Missing in action!!!!

OM Goodness its been such a long time since I posted anything on my blog, I have had a long hot glorious summer with not much crafting time, more on that later!!

At last I am joining in some challenges and getting back into the swing of visiting some of my favourite blogs.  My first challenge has to be the Hero Arts one always my favourite stamp company.

This months challenge is a "Makeover Challenge" so I trawled through my cards and decided to give this card a makeover and hopefully a more modern CAS look.

I made this card back in December 2013 and was a card I had cased from one made by Jacqueline, I love the soft arty look but wanted to update it a little.

I am pleased with the cleaner look.

I wanted to add some photographs of my wonderful holiday in beautiful Lake Como ,Italy. 

Stunning Argegno, on Lake Como.

What a view!!

The food was amazing!

Pink Prosecco and Italian style Tapas!

The sunrise from our balcony was amazing!

Hope you have all had a great summer.

Poppies again!

Its my friends birthday next week and she really loves poppies so I have had a play and made two cards.  I am not sure which one to give her yet.

Hope you are having a good weekend, its just a quick post for me as we are off to a family barbecue.

Circles!

After all my sewing efforts I have come back to a bit of card making this week.  I made this circular card for the Wednesday Simon Says Challenge "Get in Shape".  I have used an old favorite wooden stamp "Petals of Beauty" from Hero Arts.  It is stamped with Pale Tomato and Red ink and then cut with some circle dies.
Hope you are having a great week.

A New Project!!

I have not posted for well over a month as I have been busy with a new project, using up all my scraps of material that i have collected over the years.  This is my first ever quilt but I so enjoyed making it that I know there will be more!  Its only a simple square design and only a lap sized quilt but I am thrilled with the finished result. Also my scrap pile is alot smaller!!

This is a back view, to save money with buying a big piece of fabric for the backing I have used a bed sheet but just added a panel of more scraps of material.

For a finishing touch I also added a label!!

I hope to find time now to visit a few of my favorite blogs!

Tic Tac Toe

I have made up my mind to try and use my older stamps more, instead of letting them gather dust on my shelf! I found this Etched Flower cling from Hero Arts so decided to make another card for the Hero Arts Tic Tac Toe Challenge this month.  The line I have chosen is Circles, Birthday, Favorite Colour and here is my finished card.  The background on the flowers is made by making a square grid of copic colours and then splashing them with some alcohol blending ink. I then stamped in black my Etched Flower.  The out side circle is from my scrap basket and is the Graph Background, white embossed and then coloured with copics.

Have a great week.

Poppies!!

After seeing some beautiful poppies growing on the grass verges as we drove back from our weekly shop this morning I was inspired to get out this old Hero Arts poppy stamp.  The new challenge at Hero Arts for June is Tic Tac Toe.

I decided to follow the bottom row, watercolour, tag and my favorite colour (RED).  The poppies were stamped using Distress Markers and when dry I added some water colour with a paintbrush and my Distress Stains. After lots of goes to get it right I am pleased with the final image (lots of smudged designs lol).

Cards at Last

I have just noticed that its been three weeks since I have posted and weeks since I have looked at any blogs, I didn't realize that I would be so busy now I have retired, when did I ever find time to go to work LOL!!!

I have been looking on flickr for some inspiration and noticed a lot of cards with watercolour splashed so decided to have a go and its not as easy as it looks.  In the end I used a die cut as a mask and used my distress  stains for these two cards. I am pleased with the effect, especially the smudge on the second card.  I also used the masking die on the card for some texture in the background.  I am adding these cards to the Simon Says Anything Goes challenge. 

I have been busy making more cushions, I have re discovered my sewing machine and have really enjoyed making these.  The second cushion was a request from my daughter, she had seen all the amazing applique dog cushions on Pinterest and asked if I could make her one. It was quite fiddly but she is thrilled with it. 

Have a great weekend.

A Card and a Cushion!

In the past few weeks my card making has taken a back seat while I have been making other things, but I needed a card to give my DH for our Wedding Anniversary which is next week.  Something simple and fairly masculine, I decided to use my Hero Arts Tropical Background stamp and mt new Memory Box Stitched Heart Die. I managed to match the pattern of the stamp and I have raised the heart on foam tape for definition, I have also used a Wink of Stella to make it shimmer.

I am adding this card to the current Wednesday challenge at Simon Says.

I thought I would also share my latest cushion, the material is two more pieces from my scrap bag of fabric that only cost me £5.  That bag was a great buy as I have now made three cushions from it.
See my previous post here!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

No cards, but other crafts!!

Since I have been retired I have been going through all the craft ideas I have pinned from Pinterest and never had the time to make.  This week its been sewing and Applique, I have always loved sewing but never tried Applique also I have never ,made a cushion with piping round it!!

Our local upholstery shop always has a remnants bin and I managed to pick up a bag of scraps for £5 , both these cushions were made using the remnants from the bag although I did have some felt in my box which I used for the pheasants head.

I also watched loads of videos on You Tube for tips on how to make piping and also how to actually attempt the Applique, the internet is amazing I have learnt so much this week.  Here are my two makes and I am thrilled with them both and made for a fraction of the cost of bought ones. Consequently my card making has taken a bit of a back seat for a while, although I will have to get cracking with it as I have a few birthdays coming up.

I hope you all have a great week.

Spring Flowers.

I have been retired a month now and I am loving it!!  I have had time to do all the crafts  and sewing that I have been wanting to do for years and the weather has been fantastic so I have also spent bl

Lots of time in the garden.  I have spent most of the time upcycling my tired and dated bedroom furniture and I am thrilled with the results.

Today the weather has changed and its raining so I have had chance to make a card, I needed to get my card mojo working so after looking online decided to make a card for the Simon Says Wednesday challenge "Clean and Simple"  I dug out these old Hero Arts stamps and played around with some Hero Arts inks and distress inks.  Very simple design but I love this flower image,

I hope to do some catching up and visit some blogs today. Have a great Sunday.