franmade

It's been a while!

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:54:00 +0000

Hello, it's been a fair while since I last did any sort of blogging so I thought I'd best pop by and update it. I'm still crafting when I can but it's not just cards anymore as I've been bitten by the knitting/crochet bug. So my craft room now seems to have lots of wool/cotton stuffed in it along with the paper/stamps/dies etc . . . Ooops! Anyway, the latest addiction I blame my sister for. She got me trying to knit again which in turn got me looking at lots of lovely wool, knitting a few scarfs and even a cardi (will need to take some photos some time and post them ). . . . which then in turn got me back into my crocheting again. and that is where we are now. I'm in full on crochet mode at the moment. Here's a cushion cover I crocheted using lots of odd bits of wool I had laying around. It was my first attempt, so not perfect.

I've since made another one which is neater/prettier which I will photo and show soon (she says!). and have also just finished making a bag. Basically "hooking" mad at the moment (I find it quicker than knitting and more me). Will post photos of that some time soon too. So, even though I may not be around much I am still crafting away in 1 form or another. Hope you all are too.

a few more cards

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:38:00 +0000

Whipped this one up for my B-I-L (stamp used Magnolia) back in Jan,

another one for my sister (Stamp used: Humphrey's corner),

and then these 2 were just for the box of cards I have for sale, in the shop as stocks were getting low and I've not been making enough to replace them (stamps used: High hopes & Stampavie)!

sushi anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:49:00 +0000

Some bits I made for my neice before she left for Uni back in Sep last year. She's a huge sushi fan so crocheted some for her, just for fun :)

The egg one is her favourite so made her a mini one too :)

and then just decorated a plain notice board with some paint, felt flowers and lots of stamps

still crafting :)

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:28:00 +0000

Togetherness

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:27:00 +0000

O.K My third and last post for tonight. Then I'll save the rest for tomorrow. This cute image ('Greeting Farm' stamp set) has been sitting on my desk for months waiting for me to turn into a card. It was coloured in (with Copics, what else?) and had the matching bits of pattened paper (Basic Grey) but for some reason it just sat there until I finally had enough and just bit the bullet and whipped this up.

So nothing fancy, just used some fab dies (heart doily is Cheery Lynns, flowers and leaf flourish is MFT dienamics range) and some chocolate pearl half gems with a bit of ribbon - job done.

and that, is all I have for today.

Minion

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:20:00 +0000

See, told ya I'd be back soon. This time with a bit of crochet. Wanted to crochet a Minion (after watching Despicable Me) so googled and found this fab free pattern on Wolfdreamer's blog (don't you just love the internet?!). So, thank you Wolfdreamer! I tweaked the pattern slightly and made mine short and squat and also used felt for his mouth and love the finished result :D In real life he only stands about 4" tall and currently resides on my hubby's desk!

I also managed to finish knitting my first scarf for hubby but have yet to take a photo of that. Will try and get round to doing that sometime and maybe get him to model it for me LOL. I do have another fun crochet project I finished for my niece which I will post maybe tomorrow and I am currently attempting to crochet a cardigan, so will let you know how I get on with that.

Something different and back to basics

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:55:00 +0000

Hello there. Again, long time no speak - I keep uploading posts and saving them meaning to do a quick write up and then post it but before I know it, I've got 3 or 4 of them sitting there and weeks/months have gone by.

Big Oops! So, here's the first of the backlog of crafty things I have made since my last post.

This was a birthday card I made for hubby's sister. Wanted to do a non cute card and I knew I wanted to try out some silhouette stamps I bought just for such a non cute occasion. (I got them from Stamp addicts - after seeing them by chance in one of their newsletters and knew I HAD to have them!) No colouring either! Just good old stamping and heat embossing.

The image has been stamped and embossed with black holographic embossing powder and then I have just masked a circle of the sun and sponged the background with various distress inks. To be honest, the colours aren't what I had in mind but I just went with it then just found some co-ordinating cardstock and papers to mat and layer it. The sentiment has been punched out with my ATB tapewriter which I haven't used for ages and I've just added some orange gems either end to finish.

Right, will be back with more shortly!

fairytales

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Hiya, I'm back again with the other card I managed to make using one of the images from my coloured in pile (with Copics) which is constantly growing, as colouring is about all I ever feel like doing these days.

This one is a Magnolia cutie from the fairytale range (sentiment from Whiff of Joy) and I've just teamed her with bit of design paper that was laying on my desk and had the right colours to match. Sponged the background around her with distress ink to soften the stark white.

Used the fab Cheery Lynn heart doily die behind the image which was cut out and matted with nesties labels die and an MFT leaf flourish die (my obsession with their dies is still going strong as they keep coming out with so many fab ones!). Added some flowers and lilac baubles to finish. Decorated the inside to match.

And that's all the cards I have to show at the moment. Have my crochet project left to show you and I'm currently trying to finish knitting a scarf I started last xmas for hubby - hopefully in time for this xmas LOL.

I'm currently trying to resist all the fab new goodies slowly trickling in for christmas. Failed with the LOTV xmas stamps LOL (although I was good and only got 5), but just seen all the MME paper pads and more fab Dienamics dies . . not to mention some cute Sassy stamps . ., Hero Arts, . . . and the list just keeps on growing - help :o Off to go put some more goodies in my virtual basket and see if I can resist the 'pay' button LOL

cards for the boys

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Hello there. Sorry again for the month long absence but time just kinda zooms by too quick these days - must be getting old. Talking of which, July was both mine and DH's birthday and this is the card I made him :D

The fab image is a Kenny K rubber stamp by Whimsy. Coloured in with Copics and I've given her sparkly lips with Sakura glitter pen but it's not showing in the photos. Speech bubble is a fab die & stamp set by MFT and I've just typed and printed the sentiment out. I've cut the image out using nesties heart die and stamped around her with a Magnolia 'love' print stamp using pink distress ink. Flower made by using Sizzix tattered floral die on some faux leather & mesh fabrics and adding a big gem brad for the centre.

Another boy card I made since my last post was for my nephew. So this one's more wholesome :). It was a bit of a last minute job and being a teenager now I had no clue what to buy him so it was good old cash, hence I incorporated a pocket into the card to hold it;

Image on this one is one of the stamps from the Creeper Crew kit (The Greeting Farm) which again, I've coloured with Copics and added some shimmer to his hair and belt buckle with Sakura glitter pen. The card and pocket was just a cream textured cardstock which I've sponged with distress ink to make it look like denim and I've just randomly stamped some birthday text and icons all over it. Used the speech bubble die again and added some twil ribbon and brads to finish.

I've got another card and a little crochet project I also finished in July but will schedule those for later. Till then,

Here's one I made earlier . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:00:00 +0000

. . or even 4 or 5, as they have built up since my last post. So be prepared for a very long post and in no particular order;

This is the 1 I made but don't actually like that much. It was using image I already had coloured in and lots of bits I had laying on my desk at the time - the fab scallop card made using a Cheery Lynn die set which I love as it's nice and large (this largest die is just under 6" I think and fits through cuttlebug), the green flourish leafy thing was a freebie die cut amongst 1 of my orders from Dies to Die for (where I get my Cheery Lynn dies from). I stamped the background with a Hero arts doily stamp in white ink, added some paper roses and resin flowers (from ebay), Martha butterfly punch, some pearl gems and a bit of doodled stitching to finish. Oh, and the sentiment is from a Hero stamp set which I have hand cut into banner shape and curled onto the card by placing some foam pads behind the middle section to keep it raised. The girl is also raised on foam pads so the whole thing is very 3D in the flesh.

Here's another photo from different angle

My next 2 cards are less feminine and more bright and fun using some stamps from Cats Pajamas. I love the simplicity and quirky fun of these images and the sentiments that come with them are right up my street too. There's one that says 'hope your birthday is as fabulous as me' - can see me using that one lots *heehee*

Pretty simple and self explanatory this one - Papers are MME, teamed with green card base. I added bit of ribbon and some cutlery brads to the centre. The sentiment has been cut using one of the smaller dies from my Cheery lynn french flair scallop die set. Blinged up with big doodlebug green gems and stickles added to the candles, cake and hairbow. Image coloured with copics and decorated the inside using same papers

My third card is using the other cat's pajama's stamp. Again, papers are MME and image coloured with Copics but this time the colour palette is slightly more muted as I've used a peach coloured cardbase and some kraft cardstock for the super cute film strip running down the side (I just stamped parts of the stamp onto each of the cut out sqaures and them put them back into the film strip). That along with the speech bubble is an MFT Dienamics die.

I just finished it off with a bit of stitching around the edges and added some brads. Again, the inside has been decorated using the same papers.

This next one is very different to my norm and is very CAS (clean & simple). The stamp is from a Papermania set of different sketched cars. Used the Porsche for this one and just heat embossed it with a charchoal embossing powder. I know, no copic colouring!! Have inked the edges with some blue distress ink just to add a hint of colour. I used some textured grey cardstock for the cardbase and kept it really simple by just using a bit of contrast charcoal card for matting. Also used that to make some faux brads (punched out circles that I've curled with embossing tool and then stuck on with foam pads). Only other embellishment I used were couple of screw brads. Sentiment from an MFT set. Apologies for photo but I forgot to take photo until after I sealed it in the polybag!

Then, finally my last card is more my usual style using a very neglected stamp - 1 of the first Gorjuss stamps that were released by Funky Kits many moons ago. Coloured with Copics, stamped some star borders around her and added bit of stickles.

Papers are some more old MME papers, punched out flowers & leaves using them too (MS & EK punch). The circular sentiment is from a Whimsy mini circle set. Again used the papers to decorate the inside too and I stamped part of the image again in a lighter grey ink.

And that's the lot! Well done if you managed to get all the way to the end! I shall try not to leave it so long until I post again. Till next time,

Some Odd Girl - my Niece!

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Hello! I'm back with a card I made for my niece's 18th birthday yesterday (blimey, time flies) and I just had to use this stamp from Some Odd Girl as it just reminds me of her soooo much :) not that she's odd or that she has chunky legs LOL but just the happy-go-lucky, big-kid aspect to the image plus she is forever just in vest or T's with Jeans.

Anyway, back to the card. Wanted a bright cheery card and to use the fab pennant die and stamp set and something a bit more 3D but still quick to make (left it last minute as per usual!) so Easel card came to mind and then it all kinda fell into place as the bunting had to be above her head so I had to raise them on little strips of card and that just made it even cooler as they are left free to dangle behind her like real bunting. The rest were just chipboard pieces from my stash (another one of those 'things' I have that never seem to get used), and another Whimsy die & stamp set (the tickets) and voila, card done.

Unfortunately as it was completed late at night and my camera battery was on it's last legs so I only managed to get 2 photos - neither of which are very good; the colour on the top one is too dark and the one below although better colour wise, still isn't great but you get the general idea I hope.

Stash:

Stamps: Dancin Mae ~ Some Odd Girl clear stamp. Pennant stamp set & Ticket stamp set ~ Whimsy stamps (to go with their matching dies)

Colouring: Copics

Paper: MME Lime Twist 'life of the party'

Tools:Whimsy Pennant die & ticket die

Others: Chipboard pieces, twine to thread all the bunting together

That's all from me this week, I do have another card I finished the other week but not got round to taking photo yet (probably because don't like it that much!) but will try and get that on soon. Until then hope those in the UK are enjoying this glorious sunshine that seemed to come from nowhere.

Some Odd Girl & new goodies

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Sat, 21 May 2011 20:00:00 +0000

So, my self imposed restraint of not buying new stash hasn't been all that successful this year LOL but I have cut down an incy wincy bit. Anyway, I've made up for it by selling some cross stitch kits on ebay last week and that actually fetched me a fair bit (but my goodness ebay sure take a wedge out of it don't they, with their 10% fee!). Having said that, think I'm going to have to sell a bit more after my recent visit to the dentist. Though it's my own fault as I really don't like them and have not been for a looooong time. Fillings aren't cheap are they?!

Anyway, back to my card I'm showing today. I've always loved the quirky looks of the Some Odd Girl images but I am old school and like to stamp my images (plus I've got c**p printer that's no good with Copics) so I was over the moon when I saw their clear stamps release and snapped 3 up. They turned up sooo beautifully wrapped as well.

My obession with dies is still going strong and some of those landed on my doormat this week so had to have a quick play and came up with this;

Kept the inside simple and just die cut matching shape in white for writing on. It's not great photos as I took it late at night (when I do most my crafting nowadays apart from my 1 day off on Sun) but 1 of the big reasons I love metal dies over say punches is that you can cut out felt and make fab little embellies like the roses on this card. they are way cuter IRL as I've added a teal coloured gem brads to the centres which you can't see that well in photo and they are a lovely shade of wine which does actually match her skirt.

Stash:

Stamps: 'Balloon Kaylee' - Some Odd Girl Stamps (love the sentiment that comes with it)

Colouring: Copics and plenty stickles over the balloon

Paper: erm, the dotted paper and wine strip I think was from a Pink Paislee pad. The teal flowered one is just teal card with randomly stamped flower all over it

Tools: lots of Dies; Cheery Lynn XL french flair classic & scalloped nesting dies (love how big these dies are), MFT cloud die using white felt, mini rolled roses die and leaves from another 1 of their flower sets using wine & green felt. Couple of border punches for the strip running behind her

Others: black brads, red thread & sewing machine & black viva decor pen for her black pearl necklace.

Well that's all for this week, hopefully will get a chance to craft a bit on sunday so may more to show next week. Till then,

Gamer Boy

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Mon, 16 May 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Hello there! what a difference a week makes in terms of weather - feels like Autumn out there, wet & dreary. So here's a bright cheery card that I made for my nephew a few weeks ago. Would have posted it last week but Blogger threw a wobbly so I left it till it was all sorted. Luckily I've weaned myself off blogging/surfing but I know lots were lost without it! Were you one of the ones?! and actually got round to getting some of your 'other' chores done instead LOL

Nothing fussy or time consuming as it'd just be wasted on him!. This LOTV stamp was just perfect for him as he is permanantly glued to his xbox. Only thing missing is some headphones and usually he's in his PJs :D

Stash:

Stamps: LOTV, sentiment from a mini Basic Grey set

Colouring: Copics with a bit of Sakura stardust pen over the games console and tv to give it a sparkly metallic look.

Paper: American Crafts (not sure what this pack was called)

Tools: Petite Oval nesties, MS loopy border punch

Others: blue & black cardstock, metal screw brads

Just Magnolia: 'Sweet wonderful you'

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Fri, 06 May 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Yeah, I can play along to the Just Magnolia challenge this week :) which is 'anything goes' and optional extra of 'stitching' which I have on this card - both real and faux.

I've had this cutie coloured up (Copics, what else?!) for months now and I finally got round to using her.

I've popped her on 3d foam and put her over another fab Die-namics die - high tea party doily. This is actually a whopper of a doily and bigger than I expected (should have read the measurements shouldn't I?!) but that's not a bad thing as it just means I can get other smaller ones LOL (got my eye on the Cheery Lynn american heartland heart die - isn't it fab?! ;) ).

So as I didn't want all the background covered I've placed the doily off centre. Used some MME Papers, kraft card, Magnolia tilda lace border die and tag die, lots of brown stitching, couple of Wild Orchid craft roses, EK leaf punch, ribbon, spritz of glimmer mist and pearl swirls courtesy of viva decor glitter liner pen.

Kept the inside simple and just lined it with some cream paper using the same tilda border die on the edge.

Hope you likey. Have a fab weekend, supposed to be a hot one here in the UK, but so far all we've got is grey and humid!

Enjoy your day

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Thu, 05 May 2011 16:27:00 +0000

Here's a boy card I made - need to make more, never seem to have them at hand when I need them. Tried to find a challenge that I could enter this in but couldn't find any, typical! So here it is.

I actually quite like making 'boy' cards as they require less 'stuff' so it stops me from over thinking and adding loads of embellies. Though having said that I had fun with this one by using some die cut felt clouds (Die-namics die - see, told you they were my latest obsession!) and some leaf brads that I've had forever in my stash. Cute image is a LOTV stamp that's been coloured with Copics. Bottom right corner looked a bit bare so placed a fence border there using my MS border punch. Used a kraft coloured card blank and a piece of sky patterned paper (by American crafts I think) with lots of wonky (accidentally on purpose LOL) brown machine stitching around the edge. All pretty simple but I like it.

I had one little cut out felt cloud left so I had to use it up and put it on the inside :)

I've got another LOTV boy card that I made for my nephew but will save that for the weekend as the photo's on my pc at home (at work at the mo).

Thanks for stopping by,

Live, laugh, love

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Hello again. Was supposed to have posted this last week but never got round to it . .oops.

Made this card with the left over papers and image that never got used on the commissioned 60th card as it was considered too young. I love this cutie from The Greeting Farm and had great fun decoupaging her.

Coloured with Copics as usual and the fab doily behind her is a free sample that I got from one of my orders from Dies to die for. It's cut from a Cheery Lynn Die (kiwi spirit doily) and I love it so much that it's on my 'to get' list along with the gazillion other things I want/need! Flowers made using various Dienamics flower dies and I've just stuck a brad through the centre of them all. As you may have noticed, my current obsession (besides stamps) is all the fab dies coming out, especially the 'Dienamics' range from MFT and the Cherry Lynn Dies.

Papers not sure who it's by as it was a random 12x12 piece plucked from my loose stash. Finished off with some stitching and used couple of border punches on the red panel. Also decorated the inside to match but nothing too fancy.

Right, best go schedule all the other posts before I forget again.

Birthday card ~ "Happy"

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:00:00 +0000

So, another beautiful sunny day and I'm stuck at work waiting for customers (think they're all out enjoying the weather) so may as well make the most of my time and show you another one of my completed cards. Used a cute CC Designs set I got ages ago that had yet to see ink and teamed it with a Whimsy birthday circle sentiment and a fab MFT Dienamics doily die.

As it's a birthday card it qualifies for this week's Stamp with Fun theme so I'm going to join in as it's been so long since I've taken part in any challenges.

Papers are from a Dovecraft pack I think and I've been using my mini sewing machine again to sew around the edges. Images coloured with Copics and have been decoupaged and I've used some of the left over papers to decorate the inside as well (I now make sure I complete the inside and stamp the backs of all my cards before I move onto the next. All my previous cards weren't done so I spent ages finishing them off before I could sell them and it seems sooooo much more time consuming doing it that way then taking 2 mins at the end of when I'm making each one)

Added stickles and a big red half pearl for the cherry on the cake and also glossy accented and glamour dusted the balloon. Used EK paw print border punch and couple of brads to finish.

Right, that's all from me for today. Enjoy your evening.

2 Commissioned cards

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:00:00 +0000

So here are the 2 60th Birthday cards I was commissioned to make. Brief was fairly basic; wanted the name and age on the cards, bigger size (so agreed on A5 size i.e A4 folded in half) and liked all the flowers/decoupage look.

The only other thing was that Christine was a golfer. So having no suitable golfing image I googled and managed to find this elegant lady golfer and then the rest of the card just fell together.

The shape around her is supposed to be like a bunker/golf course shape and then I thought adding the 60 onto a circle to make it look like a golf ball would be cute. Couldn't resist adding 'have a ball' sentiment!
The image has been cut out several times and then layered/decoupaged. Can probably see that better in the shot below. Colours are a lot more subtle IRL but I took these photos at night before I sold them so not the best lighting. She was coloured with copics and then some touches of twinkling H2O to give her blouse & skirt a subtle shimmer. Edges around her were stamped with some flourishes and then sponged with mixture of distress inks and shimmer chalks to tone down the white of the card. Used K& Co patterened papers, machine stitched around the borders. Letters & numbers were cut using Sizzix alphas 'sunset' which I then sponged with pink distress ink and stamped text over them before added stickles over them.

Then it was just a case of a lot of arranging/fiddling and glueing down of the letters, flowers and metal brads & metal corner to finish. More stickles added to the flowers for more sparkle.

Then the other fiddly bit was to make a box to put them in - won't tell you how many attempts it took me to get right but got there in the end! Kept the inside simple by adding pink insert, punched border along bottom and used a lovely happy birthday stamp (from an old HOTP set)

The other card had no specific requirements so I just went for a pretty look and tried to not make it too young, so Whiff of Joy image came to my rescue. (Originally wanted to use a Greeting Farm image but that was deemed to young - have since used that on another card to go in my sale box and will post that later)

Frame image is sitting on is a Nesties die which I cut out with White/yellow Coredinations cardstock and then sanded so that the cute cherry embossing detail shows up but not sure it's that obvious in photo. Again image has been cute and decoupaged and coloured with copics/twinkling H20s and stickles glitter on all flowers. The Lettering & numbers are another sizzix alpha set (think this one is 'tango mango') I cut out of glittered cardstock. then just bit of machine stitching, brads and pearls to finish. Inside kept simple again with basic insert and sentiment.

The buyer seemed happy with them and I hope the recipients like them but I don't think I'm cut out to take request orders as I much prefer just making whatever comes to mind. Too much second guessing myself when I'm trying to work to a brief and wondering if they'll like it!

Will see if my other cards fit any challenges floating around at the moment and try to join in with my next couple of posts as it's been a while. Till then, hope you're all enjoying this glorious sunshine.

Selling cards and the return of my mojo . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Hello there. Sorry for the month long absence again but I have been busy being crafty. I said I would let you know how I got on re. selling my cards. Well, rather then put them on ebay which is a lot of work what with listing them, then posting them and then all the fees/costs involved I thought I'd try just selling them at our shop (we have a take away) even if it isn't really a place you would expect to sell them LOL. So I just decorated a small box and put a selection in and plonked them on the counter and I'm happy to report they are selling . . . whoo hoo :D It's a great feeling.

I'm averaging about 7-8cards a week and it's been over a month now so I'm slowly eating into my stash of completed cards. It always surprises me what cards sell as it's not always the ones I think are the nicest ones but that's good I suppose! Think my pricing them at £2.50 each or 2 for £4 has been a good tactic as they seem to go for 2 each time :) So after my first sale it got my mojo going again and I've been making a few more cards as I'll run out soon at this rate. This was the first one (although it since hasn't sold LOL)

I used a cute CC Designs image I had in my coloured up pile and teamed her with some MME papers, Viva Decor pearl pen, MS border punch and a bit of seam binding to make the bow . Decorated the inside to match.

I also had my first commission order for 2 60th birthday cards which I will post later to show you and then I've got a couple more cards but will spread them out and schedule them for the rest of this week. So a bit more activity this week from me. Until my next post,

A card & some UFOs

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 18:30:00 +0000

Hello there! Not sure if ayone's out there anymore seeing as I'm only averaging 1 post a month at the moment! but if you are, thank you for sticking around! I've not managed to make much in the past month besides finishing this card off which is going to be for my neice when she passes her driving test. I always think of bright colours when I think of her so thought this piece of patterned paper with all the bright glittery arrows would be perfect (I just thought driving = maps/directions = arrows . . that's how my brain works!)

Had to use one of the new Tilda's I got and stamped her with the balloons behind her. Coloured with Copics as per usual and added bit of background colour by sponging some distress ink around the edge too. Used nestie to cut out image and added black cityline border with a MS punch. Bit of ribbon, alpha stickers, stitching, brads and stickles to finish. Do you like my little traffic light embellishment I made using some heart brads and punched out bit of cardstock (SU Word punch shortened).

As the old card mojo's been on the wane lately I had a look through some of my other crafts/stash and decided to do something about the magazine mountain I have of cross stitch magazines. Had hundreds of them stacked in my garage from when my sister got me into cross stitching when I first moved back up north and all my card making stuff was packed away and the stamping mojo was at a low ebb so I was easily led LOL. As with all my crafting urges once I start, I keep seeing things I have to 'have' and not only did I build up huge stash of mags I also managed to collect a rather large collection of cross stitch kits, of which I have started on 1! (more on that later) So anyway, 6 years on I finally took the plunge and went through all the mags and ripped out the charts I wanted and binned the rest. So now I have a full lever arch file and couple of folders full of charts I like (but no doubt will never actually use :D). Going through them has made me realise how interconnected all these crafts are. I have loads of cute cross stitch charts of hedgies and mice and cats by Margaret Sherry (and they are the same looking images as the older PB stamps so assume they are by the same artist) and also came across a couple of charts by Tina Wenke (some of which I'm sure have just been released as rubber stamps).

So, back to the kit I started. I fell in love with it and the intention was to finish it and frame it to put up in my kitchen. Alas, it is still a UFO (UnfFinished Object) 6 years on. So I have decided to document it on my blog and hopefully urge myself on to finish it. I was a bit ambitious as it's an 18count kit so loads of colour changes and pretty intricate for my first attempt at cross stitch but I do love the look of it. So here's what I've done so far . .

2 yummy looking if rather stale and grubby looking cakes LOL. and here is the photo of what the finished piece should look like . .

Then there's one more UFO I found and that was from a chart in a mag which I liked the look of. This one is 14 count so I should finish this quicker if I put my mind to it. Here's what I've done so far . . .

and here's picture of what it should look like when completed. Very Agatha Christie/poirot looking which really grabbed me at the time but not so much now but I'm determined to finish it non the less.

So, that's where I'm at at present. My next task I think is to try and sell some more of my old stash of cards before I make any more as I think that maybe what's causing my mojo block. I'll let you know how I get on with that next time. Until then,

Happy Valentine's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Hello there. Here's the card I made for my hubby so no pinks and reds although it's still a bit too girly probably, but he didn't seem to mind!

The gorgeous image is one of many LOTV stamps that I have in my collection now as I just adore them. Just need to find the time to use them all. So this is a start. The sentiment came with it and I didn't seperate them out but may do at a later date. Coloured with Copics and I gave them a peacy glow around them like they are looking into the sunset. The hearts embossing folder is a country companion one I happened to see and I have used piece of Coredination cardstock and sanded down. Bit of stitching with the sewing machine (before I realised the tension was wrong so don't look too closely), MS heart border punch, nestie die, and the flowers are one of the fab MFT dienamics die (again I am loving their dies and am slowly building up my collection. Still love my MS punches but the dies take up less space and I can cut out more than just card like felt etc which is fab). Only embellies used are some brads and some seam ribbon I have dyed to match my card using distress inks.

I hope you are all well and being crafty. I do occasionally still blog hop and have a quick squizz at what you are all up to - I just haven't been commenting. Less blog hopping has helped me avoid too much tempation of wanting new stash though not stamped it out completely (LOL . . no pun intended). The only other card I have made is this christmas card (going to build them up slowly for next year) which is again using another LOTV cutie and the fab 'cherish' MS punch set was christmas pressie from hubby. The gorgeous leaves are a WOJ die which I have cut into 2. This one is a bit simple but find I need flatish ones to fit in the post easier.

Until next time, have a wonderful day whatever you are up to.

Handmade phone charms & pendants

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:53:00 +0000

So, here's my 2nd post with all the little phone charms & couple of pendants I made as christmas stocking fillers for my nieces & nephews (bit more tasteful then last years crocheted poo!)

All made out of Fimo (brand of polymer clay) which is just basically like working with plasticine (another childhood fave of mine!) only you just bake it in the oven to set it and then I just gave them all a coat of clear varnish to finish.

I made 5 lil' ninja phone charms. (I just stuck a needle through the centre of them all before baking so that I could put a head pin through them all so that I could create a loop at the top of them all to attach the phone charm cords on.

From left to right we have: wooden staff, pink flower, nun chucks (no they aren't sausages! - these were the most fiddly to make as I had to add tiny bit of metal chain to them but it's my fave), pink heart, ninja star. 2 pink ones were for my nieces and the others for my nephews. Oh, yeah I ran out of time and for my oldest nephew I made a chicken drumstick LOL (see first photo) - don't ask why, it was just random and what popped into my head at the time - must have been hungry :)

Here's a close up of them;

For my sister I made this little japanese doll; (don't look too close as I've yet to perfect making sure my hands are super clean and managed to transfer bits of black onto her blue dress)

Then for my Mah Jong (chinese game) mad sister I made this Mahjong piece pendant

and finally for my niece I made this whimiscal toast pendant just because she has lots of t-shirts with these sort of faces on them

I think they seemed to like them all. I also crocheted a Totoro for my niece but I forgot to take a photo before I gave it to her so will have to borrow it sometime and post a piccy of it at a later date.

And that is pretty much all the crafting I've done since November. Oh, plus a bit of novice knitting - started a scarf for hubby but didn't quite finish it in time for his christmas present - maybe next year LOL

I'm going to try and tidy up my craft room a bit, turn the few coloured christmas images I have sitting on my desk into cards and then hopefully that will help kickstart the old mojo. That and some of the new LOTV stamps I ordered today may help. I've been very good and not bought any craft stuff since before christmas. My aim this year is to cut back on the craft spending (no, really, I am!) and actually use up the masses I already have - Wish me luck!

Until next time,

Boo!

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:38:00 +0000

Yes, it's me. I'm still here! I can't believe it's been so long since my last post but things just seemed to have got in the way and my mojo has vanished big time which hasn't helped. Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. It was another quiet one for me - christmas spent with family (always nice to catch up with all my nieces & nephews but getting harder & harder to buy for now that they are virtually all grown up - miss the fun of buying toys LOL) and New Year was spent tucked up in bed watching the London fireworks on Telly as both hubby & me caught this horrid cough virus right after christmas.

I only managed to make a few christmas cards. Some simple ones for neighbours & such;
these were mass stamped for a very clean & simple look

I used Brillance ink on them so they do have a nice sheen/sparkle to them IRL

and then some with minimal stamping, using glittery pattern paper, sewing and nesties

Then the few I did manage to put together were using some of the cute LOTV christmas stamps (girl with doggie & the snow bears) and an MFT a la mode candy cane girl (with their super gorgeous dies - I am huge fan of their dienamics range of dies and the doily one I used behind the 2nd card is my fave)

See, told you my mojo is half empty. That was pretty much all the cards I made over the last couple of months. I still have plenty of coloured christmas images waiting to be made into cards but just never found the 'omph' to do it. I'm going to try and get some of those done so I will have some christmas cards ready for next year!

Apart from that I did manage to make some phone charms and other bits for christmas stocking fillers which I will put up in a seperate post either later today or tomorrow.

So until then,

couple of non cute cards using some new toys

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 01:00:00 +0000

Hello. Here's a few cards I've managed to make since my last post using some new toys :D.

The first 2 are very simple cards using some fabulous new dies from MFT from their dienamics range (Polka dot greeting die & sentiment set and the rolled rose) and then just some shimmery papers and card. As much as I love my punches I love metal dies as they can cut through felt, etc - check out my pink felt rose in the 2nd card - love it! There's more I want to get but I got stung with customs charges so am going to see if I can get them from a UK stockist next time (I've got my eye on the doily die and a couple others :))

This was ultra simple as it was for my mum, so just stamped a lace background direct onto the pearlescent card blank, added the sentiment and felt rose and then finished it off with lots of bling down the sides.

The next 2 cards came about from me wanting to try out my new mini sewing machine (you may have noticed stitching on the first flower card at the start of this post). I've read lots of people saying they use the mini Janome sewing machine for their cards which I couldn't get hold of but I happened to be in John Lewis the other week and saw they had a mini sewing machine which to me looked almost identical to the Janome mini only it was in funky bright colours and was labelled as a John Lewis brand (they stocked the bigger Janome machines so I reckon they must have just got them to make some for them). So anyway, I had to get one as I didn't want a big machine and this way I can use it for paper and also for the occasional alterations to trousers etc (the joys of being short and having to take everything up!) They didn't have the soft pink colour and out of what they had left I opted for the red one . . Look!

It's only diddy but it works a treat. So anyway, here are the 2 cards I made from 'trying out' my machine. Nothing fancy I just wanted to see how it coped with sewing through cardstock.

Here they are individually;
This one has sentiment using the die and pattern from the MFT set and the sentiment from Waltzing mouse stamp set. Papaer is MME, plus some kraft cardstock, MS holly punch, felt flower from Tescos!, silver bells which make lovely jingling sound :) and some ribbon

This next one is again paper from MME, some kraft card but this time I've used a dark brown card base and the sentiment is from Waltzing mouse stamp set(love how they have sets that match lots of the nestabilities die sets). Some viva decor glitter pen in gold for the berries and bronze for the pearls in the corners and green ribbon and holly doodles for a bit of colour contrast. Oh and the deer in the corner is from another stamp set which I have just stamped and cut out.

As it was a dark card base I've decorated the inside very simply with white paper and some scrap kraft card;

Well, that's everything for now - hope that will tide you over until next time - hopefully will get some crafting time in on my day off, sunday as I've got a pile of christmas images all coloured up waiting to be made up into cards. Till then,

'gift for you'

noreply@blogger.com (Frances) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:39:00 +0000

Hello again! Here's the cute Magnolia card I said I had nearly finished. Nothing too fancy as I thought the snowflakes was enough and the image was cute enough as it was.

You can't really tell from above photo but Tilda has been raised on foam pads so it's lovely and 3D in real life - might see it better in photo below and the colours are more true to life in this one, warm wine and cream colours not as bright as photo above.

Stash:

Stamps: Tilda with present from Magnolia 2009 Christmas collection (even though I've got this years's new ones to use now)

Colouring: Copics on image, distress ink sponged around circle background

Paper: Old DCWV christmas 6x6 paper stack pad plus some cream and kraft cardstock

Tools: Lacey circle nesties, MS snowflake punches and deep edger border punch with holepunch for the circle in centre of snowflakes. circle behind image embossed with snowdots (not sure if that's the proper name) folder which I got last year - love this folder think it's by crafts too

Others: stickles for bit of glitter and fineliner pen and tracing wheel for my faux stitching. (May have to put mini Janome sewing machine on my santa/DH list :))

Right, that's all from me for now. Off to do a little bit of online browsing/shopping before the onslaught of Fri evening hungry customers. Have a lovely weekend and for those in the UK enjoy the extra hour in bed on Sunday when the clocks go back, I know I will ;)