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Showing posts from 2017

Daring Cardmakers - Trim The Tree Craft Challenge - Cross Stitch Card

Hi Everyone, It's the start of another week, and I'm fresh from seeing some of my favourite musical friends, for the first time in a long while, at our Christmas light switch on. I have some video, but I have never edited video clips in my life, so while I figure out what I'm doing, time to catch up on some other blog posts. I have joined in and submitted craft projects to the Daring Cardmakers Challenge before, and it's been great fun. So I just want to thank everyone who has commented on my previous posts, and add to this weeks challenge 'Trim The Tree'. I am working my way through a few small cross stitch kits from magazine free gifts, and this tree design really stuck out from my stash. It was easy and fun to stitch, and I even tweaked it a bit to add some gold glitter for the star at the top. Instead of hanging it in the supplied aperture card though, I found a plant pot topper with 25 on, and mounted it on a card just above that. The finished car

Gift Tag Project Using Mama Makes Stamps

Hi all, This week has gone by so quick, I hope you have been enjoying gift tag week, if you've missed any makes be sure to head over to my channels (links below) and check out the pics. I hope they will give you some inspiration. So now it's time for the last one, and I thought I'd put a little tutorial on the blog, as it's one of my favourite designs. What I Used: White card. Hole punch Ribbon Black ink pad. Cosmic Shimmer Colour Cloud Blending Ink in Clear Day. Pearl accents tube. Coppoloppolaro Christmas stamps from Mama Makes . LotixChrly – Sending Hugs stamps from Mama Makes. Sleigh stamp from issue 114 of Papercrafter Magazine. How It's Made: Cut a circle around 10.5cm wide to make the base of your gift tag. Punch or cut a small circle around 2.5 cm wide and fix gently with some blue tac in the top right hand corner of the tag. Using a blending sponge cover the rest of the tag with blending ink and leave to dry. You can remove the small

3 Ways With Mama Makes Bohemian Border Stamps

Hi Everyone, There's a little bit of a crafty overload here and on social media at the moment, but there are other posts planned and in draft form, so please look out for those, they just take a little bit of time to put together. Meantime I wanted to share the Mama Makes Bohemian Border stamps. I am a member of the design team, but bought these as I really liked the range of different designs - there are 10 in total, and had quite a few ideas of what I could do with them. I thought I'd post the stamps below, and 3 very different makes I came up with using them. 1) A Christmas Card - The Bohemian Border here I used as a Christmas garland, and absolutely love how it looks all coloured and glittered (had to get a little sparkle in there). The other thing I like about this set, is some of the designs are more of a bunting/garland shape, and not just a straight line, so there are handy gaps you can decorate with stick on gems or small embellishments for a finishing touch.

Sugru Mouldable Glue - Make & Review

Hi Everyone, I am in full-on craft mode at the moment, in the middle of testing some face scrubs, and all the normal work, jobs, and dodging the rain. I thought today was a good time to (finally - sorry am a bit behind) bring you my review of Sugru Mouldable Glue. What Is Sugru? Well it looks like a cross between air dry clay and Fimo, comes in different colours depending on the set you get, and is quite soft and easy to work with when you take it from the packet. Described as mouldable glue, it will harden and set, and stick to whatever it is applied too, offering project ideas for craft and around the home. As well as being flexible, it grips, is heat and water proof, and shock resistant too, which to me is a good selling point from a DIY point of view, and helps with crafting techniques as well. How Is It Sold? There are currently 2 main options to tell you about. I got the Create and Craft Set to try, which came in a little box, with instruction/ideas leaflet, a little br

Action Themed Handmade Card - Daring Cardmakers Challenge

Hi Everyone, Hope you're all having a good week! Just want to say thanks to all of you that have been reading and commenting on my blog posts, especially the recent craft ones, joining in with the Daring Cardmakers challenges. I don't always have time to blog along, but this week the theme was 'action', and it was the perfect excuse to make a card with a topper kit I have had laying around for ages. The card I made is perfect for sports fans of all ages, and as a big diving fan, I'm sure this one will be a lot of fun for all. My main image and some of the extra bits are from a Hunkydory kit, I just love the image of the guy diving and his reflection shown in the water.  Copyright 2017 - These City Days I found some aperture cards in my stash and I'm enjoying decorating round the edges and adding some dimension to the designs. This time I went for a few sentiments, stars punched from holographic card, and some jute twine from Baker Ross.  I am slight

Bond Street Bites Event - Bond Street, Chelmsford - 11/08/2017

Chelmsford City Centre can seem like a quiet place at times. Gone are the days when there were promotions teams giving out free samples, street theatre entertainment, radio roadshows and more. Especially in the summer months it can see a bit too quiet. But Bond Street create a buzz when it arrived in Chelmsford, with it's range of new to us, and in some cases, quite exciting retailers. They also added to our ever growing restaurant quota, and while I would be one of the first to say that I'd like more leisure activities and things do, we do now have choice, and that's something Bond Street chose to showcase. Bond Street Bites was a two day event run from a custom food stage/demo area which featured several of the restaurants and retailers in Bond Street, and a decent amount of free food!!! I went down on the Friday, in the sunshine, and checked out most of what was on offer, and it was worth a visit. A friendly and personable presenter asked each chef questions and

You Beauty Box - July 2017 Review

Hi Everyone, How is it August already? the summer holidays are in full swing for my nephew, and at least it is still warm, although the weather has been a bit grey, and at times wet in Essex, typical. To cheer myself up, and hopefully inspire some beauty fans among you, I thought I'd look back at last months beauty box from You Beauty. Eagle eyes will know I dip in and out of ordering these boxes, depending on the products available and funds, so I was ready to click 'order now' button when I saw the selection for July. After a while of ordering boxes on/off, I'd say that holiday/festival edits, and Christmas are good times to find some variety, which suits me, as I want to try new and different things, not choose from a lot of skincare products. Some of the products you could choose from this time included Physicool Cooling Mist, Jasmine Rich Shea Butter Soap, Simple Micellar Cleanising Water, and Sally Hansen Nail Polish. I went for the £8.95 a month box whi

Craft Design Team Announcement - I'm On Team Mama Makes

Hi Everyone, I have some very exciting craft news to share. Although I always make for myself, I have done some blogs here and there for design team/blogger network stuff. Although Sarah Hurley's Team is now disbanded, both this and Baker Ross have been great opportunities, and challenges. I have loved getting back into stamping, and thinking up ideas for products I have never used before (thanks Baker Ross). You'll still see some Baker Ross makes about on here and social media - look out for the #BRBloggers or #BRCraftClub hashtags, but in the meantime I have exciting new design team news. I have been chosen as a member of Mama Makes! Mama Makes is a new crafting brand set up by Loti, who has a background in craft TV, in fact she is the voice in the ear on the production floor. It's always amazing to see people inspired by craft, and getting to the point where they can bring their ideas to life and create their own products, and that's just what Loti has done.

Daring Cardmakers Challenge - String - Handmade Card

Hi everyone, Thank you to everyone who commented and liked my last post. I hadn't planned to get back to craft so quick, but the weather has halted other planned - yep I got wet, so I thought I'd get in some cardmaking. I'm feeling pretty inspired at the moment, and after a lull am enjoying it aain. My crafty online friend Shabneez introduced me to the Daring Cardmakers , a community and blog who post up regular challenges for cardmakers. I've only had the chance to look a few times, but I've been very impressed with the themes they put up, things I wouldn't have thought of. I think it makes the whole thing more interesting. The Daring Cardmakers, have their own bloggers and designers who put up ideas on the theme, but they also encourage other crafters to join in, and submit ideas and blog posts. Lucky for me, my latest card fits in with this weeks theme - string theory - so here I am. I've had a little run of plaiting things recently, firstly with

Welsh Inspired Father's Day Card

Hi everyone, Thanks to you all for reading my recent posts, there will be some more full length blogs going up soon, and hopefully a few new things happening as well, but I thought I'd drop in with my Father's Day make. I saw a supplier I'd brought from before produce some items with Happy Father's Day in Welsh on them, and it was a bit of a light bulb moment. I'd been struggling with ideas and realised that I had never made Dad a Welsh inspired card before, so I finally had a concept. To make this card I used a 7 by 5 white blank, and first cut a panel off the front side. I then backed the card using Do Crafts wood effect papers from a recent magazine (very versatile!) and also made a paper straw from another sheet of paper from the back, to look a bit like a flag pole. Copyright - These City Days 2017 The dimension came from a holographic star, some cut out square panels, and a couple of additions to the flag pole. Then all that was left was the Wels

Book Review - The Butlins Girls, Elaine Everest

It's so warm right now, we've got a bit of Summer after some miserable rain, and what better way to spend some time outside, than sitting in the garden with a good book. I'd like to suggest Elaine Everest's second novel, The Butlins Girls, which I recently had the chance to read and review. Just like her first novel The Woolworths Girls, this one trades on the nostalgia associated with a British icon, and as one of my absolute favourite things is a holiday park, it sounded like the kind of book I wouldn't be able to put down. The story centres around Molly Missons, who after the loss of her parents, and the arrival of some dodgy sounding relatives, decides to get away from it all to take a job as a Butlins Auntie. Here she meets new friends Bunty and Plum, and the novel tells the story of their time at Butlins, their back stories and secrets, and their life at one of Britain's most iconic holiday camps.  Handsome screen star Johnny Johnson entering stage

May Favourites - Music, Beauty, Primark and More!

Hi everyone, Hope you are all having a great May so far, I've just struggled back from B&Q with some compost and a few flowers, hoping to add a bit of colour to the front garden (wish me luck). Today, I thought I'd do a favourites post. I've seen people do these on Youtube, but I am not a fan of getting in front of the camera, so here are some things I've been loving from the past month. Favourite Food Ice lollies are back on the menu, even though the weather has been a bit miserable it's still warm enough for some iced treats and I've found something new and yummy. Fruit Pastilles Froots from Rowntree are round circles of yum, I'm not a big fan of traditional ice cream, but I love sorbet so these are perfect for me. You get a raspberry sorbet centre, lemon and lime ice cream, and then either an orange or blackcurrant coating. Favourite TV Programme This is a tough one as most of the things I have been watching have been my usuals, such as Po

Love Themed Painted Tealight Holders

Happy spring everyone! One of my favourite times of year, when the sun is shining more, new life is beginning (how cute are baby lambs!) flowers are in bloom, and everything just seems so much brighter. With this, and the forthcoming wedding season in mind I thought I'd share my most recent glass painting with you. I had a spare pair of glass tea light holders from Baker Ross, and still plenty of paint in my porcelain pens, so I decided to do a love theme. These could be given as a gift together, or individually, as one is more for married couples, and the other could be for married couples, or as a boyfriend/girlfriend gift. Just two different items needed (well a few more if you count all the pens used), and then its just all about being creative. Painting on glass or already glazed ceramics is probably my favourite methods to use as you can rub anything off if you go wrong or get a bit too much paint on the surface. It will even come off after drying with a bit of work. Chec

Handmade Valentines Cards - Beautiful Botanical Stamps And DCWV Cardstock

Happy 2017 everyone, I know I am a little late, but January has been busier than expected. I have been busy looking for new work, uploading some bits to my Etsy store, and had a bit going on with one of my day jobs. I'm also working on a brand new CV/portfolio website, so it's all go, but I did find time to do some valentines crafting. Design Copyright These City Days 2017 I have had Sarah Hurley's Beautiful Botanical stamps for a while now, but have only made two cards with them (that I can show!) so I thought I'd search for a flower suitable for the most romantic day of the year. it was also a great opportunity to try out my love themed stack of foiled and patterned card stock that I won in a competition. There are a good mix of subtle patterns, bold black and white designs, and card with wording foiled on to it, along with journal size cards you can cut out and use, which seems to be a theme with DCWV, and one which I love - so many uses for these little card