Fashionably late & Shabby

Fashionably late AGAIN for FSC, where has the last two weeks gone eh!  Buried under a pile of snow no doubt.  Biggest apologises for my absence from blogland.  My sister has been over from The States and is extremely un-crafty, so it's her fault really  that I've had no time to craft LOL! She has unfortunately experienced almost every kind of weather imaginable from torrential rain to hailstones and snow on this visit. We still managed to get out and about and went on a steam locomotive trip to Bath for the day with Our Mum, which was fantastic if a tad soggy. Of course we had to visit the Jane Austen centre and this is inspiration for my card.

The lovely Claire is the lady behinds this fortnights Fashionable Stamping challenge. Looking forward to seeing lots of your lovely entries, and do remember the winner of the random draw will receive a fabulous $20 prize from Flonzcraft. We are a stamping challenge so we do need to see some form of stamping on your project and no digis please. Please do head over to FSC HQ for lots of lovely projects to inspire you.

A little bit of shabby chic and I'm quite happy, definitely a fave crafting genre of mine. As my crafty corner is still in disarray I couldn't find the dies I wanted to use so I drew a heart shape and glued to some paper and zig zag stitched around it rather like applique. Then happily stitched away LOL!

I used my new Jane Austen stamps from Indigoblu and blended some DI'for the background and lots more stitching of course!

I would like to enter this for the following Challenges

Indigoblu ~ Words and phrases

Simon Says Stamp ~ Quotable

Country view crafts~  pic n mix

Emma's Cards ~ Vintage

I hope to catch up on visiting your fantastic blogs as I know I have missed some amazing creations.

Take care and Happy Crafting xxx

Spring is in the Air

Well I can dream! It's been freezing hasn't it. We had hailstones yesterday. I really hope it warms up soon as my Sister has come over from the US for a holiday and last year it rained for nearly all of her stay and it doesn't look very promising this visit either.

I used the new Elizabeth Bennett indigo blu stamp for the focus of my canvas and like most things it ended up completely different from my initial idea!

I used various colours of matt emulsion and randomly painted and sponged onto the canvas and blended then I used a crafters workshop swirl template and sponged through paperartsy fresco finish in hey pesto. I added some texture with a couple of crafty individuals masks and TCW daisy cluster template.

Thank you for all your lovely comments, they are such a pleasure to read. I hope you all stay warm and manage a spot of crafting.

I am entering this for the following challenges

Vintage Stamping Challenges ~ Spring is in the air 

Artistic Inspirations ~ Flowers

 Simon Says Stamp and Show ~ Chic to be shabby

Take care and Happy Crafting XXX

Swirls Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Another week has whizzed by it's that time again for another Fashionable stamping challenge. This time the theme of the challenge is 'Swirls', you will have to scroll down down a little further to find my where my swirls and stamping are. 

Please do pop over to FSC HQ to be inspired by my teamies truly gorgeous projects. We are delighted to have a new sponsor Flonzcraft  offering the winner of our random generated draw $20 to spend in his shop. As we are a stamping challenge  we do need to see some stamping on your project and please definitely no digi stamps!

My blog has been neglected this week, as I have been a bit under the weather, achey, glandy and rather tired, a general feeling of malaise I think is the term LOL! I haven't felt up to much crafting, and with the ongoing crafty corner building works I'm struggling even more than normal to find anything! I admit I usually work in a mess, but at the moment it is utter chaos, but I did manage a bit of sewing and a teeny weeny bit of stamping. 

This is the vintage quilters notebook that I wanted to make. I used a digital image of Ophelia (just love this image!) and printed onto TAP then ironed onto some cream fabric. I used random shapes of contrasting cream fabric to make the covers, and lots of lace. The inside has pockets to store bits and bobs a pen holder and space for an A6 notebook. 

Someone has asked about me doing a tutorial, but as I went to a workshop to make the quilter's notebook, I don't feel it would be right to recreate a tutorial based on someone else's idea.

I made the little patchwork notebook below to go onside, this time using my Ophelia stamp from the Stampsmith, and some graphic 45 papers, now you can finally see the swirls, using a crafty individuals mask and viva terra paste

  Sorry, it's a bit picture heavy this time!

I would like to enter this for the following challenges!

Craftroom Challenge ~ From Me to you 
Time Washed ~ Blissful Whites Wednesday

Countryviewcrafts ~ Pick and mix

& linking to

Common ground

Please do join us this fortnight and have a great Mothering Sunday, I would like to say a big thank you for your visits to my blog and your very generous comments, I really do appreciate each and everyone.

& Happy Crafting xxxxx

A bit of Patchwork

I went to my first workshop the other day at a lovely sewing shop not far from me called Beecrafty. The workshop was to make a quilters notebook. I've only been sewing about a year, I did sew at school but that was rather a long time ago LOL! So I was rather apprehensive as I've never done proper quilting before.  It was great fun, next stop an inky workshop me thinks.

This is called crazy patchwork and basically you cut out random pieces of fabric and keep sewing. There is space inside for an A6 notebook, it has a pen holder and three small pockets and places for storing bits and bobs.

This one is  a traditional log cabin design and I loved making them, apart from the dreaded bias binding! They have a magnetic snap closure and are quite sturdy. I'm in the middle of making another for when my sister comes over from the States for a visit this month. I can see me making a few more for gifts. Fancy a more vintage styled one.

Craft corner is still a no go area so I'm having a sewing spurt at the moment instead.

Have a lovely day and enjoy the weekend.

Take care and Happy Crafting xx

Class Act ~ Fashionable Stamping Challenges

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend, it's been freezing today and we've had a small scattering of snow. Not able to do any crafting at the moment as my crafting area is having some alterations and the wall was being built today, so I'm impatiently waiting to start crafting and sewing again. I'm surprised how grumpy I get when I can't make something, crafting certainly is an addiction! In the meantime I'm sharing with you my DT make for the latest Fashionable Stamping Challenge the theme is Black, Brown and Red and certainly not my usual choice of colours, but I rather like the combination. As we are a stamping challenge we do like to see stamping on your project and definitely no digis please. Our sponsor is Cottage Crafts and Marina is offering a prize for the winner of the random draw. Please do pop over to the FS HQ for lots of lovely inspiration from my fellow Stampettes.

The background of my card is Tim Holtz tissue paper which I glued onto card and then painted with a wash of fresco finish paint then stamped and tinted with distress inks. The central stamp is from the stampsmith and is from a plate called 'Isn't She Lovely' it has been stamped in black archival ink and  tinted with photo markers. I added a lace doily and then diecut some cordinations distress paper with a cheery lynn french pastry die. Finally ruching up some grossgrain ribbon and of course I had to add a few stitches. I made the flower embellishment from some scraps of fabric.

Hope you have a great Sunday and manage to squeeze in a spot of crafting. Take care. xx

I am entering this for the following challenges

The Stampsmith ~ Photo Inspiration

Anything goes challenge ~ Vintage shabby chic

A bit of Suzi for Sam

Something different from my usual style. I bought a couple of Suzi Blu stamps a while ago, and seeing as it was Crafty Sam's birthday and she loves her Suzi (not quite as much as that cute Poppy of course!) I thought this would be an ideal card for her. I got incredibly inky making this, my hands were blue for days, but I enjoyed making something different, but of course I had to add some stitching.

Hope you all have a lovely day and I'll be back on Sunday for the latest Fashionable Stamping Challenge.

Take care and Happy Crafting xx

Country florals

I finally got my back pack finished. It's rather reminiscent of a quilted dressing I had as a child, which has rather put me off it LOL! It used quite a lot of fabric and this floral print probably wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was the only one that I had enough of and as it was my first time of making one I didn't want to buy more fabric in case I made a pig's ear of it. It's lined in the gingham fabric and has padded shoulder straps. It has three pockets inside and the patch pocket on the front.It was also larger than I expected, but was ideal when I went on my first workshop on Saturday (I will show you what I made later in the week when I get around to photographing it) But it had rather too much hand sewing,  bias binding is now a dirty word in our house!!

Hope you all have a lovely day and I'm looking forward to enjoying browsing your blogs later.

Take care and Happy Crafting xx