Thanks with a Comma!

Good Evening friends!
Just popping in to share a 'Thank You' card......it hasn't photographed well...must be the sunshine (don't want to complain about that though!)

This is 'Buffalo Plaid background' from Whimsy stamps (a big stamp) embossed with Honey Doo 'white white' EP and then Oxides blended over the top......namely Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon and Peacock Feathers.
The 'thanks' was cut twice and glued together and the whole panel mounted on foam pads on a 7 x 7 inch base card.
Inking the stamp to get a good embossed result (even with Versamark)  took 3 attempts. The final attempt I just laid the stamp upside down on my glass mat and placed the card on top, pressing hard all over...success!

Well I can't believe we are in the last week of March..can you?.....where oh where is the year going? I really wish life would slow down a bit, but no chance of that here in the Dixon household as hubby retires on Friday...eek! He has a list of jobs that will no doubt require my input...so I see less 'me' time and more 'us' time...... the company will be nice (for a while) though   :)

Thanking you for stopping by in your busy lives and for leaving me love in the form of a comment if you have the time. I appreciate them all as you well know.

Finally a photo of a very pretty butterfly that I took last week in a car park. Apparently a 'comma' butterfly...(flying in to help with my punctuation...lol.) I can't say I have seen one of these before...and there were two actually...such a vivid orange. Apparently a white comma shaped mark on the underside of its' wing is what gives it its name. ,,,,,,every day is a school day folks!

Have a good evening and rest of the week...take care till I see you again...
Crafty hugs
Carole xx

Tea, cake and flowers.

Good Evening friends...and Good Morning if that applies to you.

How are we all? Good I hope.

Well as we prepare to launch into another Sunday here in the UK...another week has flown ..yes? I am bringing you a few more creations from craft Club again. I have been in the Craft room but organising my freebie stamps, dies etc from magazines. Once that is done I can get down to some serious crafting as Mothers Day is fast approaching!!,,,plus a few more occasions that have to be catered for.

So in the mean time ...here goes...first up and using a Crafters Companion set...Tea party. (I may do a version of this in another colour way for my mum)...

Not sure on the origins of this stamp or the next one. Decoupaged bits on the this one...

and flowers stamped and fussy cut out and glossy accents applied on this one...

This is Woodware, both the cupcake and the slashes background.

I am looking forward to craft club again on Tuesday this week...it comes round quickly...hopefully it will get me back in the crafty zone.

Time for bed at this end.... so thank you for popping by, and thank you for leaving me lovely comments. I have been about in blog land and I am always astounded at the talent and inspiration out there....you are all such clever people

Take care and I hope the wind, rain and snow (if you are in the UK) bids a hasty retreat this week.....I hate the gales we have had.

Night night and Crafty hugs
Carole xx

Harrogate Haul!

Hello friends!
I hope you are all well. The sunshine here has been replaced with rain and gales today and it is cooler too. I guess it is normal for March.

Another week gone and time is 'March'ing on (see what I did there?).....sorry , I can hear you all groaning.

Well I got to Harrogate and got my Glossy Accents........and .....well see below....

Can you spot the glossy accents?...just a small bottle as I don't use a lot.
It was a very busy show and rather more of a crush than anything in the morning....I have to say I lost the will to live at one point! It wasn't till after lunch that it calmed down and one could see a bit and get near the stalls. Anyway a good day overall as I bumped into a few people from craft club and  met up with a couple of friends for coffee and then went out for tea with more friends after the show.

Despite my new purchases my time this week has been taken up with other things so no crafting taken place so instead just showing you a few makes from the monthly craft club I go to. The first two were using a Sue Wilson die and if you remember the Thank You card I did the other week...that was made with left over pieces from craft class that I kept to use later.

This next one is a papercuts die and was a fairly quick card to do.

Have a good weekend and I will hopefully see you all again next week,

Thank you for stopping by.....I do appreciate your visits and all the lovely comments you leave me that make my day. 

Crafty hugs

Carole xx

Spring flowers

Hi Everyone!
I'm dashing in as usual at the last minute before we hit March and I miss some challenges.!

So straight to it......I am rather pleased with how these cards tuned out...yes plural as in 3!!!!! all in one afternoon! How did that happen? grab a cuppa (or drink responsibly) and read on....

Well sorting as I was, I came across some coloured cards and envelopes in lovely spring colours, then in the die cut box I found some die cut spring flowers waiting for some love (Joanna Sheen dies). I decide to have a go at stenciling a background so I found a Memory Box stencil in my stash that looked like trellis and out came the oxide inks and make up sponges!......No I didn't put any on my face!

Here are the results.......

Oh and the little bows are from ribbon cut from a new jumper!...The sparkle that brought the Muscara (above) to life was Stickles and it made a world of difference.

Entering a few challenges with these...it will probably take me another hour to do the linking. I have just spent 40 mins trying to get my pictures to load the right way up!

I hope you are all well, having a good week and enjoying some sunshine. Today has been glorious here again, very spring like but rain is promised for the weekend.!

If you see me at Stamparama at Harrogate this weekend, give me a nudge and say Hi.....I'm only going to buy some Glossy Accents!!.....hmm and the rest I expect.

Take care
Crafty hugs
Carole xx

Challenges entered:-

Snippets Playground Challenge # 346  -  use snippets - everything is from snippets except the coloured base card.

Inkspirational #181 - use your stash (I have used all from my stash...good feeling)

Allsorts wk #508 - Spring Flowers

Crafty Cardmakers #228 - Flowers

Happy Valentine's Day!

Back as promised with a quick post to show you hubby's card...yes I got it made...and no not exactly as it was in my head...lol!

Decided on a different tack this year using stamps, dies and an embossing folder from a Creative Stamping /Die cutting magazine............

I embossed the world background on white card and then mounted on two strips or red either side. The erst was mounted up on top and I used foam pads to raise the banner a little.The red heart is a metal brad that I found in my stash...I have oodles of brads from when they were all the rage!!..Have you?............and there we have it, not too slushy!

So what have you got planned for your romantic evening? For us?...an M&S dine in for two and some telly to catch up on...yes boring aren't we? but then I guess  a lot of other people will be boring  too!

However you celebrate..or not...enjoy your evening!..love and hugs and see you again soon.
Carole xx

Challenges entered:-

Double D challenge..................hearts (mine is one small one)

Pixies snippets playground challenge 345...all snippets of card except the base card.

Two cards...one stamp

Hello friends! I hope this finds you all well and enjoying some sunshine even though it is cold. Sunshine makes one feel so much better doesn't it!

Two  cards, one stamp today...Phill Martin and his landscape scene....sorry can't remember the actual name I made a card with this stamp for hubby's birthday last December (see here) and needed more male birthday cards so I decided to do a very similar idea with the stamp cut in half after the embossing and inking....See what you think....

Stamped and heat embossed in black and the background done with the oxides.  I still need more practice at blending these as despite blotting off on scrap I still seem to get splodges of colour.

Thanks for popping in and THANK YOU all so much for all the lovely comments that you have been leaving me. It makes me feel so grateful to have so many cyber friends out there that appreciate what I do. You make my day!

Must dash as I still haven't made hubby a Valentine!!!.....I do have an idea in my head...so it will probably turn out completely different..lol. I'll be back at the end of the week to show you!

Enjoy your week and your Valentine!! (grin)
Crafty hugs and love
Carole xx

'Thank You Di'

Hello friends....I am running late as usual...was that January that I just saw whiz past me? but I am still in time to join in Darnells surprise blog hop for Di to celebrate 7 years of the blog.

For those that don't know. Di is the headmistress at Pixie' Snippets Playground where we all gather to have fun, be naughty (sometimes) and be good by using snippets on our cards. Di gives up such a lot of her time and her pennies to encourage us to play and have fun and I have met several of my blogging friends through the playground despite sometimes my sporadic attendance (feel a detention coming here). Importantly you are always made welcome no matter how often or how little you visit...so big thanks Di for all you do for us. xx

My card is all made from snippets....the frame with the rose was a left over piece (Sue Wilson die) that I glued to the scrap that I had inked with oxides...boy did it look a mess until I overlaid the rose. I then mounted it on the base card and added my greeting. The rose was sparkled with clear sparkle pen, but afterwards I wished I hadn't as it moves the oxide ink around a bit. A lesson learned for next time...see it pays to go to school!

Have a good weekend everyone...I'm off to link up with the blog hop at Darnell's...and then I am off to the playground to join the party.

Hugs...and thanks for stopping by...might see you in the playground?
Carole xx