Kirstie Allsop's Handmade Christmas Fair - Manchester.

Hello to anyone reading this.
Thank you for visiting my blog.

I am writing this as a very tired , but happy person, who has recently returned from the Handmade Christmas Fair in Manchester Central,  with Artcuts.

We had a great time and were very busy demonstrating different projects and doing three Make and Take sessions.

Our Make and Take went well  and we met many lovely people, who were  very enthusiastic crafters.
 Thank you to any one  who visited Artcuts stand. Hope you had a good day.


The show was held at Manchester Central , just a couple of minutes walk from our hotel.

A great venue surrounded by buildings with lovely architecture. I spent most of my time looking up , as we walked around. 

We were also excited that the Christmas market was on, so we wandered around that one evening,  after the show. It was quite magical.

 This civic building had the most amazing ceilings that we could see from the square.
I would love to have had the time to visit this building.
Perhaps next time.




Here are a couple of things I made for the show.

The bunting went on the tree that ArtCuts had sponsored in the entrance lobby. I stuck on the  ArtCuts embellishment shapes and used Wink of Stella clear and white pens and glitter to add twinkle.
. We did all the decorations for this in green and red and stamped them with Hobby  Art  Christmas stamps.

It looked very pretty when it was finished and was positioned right by the café, which was great.

 

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Unfortunately, my photos do not do it justice.
The lovely green and red heart bunting was done by Chris,  and can be seen on her  blog. (sketching stamper).

The tree next to the stand was decorated with different blues and white and looked very pretty too.
Again, rubbish photo. but you get the idea!!

 Chris has the Fergus heart bunting on her blog now, that you can see in the photo. It is beautiful.
Fergus is another Hobby Art stamp we used at the show.

 

 

 

Will show some more next time.

Bye for now.

Carole

Christmas cards

Hello to anyone reading this today. Hope you are having a good day.

My first Christmas cards of the season.

 Normally, I do not think Christmas until December and then it's a frantic rush to get my cards done and sent.  But I have been doing Artcuts samples, for the Handmade Christmas fair in  Manchester, in November, so it's been a bit of a necessity!!

The shapes are great for cards and they can be a gift too, to hang on the tree.

The papers are gorgeous hand printed Japanese papers and are lovely to use.
More to follow, when I can find the photos!!

Bye for now and thank you for looking.

                                                                             Carole

Chocolate Baroque challenge- card 2

Hello again.

Chocolate Baroque challenge , card 2.

I decided to enter a second card this month as I have also been  "playing" with an owl border stamp that I bought recently. Couldn't resist this one!!

 

It is great for masking and using as a background , as I have done, and the individual owls can be cut out easily.

I think this will make a good autumn birthday card, and the leaves that have been falling rapidly from a tree in my garden, work perfectly with the colour scheme.

 

 

 

 

Thought I'd also show you another card that I have made with them.

Much simpler design, quick and easy.

 

 

 

 

I've already got another couple of ideas buzzing around in my head for other cards.

I really like it when a stamp inspires, like this one, and is easy to use.

 

Mind you, anything with an owl on is automatically on my "must have" list!!! 

Thank you for visiting again.

Bye for now.

Carole

 

 

Chocolate Baroque challenge 15

Hello to anyone reading my blog.


I have been having fun with this months colour challenge on Chocolate Baroque site, as I really like these colours together.

 

 

 

 

They remind me of a winter sunset and as I was driving out this evening the sky looked magnificent with streaks of yellow and grey.

I have just received my new edge stamps and they are gorgeous.
The sample below uses one of them with another stamp I already had, and I am entering this card into the Chocolate Baroque challenge this month.

 

 

                 I  have used one of the borders from Exquisite edges with Garden lace scene.

Thanks for looking.
Carole

Crafty individuals challenge September - Anything Goes

Hello.
 Just a quick post as I am entering the Crafty Individuals challenge for September.
Left it a bit late, but hey ho!!

I bought this stamp recently and thought it would make a great card for winter birthdays or Christmas.

 

 

I have embossed it with silver and coloured with pearl paints. I then die cut the frame around it.

The photo doesn't really do it justice as the pearls look very pretty against the black.

Must finish as I need to get this sent.
Bye for now
Carole

Fairy Heart

Hello to anyone reading this.
Hope your day is good.

Well, today I have couple of samples  using a stamp which I would normally shy away from, a fairy!! For anyone  who knows me, you will know that this is VERY unusual for me.

I was asked to try it for a new kit that is being launched by Artcuts at the Kirsty Allsop Handmade show at Hampton Court, in September. But shock horror!!!, I found that I got carried away 'playing' with it afterwards.

Even my mother commented that, "for someone who doesn't like fairy stamps, you seem to be doing alright with your samples". So that was nice to hear.

But, I have to admit, I have enjoyed working with this stamp.

It is a Lavinia fairy called Giselle,  and in this first sample I have used it in conjunction with a Chocolate Baroque  stamp called Fantastic Florals, as the background.
 The tiny butterflies are Artcuts embellishment butterflies, coloured and glittered.

 

 

 

I like the fact that you can use part of the stamp and she still looks good. So she fits on the smaller heart too.

 

I have also used her with a Hobby Art  daisy stamp on the background.

I will show you this next time as I haven't managed a photo of it yet.

 

Hope you visit again soon

Best wishes

Carole

 

 

 

 

 

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Background to Chocolate Baroque card

Hello again to anyone reading this.

Thank you to everyone who left a comment about my last cards I posted. It really cheered me up to read them.

After the last post that I submitted to Chocolate Baroque's challenge, Janice asked how I had done the background colours. I'm sorry that I have taken so long to get around to answering your query.

I started by stamping the top border with Seedless Grape Distress ink and quickly covering with clear embossing powder, then heat embossing.  I then stamped the bottom border and embossed.
 I then masked both sides of the edges before stamping and embossing one side, then the other.

Once the embossing had cooled, I used  Cut-n-dry foam and Crushed Olive Distress ink to ink over the white areas.

 Hope this helps Janice.



I thought I would show you another project I have done using Chocolate Baroque stamps.

 

This was an old box I've had lying around for ages.

 

I painted it a teal colour and when it was dry re-painted it black and scuffed the edges.

The metal was stamped with black Staz On and then worked to emboss it.

It was then painted over with acrylic  paint and rubbed back.

The side panels are silver embossed on black and then coloured with Perfect Pearl paints, to give the panels a shimmer.

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The bold Chocolate Baroque designs are perfect for metal embossing.

 

 

 

 See you soon and happy crafting

Bye for now

Carole