50th Wedding Anniversary

Hello All and thank you for popping by. Welcome Jacquie, Myra, Sandra, Cheryl, Hazel and Patricia. I think I've found your blogs, if I haven't huge apologies but I'm not very techy at the best of times, but I'll keep trying to find you. You all make me smile
So, todays post is a card and gift I made for my cousin. I was one of their bridesmaids!

The card was inspired by the great Sue Wilson and I just "dressed up" up the bottle of champagne - it was a good one I might add! Knowing that they'd probably get a few gifts of champagne and wanted mine to be a little different.

If anyone is going to Ally Pally on the Sunday I'd love to meet you. Wise words from Sandra too. Go armed with a shopping list AND the cost of the items you would normally pay elsewhere. I just hope that there will be stuff left! ideally I'd like toI to see CE card in real life. 

Ingredients

Square card blank - can't remember the size

Gold mirri card 

Black paper - to use with Patsy May Foil it machine

SB Botanical Swirls

Sizzix die for sentiment

Sue Wilson Bows

Have a great few days, see you Thursday

xx

Craft Club results

Hello All and thank you for visiting
As I mentioned on Thursday here are a few pictures of the "makes" 

Here is our winner, Paulene's "view" of school days. Suffice it to say, she does make the most fantastic miniatures. She uses all sorts of bits and pieces to create items. For example, certain drug blister packs make kitchen sinks. Notice the tiny books in the book cases and blackboard and the outside loos! The wheelbarrow, hen house, well everything really. The pebbledash walls are made with painted couscous!

Here's another of her makes that one of the other ladies had quilted for her. It is an i-spy quilt for her grandson. It has images to spy on both sides

Other makes included a shoe bag, book bags to disguise their reading of "Lady Chatterley's Lover", a pencil drawing of a "little schoolgirl devil" and this particular lady even brought in her mum's arithmetic book dated 1926.

Phew! Sorry it's along and piccie heavy. But I hope you enjoy and I look forward to your feedback. Busy weekend ahead, lots of Salsa dancing. To those of you that have had a tough week - take care Big hugs to everyone Thank you for taking the time to visit.

I'll be posting a card on Tuesday 

Craft Club

Hello All
Thank you for taking the time to visit my little page.
Firstly, to clear up a couple of questions from Tuesday's post. For the background of my card, I used CE (Sue Wilson's) Celtic Flower embossing folder on PMD cream card and then gently rubbed Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the top. Hope that makes sense. It's strange how things appear differently in photos/on screen, no metallic items used at all.

Today's post is...

Don't laugh, but yes, that's me!

On a Thursday, every other week, I meet up with a group of ladies to craft. Between us, we knit,crochet, quilt,patchwork, decorate cakes etc. But most importantly we laugh, natter and put the world to rights. Every once in a while we set a challenge and this time "school days" was pulled out of the hat. Tonight is the night we "show and tell". 

Everything I have added to my scrapbook page means something. So the picture is the main event. The pencils because I loved to colour in back then. The elastic bands because I insisted on having my very fine baby hair in a ponytail for the occasion and back then we didn't have these "posh" bands that are around now. The gold star because I was so proud to earn one at five years old. The stencil is a nod to my dad who at the time was a draughtsman and used them along with Letraset - remember that. The red scribble is about my dearly departed sister, who decided she would colour in my eyes - had we just had an argument or was she trying to make me look pretty? I don't remember.

I will try and take photos and post them on Saturday of the other ladies makes

GailT What is your blog name please. In fact, I'd like to know everybody's blog name, so that I can visit you too

Ingredients

serif Craft Artist 2

digikit Back to School

Glossy photo card stock trimmed to 8"x10" to fit into a photo frame (for now, it won't stay in it!)

An oldie inspired by

Hello All and welcome to Patricia. Thank you for joining the dance. I have been madly looking at blogs that PharmacyMichele told me about. You are all very talented ladies

I had a busy week end. I went shopping with my daughter and recycled far too much money!  (I don't spend money I recycle it) I'm a sucker for Sales. I also re-stocked my stash of black card. I can really recommend this A3 cardstock from a certain shop (home, home on the .....). It's a "proper" black in my eyes. I went salsa dancing on Saturday evening. I taught my salsa class on Monday night and work is manic. So I'm pleased to sit down and blog - will probably have a snooze too before I visit my ma-in-law.

Today's card is different to the one I intended to post  I visited debsartliffcards (haven't worked out how to liink a post yet but I will get there). She made a card with an old topper she found. It reminded me that recently I used an old My Craft Studio cdrom after I made the following base, playing with my new NY dies.

I will choose which topper to use when I have a suitable occasion.

A Wedding/Anniversary card...? (I'd re print this to crop out the top white part and the couple will sit higher up slightly)

Best Wishes/Birthday...?

Ingredients

5x5 card blank

Cream PMD card

My Craft Studio - Art Nouveau

Sue Wilson Celtic embossing folder

Sue Wilson NY Collection - Times Square

Male cards ...

Hello everyone

Thank you for all of your lovely comments. It's really strange seeing my own cards on site and I'm really critical of them - like Thursday's card, the centre panel appears too big and although in real life the colour of it was fine, it appears too dark to me now! 
I don't sell my cards at Craft fairs etc and so nearly all of my cards are personalised. 
So, today's card was made for my dad. In the past I'd done the usual golf/sport cards and wanted to do something totally different. 

I've done a better version since for my daughter's future father-in-law, I'd treated myself to more of Sue Wilson's NY dies by then!

I hope those of you that went to NEC had a great time. I'm going to Ally Pally on 12th April if any of you are going it'd be lovely to meet for a coffee...

See you Tuesday

Ingredients

Black 6x6 card base

linen effect gold card from C&C

Special Touch mask

SB classic Squares Large

Sue Wilson Times Square

CE Shimmer paint

CE gilding wax

Serif (free digikit) Zodiac for font

Decoupage...?

Hello All

Today's card was made for a crafty friend who wanted one for somebody that is into decoupage, craft, rug making So...

..I googled decoupage for other forms of decoupage other than what us card makers usually recognise. I found some beautiful images of decoupaged furniture and as one of her skills is rug making I went with it! 

I'm late today because I had to attned a training course at work. Don't you just hate it when work gets in the way of important stuff like crafting?.

Just a note to say that Tuesday's card was a hybrid and that the bling was real. Although I have to say that the shadowing tool on serif is brilliant and does produce some fantastic 3D effects

Ingredients

Various "materials" from serif reduced down to approx 2" and therefore can fit several on a page. it also reduces the pattern 

SB Classic Squares large 1 1/2" die

Times Square largest die

Candi from C&C Members gift

Sweet Sixteen...

Hi All and a welcome to Sue joining in the dance.

I made this card for my great-niece, whose birthday it is today. Like Mrs Duck who recently made a card for her nephew (I haven't worked out how to show a link to her post yet!) I wasn't sure what my niece is "into" at the moment but then at this age they change their minds as often as the weather don't they? So I decided to play with "letters" and "material" from a Serif digikit.I added some bling but hopefully it isn't too fussy for a discerning 16 year old

PharmacyMichele - you will find "stuff", I just have to remember to take photos now! Mrs Duck sent me some instructions on how to set up.  I can forward them on to you karenlotty@aol.com. I'd also like to know other blogs I can visit too

I'm late posting as husband has been "hogging" my laptop. I hope to post a little earlier on Thursday

Happy St Patrick's day to those that celebrate. 

See you Thursday

Printed ribbon instructions

Hello again
I'm going to try to post on Saturday mornings, Tuesday afternoons and Thursday afternoons. First I'd like to welcome Jenny L, Jackie Durrant, WendyL, Sue and PharmacyMichele to the dance.  GailT asked for instructions on how I make my washing instructions for my baby garments. Originally I made them to sew into the garment, but tried washing them and of course the ink just washed away! So I stick them onto the garment with a tape pen. So here goes!

Finished result up close and personal - notice that the little boy one even includes the size (needed if Harefield Hospital sell them)

The first thing I do is create the label and print onto copier paper, making sure they fit the width of the ribbon. When I first started paper crafting I used My Craft Studio cdroms a lot. This is from "Young at Heart" part of their 3rd Anniversary collection. I change the colour to suit the gender

I then, using a tape pen, place the ribbon on top to line it all up. MCS used to sell printable ribbon. But it looks like they do not produce it anymore, but Sue Wilson and gang at CE say that their seam binding takes ink so I'm wondering if this can also be printed onto. Ensure that the feeder edge is fully stuck down so that it will pass through the printer rollers

Pass through printer again ensuring that you re-insert the paper the correct way to print on top!

Gently peel away from paper and trim with pinking shears

 Ta-Da!

Sorry it's along post but I am so excited now that I've started a blog. I would encourage everyone to have a go. I am finding it very cathartic.

Have a great week end and see you Tuesday afternoon

Karen x

Re-vamp of blog and a little bit of knitting

As you can see, less than a week in and I've already changed the name of my blog and changed the background! I was hoping to make the name shorter in the hope that the last few letters would not drop off if  people viewed it as an App. But that hasn't worked but hey ho! Most people in blog land know me as karenlotty, so have stayed with that.

As knitting is my passion I thought I would show you an example of one of the baby garments I make. They are either "pinched" by my daughter for her friends and/or given to Harefield Hospital to sell. I even print off little tags with washing instructions printed onto some old My Craft Studio printable ribbon. like I've said in my first post, I will value and treasure your comments. Hopefully I successfully added a "Followers" button too.

A special Hello to Mrs Duck who has encouraged me to do this, Marie-Louise, GailT, Janice Wallace and Maureen Killen. Thank you for joining in the dance. (more about that later!). Please let me know your blog names so that I can visit you too

 Ingredients 
Sirdar Tiny Tots pattern 1744
Sirdar Crofter Baby Fair Isle effect DK
appropriate needles
1 button!

My first post!

Good morning on this sunny Sunday and hope the weather is being kind to you. You can almost call this a trial and all this techy stuff is so new to me. I thought as it's my first post I thought I would show one of the first few cards that I ever made. I promise they do get better! (I hope) I made it about four years ago using a My Craft Studio cdrom. I will value and treasure your thoughts and comments