Pink Poppies

Hi

More experiments with my new poppy stencil and glitter texture pastes to share with you today.  I used the stencil to add pink and silver pastes to black card and set it aside to dry.

Once the texture paste had dried, I cut it into strips and layered it onto textured silver card.   I popped a small black flat backed gem to the centre of each poppy.  The lovely backing paper is from Craftwork Cards.  

I made a matching poppy from pink and silver glittered card and added some black flat backed gems to the centre.  Finally, I added the little white organza ribbon bow.

The weather recently has been very wet and it is constantly overcast, so even during the day the lighting is abysmal and I am having to use lots of artificial light when I photograph my projects.  As a result, none of the colours are very true, especially these pink poppies.  Which, in reality, are a very pretty shade of pink and the large poppy at the bottom of the card is virtually the same shade - I know, you would never have guessed.  

I hope you have a lovely day.

Dionne

Remembrance Poppies

Hi, I hope you had a good weekend.

It is Mid Challenge Reminder time for the 'Remembrance' challenge at Crafty Boots Challenges.

But before I get into that I wanted to tell you some very exciting news about Crafty Boots Challenges.  You may recall that a few weeks ago we celebrated our third anniversary.  It was a fantastic Challenge, loads and loads of entrants and an incredibly high standard.  The winner and both of the runners up of that Challenge are Guest Designers on Crafty Boots today.  Their work has left me virtually speechless, soooo amazing, you really have to go and see it for yourself.

As I said, the current Challenge is 'Remembrance'.  I realise that the Design Team are somewhat obsessed with images of red poppies but this Challenge is about so more than remembering those who died in the First World War, it is about remembering all of the wonderful people in our lives and also those special times.

I have to hold my hands up and confess that I have become addicted to colouring poppies, I just do not seem to be able to stop myself at the moment and I have another card to share with you today.

This wonderfully delicate poppy stamp is from Stampin' Up, I coloured it with Promarkers and then mounted it onto some gold mirri.  The backing papers are from DoveCraft and the poppy was made from glitter card and some black flat backed gems.

Please make sue you go and see all of the amazing projects on the Crafty Boots blog, which both the Guest Designers and the rest of the Design Team have made for today.

Dionne

Poppy Candles

Good morning

I have two decorated candles to share with you today.  The stamp I used is 'Pleasant Poppies' from Stampin' Up and I coloured the images with Promarkers.

The sight of poppies always reminds me of Remembrance Day and all of the poppies floating down from the ceiling of Earl's Court at the end of the Royal Tournament - this was an annual event in the UK, broadcast the evening before Remembrance Day.  It was a very moving sight to see thousands of red poppy petals flutter down from the darkness.

Adding stamped images to candles is so easy, simply stamp your image onto tissue paper, then, after roughly cutting out the image, place it onto your candle.

Cut a strip of baking parchment to wrap around the candle to hold the tissue in place and to give you something to hold on to.  Use your heat gun to gently melt the skin of the candle and watch the tissue disappear into the molten wax.  Take care not to over heat the wax, you do not want it to run.  The wax will quickly set again once you remove the heat.

I finished these candle by adding some red organza ribbon around the bottom of each candle.

The current Craft Boots Challenge is 'Remembrance', why not join in the fun and share with us some of your memories.

Dionne

Remembrance

What does the word Remembrance say to you?

For me it always evokes images of Remembrance Sunday, the Cenotaph, carrying the flag on parade for our local service and, of course, the excitement of Earls Court on TV.  Now I realise that many of you will not have a clue what I am talking about, but if you would like to know please click here to a previous post on this topic.

The predominant image when someone mentions Remembrance is always the poppy, the thousands of poppies falling from the ceiling of Earls Court at the end of the evening and now the beautiful art installation at the Tower of London 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red'.

A new challenge starts at Crafty Boots Challenges today and the title is 'Remembrance'.  Now, obviously, not everyone will think of poppies, or even the First World War,when they think of Remembrance, you may think of a loved one or a special day, we want to see what it means to you.

I have a card to share with you today:

I recently had a little spending spree and treated myself to some masks and glitter texture pastes.  Clearly, I need to work on my technique but this was one of  my first attempt at using my new toys.  I added the red and green glitter paste through the mask.  I was surprized at how thickly it goes on and it took a long time to dry.

I first made the step card from a sheet of white linen texture card.  I layered the poppy image up on gold mirri and red card (honest it is red, as is the ribbon) , I also made a couple of little side panels and wrapped some red organza ribbon around them.  I then covered the front of the card with some more of the red card and put it all together.  Next came the 'Thank You' sentiment by Kanban Crafts and flat backed gems from my stash.  Finally, I made a little poppy our of glitter card and some black flat backed gems.

The rest of the Crafty Boots Design Team has been very busy making projects.  Please pop over and take a look when you are entering your projects.

Good luck.

Dionne

Back to School

Today my little nephew went back to school after his half term break.  I met up with him and his cousin one day last week and we had a fantastic day but they are growing up so fast, too fast if you ask me.

I had knitted my nephew a couple of cardigans for his school uniform and left them with his mum.  Judging by the way the temperature has plummeted this week I think he is going to need them.

I also made him a little card, which I should like to share with you today.

Th image is from Mo's Digital Pencil and is called "To School A".  I coloured it with Promarkers and mounted it on glod mirri and blue card.  The backing papers are by Dovecraft.

No matter how hard I try I cannot get my knitting projects to photograph nicely, there must be some trick to it but I cannot work out what it is.

I really  must get on with the cardigans I am making for his cousin.

Dionne 

The Clarinet Player

Hi

I hope you had a fabulous weekend. It is amazing how quickly they seem to fly by, I cannot believe it is Monday already.

I have two special ladies to share with you today. The first is the latest member of the Crafty Boots Challenges Design Team. Chris Parker-Barnes is an awesome crafter and I am really looking forward to picking up a few tips from her.

Chris lives in New South Wales, Australia with her husband and 8 year old son. As well as crafting, Chris teaches piano and clarinet and ,in her free time, she enjoys swimming, bushwalking, going to the beach, and creating Raw Vegan recipes.

My second lady is this fabulous Saturated Canary image of Allie the clarinet player, just my way of saying welcome to Chris.

Once I had coloured the image with Promarkers I mounted it on gold mirri and blue card. The backing paper is by DoveCraft. I used a Sizzex Bigz die to cut the pink glitter hearts, The lace and flat backed gems are from my stash.

Dont' forget to enter your musical projects into this weeks Crafty Boots Challenge.

Good luck.

Dionne

Pumpkin Fun

Well, everything was pretty manic yesterday and I did not have time to post the photos I took of my pumpkins.  So, apologies for being a day late with this post but here they are.

To be honest with you, the vomiting pumpkin got all of the attention, I felt a little sorry for the other one because it was completely overlooked.  

Last night probably saw the most little visitors I have every had on Halloween and I virtually ran out of chocolates, amazing when you think of how many I stated with and there are none left for me.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Dionne