Sneak peek...

Good Morning..... 

I've been so busy just recently with prep for an up coming monthly class then retreat weekend and still have a tonne of things to do but I thought I would take a couple of mins to tease you with a sneak peek of an upcoming class.

I'm sure you all recognise the 'splodge' by now from French Foliage, where would I be without that little stamp, but do you recognise which set the little Butterfly is from?

 If you would like to know more about classes or indeed Retreat weekends then get in touch using the button  on the right.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I will be back soon with a little something for all you romantics out there.

Spread the love...

Good Morning from a wet and windy seaside....

 

I wanted to show you this lovely picture of my good friend Karen and her first card.  The smile on her face says it all I think!

 Karen had never crafted before and really didn't think she could create anything that would look this good but I have to say she took to it like a duck to water and really enjoyed herself.

 

How often have we heard people say "I'm not a crafter" or "I wouldn't know where to start"?

Well these are just 2 of the phrases I hear from my non-crafty friends all the time.

However I'm not one to take no for an answer and urge everyone to give it a go. No one is born a crafter and each of us started somewhere and it is one of the best therapies around, even being trialed by some GP practices as a form of therapy for depression.

 

With that in mind I decided to make this year all about spreading the love of crafting and set about trying to encourage as many people as possible to give it a go.

 

I hope you too will 'spread the love'

 

 

ps... Don't forget to leave me a little 'comment love' to let me know you popped by

Passionettes Spring/Summer Blog Hop

Good Morning and welcome to the Passionettes Spring/Summer Blog Hop.... 

We have joined together to show you the new seasonal catalogue and some projects that can be made. We have split the catalogue into page groups and this way you get to see the whole range of products.

The hop starts here with some lovely projects by Vicky.

If you started at the beginning of the hop then you will have come to me via the lovely and talented Teriscraftspot 

I hope you have a cuppa in hand as this has to be the picture heaviest post I have ever done lol. I fell in love with the items on pages 10-13 as soon as I saw the new Catalogue and just new I would be in heaven creating with them. 

I started with the scrapbook page below and just loved how the details were all there for you from the Artisan Embellishment kit.  

 As you can see I got quite carried away and anything lying around became fair game to alter!

 Here are some close ups of the details in each project.... This little frame was easily altered using a small section of More Amore Speciality DSP and a button with ribbon tails from the Artisan Embellishment Kit, both on page 10 of the catalogue.

 Here is the button in detail and as you can see it has the most fantastic raised detail.

 Another button from the kit this time and its used to decorate the seam binding which is also in the Kit to form a band to hold the note book together. I don't know about you but I always love to have a pretty note book to hand.

 Here is the scrapbook page... I wanted to keep it simple to showcase the lovely detail so the layout and background are fairly straight forward. a little spritzing gives life to the base layer without detracting from the accent pieces.

 As you can see the DSP flags have the edges curled slightly to create depth and movement as well as showing of the second side to the DSP.

 Grouping together a few embellishments from the kit adds the finishing touch and I just love how the buttons are flat backed to allow for building up.

 A matching card was a must and here I have allowed the papers to shine. A ribbon flag using the new Two-Tone ribbon in Basic Gray/Basic Black works to give a place to anchor the new Designer Builder Brads.

 As you can see the detail on these brads is superb. Each brad comes with an Epoxy bubble to place in the centre to highlight the deatil underneath. these co-ordinate so will with all of out tiny stamps.

 It was also just the right size for as little heart I punched from one of the sheets of DSP.

 Another heart here from the DSP was hand cut to replace the 'o' in love. A single rhinestone adds a touch of sparkle.

 To finish off the ensemble I used half a sheet of More Amore Speciality DPS to create this cute  little gift bag. Another length of the seam binding formed the handle and the bag was finished off with one of the paper roses and a 'ticket' from the Artisan Embellishment Kit.

 Here you can see the soft colouring on the edges of the paper rose.

I hope you like the projects featured here. All the items used can be found on Pages 10 - 13 of the New Spring Summer Seasonal Catalogue. I had so much left over that I plan on making some more items to co-ordinate so be sure to pop back soon to see what else can be created using these gorgeous goodies.

Now you need to hop on over to see Magda and the lovely projects she has for you. 

Happy Hopping x 

Stampers 6...

Just a quick post from me today as I try and get ready for yet another craft fair tomorrow. It's been a busy couple of weeks in the Nuthouse but I promise to be back soon with some crafty goodness.

I will be running a new Stampers 6 from Jan and as a bonus for joining me I will be offering a little something extra FREE in your hostess month! This is in addition to the regular FREE benefits that come with being part of the Stampers 6.

If you like the sound of FREE stuff on top of FREE stuff but are unsure what a Stampers 6 is all about then click on the tab at the top of this page titled Monthly Clubs to find out more.

Till next time - Happy Crafting

Christmas in a tin...

Our market on a Thursday always has a stall selling sweets and biscuits really cheap and on my way back from the post office this morning I had to pass by. I was sooooo excited to spot these tins of mints priced at 10 for £1!!! Thats right just 10p each.
I just knew they were crying out to be altered and after seeing something similar in blogland I just had to give it a go.

 They are only tiny at 7.5cm x 8cm so ideal for using up bits you have lying around.

 I started by covering the tin with some DSP (this pattern is retired) and to neaten it all up I applied ribbon to the edges. A little stamped greeting finishes off the top just lovely.

 The inside needed no 'treatment' other than to remove the mints the tin once held. I'm sure they will find a good home of their own when the girls come home from school lol.

This is what the tin now holds! The banner is made using the smaller of the two circles from the Pennant Die, a circle punch and the now retired Alpha dies. I love using the owl dressed as Santa instead of the letter 'O'. So much cuter right?

Hope you enjoyed this mini project - Only another 19 for me to do now lol

Craft fair season

I know it's far too early to even be thinking about Christmas (there I've finally said it) but for all the organised people out there its never too early to be getting those little gifts for loved ones and so I have been helping them in their quest for the perfect day...

I thought I would show you some of the goodies I have been selling at various fairs locally.

                                         The stall all set out with a forest of book trees

                            Snowman Poop... Lots of these bought for the men in peoples lives

                                                                   Reindeer Food

                                                                   Reindeer Poop

                                                                Snowman Soup

                                                         Decorated chocolate bars

                                                               Stamped Candles

                                                          Pencils with cute toppers

                                               Baggies of chocolate and jellies

The most popular seemed to be the Poop and Soup so I have been busy re-stocking my baskets of these goodies and more for the next few fairs.

Hope to see you at one soon - next fair is at Sutton On Sea 8th Dec

Stampin' Up! Perfectly Penned...

... meets the Passionettes 'unconvention' challenge!

For the few of us in the Passionettes team who were unable to make Convention this year I set a couple of challenges to keep us busy. 

The first was to create a card using a 'Fancy Fold' . I have seen this one on a few blogs recently and thought it would be perfect. 

I used a lovely colour combo of More Mustard and Cajun Craze. Not my normal go to colours but they are fast becoming a favourite. 

The background uses DSP from the Regals Stack and really is good value for money. 

 I stamped the sentiment from Perfectly Penned in Cajun Craze ink and then using the 'blobs' from French Foliage I stamped in the 2nd generation in More Mustard ink.

The folded part was made using the Two Tags Die and the Simply Scored Board. this gives you lots of room for signatures. Perfect for a work collegue or large families.

I will be putting a tutorial on how to get the Two Tags fold on my blog in the next couple of days so be sure to pop back.

Till then - Happy Crafting