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

Monday 30 June 2014

Chocolate and Pearl


I hope you had a great weekend, perhaps you went out with the family or got that job done that you have been putting off for ages or perhaps you managed to shut yourself away in your craft room for a couple of hours.

I am so lucky, last week I received an invitation to the wedding of a very dear friend.  Their wedding stationery is a lovely chocolate brown design on a pearlised off white card.  I therefore wanted to use these colours for my acceptance card.

I have a large shopping bag, which is full of embellishments that I have collected over the years to decorate the wedding scrapbooks I make.  A quick raid of the bag and, inspired by a design created by my dear friend Stephanie-Emma, this is what I came up with.


I used some chocolate brown Centura Pearl card, which I mounted on gold mirri card.  I added some very pretty lace and some brown organza ribbon with a heart shaped pearl slider.  The finishing touch was a babies breath flower.

The theme of the current challenge at Crafty Boots Challenges is 'Thank You' and there is still time for you to enter your thank you projects.

Good luck.


Dionne

Friday 27 June 2014

Letter J


Hi

I am back today to share with you a button covered letter in sunshine yellow.


I purchased an 8 inch MDF letter from Barry on ebay.  I gave it a coat of Gesso and, once that was dry, I painted it yellow using acrylic paint.

I also purchased a bag of mixed yellow buttons from ebay and used these to cover the painted letter.  Once everything was dry I cleaned the excess glue from the surface.  Finally, I added a few Petaloo Flora Doodle flowers.

By the way, if you think there is something wrong with this photo, it is because it is upside down.  I could not get the J to stay up right the right way up, so I have to turn it the other way to photograph it.



Dionne

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Thank You

For the first time ever I am late with posting my Crafty Boots Design Team Project.  I do apologise, this one took a lot longer to make than I anticipated.

The current Challenge at Crafty Boots Challenges is 'Thank you'.  The theme was chosen by the lovely and very talented Gabrielle as this is to be her final Challenge for Crafty Boots Challenges.  It is also the gorgeous Freya's last Challenge so we are saying thank you to both of them.  Gabrielle and Freya have been important members of the team for a long time and they are going to be missed by us all and I am sad to see them go.

I wanted to make something special for this Challenge as I wanted the ladies to know how much I have appreciated, not just their talent, but also their companionship over the years.

When I started making these pennants I never realised just how long it would take me ..... 3 days!



I cut down some 12 x 12 papers to make my pennants and inked the edges with Photo Finish and Wild Honey.  I then stuck them to some white card to add strength and attached the eyelets.

I printed the letters on card and cut them out and stuck them in place.  Then I raided my craft stash to came up with something different to decorate each letter.


I used some of Wild Orchid Crafts fabulous mulburry paper roses to cover the T.


The H was covered in gold glitter card.


I covered the A with Washi Tape ..... I wish I had thought to do this before I glued the letter to the paper, it would have been so much easier!


The N was covered in 'Autumn' mix Flower Soft.


I had fun with the K and cut inch squares of tissue paper and scrunched them into florettes, which I glued to my letter K.


I used a Martha Stuart punch to make the small butterflies that I attached to the letter Y.


I abandoned the card O for this pennant and instead used two large Petaloo flowers with a very glittery centre.


Finally, I covered the U with an assortment of green coloured buttons.


Please take a look at the fabulous inspirational projects made by the rest of the Crafty Boots Challenges design team.

Good luck with your entry.


Dionne




Friday 20 June 2014

Gone Fishing

Hi

The weekend is almost here, I hope your week has been a good one.

Continuing my current sporting theme I have a slight variation on the theme today with a fishing image.


I decided on a tent fold card.  The polka dot paper is from a DoveCraft pack and the boarder is from a Messy Rabbit CD.

The image is a Sugar Nellie Home Grown Manga stamp called 'Tiny Tidler', which I coloured with Promarkers.  I mounted the image on silver card and some blue pearlescent card.  The sentiment is from Craftork Cards.

Over at Crafty Boots Challenges, we are celebrating the coming summer of sport, and in particular the World Cup, with a sporting challenge.  There is still time to enter your sporting project.


Dionne

Tuesday 17 June 2014

Opps!


Hi

Thanks for dropping by today, it is so nice to have visitors.

Continuing my sporting theme from last week I have the sweet little stamp from LOTV to share with you today.


After colouring the stamp with Promakers I mounted it on silver card and green Centura Pearl card.  The backing paper is from a Messy Rabbit CD and the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

Over at Crafty Boots Challenges, we are celebrating the coming summer of sport, and in particular the World Cup, with a sporting challenge.


Dionne

Saturday 14 June 2014

Come on England

Hi

I hope you are having a fabulous weekend.

Very few people will have failed to have noticed that the Football World Cup is on at the moment and today see's England's first match.

I have another football themed card to share with you today.


The little image is from LOTV, which I coloured with Promarkers and mounted on silver card.  The football pitch embellishment was from a Messy Rabbit CD and the backing paper and sentiment are from my stash.

Over at Crafty Boots Challenges, we are celebrating the coming summer of sport, and in particular the World Cup, with a sporting challenge.

Come on England!


Dionne

Thursday 12 June 2014

World Cup 2014

Hi

Amid all of the hype, and after what seems like an endless lead-up, the Football World Cup starts today with a match between the host nation Brazil and Croatia.

Over at Crafty Boots Challenges, we are celebrating the coming summer of sport, and in particular the World Cup, with a sporting challenge.

In celebration of the first match in the tournament I have a football themed card to share with you today.


I have always felt that masculine cards do not lend themselves to very 'frilly' decorations, so I tend to keep them CAS - in this case letting the backing paper do most of the work.  The image is a Sugar Nellie Home Grown Manga stamp called 'Sporty' and the backing papers comes from a Messy Rabbit CD.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and then mounted it on silver card and some blue Centura Pearl card.

Thank you for dropping by today.


Dionne

Monday 9 June 2014

Sports Day

Hi

A new challenge starts at Crafty Boots Challenges today and, in recognition of the amazing sporting summer we have ahead of us, the theme for the next two weeks is SPORT.

With so many sports to choose from it was very difficult to pick a sport for my card today.  Football (soccer) seemed the most obvious with the Football World Cup about to start but in the end I went with golf.


My little golfer is a stamp from Sugar Nellie Home Grown Manga called 'FORE!'.


I coloured him with Promarkers and mounted him on silver card and  some adorable bee paper from one of Joanna Sheen's Messy Rabbit CDs.


The vintage labels and golf charm are from my stash and the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

Please take a look at the fabulous inspirational projects made by the rest of the Crafty Boots Challenges design team.

Good luck with your entry.


Dionne

Monday 2 June 2014

Four Today

Another Monday, is it my imagination, or do they really seem to come around faster and faster as you get older?

At Crafty Boots Challenges the current theme is Butterflies and/or Bees,  there have been some splendid entries, and I have been inspired to make another card featuring butterflies to share with you today.

Regular visitors will know that I recently bought several baby fairy images from Mo's Digital Pencil and here is another of them.


I used Promarkers to colour the image and added a little glitter to the wings.  The sentiment and backing paper were from my stash and I cut the small butterflies with a Martha Stuart punch from scraps of pink paper.  

I hope you have a good week.


Dionne