Things I should have blogged about in 2013

I find that sometimes time gets away from me and although I've done some crafting and even got photos taken I don't get round to blogging about it so here's a bumper post of all the things I should have blogged about in 2013 with a vow to try blog on time about things in future. 

 I took part in the village craft and produce show again entering seven categories. First was greeting card, I did a Christmas card in the stepper style grey base card was scored and folded to create three levels which I decorated using stampin up stamp sets lovely as a tree and Christmas deer, I used silver and white embossing powers to make the images really stand out against the grey. I enclosed all this in a folded piece of acetate with has a random white dot pattern on it emulating snow. I finished the front off with a silver Merry Christmas sticker.  This won second place.

This is my entry for the bookmark category Its quite a simple thing a couple layers of rectangular card and then decorated with punched out circles of patterned paper and stamps. the top has an added tag and the bottom a decorative piece of card with ribbon. This didn't place and was done more as a filler entry.  

 My entry for the photography category a Lincolnshire scene. A photo taken down the coast abit while on a picnic with friends I was always pleased with the contrast between the sky, clouds, grass and sand and was even more pleased when it won first prize.

My first crochet blanket entered in to a stitched item,  I did have other plans for this category but time got away from me as usual so I just popped this in, it didn't place as there were many far superior entries , there's some very talented sewers and quilters around here.

My entry in to flora arrangement, a modern style arrangement of blooms, orchids, bamboo and fatsia leaves. I love the big bold blooms in my favorite green colour and the exotic orchids and the flow they create worked on to the chicken wire, framed by the glossy leaves. this was very well admired and won first place.

This was a fun entry of garden on a dinner plate, unfortunately this category didn't have many entries, but I'm still rather pleased with my carnation sheep,  sedum bushes, daises created with tiny pieces of September flower. A cute little arrangement that got me second place.

 And my last entry one for the food categories, three cookies on a plate. I did my signature chocolate chip they don't look overly impressive but have a brill taste. They got me another second place.

Quick snap of my little certificates all in all a very good show and pleased with my haul of prizes. 

 I should have also done a post about my second crochet blanket, this was a commission from a friend of my grandma who saw the first one I had done and jokingly said, do you think she would miss it that would be lovely for sitting with in the winter so I said I could do her one if she would like. The lady likes alot of colour but I'm quite pleased with the end result, I did one chain stitch instead of two between each treble block and think I picked up my 3.5mm hook instead of my 4mm hook resulting in slightly smaller squares than the first blanket but a neater finish. In a bid to get this finished before it got too

cold I was working on these little squares every where including a scout training weekend which got me some funny looks but admiration of my spare time being put to good use. 

Baking exploits, throughout the year in general there probably  should have been most posts about my baking but often the items were consumed before I had chance to photograph and blog.
Any here's some pictures the first one is of some cupcakes I made to give out to my choir ladies as our practice night fell on my birthday. They are taken out of a craft magazine, and have a rich flavour as they include, orange juice, golden syrup and treacle, and various spices, the frosting is made with full fat soft cheese icing sugar and lemon, I decorated them with sprinkles that looked like little gingerbread men and they went down really well with everyone. The recipe was abit of a faff, lots of measure this stir this melt that but the end result is worth it.  

 This quick snap is of a cake I made for the birthday of my other half's grannie. Just a plain jam sponge but I was rather pleased with my decorative birthday banner on the top of it.

Also in baking news last year a purchased a cool silicon mould from Lakeland. It makes buttons !! and can be used for icing or chocolate. I look forward to using it to decorate many cakes, this batch of chocolate buttons just got eaten though. 

My last picture is of some adorable felt houses I made for Christmas decorations. These are all hand stitched and really enjoyed designing and making them and think I will be making more felt decorations throughout this year. These a finished off with gingham hanging loops and patterned buttons. I sold them in the shop and were a big hit. 

So there you go a few crafting things from 2013 tidied up before we start another year of creative craft makes. My Sister is getting wed this year so will be doing a blog post wedding of all the creative bits and pieces I've been helping her with, look forward to that. Happy Crafting 2014. 

Craftstyle samples vintage florals.

I was sent some items this week by craftsyle products to make some quick samples ready for a show on create and craft this weekend. The range is called vintage florals and consists of four flower themes I was sent two of the lilies and tulip which each have toppers in a range of sizes and selection of sentiments, they are precut toppers which is handy for creating something quick and are or a very good quality card with gold foiling detail. there is also a section of  in-keeping and delightful backing papers.
Here's what I created with them.

This first card is a portrait card with a scallop edge on to which I have placed a strip of one of the backing papers edged with a gold coloured paper out of my stash. On top of this is placed one of the toppers medium size with a sentiment on top of that affixed with foam pads to give it some depth. I then cut out one lily head from another topper to place in the bottom corner.

The next card has a pre-shaped base and is made of a pearled card so I haven't covered it up with lots of backing paper. I took one of the smaller tulip toppers and as the sheet has two of this size I cut the front leaf and two flower hears from the second one, I shaped them abit using an embossing tool on a soft surface. I'm very pleased with the definition this gives, I then attached these to the topper with foam pads. A sentiment is placed across the top corner and is it is finished off with three gold pearls.

The last card I made is done on a stepper base.
I have created a stopper for it using textured card and a sentiment which is raised on foam pads.  Some textured card is also used on the base of the front section of the card to continue the theme. the main front section has a lager sized topper placed on it with a verse sentiment across one corner the back side panels have had one of the backing papers added to them which pick up on the  handwriting theme on the lily topper.









All in all I'm pleased with these three samples and hope to catch a glimpse of them on the show.

More Craftstyle samples

Here are a few more samples I have done for Craftstyle Products. Like the ones before they were cut and create decoupage characters but this time there were Christmas themed.

First up is this friendly looking snowman. He was nice and easy to cut out big bold shape. The built up topper is placed on a background of silver glitter paper to give it a frosty feel and large dotty green paper. Then a sentiment is placed at the bottom. I do like how the sentiments and backing papers available with the characters match up in colours this makes making a coordinating card really easy.

Next is this festive robin, for this I cut away his red tummy on one of the layers and put in some red glitter paper instead, I really like how this looks and ties in well with the red glitter paper behind the sentiment. The topper and sentiment are placed on a background of holly patterned paper to complete the festive look.

Next we have Santa, he was abit trickier to cut out with the fluffy line of his beard and hat. I used his without the first layer which had the frame on as this fitted better on the style of card. Part of the background is done in small dotty paper and some in embossed paper which had stars on it, to give it abit of colour I carefully inked the stars and used gold heat embossing powder. The card is held in pace with a sentiment which acts well as a stopper.

The lase character I did was the happy reindeer, he is layered up and placed at a jaunty angle on some embossed card which had a snowflake pattern. Some silver snowflakes continue this theme before the sentiment is placed on as well, I like how the sentiment sheet had some different things like this one as well as the traditional Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings.

The last sample I did was using one of the new shaped cards I was sent. this jolly round Santa belly shows the small dotty red paper as well as another patterned paper which had poinsettias on. Some gold glitter paper was used to create the buckle and some dotty embossed card was used to create the beard. I think this is a quirky and fun card.










Products used to create these samples are being showcased on Create and Craft today so hoping to catch a glimpse of my handy work.

Crafting with the WI

I went along with my Mum to one of her WI groups this week as the speaker was the team from a local craft shop cutting edge crafts they talked about the different things the shop sold and about the various workshops and classes they held. We then all had a go at making a couple of things with the packs and instructions they had put together for us.
here are the things I made

 A birthday card with some matting and layering topped with ribbon, sentiment layered topper and paper flowers. I thought this was rather pretty.

And a bookmark with some pre-done die cut elements and butterflies with pearls.
I enjoyed making both and was interesting to watch other people I think crafter can easily forget that not everyone crafts and we should be thankful for our gifts and talents.

A couple of cards

Sorry I don't seemed to have blogged much recently will try harder to bring you all news of my crafty creations.

Here's a couple of cards I've made recently. they are very different to each other but I like them both.

The first one is a fun congratulations card for a new job. It uses stampin up owl punch to make a little police man owl. This is a very versatile punch I search all over the internet and found it being turned in to a nurse, Santa a pirate and all manner of other things but I couldn't find a police one, but I am rather pleased with the one I've done, he's got his little hat on and googly eyes.

The second is a more sophisticated birthday card made using a tattered lace die these dies are quite new to the market and work in majority of machines it went lovely through my big shot and created this amazing delicate design. I will be using this again and again.









So there you go two very different cards I've created recently.

WI Spring Fair

I recently attended a Spring fair of a local WI group. They are a new group and this was their first fair, it was held in the evening midweek rather than a Saturday and I think this worked quite well for ladies with busy lives.
Here's a picture of my stall

As at the recent wedding fair I did I've stuck with the light blue cloth and vintage pattern bunting I think it gives a really nice approachable look. I tried out a new idea of displaying some of my handmade cards and zip charms using some display boards and ribbon.

 Although this gave hight to the display lot of people didn't seem to look at it. I don't think I'll be using this display style on my next craft stand as it will be in a marquee and not sure out it would fair with outside drafts.
It was an enjoyable evening with lots of lovely cake.
Items that sold well included the friendship teas and tissue packs.
Hoping that they will hold more events like this in the future which I can attend.

More can be found about this lovely bunch of ladies here

First attempts at crochet

I've been wanting to learn to crochet for a while, since I never seemed to get on with knitting.
I found a nice simple pattern for a granny square blanket in a craft magazine and had a go at that.

This is the first square I made, the pattern is a mixture of chain stitches and treble stitches, that goes round for four rows before adding another row of a contrasting colour.

Once I got the hang of the pattern the pile of squares soon grew, I found I was able to crochet in a range of places, including travelling in a car, and when I took my mum to blood donors, the next blanket I make I intend to work on while camping in the summer.
I've got four complimenting colours for my squares now I just need to stitch them together and do a row of treble stitches around the outside.

After mastering the granny squares I decided to try something abit more complicated so did these little owls out of a book a friend got me for Christmas.
Aren't they cute, we've call them Horace and Boris.
Hopefully making more owls to sell on craft stalls soon.