Hand Made in Zakynthos

As always when I go on holiday I took a load of beads with me and sat on my sunbed and made jewellery :) A lady ordered three ankle chains from me so I was kept busy for the whole holiday making bracelets and ankle chains. Oh and I am so in love with beaded Kumihimo bracelets (as thought you can't tell lol)

The sun was almost too bright to take photos but even with the flash on on the camera it was a bit dark so I plumped for these.Thanks for calling by again. xx

Kathy's Waffle Sketch File

Yes I'm here again so soon after my last post as I have another fabulous challenge for you to enter and that will be Kathy's Waffle Sketch File. The challenge this month is called "Crest of a Wave" and this is what the sketch looks like

 

and here is one of the cards I made, again with my lovely Clearly Besotted stamps.

Let us know what you have made and we'll drop by and leave a comment.

Thanks for dropping by. x

Crafting Muskateers

Hi folks, how are you? I have started this post so many times and drew a blank and didn't know what to say but this time I am going to plough on! 

I know I have been absent again but I have a good reason. I have been on my lovely hot, sunny and relaxing holiday to Zakynthos and I have come back this time not only rested but with a lousy head cold and a hacking chesty cough. I also had two birthdays last week, hubby's last Thursday and my baby girl's last Saturday and to top it all I went to town last Tuesday to get hubby's prezzies and promptly fell over!!

 My bruises have just about gone on my hands but my left hand is still sore and I can't kneel at all. My left leg is really painful just below my knee.

The holiday was just fabulous as always and we had already booked to go back next year so I'd like to say a big thank you to Stratos, Maria, Tasos, Lol, Spiros and Nicos (and everyone else) for making our holiday brilliant as always.

So, have you taken part in the Crafting Muskateers challenge yet? The theme for this challenge is "Vintage"

 and it has been sponsored by one of our fellow team members Nicola Saul , you can find Nicola here ,http://pinkdelightcraft.blogspot.co.uk/. She has donated a very generous prize for the winner, so a big thank you Nicola :) .and this is what is up for grabs.

You still have a couple of weeks to enter and it's my turn this month to choose a winner, that job is so difficult as we always have loads of fabulous entries. Add your name to Mr Linky then we can come over and see what you have made.

My card

made with Kanban stamp and bits and pieces and the sentiment stamps are from the very wonderful Clearly Besotted.

Thanks for dropping by. xx

21 again!

Hand cut letters and numbers. Again I'll sort out the ingredients list soon :)

Kumihimo

A couple more bracelets made with beads, sorry for the pants photos, the light was lousy and I couldn't be bothered to set up my light tent!

Last one

It's the final week for taking part in the Sketch challenge on the Kathy's Waffle Sketch File blog and we'd really love you to join us :)

and my card

All stamps again by Clearly Besotted Stamps but this time they are the Love Quotes set. The cotton lace across the bottom of the card is from the Range.

Funky Hand

Wedding card

Again made with Kanban bits and bobs.

Kathy's Waffle Sketch

It's week 3 of the challenge over on Kathy's Waffle Sketch challenge blog so there is still time to play along with us if you would like to. It's just for fun so the only rule we have really is that whatever your project is, we must be able to see the sketch used :)

and here is my card

Materials used are Full of Surprise, Make a Wish and Love Quotes clear stamps from Clearly Besotted Stamps and the stripey paper is  from the Hampstead collection by Papermania.

Thanks for dropping by, see you soon. x

Commissioned birthday card

All of the components on this card are by (the now defunct) Kanban, I will add codes later as the are still quite a few craft shops selling Kanban stock.

Thanks for calling :)

Kuhimino

I bought a couple of bits a few months ago and absolutely love doing this now. This is the first beaded bracelet I made for my daughter.

My brother bought her the silver comb and scissors charm as she has just qualified as a level 3 hairdresser.

There are going to be very short blog posts for me over the next few days as I have big orders to finish but I want to use my blog more. I will add 'recipes' to the posts as soon as I have a couple of hours spare.

Thanks for looking

My flower

Look at my pretty nails. You can't see the glitter in them but they are very sparkly and the flower has a diamante centre. They were done by the very gorgeous Chelle who part owns Perfect Pinkies in Doncaster.

21st Birthday

It's week two of the fab sketch challenge over on the Kathy's Waffle Sketch Challenge blog so as it's a monthly challenge, there is still plenty of time to play along with us and here is the sketch we would like you to use!

Can I hear a shriek of OMG because that's the reaction I gave it lol Once you start playing with it it's really not as bad as it seems.

Have fun and when you've had a play don't forget to leave a link on the Inlinkz bit on the blog so we can come and see what you've made.

Thanks for dropping by xx

Splodge Away

An apt title for this month's sketch from our lovely Kathy and when you see it you will know why :) Every month Kathy comes up with a wonderful sketch over on the Kathy's Waffle Sketch File blog, and if you want to have a mooch through them they can all still be found on the blog (they are down the right hand side of the page along with the names of who took part) going right back to the first ever one and I can honestly say that I have done them all :) They are a God's send when you need to fulfill an order and Mr Mojo goes walkies lol.
And this month's is

I shall add my first card on Tuesday as I forgot to upload it to the DT blog (sorry girls).

Delicious Doodles

Have you been over to the Crafting Muskateer's Blog for the new challenge yet? Yes, we are already on challenge number 4!! It doesn't seem so long ago since we were all getting giddy about it starting up lol Anyway, the challenge this month is sponsored by Teri over at Delicious Doodles who will be giving the winner four of her "delicious doodles" :)

Click on the header to be taken over to Teri's shop, there are some lovely images over there. We were given a selection of images to choose from and then had to follow the sketch below

and here is the card I made.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and the papers are from The Just Happy collection on the Dreams Come True cd by Funky Hand. This has to be one of my favourite cds as there are some really yummy papers and colour ways to be had...this lilac pattered paper is a particular favour although this is another left over piece from my mountain :)

Also this month we are having a DT call as we have lost our lovely lace lady Sarah Wright so we are having a DT call. We don't want you to send us copies of your best work, we want you to enter our challenge then when you upload your project add DT next to your name. We will then choose from those of you who have added the DT.

Good luck to you all and thanks for dropping by and showing us all your support, we are very grateful. Don't forget that the challenge runs until the end of the month so there is plenty of time yet. :)

Recycle

Hi everyone, thanks ever so much for dropping by. I know it's been a while but I have lots to show for my absence, I haven't just been sat in the garden sunning myself although I do have an outdoor studio now :)

It's my turn today to host the post(!) over on the Get Funky & Craft blog so I decided that I would make a gift bag. Now read on to see how I did it.

"I have mentioned previously my mission to reduce my wallets of paper off cuts so I should really have concentrated on that in this post. However, our lovely leader, Anice, keeps feasting us with lots of lovely paper collections and digi downloads and it's such a shame not to use them.....so on my project today I have used one of each :)

If you have ever needed a gift bag at the 12th hour and can't find one, well this is the post for you. It takes about 15 minutes to make and anyone (even non crafters) eill be able to find materials to use around the house. Oh, and when I mention a 'bone folder', a spoon handle does just as well.

This is my make for the month

                                               

and here is how I made it

                                         

You will need an old (or a new) envelope of any size.....and this tutorial works for top opening envelopes too.

Tape down the flap making sure that you don't tape the back of the envelope to the front!

Trim approximately 1/2 cm from one of the short sides.

Next you need to score each of the other three sides at 2.5cm from each edge and fold making sure each fold is crisp using your bone folder or spoon.

Now is the time to decorate your envelope with whatever you have to hand. I used the paper #7 from the new Spring Wedding Collection on the Funky Hand web site.

Pop one hand inside the envelope and use the other hand to pinch along all of the creases and watch your envelope turn into a gift bag :)

Fold the pointed end and glue to the bottom of the bag. I weight mine down with a punch while it sticks. Fold and tuck in about 2.5 cm from the top. Not only does this make the bag look professional, it makes the top sturdier to take the ribbon handles, see the next picture.

Now finish decorating your bag.

I used a selection of die cut flowers and printed off a smaller version of the mug from the I'm a mug for you' download to use as a gift tag.....Job Done!

These are great fun to make, I must have shown loads of people how to make them. They are great to make with the kiddies too now that the summer holidays are upon us, especially if they have a birthday party to go to. So start saving your envelopes in different shapes and sizes and it doesn't matter what colour they are (mine was from a bought birthday card, I didn't buy it ;)) You can even use the ones with the see through window on the front, just stick some pretty paper over it.

We would love you to have a go at my tutorial and add it to the linky thingy so we can come back and take a look.

In a swirl

We have two more fabulous sketches again this month on the Kathy's Waffle Sketch File blog and we would really love it if you could join in with us.

 

 

I bought this Kanban stamp in a sale last week and it cost me 90p! I decided to have a play with it and see what it looked like without colour, actually I did add a little colour - I gave her lipstick :) When I saw Kathy's new sketch for this month I couldn't believe how well this image fitted the sketch so all I did was to add a couple of pieces of left over card and heart paper by Pink Petticoat, ribbon from Craft All Day and a brad and some diamantes from my stash and it was finished.

Thanks for dropping by and don't forget to take a peep at the inspiration over on the Waffle
blog :)

Crafting Muskateers

Firstly I would like to say a big well done to Lisa Sparkle & Stamps for winning the June challenge on the Crafting Muskateers blog and a big 'well done and thank you' to the top 3 and everyone else who took part.

We had out third challenge go live yesterday lunch time and it's another good one! The  theme this time is to use RIBBON & PEARLS on your project and it is sponsored by our very own  DT member, Sarah and here is what she has offered as her prize

We have three guest designers joining us this month and if you enter then next month it could be you :)
Here is my card

KB 190

White 8 x8 pre folded card blank (a cheat I know but it does save time)

A4MRGO Gold Mirri card

PCT1904 Bella Fiori - Aster Memories

CRD1466 Bella Fiori - Lauretta Pink b/g card

Sentimental Labels - Verses 

Thanks for stopping by and good luck with the challenge, I can't wait to see what fantastic projects we have entered this month....we are all (the DT) bowled over with your support, thank you.

Have a lovely evening. x