Stuff and Nonsense

Time for a bit of an update.  I've not been managing as much craftiness as I'd hoped over the last few weeks and I've managed even less blogging, so I thought I'd add a couple of crafty makes today plus a little picture catch up to show how things were going with our refurb.

 Mini "Hello" card

Here's a mini card using gorgeous ribbon and lace from Creative Treasures - I really love this stuff so much!

 This ribbon is one of their lovely "Silky Crush" collection, some ruffled along the card and some made into a rosette.

The lace is a pretty flowery design so I added some Imaginisce gems to the centre of each, then added more of the gems to a large gold brad.  I then gave the brad a coating of Crystal Ice Stickles - I used my fingers to brush some of the Stickles onto the lace rosette

Tiny Gift Box

This is a tiny box made is from a sheet of card which I've covered and lined with papers from the recent"I Heart You" download collection from Funky Hand

 There's an even tinier gift tag to match, with the tiny flowers made from scraps of the same papers

The cloakroom is finished now - we just need to add a few decorative details, some pictures, a vase or two and a blind for the window.  As it's a small space we gave ourselves the luxury of natural Travertine tiles for the floor and lower wall area.  The upper tiles are handmade, with a few "designer" accent tiles - which took simply ages to arrive!

The washstand is oak and has a nice big cupboard for all the cleaning junk and a shelf for spare towels. We've got a heated *ladder" towel rail now - a luxury, as the old room, though twice the size it is now had no heating at all - and it had a shower in there brrrr.

The kitchen will be all but finished by the end of this week (fingers crossed).  Ben the fitter will be back to fit the remaining drawer fronts and doors, to do the rest of the oak trims and to fit the curvy breakfast bar.  We are having glass splashbacks along the long wall - the template has been made, but it will take a week or two for that to arrive. 

See if you can guess what colour it will be.....

There are a couple of plumbing and electrical bits to be finished off too

The rest of the work has involved making a broom cupboard off the hall - it's just an empty space atm and we are trying to decide what shelving to add, and a dressing area which is all freshly painted and waiting now for our builder to start making the cupboards which will tidy away our coats, shoes etc.  We've bought a pew, which was cut down to the size we wanted for this area so that we won't need to queue up to sit on the stairs when we are tying our shoelaces any-more :-) hehe

So, you can see that at last things are nearing completion - I still haven't a clue where I am going to put everything, but it will be soooo nice to reclaim the other rooms in the house from all the stuff that's been stored in them during the work.  I bet it will take even longer to put away than it did to clear it out though!

Thanks for looking.  I'll be back with some Crafty Templates makes soon

Cake, Anyone?

Yet again I've fallen into "Bad Blogger" mode.  Just can't seem to settle to doing anything much atm, but hopefully this malaise will go away soon.  I miss my blogging buddies!

Thank goodness the Daring Cardmakers gives me a bit of routine and forces me (ever so gently) to do a bit of crafting each week.   This week it was a real challenge too and more than one piece of card went into the bin.  Sharon really gave us all something to think about with this one - but it wouldn't be a "challenge" if it was too easy, would it?

She says:

I want to see your Vintage Parisian/Palace of Versailles creations 
as this week's theme is

Marie Antoinette

There are lots of possibilities with this theme - your card doesn't necessarily have to feature the Queen herself, but can be in a Baroque/Palace of Versailles style, or something inspired by the fantastic gowns and wigs she wore. Or, you could even opt for a 'let them eat cake' inspired card (even though she apparently never actually said that!)

Can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Fortunately my Craft Robo seems to be working atm - maybe it just needed a rest (don't we all?). but I suspect it will need to go away for a bit of a spa treatment (service) even though it's working atm - I've not had the guts to try it out with more complicated images yet! 

Right, I've just cut out all the rambling waffle about what went wrong and how many versions went in the bin, and how many things I couldn't find that I wanted to use, so you can just know that there was a long list!

Here's what I ended up with

 

Materials:

Turquoise "Stardream" card for base

mix of Bo Bunny and MME papers 

Gold card is part of something that went into the bin

Black Bazzill card

Seam Binding, Lace, Flat backed pearls (part of a Prima set of swirls and butterflies) all from Creative Treasures

White Organza circles for flower, Crystal Ice Stickles, turquoise pearl brad, Ranger Gold Metallic Paint Dabber

Tools 

Cuttlebug Embossing folder "Textile Texture"

EK Success border punch

Spellbinders plain circle and Doily Accents dies

Craft Robo

Notes:

The white flower is made from layered circles on white organza which were each held over a tea-light till the edges curled up a little

The seam binding was used to make a rosette and also to make the bow - I used some spray on starch on it (actually used the iron, shock, horror), then crumpled it up tightly and used clips to keep the crumples till I was ready to make the bow.

There are some fabulous ideas and "takes" on the challenge this week - you can tell it gave us all food for thought.  Please pop over and visit the DCM BLOG and see what the team have come up with.

Building Update:

We're at the end of week 7 of the building work and things are really taking shape now.  This week the tilers finished in the cloakroom and the plumber was then able to fit the washstand and loo which have been sitting in the lounge and a corner of the hall respectively - so we've managed to reclaim most of the lounge now!

The new hallway/dressing area has a pew in it now - but the cupboards are still to be built around it and we're now toying with the idea of adding an extra little radiator in that area (I'm sure the idea of making fresh holes in the lovely, newly plastered and painted walls didn't please Keith, our builder one bit, but he coped admirably when I told him hehe)

The Corian worktops that have been holding everyone up by being late arriving have been installed over the last couple of days and look FAB!  

We're still waiting for a few doors and drawer fronts to arrive, somehow they didn't arrive with the rest of the stuff.  
Now that the Corian is in, they've templated for the glass splashback which goes all along the long wall, next week the last plumbing jobs can be done, the last bits of wood can be added, the funky pop-up  socket can be put in and all sorts of other jobs done.  
The glass takes another couple of weeks though so the electrician can't finish 2nd fix till that's installed. 

Now I can't wait for the glass to come and for the oak breakfast bar to be fitted.  It's all so tantalisingly and frustratingly close!

I completely forgot to add photos last week, but I will try really hard to get some up on here this weekend!

Thanks for visiting, please come back soon

It's in the Mail

This week on the Daring Cardmakers our challenge is about all things postage:

It`s Rein here this week and my dare for you is

"postable" people

Please use things with a postage/mail theme such as postmen, postage stamps, parcel delivery or perhaps postage-inspired greetings on you card.

First port of call for me was the box stuffed with what I like to call Ephemera - but is really where I stash away all manner of "things that might come in useful one day".  Ephemera is a lovely word and makes it sound less like I'm just hoarding stuff that should be thrown away 

I knew there was a stash of interesting stamps and suchlike in there but before I got to them I found a bag of gorgeous reproduction postcards in miniature sizes - among them was this lovely wedding image which I couldn't resist using.

Can you believe that until this week I'd not ordered any new crafty stash THIS YEAR?  I well and truly broke that record though by ordering 4 new MME 6x6 pads, a Marianne Hearts die and replenishing the black and white Bazzill card stash, plus the Echo Park 6x6 pad and some 12x12 sheets from the same collection which I'd forgotten were in my stored basket since before Christmas - hmmm, maybe I should pay more attention to the contents before I hit the pay button, oops.  They are lovely though and I think I might get some non-Christmas use out of them.

Anyway, the MME papers are "Howdy Doody" from the Miss Caroline collection and I don't know why they have such a rough and ready name for what is quite a romantic/chintzy set

 Materials:

Cream 14cm sq card blank edged with Tattered Rose DI

Papers all MME Miss Caroline collection, "Howdy Doody" 6x6 pad

Miniature postcards from The Fruit Pixie

I went a bit mad with the ribbons, lace and flowers, but sometimes that happens!  Most of my supplies for these came from Creative Treasures

The Flowers (vaguely left to right):

off-white gardenia petals with wired "daisy double" in centre

Peach organza flower with pearl centre

Peachy-pink organza circle (edges curled by candle "method"), wired rose centre

Rosette flower created from folded silky crush ribbon, narrow ivory lace and a large pearl brad,

creamy brown wired Cherry Blossom

white rose bud and small white rose, large white rose

The peachy-pink flower above the white ones is made using 3or 4 "flat" Prima blossoms, formed around a flower stamen centre (I can't remember where they came from!)

There is a length of wide lace across the card and gathered up at the left side, plus a length of ruffled up seam binding

flat backed pearls, home made rub-on stickers

Tools:

Dies - Spellbinders Floral Doily, Marianne Hearts (3 die set)

Tim Holtz Distresser

Please visit the Daring Cardmakers Blog to see the lovely projects made by our fab team - we'd love you to join in with us this week too.  Don't forget our new Facebook page is up and running so if you use FB you can leave a message and a link there too.

Building work/Kitchen Update:

We're at the end of week 6 and nearly all the paintwork in the various areas is done.  Mark has been here most of the week wielding his trusty rollers and brushes - it's amazing the difference a coat or two of paint makes - especially the gleaming gloss on the woodwork.

The tilers came during the week and the kitchen floor is now finished.  Unfortunately, they couldn't finish the cloakroom too as the feature tiles didn't arrive in time, and we're short of a few of the Travertine tiles too - knock on effect is that the new loo looks lovely sitting in the hall and the washstand is still in the lounge.  hey ho!

Ben the kitchen fitter is also here today fitting the drawer fronts and doors so it's all going to look a bit different by the end of today.  No word yet on the work tops though - I was hoping they'd be here today too.  

The skip was collected yesterday - now that's always a good sign that the end of any building work is getting close, isn't it? 

So, we're still camping out really, most appliances aren't fully fitted yet and some not even in the room yet, but bit by bit it's all taking shape.

I'll try to remember to add some photos over the weekend.

That's me for now though, I have crafty stuff to be getting on with so I really should make a start on that.  

Thanks for visiting, please leave a message if you can

Hearts and Doilies

It's Nat's turn to set the challenge this week on the Daring Cardmakers Blog:

With Valentine's Day just around the corner I wasn't about to let the opportunity for using my current two favourite design elements pass us by!

This week I want to see you make a card that features both...

Hearts and Doilies

There are so many ways to combine the two. Why not experiment and try something new?

 I haven't any paper doilies in my stash atm - I did have a couple but I was experimenting with them and some ink and I overdid it and all I ended up with was a soggy lump of paper and very inky fingers.... Kept meaning to get some more but haven't got A Round Tuit yet.

So I used my Spellbinders Floral Doily Motifs die instead, I had to cut the large heart free hand as Craft Robo is poorly atm (note to self: must sort that out)

 I've thrown rather a lot of stuff into the mix here, but it was fun to make and it'll be hubby's valentine card next week - though he'll think it's far to fussy and as for the ribbon......... oh my gosh! :)

Materials

Cream wide-ribbed card blank

Papers: MME Lost and Found (12x12), the glittery "Love" motif is also cut from one of the papers

Chipboard small hearts and arrow: Maya Road (Charmed Cards and Crafts)

Large pin and Red organza ribbon (Creative Treasures - don't forget they have blog candy on offer atm)

Beads from my stash, Inks, Gold Ice Stickles, Red Stickles

Tools

Spellbinders Floral Doily Motifs die

"you" is from the Cuttlebug Love Language A2 Combo set

 While on the theme of lurrrrrve, I thought I'd share the first page I'm made for my new little maze book - I'm just going to fill this book with favourite, inspiring or though-provoking quotations.  As the LOs can only be about 7.5cms square they won't be too complicated - that said, it's always amazing how long even the tiniest project can take to do.  I've heard scrapbookers say "Oh it's only a little card, they can't take as long to make as a 12x12 page...." yeah, right!!!!!

I've used the February LO plan from The Sketch File for this - just to prove that they are good for things other than cards - and that they work when you shrink them!

Materials:

Funky Hand "I Heart You" papers

small pink heart shaped gem

Quotation piece is pc generated using various fonts

Kitchen/Building Update:

Not much has happened this week - the electrician has been here for a couple of days doing all the 2nd fix things that he can do for now.  The tiler was due today but has been held up on the job before ours so will be here from Monday.  I hope the rest of the tiles (the pretty "feature" ones) for the cloakroom are in by then....grrrr.  The painter will be back next week too and with a bit of luck our lovely Corian work surfaces will be ready to fit by the end of the week.  So fingers crossed it'll be nice and busy here all next week, with not too much left to be done after that.

Thanks for visiting today, please leave a message, I do love to read them

Have a great weekend

Hearts and Ribbons

Yesterday the new sketch went live over on The Sketch File - it would be fab if you'd have a look and even better if you'd join in with us and make something using the sketch - doesn't matter what sort of crafting you do, or what sort of thing you make - the more the merrier.

I've made a card for the newly released Funky Hand download collection I Heart You using the sketch.  Using a "congratulations" sentiment means it could be for pretty much any special occasion.  

Here's the sketch

and a full view of the card

Materials:

All papers (background papers and those used to make the flowers) by Funky Hand  from the "I Heart You" download collection

Green card for Leaves, Pink Heart shaped gems, faux brads made with scraps of the same FH papers

Seam Binding, Lace, organza ribbon flower, dotty white organza ribbon

Tools:
Sketch: February's LO idea from The Sketch File

Roses made with Marianne die se, others are hand cut coiled flowers.

punch for leaves is by Nellie Snellen, Circle punch,

EK Success border punch, Glossy Accents, Decal sticker sentiment

I love the colour palette in this collection, with: a great mix of soft pastels and deeper, stronger shades too.  Click HERE to go to the Funky Hand website and find out more about this and other download collections, the Fabulous Papercraft Factory CDs and the other Fabulous Funky Stash Anice has on offer - including a great price on things like Glossy Accents and Promarkers....

Do you like ribbon - and would you like to win a fab ribbon-filled prize?

The seam binding, dotty organza ribbon, narrow lace  and the organza ribbon flower with the pearly centre are from Creative Treasures - Tracy, who owns this fabulous shop has some blog candy on offer atm.  This is the gorgeous bundle of joy you could win - visit Tracy's BLOG to find out how to be in with a chance of winning.

I think that my crafty mojo, which has stayed away during recent weeks, despite my being confined to the study during the early stages of the building work seems to be coming back. I've got a few things I really want to get down to making, and as the power is about to go off while our electrician does some work on the new electrickery stuff, I'm going to sit at my desk and put plans into action!

Thanks for visiting today, don't forget to click all the links |I've added in this message hehehe

Back soon with more new stuff

Rosy Cheeks

You'll definitely have those if you're venturing out in this icy cold weather!  Pink and Red is also the chosen combo of Jo who's set the second of our First Friday Colour Combo challenges on the Daring Cardmakers today.
Here's my card

I've used the current LO from The Sketch File Blog, shrunken to leave lots of (scary) white space around the sketch design.

Materials:
Fancy Pants Beach Babe 6x6 papers, Red Bazzill card + a scrap of white
Pink Lokta paper coiled flower (Spellbinders)
Red organza ribbon, Tiny pink ric-rac and White Lace, plus card candy all from my Creative Treasures stash, Sentiment is a homemade decal sticker
Tools:
Spellbinders coiled flower die, EK Success Border Punch

Building work update:
The kitchen units are now in (but no doors) and the appliances are also in - though most don't actually work yet.  We have a functioning tap, sink and washing machine, though all the connections are just temporary atm - at least we don't need to wash the dishes upstairs any more - but we'll still be using as few as possible, that's for sure! The "Corian Man" came this morning to make the templates for the worktops, and yesterday Ben the Kitchen Fitter made the template for the breakfast bar which will be made from solid oak. It'll be a couple of weeks till the Corian is ready to fit and then things will really be on the home straight.
The tiler has just arrived to tile the floor in the new cloakroom, The tiles took soooo long to decide on but in the end we've gone for Travertine - it's a small space so we'll push the boat out a little!  At the moment the new washstand/sink etc are standing in the lounge - I try not to look at that end of the lounge with it's assortment of hatstands, Dysons, piles of cookbooks and various sample floor tiles....
.
So...still quite a way to go yet, but week by week we're getting there!
I'll get some photos on here at the weekend - always good to have a nose around other peoples' houses, isn't it ;)?
Right, I'm not sure where this day has gone, but going it is, and fast!
Thanks for visiting