LOTV Japanese Birthday for my sis’ 18th... :)

Hello everyone!! :)

My ‘baby’ sister turned 18 in November (where the time went I do not know!!lol) and today I am going to show you the card I made for her...

As some of you who have been following my blog a while may remember from last year’s card, my sis has a fascination with all things Japanese and when I was wracking my lil’ old brain to think up a card that would be truly special for her, I remembered the fab Geisha Girls stamps Lili of the Valley had released a few months previously... and so off I popped for a wee shopping spree as I knew they would be perfect!! :)

I knew I wanted to use my gorgeous Kioshi papers so, after a quick look to choose likely sheets, I settled down to colour the beautiful Aimi with Lantern image with my PMs and FMs... first time I’d done any colouring in ages, colour combos I’d never used before, first time colouring this stamp *and* no time to do-over if it all went horribly wrong after I’d got halfway through... so no pressure on myself there then!! :S lol Luckily, thanks to a spare image (or three!!) to test my colours on first, it actually worked pretty well first time and I was pretty chuffed :) So that was day one... now for a night’s sleep and a rest for my aching neck/back!!lol

Then back again the next day to put image and papers together... I wanted to use this lovely paper with the flowers over one side as my main piece and didn’t think it need too much fuss on it, both because that’s not really my sis’ thing and because the paper is just to pretty to cover up. So I just embellished what was there with glaze, glitter and some stamped Japanese- my sis says Kanji?!l- characters which I gilded with Flitter Glu and flakes... all (except perhaps the glitter, but you just *have* to have glitter, right!?!) to add to the traditional gilded and lacquered oriental feel... :)

I cut the numbers on my electronic cutting machine and layered them on another piece from the Kioshi pad with some more gilded characters for interest...

For the base of my easel I also cut one of my Cherry Blossom border svgs, which I designed last year, to make the stopper. The happy birthday stamp and handwritten ‘sister’ are heat embossed with gold glitter powder as I don’t ever like the look of gilding on fine text stamps. The final touches were just a few punched butterflies dotted around and some pretty blue pearls :)

The List:

• 6x6in Sq. White card blank plus extra panel for easel front
• Geisha Girls Aimi with Lantern stamp from LOTV, stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with ProMarkers and FlexMarkers (no list this time as I can't lay my virtual hands on the photo... but if you really want to know something, ask and I'll have another look!!)
• Basic Grey Kioshi paper pad
• Scissor blade (from an old broken pair!!) for distressing edges
• Japanese character stamps from Aspects of Design’s Japanese Plum Blossom stamp plate
• Indigo Blu Flitter Glu and Variegated Green Gilding Flakes from Crafty Notions
• Quickie Glue Pen (for gilding flake detail)
• Diamond Glaze
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen
• Happy Birthday stamp from Penny Black, VersaMark ink and Gold glitter embossing powder
• X-cut label dies
• Electronic cutter for my own design Cherry Blossom border cut-file and numbers (cut from gold pearl card)
• Tiny Butterfly punch from Lakeland years ago
• 3mm Pale Blue Pearls

As I wasn’t going to be seeing my sis’ before her birthday and her main pressies was absolutely not postable (you’ll see why if you stop by next Monday...!!! ;) ), I also made a little gift to pop in the post with her card... a little glass cabochon necklace made with a piece of matching Kioshi paper :)

I added a few coloured beads to the bail on a jump ring for interest and was quite pleased with the pretty way they hung over the heart :)

And a pic of both together :) I was pleased with how they came out... and my sis' loved them too, so smiles all round!! :D

I’d like to enter these in the following challenges (either the card, necklace or both as each challenge allows): Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes :) ; Moving Along with the Times - Only Girls Allowed :) ; Beading Friends Forever - Anything Goes :) ; Inspire Me Fridays - # :) ; Happy Hour Projects Friday Linky Party - 02.08 :)

Thank you so much for popping by today- I truly appreciate the comments people have been kind enough to leave for me and am trying to do better at leaving comments and returning visits just as much as my health/energy allows :) I hope you’re all well and have a lovely weekend!! :) Oh, and don’t forget to pop back on Monday for a special post with my sis’ gift!! :)

Snowflakes and Sparkles... :)

Hello Bloggers!! :)

Well, it’s been sooo long since my last post that I am having major problems remembering how all this blogging malarkey works... but I’m back and want to wish you all a very Happy 2013 a tad belatedly- I hope it’s been good to you so far!! :)

Now, you may (or may not!!) have noticed that I’ve taken a bit of an unexpected break from Blogland over the last few months... I won’t go into it in too much detail but 2012 turned out to be a bit of a rollercoaster year for me- some additional health issues made for some very extreme lows but despite that, the few extreme highs actually left me feeling this has been one of my better years so I can’t complain too much... the health stuff has just taken a bit of adjusting to and something had to give- and unfortunately, along with a lot of other things, that was my little blog and, to a lesser extent, my crafting :( But I have still been creating, just at a slower pace and a little less of the papercrafts, and have been checking out your blogs when I have been able too... and since Xmas particularly, my blog has been calling to me so I am going to attempt to get back into it... I just don’t know how regularly I’ll manage to post for a while as I am very much still feeling my way in terms of what and how much I can manage and trying to find a better balance between the different things going on in my life... but let’s get on to the crafty stuff, eh!!lol

This year I didn’t make many Xmas cards- one of those rearranging priorities and being kinder to myself things!!- but I did make some gifts... and this little set of beaded snowflakes was one of them...

After being given one of these gorgeous decorations by a lovely friend a few years ago, I made some for friends and family but never got around to photographing them properly to share... so when I finally got this set made for some lovely friends (who visited me in the summer- one of the highs that helped turn my year around :D) I made sure to get some decent pics!! :)

They are pretty simple to make- just adding beads to a pre-bought wire snowflake form... I added the wire circles too, as I loved the effect of them on the one I was given, but you don’t even have to do that, just the six beaded spokes look lovely!! :)

The beads are Czech Firepolished Glass- Opal and Clear with an Aurora Borealis coating- with a few seed beads as spacers... and they are just beautiful when they catch the light!! :)

Which would be why I took so many pics and just couldn’t choose my favs... some things never change!!lol

Whew- well, I think I made it to the end of my first post!!lol Glad there was no big papercrafting supplies list to tackle this time though!! ;) Thank you so much for stopping by and reading this and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did- I am so happy to be back in the wonderful land of blog!! :)

{{{ Ooops- knew that was too good to be true- I forgot all about challenges!!lol I’d like to enter my snowflakes in my lovely friend Elaine’s fabulous All Crafts Challenge  and to Inspire Me Fridays #91 }}}

Jubilee Jewels...

Hey there everyone!! :)

Happy Bank Holiday to you all- hope you’re all well and enjoying the weekend’s Jubilee festivities one way or another... my mum’s church had a ‘street party’ on the church path yesterday afternoon and I’m just so glad for them that it has been such a lovely day after she’d been dreading more of Sunday’s rain!! :) Mum made some displays for the event and of course raided my stash and equipment to help her along the way... also my actual help last week as she was running out of time to get things done, so that has been taking a lot of my crafty energy... but... I do have another Jubilee-themed project of my own which I thought I should try and share with you before all the celebrations are forgotten...

I discovered this fab blog a month or so ago after a bit of a browse on Pinterest and was very intrigued by the glass tile jewellery posts... I have never tried this kind of thing before but it seemed simpler than I thought it would be {I didn’t end up doing it the way she suggests as I didn’t read it all through and instead followed the instructions on the site where I got my supplies, which takes longer but might be more sturdy... will have to experiment!} so I popped off to Google to find some supplies...

And then promptly got rather carried away!!lol It’s not as bad as it looks, I do seem to have a couple more necklaces than my mum and I need but all the little round ones in this pic have been made into pins and are already with their new owners... when mum saw my first (okay, first successful, but more on that in a mo’!!) necklace she asked if I could make some little pins for the people at her church to wear :)

The Union Jack flags I used are a graphic I created earlier this year when I couldn't find papers I wanted for my cards- spent ages getting the proportions right!!lol- and then printed out sized to suit my various glass shapes... and therein lies the story, as I had a couple of botched attempts at first while I was finding my feet... they looked great when I made them and I was v pleased with myself... but by morning they were a blobby mess... yup, I’d used too much glaze to glue them into the metal pendant trays, and been too eager to see the finished results, so not let all the layers of sealant and the glaze to stick the image to the glass dry properly first... and the inkjet ink had run... too much even to call it an intentional style choice!!lol But I got there in the end thanks to some advice from the lady I bought my supplies from... if you want to know more about making these then pop to her blog as she has some Tutorial posts :) 

This pic is of a slightly different style- an epoxy sticker on a metal dog tag, which was a free gift with my order but surprisingly nice so I got some more!! :) The others are glass with the images glued on and then either set into a tray or with a bail added to the back. But the glass seemed to play up with my camera/ lamp and this shot through the sticker was the best one to show the pattern on the flag, which is a simple overlay of a photo of a jacquard fabric added over the block colours of my finished basic flag in my graphics program. The darker image just has another ‘burnout’ type overlay on top of that for a more distressed vintage effect :)

I thought I should try a different image so this is made with a piece of Bo Bunny Gabrielle paper... this particular piece is a bit busy for my tastes and I’ve always wondered if I would ever use it... very nice to be able to say yes, just not on a card!! :) It just needs a charm to sit over the top right corner when I find something that suits :)

I also made my mum a quick little pin with a couple of my crocheted flowers and a teeny Portobello Road button- love these!! :) – all stuck together with Pinflair!! :)

So, that’s what’s been keeping me busy this last couple of weeks- aside from helping my mum!! I hope you like them... I’m really excited by the possibilities of even more personalisation and creativity in my jewellery that this technique gives- so glad I took the energy to search out the supplies and figure it out so I’m sure I’ll be making more!! :) Right now, though, I really do need to reclaim my desk from all the different jewellery findings and glues, etc. so I can get to making some cards... June is a *veeeerrry* busy month for cards and I haven’t even started on account of not really having my head around the idea that it was going to be June so soon!! Ooops!!:S lol Best get going... well, maybe in the morning!!

Ooh- as a little extra, here is a of pic of the mini Victoria Sandwich cakes my mum and I made this afternoon... mmmm!! :) Can you tell I just love my Union Jack mug, btw...and the napkins even match!?!!lol

Earth Tones at Dream Valley

Hello!! :)

A fortnight has passed us by in a flash again, which means it’s time for another new challenge over at Dream Valley... and this fortnight we’d like you to use ‘Earth Tones’ in your creation!! :) We have a fab sponsor this time, BeadCrafty... I popped over to their site a while ago and they had a lovely selection of slightly more unusual beads as well as all the basics you just have to have and the lucky winner of our challenge gets a £20 voucher to spend... so wishing I could enter myself!! ;D

It’s still very much ixnay on the papercrafting around here at the moment so I wasn’t really sure what I was going to be able to show you... turns out, though, that I have two things to share!!lol First up, a pair of earrings I gave you a sneaky peek of {in this post} last year when I made them for my step-mum’s birthday... they are the perfect earthy colour tones for this challenge and it seemed apt to share a beading project as we have a bead co. as our sponsors :) Here they are...

I used my fav antique gold effect findings- ear wires, head pins and some chain to suspend them from-  with a selection of pressed glass beads from an Earth Tones mix I’ve had in my bead stash for a while, along with just a few tiny golden glass pearls for a bit of a brighter pop of colour/reflectiveness :)

They were pretty quick and easy to make (I was on the last minute again... as ever!!lol) and I like the cluster effect... might be inclined to try a smaller bead at the bottom another time though...

And for my second share I have something more recent... infact, I only just got it finished in time to get the pictures edited last night... I mentioned in my last post that I’d been knitting as well as crocheting while not papercrafting and this is what I’ve been working on- a shawl...

I saw this being knitted on craft telly a few weeks ago and liked the look of it... but wasn’t about to buy a bunch of wool I didn’t want and a set of 4 patterns just to get this one, though, so I asked my Mum if she thought she could figure out the pattern for me!! :) Mum used to knit a lot and is pretty good at figuring this sort of stuff out... as well as sorting out my messes when I go wrong, thank heavens!!lol Anyway, it took us a while- yes, ‘us’... I was actually able to offer a couple of helpful observations myself!!lol- but we got there and I set to later that afternoon...

Since I started knitting again a few years back, I have really only knitted scarves with very basic stitches/patterns and I’ve been thinking for a while that, if my hands ever let me start again, I should really try and progress a little beyond that and this pattern included stitches which I haven’t used before in order to make the holes (never made anything with holes in on purpose before!!lol) plus the return rows meant a refresher in purl which I’ve not done in years, so it was perfect :)

A couple to show the stitches more clearly :) I used an Arran weight acrylic yarn that my mum found in Aldi a few years ago- a 450g ball which barely looks like I’ve used any even after knitting this!!lol I had intended it as a scarf for myself initially but the yarn doesn’t drape well enough for that so I just made it a bit bigger to make the shawl and I think I might try a finer cotton yarn for my scarf sometime :) I was planning to add tassles but mum said she’d rather not... which saved me a fair bit of time and yarn so I’m not complaining!!lol

If you’d asked me before hand if I could knit something like this, I’d have thought not, but it’s actually fairly simple once you know how... I’m a pretty slow knitter because of my hands and not being able to do too much in one go so it took me a few weeks in the end... not helped by the fact that I kept going wrong due to my rubbish concentration and had to take it back rather a lot :S This is where my mum’s patience and ability to figure out what I had done (as well as volunteering to take it back for me a few times when my hands had had enough :) ) came in so useful!!lol Frustration aside, I did enjoy it, though, I like the result and I really feel I’ve learned a lot from doing it... plus mum has a shawl to keep her shoulders warm from the drafts of an evening!! :)

My mum was, understandably enough, not too keen to have her pic on my blog but she said I could put this one up so you could get an idea of the size of it!! :)

I was planning on trying come more crochet or maybe making some jewellery when I finished this but have actually already started on my next knitting project after seeing this post on Dawny P’s blog and I’ll share the results of that with you when I get there... it will be a baby jumper and hat which will be heading off to Africa for babies who have nothing... if you have a a bit of spare time and wool then do pop over to Dawn’s blog where she has more details and the patterns for the jumpers :)

Okay, waffle and photo overload over for today- thank you if you’ve had the patience to read all the way through my ramblings again... two posts in one again!! :S :) Please pop over to the Dream Valley blog to see the fab creations from the rest of the DT... if you think ‘Earth Tones’ seems a little too restrictive a palette for you just have a look at the variety of styles we have over there!! :) I’ll be back again soon I hope- maybe with a card from a while ago as I know this sort of post is not a lot of people's cup of tea!!- and thanks for stopping by... have a lovely weekend!! :)

Shades of Grey for Anything Goes at Dream Valley!! :)

Hello again folks!! :)

I had hoped to be back before now but my body has had other ideas this last few days- had hoped I’d be able to report on my first experiments with my new toy the Grand Calibur, too, but I have done nothing remotely constructive since my last post as I have been either in too much pain or half asleep from the pain-killers, which I normally try to take rarely as they make me so extra dopey- like I need any help with that!! :S lol Will hopefully be able to get back to my desk soon, though- I have so many ideas... which is always better than none!! :D

Anyway, I’m here today to tell you about our first challenge of the new year over at DreamValley... the lovely Melly is making it nice and easy for you (and us!! ;D) with an ‘Anything Goes’ theme and so I’m taking the chance to share a beading project with you!! :) We are sponsored this time by our monthly sponsor, One Stop Card Crafts, and the winner will get a voucher to spend on lovely goodies!! :)

This is a bracelet I made last year for a lovely friend of mine...

I had seen this style of bracelet around on craft tv and in blogland and was itching to try it... it’s very simple as you just curl the whole head pin that the bead is on to create a coil instead of trimming it to just long enough to make a loop as normal, then tread onto tigertail... and the result is a very pretty clustered effect... mine didn’t end up as full as the ones I’d seen as I used smaller beads, but I really like it and it felt lovely on- nice and substantial as there’s a fair bit of weight between the beads and all the coils, but it still moves and falls nicely :) Most importantly, though, my friend loved it, too!! :D

I used a big selection of beads- Czech Fire Polished Crystal, pressed glass, glass pearls, seed beads and stardust silver- plus a few little silver charms... I had all the beads from making a charm bracelet watch for my sis’ 16^th last year (which I’ll show you soon... if I can only find the pics!!lol)

A couple of close-ups to show the beads, clasp and the coils better- I love the effect and will be making more like this soon with different beads!! :)

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges:  {{ I can't find any that don't say just 'papercraft' items at the mo'... think I've entered at Dream Valley with jewellery before but guess that's out this time!!lol Will add later if I can find any!! }}

Well, I hope you like my little bracelet- if you do and want to see more then click the tab at the top of the page :) I love to see other people’s jewellery and beading makes, too, and don’t come across too many in blogland so please let me know if you have any jewellery projects on your blog or know a blog that does so I can pop by and have a look!! :)

Don’t forget to visit the Dream Valley blog to see all the fab inspiration from the rest of my new teamies... there’s a great variety of styles on the team so really worth a look!! :) And, of course, joining in couldn’t be easier this time!! :)

I hope you’re all well, having a lovely weekend and keeping warm and safe in this weather... thought the winds were supposed to be over but it picked up again here last night and now it’s calm but sooo dismal!! :S See you soon, I hope- thanks for stopping by today and for all the comments on my last card... it’s so nice to be back in blogland properly and I will hopefully start feeling up to visiting a few more of your blogs and commenting  again soon, too!! :)

Beads beautiful beads...

Hello again!! :)

I’m back to (properly!) show you the bracelet there was a sneak of in my earlier post- it was made to go with that card for a purple loving friend’s birthday a little while ago but I wasn’t able to post either at the time...

It’s an idea that I’ve seen around in quite a few places and thought these giant (Size 2/0 for those that are familiar with such things!! :) ) seed beads would be perfect for.

It’s very simple and needs only the beads and some large (7mm) jump rings to create... I just made a chain from the jumps and then attached more jumps with beads on them to the chain :) It didn’t take too long to make, either, though opening and closing all those thick and rather stiff jumps was a tad hard on the hands and I’ll do it in even more stages next time!! ;) But that’s the joy of jewellery making- it is much easier than some other crafts to pick up and put down as the mood (or energy/pain level) takes you!! :) Plus, the stash piles to find space for are considerably smaller than for papercrafting!!lol

So very simple that I can’t think of anything else to say to go with all the piccies I took!!lol My excuse is that my camera hates purple beads and none of the pics looked true to colour at the time... but then I found I could get a true colour while I was editing them last night and now I can’t choose which I like best!!lol

This style of bracelet may be simple but it moves really nicely and feels lovely in your hand or on your wrist :)

Well, while I know that most of you are more into cards than jewellery, I hope you’ve enjoyed a bit of a change of scene tonight as much as I enjoyed a change of craft when I made it!! :) There are some more of my jewellery pieces if you click on ‘Jewellery’ in the Labels if you fancy seeing more!! :) Thanks for stopping by and for any comments you leave- I really do appreciate every one :)

A Gift...

Hi!! :)

I’ve got another quick little post today, as I’m still not feeling good, but just to keep things going... :) These earrings were the pressie I made for the same friend as the purple flower card in my last but one post...

I love making earrings- for myself, as they’re great fun, and as gifts, as you have no worries about getting them the right size, ect. as sometimes with bracelets/necklaces :)

For these I used some absolutely gorgeous butterfly charms- of which I have bought several sets, one each time I order from somewhere that stocks them, as I just love them!! :D- chain and some of my fav Czech Fire Polish Glass beads from a purple selection :) Beads- and particularly purple ones, for some reason! :S – are really quite hard to photograph with their true colours and they have more life and are far prettier in real life, especially as they have an Aurora Borealis coating which doesn’t show up well either!!

A close-up of the charms :)

And another... just ‘cause I was having fun playing with the Super-Macro mode on my camera again!!lol

I hope you like looking at my little jewellery projects and don’t mind the occasional deviation from papercraft too much!! :)

Hope you’re all well and warm and that the snow’s melting away to some degree wherever you are- ours is going slowly, just the horrid and dangerous thin layer that keeps refreezing every night left now :S I’m really hoping the weather forecasters are right about it getting warmer for the weekend in time for my birthday- it’ll be a lot nicer a day if I’m not aching from the cold the whole time!!lol Trying not to get my hopes up too much, though, considering they had the temperature here for last night at midnight as -3oC and it was actually -8oC!! :{ Still, crafty pressies (and money to spend on more crafty goodies!!) will make up for the weather quite well, anyway, I suspect!! :D I have quite a wishlist!! ;D

hugs,