CD Sunday Challenge #149 - hosted by Jocelyn

 Firstly I wish fellow teamie Jocelyn  -  our hostess for this challenge -  a very Happy Birthday today.  I don't think we have ever had a teamies birthday on the first day of a challenge before and it is a special one.

Happy 70th Birthday Jocelyn.

Here is my card for this challenge (not the one I have sent to Jocelyn):

A birthday card for my go-to box made using a stitch pattern download from Laura's Designs - no 390.

The single butterflies and the sentiment are die-cuts from Carnation Crafts and the central 3D die-cut image was purchased from Hearty Crafts from the Top Topper Shop.  The link is on my blog.

I look forward to another year of CD Sundays with all your beautiful creations to inspire us.  

In the meantime take care of yourselves and have fun crafting.

Hugs

Carol  xx

p.s.

I just want to say please be careful, everyone, if the weather turns really nasty, as has been forecast. It's another reason to stay and craft.

CD Sunday Plus Challenge #144

 It is my turn to be your hostess for this challenge and I have a special card to share with you:

I made this card for my young neighbour - Marcus.  He is a delightful young man and I enjoy making cards for him and all of his family.  We were so lucky when they moved in next door. They are wonderful neighbours.

The card is from Carnation Crafts using my favourite meeces.  Aren't they fun?  I think I now have all the dies for all the meeces - including the ones for Halloween which I will be using very soon.

I found a background of some wooden planks for the meeces to stand the ladder against.  The letters for 'Marcus' are die cuts (not sure from whom I purchased those) and the No:7 is a peel-off.

Marcus has his birthday later this month but his sister Emily has already had hers - on the 4th.  

 I hope all are well and I look forward to lots of visits to your blogs.

 Hugs

 Carol xx

 

CD Sunday Plus - Challenge #131 - hosted by Aimes - Anything Goes

 

 

This Hibiscus decoupage image is from a La Pashe CD - The Big One - Vol 1 - Folder - Nice and Easel. The butterfly was made by me using a Carnation Crafts die and a rather special jewel like butterfly body.  Sadly it was my last one and I cannot remember from where I purchased them.

I used a Carnation Crafts 'Shabby' die for the pink background mat.

As I have said many times before I love all the La Pashe artwork.  You can almost always find what you need amongst the many hundreds of images.  Tis my go to supply.

I have mentioned before that I belong to the United Kingdom Stampers Network and one of the inter club sections is called 'Cards for Kindness'.  Each month a list of names is drawn and circulated and those on the list make a card for 'their' name.  I chose this one for April and I hope the recipient likes it.  It is winging its way - that is if the post does 'wing' these days.

I hope all are well and as always I look forward to visiting all your Blogs and admiring your handiwork.

 Hugs

Carol xxx

Card for Kindness for UKSN

 I think I have mentioned before that I belong to the UKSN - United Kingdom Stampers Network.  We  have a few Postal and Exchange lists and one of these is CFK - Cards for Kindness.

A list is drawn up each month and we each send a card to the name we have been given and obviously receive one as well from another on the list.

I tried something different this month using a Carnation Crafts die set and Vignettes that I bought some time ago - Sheer Delight.  This is for our member - Jan.

The outside

The inside using Sheer Delight.

 

The outside die cut bouquet comes from Tattered Lace from a series called 'Sash 3D'.  This one is called 'Berries'.

There is quite of lot of 3D on the card which I love doing.  I always have liked 3D work.  This was the first type of craft work I learned from my Mother.

I have heard from Jan and I am pleased to say that she liked it.  The CFK list at UKSN is one of my favourite lists.

Hugs

Carol

xx

More flowers and butterflies

 

 Actually just one flower and some butterflies.  Whilst nursing a stinking cough and cold I have tried playing some more with the Carnation Crafts 'Floral Embrace' set.  Again I played a little with the colours, but have decided that my current graphics programme isn't sophisticated enough so I am looking to find something better.

In the meantime I cut out a white lacy layer to act as a background.  (I can't remember the make I am afraid).  The little butterflies are also from Carnation Crafts with added Glamour dust and some gems.

Nothing from Katy Sue this time but I will confess that I have been shopping and have some more delicious 3D die-cut decoupage sheets to play with - so watch this space.

I hope all are well in this freezing weather.  Don't catch cold.  I did.  The first cough and cold for at least 4/5 years.  Stay safe.

Carol

xx

Flowers and butterflies

 I have been exploring and playing with some new purchases.  Three of which are from Carnation Crafts and  one is from Katy Sue.

I have had hours of fun using all these wonderful dies. Firstly the background frames are from a Carnation Crafts (CC) matting and layering set called Teardrop and Sweep.  I bought the whole set as follows.

The flowers and leaves all come from Floral Embrace. A new to me set of dies and vignettes from CC. I have spent hours printing out the flowers and making them up. I have even discovered that I can change the colours a little using my graphics programme.  Also changing the paper used makes a great difference in the colour tones. I added some fine beads to the centres .

The pink butterflies are from Perfect Packages - another set of dies from CC and the yellow are die cuts from Katy Sue.

I can't remember where I purchased the sentiment banner.  I bought it such a long time ago.

I have made up dozens of the flowers from Floral Embrace in all the different shades so I will be busy.  I think flowers and butterflies will be my theme for quite a while.

Carol

xx

A little bit more of Halloween 2023

 On the CD Sunday Plus challenge before last I showed a digital Halloween card as my team card  - and also four others that I had made for a card swop.

Here now are the others that I made for that same swop.

I confess to showing the 'Pumpkin People' again as that was my favourite.  This one went all the way to Australia - and it was on time!

They were made using things from different sources. The two 'Cats' were from a CD by Linda Ravenscroft.  Several of the die-cuts were from Carnation Crafts, and I think from  Tattered Lace. The various backgrounds have been collected over time and used many times.

I have collected even more Halloween 'stuff' for 2024 so watch this space.

Carol xx

CD Sunday Plus Challenge #108 - hosted by Margaret

 As I mentioned on the Challenge Blog it is our 13th Anniversary this week - on the 18th.  It doesn't seem possible that personally I have been entering the challenges since then.  In the beginning as a challenger and later as a Design Team member and now acting as a sort of team leader cum blog writer and poster.

I was so scared when I entered that first challenge.  I had never done anything like that before and had only just started my own blog.  Fortunately there were and still are some lovely people around who are willing to help and advise - and -  Oh Boy did I need help and advice.

Just before I show you my card for this challenge I would like to show again my first CD Sunday card:

 

 This was designed by me and made during the time that I was seriously into parchment work.

Now here is my team card for this challenge:

 

This was stitched using a download stitch pattern from 'Add some Sparkle'. The vase and flowers are  Carnation Craft die cuts.  The mats and sentiment toggle were made using Carnation Craft Shabby dies.  I have used this stitch pattern before but with different colours and centrepiece.

 

I look forward to your visits.  I hope that our team will be back up to full strength on the commenting front.  We have had some illnesses and holidays to contend with.

 

I will do my best  to do my visiting but if I don't manage it all I have a genuine excuse.   I have a busy few days of things to do and places to be as I have a really big birthday celebration on Friday - 80. 

Hugs

Carol

xxx

 

Christmas 2022 - Burst of Berries

 This is my first stitched card attempted since my operation.  I just wanted to see if I could manage with a fine needle and thread - and I couldn't be more pleased.

My last stitched card was managed about a year ago.  Towards the end of the year and up until just now stitching had been impossible.

I chose a Christmas stitch pattern from here and re pricked the already done holes to make them easier for the needle and thread.  Unusually, I did the stitching before I chose a focal image, and this made it difficult to choose one to match the theme and threads.  I have a whole box full of ready made 3D die cut images to choose from and couldn't find one I liked.  Instead I went to my album of already cut Christmas die-cuts and chose the Carnation Craft 'Burst of Berries' which I trimmed into a bouquet and added a bow.

I haven't tried getting out the die-cutting machine and plates yet to see if I can manage the weight and actions needed - but this is now high up on my to do list.  

All I need now is for the operation on my left wrist to be done and crafting life will be back to normal.

Carol xx

Positively the last Christmas cards for 2021

Some of you may have picked up from some of my postings that I am a member of the UK Stampers Network.  This lovely group are primarily about all things stamping but they do have certain internal little groups that you can get involved in and not use stamps - like the ATC group .  They also do craft retreats and on one of these they learned some card shapes - one of which was a 3 point card.   It was talked about on the blog and I loved what they had done.  I am known amongst some of my friends as an 'any shape as long as it is square' kind of crafter but I did like the cards they showed me.  So I had a go and here are my last two Christmas cards for 2021.   I love them and plan to use the shape more often when I am making my 2022 Christmas cards.

Now the blue one was my 1st go and I still have that one but the second is in an envelope ready for the postbox.

For them both I used backing paper from stash.  The images are die cuts.  The meeces are from Carnation Crafts and the Santa is from Tattered Lace.  The sentiments were cut with dies I have had for ages.

Admittedly I made the basis of the cards  some time ago (September) but with help of the new pain medication from my GP to help with the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome I managed to complete the red one yesterday but only because I had already cut out the images and they were safe and ready in my die cut stash.

I think I like the shape more each time I look at them.

Thanks for looking.

Hugs

Carol

xx