More from Stitches

First of all a cute sample made with Karen Burniston dies - Kath and I met Karen and chatted for quite a while, she is the sweetest most unassuming person you could wish to meet.....

Next up a few samples made with Woodware Stamps - this is a company who have really upped their game in the past couple of years and seem to be developing a line of stamps which are big, bold and beautiful

Lastly for those of you who sew, I loved the quilt kits made by Craft Cotton Co - I really would be tempted to attempt one of these if I had a little baby to cherish with an heirloom from Grandma......

If you have a sewing area in your craft room, how cute is this thread holder?

I'll be back tomorrow to share the projects we made at various workshops, see you then x

Inspiration from the Stitches Show

Last week was pretty hectic with the big trade show at the NEC - which is only about ten minutes drive away from where I live, so an extra treat was having my buddy Kath to stay with us for the weekend - mind you, walking around the show with her is a bit like going on a walkabout with the Queen - she has been doing workshops at the retail shows for years, so everyone knows her........ so we walked about two steps then heard yet another voice saying 'KAAATH!'

Our first visit was on set up day - have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes to get these shows ready? A lot of boxes to be unpacked......

and some of my Fiskars makes on the stand...

I know you all like to see photos of the samples on show, so over the next couple of days I will be showing you some of the ones that caught my eye, starting with the wonderful Paper Artsy

I just adore these dandelion puff stamps, this sample was stamped onto fabric, so pretty......

I'll be back tomorrow with more... see you then x

Cute little birdies.....

Here's a cute new punch from Fiskars - the Intricate Shape little bird....and a card made with them, I love the way the shapes look inquisitive!

So we had a power cut. It was bizarre - the only electricity in the house was the oven which carried on cooking our dinner. So we had to find torches, candles and leave the oven on just for the internal oven light to eat our supper. Mike was about to light the large candle that lives on the dining table, and jumped when I shrieked 'not that one, that candle is not for burning!'.........well, it's the perfect colour for the dining room and was the result of a week long trawl around various shops to find the perfect match. 

Funny, he didn't understand it at all. Just didn't get it. 'But why is it here if we can't light it?' 

Sometimes men can be so insensitive! The finer points of interior design just floats right over their heads.....any woman would get it in a heartbeat. 
But thank goodness for the design challenged males in our lives. Happy Valentines Day everyone x

Tutorial for Z ~~Fold Card

I've had some requests for details on how I made the cascading hearts Valentine card I showed earlier this week. I did a tutorial on the Fiskarettes page on Facebook, but I know some of you don't do Facebook, so here it is. There is nothing new under the sun, you can find lots of YouTube videos on this type of card, but I like this one because you get two card bases from one A4 piece of cardstock, and if you use good quality double sided card, you don't have to mess around cutting out panels, so it is quick and easy

Take a piece of A4 double sided cardstock (8 1/2 x 11"). Score into three at 7 cm intervals,  and mark a point 11cms along one long edge

Turn the paper around, now mark 11 cms along the other long edge - I have marked these points with washi tape in the photo so you can see clearly where your marks should be

Now position these marks along the cutting line of your trimmer and cut

 You will have two shapes looking like this......

Now fold the card bases, one mountain and one valley fold like this.....

The two cards will look like this...

 #

Now punch out various sizes of hearts, or it could be flowers of course. If you use a single sided paper, glue two hearts together so that the card looks pretty from all angles...

Glue some hearts flat to the top side of the card, attach some with foam pads, tuck them behind each other so that you have a pretty waterfall of hearts

I added some sequins for a bit of glitz - my new favourite way of adding a bit of shine to a project, and so much cheaper than gems

So there we go, I hope this answered your questions  Josie, Ann, Brenda and Maureen - thanks for taking the time to email

Glitter Butterflies

I have been playing around with glitter - well, what's better on a cold grey day?

This is the card I ended up with......

I just punched out some butterflies in white.....

Ran them through the xyron to make one side sticky.....

 and just dumped various glitter - use the extra fine stuff - in patches onto the butterfly

Then shake it off, and use a bone folder to burnish the glitter onto the sticky cardstock. Amazingly, it stays put, and you get a pretty two or three tone effect

I have a marathon unpacking session ahead of me today as my box full of new Fiskars products has just arrived - I'll be sharing some of the gorgeousness with you once I have fought with the packaging and emerged victorious from an epic  cardboard battle.....

See you tomorrow x

Locked out

Well that was a bit scary - I have been locked out of my own blog! I think some gremlin decided I was an undesirable person (how did it know?) and poof - I wasn't able to get on here and post at all. 
Then they obviously checked my references, did a thorough background check, and decided I wasn't a danger to the general public after all, and here I am again...

Sharing a couple of Valentine cards I have made, the first one is a Z fold card that I did with a cascade of heart shapes....

and I rather like this next one, the simplicity of the gold and black appeals to me somehow...

So we are already into February - my least favourite month of the year. It's a bit of a nothing sort of month isn't it? Apart from Valentines Day there is really nothing to make it in any way special, (and let's face it, I am not going to get misty eyed at the thought of Valentines Day, however dearly I love my other half!)   The tinsel and glitter of Christmas seems like a distant memory, but the bank balance is still reeling from the shock of it all. The days are still short and cold and Summer seems light years away - but then the unexpected sight of a couple of Spring crocus bravely making an appearance can totally lift the February blues. Maybe Spring is just around the corner after all. Then there is the big trade craft fair at the NEC to look forward to later this month, with my pal Kath coming to stay for a couple of days.....there, February doesn't seem so bad after all....

See you tomorrow if blogger thinks I am a suitable person to be chatting to you x

and the winner is......

Here's a little birdhouse box card I made for Fiskars.......

I took a basic box card base and altered it a bit - I measured 3cms down from the top on the tall back piece, then cut into a point. It was easy to use the shape as a guide to cut out a little roof. I was going to use a brown wood pattern paper but thought that even little birdies can have pretty pink houses.....

These power punches make short work of cutting out the thickest cardstock...

I punched out some flowers using the bloom punches, and attached them to strips of sturdy acetate.....

and punched out a tiny bird (his wing is a little heart punch)....

On to the winner of the tag maker duo punch who is:

KRAFTY KAREN

Congrats Karen, email me and your parcel will be on it's way

Giveaway!

I have an unused, but out of packaging Tag Maker duo to give away today....

This is a great little tool, it punches out tags that are the perfect size for banners or sentiment tags on your cards, leave them blank, or punch the holes and set eyelets all in one tool.....

All you have to do is go HERE to like the Fiskarettes Facebook page, after leaving a comment with your name on this post. I will draw a winner next Wednesday. Good luck

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all - a little belated, so that's my first resolution down the pan before the new year has had time to arrive....

Sharing a video I made for the Fiskarettes page on Facebook today, I can't tell you the problems I had making it. This was the fourth attempt, one of them I filmed the whole thing upside down! My new table camera clamp makes the camera a bit wobbly when I have to do stuff like punching, so I have to figure out something to hold it other than my desk.







I'll be back tomorrow with a giveaway, rather a nice one actually, so pop over and see me then..... x

Merry Christmas.....

Just checking in to wish you all a very merry Christmas - we will be happy to spend time with family, Whatever you are doing, I hope you have a wonderful time......

Sharing a card I made with an embossing folder, then cut around the edges with a craft knife.........

 and inked lightly with Simon Says Stamp sea glass ink over the embossing.... 

before adding a heat embossed sentiment and a few sequins for sparkle......

Be Merry! See you when it's slightly less frantic.......x

Tree Sympathy

I used a Penny Black stamp - (Slapstick Cling, Regalia) for a quick sympathy card.....

I used my distress ink mini's to selectively ink up just bits of the stamp. I used my MISTI so after I inked up the trunk and branches in Walnut Stain, I was able to go back and dab various ink pads onto the leaves and it stamped in exactly the right spot. Even though it is a sympathy card and I didn't want sparkly, I did add just a few tiny dots of copper stickles here and there, which gave it a bit of dimension. The sentiment is by Simon Says Stamp. I seem to be a bit fixated on one layer cards at the moment, but I did like the result I got with this one

Well I did a load of gift wrapping, and as always some people have hit the jackpot with a bunch of presents that I forgot I had bought, and a couple of important people have nothing at all. There is nothing else for it - I need to face the crowds in the shops today. Wish me luck.... 

Life never goes according to plan......

Here's a couple of cards made with a simple little snowflake punch - the wreath snowflakes were punched out of navy glitter card, white glitter and silver mirri card, so it's really glittery and pretty in real life.....

and this second one used some stuff I found by Woodware that puffs up when heated - I've tried other brands and they all turn a bit yellow, but this stayed white

We went to a lovely Christening service in a small Worcestershire village, I was so taken with the floral arrangements I had to take photos to show you......

and the reason for the title of this post? Unfortunately our daughter in law's dad has been very ill, and we had to do a totally unplanned dash down to Surrey last week to help out with the children. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem at all, but at the back of my mind was the knowledge that we had invited thirty or so friends round for a Sunday lunchtime housewarming party. Gulp. But all things can be overcome, I did a bit of cooking down there while the boys were at school, and we drove back late on Friday with the car full of food! It all went well, and the food that I cheated with and mixed in with the homemade stuff was fine. So now the party debris is all cleared away, and I am trying to keep on top of things in case we have to help out again. 

A marathon wrapping session is on the cards for today. A job I rather dislike - I get into the swing of it, lose the scissors about twenty times, the pen on hand to write the labels gets buried somewhere, the tape runs out at regular intervals, and why did I think six rolls of wrapping paper would be enough......The first few parcels look quite fancy, with elaborate bows and sprigs of berries artfully tucked into the bows. The last ones look as if they have been wrapped by a three year old - do you think newspaper could become the new wrapping fashion, I do hope so..........

Fuse Snowflakes...

So I had a little session with my Fiskars Fuse, and the snowflakes die, but instead of letterpressing with ink, I used versamark, then heat embossed with silver....three more cards under my belt.....

The chaps from Amazon continue to beat a path to my door, and the pile of presents is growing nicely. My next job is to spread everything out on the bed and make a list of what I have, and for whom......I usually find that I have a sackful of presents for one person, and none for another. Even though my kids are grown, I still enjoy getting them 'stocking stuffers', and last year my daughter presented me with a sack full of gifts of my own. 'You always do it for us mum' she explained 'I thought I would do it for you'................I haven't been so excited about opening stuff since I was a child!

How are your preparations going? I can ask this now we are in December! x