Mothers Day

 Hello friends. 

I hope this finds you all safe and well and those mums celebrating Mothers Day in the UK are being pampered.

Here is the card that I made for my mum.......

I used pearlescent card and it thus was pretty difficult to photograph.

The rose is once again an edger die from Crafters Companion. Not quite as soul destroying to use as the balloon die was, but I have to say having used both of these dies now I wish they had included another outer edge strip die for them because if you want it to float you have to fussy cut after backing.

So on this occasion I backed the pale pink with a white pearlescent card.The rose had to be cut again in green and a slightly deeper pink for the paper piecing.

The little butterflies are an old Martha Stewart punch (remember them?) which comes with stamps to stamp them that are stored in the punch.I wonder how many of you are now looking for that punch?..lol 

The rest speaks for itself.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting me and if you have taken the time to leave a comment thank you for that too. Your comments keep me going and make me think that blogging is worth continuing with. I have made some lovely friends through blogland and I am so grateful for every one of you.

So enjoy the rest of your weekend, have a good week and take care.

Crafty hugs

Carole xx

Balloons

 Hi Everyone.....yes it is me! I am sorry I have been such a bad blogger this year...in fact this is my first post of 2021!  time seems to be whizzing past and no doubt this will be another year that is gone in the blink of an eye.

Two cards, both pretty much the same, just a subtle difference. Both cards made with a Crafters Companion Edgeable Balloon Die which I have to say I was a bit disappointed in...more on that later.

1) I cut the die on the edge of my card and then I cut several of the die again from bits in different colours to obtain the balloons.

2) I backed the front of the card inside with another piece of white card , paper pieced the colured balloons in place and then cut round the balloon edge .

3) A strip of turquoise card is on the inside back page edge which shows when the card is closed (hope you follow that).

4)The background on the front was stamped with a sprinkles stamp (sorry can't remember where from) using several little inkpads and the Happy Birthday (again sorry don't know origin) was cut twice..once in the turqouise (used the same as the inside strip) and one in the red and layered to give a drop shadow.

Still with me?....good, second card.............

I chose Bazzill Bling this time ......remember that?....for the balloons and backed the inside of the front with black and left it uncut so to speak.

The background on this one is a Uniko Party Confetti background again multi coloured with little pads and stamped.

The reason I am unhappy with this die?

 When cut, the balloons are empty until you fill them, yes you can leave them just cut but they are hollow so to speak. Then you need something behind for the balloon piece (in whatever colour you have chosen) to adhere to when you paper piece it in. .........and then to have to start fussy cutting the edge! Also I only see this as a vertical die and not something you would use across the top edge or fold of a card.

If you have any experience with this die, or any ideas I would value your comments.

OK I've rambled enough. Taking the second card to Uniko's 9th Birthday Party.....I need a drink after all that..lol!

Hopefully see you again soon.

Till then , continue to stay safe and keep well.

Love Carole xx

'Wobbler'

 Hello Friends......so Christmas 2020 is under the belt so to speak and I dare say a lot of us have had 'wobblers ' this year...but this is a wobbler card....the tree wobbles!...

a sideways view so you can see it is not flat.....

I've had this idea in my head for a few says...a long time since that happened for me so I thought I would grab the bull by the horns..or the mojo while it presented itself......and give it a go.

The trees are stenciled with a new Uniko stencil, using Pine Needles and Festive Berries distress ink. The wobbler tree was done again on another scrap of card and glued to another piece of card for stability, and cut out.

Try as I might I could not find my wobbler springs, but I am sure I will come across them one day when I don't require them............. Note to self...do not put things in safe places.  Anyway I made a paper one with a couple of strips of 1/4 inch paper folded and glued to the back of my tree and the middle tree on the card....and it wobbles !!

Seasons greetings is a Uniko stamp...Simply Said Blocks Christmas.

As everything I used are scraps except the base card I am whizzing to the playground...well walking gingerly so I don't slip on the ice...hope no-one has made ice slides in the playground!

Thank you for stopping by ...its good to be in touch, your visits and kind words have touched me these past few weeks...and kept me going....so Thank You from the bottom of my heart...mwah. Thank you for being such wonderful cyber friends. 

I'll raise a glass to 2021 but not saying 'happy'...(look where that got us this year)...just 'better'...a better 2021.

Stay safe everyone.....just one more hurdle hopefully and the finishing post (vaccine) down the track.

Crafty love and hugs

Carole xx

Challenges entered:-

Pixie's Snippets Playground # 393.................all snippets, large and small bar the base card.

Uniko Christmas party 2020..........................use Uniko products

Seasonal Greetings

I just want to wish my friends and followers and anyone who stops by my blog

the best  CHRISTMAS you can have and a NEW YEAR

that promises to be better than this one has been.

 

  Thank you all so much for your lovely comments and your support this year...it means such a lot and is the reason that I continue to write my blog.

I wish you all as good a celebration as you can...above all stay safe and well...that vaccine is round the corner.

Catch you on the other side.

Crafty hugs and love

Carole xx

Santa Claus is coming to town

 Hi Friends! 

Good to see you..thank you for stopping by and sorry I cant invite you in for a drink...but that's the rules! Grab a cuppa/tipple though it's quite a long post!

I thought it was time to share a couple of Christmas cards with you seeing it's only 2 weeks away....Christmas that is! These are for my grandchildren over in Australia and I know they have arrived.

First up for Thomas.......

and just so you can see behind the fold...go on have a peep.....

Background papers and sentiments were from my stash...papers that came free with a magazine at sometime. The Santa and sleigh are a Crafters Companion set cut with the matching dies and coloured with Copic pens, and the white glittered trees are unbranded dies from Amazon.

Next up is Chloes' card which I admit to having cased from a sample I saw on the telly. I don't know who made the sample but thank you for the idea as my creativity is not at it's best.

'Peek a Boo' characters this time, yes you guessed it...Crafters Companion..again! I cut both the back and front of these characters (forgot to photograph the back), coloured again with Copic pens and then stuck them together but left a little room for the overlap at the front so they would look like they are peeping over the card. I added a few extras from other stash to personalise the card and the backing papers are very old from stash that have survived every cull of papers...lol!

I coloured the Santa as before. It is cut with the card but I cut a second one, snipped it away, and stuck it to the back (also coloured) to stabilise it a bit.

That's probably all the Christmas you will get out of me this year I am afraid...but maybe next year (I say this every year) I will start in January om the making front. Hopefully Santa will bring back my mojo from wherever it is hiding.

Are you still with me? I hope you can understand all that!

Enjoy what is left of your weekend folks...stay safe and well and see you soon.

Crafty hugs

Carole xx

50th Birthday Wishes

 Hi friends! 

I am not mentioning either of the C words (Christmas/Covid in case you didn't know) I am just popping in with a 50th card I made for someone special........ 

Made with love from Crafters Companion stamps and dies (not sure on the origin of the Happy Birthday) and paper from an old LOTV pad....which I love.

The flowers were coloured with Copics and glittered with a clear glitter pen though you cannot see it very well in the photograph, and the balloons were stamped in wilted violet distress oxide ink and then glazed with clear embossing powder a couple of times.

I think I will pop over to the playground and see if anyone is there! as all the flowers and sentiment were made from snippets.

I hope you are all having a good week and are keeping well.

Thank you so much for stopping by, your visits cheer me no end.....take care and see you soon.

Love Carole xx

Challenges entered:-

Snippets Playground #391----------(all the flowers and sentiment from snippets)

Anniversary Wishes

Hi friends!

 I've made it back with a card for my 'bestie' who celebrated her Wedding Anniversary yesterday....so now I can share it with you.

The stamp is Crafters Companion....coloured with copics and stamped twice opposite each other and the band was put across to hide the join as it were. 

The sentiment is a very old wooden one of unknown make. It was the only one I could find that I was happy with. I thought I had just the perfect one in mind, until I found I didn't appear to have it!!...lol. I must have dreamt that I did!

I hope you are all safe and well wherever you are and I thank you so much for all the lovely comments you have left me recently. I really appreciate them as you know.

Thanks for stopping by. Take care until next time I see you and have a good weekend.

Love Carole  xx