When it's grey and rainy.....

.....you need pretty things to look at

I'm sorting though the last things arriving for the next Quirky kit and even though it's such a miserable rainy day I can't help but have a big cheesy grin when I'm looking though all the goodness. I'm going to spend the afternoon baking cakes with mum later too so I might have to take more pretty piccys. :)

Sweet October Afternoon

Card made for the October Afternoon blog challenge here. Couldn't wait for an excuse to break into my new goodies!

Supplies: October Afternoon Cherry Hill, 'Tea Towel' and 'Cookie Jar' Weathervane 'Chilly Mornings', Rosie's Diner stamps, Cherry Hill cardstock label sticker. Banana Frog 'paperchains' stamps, Technique Tuesday 'swiss dots' stamp.

xx

Ad Inspired

This was great fun to make, my LO for the ad inspired challenge over on the American Crafts blog. I picked out this advert from a mag:

and this is the LO I came up with:

I loved the graffiti effect on the ad so I went with that as my background spritzing on some black ink over some kraft Bazzill - took an age to dry but I love the effect! The rest of the ad I picked up on was framing the photo in a Polaroid style frame - that's just some AC white cardstock. The little bits of confetti I cut out from the packaging of the Rock Star accents miniMarks and the title is made up of the Rock Star and IM Phrases miniMarks. Also used some American Crafts Flair embellies. The crochet flower is a Bazzill one I think then just random buttons from my stash.

I really enjoyed making this one so will defo have a play with ad inspiration again!

xx Leo

Character

I made this LO following the challenge on the American Crafts Blog to make a LO using 4 or more of the Character line of papers. I picked out Tribune, Planet, Times, Telegraph and Post. I just chopped out the Tribune, Planet, Times and Post papers to reflect the images of the stacked books in the photo and then used the back of the Telegraph paper to make a matt for the photo and Thickers which looks black in the photo but it is a fab deep inky blue colour just like carbon paper. I ordered these online and I much prefer them in real life to how they look onscreen :) The Thickers are Rockabye in white and Puffy Chit Chat in Tangerine and I made a little embellie with a yoyo and some Flair in the center.

xx Leo

Crafty Jewellery

I love experimenting and making something out of hardly anything. Last night I had a play and made these cute rings out of the smallest pieces of left over fabric, recycled fiber filling and buttons. The ring bases I had in my jewellery stash you can get them for pence from jewellery finding suppliers.They're really easy to make. All I did was choose a button for the base - the same size as the motif on the fabric, centered the button on the motif and then did a running stitch about 1.5cm from the edge of the button. I added some filling and then the button on top and then just pulled the thread so it gathered around and then stitched back and forth to get rid of all the puckers. I used another piece of fabric stuck over the back to hide the stitching and then the glue gun to attach it to the ring base. Really simple!

Will defo be having a play with some more fabric/jewellery ideas. I love this necklace I made last year so I'm thinking I'll be making some more for this summer. These are sew simple too you just make a tube of fabric the same width as the beads you want to use and pop them inside the tube making a knot after each one. You can make the tube as long as you want but you need to at least double the length you want your finished necklace to be so you have enough for knotting.

xx Leo

Hi!

Quick card I put together inspired by this weeks DCM challenge, Supersize me! This week the dare is to use big big embellishments - namely paper flowers so I did use some of my hoard of blooms and layered up a few then used some fabric in the middle and carried on the layering making a button stack in the center.

All the goodies bar the blooms are American Crafts (cardstock, Thickers, ribbon and Craft Fair papers & Flair badge). Those fabric Thickers are my current obsession, they've duped the foam ones to be my favorite Thickers!

I've not updated with new stuff for a bit so I'll share some quick snaps...............

Another current retro crafty thing I'm loving - pom poms! I got a big pile of super delish wool from my haberdashers so I've been away making them, this one is about 1" across so I'm going to make more and make a necklace I think. The polka dot box is something that's sat on my desk inspiring me. The paper is one of a new set I've been designing for Crafty Templates - that's what's keeping me busiest this past few weeks!

Also wanted to share this....
It's the most super handy thing I've ever made because it keeps thread and needles together in one place! I saw the idea here and then adapted it to a jam jar so I could fill it with my bits of embroidery thread to keep with my needles. Super handy for sewing buttons on cards and LO's which I always am and if you are too I can defo recommend making yourself one :)
xx Leo

Scrapping on the edge

I've not had that much time for crafty fun this past week but I did have a play at this weeks Scrap Like you Mean it challenge over on UK Scrappers. This week the theme is to 'Scrap on the edge'. I took mine a bit literally and picked out a photo I took from the edge of the Black Rocks in Derbyshire. I followed the 'high up' theme and picked out some clouds to use too. The stamp is from the Sassafras Oliver and Friends set and it's stamped all around the edge and then cut out to make a decorative edge. The cloud stickers are Sassafras too as are most of the papers, there is one little bit of October Afternoon cloudy paper in there too, Bazzill card and American Crafts Thickers that I've printed over with bubble wrap. The rest is leftovers from kits. I'm getting quite good at using up my leftover bits and pieces although as I'm using them up they do seem to keep piling up just as quickly - how does that happen??

xx Leo

Another quick LO

I made this LO last night just playing around with some yummy papers. I've been printing a bunch of these kinds of heritage photos out to use for a mini book I'll be making for a birthday gift and I wanted to scrap a few for my own albums....

Papers are American Crafts from the 'Craft Fair' range, foam Thickers (Daiquiri & Lullaby) and a 'Flair' adhesive badge again from the cute 'Craft Fair' range called 'Made with love'. Cardstock is American Crafts 'Coffee' and Bazzill kraft.


It's lots more 3D in real life it's hard to show in the photo I keep using up all my 3D foam pads on my layouts when they used to go just on cards - weird how things change up like that!



xx

Note to Self

I've been playing with my Note to Self Quirky kit this weekend and so far I made a book...

Other side of the bookmark -

It's an accordion book I've made just taping together pieces of card and spare card blanks. The cover I've made with board covered with fabric and embellies from the kit and my stash (added the yellow ribbon, flower button, Primas and polka dot gaffer tape). I used some of the little Sassafras paper Whimsies cards - two if them just glued together with ribbon fixed in the center to make a bookmark with. The other half of the ribbon is fixed inside the cover so it's always handy to save a place. I'm not sure what's going to go in there yet but probably lots of cute inspirational stuff - stuff to inspire future Quirky kits maybe :-D
I also used some more Sassafras to make a quick card for Julie {Julie if you're reading it's going in the post now!}.

I used more Sassafras Paper Whimsies cards with a bit of paper and some Sweet Treats Stickers then stamped on the message.
Julie has been and is making loads of cute stuff with my Quirky kit and it's looking v cool - check out her blog for a peek I think everything is going up there - http://www.notesonpaper.blogspot.com/ loads of inspiring stuff there anyway :-D

xx Leo

Happy Spring!

It's official it's defo spring time! I've had my good spring clean out - sorted out unwanted clothes for charity from my wardrobe and added a few cute springy outfits to it - got a cute blazer jacket so I'm really hoping it doesn't rain too much so I can actually wear it! Blazer jacket rolled up jeans and Birki's mmmm need to make some new jewellery now too...

I also spring cleaned my stash so I treated myself to a few new bits and pieces including lots of yummy Sassafras! So I've been playing......

First a card for this weeks DMC challenge which had to have bunnies or chicks on - I cut out some of pieces from one of the Vintage Yummy Sassafras papers with a little bunny on and one with cute little birdies on so I guess I have a little bit of both!

My desk is still a bit messy so I need to spring clean it up a bit but I did make a cute windmill decoration from some leftover paper to add some lovely springy colour to it!

Also made a layout. I cut up a few different papers and used some Sweet Treats stickers to make a little collage
By this time I'd got a few scraps laying around so I made another quick card...

Then I found out some more little off cut bits of Sassafras I had and couldn't resist making another bunny card. This one is going to be for my aunty Jen I think because she loves bunnies just like me :-)

Then it got too dark to play :-(

I'm off to a mini foodie party now although I have just been informed there will be no pizza - no pizza - rubbish! Moroccan stuff apparently - I'm sure they have pizza in Morocco right? lol

xx Leo

Thickers!

I love Thickers so I had to have a play at the challenge on the American Crafts blog this week. The challenge is to use 3 different Thickers on one project. I combined my go with this weeks Scrap Like you Mean it challenge too.......

I used American Crafts Lullaby foam Thickers in Sunflower, Chit Chat Puffy Thickers in Tangerine, Daiquiri foam Thickers in pink and green and Sprinkles Glitter Thickers in black. The papers are American Crafts 'Craft Fair'.

I also made a little card with some of the left over bits + some American Crafts mini Marks and a bit more paper......

xx Leo

Waste not want not

I'm one of those crafters that likes to keep scraps and offcuts from projects and in the years I've been enjoying making things with bits of paper the scraps have amassed rather a lot. I do get around to using them but it's always good to challenge yourself to stick to just using off cuts and waste, not only is it cool to not waste stuff but it also takes a big chunk off your ermmming time deciding what to pick out to use!

This project was great fun to do, it's another recipe book I've been asked to make one just with cake recipes in (cupcakes muffins etc). I might end up keeping this one though and making another to give! lol. More scraps will get used up that way too ;-)

All the papers are October Afternoon from the Daydream, Weathervane and Detours ranges, Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts Thickers, MM Tiny alpha stickers, October Afternoon and Banana Frog stamps and Theresa Collins recipe cards + other odds and ends from my stash.

I cut down the largest scraps of papers and cardstock to 4x6" to make the pages at the front of the book. The shaped pages are freehand drawn out with a black marker and then just cut out, really easy to do with offcuts and you don't have to find a straight edge!

Some more of the inside pages:

At the back I've included some lined pages to write notes and new recipe ideas in.

This is another scraps project again using the same October Afternoon paper leftovers and a circle punch to punch out the shapes and layer them up into the design.

This is the card I've made for Mother's Day this Sunday. This time I used fabric scraps to make the embellishments with and mixed them in with some newer paper from the yum American Crafts 'Craft Fair' range. All the buttons are vintage ones from the massive stash my great grandma has - now that's a generation that know things about reusing and making do, if my gran hadn't saved all those yummy buttons I wouldn't have them now to enjoy :-)

xx Leo

DMC - Circles

I was stumped with this card, it's for an uncles birthday, what do other ppl do for uncles? It's such a toughie. Anyway I popped onto the DMC blog to see if anything could spark me off and it worked! Circles this week...... ok so what colours do I go for, scouting around for something and there sits my gogo greetings kit, still with loads of lovely SEI Jolie Chocolat papers in - can I make a man card from such pretty papers...... why not! I picked out all the brown and grey ones and punched out circles then tore out strips and stuck it all together. The other circle bits are Candy Drops and then some SEI alpha and a stamp that was in the Greetings kit.Might use this design again but it bright neon colours! lol

Thanks again DMCers for the inspro!

xx

I'm here!

I've not dropped off blogging land just been mega busy. I made these a few weeks ago but thought I'd share now because they're lovely and bright and I feel like sharing bright things this morning because the sun's all shiny and it feels almost like Summer :D Wish it was, still a long way to go yet :(
I got into the idea a few weeks ago (when it was all grey and snowy and slushy) of making fun bright cards because it's the ideal antidote to the winter blues.

Everything is American Crafts, papers (Teen), cardstock, Thickers, Flair, Galaxy Markers and rubons + some felt, ribbons from Ribbon Oasis and vintage buttons from my stash.

I'm in love with the American Crafts cardstock for making cards with at the mo, so many fun bright colours so little time......

xx Leo

An October Afternoon

Over on the October Afternoon blog all this week there have been reveals of their new lines and I've been so excited because I absolutely love October Afternoon papers! Anyone who knows me knows I love polka dot stuff and October Afternoon papers are the polka dottiest on the block along loads of other awesome patterns and crisp clean colours. I just love em and can't wait for some new patterns!

Among all the fun of the new goodie releases there are also some cool sketches to have a play with so I had to I have a play....

Sketch #1

I used loads of different October Afternoon papers, the 'Rosie's Dinner' clear stamps set, Detours Journalling cards and 'Charleston' rub-ons. Also used a little bit of fabric and some vintage buttons from my stash. The photos are actually little pockets that contain the journalling bit and other little tab bits to lift out. The sun I made with some October Afternoon paper, doodled on and cut out and then a piece glued onto some chipboard and made into a big chipboard button punching holes with my cropodile.Sketch#2

I love colourful fun vintage stuff and I think that's why I do like October Afternoon papers so much because they are a little bit vintage kitchy. These are all photos of my grandparents from the 50's and the papers and stamps work with the photos so well (I think so anyway). I used the diecut remains bit from one of the Detours Journaling Cards sheets to make frames for the photos and then layered those up with foam pads to give it dimension. The title is stamped with the Rosie's Diner stamps again (yep they are my faves lol) and I made some more chipboard buttons using off cuts of chipboard covered with paper and sanded on the edges then punched holes in and stitched on my LO.

The lace at the top and the buttons on the journal card are all ones from my grandmas sewing box (she always knows I can give her old junk a happy home) so they could actually be from the 50's, I like to think so anyway. lol

Thank you to the October Afternoon DTers for some fab sketches and giving me a good excuse to get my cute papers out again and have a play. xx Leo

Jewellery Challenge ~ handmade

This week over on the jewellery challenge blog the challenge is to make something with handmade beads. I felt like doing something with fabric so this is what I came up with....

I know it's a loose interpretation of 'bead' lol. I guess it's a pendant kind of bead :). All I did was print some images on to fabric transfer paper (the kind that you iron on and peel off). The images I used are all downloads from Kitschy Digitals. Once transferred on to the fabric I cut out the images and layered them up with some denim fabric then stitched the layers together. To make it a 'bead' I stitched a pocket bit on the back that has two open ends. to allow thread to be strung though. The beads on the necklace are vintage beads from a broken necklace (thrift store find ;) ).

Looking forward to another challenge!

xx Leo

Hearts

There have been loads of recent challenges and things about with 'hearts' as the theme and I couldn't resist playing along with some of them.

Over on the Banana Frog stamps blog there is a challenge to use hearts and because I haven't got my BF stamps out in an age, I figured I should have a play. I picked out the 'Paperchains' and 'Dear Joe' sets and made some little notecards. I love making stamped notecards and most people who have something though the post from me usually get one so I try to keep a pile handy. Prettier than just scribbling a note on a bit of paper ;-)

Stamping them means you can set up a mini production line, stamping each card in turn and building up a unique design till you have something like 10 super cute little notecards. Then when they're all gone you can make up a different design :).

A recent discovery is this jewellery challenge blog, http://jewellerychallenge.blogspot.com/ .

I used to design jewellery a few years ago and have a big stash of beads and things to use. I still like to make it for myself but I thought I could start making some more for prezzies. Here's what I came up with for the current challenge, to use hearts & red.

The heart beads are hematite and the large red beads are cherry quartz, the smaller beads are smokey quartz. I just strung them on some Stretch Magic so it can be used as a necklace or doubled up and worn as a bracelet. Will defo be playing along some more with those challenges.

xx Leo

Happy Valentines!

If you're still looking for a quick gift idea grab some ribbons, (the ones I've used are all from Ribbon Oasis), cake ingredients and cases and get creating some yummy treats! I was thinking this would also be a perfect way to decorate birthday cupcakes, wedding cupcakes or any other kind of gift cupcake you want to make, best of all it's realllllllyyyy easy!

For these Valentines ones I decided to make the classic Red Velvet cake mix. It's basically just chocolate cake with red food colouring in so it's easy to make but it always looks amazing when you break into them.

Recipe

• 140g of self raising flour
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 110ml of milk
• 1 tsp of lemon juice or vinegar
• 1 tsp of vanilla flavouring
• 1 tablespoon of red food colouring
• 60g of butter
• 170g of caster sugar
• 1 large egg

Preheat your oven to 180c. Measure the milk out in a jug and add the lemon juice (or vinegar) vanilla and food colouring in to the milk then set to one side. In a bowl cream the butter and sugar until nice and fluffy and beat in the egg. Next measure out your flour and then add to the flour the cocoa powder and mix it together. Add half the flour mixture to the eggs, butter and sugar mixture, mix in then add half of the milk mixture and stir in. Add the rest of the flour mixture, stir then add the last of the milk mixture and stir again till everything is mixed in together. Your mixture should be fairly scarily read at this stage!

Add your cake cases to your tin and fill the cases with the mixture. It should make 12 smaller cupcakes (using about 2 tablespoons of mixture per case) or about 8 larger ones. Bake for about 20 mins but keep a check on them, when they're done they'll spring back up when you squidge your finger in the top.

When they're done leave them to cool on a cooling rack. You can make your buttercream for the top while they're cooling. I used a standard buttercream with half a capful of red food colouring in it. You could be more adventurous if you like or you could go for something like melted chocolate as your topping, go with whatever you have in the cupboard.

When they're cool you can decorate the cases with the ribbons. Make sure you add the ribbon before you add the icing. You can get some really cool self adhesive ribbons from Ribbon Oasis that work really well otherwise you can add double sided tape to the back of your ribbon and then just roll them around the case.

Make some bows tying the ribbon and then glue them on, you can also use little tags or add stickers to decorate them some more if you want.

Finally comes the cool part, adding topping and sprinkles! Spoon on the topping and swizzle round with a spoon or you can pipe it on if you have a piping bag (and can be bothered to clean up after!) and then sprinkle on other bits if you want. I used edible glitter and candy sprinkles that I had left over from Christmas but a gorge traditional topping for red velvet cupcakes is chocolate dipped cherries, wish I had some! Chocolate shavings would look really cool too.

Love this ribbon it reminds me of the love hearts sweets! You can get it here, the other bits I used are American Crafts Thickers and stickers from KI Memories

There's loads of cool ways you could add decoration to your cases with ribbons so have a play!

xx

Daring Cardmaker and Blog Candy winners!

Here's my take on this weeks Daring Cardmaker challenge. I'm also on D of the manufacturer A-Z challenge so I picked out 3 'D' papers, Dream Street, Doodlebug and DCWV. The papers sort of went together but not 100% so I had to think of an idea to get them all to work so I went with a Spinner card and used some nestabilities to cut out the shapes. I also added some Doodlebug alphas and some rubons from an old kit.

Side one,Side two,

The instuctions for the spinner card are on Lou's Dotty blog check it out here.

Ok on to blog candy winners!

These were pulled out of hats at random........

winner of the boy card kit is......

Maddy said...
Boys are cool! That boy kit looks pretty cool too :)
6:21 PM

winner of the project kit is......

Pam said...
they are both cool!I struggle with all cards, especially boy cards-but having said that I LOVE the project rules kit, so I reckon I'd go for that one!! I love the cards you made btw!
7:40 PM

Ok mail me your addys to llbbanks@yahoo.co.uk and I'll get your goodies in the post.

If you weren't lucky don't be sad too long and hey the new Crafty Goodies kit is out today so you can treat yourself if you need to ;)

Happy snow day! xx Leo