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

Friday 29 May 2015

Sketch Challenge - Daisies

This week I have been sharing with you a set of floral cards I made using this Crafty Boots Challenges sketch.


This card features multi coloured daisies.


I started with a sheet of white card, which I folded in two, I than attached some green glittered card. These sweet daisies are from Wild Orchid Crafts, as you can see I turned the sketch upside down for this card.

These cards were great fun to make, I hope you decide to make your own and enter this Crafty Boots Challenge.


Dionne

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Sketch Challenge - White Roses

As you know, for the next two weeks at Crafty Boots Challenges we are asking you to give us your take on this sketch:


I have made a set of floral cards based on the sketch layout and on Monday I shared a card featuring lilies.  Today I have one with white roses.


I started with a sheet of white card, which I folded in two, I than attached some red glittered card. These fabulous roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts, as you can see I turned the sketch upside down for this card.

Don't forget tp check out the rest of the cards made by the rest Crafty Boots Challenges Design Team.


Dionne



Monday 25 May 2015

Sketch Challenge - Lilies

Welcome back.

I hope you had a lovely weekend, here in the UK we are enjoying an holiday today - so a nice long weekend.  Some how the weather always seems to know when it is a Bank Holiday and the temperatures plummet, still it is good to have that extra day.

A new challenge starts at Crafty Boots Challenge today, chosen by the talented Chris, we have a sketch challenge.


I have never done a sketch challenge before and was a little hesitant at first but once I got started I found I could not stop, so I have several posts to share with you this week.


As you can see, I started with a sheet of mauve glittered card.  The lovely lilies are a recent addition to my stash from Wild Orchid Crafts.  As I only had the one size of lily I substituted ivy leaves for the smaller circles.  The sentiment is from Kanban Crafts.

This challenges seems to have inspired the Crafty Boots Challenges Design Team, why to check out the other projects when you enter?


Dionne



Friday 22 May 2015

Love is in the Air

Something is most definitely in the air because we have recently been invited to two wedding receptions, how lucky are we?

I needed to make a couple of cards for our RSVPs and I did not have a lot of time to get them in the post.  This card, and it's identical twin, must be the quickest cards I have ever made (and been pleased with the result).


I took an A4 sheet of white hammered card and folded it in half.  I then cut down a sheet of white pearlescent card, cut some white bridal netting from the roll and fixed a diamante slider buckle in the centre.  The tricky part was attaching the netting to the back of the pearlescent card, in the end the solution was simple.. Sellotape!

I typed and printed our responses on the PC and attached them inside the cards.  I just has time for this photo before running up the road to catch the post.  Phew!

Have an excellent weekend.


Dionne

Monday 18 May 2015

Up, up and Away

Welcome back, it is Monday and it is time for the mid challenge reminder for the Crafty Boots Challenge.  The theme of the current challenge is ' Ribbon or Lace'.


My card today features lace from Wild Orchid Crafts and ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I recently purchased some hessian (burlap) for this project but, when I looked for it this morning, I could not find it anywhere.  However, a friend gave me a role of cork at Christmas and this seemed the idea opportunity to use it.

The butterfly die is from Memory Box, I used some of Pamellia Johnson's fantastic texture paste and a Tim Holtz stencil to make the first layer.  The other layers are kraft card and an embossed sheet of white card.

My fellow teamsters have been busy, please make sure you check them out when you enter your project into the challenge.

Good luck.


Dionne

Friday 15 May 2015

Ho, Ho, Ho

Another week almost over, I know I am always saying it, but where do the days go?

Regular visitors to the space will know that the theme of the current Crafty Boots Challenge is 'Ribbon or Lace'.  I felt like a kid in a sweet shop when I read this, you should see how much ribbon and lace I have managed to squirrel away over the years.


This fabulous little guy is called Christmas Mouse and he is from Bugaboo Digital Stamps. After colouring the image with Promarkers and my new metalic pencils, I added a little glitter to his hat.  I then mounted the image on some silver mirri and blue card.  The paper and tag are from a Forever Friends Christmas stack.  The ribbon has a pretty silver trim.

Your will be amazed to see all of the fabulous designs from my fellow Team Mates, please make sure you got to the Crafty Boots Challenges blog and see them for yourself.

Don't forget the enter your projects in the Challenge.

Good luck.


Dionne

Wednesday 13 May 2015

R&D

Hi

Before we go anywhere today I need to apologise, I meant to post this wall hanging last week but things at home got a little complicated, I am sure you have been there from time to time.  So this post is, as they say, better late than never.


Regular visitors will know that I have made a lot of these button decorated letters and I decided to do something a little different and turn these into a wall hanging with the help of the heart.


I purchased the MDF letters and heart from Barry on ebay. I gave them a coat of Gesso and, once they were dry, I painted them with acrylic paint.


I also purchased the buttons from ebay and used these to cover the painted letters and heart, just look at the shapes and textures that came in the bag of red buttons.


Finally, once everything was dry, I cleaned the excess glue from the surface and added the embellishments and ribbon.

Have a good day.


Dionne

Monday 11 May 2015

Ribbon or Lace

Thank you for taking time out of your day to visit my blog.  Another week has flown by and it is time for a new Challenge at Crafty Boots Challenges.  The theme for the next two weeks is 'Ribbon or Lace'.

Like most of us, I use both ribbon and lace regularly in my card making - nothing finishes a card better than a nice bow!  I therefore thought that you would not be surprized to see a card with ribbon, so I decided to surprize you in another way ...... by making my first Christmas Card of the year!

That's right, I have made  start on my Christmas cards.  This is one of my favourite vintage rubber stamps and you may be right if you are thinking that you have see me use it before.


Today I decided that to use my Promarkers to make the decorative ribbon on the stamp a beautiful red.  I also added some glitter to the tree and to highlight the sentiment.  I mounted the image on gold mirri and red card and used some decorated gold mirri as the background.  The final touch is of course a gorgeous red ribbon and bow.

The lovely ladies on the Design Team have been busy make stunning inspirational projects, don't forget to check them out when you enter your own projects.

Good luck.


Dionne

Thursday 7 May 2015

Blue Baby Fairy

It has been such a miserable week here, high winds and lots of rain, so this morning it was such a pleasant surprize to find the sun shining and it is warm for a change.  It is such a cheering sight and I hope it is the same where you are.

I have been very busy recently and my posting is slipping behind.  I am afraid that I only have a few minutes to share this card with you today as I am expecting a friend to arrive any moment.

The current challenge over at Crafty Boots Challenges is 'Things with Wings' and I thought that this sweet little fairy from Mo's Digital Pencil was a perfect fit.



After colouring the image with Promarkers I added a little glitter around the wings and then mounted it on silver mirri and blue pearlescent card.


 I am afraid that I cannot recall where the backing paper came from but the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards and the buttons and bakers twine came from my stash.

Have a good day.


Dionne


Monday 4 May 2015

Steampunk Altered Notebook

Hi

Monday again, but at least in the UK it is a Bank Holiday, so for lots of us, no work today.

I thought I should share another of my steampunk projects with you today. The current challenge over at Crafty Boots Challenges is 'Things with Wings' and this altered notebook seemed to be the perfect project.


I have a small collection of the Sizzix layered Bigz dies, the ones with the texture fades embossing folders ... a bee, a dragonfly and a butterfly.

For this project I used the dragonfly die. I started by covering the cover to a small notebook with some thick hammered card which I had painted that with silvere metallic acrylic paint. Once the paint was dry I ran it through a wood grain effect embossing folder.

I then painted more sheets of card with bronze and gold metallic acrylic paints and die cut the cogs and the dragonfly. I used two cog dies sets, these were a Robert Addams set and a X Cut set. I also used some very small metal watch parts to add to the cogs and to decorate the dragonfly. I also added a few flat backed gems to the decorations. Finally, I added black ink smudges.

I love using these dies for steampunk projects, they are just perfect for this style.  

The rest of the Crafty Boots Challenges Design Team have been very busy making inspirational projects, don't forget to take a look when you enter your project.

Good luck.


Dionne