Lovely in Lace

Have you been watching the pick of the week shows on Create and Craft this weekend? No? Well you don't know what you've been missing!!The newest Kanban kit is the Pick of the Week (shows can be seen today at 8am, 6pm and 9pm. It's a beauty and there is loads in the kit :)

The DT were lucky enough to receive a kit last week so we could make samples for the show and it is very lovely and very feminine and a joy to work with
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These are a couple of the samples I made for the show

  

Thanks for dropping by, see you later. xx

Kanban Crafts....

....will be showcasing yet another beautiful kit tomorrow, Monday 17th November. "Bella Boutique" launches at 11 am on Create & Craft. We have just 2 shows, 11 am and 4 pm, so we hope you can join us. The design team were given an advance kit to make samples for the shows and we have all fallen in love with it and we hope you do too.

The following card was made using just the kit, some silver mirri card and a couple of pearls...simple but effective and very girlie :)

 The next card was made with the kit, a Dekromount frame and acetate butterfly, also in the kit and an assortment of pearls again

 and finally for now a quick calendar, a calendar tab and a small piece of ribbon

 Should you require any more inspiration we have our own Pinterest page which can be found at http://www.pinterest.com/AspireCrafts/bella-boutique/

Thanks for dropping by and happy crafting xx

Denim and Lace

Did you catch the launch of the new Denim and Lace kit from Kanban on Create and Craft on Wednesday? If so and you managed to buy one then you are in for a real treat....if you didn't then you don't know what you are missing!!! It is a stunner and without further ado let me introduce you to our little owl friend who appears on this luscious kit.

The design team were lucky enough to get the kits a couple of weeks ago so we could make samples with it and we all agree that it is a beautiful kit to work with. The kit includes images and frames, florals and stripes, assorted shapes and there are even inserts available to but to co-ordinate with this kit.

If you are in the Yorkshire/Lancashire regions tomorrow and have a bit of time on your hands then see the advert below as to what you could do to fill that time ;)

Kanban Crafts

Aspire Crafts
2nd Floor New Mill
Wellington Mills
Quebec Street
Elland
West Yorkshire
HX5 9AS
Come and meet some of the team. We shall be open from 10 - 4pm with special offers and free "Make and Takes". And if you like our new kit "Denim and Lace", we shall be demo-ing with it and we will be taking orders 

I shall be there with the team and as this is my first time out with 'the TV stars' please come and say hello and offer me your support :)

I shall look forward to meeting you but if you can't make it then just keep an eye on Aspire Crafts The Home Of Kanban, the very new Kanban Blog or you can see us on Facebook too.

Take care x

Welcome, new baby

I can't believe that it's a month since I last posted on my poor neglected blog. My reason?......Well at the time I had a rather heavily pregnant daughter who didn't want to be on her own but unfortunately didn't have an internet connection at the time. Since the 20th July however, this little fellow has arrived and completely disrupted all our lives :) Meet Archie who has completely stolen his nana's heart!

He has made such an impact that I can't even remember what life was like before he arrived a fortnight ago!

The crafting didn't stop though. I did, however have a crazy few days trying to get all of his birth announcements and thank you cards made whilst carrying on with my wedding work.

 I have used an assortment of Clearly Besotted stamps and dies and Spellbinders Nesties.

I'm still making Thank You cards but have simplified it slightly for speed!
Thanks for dropping by and as life is almost back to normal my crafting will be back on track but I still have loads of photos to add here and to my FB pages etc.
Back soon :) xx

Summertime

The theme for the challenge on the Crafting Muskateers' blog for the month of July is 'Summertime' and we are very lucky this month to be sponsored by the Hobby House and the prize is a £10 voucher to spend in their store.

and here is my contribution to our challenge.

I love pink and orange together so I thought I would go down that route for my new challenge card and it sets off the lovely Penny Blank stamped image perfectly.

Don't worry if you don't have a blog as you can upload your work onto our Facebook page. 

Thanks for dropping by :) x

It's Christmaaaaas!

Sorry about that but I could resist lol! We received a new Christmas kit from Kanban late last week and it is fab. It's a Nordic theme in shades of red and blue and all the backgrounds and toppers etc work so well together. I wasn't very keen on it when I first opened my DT kit and don't think I would have bought it, but after playing with it over the weekend I just totally fell in love with it! I would be more than happy to make my own Christmas cards from it, that's how much I fell for it :) 

So, you need to make yourselves a nice hot drink and lock up the kids as the kit is being premiered on the Kanban Christmas Show on Create and Craft at 5.00 pm and 8.00 pm this evening with Keith, Denise and Dave Bradford.

One of my cards made for the show

Thanks for dropping by. xx

June Sketch: a panel & a pennant

I thought I would pinch (borrow, nick, steal) Kathy's title for this post to make my job of blogging a bit easier lol :) as it's time for the new sketch over on the Kathy's Waffle Sketch File.

You are really going to love this sketch......I got really carried away with it last week and plan to use it for some more cards, thanks Kathy 

Supplies: 6x6 card blank, Kanban In The Garden paper pad 901377, Kanban Happy Hour toppers 900824, brown card, brown organza ribbon and a die cut shape

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There you are, clean and simple! If you are looking for a bit of inspiration then hop over to Kathy's Waffle Sketch File and take a look at the DT cards.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you will play along with us.

Crafting Muskateers Challenge #14

Hi, crikey I can't believe we are on Challenge #14 already! Thanks to everyone who played along with us on the last challenge and congratulations to the winner and top 3, there were some amazing entries as always.

Sad news again in this post, we have said bye to Avril and Kathy-Jo who have both decided to step down from the team, we're going to miss you girls.

We have a couple of new ladies joining our team though and they are Nichola Welham and Cheremane Smith.. Cheremane is our GDT for this challenge and then joins us permanently in July. 

The theme for this month is "Stamped Image" (this can include a digi stamp) and it has been sponsored by the wonderful  www.polkadoodles.com The prize on offer is 4 Digi Images from the sponsor which the DT have used for their projects.

As well as the Polkadoodles image I have used backing paper from the "Words For Him" A4 paper pad #20846 by Aspire Crafts train and image are from the wonderful Clearly Besotted Stamps

If you don't have your own blog , you can join us on our Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crafting-Musketeers-Challenge-BLOG/320703981385124

Thanks for dropping by

Fabulous Fuchsias

I missed this set of stamps and dies from Clearly Besotted when they were released in March but managed to get them last week and boy, were they worth the wait, I absolutely love them!

It took me about 15 minutes to make this card as for my daughter as she was going to a birthday party on Saturday evening

 and I liked it so much that I decided to make a thank you card for a lovely lady (who helped my daughter and her boyfriend with some very useful advice) and it took me blooming ages as I couldn't get the dies lined up with the stamps. In the end I decided to use the simple uncoloured stamps and was really pleased with it again.

I then decided to make another birthday card to pop in the box in the nail boutique/hairdressers who stock my cards. This was a quick make too as the dies lined up with the stamps straight away! This time hubby snaffled it for his aunt whose birthday is at the end of the month. 

 I think I might just make another birthday card when everyone is out of the house and smuggle it into the shop in among a pile of other cards waiting to go to the shop lol.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you are having a lovely bank holiday weekend.

Happy Birthday....

Crafting Muskateers. Another month has passed us by in a flash and it's May already! It's also time for the Crafting Muskateers new challenge and we are celebrating our first birthday....where has the last year gone!?!.So onto the challenge which this month is sponsored by Katie Sue Designs.
This is their prize for the winner 

For our birthday celebration , we will be doing our usual prize for the winner, but also there will be small mystery prizes for the top 3. 

The top 3 will also have the chance to be guest designers with us, with us along with the winner.

So, the challenge for this month is "anything but a square" and this is my card

 I used a Nestabilities Grand Decorative Oval die #1 for the card blank, Mr & Mrs stamps by Woodware, hand rolled flowers, silver mirri card and white satin ribbon. My card was part of an order and this is the matching keepsake box I made....

using the same hand rolled roses, die cut leaves and white satin ribbon. My client loved it. :)

I hope you are enjoying the lovely sunshine we are having in the UK at the moment. 

Back soon, take care xx

Kumihimo bracelets

For some reason I woke up at 6.45 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep so I thought I would get up  and sort out some photos for my blog and web site as they are both getting an update this morning. It's a while since we have done any work on the web site so as it's a long weekend we thought we would spend a bit of time on it. I uploaded the photos for this post on Wednesday so that I could sit and write a post and here it is now Sunday, and I'm sat here writing this post!! Not very good is it?

I find making these bracelets so relaxing and always take beads etc with me on holiday. I've made them on trains and planes, and it the car and people are fascinated by what I'm doing and will often stand and watch me lol. I made quite a few on holiday last year too and didn't come back with any (although I did give a couple away as prezzies :)). I have my DD1's bracelet on my desk so I can take it to pieces and remake it for her. Hers was the first Kumihimo bracelet I ever made a couple of years ago and she has never taken it off until now. I made it in pale pink and silver and it's so pretty but she's a hairdresser and it has different dies etc on it and the cord has stretched too. I'll use the same beads but new cord.....in fact, I may just do it this afternoon.

I've had quite a run on these bracelets so far this year and I really love making them. I don't like making them all identical and like messing about with the way I string them and by not using the same beads all the time. Although I have made quite a few white and silver ones...they are really pretty. I will be adding the bracelets to my web site later today :) 

The first one is silver lined gold and matt gold  beads

 2.  This one is mine and is silver lined rainbow and dark grey beads

 3. Silver lined clear and matt white beads

 4. Silver lined clear and matt white beads

 5. Silver lined clear and matt white

Thanks for dropping by, till next time....Happy Easter and don't make yourself sick on chocolate ;).

Oblong layers

It's time for an update over on Kathy's Waffle Sketch File challenge and boy do Kathy's sketches challenge you :) Take a look at these.....

The second sketch works perfectly with the C6 card I used for my sample. All the papers and image on this card are available on the Funky Hand web site. Why not have a go yourself and show us what you have done?

Take care, back soon xx

Allsorts challenge

I haven't taken part in any challenges for absolutely ages so I thought I would try some of the ones I used to visit. If anyone know of any good ones then please let me know :)

Well, it's a beautiful day, if not a little nippy, here in Scruff's Corner and I feel I should be out in the garden. However, I have wedding work to do so it will have to wait. I'm hoping for some nice weather over the long weekend so I can get out then. Monday has been reserved for shopping by DD2 as her and her boyfriend move into a flat on 3rd May and they are starting from scratch, but the rest of the weekend is free.

So the challenge I have chosen to start with is the Allsorts Challenge as it was always one of my favourites :) Their theme for this week is Spring Blossoms and I have used one of my new stamps from Clearly Besotted Designs, isn't it lovely. Stephanie is just so talented, I love her stamps and dies.

I've stamped the image onto ivory card and coloured it with Promarkers, I then embossed a piece of ivory pearlescent card and mounted them onto cream card. The label is actually stamped onto one of the labels I use for my jewellery, I added a pink bow and pink gems and hey presto a very quick and easy card but I like it a lot!

Thanks for dropping by, back soon :) xx

Art Deco ladies

Did you see the Create and Craft shows last weekend where the kit was made of Art Deco Ladies and associated backing papers, card etc? Well, the kit was absolutely fantastic and the girls on the Kanban/Aspire Crafts design team were lucky enough to be given a kit each to make samples with.....and we all fell in love with it :) There are some of the sheets in the kit available on the Aspire Crafts web site.

These are the samples I made for the show

I altered a white paper carrier bag

 

Leonie and Keith both liked my exploding box and gave my name out on the programme :))

There will be a lot more cards coming from this kit in the not too distant future as it's a stunning kit and I have loads left. 

Thanks for dropping by xx

Baby basket

I am so pleased with this, I could burst. I've always remembered someone making or buying my mum a basket similar to this when she had my brother a long time ago. We lived in Belgium at the time so I don't know if it was just something they used on the continent but no-one in the UK seemed to know what I was on about whenever I mentioned it lol I thought it would be handy to keep here when #1 Grandson arrives that way we don't have to lug great bags full of stuff about when he comes to stay and it keeps it all in one place. 

It's a long time since I had my sewing machine out to do something other than repairs. I used to make loads when I was younger but I haven't actually made anything for years.I thought the fabric was just gorgeous, it's pale blue with tiny white stars on and I bought it in Dunelm. I'm thinking of making a couple and filling them as baby gifts to sell on my web site.

I would love to know what you think, thanks for looking.

Spring.....

is the theme for the Clearly Besotted challenge this month, you will find the details on their blog, Stamping and Sharing if you would like to take part.

I decided to use the You Are stamp and die set for my card

I coloured the flowers and leaves with Promarkers and added gold flat back pearls and green and white gingham ribbon from Ribbon Oasis.

I love that stamp set but have trouble lining the die up for it, not to worry though, it's easy to cut with a knife :) I have watched Michelle Shorts videos time and again and I still have trouble with this set...I'm ok with the other sets though and I might have the odd few sets now....oh alright  then, I have lots lol

Thanks for dropping by and I'll be back soon xx