Matilda

After coming home from a workshop at the Edinburgh Book Festival I fancied a play with some of my dies.

I created the card below with textured cardstock in a variety of colours. I used the Matilda's Hat die from Little Claire, the Marianne D designer doily die, a QuicKutz 4"x 4" die for the flourishes and QuicKutz 2" x 2" dies for the flowers. For the centres of the flowers I chose card candy.

Cherry On Top Blog Award

A big thank you to Maria for this lovely blog award. It is very much appreciated and has made my day.

This award is linked to a few rules:

1) Thank the person who gave you the award.

2) Put the award on your blog.

3) List 3 things about yourself.

4) Post a picture you love.

5) Tag 5 other people for the award.

1) and 2) are done.

3) I just cannot bypass an Ian Rankin book. /

I can fully understand Maria's phobia about shower curtains. I do not like them, either - especially when they are a bit older and are getting grubby ... /

I prefer tea to coffee any time although cappuccino gets a thumbs up.

4) I took this photo at Stirling Castle - one of those historic and magnificent places in Scotland. I love it there, and we have been monitoring all the work that has been going on there over the last couple of years (including the weaving of some great tapestries).

5) I am passing on the award to these 5 talented crafters:

Betty

Nicki

Louise (pinkpuppy)

Mei

Anne

Books, Books, Books, ...

Not many things manage to drag me away from my craft stash - but the Edinburgh Book Festival is definitely one of them. I just love this annual spectacle, which is so much calmer and quieter than other festival locations, and can be found there each and every year.

Over the last days I visited some great events and stocked up on some new reading material. Yes, I admit it, quite a few promising books. But as reading is educational, it cannot be such a sin. I just hope my OH sees it the same way when he gets sight of my growing collection of books ....

And now I have got a few days without festival events, so crafting time is on the agenda.

Christmas Stamps with Cats and a Dog

Part of the Little Claire Christmas range are also the cute stamps 'We Three Cats' and 'Warmest Wishes'. These stamps are so cute and put a smile on my face when I was working with them.

I hope you like the projects, which I created with these stamps.

Do You Like Polar Bears?

Today I would like to share with you two projects that I created with the new Little Claire stamp 'Star of Wonder'. The stamp is part of their new Christmas range.

The two polar bears are just adorable, and I am sure that I will use the image for many of my Christmas cards.





The stamp is now available on the Little Claire website.

Dovecraft Christmas Fancy

Trimcraft have brought out a number of lovely Christmas products.

Here are two projects that I have created with the Christmas Fancy collection. I really like the fresh and modern colours. And it is so nice to be able to make Christmas cards in a number of completely different styles.





Lists of all products used and step-by-step instructions for both cards are again in my Trimcraft gallery.

I Need Some Cupcakes ...

I have created two more projects using the Dovecraft Piece of Cake collection for Trimcraft. These yummy items have really become my 'feel good' and 'pick me up' products.

Product listings and full step-by-step instructions can be found in my Trimcraft gallery.

I hope you like the cards.

Ready for another teaser?

Here is another teaser from the new Little Claire Christmas stamp range:



It was so much fun to work with the cute snowman and dog stamp. And as not the entire image needs to be coloured in, it is very useful for effective yet relatively quick Christmas cards.

Christmas without a Reindeer? No way!

Little Claire are bringing out a cute reindeer stamp called 'Deck the Horns!' as part of their new Christmas collection. It is a stamp that just makes one smile, and I really enjoyed working with it.

Here are two projects as a wee teaser:





The new Christmas stamps will be on the Little Claire website soon.

New Little Claire Christmas Stamp 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year'

Yes, it is once again time to start thinking about those Christmas cards. And Little Claire are bringing out a great range of new Christmas stamps.

The quality of the stamps is great. They are nice and firm clear stamps and are producing clear images every time.The stamps are a real joy to work with.

Here are two cards that I created with the new stamp 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year'. For both cards I have coloured in the images using Derwent Coloursoft pencils.




All stamps of the new Christmas range will be available on the Little Claire website soon. And watch out for more projects that will get added to this blog over the next days.

Lazy Days

Well, not for me ...

'Lazy Days' is the name of the August club stamps from Little Claire. You can see all the stamps belonging to this set on their website.

I have made the two projects below with the new stamps and hope you like them.



This desktop calendar is made like an easel card. I used the following products:

• Little Claire stamp set 'Lazy Days'
• Snow linen cardstock from Southfield
• Glass smooth card (200gsm) from Southfield
• Brown cardstock
• Light blue textured cardstock 'Gemstones'
• ProMarkers
• Black Memento ink pad
• QuicKutz die for the flourishes
• Oval cutting die
• Scalloped oval cutting die
• We R Memory Keepers Shaped Corner Chomper deco/stub
• Fabric flowers
• 2 brads
• Calendar tab
• Velcro dots, so that the calendar can be exchanged easily at the end of the year
• Adhesive including Dovecraft clear squares
• Toolbox essentials

Materials used for this project:

• Little Claire stamp set 'Lazy Days'
• Centura Pearl cardstock in snow white slight gold effect
• Brown cardstock in two shades
• Glass smooth card (200gsm) from Southfield
• QuicKutz label dies
• QuicKutz dies for beer mugs and flourishes
• 2 Tim Holtz mini fasteners
• ProMarkers
• Black Memento ink pad
• Card Candy
• Adhesive including Dovecraft Hi-Bond double sided tape (12mm) and silicone glue
• Toolbox essentials