HOME is where the heart and LOVE are........

             

Happy Sunday folks! 

Hope it's a nice day wherever you are and that you have nice things planned.  We have had a few very stressful weeks culminating in our new dishwasher arriving this am and the fitter telling us that he couldn't carry out the job as we have an extension on the u-bend (no problems in 15 years!) and they are not allowed to fit in case of leaks! I took to the craft room with lips tightly pursed for fear of expressing my true feelings (not the poor guys fault though) and left hubby to sort out, no plumbers available today so we have to forget about it till Monday, in the grand scheme of life it's really not a problem, just a mere inconvenience.  Not much fun when friend decided to wash some dishes not realising there was an escape in the unbend where old machine had been disconnected, a few bath sheets later all well again! After all that, was too late to get to Cancer Care coffee morning, hope all crafty donations are making some money for such a good cause, not much left to do today then it's feet up tomorrow and not a lot else, I will probably end up making something whilst feet are up lol, don't know what to do with hands otherwise!

Anyway, on to the matter in hand, i.e. creating with my all time favourite craft products -  here are a couple more creations made for the sale, hope by the time you read this they will be hanging on a wall or a fridge (have put magnetic tape on back of calendars) somewhere! I have used two Sizzix dies by Paula Pascual, my lovely DT colleague - Kath Woods - used the Love one in one of her blogs a few weeks ago, (9th September) well worth a look to see what Kath created by building up lots of layers of the die cuts - really beautiful.  I have used 2 of the three dies available in this style (Love, Home & Noel) today, namely LOVE and HOME.

For the 'home' ones have die cut 3 chipboard cuts of each and then a front and back cover from the lovely Time Flies papers (sorbet pink).  I hate making more than one of anything so decs on all are different. I stuck the chipboard cuts together/on top of each other to give strength and then covered with my chosen paper, inked all the edges and then the fun started! I might have decorated a little more than I would have done had they been for myself but I was having fun, lol! Every sort of embellishment came out, ribbons, string, pearls, blingy gems, punched flowers, butterflies (die cut and ready made from CWC), a heart wreath base, flower braid which I dyed to match, stickles, practically all but the kitchen sink.... 

When I had decorated the 'home' hangers I popped a little 2014 calendar on each - a perfect little gift to hang beside a desk, on the fridge or bulletin board in the kitchen.

                                        

      

                                        

                                        

                                         

The heart  + LOVE was just as easy! I covered first one side of the  heart with the lovely pink version of Time Flies and cut around with a craft knife when dry and then did the same to the back.  I inked around the edges to hide the chipboard between the papers, and started to decorate. I layered up one of the beautiful die cut matching flowers (I like lots of layers) and popped in a pearlised flower centre.  I die cut a decorative butterfly and used 3 layers for some depth and then gave a touch of stickles for a little sparkle! I cut the 'love' die in pearlised pink card from CWC, and stuck 5 layers together for strength and stability, I wanted a tonal contrast to the pink Time Flies covered heart.  When decorated I joined with a piece of flower braid which I changed from pale duck egg to pink with an ink pad and popped on a couple of Candi blooms.  Lots of bling and some ribbon later the final wall hanging emerged.  

                                              

                                              

                                               

Hope you enjoy what I have made.  Day off on Sunday (possibly!) and then I can't wait to get my hands on the new Art Deco inspired collection - Vogue- designed by the so so talented Steph and showcased by our lovely Julie on TV yesterday. Just in case you missed the shows - Kath Stewart, fab creative lady that she is, gave us a wonderful blog yesterday with amazing cards, if you missed it please pop back for a look and leave a well deserved comment.  I'm sure very soon our Pinterest board will be groaning with more delectable inspiration!! 

Enjoy Sunday and have a lovely week whatever you are up to, I'll be back on Friday with some more creations using some of my favourite Craftwork Cards products, of course featuring Candi - see you on Friday and in the meantime keep happy, smiling and crafting......... 

A sprinkling of simple Candi

Morning lovely Crafters!

Hope those of you who made it to Harrogate had a fab time, are busy creating with your purchases and having lots of  crafting fun.  I've been doing a little creating for you today with some nice Christmasy Candi colours - Christmas Post, Gold Bar, Red Velvet and Forest - all from the Colour Pops range - these colours are rich and lustrous so I have kept my creations simple (that's me anyway, a bit less is more most of the time!).

Today I have made two cards, a gift rosette with a Candi bloom centre, and a kraft gift tag.  The first card has a border of crushed, 'up side down' Gold Bar Candi.  I have used a mat of white card edged with gold ink, a Christmas Post layered flower with a crushed Candi centre, a gold Craftwork Cards sentiment and a few dashes of Stardust Stickles.

Card no. 2 is again edged in Stardut Stickles, I have used Miri card (from my CWC stash) to make a bauble.  I  embossed the red Miri first with a snowflake design to add some texture and used Christmas Post  and Gold Bar candi, (Gold Bar has a little stickles on ittoo!) in the centre of all the snow flakes.  Some Christmas sentiments and a little red organza ribbon finish it off.

On to the gift rosette......... simply made from scraps left over from other projects.  I have just made some rings with four strips of different Christmas Post papers and glued together in the centre to form a 'rosette'.  I've added a Candi bloom to the centre and a Christmas sentiment and finished off with a fairly large double sided foam pad on the back, ready to peel off the top and stick on a Christmas gift for someone special.  

Last but not least a gift tag.....  I love these kraft tags or any kraft card for that matter! I have stamped all over with a tiny snow flake in gold and inked around the edges for a nice effect.  A simple, fairly large sentiment on the bottom of the tag, bordered with crushed Red Velvet Candi is the main focus of the tag, leaving the remainder blank for a hand written message.  A simple organza and red twine bow with some gold and red gems add a little finishing touch and a simple sparkle of Christmas magic. 

There you have it, simple ways to use Candi, hope you enjoy these makes and will get those Candi boxes out and start creating and when you do, we would love you to share what you have made with us all....... Email on cardsandcandi@hotmail.co.uk
Still using that iPad so here goes with the pics!!........

Have a fun weekend and whatever you get up to - keep happy, smiling and above all enjoy life!  

Time Flies but denim still does it...........

Hi everyone,

Just a couple of lines today is show some inspiration from a strawberry, this luscious little beauty below was found in my punter yesterday morning and I couldn't resist the heart theme, old romantic that I am.  

I have used Time Flies papers, butterflies and flowers from Craftwork Cards, some of their beautiful ribbon and chipboard hearts, denim from some old jeans and some blingy bits from my stash.  The finished item is now on the wall in the dining room of our holiday home and, I think, looks just right there! Hope you agree too.......

Sometimes it's nice to create something other than cards, I enjoyed this one! 

Thanks for popping by for a look!

Clearly Besotted Challenge #2 - more spots!

Back again, I actually had 3 cards to make last week for special people so used dots/spots in all so I could enter in challenge for my favourite stamps, just love the simplicity and clean crispness of Clerly Besotted Stamps, have quite a collection now, lol!
Hi, back again.....

This is a simple tag card, I love these as they're cute and neat, I'm not a fan of larger cards.......
I have used a lovely marmalade orange for the dots from Background Builder, have given dots a little glam up with stardust Stickles as its for a glitzy lady!! Congratulations at the bottom is from clearly Besotted Happy Ever After -  not just for weddings!- have just pleated some gingham paper from Craftwork CaRds and made some little Rosie blooms using card Candi, again from CWC, have used ink pad to dye seam binding to match, and here's the finished little tag card......

Hope you like, even a little!

Clearly Besotted Challenge #2 - Spots and more spots!

Hi everyone!
I love spots, dots and polka dots and have been having fun with my fab new stamps from Clearly Besotted, I just love them all and have collected quite a few now.... intend to have them all one day, lol!

I have  used them to make a card for my beautiful sister who is not well at the moment and is recovering from a really huge operation, I saw the sentiment and put the card together specially for her and don't normally big up my own creations but I do love this (apart from bad pic as using iPad at night) and am entering it in Clearly Besotted Challenge # 2, hope you all like too...........

Big hugs!