Thursday 31 March 2011

Charlotte's Birthday

When my little niece Charlotte spent the day crafting with me recently, I suggested that she might like to use my owl die on one of the cards she was making, but she declined.  After suggesting it a few more times and each time being turned down, we were laughing and I told her that it was one of my favourite dies and as such, I would be making her an owl birthday card.  And that is exactly what I did, and luckily, she really loved it!


I haven't seen Charlotte since her birthday, so she hasn't had her pressie yet, but I can tell you that I had a lovely time choosing her gift ;)

Carole x

Monday 28 March 2011

It's Official, my sister is now an Essex Girl!!!

Gradually, one by one, nearly all my family have left Watford, for various reasons.  My aunty and uncle are still in the area, but that is it.  My sister left last weekend, and has officially become an "Essex Girl" after moving in with her boyfriend.  She has been offered a fab new job working in London and is really excited about her new life.

So, I made her a card to say congratulations, and welcome to your new home/life:



This card took hours to make!  Not sure why, it just wasn't coming together how I hoped and then all of sudden it did and I ended up quite pleased with it, as is Jo (phew!)

Getting a bit worried that I haven't made my two Mother's Day cards yet ... hoping to grab some craft time tomorrow!

Carole x

Wednesday 23 March 2011

More Kit Cards

I enjoyed making my first ever kit cards yesterday, so although I only had a short time available today, I wanted to make another one ... or two if the kit would allow it!  There are eight cards in the pack and I've now made two, but squeezed another two out of those!  I love thrifty crafting!!!  Some of the cards won't allow for an extra one, but I'm OK with that since I am stretching the kit to its limit!

So, kit card:


and my version (which I actually prefer!)


The card should have been a "thanks" card, but as I don't use many of those (how bad does that sound?  I obviously do thank people all the time!) I changed them both to Happy Birthday cards which I send tons of!  My flower embellishment was simply a punched scalloped circle with tiny leaves stuck on, a flower cut off a flocked roll (from the same range), a punched flower and middle and a brad.

Looking forward to trying another now!

Carole x

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Kit Cards

This afternoon I spent a happy few hours in my Crafty Corner :)  I made a card for my sister who is moving out of her flat and out of Hertfordshire to live with her boyfriend in Essex.  I'm sure that she will be very busy organising the move and won't get a chance to peep at her big sister's blog, but just in case, I won't show you that one yet!

Having spent a couple of hours on afore mentioned card, I was flagging a little bit so I decided to have a play with a card kit that I bought recently in TK Maxx.  I have never bought a card kit before!  The first one I decided to make was this one:


In the kit, the dog tooth check paper was folded in half to form the actual card, but as it felt quite flimsy I decided to use one of my own card blanks and stick half the paper to the card instead.  Then, as I had two pieces, I thought it might be fun to try and make another card from the bits I had to hand ...


On reflection, I think I prefer the kit one, but if you don't compare the two, then the second one is perfectly fine and I shall pop it in my box to use when an appropriate birthday arises!  Wondering if I will be able to double up on any of the other cards in the kit ...

Carole x

Sunday 20 March 2011

Happy Birthday Friend

Just a little card to show you, for my very good friend Natalie's birthday tomorrow:


Another one using my lovely Basic Grey Sugared papers ... I promise to put them away again soon and use another collection!

Now I would like to introduce you to a new little fella who will (hopefully) be making an appearance in some of my Easter crafting:


How cute is he?  A little ebay purchase a few months ago which I had a little play with to see what he turns out like ... cute!  Now just got to think how I can use him!

Carole x

p.s. Patchwork update: No progress at all ... still contemplating the design!  My current thinking is to not make things too complicated for myself and stick to squares, random squares eeeek!

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Patchwork

As promised, here are the fabrics that I have so far managed to gather together for my patchwork:


The fabric fourth from the left is the material I made our bedroom curtains from, a cream background with biscuit colour swirls and blue flowers.  I have quite a bit of this fabric left.  The first fabric on the left is the same range of fabrics but the flowers are beige.  I found this at Fabric Warehouse last week in the sale for £5 a metre so I snapped up 3m.  The fabric that is causing me trouble is the blue one, second from the left.  I have very little of this left.  However, the brown fabric is from the same range as the blue but has little gold bits instead of the silver on the blue.  The light blue (fifth from left) was my bargain £1 remnant, and so were the last three but they are quite small pieces.  Hence the need to make my design random :(

I'm liking how they are looking together, but am now having doubts that I am up to the challenge!  I think I might have to make a small project just to gain some confidence ...

Just in case any of you lovely ladies happen across a fabric shop and spy some blue fabric, here is a close up:


It's by a company called "Ashley Wilde Designs" but I don't know the name of the range.  I know it's a long shot, but I'm desperate!

Off to work again this afternoon, but now have Friday off, so hoping to do some crafting then!

Carole x

Monday 14 March 2011

Maria's Birthday

Last week, it was my lovely friend Maria's birthday.  I somehow managed to sneak a few hours in my Crafty Corner to make her a card and a little gift:


I made this VERY Carole card (but Maria did say that she liked my style and NOT to change!) using my second favourite ever papers, Sugared by Basic Grey.  I really had forgotten just how much I like these papers.  It was a fairly simple card, like most of mine I suppose, but I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

Then, while these lovely papers were still out - and does anyone else do this - remember how much you like a particular set of papers and make your next few projects from them because they are to hand and are back to being a favourite?!!!  No?  Oh well, just me then!  Anyway, as I was saying, while they were out, I made Maria a little gift that I'm hoping will find a little spot in her "Arty Attic":



Patchwork Update

I have had a little more success in my fabric search, although the blue fabric that I would love to find I think is no longer available (I did find it in brown and bought a metre of that, and also in pink, but I don't want to add pink in).  I am trying to stick to the colours of our bedroom which are basically cream, beige and light blue.  I have been looking at quilts and designs on the internet and as I love things to be symmetrical (in case you hadn't noticed that from my cards!) I really like designs that are ordered.  However, as I have varying amounts of fabric, I am going to have to do a random design!!!  Shock horror!  Actually, it does make me panic slightly!  I'm wondering how I can bring some organisation into random!  Hmmmmmm ....

I will try and take some photos of the fabrics that I have gathered together so far, the last ones being from a curtain shop at the top of our road who have boxes of remnants outside, and I found a large piece of pale blue for £1!

I am also contemplating perhaps making a little quilt or cushion cover first just to get me in the swing of things - maybe a king size quilt is quite ambitious for my first quilt in over 16 years!

Carole x

Wednesday 9 March 2011

A non typical Carole Card!

Here you go, a non typical Carole card at last!!!


This is a birthday card I made for my friend Natalie's daughter Amber's birthday this week.  Amber is mad about cats (especially Morris, hence the orange/ginger cat) but sadly can't have one of their own as both Natalie and her son Oliver are allergic to cats.  The card was a free template with a magazine and I just covered it with paper, cut out some stripes and added a ribbon with a bell!

As well as it being Amber's birthday this week, it was also her brother Oliver's (bad planning on Natalie and Steve's part I say!!!)  OK, I admit, this one probably is more of the usual Carole style and those funny glasses  have once again come to the rescue:


Don't know what I will do when I have made cards for all the men/boys in my life using their funny glasses photos ... maybe a funny hat for next year?!

I have been wanting to have a go at patchwork.  I made my one and only quilt 17 years ago when I was pregnant with Alex, using the fabric left over from making the nursery curtains.  So yesterday, I went in search of some fabric to coordinate with the curtains and cushions that I made for our bedroom when we redecorated it about four years ago.  I had mixed success, but found some perfect material for £5 a metre.  Not sure how I will get on, especially as I want to make it kingsize, so I haven't invested in the wadding or the backing fabric yet.  I am looking forward to designing my quilt, but until I have got all the fabrics I can't really start ...

Carole x

Sunday 6 March 2011

Nan

It was my Nan's 88th Birthday this week ... and this is the card that I made for her!


Unfortunately, my Nan isn't doing too great at the moment.  Just recently, she has started to look, and to feel her age and that is something that I never thought would happen.  So, I wanted to make her a card that would make her smile, a card that I could put a lot of love into, and this is what I came up with.  I hope she liked it!

Today, my sister in law Victoria and her family, husband Philip and four (yes, four!!!) sons came for lunch.  They range in age from Oscar who is 8 to Otto who is 18 months (Jasper is 6 and Felix is 4).  It was great to see them all, they are such lovely little boys.  But, the best bit was seeing their little faces when this was brought to the table:


WOW!!!  What a recipe!  Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake (with marshmallows and Maltesers as a topping).  Oh my!  Thank goodness there were 10 of us to share it!!!  This recipe is definitely a keeper ...

Carole x

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Valentine Card

I've only just realised that I had forgotten to post the Valentine card that I made for my OH!


I'm thinking that with a different sentiment (obviously!!!) and possibly, although not definitely, a different shape (e.g. star) this design could easily be a birthday card, or a thinking of you card, get well soon, etc ...  Yep, I might make up a few of these to keep in my card box!

Carole x

p.s.  I did manage to sneak a good few hours in my Crafty Corner yesterday, although still only created three cards.  Due to the lack of crafting opportunities recently I will save them for another day!