My Sewing Bargain!

Good afternoon everyone .......... hope you are all well and enjoying some sunshine today.  Just had to share my bargain with you all.......... I was so excited when I saw this as I have been looking for ages for a small sewing machine to use exclusively for my cards ............. the ones I have seen have been around the £50 mark which I couldnt justify paying for a machine to just sew card.  I found this little beauty at our local £stretcher and it was reduced from £50 to £24.99!!  Its a really sturdy little machine, ideal for sitting on your craft bench, its got 8 stitch styles and its electric, not battery operated! 

I am away to have a play! Enjoy the rest of your day.

Katies Book Card

Good evening everyone, hope you all enjoyed the lovely hot weather today but I have to admit it was too hotfor me, just nice now its cooled down a bit.  I know some parts of the UK didnt have any nice sunshine today, the weather map showed it 32 degrees in Kent and only 11 degrees in Lerwick!  How strange and unpredictable our weather is!! 

Well onto my card for today and its a very special card I made for Katie for her 30th birthday at the weekend.   I followed a fab tutorial here by Tina and believe me its not as complicated as it looks ...... I really enjoyed this project, if you haven't already done so, please visit Tina's blog, her work is amazing.

Tilda and butterflies coloured with Distress Inks, edges all distressed with Frayed Burlap

Stempelgede Grunge Collection around image with Versamark Vintage Sepia

Prima 'Sweet Fairy' paper pack

Martha Stewart Punch

Flowers and seam binding by Wild Orchid

Lace and ribbon from stash

Vintage Alphabet by Tim Holtz

Birthday verse found on internet

Apologies for the hundreds of photos but I wanted to capture every angle of the card so you can see it from all sides.

Thats it for me for today, I am off to walk the dog before it chucks it down!!  Thanks for dropping by, enjoy the rest of your evening.

Cinderella and Captain America

Hello my lovelies, hope you are all well and had a fab weekend, the weather has been gorgeous today, so hot, hope it lasts, its about time the sun made an appearance!

Well its our youngest daughter Katie's 30th birthday today ...... OMG where did those years go!!!  She had a big celebration party last night which was fancy dress and the theme was Disney or film..... she had to be Cinderella....... naturally!! and this is the dress I made for her.  I am quite pleased with the end result, I had a few nail biting moments with it I can tell you!  I havent done any dressmaking for years, when the girls were little I made all their little dresses and fancy dress outfits for school and the last dressmaking session I had was 13 years ago when my daughter Alison was married and she had 9 bridesmaids!!  So when Katie asked me to make this one I thought it would be a doddle...... how wrong was I !!!  The dress material is satin and the sleeves and 'puffs' are a chiffon type material, well it was slipping and sliding all over the place!!  Then I had a problem with the measurements and couldn't get the bodice to sit right...... however after a few nips and tucks it was ready to attach the skirt, no probs there until I came to attach the zip and discovered I didnt have a zipper foot for my machine...... arrgh!!!  Anyway, I managed to finish it on time and Katie was very pleased with it and everyone at the party was very impressed with it, so I was happy and secretly very proud of myself!!  The photo is Katie with her hubby Gaz.... aka Captain America!!  A good time was had by all with some fab outfits, everyone made a real effort to make Katies birthday a huge success.

I have made a very special card for Katie's birthday but with all the hustle and bustle of the celebrations I didnt get chance to take any photos of it ........... duhh, bird brain I am!!  So I shall take some photos tomorrow hopefully and post as soon as I can.

       xxxxxx

A card for Nana Nell

 

Flowers close up

 

Good afternoon my lovelies, hope you are all well and enjoyed the sunny weekend.  We had a lovely day yesterday with our family for Father's Day, hubby was totally spoilt as he deserves to be after all he has been through. The weather here in Cheshire today is glorious sunshine, hope it stays awhile, it was good to get out in the garden this morning to mow the lawn and wash the patio furniture, those birdies don't half leave a mess!

Onto my card today and its a commissioned card for an 85 year old lady, when I was asked to make this card I immediately thought 'vintage' and 'shabby chic' and knew exactly how I wanted the card to look, I have to say its not far off how I envisaged it to be, in fact I am quite pleased with the end result.  Tricky bit was taking photos of it, I really struggle to take photos of easel cards, does anyone else have this problem?  I really need to invest in a decent camera too, I always think my photos look a little 'hazy' and not as clear as I would like them to be, so apologies for the poor quality.

The gorgeous image is from Tina's Kreative Blog - Tina has some of the best vintage images I have ever seen, do have a look at Tina's blog if you get the chance.  If you like Shabby Chic, loads of inspiration there.

The papers are from Raspberry Road - Shabby Chic 1 and 2

The tag is Marianne die LR0154

Flowers, pearls and Filigree corner are Wild Orchid

Martha Stewart Butterfly punch

Seam binding by The Ribbon Girl

Alphabet letters - Tim Holtz Vintage Market

Sentiment - A Day to Remember (Whiff of Joy - I think!)

Lace and net from stash

Hope Nana Nell likes her card as much as I enjoyed making it.

Thats it from me for today, I have another creation to share with you very soon!  Thanks for dropping by today and enjoy the rest of the evening.

 

It's Summer!!

What a horrible, wet and miserable day!  Who would think it was June......... and to top it all its cold as well, I have had to put my heating on today... I was frozen!  My daughters have gone to Manchester today to the 'Take That' gig!!  They will be soaked wet through, its an open air concert!!  Rather them than me, I will wait until its televised and watch it in comfort!!

My card today is my DT contribution for this weeks challenge over at Sunday Sketch and Stamp which is a fab sketch by Lisa.  The gorgeous image is Sugar Nellie 'Summer' from Funky Kits.  She is coloured with Promarkers, I just adore these images, they are a breeze to colour.  Don't know if you can see very clearly on this photo but I followed a fab sky tutorial by Bev Rochester here using Distress Inks.  Its my first attempt with this technique and definately something I would try again.

Papers - Sparkling Spring by Prima.

Roses -Wild Orchid Crafts

Sentiment - Lili of the Valley

Seam Binding is Pink Tulip - The Ribbon Girl

Bakers Twine - The Ribbon Girl

Charm and Gypsophilia from stash  

I am entering this card into the Addicted to Stamping Challenge, the theme this week is 'Summertime'

Enjoy the rest of your evening and lets hope the weather improves for the coming week.  Thanks for taking the time to drop by!

Hugs,

 xxxxxx

Sugar Bowl Challenge #61

Close up of gorgeous Wild Orchid Crafts - Poppies

Good afternoon everyone, hope are all well and had an enjoyable weekend.  Its a pity the hot weather didn't stay around for very long but the gardens are in need of some drenching, in an ideal world it would rain all night and sunshine all day, but we don't live in an ideal world......... ahh well!

My card for today is one of the gorgeous Sugar Nellie digi's from Funky Kits and this cute little miss is Sybil.  Isnt she just adorable?  love those curls and the dolly shoes!!  She is coloured with Copics and Promarkers, I only have a few Copics, I would love more, I much prefer them to Promarkers but they are a bit pricier so I buy one now and again when I am feeling indulgent!

The paper is Classic K McKenna Pink Swirls, the scalloped one I have no idea, it was in my stash, but it just matched perfectly. 

The flowers are Poppies from Wild Orchid Crafts as is the seam binding, Light Beige

Sentiment is Hero Arts - Sparkle Clear Tickets

I am entering this card into the Sugar Bowl Challenge #61, a fab sketch by Kiki with the optional theme of Love/Weddings.

Well thats it for me for today, thank you so much for your visit and enjoy the rest of your day!

Hugs

Barbara

xxx