Thursday 30 June 2011

I would love to...

But I just haven't enough hours in a day!

I've been asked for sneeky peeks of the cards I've been making and the demo's I've been prepping for, but unfortunately I just haven't enough time to take photos of them all and post on here! I'm so sorry!

Now a lot of the prep has been completed, {but there is still so much to do}, I'm so looking forward to getting down to Ideal World and showing you what's what! The goodies are am.az.ing!

So, see you tomorrow at around 12 midday ;) x

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Breaking News...More Show added on Create and Craft!

Well...what a day, a wonderful day, but still one for the memory books!

my head is spinning and my feet haven't touched the ground {isn't that a song?} since this morning when I arrived at Ideal World House with 10 minutes to spare before the start of the Papercraft clinic. I had arrived in order to see and discuss the clinic format with the expert and seasoned crafter Nancy Watt. For you see, I will be filling in for Nancy next Monday for 2 hours at 11am. I also met Dean for the first time...what a character! I can tell we're going to get on like a house on fire!

After catching up with Dawn and Sara, it was off with one of the Create and Craft buyers to look at all the lovely products that's going to be featured on pick of the week, which I can reveal is Tim Holtz! Sir Tim! hee hee!  Wow! There are some delish goodies! I'm also going to be doing the Papercraft clinic on Monday 4th July at 11am, so we also looked at questions that had been sent in by Create and Craft/Ideal World viewers.

So... the full list of shows, including extra shows are...

Friday 1st July: 1200 midday, 3pm & 7pm {all on Create and Craft}

Saturday 2nd July: 8am, 1pm & 6 - 8pm {two hours} all on Create and Craft

Sunday 3rd July: 4pm & 6pm {all on Create and Craft}

Monday 4th July: 9am &5pm {Create and Craft} Papercraft Clinic on Ideal World 11-1pm

Tuesday 5th July: 9am, 12 midday, 6pm {all on Create and Craft}

Wednesday 6th July: 9am & 5pm {all on Create and Craft}
                       

Anyhoo, better get on - got lots to do!

Thursday 23 June 2011

My First shows with Create & Craft...

Hi there,

Sorry for my absence over the last couple of days, I've had a few things to deal with and quite frankly my crafting mojo up and left me stranded! However, hopefully now things should be back to normal, and I have some great news!

I can confirm that my first shows working with Create & Craft/Ideal World will be...

Friday July 1st ~ 12 midday, 3pm, and 7pm

Saturday July 2nd ~ 8am, 1pm

Sunday July 3rd ~ 4pm, 6pm

Tuesday July 5th ~ 12 midday

It would be fantastic if you could join me! I will be bringing you something so amazing, you won't believe it! I'm so sorry but that's all I can say for now!

Monday 20 June 2011

Winner of Freebie Digi Challenge #2!

Good Evening all!

I'm sorry I'm late posting the winner of last week's Freebie digi Challenge. I've had quite a hectic day of it to say the least and so unfortunately I will not be posting a new Freebie today. I'm so sorry about this, and I promise normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

However, I would like to announce the winner of last week's digi challenge was... Wendy!

Congratulations Wendy! Can you please email your name and address using the contact me button at the top right of my blog please, and I will get your prize out to you.

Thank you so much, and sorry for letting you down with the digi image tonight :(

Sunday 19 June 2011

We are Hull KR!

Hi there!

I promised that I would be back with a final Father's Day card today so here I am! I made this with the sketch {no.222} over at CPS in mind, and had I posted yesterday, I would have been able to enter the card, but as usual I've missed the deadline, so now it's just for fun!


I've made this for a friend who's Dad is mad on Hull KR Rugby team. I distressed the edges of the blue cardstock with Old Paper and Weathered Wood Distress inks, and the edges of the stamped panel and paper print with Old Paper. I stitched thread through the buttons before fixing them down, although with a little forethought I could have stitched them to the paper before sticking the panels down!
The John Byars image was stamped with Memento in Rich Cocoa, before colouring the player in the Hull KR strip ~ right down to the little badges on his arm and pattern on the socks! I hand drew a line of brown ink around the edge of the card before stamping Happy Father's Day around the image.
I stuck two lengths of ribbon together along the length, and fixed to the underside of the blue cardstock, trying with a bow using the two different colours. I'm really pleased with how neat the bow came out!

I {yet again} hand stitched around the newspaper print paper using a pale blue embroidery thread {2 strands}. By the way, if any of you know who makes this paper, or where it's available from, I'd be very grateful if you could let me know as I love it! Finally I added a hand drawn white line around the red paper with a gel pen. 

Supplies: Free Digi Image: Clare Curd Crafts; Stamps: John Byars sporting Stamps, Happy Father's Day clear stamp, part of a stamp set of individual words {unknown} Inks: Promarkers, distress inks in weathered wood and Old Paper, Memento in Rich Cocoa  Papers and Cardstock: Core'dinations cardstock in shades of blue and brown; Newspaper  print patterned paper {Unknown}, Doodlebug Cheerfully Christmas Grid   Tools: hot glue gun, pokey tool,  Embellishments: BasicGrey buttons in brown and red, Sakura white gel pen, twill in red and gross grain fawn ribbon

Tomorrow sees the start of the new digi Monday challenge, with the availability of a new digi download. Only one this week I'm afraid :( , so it would be great to see you then!

Saturday 18 June 2011

No.1 Dad!

Hi there!

Sorry there was no post, last night...no card as promised. We had a power cut and my laptop had no juice, in addition to that of course the broadband router is powered by...yes, you got it electricity so I couldn't get on line either, so it was back to Amish ways! It's amazing how much we use electricity when you think about it isn't it, it effects our lives in more ways that you realise until it's not there. And can I say that I can't believe that I have written a whole paragraph about electricity!

So, onto the card I promised you yesterday. This is great if you need a Father's Day card in super quick time, as it's so darn fast {sorry, I'm watching one of my favourite films ~ 'Yes Man' and I seem to catch the accent!}. It's using the final of my FREE digital downloads, available *here*. There will be a NEW FREEBIE {and we all love a freebie, don't we} download available on Monday right here on this blog, so don't miss it! Don't forget I'm running a challenge using any of the Father's Day downloads this week, with a little prize for the winner, and I'd love YOU to be a winner! So make sure you enter *here*!

The rosette is made with papers free with a past copy of 'Making Cards' magazine, designed by Nancy Watt! This is A4 paper and so I cut two strips along the length with a width of 1.5" and glued them together. I scored every 0.5" with my Scor~pal, then attached the ends together to form a continuous circle. I stuck this to a circle using a hot glue gun.
I decided that the greeting as a little too big as is, so I trimmed off the edges and attached to the rosette with a couple of vintage buttons. Kinda simple, but I love it!

Supplies: Free Digi Image: Clare Curd Crafts; Papers and Cardstock: Free Papers from 'Making Cards' Magazine '~Stars and Stripes, designed by Nancy Watt, Doodlebug Cheerfully Christmas Grid   Tools: Scor~pal, Hot glue gun, 1.5" circle punch {to make base for rosette} Embellishments: Vintage buttons in navy blue and red, Sakura white gel pen.


I'd love it if you could stop by tomorrow for my final Father's Day card. To be quite honest I have loved making Masculine cards, but I'm looking forward to laking something more girly!


Please, let me know if you download the designs and what you think to them! I would really appreciate it!

My Good News...

Hi there,

If you are one of my friends on Facebook, you may have heard my news that I have been bursting to tell everyone, but haven't been able to until now.

I'm so pleased to be able to now say that at the present time, I'm in talks with Create and Craft! I'm beyond excited at this new chapter in my life. In my opinion the award winning Create and Craft are taking the crafting bull by the horns and really leading the way in innovative, new and inspiring ideas. With all the new products and demos available, who wouldn't be excited!

I'm so excited {did I say that already?} to be working again with super talented people and friends such as Leonie and Dawn, and of course spending more time with them too! I'm soooo lucky to be able to do something that I love every day, I really don't take that for granted!

As soon as I have more news, you won't be able to stop me from shouting it from the rooftops!

Thursday 16 June 2011

Earthy Father's Day...

Hi there!

Today I'm sharing a card I created with the fourth FREE digi download available *here*. This card is something completely different to the other's I've created this week, and I love the soft muted colours. I treated myself to a few brand new paper packs {you know when you justify the essential purchase of new papers to keep up to date...!}


I hand stitched the orange patterned paper with a muted green embroidery floss, and as these papers are reversible, it was quick and easy to colour co-ordinate. The brown embossed panel is the reverse of the striped mat, put through the polka dot embossing folder and sanded. I cut the mat for the ticketed panel by first trimming into a rectangle,  then cutting the corners with a small circle punch to get the neat shape. 
Supplies: Free Digi Image: Clare Curd Crafts; Papers and Cardstock: Core'dinations cardstock in cream , First Edition Desert Blooms Paper Pack {Trimcraft}; Ink: Ranger Distress ink in Old Paper  Tools: X-cut 5/8" circle punch, Pokey tool, Quickutz polka dot embossing folder, sanding tool. Embellishments: Brown and Fawn ribbon, green embroidery thread.


I've based this card on an old sketch from Card Positioning systems challenge blog too {CPS 146}, just for fun!


Be back tomorrow with the final card made with the free digi downloads. Hope you're enjoying them! Until then...

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Rock 'n' Roll on Father's Day!

Hi there!

Sorry I'm a bit late with this...I had hoped to get this online earlier, but you know how it is!

I've created a card using the third of my freebie Digi Downloads, which you can find in *this post*! I hope that you download, enjoy using them and enter the digi challenge for a chance to win a prize!

I made this card on Behalf of my friend's son to give to his Dad. They are Rock and Roll Dancers every now and again, and the digi reminded me of the centre of a record, so that's where the idea was born!


I just LOVE the backing paper, but please, don't ask where I got it from, because I can't remember! it was something I printed off the internet without saving, I will try and have a scour around the world wide web to see whether I can find it again. I really hope I can find it, because it's sooo cool! I kept the rest of the card quite simple, as the paper is quite busy and I didn't want to overload the design. The letters are acetate stickers I've had for yonks!

Do you know what I made the vinyl record from? It's the inside of a floppy disc! Yes, you know those ones that you must have lying around somewhere unused and unloved. I just removed the plastic outer case to reveal the disc itself. Just watch how much you handle it, they seem to show up finger prints quite easily!
The jukebox is from a fabulous set of 1950's stamps from Pink Cat Studio. I coloured with Promarkers, trying to get that look of the changing colours that run down the sides. 
I punched out the digi download with a 1.5 circle punch and stuck it to the metal part of the floppy disc. I actually had the 1950's retro stylee in mind when I designed the download. Love that era!
The disc can be removed from the 'record sleeve' (which is actually a pocket, with a semi circle punched from the edge.) I made sure the sleeve was large enough for the 'record', and square too.
I also made a reverse for the disc, which acts as an extra message panel. I'm also making this available for you as another FREE download *here*. I hope you like it!

Well, that's all for tonight, I hope you like the card as I LOVED making it! Thanks for all your lovely comments, they really make my day. I'll be back tomorrow with another card made with the fourth digi download. Until then...

OMGoodness! WoW...

Hi there,

I can't believe it, I'm so honoured to have been picked as one of the top three in last week's Sketch Challenge at I ♥ Promarkers! Thank you so much to all the team there, I really appreciate it. I will display the banner on my sidebar with pride!

Will be back later with a card using the third of my Freebie Digi downloads...

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Retro Father's Day...

Hi there!

Hope you're having a great day. The weather is just beautiful here in North Lincolnshire and this morning I have been doing some shopping ready for our summer holiday. I've pur~chased a few new tops, and I also got Joe some supper cool trendy tops too. He'll wear nothing else at the moment. Where did my baby boy go, he's 6 going on 16 now!

I've made a card with the second FREEBIE digi image available from *yesterday's post*. This is a little more on the retro stylee, so I've tried to match this to the papers...


I've hand stitched {lovin' hand stitching at the moment!}around the edge of the panel, by lightly drawing around the panel with a pencil, then pricking about 0.5cm away form this with my pokey tool.  It's stiitched with one thread of burgundy embroidery thread.The corners are a bit dodgy, but what can you do...it's hand stitched, right?
I've drawn a little black line around the edge of the circle, again a little wonky... I've designed the image so that it can be cut perfectly with a 1.5" circle punch!

Supplies: Free Digi Image: Clare Curd Crafts; Papers and Cardstock:Core'dinations cardstock in shades of blue and , ATD Occasions and Celebrations Year Book paper pad; Pink Petticoat Littlest dots Tangerine Tools: X-cut 1.5" circle punch, Stampin' up scalloped circle punch, Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page - Cherish, Pokey tool, COrner rounder large. Embellishments: Red Twill ribbon, white gel pen, red adhesive gems. 

Anyhoo, feel free to grab your Freebie, and I will be showing you another card using a digi image tomorrow.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Monday 13 June 2011

Digi Freebie Monday and Digi Challenge #2!


Hi There!

Well, it looks as though this is going to be a Monday Evening Challenge doesn't it. Why did I pick Mondays?! ~ well, the reason was that we all need something free to look forward to after the weekend, but I didn't count on the hecticness {is that a word?}that Monday's bring. I'm sure once I'm more organised I'll be posting at 6am...yeah, right!

So what FREEBIE do I have for you tonight. Well Matthew{?}, being Father's Day and all this Sunday coming, it would be rude not to at least help you out a little, wouldn't it. AND I have not just one freebie.....oh no! I have but FIVE FREEBIES!!! Well, I got a little carried away, and it would just be a waste not to give them all.






These are all available to download *here*.There are two of all of them apart from the ticket design with the tree. I've also designed the circular greetings to fit into a 1.5" circle punch perfectly! I would love to know what you think to these and what else you would like to see available so please *let me know*.

I've made this card with the first in our line up, and I will be showing cards I've created with the other digital images every day this week.


Supplies: Free Digi Image: Clare Curd Crafts; Papers and Cardstock:Core'dinations cardstock in shades of blue and white, Basic Grey Cupcake~make a wish, Archaic; Tools: X-cut heart punch {for scalloped edge), Pokey tool, Embellishments: Orange Polkadot grossgrain ribbon.

I really hope you like it! I've used a sketch from a challenge blog called Sweet Stop Sketches, brought to my attention by Sarpreet, Thank you!So with that in mind, I would like to enter the card into that challenge:


Now onto the challenge. I would Absolutely ♥ ♥ ♥ to see what you do with this image! So all you have to do is make your creation, then add your name and the URL of where your creation is into Mr Linky! I will judge the winner on Monday 20th June at 10am, so...what are you waiting for?







Whoo Hoo! I made Top Three...


Well knock me down with a feather! I made top three at the *One stop Craft Challenge blog* with one of my Father's Day cards you can see *here*. I'm absolutely overwhelmed! Thank you to everyone involved. You've made my day!

Sunday 12 June 2011

Waste Not Want Not!

Hi there,

And a Happy Sunday to you all. I've spent the day doing nothing much, and to be quite honest I like yet loathe days like this. I like the relaxed feeling 'nothing much' gives, although I loathe the feeling on non-achievement. I'm definitely a do-er and to do nothing seems alien.

So this afternoon I decided to so something I have been meaning to do for ages. I hate any waste, and get great satisfaction from completely using up the last of things.  I also got Joseph involved, but he got bored quickly as they do at this age and went off to play at being the 'Gas Man' - don't ask.

I'd got some Yankee Candles that hadn't burned away completely, so after removing the old metal plate for the wick and any debris, I broke them up and put them in a sealable bag. I added to the bag any time I had spare wax from the same fragrance candle.


I bought some paraffin votive wicks from candleiciouscandles on ebay, they were very reasonable so make it worthwhile buying some to use over time.


I was going to buy some votive moulds, but I could only find them in fours at the store I went to and they were so expensive for the amount of times I will use them. So I bought these votive holders from a candle suppliers for 99p each and these will do the job perfectly. The only downside is that once they're moulded in there, they stay there, unlike if I'd used a mould.


I used a makeshift Bain Marie from a Pyrex jug {other heatproof jugs are available!} and a saucepan full of water. to melt the leftover wax from my Yankee Candles, this fragrance being my favourite, Creme Brulee. I waited until all the wax had melted before pouring. You can speed up melting time by breaking up the wax into smaller pieces to increase surface area. You see, I did listen in Physics!


Then as soon as the wax was completely melted I poured into the holders. The wick might move around a little but once poured you do have a few seconds to make sure it is centralised. The jug can be easily cleaned by putting it back into the Bain Marie and wiping round with kitchen towel. Make sure you don't burn your hands! End of patronising warning!


Finally, here is one {creamy caramel} which is nearly solidified, and the other {creme brulee} has just been poured. Can you see how the one on the left has dipped a little in the middle? This is what happens when they set, so it's a good idea to leave a little wax to reheat and pour to get a flat, perfect candle. I don't know if they may have lost some of their fragrance, but they smell good to me!

Thanks for coming to visit! Don't forget there's another Freebie Digi Monday tomorrow!

Saturday 11 June 2011

Friends are the Essence of Life...

Hi There!

Well, what a day! Can the weather decide what to do at all today? One minute glorious sunshine, the next torrential rain. I'm sure that the farmer's are doing a celebration dance though, and rightly so!

I made this quick card yesterday. I was all fidgety and couldn't seem to settle down to anything. Do you ever get days like that, where you feel as though you have Ants in your tummy?

I was initially enveloped by the colour combination from the Color Q Challenge, and I went on to have a look for other challenges to enter. I seem to be addicted to challenges at the moment. Am I a lost cause, or is there any cure? I'd love to know the challenges you'd recommend. I've found Feline Playful through a few recommendations {thank you!},but I'd love to know which ones you enjoy.


I used a clear stamp set I've had for years...I'm so sorry I don't have a clue what it is, or who made it. If anyone has an idea, I'd love you to leave a comment. I used a mixture of pigment and dye based inks to achieve the right colour mix for the Color Q challenge. The colours are just awesome together! I also used cored'inations cardstock on the reverse side so that I didn't pick up too much texture on the stamped images. I added the ribbon through a hole created by my crop a dile before mounting onto burgundy cardstock.


I also used a masking technique to layer the images. I LOVE this technique, so I make sure I keep my masks with the stamp set so I can use until it gets too grotty.

Supplies: Stamps :Flowers, unknown; Kaisercraft Friendship Sentiments; Inks: Colorbox Red and Dune pigment; Mushroom chalk ink and Chocolate Brown dye based ink. Cardstock: Vanilla and scarlet Core'dinations cardstock. Ribbon: Brown Spotty Ribbon from Country Baskets

I'd like to enter the card into the following challenges:




Thanks for coming by today...It's around dinner time so I'm hoping that we'll be eating soon!

Friday 10 June 2011

The Winner of the Blog Candy is...

Hi there,

Just a quick post to announce the winner of the blog candy is...

Sandracraftycardz!
Congratulations!

If you could let me know your postal address by emailing me through the contact me button on the sidebar, I'll get your prize out to you ASAP.

Thank you so much to everyone for entering and putting a link on your blogs too!

Love, Clare x