer to come in at the beginning of the week then we can start to clear the dust and decorate. I can't say that I was sorry to see them go. The only plus to them being here is I spent the week playing in my shed getting messy and using what I could reach craft wise.  Any way onto my card today, this has been made for my Sister-in-law's 45th wedding anniversary tomorrow, for my father-in-law to give to them. It also falls at the right time to add to the CD Sunday challenge this week which is Gorgeous Gowns. I've used Debbi Moores One Fine Lady 2 for my 8x8 card and some texture gold card for the matting and die cuts. The dies were from Rob Addams All occasions dies and the flowers from my stash.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Hot Bright Colours At Lavinia

Last Tuesday saw the beginning of our alterations that we are having carried out, the scaffolding had already been up for a week at this stage so I was glad that they had started, but it also meant complete upheaval inside the house (not something I was looking forward too). So feeling a bit apprehensive Tuesday, I thought as they were outside I would keep up to date in blogland. I clicked onto the Lavinia challenge blog to see who had been the lucky winner last month and was most surprised to see that it was me. I had placed an order for some of the new stamps on the website and was waiting for them to arrive, so this meant I could now go back and order the ones that I had not done with the previous order. Both orders had arrived by Thursday and by this time the house was in complete chaos, a hole open to the elements in the roof no ceiling in part of our bedroom and they were starting on downstairs which meant that by the end of the day there would be a hole right through the house to outside. Friday morning came and I got up and retreated into my She Shed, which I normally use for my more messier crafting, taking my new Lavinia stamps with me. I found my distress inks and some embossing powders and managed to come up with this card to enter into this months challenge, which is Hot Red Colours. Thank you to Tracey and Kevin for the wonderful prize you give each month on the challenge blog, I've really enjoyed using these wonderful new stamps. The Happy Birthday die is from the new collection from Tonic and the flowers were made using Hellen, from the Tattered Lace Trio collection.

Back today and I've just found out that the builder will not be here today as he's not feeling well, hope he make it tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue