Embellished Bag

Well folks, it is the start of our summer holidays and the beautiful sunny weather has changed to rain.....but it'll change back soon, won't it?! And it is also time for another challenge at Dream Valley. This fortnight, we would like you to Make your Own Flowers or Embellishments. Aha......a perfect excuse for die cutting some flowers and using up some beads and sequins!
In addition to my obsession with card making, I have developed an obsession with sewing, especially upcycling garments that are no longer fitting and/or used. Ahem, I am hoarding clothing and fabric in case it becomes useful and this bag started life as a pair of trousers and one of hubby's old shirts. The handles are from old gift bags too. I am proud that I have even succeeded in sewing French seams, so that the raw edges are completely hidden. I decided not to line this bag as it was already quite thick and felt perfectly useful as it is.

Then the jewellery and bead obsession kicked in! The flowers were cut using the Sizzix Wedding Flower die. The hearts were from a bargain buy from some high street shop and I added beads to eye pins and then to the hearts. And there was a bit of stitching that I wasn't happy with as my bobbin had run out part way along the top of the bag and I had to re-do it.......so I hid the untidy bits with some more beads, eyepins and sequins.......mmmm, maybe didn't need to share that imperfection with you!

So, what flowers or embellishments will you make for our challenge? I'm looking forward to seeing.

Happy crafting!

Susie x

Time For Tea

I haven't used these Summer Driggs papers for ages, but decided they'd be perfect for this tea inspired card. The teapot and cups are from my new Digistamp Boutique Time For Tea set, which I have paper-pieced and fussy cut. I have made a "table cloth" from scraps of paper, with stitching stamped using the Clearly Besotted Just For You set, stamped in Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. The sentiment has been computer generated and I chose a teal coloured ink to co-ordinate with the papers.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Sketch and Stash - sketch, which I have rotated

Totally Gorjuss - Happy Birthday

Digistamp Boutique - Anything Goes

 

A Couple of 80th Cards

Alf is pretty cool, isn't he?! I've coloured him with promarkers and polychromos and the clouds have been stamped using a thought bubble stamp and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. They have also had a bit if Stardust Stickles added too. The papers are the gorgeous Kaisercraft On the Move - I love the colours in this pad!

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Digistamp Boutique challenge - Anything Goes

Cards for Men - Sports

Stampin For the Weekend - Anything Goes

I was also asked for I an 80th card for a man who likes reading, travel and fine red wine. I saw the Freshly Made Sketch and thought that it might work for this card. (Unfortunately, I am too late to enter the challenge.)

I've used a Sizzix embossing plate to add texture to the background and the twirly border was from a Basic Grey pack. The aeroplane has been cut using a Sizzix die and some gloss. The wine bottle and glass is from the Digistamp Boutique Fancy a Tipple set, coloured with my beloved polychromo pencils, Platinum Stickles and gloss. I've also made a little book, using Inkylicious Tiny Text for the pages (unseen) and a bird picture cut from some RSPB address stickers. (I've cut the twine ends shorter now, so they no longer hang over the wine glass.)

I would like to enter Joanna Sheen - Father's Day / Male Card challenge.

 

A Travel Inspired Father's Day Card

At Dream Valley this fortnight, our theme is Father's Day / For A Man. And one of the cards I was asked for was a card for a dad who likes holidays and weekends away........bit tricky to start with until I was looking through all my stash and came across the Travel Smash Book journalling sheet......so I cut out the suitcase and shortened the note part.....and used the LOTV tickets and sentiments....and the Clearly Besotted Going Places set for the train and sentiments.....some sticky tags that I've had for ages and twine completed the card. Once again, I have used my Distress Inks for the stamping: Antique Linen, Peeled Paint, Bundled Sage and Frayed Burlap.

I would love the enter:

Clearly Besotted challenge - Anything Goes (again!)

Creative Belli - Father's Day

Simon Says Stamp - Transport (train on the background)

Papertake Weekly - Hello Boys

Dino-Mite Dad

I've been using these cute little Clearly Besotted Dinosaurs again, this time for a Father's Day card.  I've coloured him with my Distress Inks (and it's one of the latter ones so I'm happier with the colouring on this one!!) - Peeled Paint, Bundled Sage and a tiny bit of Worn Lipstick for his tongue. 

The papers are Papermania Birdsong, with a little bit of scrim over that and the white background.  The Dinosaur's background has been embossed with a Sizzix plate and the chipboard hexagons are from the Basic Grey set I've had for ages. 

The Dino-mite sentiment is also from the Clearly Besotted set and has been stamped in Peeled Paint DI, with a little gloss on that and the die cut letters.

I would like to enter the Clearly Besotted challenge (and try to remember, this time, to put GD in the title so that I can be considered as a guest designer....how amazing would that be?!!).

Anyways, off to the information session for Euan starting Primary 1!  Have a good day.

Susie x

Euan's Birthday Card

Can't quite believe that my wee boy has turned 5, but he has! On the day, he had lots of fun with his archery set, some cars and his Olympics DS game, had a Greggs sausage roll, a birthday haircut and was suitably excited about his first ever party!!

He had advised me that he wanted dinosaurs on his birthday card and that it was to be "a standy-up one"!  Just as well he said as I wouldn't have chosen dinosaurs for him - probably transport or pirates!  So, I tested out my new Distress Inks (in Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint and Faded Jeans) on the rather cute Clearly Besotted Dino-mite stamps and enjoyed some painting.....it was great fun but I was sadly out of practice!

I've used the fab Freshly Made Sketches layout for the top part of the easel card, using a variety of papers, a bit of twine and a little gloss.

The bottom part of the easel card uses sentiments from the dinosaur set and chipboard letters from the Basic Grey set I've had for ages and were perfect for propping the easel part up, and another dinosaur (this was the first and, therefore, the worst coloured one!!)

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches - sketch

Clearly Besotted - Anything Goes

Prairie Scene

I decided that I would like to try something different, so I inked up my Inkylicious Prairie stamp with Antique Linen Distress Ink and added some darker Frayed Burlap to the lower part of the stamp. I rather liked the simple effect!

I inked the edges with the Antique Linen, layered onto white, then some cream Prima paper. I added some Platinum and Stardust Stickles to the image here and there. There is a Clearly Besotted butterfly, Cheery Lynn Vines and Memory Box Hibiscus added. And the sentiment is from the Clearly Besotted Just For You set- love it!

I would like enter the following challenges:

Crafting When We Can- punches and/or die cuts

Stampin For the Weekend - Monochrome

Totally Papercrafts- Anything Goes

And I loved the card so much that I decided to make a second using Worn Lipstick and Brick Red DIs.

 

Sports

Another fortnight has passed and I have been able to blog a little more - hurray! And today, for our Sports challenge at Dream Valley, I would like to share a card I have made using the fab Lili of the Valley image, Riding My Bike. I've stamped him with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and coloured it in my polychromo pencils.

The background has been stamped using a freebie car and the Clearly Besotted bike using Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap. I've ended up using this process for quite a few cards recently and particularly like this combination of colours. Everything has been mounted onto Kraft card, with only a little twine, buttons and a charm to complete it.

What will you make for our Sports challenge? And......would you like to apply for our Design Team call? Details are here. Good luck, folks!

 

Design Team Call At Dream Valley

Hello everyone,

 

Just wanted to let you all know that Dream Valley are having a design team call - details are:

Some of our lovely ladies have moved on to BIGGER things and now we need YOU!!

Now We'll miss you all so much but understand, health and family come first! So I know you will wish them all well for the future and hope they pop by from time to time!

Looking for some fab new teamies to join our wee team (slightly mad but all lovely)!!

To be part of the team these we ask the following:

**Have a active blog**

**Make a Crafty Creation every 2 weeks**

**Comment on your share of entrants**

**Pick a Top 3 whens its your turn**

**HAVE FUN lol**

If that sounds like you and you feel you can join our awesome team, add your name in the linky On the challenge blog! You have a two weeks to enter the call!

Good Luck!

Blossom with Sunflowers

I love this little stamp, Blossom, by Leanne Ellis....she's cute and pretty easy and quick to colour and looks pretty! When I saw that the challenge on the Sugary Sunday Sugarnellie Facebook challenge was Leanne Ellis, I knew I had to stamp her up. And I needed to make a card with sunflowers for an order, so thought I'd see if the two worked together. And I wanted to challenge myself with colours......so I chose purple and yellow and, actually, I will definitely use this combo again!

The purple paper is from the Papermania set....name has escaped me but I also have it in yellow/orange!! Blossom has been coloured with promarkers and a little Stardust Stickles for sparkle.

I would also like to enter:

Sugar Bowl challenge - Anything Goes (with Sugaranellie)

Totally Papercrafts - Anything Goes

Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes with Ribbons

Off to enjoy a beautifully sunny evening in the garden:o)

Susie x

 

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Luv a La.....Large Glass of Wine!

Luv A Latte is a fab stamp, isn't it? But I (very) often swap her mug of latte for a glass of bubbly and she doesn't seem to protest too much!

I have coloured her with promarkers and paper pieced her skirt and top and added a bit of Platinum Stickles and gloss to the glass. The papers are First Edition Summer Breeze......I wanted a fresh, modern and summery colour palette, so matted the beautiful minty shades onto cerise pink paper. This layout used to be my "fail safe, go- to" layout, but I don't think I've used it for a while. A bit of twine and a charm completed my card.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

The Sugar Bowl - Anything Goes

Passion For Promarkers - Add Ribbon, Lace or Twine

 

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Freshly Made Sunflowers

This card came together so quickly.....the Freshly Made Sketches sketch "spoke" to me, the scraps of the Prima papers were sat on my desk and the sunflowers caught my eye on my window sill....and this card was the result - extremely simple, but I love the bold sunflowers against the more subtle Kraft and Prima paper. I added a little sparkle to the sentiment to complete it.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches - fab sketch

Charisma Cardz - Here Comes Summer

Creative Belli - Flowers

 

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A Pretty Church

 

When I was asked if I could make a First Communion card, I knew this gorgeous Digistamp Boutique image, Pretty Church, would be perfect. I printed it onto white card and Kraft paper and coloured the church with promarkers and polychromos. I loved adding the brickwork detail!

 

The papers are Darling Dear- I love the colour combos in this pad. I added a bit of pearly detail using the pearl wand - a fabulous purchase!!

 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Digistamp Boutique - Anything Goes

One Stitch at a Time - use a Digi

 

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Katie's Trip to Park

I adore this cute SugarNellie image! She is called Trip to the Park and I have paper-pieced her with paper scraps and coloured her with promarkers. The dogs have been coloured to reflect Katie's labrador puppy, Indie and her gran's dog Daisy. The papers are Henbury Park, matted onto some spare purple card. I particularly like the design of the front flowery paper!

 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Sketch and Stash - Sketch

Sugar Bowl - Anything Goes

SugarNellie Facebook challenge - flowers

One Stop Craft - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz - 3 (papers), 2 (dogs), 1 (image)

Everybody Art Challenge - Flowers

Papertake Weekly - If the Paper Fits (paper piecing)

Passion for Promarkers - Anything Goes

We have had an extremely busy time lately, with lots of extras on at school, nursery and dancing, plus getting the garden levelled, moving top soil and putting up a fence..........and enjoying the sunshine. The bulk of the garden levelling was completed just before the lovely weather started on Monday, so we've had picnics, dinner outside and lots of "sports" outside - brilliant! So that's my current excuse for my lack of blogging presence!! I hope you are all fabulous! xx

 

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A Cute Little Frog

Our challenge at Dream Valley this time is Animals and we are sponsored by Robyn's Fetish. The cute little frog image is called Don't Rain on my Parade and I've coloured him with Promarkers, polychromos and gloss. The paper is from the Studio Calico Darling Dear pad, matted onto bright red paper. The sentiment is from L of the Valley and seemed apt.

Looking forward to seeing what you create for us at Dream Valley!

 

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Ocean's Gift

I was lucky enough to win the Sugar Bowl prize a few weeks back and chose Ocean's Gift as one of my new stamps. I've coloured her with promarkers and a little polychromo pencils and lots of the Pearl Wand! How cute is the little seahorse?

The papers are First Edition Up, Up and Away with a little scrap of sticky silver paper.

This is the card for one of Euan's nursery friends.

 

I would like to enter the Sugar Bowl - Anything Goes

Sugar Nellie Facebook Challenge - lots of flowers

 

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Dad's Birthday Card

My goodness, what a busy time we've had lately....even more so than normal!! I've had lots of fun making orders for friends, have loads on at school/nursery, 4 family birthdays, Scott's been working extra hours AND we're getting work done in the garden! So, that's my excuse for neglecting my blog and my lovely blogs buddies. It looks like it will remain extra busy for the next month too, but I'll try to increase my blogging time, if I can.

Anyway, when my sister and I were at school, my mam and dad had a VW Caravanette that we (very affectionately) called Tess. She was orange and cream and made for lots of lovely days out, weekends away and "camping trips" in the drive!! So when I saw this little stamp in Hobbycraft (for only £1!), I had to buy it.

I played about for a while, stamping with black ink and colouring in, then decided to see how they looked with my Distress Inks. I loved the colours, so went with this idea for my dad's birthday card. The papers are Kaisercraft On the Move and I love the colour combination.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Divas By Design - Anything Goes

CRAFT - Happy Birthday

Moving Along with the Times - CAS

Crafty Catz - Anything Goes

Totally Papercrafts - CAS

Sweet Stampin - CAS

 

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No Squares Allowed - Jeans to a Skirt

I LOVE making cards using my square card blanks, but it's brilliant to get a push to make something a little different, isn't it? And the Dream Valley No Squares Allowed challenge is a perfect opportunity for this. (Now, technically, I HAVE used squares, but the overall shape is NOT a square.). Oh, and we are lucky enough to be sponsored by Crafty Ribbons for this challenge!

I have been lucky enough to have my mam's sewing machine for the last few years and, on and off, I've actually used it! I love the idea of being able to turn something that no longer fits, into something useful..........A favourite item was the cushion cover I made for Louise last year from scraps of denim.

Also, in the last few months, I've started looking at Pinterest and The Great British Sewing Bee has been a favourite programme with myself, Lou and Euan.............so, with all this in mind, I was inspired to make a pair of too short jeans into a denim skirt for Lou. I've wanted to get her a denim skirt for a few years, but they are always WAY to short if they fit at the waist!

I cut off the legs of the jeans, just below the fabulous embellished pockets (maybe a little TOO close, when I see that picture).

I had originally planned to make a ra-ra type skirt like the one i'd seen on Pinterest, but decided that it would be too bulky for Lou. So, I cut up the legs of the jeans into 12cm squares and sewed them into a strip of 7, alternating the "grain" of the fabric horizontally and vertically - I just like the effect it gives! The seams were ironed flat (although maybe I should have overlocked them?) and then pinned the strip to the bottom of the jeans "waist".

After trying it on her and deciding that, actually it was looking ok, I sewed the ends of the strip together before sewing the strip to the waist.

Then I sewed more squares into a long strip and did the same thing. After checking the length was ok, I finished the skirt with this gorgeous checked bias binding from The Ribbon Girl. I will definitely be buying more of this and some in the other designs too as it is easy to add and adds a lovely detail to the garment (hey, get me!!!!!). Our sponsor, Crafty Ribbons, also has a lovely selection of bias binding, including a black and white gingham one here.

I had an absolute ball making this for my daughter and enjoyed it all the more because she really loves it and wants me to make more clothes for her! I have already made a school skirt for her in the same design using school trousers that no longer fit and have a plan to make another school skirt in a similar, but different design. Lou has also suggested Upcycling her trousers into a school cardi, but I'm not sure I'm capable of that yet!

Apologies for the lengthy post (very unlike me!) but I wanted to have a go at explaining how I made it as I'm guessing i'm not the only one with a long legged daughter who keeps growing! Although it would have been much clearer with photos!! (I considered taking photos, but decided that, as it was a first attempt, and I was making it up as I go along, it probably wouldn't work, so took no photos along the way and regretted it!)

My smiley, happy girl in her perfectly fitting denim skirt:

Oh, and I made the tag using the fabulous Just for You stamps from Clearly Besotted - Lou loved this detail too!

I would also like to enter the Crafty Ribbons challenge, Anything Goes and CRAFT challenge - Use Stitching.

 

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Things with Wings

Can you believe that another fortnight has passed and we are setting another challenge at Dream Valley already? This one is Things With Wings and we are sponsored by Digital Delights.

I have used the very beautiful Sugarnellie Fingers Crossed, coloured with promarkers and stardust stickles. She is looking at a layered butterfly, stamped onto the gingham paper using my Clearly Besotted Butterfly Wishes Additions stamps and dies. I have used the bird (more wings!) and gingham papers from my Echo Park Sweet Day pad. I have used my Memory Box Hibiscus die (i use this such a lot!), punch, card candi and Cheery Lynn Vine die to make the flower. The sentiment has been created on my 'puter using Scrap Casual font - love the dot in the zero!!h

I would like to enter the Sugar Bowl - Anything Goes

I'm looking forward to seeing all your Things With Wings creations:0)

Susie x

 

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Sketch Saturday Teddy

A very quick post from me, so that I don't miss the deadline for Sketch Saturday. I used their awesome sketch for this card and decided to keep it very CAS. I think that the focus remains on the cute image.

The papers are scraps from my Forever Friends Kraft pad, with a little scrim and some Hobbycraft twine added. There is also a little platinum Stickles on the sunflower. Oh, and I've coloured it with my promarkers this time.

Hope everyone has had some nicer weather today. After the gales and rain of the last few days, we've been thoroughly enjoying the sunshine and warmth of today: park, bike, scooters, walking.....gotta enjoy it while it lasts!!

 

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