Thanks and apologies

Hello dear blogfriends,
I am so sorry for doing a disappearing act over the past weeks (months), however it has been a very hard time for me.  I am slowly getting back into the swing of things and hope to start cardmaking again and of course, blogging too.   Until that time I am going to try and leave a few words now and again to let you know I am still around and also leave comments on your blogs when I am able.  Please note, even though I have been unable to comment I have been popping by your blogs and have been in awe of your beautiful handiwork.

I would like to thank everyone who has contacted me with emails, cards, e-cards, voicemails and comments too.  Your friendship and commitment to me and the blog has not gone unnoticed and your wonderful, caring words have lifted me on many occasions.  Bless you all.

I do hope you all had a wonderful and peaceful Christmas and I pray 2013 will be a good year for you.  I have made only one New Year's resolution and that is to get myself up and running again (figuratively of course!!)  and to get back into the land of the living.  Your continued prayers and support would be so much appreciated.

Quickly before I go I would like to show you the last cards Ellie and I made at the beginning of November. It was the last card I made before going AWOL.  It is a case of a card I found on one of the blogs I follow; unfortunately I cannot find the original to show you.  I will keep looking I promise so that I may give the credit due to the designer/creator.  If anyone knows who it is in the meantime I would appreciate a nudge.

This first one is Ellies version using sage green card for the leaves and flocking for the stamen center upon Spellbinders Labels 25 and a snowflake embossed background.  She finished it with a sentiment using a freebie stamp from a magazine.

The next card is my version using soft green card for the leaves and pencil for the stamen center upon  Spellbinders Labels 14 and  M.bossibilities embossed background.  The sentiment stamp was also a freebie from a magazine.

They are subtley different but both gave a very favourable result.  I think you will agree this style of card really shows off the delights of Spellbinders dies and embossing folders and that is why I chose this particular style to case (copy).
So that's it, sorry it is short but it's just the start.....  The start of a new year and a new me, but be Warned....... I'll be back! (as soon as I can).
Take care of yourselves and your families (they are so precious).
Big Hugs  Linda xx

More of my Decorative Pins, Lace & flowers

Hi again all,
My apologies for not posting this yesterday as I promised, but with one thing and another I was unable to get to the laptop to write it up.  So without wasting anymore time here is my second Christmas card adorned with my handmade items again.

If you look closely you can see another of the lovely Linda Wescotts doilies just popping out over the pennant.  To make the doilies go further I often cut them in half to use like this.  I know it is sacrilege to cut up someones hard work, but I love to use Linda's doilies and would hate to waste the other half just glued underneath the topper.  So really I am doing a good thing and I get two cards for the price of one doily!

 For the pin I used here, I kept the colours traditional green and red, but I used them with silver bead spacers and caps as gold was too gaudy for this card.  I thought the cool of the silver tones was more appropriate with the bluey tones in the papers. 

The pretty pearly embellishment in the center of the red flower is a button from The Hobby House.  They have some gorgeous pearly buttons in both silver and gold tone.  Worth a look if you are after something like this;  the eyelets on the back are only plastic and are easy to remove with cutters.
Below you can see my latest piece of lace.  For this one I kept the basis really simple with rows of double crochet and trebles and then finished the end with scallops to fluff it out a bit.

And finally a side view............

Well that's it for another day.  I do hope you have enjoyed seeing my latest creations (pins, lace and flowers) on my two Christmas cards.  I have created more Decorative Pins and lace so I will make some cards over the weekend to showcase more of them.
Thank you so much for popping by again, you are so kind and your support means the world to me.
I do hope you all have a good day and it is the start of a successful weekend.
Best wishes and regards Linda xx

A Christmas Pin, a lace flower and some Passementerie

Hi all,
Sorry I wasn't able to post this morning but I am on new meds and they made me very tired last night so I was in bed before I had time to even think about the blog.

I mentioned to you in a previous post that I was having a bit of time away from cardmaking to create some flowers and Christmas decorative pins.  Today I am going to give you a glimpse of what I made but instead of showcasing just them I have made a card using one of each to show you them in situ.  I think they turned out rather pretty, I hope you like them too.  I will show another of each in a different colourway tomorrow;  red and green for a very traditional feel.  But for now, lets see todays card shall we:-

As you can see I kept the flourishes and embellishments to a minimum as I thought the flower and button were quite bold.   Those of you who have been with me from the beginning will know that button wrapping (Passementarie) is another of my crafting hobbies.   Passementarie is the art of making elaborate trimmings such as wrapped buttons, braid, cording, tassels, rosettes etc.  This form of decoration was used hundreds of years ago but is still used today in many different ways on Military dress uniforms, wedding gowns, couture clothing and plush furnishings.  Infact if you have ever covered a button with fabric, you have practiced one part of passementarie.  I use threads to cover mine so I can create different patterns in the weaving.  Todays pattern is a star.
I like to make as much as I can for the cards I create and so on todays card I made the braid,  crocheted lace for the flower, wrapped a button and of course, made a Christmas Decorative pin.

In these side views you can see I decorated the inside again and even added a mini banner to carry the greeting and edged it with a small piece of the sky blue braid.  The side angle shot also shows the dimension of the lace flower with all its frills.  You may not believe it but that piece of lace is actually less than 2inch long.


I crochet my lace approx 12inches at a time, then I can cut it to any size required.  From the second row I increased in every stitch and then 3times in every stitch in following rows to get this fabulous frilled effect, which means I use very little of the lace each time to make quite a full and pretty flower.  It can also be made into a rolled flower but that is so 'big' (high and full too) that it is mainly used for headbands, clothing, cushions or bags.
Here is what it can look like:-

This particular flower was made in a circle as I only wanted to make the flower and not a piece of

lace. You can see in the picture below how small the circle is in the center. 

This is the pattern for the above flower.

Chain 6 and ss to make a ring
1st row:- Ch 2, *sc, ch1* 13times to end, join
2nd row:- Ch2, *sc, ch1, sc, ch1 into every (sc, ch1) space on previous row. Join. (inc row)
3rd row:-  ss into first ch1 space then Ch3, 2tr into gap then *3tr into every ch1 space* repeat  from *to* until the end. Join. (inc row)
4th row:- 3tr into every tr below (inc row). Join.
5th row:- 4Ch picot.  (Basic picot not traditional). Ch4, ss into next tr in previous row, repeat to end.


For the lace for todays flower

Make a chain max of 2inch for a single flower or as long as you desire for more uses.
1st row:-  Sc to end.
2nd row:- Ch2, then Dc into every sc below.
3rd row:-  Ch3, then 3Trebles into every dc below. (inc row)
NOTE.. If you would like your lace a little less frilly, only do 2trebles into every dc.
4th row:-   Into every tr below:  *Tr, ch1* repeat to end (inc row)
5th row:-  4Chain picot edge:- Ch4, sc into every ch1 gap on previous row.
This final row can be Ch3 also for a smaller picot.  There are various edges you can use to finish it off so play around a little and see what you come up with.

As this flower was cut from a long piece of lace I had a raw edge to contend with.  What do we do about that?  Well personally, I always use a strong, quick drying tacky glue  (I use Crafters Pick Incredibly Tacky Glue from Wild Orchid Crafts.  It is by far the best and quickest).
I dab a little of the glue across the cut end and then press a tiny bit of the opposite end ontop and leave to dry completely.  When it is fully dry, bend the lace back into shape to form the frills and the join should become almost invisible.   This pattern is very simple but very effective and looks fabulous as frills on a little girls headband, across a crocheted bag and as a guest towel edging it is beautiful.  One last thing, which you will see on tomorrows card, these lace pieces with regular gaps are fabulous for threading ribbon through also.






This last picture shows clearly my decorative pin, lace flower and even the star in the wrapped button.
I am feeling  a chair groove coming on.....  (it's just my version of the happy dance ...lol!) as  I managed a card, some braid, a decorative pin, a bit of passementerie, 2 lace flowers and two little crochet patterns (sorry they are not done professionally, I am good at the crochet, not good at writing patterns!
I am sorry it was such a long post, but I had so much I really wanted to share with you today.  I do hope you are all having a good day, weather aside that is.  I don't know about where you live, but here in South Wales we have been having horrid drizzle all day.  YUK!
So keep dry and keep crafting.  Biggest hugs to you all.   Linda x

Hi all,
I'm back again with my second post for the day.  As I explained earlier, I want to show you the card that my friend Ellie made.
For those who don't know, Ellie is my neighbours daughter and has been learning cardmaking with me for a while now.  It all started when I was having a clear out one day back last year.  I gave a bag of goodies to two of my neighbours for their children to play with.  Ellie had lots of cardmaking items in her goodie bag and since that day has been having weekly lessons with me and making cards.   Unfortunately I had to stop the lessons for a few months (my health got worse) but on Saturday we managed to get our crafting bits and pieces out and made a simple but stylish Christmas card together.
Here is Ellie's card:-

Isn't it cute.  Ellie stamped the little Christmas bear and then coloured him with pencils.  The papers are from a set I purchased some time ago from QVC and the button is from the Hobby House. All the card used is Centura pearl card in Ice White.  I was unsure at first if the pencil would work properly on the pearlescent card but they took to it well and were infact really rich and vibrant.
I hope you like Ellies card and are able to leave her a comment ot two.

To end, here is my card made using the same layout sketch.  Something simple again as we are trying to find the right style for her Christmas cards for this year.  It has to be fairly easy design for the bulk cards or they will never get finished.

I used some more of the paper pack from QVC, going for the snowy blue & white theme.  I added some white organza ribbon with white pearls and buttons from the Hobby House to embellish
I do hope you liked the results of my teaching lesson this week.  We had fun, chatting and crafting and are planning to do the same thing again back on a Friday evening every week... health permitting of course.
That's it for today. Take care and enjoy the rest of the day. Hugs Linda x

Vintage Christmas

Hello,
I don't know about you, but I am so pleased to see the weekend approaching as I have had little time to do crafting with having the grandson everyday and being poorly too.  Also, on Saturday, we go to collect my youngest son from University.  It seems an age since he was home last!
 
When I was packing up the papers for the Candy draw last week I fell in love with a couple of the Shabby papers and so left some on my desk for a card.  Well, at last I have made a card with them and I am rather pleased.  I wasn't sure at first what I wanted to create as the papers were simply roses. Then suddenly the card was designing itself, so to speak.

 
I played around with round dies and rectangles, filigree Motifs etc, but in the end I settled for a square.  Yes, the Fleur de Lis square.  I noticed as I was playing that if you offset two of the squares they form a beautiful Motif of their own and it resembles a snowflake.  Well that was when the card almost made itself.  With the snowflake in hand, the rest just fitted together quite easily. 
I don't know if you noticed but I have used some of the lace I showed on the blog the other day, isn't it lovely; being ivory it fits the vintage look perfectly. I threaded some fine organza ribbon and burlap string through the top holes to add a little extra colour and for texture I added some gold and berry red PVA pearls on the centerpiece and to the outer corners. 

I have kept the card quite bare of embellishments as I thought the paper had so much in it already that it didn't warrant over dressing.  I have, however, omitted one thing that I didn't mean to and that was the greeting.   I was going to stamp a small 'Seasons Greetings' at the top, directly onto the patterned paper (not sure how I forgot to do it!)
As the base card I used was a little thinner than usual I decided to decorate the inside also to give it some strength and stability.

I used more of the same papers and a pretty little Christmas Bells stamp with a greeting.  Again I have left it fairly simple in keeping with the vintage theme.

Finally, the card from the side.  I am really happy with how this one turned out, I do hope you like it too, but be honest please,  I know we all have different tastes.
That's it for another day.  I have a lovely floral card to show you tomorrow using layered Parisian borders.  It's something a bit different for me again.  I am really enjoying pushing my bounderies at the moment.  I am trying hard to play more and not just stick to layering diecuts.  I do adore my Spellbinders and will continue to use them, but now I like to mix them with lots of other things too. 
Before I go, I want to say a big thank you for the input regarding the Diecut Swap Shop.  We must all keep thinking on that subject and then, hopefully we can make a decision sometime next week.
Have a wonderful Friday.  Regards Linda xx

My first Christmas card for 2012

Hi Everyone and a very good morning to you all.

Here it is, my first Christmas card with my first little angel for 2012.

I fell in love with these papers as soon as I saw them on the website.  They are so soft and delicate and are aptly named the Heavenly Collection and they are from the fabulous Nitwit collections.

Click to go straight to Heavenly at Nitwit Collections,

I don't know about you but I definitely am starting my Christmas cards very soon.  Last year I left it till the last minute to start and so ended up with only a handful made and alot of them were not even delivered.  I think I have about 8cards still in my box upstairs in the craftroom. How appalling is that?  So, this year I am on a mission to make a card every week to show on the blog (fingers crossed tightly here!!) and then in the summer holidays when my grandson is with his parents on holiday I am going to spend some good crafting time with my friend Ellie.  We plan to make lots of Christmas cards together and also start some altered boxes as gifts for Christmas too.  Who knows, we may even try some mini canvases too.  I am really looking forward to it.  Since my health took a turn for the worst we have not crafted together and I have missed it.

Ok, before I go I would like to show you a Bookmark I found on the Whimsey Stamps blog yesterday. I am fixated with these things at the moment, sorry.  I just adore the different ways people find to design them.
This is absolutely gorgeous and perfect for a young persons book, don't you agree?

Click HERE to go to the Whimsey Stamps Inspirations Blog

Bye for now.  Have a wonderful day, whatever you are up to today and take care of yourselves.

Regards and best wishes Linda xx