Blog

Crafting for Gold - Day 12

08/08/2012

Hello everyone and welcome to day 12, todays event is Die Cutting - sounds rather painful to me but the crafting duo of Ali and Sydney seem to know what to do. First off our sponsor for today is

Lili of the Valley is a UK Company which has a simply gorgeous range of unique un-mounted rubber stamps.

There are hundreds of adorable images to choose from including the sweetest girls and boys, fabulous wedding and baby designs and of course an amazing array of Christmas cuties! Added to this are Lili of the Valley's amazing sentiment stamps and sentiment stamp sheets! https://www.liliofthevalley.co.uk/is also packed with hints, tips, tutorials and we also run the popular InspirationsBlog witih new cards and ideas posted daily by our Design Team, so you’ll never be stuck for ideas on what to make with these really cute images

For a chance to win todays prize and those of the prevoius 11 days you must visit our Inspiration blog here . You still have time to enter for the other days prizes. Also have a look at the splendid work of our talented design team.

What did the girls create with Die Cutting I wonder.

Sydney had no problem with the die cutting machine, it spends most of it time on the floor so the children can use it! Sydney used a white and purple gel pen (once again treasures that Ali does not share with the children) to create faux stitching on the flowers. "I like these pens Ali" came from Syd as Ali quickly squirelled them away. Syd then tied the embroidery thread through the purple button, from our button boxes here. The bow was tied by Rachie (thanks) using polka dot ribbon here.

The colours were inspiried by the wonderful image from LOTV coloured by Cebelica. Thank you for sending Ali all these wonderful coloured images, I must say that I came bottom in the class at colouring. Although I do enjoy drawing cartoon characters.

For some extra inspiration - this is the work of Siân, one of our Saddle Stitch Challengers.

Beautiful Siân. I love the torn style paper, I bet that took a lot of skill for it to look that good. Great the way you have matched up the ribbon flowers with the paper leaves.

I do like this, very stylish Siân. The little gem draws your eyes to the ribbon - great work. Thank you Siân for joining in, sorry it has taken a while to share your creations.

I have a wonderful day planned for Ali, I am taking to her favourite shop in Southampton. I just hope she can stay awake long enough!!! She is doing really well, the drugs are causing rather nasty side effects, but she is trying to take that in her stride. The hour or so crafting with Syd is doing her the world of good, although I am rather like a mother hen and start clucking around them when I think Ali has done too much.

Anyway do you think Ali will rise to the occasion and enjoy her shopping trip, she is off her food so I was also hoping I could tempt her appertite back with the offer of a little lunch.

Wish me luck.

Tony

Crafting for Gold - Day 11

07/08/2012

Oh dear this post is all down to me (Tony) I hope I remember everything I have been told!

Welcome to day 11, todays event is decoupage which I have been told is building up a picture using layers. We are sponsored by Which Craft?

Which Craft? UK pride ourselves on creating new and unique Quality Card Blanks

'For Your Inspiration'

( If you are going to spend time creating a special card then we

believe you need a high quality blank canvas as your starting point)

We are known in the Card making industry for using Only the Highest quality Card gauge -

throughout the complete 'For Your Inspiration' Collection - where many of ourcolleagues

use our designs to show case there own beautiful stamps and card making products

Our Designs can be seen on Create & Craft used by many of our Craft colleagues

to also show case there own beautiful stamps and card making products..

Our design team have used some of Which Crafts? wonderful card blanks to make their inspirational cards for you. For a chance to win todays prize you must visit our inspiration blog here .

So do you want to know what Ali is up too? How is she going to continue crafting with one hand?

She has teamed up with the Gold medal winner - the 7 year old Crafter, the one and only SYDNEY!

Syd is going to be Ali's right arm and they are going to craft together. This is their first joint card. Sydney cut and pieced together all the decoupage, while Ali worked out how to fold the card blank! Sydney then used blue chalk to colour the card, she was over the moon doing this, she had never been allowed to use Ali's chalks before. Syd cut the butterflies from the blue ribbon here and added them to create extra depth.

Thank you ribbon here was picked for the base of the card with some matt and layering. Girls I think you are a winning team, with Sydneys cutting skills and Ali's design you are both Gold winners.

I also think the talented challengers that joined our saddle stitch ribbon challenge are also worthy of gold.

Bah humbug Claire this looks like a Christmas card to me! Although I will admit I really like the simple design of it, perfect.

Now this more like it Claire, bright and summery I wonder if I could change the Happy Birthday message to Get well soon and give it to Ali!!!! No? Rather naughty of me.

Thank you Claire for your fantastic cards. See you all tomorrow.

Tony x

Crafting for Gold - Day 8

04/08/2012

Hello everyone to day 8 of our Crafting for Gold. Once again it is a team effort between me (Tony) and Ali's pre written posts. Ali is doing well, to be honest she is a bit of a pain in the b*m and will not sit still. She has already had me cutting the arms off long sleeved T-shirts so she can get dressed! A fighter that one. Over to Ali's pre op post.

Today the design team had to use stitching real or faux. For todays fab prize given to us by Nitwits check out our Inspiration Blog here.

Nitwit Collections™ designs and sells a unique genre of Digital Scrapbooking Kits, Card Making Supplies, and Hybrid Scrapbooking Supplies! We are a Canadian company with Mary Fran as our designer and LG as our customer service and help desk support guy. Mary Fran has always had a love of fabric and so when she began designing her digital lines, of course they are made to "look" like fabric with texture and depth. With 100's of theme and colour matched Collections available, customers can easily find what they are looking for, for any occasion.

I do not have much confidence in using coloured paper, but when Mandy sent me three sheets of Nitwits I could see my card instantly. Cebilica's little lion image was just perfect to match the papers.

Arrrrr I do like this card. Three layes of Nitwits papers, one for the card and two for mat ad layering. I teamed it up with the soft shades of rosy mauve wire edge taffeta ribbon here. I didn't think it needed much ribbon, just two stripes. Next I raided a purple button box here to find matching ones and used embroidery thread to make the cross stitch. I then stuck in place with hot glue. There was rather a large blank area at the top of the card so I used a gold button with a bow made from embroidery thread to fill it.

Back to me (Tony) I can be very slow sometimes, do you remember that I started to write the friday freebie posts, I could never work out why Ali wanted me too. She confessed this morning that in her heart of hearts she knew she would have to have surgery, nothing else was working. She wanted me to become familiar with the blogging software so the blog would continue in her abscence.

I am sure that image is of Lenny the Lion - anybody remember him - it was a wee while back!

All the best

Tony

Crafting for Gold - Day 5

01/08/2012

Morning everyone and welcome to todays event in the Crafting for Gold which is Paper Piecing. Todays sponsor is Ladybug Crafts Ink

Ladybug Crafts Ink is the brainchild of me, Kerry, wife of one and mother of 3. I started making cards in December 2000 and never in a million years did I think I would have my own online store let along my own line of cling stamps. But here I am almost 10 years later having both!
I was a bit disillusioned with the stamps on the market .... same old same old and anything 'new' was just a variation on the 'old'. Last year I decided it was time to shake things up a bit, found myself an illustrator, Allan McConnachie, to get my ideas on paper and Nikki was born. I also found myself another illustrator, Moira Munro, when I wanted another character and Ruby Fairies entered the stamping world.

You should all know what to do by now to enter for todays prize - visit our Inspiration Blog here

Ladybug Crafts allowed us to pick a digi image to use for todays event and I picked Cat Flap Magnum, not having any idea what paper piecing was all about. So I came to make todays card and asked Mandy for help to explain paper piecing to me - this was her reply email.......

"Paper piecing is where you stamp/print the image out then you do the same again but on patterned paper and then say the image had a waistcoat you would cut the waistcoat out of the patterned paper and stick it over the other one in the same place so now your image is coloured in but has a patterned waistcoat,hope that makes sense....."

......................yep as clear as mud! So here goes with my card, remember I had to print and colour and paper piece this card!!!

What do you think maybe a bronze? But I think Crafty Ribbons will get a Gold in ribbons - do you see the Keep Calm and carry on ribbon on my card? It is a NEW colour!!

You can find all the new colours - Apple Green, Turquoise and Royal here. As a bonus prize leave a comment onto this post and you could win ALL the ribbons in the Keep Calm and Carry on collection.

I was so unsure how I would get on colouring in my image, that I printed out a sheet of them. Since the school holidays started I have done very little crafting on my own, normally I have one or even two little helpers. I have a very long crafting desk, but yesterday I was pushed right to the end of it, having about a A4 size work space - why because I had not 1, not 2 BUT 3 little crafters!!!! They all wanted to colour the cat, Mollie told me off because I would not share my colouring pens and that hers were rubbish. Sam complained that the double sided tape was not sticking - he had not removed the backing paper. And Syd was rather put out that the other two were there!!!

Anyway, would you like to see their creations.....................................In order of age!

Sydney aged 7 with tabby cat and her pop out card.

A side view to show the construction of her pop out card.

Sam aged 4 - started to draw on my jigsaw picture frame before I had a chance to remove it!!

Mollie aged 3

These cards were made by the children, I gave them no help.

Hope you like todays creations

Crafting for Gold - Day 3

30/07/2012

Hi everyone and welcome to day 3 of our Crafting for Gold. Todays event is to use buttons.

Our sponsor today...........................can you guess.....................yes it is Crafty Ribbons with a fab prize of...........

.................3 button boxes. For a chance to win these fab buttons you have to visit our inspiration Blog here

As you can imagine I had very little problem with this event, apart from deciding which ones to use!!! So to my creation for today, buttons..............

I think the gold has slipped through my fingers again today, I could have got those buttons closer to the side edge to hide my cardboard shape. Not fully fit, trying to use my glue gun with my right thumb!!

Looks a bit better in this photo. Must try harder Ali with tomorrows event, we are looking for a Gold!

My creation was very different from those of my team mates, go and check their creations out here.

Now for some more goodies from our Ribbon Challenge. Kara made the card below while England was still in Euro Football, but I think we could convert it to an Olympic football card.

Super use of the Candy Saddle Stitch ribbon here Kara, and what craftmanship cutting all those footballs out - amazing. This card really made me smile when I took it from the envelope.

This ribbon makes great rosettes, perfect for the Olympics too Kara, your colour combo is wonderful. Thank you for joining our Challenge Kara, we hope you enjoyed playing with the ribbons.

Don't forget to leave your name on the Inpiration Blog here for a chance to win the buttons. I am off to practice my event for Wednesday, never done it before!! So you may be in for a right giggle.

Have a great day

Crafting for Gold - Day 2

29/07/2012

Welcome to Day 2 of our Crafting for Gold Event. Todays event was create your own background, and todays sponsor is:

Quintessentially English rubber stamps, with unique and highly detailed deep etched designs – all made in England.... IndigoBlu is a web based Company who supply their fabulous stamps and products to lots of Brick & Mortar shops...It is based in Retford,Nottinghamshire and is run by a Husband & Wife team....

Please checkout their fabulous stamps on their IndigoBlu website

To find out the prize details from Indigo Blu check out our Inspiration Blog, have a look at the design team creations and Oh put your name on the list for a chance to win the prize!

OK back to background..................can you guess what I used? Yes ribbon!!

The image is from Indigo Blu which I have cut around and mounted onto black card. I covered the white card with black and white dotty ribbon here. For the sentiment at the base of the card I used three layers of ribbon finishing with our NEW Sentiment ribbon here . Do you think I would be in the running for a Gold with this card?

Please do not forget to make a visit to the Inspiration Blog here

Have fun.

Crafting for Gold - Day 1

28/07/2012

Welcome to our first day of Crafting for Gold, our event for today is embossing and our sponsor is...............

We are a small company bringing you a selection of Clear Polymer Stamps, Digital Images, Digital Papers and exclusive Rubber Stamps with a few essential supplies.

We do have a prize from Crafty Sentiments, but for some reason I am unable to find what it is - sorry. But for a chance to win you need to pop over to our Inspiration Blog and leave your name.

Now I have to admit to you all at this stage................ummmmm.................what's embossing? Go on have a good laugh.

Rachie came to my rescue, she had a small embossing folder that she had been given as a freebie. That will do nicely thank you..............

...............only problem is that the picture has not picked it up very well. It is the little lilac tag just below the bow. If you look hard you can just make out the raised To and the F of From - sorry!

I do not think I will be getting a GOLD for my photography today, but the card shows good effort! My teamie Cebelica stamped and coloured the image for me, but I did the rest. I used my "nesties" to cut the image, I had them for my birthday 3 years ago and had never taken them out of the packet!!! The ribbon is from our lots of dots range here

We had a very constructive day in the warehouse yesterday - we restocked our bargain roll aisle and photographed them AND put them on the site!! Over 60 NEW Bargain rolls from 15mm wire edge taffetta to 23mm grosgrain to 39mm satin you can find them all here. Remember that these bargain rolls are either 10 or 20mtr rolls and are only 10p per mtr, that is such good value it is unbelieveable!!!!

To coincide with the launch of the games yesterday we have this fab offer...........................

Just enter GOLD into the voucher section to receive a massive 20% discount.
This applies to ALL orders over £20 (excluding postage).
Offer expires midnight on Sunday 29/07/12

...........................yippee, so all those ribbons you have been thinking about, or may even be in your basket - they could be yours for even less this weekend.

Don't forget to have a look at the design teams creations you can find them here

Have a fantastic day, Tony has a flight in a Tigar Moth Plane today, a birthday prezzie from last year. But we have been waiting for good weather!

Crafting for Gold - Opening Ceremony

27/07/2012

Today is the day it all starts. There are so many restrictions on what words we can use for this mass event that starts today, so we have decided not to use any!! But we are sure you will understand, we are holding an alternative event to the one that starts today. So if you get a little bored of watching ALL 24 channels the BBC are offering, then pull out your scissors, pots of glue and colouring pens and join us with Crafting for Gold.

Over the next two weeks we have different sponsors who have awarded us fantastic prizes, to win these prizes you need to visit our Inspiration blog here

Just follow the instructions on the blog to enter for the prizes. You can enter everyday and the winners will be picked by random org after the Closing Ceremony. You will have to check that you are a winner, we will NOT contact you.

Let's start the Crafting for Gold fun, our event for today is RIBBON.

We have a truly wonderful sponsor - the best in the ribbon world........................

That's right, it is Crafty Ribbons - yeah, as we hear the crowd roar as we enter the stadium - Team CR has arrived!

You could win a whopping £25 to spend on our website, just for putting your name on the list! Our design girls have come up with some super creations for this Opening Ceremony, please pop over to the Inspirtation blog just to have a look.

This is my creation - just from ribbons and a button.............

I think Team CR, with it's youngest team member, Mollie, could be the winner of the first gold medal......................

Look how pround Mollie is of her medal as she holds it up to the camera.

Pure gold medal - ribbon gold that is! I glittered one of our heart buttons here and used bits of gold ribbon. The instructions for this medal can be found here. Mollie loved her medal so much that Rachie rang me last night to say that Mollie insisted on taking it to bed with her!! How wonderful.

Please feel free to share your Ribbon creations on our facebook page here, or join in with our current Challenge here. We love to see what everyone makes, with the school holiday upon us, why not get the children crafting. Our 3 monsters love to craft!

We hope you enjoy our Crafting for Gold event, it will be running until the 12 August. Check back to see what event it is tomorrow and of course what prize is up for grabs.

Ribbon Beach Huts

26/07/2012

Oooh I do like my beach huts, and what a super job Tracey or Paul have made of crafting these ribbon beach huts. Aren't they stunning. This is a really clever design. The saddle stitch ribbon looks like planks of wood. Very taken by this card Tracey and Paul.

Not only have Tracey and Paul given us beach Huts but they have also provided the sunshine - how amazing is that! Super cards and thank you for taking part in our challenge. Sorry they have taken a while to appear on the blog.

Just a quickie post for me today, I am back to the hospital again with my thumb. No nasty injections this time but a MRI scan - I am feeling a little bit "liquorice allsorts" over it!!!

Wish me luck.

Ribbon Challenge # 28 first goodies

24/07/2012

When I opened the first envelope from the ribbon challenge yesterday, I was blown away. Look at this beautiful card made by Karen. The way Karen has used the ribbon to enhance her card is just awesome, not just as a trim but to create the card.