What I've been up to!

Whilst I was off work this Summer on my enforced break I bought a sewing machine determined to start dressmaking again.  What a disaster - I am hopeless at fitting a top or dress for myself - really disappointing as I used to make jackets and skirts without blinking!  So instead of packing away the machine I decided to have a go at a quilt and here is my first one - a Floral Double Nine Patchwork.

Thanks to Paul for standing for ages in the garden holding it up as the grass was too wet to drape it artfully over a bench.

I am quite proud of myself - all cut by hand (with my engineer husband's help with a straight edge) from a variety of fabrics which I bought at Tikki near Kew Gardens - such a wonderful shop and really helpful when you are a beginner.  The pattern is from allpeoplequilts.com the online version of the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine and a fantastic source of patterns and advice.

 

I did fussy cut the roses and I am glad I did - it suits me that they are all the right way up!  I should have taken a picture of us trying to baste all three layers together before I quilted it - that was the hardest part!

 

This already has a home in my daughter's bottom draw, surprising as it is rather vintage in style.  I am starting on a 1600 inch jelly roll quilt next using this ...

Thanks for joining me - I hope to kick start my card making mojo in the new year - see you then!

Mixing Mists to Match/Bake and Take

I didn't tea stain any fabric and I don't have any clay so I thought I would have another go at the morning's sketch and colour recipe.  After die cutting and stamping the Rosie Posie the following challenge was posted ....

 

"Create your own custom spray mist using the recipe below and apply it to create a gorgeous project!  You can choose to make a standard mist or a shimmer mist."

 

I remembered that I had a couple of old hybrid re-inkers in Raspberry Fizz and Ripe Avocado so I mixed a few drops of the pink up and made a background - simple!

I think you can see the misted background in the photo - definitely something I will do again.

Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-faire 2013 First Challenge

It's Stamp-a-faire time again!  Unfortunately the Cotswold Crafters couldn't get together this year due to holidays and work commitments so I am here on my todd today but still having fun and grateful that it wasn't long ago that we were all together at Pam's.

 

I was caught short this week when hubby asked for a card for his mate for his birthday, and I hate trying to come up with something on the hoof, so today I promised myself I would make a least one masculine card.

 

I used this colour recipe.....

 and this sketch recipe....

 and then put this quickie together!  All supplies from Papertrey Ink, of course.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by this afternoon - enjoy your day.

Reunion Part 2

In our afternoon session at the reunion we used an inspiration card by Dawn McVey - you can see the original card and how she achieved such fabulousness on her blog here.  When Dawn first posted this card Pam thought it was fantastic and so do I! 

We had lots of flower stamp sets on the table and some watercolour pencils and Stampin Up watercolour crayons to help us achieve "the look"!

Julie used Happy Hydrangea for her  super card....

Fiona used Happiness in Bloom for her art card....

 Mary choose Natural Beauties for her two step stamping with pretty embellishments .....

 

 

 

Pam went for Happy Hydrangea with some extra sparkle ....

Sue - who "doesn't do flowers" choose Funky Florals as she thought they looked the least like flowers! ....

 

 

 

I have to admit that I totally cheated with my card and wimped out on the water colouring but I had a good reason - I was like a cat on a hot tin roof all day waiting to hear if I was offered a new job I had two interviews for earlier in the week!  It's kind of hard to create when you have a sick feeling in the pit of your tummy because you want something so much!

 

I used an aqua mist card base and over stamped it with the music background in fine linen and swiped some chai distress ink, then added some die cut and stamped dahlia's which I coloured with crayons ....

 

 

Well I got the call and it was good news - so here we are enjoying champagne cocktails to celebrate!

 

Many thanks everyone for such a lovely day - can't wait until Stamp a Faire later in the month when I hope we can do it all again.

 

Cotswold Crafters Reunion Part 1

Last  week there was a reunion of the Cotswold Crafters, we originally got together for Stamp a Faire last  Summer  and since then our numbers have grown to six.  It's a good job Pam has a very lovely, big dining table!

Pam  set the first challenge of making a "name" card and she and Sue had pre-cut different colour packs for us to choose with die cut card bases and pretty papers.  I hope I have these in the right order!

Pam's

Sue's

Julie's

 

Mine

Mary's

 

 

I don't have a photo of Fiona's just yet and I'll add it as soon as I can, but in the meantime a quick group photo - getting us all in on Pam's iPad was a challenge in itself!

 

 

Mojo Monday 301

There's no better place to  try and get the old mojo back after a crafting break than the Mojo Monday sketch.  I haven't played along for ages and I enjoyed making this today - it was nice to do something calming after all the excitement and stress of watching Andy Murray win Wimbledon yesterday!

 

I pulled out Papertrey's Happiness in Bloom set for my card and teamed it with a Verve sentiment. I am having problems with the strong light here this afternoon and the photo looks paler in colour than it actually is - not that I am complaining about the beautiful hot weather here.

Thank you for stopping by today - have a great week.

Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop

It's time for the Papertrey Ink blog hop again and this month the challenge is to -

"pick your favorite floral set at the moment, pull out the ink colors for one of the gorgeous inspiration pieces above and create!"

I wanted to make a card for a friend who loves Earth colours, so I chose this inspiration bouquet.....

 

 

Rosie Posie has to be my favourite floral set and at last I got chance to play with Step 2 which has not seen ink since it came out a few months back.  So much easier than getting a pile of Copics on the desk and hoping I get it right! 

 

I managed to get all the colours in with a little addition of spring moss for the leaves.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today - apologies if you drop in and haven't seen much from me for a while.  The company I worked for went into administration recently and many of us lost our jobs (how careless of us!).  My thanks to all my friends who have been so supportive and sending hugs - it has really helped.

 

Birds and Blooms

Just popping in with a few cards that I made with the new Papertrey anniversary set - Birds and Blooms.  I had fun playing with different colour combinations for these little one layer note cards.  It was a shame that Papertrey didn't release the matching dies until this month - they arrived too late to be of use here!

 

 

 

 All supplies from Papertrey Ink except Kaiser pearls - Stamps used are Birds and Blooms, Irresistably Ikat,

 

 

 

Some Masculine Cards

It's good to do a few "man" cards now and again, and the Guiding Light stamps from Flourishes is a great set to use.

 

First up is a card for my Dad who celebrated his birthday on Good Friday. 

 

 

 

and a blue version made for a friend to give to her Dad for his 80th birthday.

 

 

I must get some aircraft stamps as both Dads were in the Royal Air Force for all of their careers!  Maybe for next year!

 

Stamps by Flourishes (Guiding Light), Papertrey Ink (Enjoy the Ride) and Docrafts (Map).  Paper, card, ink and buttons from Papertrey Ink.

 

 

Papertrey Ink Design Team Favourites

The challenge this time around is to create a project inspired by the design team.   I picked Dawn, as after all, she is my Guru!

 

 

 

 

 

I have had the Simple Life card as above bottom right, on my Pintrest board for ages and I made this one by stamping a base of spring rain, then winter wisteria, and finished with plum pudding.  The card and paper are wisteria too.

 

 

 

 

I promise to put the winter wisteria away now and give you a break!  Thanks for popping by this weekend.

 

Papertrey 6th Anniversary

Goodness - is it 6 years since I saw a little ad on Split Coast Stampers saying a new stamp company was bringing out a line of stamps! I still remember the first few sets I got - Little Lady and Butterfly Kisses and I have been smitten ever since!

 

I don't have a lot of time this year to join in all the challenges but as it is the weekend now there isn't really an excuse.  The time difference doesn't help but I have to live with that.

 

This challenge is to ...

"Create some type of wrap, tag or gift packaging project that is inspired by a photo you found on Pinterest or another site."

I have had this pinned on Pintrest for ages.  I changed up the stamp set to use Funky Florals and used my front and centre die around a cut down PTI clear stamp box.

 

 

It is all ready to fill with some little note cards which I hope to finish off this weekend.

 

Fancy Folk Art

I am loving my latest Papertrey Ink stamps and dies - Fancy Folk Art.  I got a chance to play with them this weekend and made this set of note cards as a little thank you gift  for a friend we went to lunch with today. 

 

The photos aren't great as I took them quickly and forgot to change the camera setting after shooting our dogs in the snow!

 

First up in aqua mist and ocean tides ....

 

Next in my all time favourite PTI colours - sweet blush and berry sorbet .......

Harvest gold and summer sunrise ....

and if you made it this far (thank you!) the last one is lavender moon and winter wisteria ......

 

 

I hope you have had as good a weekend as we have.

 

Mojo Monday

I don't seem to be very good at making Monday challenges on a Monday - maybe I should start a "Make It on a Weekend" challenge - anyone game?

 

So two ways of working today - the Mojo Monday sketch which has lots of lovely layers and the new  Passion for Papertrey challenge to make a thank you card.

 

The images on both cards are from a new set I bought last week from Clearly Besotted Stamps - a UK stamp company (hurrah!) - called Thanks a Bunch. They are acrylic and stamp beautifully.

 

My first card uses Papertrey's plum pudding card and ribbon (although the ribbon looks a totally different colour in the photo) and Basic Grey papers.

My cheerful roses are made with summer sunrise card, ribbon and papers by Papertrey Ink and the images are coloured with Copic markers. 

Make It Monday #99 Rainbow Repeats

Two quickie one layer birthday cards today using the Make it Monday #99 rainbow colours.  I just got my December release stamps from Papertrey via a lovely friend visiting her sister in the US for Christmas and they were begging to be stamped off!

 

I used Quilled Elegance for both cards using Papertrey colours for the ink - not great photos - I need to make up a light box I think for the winter months!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend.