Cliffs & Crochet!

 

Things have been quite busy since my last post. We have been sorting out all of the Christmas deliveries in the shop, planning our annual Christmas shopping events & also holding 2 card making workshops. The first was for a local carers group who approached us because one of their members attends our regular workshops, the second was for our usual group of ladies & we are holding another with this same project this Thursday too!.

 

Here's the creations our group made last week

 

The cards were based on a design by Linda Walmsley who is one of the design team members for Indigoblu . Please check out her blog here, she really does some fab designs.

As you can see, our group really enjoyed making their 8 x 8 cards & I just love how they all put variations to the original design to make it their own.

I'm sure our ladies this Thursday will love making it too as we start getting into festive mode.

 

I'd also just like to say a big Hello! to my newest follower Julie. It's lovely to have you here.

Julie is my oldest friend & we have spent many happy hours crafting together over the years.

Julie makes the most beautiful oil cloth bags & if you'd like to see them please go & have a look at her Facebook page Bags By Boo.

Julie has lots of patience & after I told her that I'd taught myself how to chain stitch she kindly showed me how to crochet a Granny square!

Here's my first attempt

 

 

It's quite addictive & during our second crochet get together I think you can see the improvement I made

 

So when I got home I made another!

 



 

Crochet is something I've really wanted to get to grips with & I'm really chuffed with my granny squares. Hopefully I'll produce a blanket at some point ( not in these colours though! ) but for now it will be put aside as I need to concentrate on other more pressing projects.

 

Anyway, see you soon & thanks for stopping by

 

Amy x

 

 

 

 

Christmas make and take

I've had quite a productive few days! Our garden fence has finally been completed & whilst hubby & friend were working on that, I was entertaining a 10 year old.

I knew that she likes to craft so it was quite easy really & so we decided to make some Christmas cards..

She knew what colours she wanted & where she wanted things to be placed & I only had to show her once how to do something & off she went!

Anyway, here's how we got on

 

 

 

 

We loved the paper piecing technique & die cutting & also made a tag specifically with music stamped on it because she plays the violin

 

 

we then decided to make this card too with a bit of bling!

 



 

This was the favourite of the day but I think mine is the deck the halls tag.

 

 



I'm not sure these will be given away as she was very chuffed with her creations, I think they will be on display in her bedroom instead!

I also managed to finish my finish my samples for our next Out Of The Blue workshops which are also Christmas themed, so I'm a happy bunny!

WOYWW # 224

It's been a busy couple of days since my last post.

  Deliveries have started arriving in the shop ready for the build up to Christmas & we've actually had some decorations & Christmas cards in a bit earlier than usual.

Mum & I were off at a buying event for the shop all day yesterday at one of our gift suppliers HQ, ordering for new year & spring season deliveries.

 We even managed to stop off at the shops on the way home & do a bit of buying for ourselves :)

New shoes!! Yey!!

 

Anyway, today I have decided to take the plunge & join in with WOYWW for the very first time.
 If you'd like to join in too, pop over to Stamping Ground for all the details.

After my post the other day my blog friend Anne suggested that it might be a good place to start for entering challenges & finding new blog friends, so here goes!.

 

 

As you can see there's a few IndigoBlu Christmas stamps there ready to play around with.

I'm working on the next projects for our October/November Out Of The Blue card making workshops & we'll be using these stamps for those.

There's also a few primed wooden hearts & little trays that have been waiting very patiently for me to get around to using &  I have a few ideas in mind.

 I've also got some Woodware fishing themed clear stamps there which I have some ideas for for men's cards,  & tucked in the corner there is a Crafty Individuals robin stamp for me to get cracking on some of my own Christmas cards too, thanks for that one Carole.

As you can see there's the latest copy of Craft Stamper magazine & a few shades of my trusty Distress Inks which I could not be without.

 

What this space to see the finished articles!

 

Thanks for visiting

 

Amy x

 

 

 

Sparkle & Shine

In my last post I promised to show you the glass Christmas decorations we will be making at a local craft group in November.

 As a result of our card making workshops I have had a few local groups contact me to ask if I would go & hold a workshop for them.

 This particular group asked me to do a glass painting project that would be completed in the 2 hour time slot & be able to be carried home.

 If you have used solvent based glass paints ( my preferred type of glass paints) you will probably know that they take quite a while to dry & if any dust particles should happen to land in the design you've just spent ages painting you'll have to start again or it just won't look very nice.

 Plus it can be quite messy, & fumy.

 

So, with all this in mind, I came up with these using a different technique

 

 

The pieces of glass are pre cut & drilled with a small hole at the top.

 I used dreamweaver stencils & embossing paste & applied various glitters whilst still wet.

Once dry I added sequins, diamantes, die cut elements & glitter glues to highlight certain areas & around the outer edges of the glass.

I then finished them with some ribbon tied through the holes for hanging.

 

When they catch the light the glitters really glisten.

 I think they'll look great hung on any Christmas tree with twinkly lights shining through.

 

Hopefully the craft group ladies will enjoy making these on the night, hope you like them too.

 

See you again soon

 

Amy x

 

 

 

 

Autumn Forest

Well, it seems like ages since my last post!.

 Lots of things have been going on in the world of Out Of The Blue.

We've had a Summer sale to make room for all the lovely new Autumn/Winter & Christmas stock that has started to arrive and there's been lots of planning for our Christmas & New Year workshops.

 Although I love Summer, I do love it when the season begins to change & everything starts to feel, smell & look different.

 We are lucky enough to live quite near to Westonbirt Arboretum & I do like to go along during the Autumn to see all the fantastic colours of the trees as they change. Here's hoping I can fit in a visit this year!.

 

Tonight is our second Out Of The Blue workshop making this card design.

 Last week was the first & everyone thoroughly enjoyed it & bought up all the spare stamps etc.

  I had to place another order with fingers crossed it would all arrive in time for tonight!.

 Yesterday a lovely box arrived containing more stamps & lots of lovely colours of mega flake from IndigoBlu & I have to just say what great customer service & speedy delivery we have had with every order placed with IndigoBlu, something that I think is very important.

The card was made by stamping the IndigoBlu  Bare Forest Stamp onto clear acetate using purple Stazon ink. I was planning on using black stazon but do you think I could find it?

 Nevermind, as I think the purple goes perfectly with the oranges & golds in the Autumn Blaze Mega Flake used for the background.

After letting the ink dry, I applied double sided sheet to the image, stamped side up, then peeled off the other backing & applied the Autumn Blaze all over.

I love this effect & I have to say it was passed on to me by my crafty friend & co teacher Carole who has put a tutorial of this technique on her blog that you can view by clicking  Here.



The backgrounds that the forest is layered onto are  embossed with the Creative Expressions hyper magical embossing folder & highlighted with gold gilding wax.

The leaves were created in the same way as the forest by using the leaves from the IndigoBlu stamp set Bloomin' Great.

The card was finished with some raffia & the 'with love' sentiment.

 

 

 

Thanks for popping by & checking out my project, next time I'll be sharing some Christmas decorations I've been working on for a workshop I've been asked to run for a local craft group in November.

I'd also appreciate any advice you may offer on how to 'up' my followers numbers.

 Maybe I need to make myself enter a few challenges which I may need tips on too!?

 Anyway, all advice & comments are most welcome.

 

See you soon

 

Amy x

 

Through the arched window

Hi all, as promised my post today is a card I made using the Tonic Domed Window Die & Window Basket Die.

I've had great fun playing around with this die & have lots of ideas of future cards & projects I'd like to make using it.

In my last post my card made using this die was quite clean & simple really. This time I wanted to do a card with a bit more of a distressed look to it.

After cutting & embossing both the window & the window basket, I distressed them with brushed corduroy distress inks.
On white card & using brushed corduroy, I stamped the tree design & the owl leaves & flowers. The owl was stamped twice. This is a Kanban stamp set that I've had for quite a while.
 I cut around all the leaves, flowers & owls & then coloured them with brushed corduroy, peacock feathers & mustard seed. I also die cut some of the leaves from the Window Basket die & coloured those as well.
I cut a cloud shape from a post it note & used it as a mask with peacock feathers for the sky behind the tree & stuck the window frame over the top.
I used turquoise card & a couture creations embossing folder, craft card & a dark teal card all mat & layered & distressed around the edges with the blade of my scissors.

The owl, leaves & flowers were layered & stuck into place & I added a few punched craft card flowers too plus some glossy accents & gold cosmic shimmer pearlescent pva to finish.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog.
See you again soon!

Amy x

 



Window Basket of Flowers

Hello all!

 Sorry I've not posted anything for a while. It's mainly due to my Mum (& business partner) having a weeks holiday plus staff being on holiday.This means more hours for me working in the shop to cover for them & fitting those hours around my 3 year old & getting workshops organised plus all those boring everyday things we all have to fit in too like housework!.

Surprisingly, I have managed to get a bit of crafting done in between (pictures to follow shortly), & had a weeks holiday myself too which was lovely.

 

Anyway, this week we had another Out Of The Blue card making workshop.

We decided to use some Tonic dies, the Domed Window & Window Basket.

We have only just started stocking Tonic products in the shop so Mum & I thought a good way of introducing them to our crafters would be by using them for one of our workshops.

 

After having a play around here is the project I came up with for my half of our group to make.

 

Having made the purple version first, I thought it would look good made in other colour ways too & thought my ladies might like to choose which of these two options they were going to make.

 

The background is embossed using the Creative Expressions Heart Lattice embossing folder & I've rounded the corners using the Tonic corner punch to match in with the domed shape of the window frame. I've used spotty paper behind the frame & also some clear acetate to give the effect of glass, although my pictures don't really show this clearly.

 

The Tonic Window Basket die not only cuts the basket but also the leaves that I've used on my cards. It also cuts a row of small flowers to fit behind the basket but I decided not to use that. Instead I cut some flowers from assorted spellbinders dies & used some punches. These were then inked & layered together & finished with some cosmic shimmer pearlescent pva dotted in the centres.

 

 

 

 

Here are some pics of some of our regular crafters hard at work!

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

And here's our crafty friend Carole, obviously enjoying herself too!

 



 

Our ladies really enjoyed making their cards & we sold out of the Window Frame Die straight away!

 

Here's some of their creations

 

 

That's it for today.  I'll be back soon with another card made using this die.

 

Thanks for stopping by & please do feel free to leave a comment, it's much appreciated.

 

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

 

 

Amy x 

 





 

 

 

A very vintage birthday

Hello bloggers!

 Well, I hope you've all been taking advantage of the fab weather we've been having? It's just what we've all been waiting for & I spent my Sunday out in the park all day with friends & family enjoying a picnic & playing rounders ( badly!).

 

Today's post is the project my group will be making at our card making workshop this Thursday & the following Thursday.

Twice a month my shop 'Out Of The Blue' holds workshops where Carole & I teach a group of 16 ladies. 

 Our workshops have been running for well over a year now, still going strong & growing all the time.

 

 

We'll be using Crafty Individuals  ''Hats and Bonnets' stamp and also their 'Floral Frame' mask to create the background.

The image was stamped in black memento ink on white card & coloured with promarkers. I also filled in all around the ladies with a grey promarker & outlined them with a darker tone of grey to make them stand out a bit more.

Then I distressed around the edges of the card with seedless preserves, milled lavender, shabby shutters & bundled sage distress inks & mat & layered onto card that I'd edged with a promarker to tone in.

I positioned the mask onto some glossy white card stock & inked through only the top right section with the above colours. I then repositioned it & did the same with the bottom left section so that my stamped image sat nicely within.

I found that the inked areas had a more defined edge by using glossy card but that once the ink had sunk into the surface I was unable to add any more colour or blend, so I added each colour a bit at a time.

Once I removed the mask I blended the two greens all over the remaining white areas.

 

Next I cut & embossed two medium spirals out of the glossy card with my Bitty Blossoms Spellbinder I blended with the same distress inks as before & added leave cut with my Foliage Spellbinder. These were then glued into the corners of my card.

 

 

I stamped the sentiment in black, again on glossy card & blended with distress inks & edged with promarkers & positioned it to the lower left of my card over a strip of lilac crochet ribbon.

The whole thing was then layered onto white card edged with a promarker & then onto a white card blank.

I think our ladies will enjoy using this stamp on Thursday, it's got a very classy, vintage feel to it which I really love & we've not really used masks very much so far.

 

Please pop over to Carole's blog in the next couple of days to see what her half of our group will be creating with the same stamp & photos of us all on the night.

 I've had a sneaky peek at her card & it's gorgeous!

 

Thanks again for stopping by, hope you like my card & as always I'm very appreciative of your comments.

 

Amy x

 

 

Ella Bella Blue

Hi all, another week has passed since my last post & I just don't know where the time has gone yet again!. I have great intentions of posting a few times a week but my plans always seem to get scuppered.

 I'm squeezing in this post whilst getting myself & my 3 year old ready to leave the house to get to nursery & my afternoon working in the shop.

Hoping to get crafting this evening when I get home as it's Daddy's turn to read the bed time story & tuck her in tonight.

 

My card today is one I made a little while ago using the Ella Bella stamp from IndigoBlu.

 

 

I stamped Ella Bella in peacock feathers distress ink & heat embossed her with clear embossing powder, I then distressed around the edges of the card with shabby shutters & brushed corduroy & used a pair of scissors to distress the very edges of the card.

She was mounted onto aqua card & then a piece of kraft card that was embossed ( can't remember which folder!) & a bit of brushed corduroy on the raised areas.

The background was stamped using the tendrils of her hair all around the edges also with peacock feathers & distressed further with scissors & the same colours as before, & mounted onto a kraft card blank.

 

 

I stamped & distressed the sentiment with brushed corduroy & attached it with 3D foam & added some sheer ribbon, flowers made with my tattered florals die & some gold flat backed pearls.

 

 

I love using IndigoBlu stamps at the moment & I'm really looking forward to placing another order for the shop & getting my hands on some of their new Christmas designs.

 

See you again soon, thanks for taking a look & as always your comments are very well received.

I'm trying to be really good at commenting on all of your blogs too!.

 

Amy x

 

 

All You Need Is Love - Beatlemania!

Hello there my crafty friends & a big 'Hello' to my new follower Sharon.

 Thank you for joining me & taking the time to see what crafty projects I've been creating.

It's very exciting when someone new joins us!

 

 Hope you all had a good week last week? Mine was full of all things Beatles. Might seem a bit odd but let me explain.

Every year we hold a festival in Chipping Sodbury over the space of a week. The local community are encouraged to join in & attend the various events taking place in the town & the week ends with a street procession led by a carnival princess & decorated floats & a 'Last night of the proms'.

 The local businesses are all asked to join in by decorating their windows with the theme of the festival which this year was Beatlemania to celebrate 50 years of The Beatles.

 

Here's a few pics of my window display

 

 

As you can see, we won second prize in the Best Dressed Window competition!

 

Carole & I held an afternoon workshop on Friday & the card design was based on one of The Beatles songs. Carole came up with the design for this workshop & we used a stamp by Crafty Individuals that was perfect for the theme. The stamp had jumped out at me when we were on the Crafty Individuals stand at the NEC trade fair back in February, so we knew straight away this was the song we would be basing our design around.

The stamp was used to create the heat embossed background, the stopper on the base of the card & the flower which was cut with the Sizzix Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die, this has become a firm favourite of mine.

 

Here's the card we made at our workshop

We also used the Creative Expressions Heart Lattice A4 embossing folder

 (like gold dust to get hold of at the mo!) 

All our ladies really enjoyed the workshop & the new ladies who attended did a great job even though they'd never used any of the techniques before & I'm pleased to say a few more spaces on our regular workshops got booked up as a result!

 

Having made the above card, I couldn't help use the same layout to create a couple more.

I couldn't resist adding a bit of black soot distress ink to this one & although I really like the effect, I think for a 'love' themed card it may be a bit dark.

 

We had just had a new Creative Expressions delivery in the shop, & I thought this heart stamp would fit the theme too, so I added a bit of  red & some roses to the mix ( although it looks a bit orange in the pics!) & I think this is my favourite.



  

 

Well, thanks again for taking the time to look at this long post today!!

I'm off up to the shop now to change my window display & looking at how sunny it is already today, I think I might melt in the process!

Later on I'll be preparing all the bits & pieces for our next workshop tomorrow evening which will be the same project as my previous post.

 

See you soon

 

Amy x