Welcome


Hello, my name is Dionne and I have been crafting for a very long time. As a very young child my mother tried to teach me to knit, it was a disaster. However, it must have sparked an interest in making things and, partly to prove that I was not totally useless and partly because I really wanted to make things, I taught myself to crochet. Over the years I have developed a love of cross stitch and all types of paper craft ..... I eventually even taught myself to knit.


I am married to a very understanding man, thank goodness, because I spend all my time either crafting, thinking about crafting or talking about crafting. I am hopeless at housework and dinner is often late!


Thank you for visiting my blog.


Dionne

Tuesday 27 November 2012

Anything Goes Challenge - Take Two


Hi

Yesterday I had a problem loading photographs onto my blog, I think the problem has been resolved, so let's try this again.

We have a new challenge at Crafty Boots Challenges.  The extremely talented Faye has decided that for the next two weeks Anything Goes.

This is a fantastic time of year to have an 'Anything Goes' Challenge because everyone is busy making things and not just cards, people are making presents and decorations too.

I confess that I still have not started making my Christmas cards, but I have been busy making Christmas decorations and you may have seen the ones I posted as few days ago (click here to view the post).

I have tried my hand at something similar, but different.  Again, they are decorations I have seen in the Stampin' Up catalogue.



Now, don't forget to pop across to the Crafty Boots Challenges website and see all the wonderful projects the rest of the team has put together for this challenge and let us see what you have been making.

Good luck.


Dionne

Monday 26 November 2012

Anything Goes at Crafty Boots Challenges

Hi

Today see's a new challenge at Crafty Boots Challenges.  The extremely talented Faye has decided that for the next two weeks Anything Goes.

No photos from me today because I am having problems with blogger.  However, pop across to the Crafty Boots Challenges website and see all the wonderful projects the rest of the team has put together for this challenge.


Dionne


Sunday 25 November 2012

The Rose Garden - Set 2

Good morning

Thank you for dropping by and a very big thank you to all of you who leave such kind and generous comments on my work, I really do appreciate it.

I have a few more Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) to share with you this morning, probably the last for a while as I really must start making a few Christmas cards, I simply cannot put it off any longer.

This set features more fabulous roses and charms  from Wild Orchid Crafts.



This time I cut 3.5 inch by 2.5 inch cards from white coloured glittered card.  I then added some very pale lavender organza ribbon.

Next I decorated each card with a selection of lilac and purple roses and added charms ..............








On the reverse of each card I print the name of the set and the individual number of each card.  The date and my contact details.

If you would like to see the other ATCs I have recently made, they are as follows

In Remembrance (click here)
Let it Snow - Set 1 (click here)
Let is Snow - Set 2 (click here)
The Rose Garden - Set 1 (click here)


Dionne


Saturday 24 November 2012

Crafty Boots Challenges Design Team Day Swaps

Hi

Regular readers of my blog will know that all week I have been talking about the Crafty Boots Challenges Design Team Meeting and the Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) I made to swap with the rest of the team.

I thought you might like to see the fabulous swaps I received in return, there are so many talented ladies in this group.

Wand by Stephanie-Emma


Brooch by Bev


Fabric Tag by Candy


Bookmark by Debs


Tag by Emily

Hanging by Faye


ATC by Freya


ATC by Gabrielle


Tag by Sara



Tag by Helen


Tag by Sandra


Bookmark by Stephanie-Emma


Tag by Zoe


I shall always treasure these items and I have decided to keep them in the notebook I made at this meeting, as a memento of this fantastic day.


Dionne

Crafty Boots Challenges Design Team Day

Hi

This time last week I was in Milton Keynes with the rest of the Crafty Boots Design Team Members (well, almost all of us) having our own, very special, Design Team Day.

It was a fabulous day, with many of us meeting for the first time.  We all live so far apart it is hard for us to meet up and this was a rare opportunity to chat, share techniques and ideas.  The day flew by, as it so often does when you are having fun.

I got to try my hand at some new ink and paint effects, with some expert advice to guide me.  Here are some of the things I made.


We created our own notebook covers


And of course the notebook


I tried my hand at creating journalling pages with tags.


I made a brooch out of felt.


More journalling pages and tags, made with very different techniques.


As you can just about see, I used my tag to make a few notes on this particular paint technique.

It was a wonderful day and I hope we get to do it again. Many, many thanks to Stephanie-Emma who worked so hard to organise everything from the food to preparing all of the projects we made.


Dionne



Friday 23 November 2012

The Rose Garden - Set 1

I have more Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) to share with you today.  I have called this set The Rose Garden - Set 1.  I love this roses, which are from Wild Orchid Crafts, and I am sure that they will feature in a number of my ATCs in the future.


I cut 3.5 inch by 2.5 inch cards from champaign coloured glittered card.  I then added some green organza ribbon.

Next I decorated each card with a selection of red and white roses and charms ..............







If you would like to see the other ATCs I have recently made, they are as follows

In Remembrance (click here)
Let it Snow - Set 1 (click here)
Let is Snow - Set 2 (click here)


Dionne

Thursday 22 November 2012

Let it Snow - Set 2

Hi

My sincere apologies to anyone who has been checking my blog regularly this week, waiting for this post to appear.  I am afraid that I have been having a lot of problems with my internet connection and I have been unable to load the following photographs before now.

On Monday I posted a set of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) I had called Let it Snow - Set 1.   This is set 2 of the same name.


Here they are in close up. (They were quite hard to photograph and you will probably spot the reflection of my camera in one or two.)








I tried to copy the design of the first set as closely as I could but, this time, instead of using purple glitter card I used silver mirri card.

I cut 6 pieces of the mirri card to measure 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.  I then cut six sets of the Stampin' Up snowflake die and covered them in glitter.

After layering the snowflakes I attached each to the mirri card using a large pearl brad from Wild Orchid Crafts.   

On the reverse, I put the name of this set of ATCs, Let it Snow -Set 2, my contact details and the date I made the set.

I hope to be back tomorrow with another set.


Dionne

Monday 19 November 2012

Let it Snow - Set 1

Hi

I hope you had a good weekend, mine was exceptionally good, so full of crafting and wonderful people.

Friday evening I met up with my good friend Stephanie-Emma and a few of her other friends at a Stampin' Up Party.  We had such a good time, playing with some of their new products and making Christmas cards.

Friday night was a bit of a late night, but I was having so much fun I did not want it to end, however, I had to be up at 5:30 Saturday morning to drive (when I say drive, I didn't do the actual driving, Stephanie-Emma did) to Milton Keynes to meet up with the rest of the Crafty Boots Challenges Design Team, for a day full of good friends and crafting, sharing tips and techniques.  It was such a great day.  In a way I did not want to go home but by the end of it I was just soooo tired!

I want to say a great big thank you to Stephanie-Emma for organising the day and to all of the wonderful people who shared their knowledge with the rest of us, such a talented bunch of ladies.

I made some Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) to swap with the rest of the team on Saturday. Regular followers of my blog will know that I have only recently started to make ATCs, in fact this meeting was the reason I decided to make them.  In all I made two dozen but to share all of them in one post would make it a very long post so I thought I would try to post them over the next few days.

I wanted my ATCs to say something about me and the way I craft.  I think that one of the most obvious things about my projects it the amount of glitter I use, I love the effect of glitter, therefore I think that my ATs should have lots of glitter.

For my first set of ATCs I decided I wanted to use my very recently acquired Stampin' Up snowflake die.  I love this die, you can either use it as three separate snowflakes or you can stack them up and make the most beautiful dimensional snowflake.


I cut 6 pieces of purple glittered card to measure 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.  I then cut six sets of the snowflake die and covered them in glitter.

After layering the snowflakes I attached each to the card using a large moonstone brad from Wild Orchid Crafts.   

I made each ATC very slightly different and used a different coloured brad for each one.  On the reverse, I put the name of this set of cards, Let it Snow -Set 1, and my contact details.

Here they are in close up.








It took me a while to get use to working with such a small canvass but the challenge is strangely compelling.

Hopefully, I shall be back again tomorrow to share another set with you.


Dionne

Thursday 15 November 2012

Christmas Cheer

Hi

A couple of weeks ago I met up with my friend Stepanhie-Emma, who is a Stampin' Up demonstrator.  We had a fabulous time creating this wonderful decoration.


It was so much fun to make and we used all Stampin' Up products to make it - which is why it all coordinates so well.

I really did enjoy making this decoration and wanted to make some more to hang around my home at Christmas.

Unfortunately, I do not have all of the Stampin' Up products I needed and had to raid my stash to improvise one or two little bits.



My papers were not quite so well coordinated but I think they turned out pretty well - although I did get myself into a bit of a pickle with the glue-gun at one point, but the blisters are fading, so we won't go into that right now!


I noticed in the Stampin' Up catalogue that they had some other decorations.  I have the stamps and the dies I need and I thought I might try to make those one day.


Dionne