Little forest friends

Hi all,

Today I have a few things to share with you.
First up, today it's team B's turn again over at TPV.

Today the challenge is...

Create a project that includes a forest friend

You have already seen a sneak peek, but here is my full project :)

I made this card for a friend, who's birthday it was this past weekend. My friend loves animals, especially little cute pictures of them, so this suited her perfectly, and I had to use this cute little hedgehog. 

The image stamps are from Little Clare, which I have stamped and then coloured using Mum's coloursoft pencils. I have then cut the images into 4cm squares, and cut three squares of the same size from some of the  lovely October afternoon Modern Homemaker papers. I created 2 coordinating flowers using a small punch, outlined with a pen to match the design of the images, then have sewn around the edge of the patterned squares using a sewing machine. The sentiment used is one of the gorgeous Paper Smooches sentiments, and then I finished the card with a wrap of twine.

This week we have a great prize for you from Scrap-friendzy kit club, 

Look at that yummy kit, and all of that can be yours :)

So, head over here to the TPV blog to see the rest of the DT's cute little critters and also link up your own entry. I'll see you there :)

I hope you like my card. My friend liked it, but she loved her gift even more. I created these for her

(Taken using our 50mm lens at f/1.7 - I decided to play with it and take this after being inspired to use it more by the brilliant Shimelle's camera school posts)

(Taken using the Hipstamatic app on Mum's iPhone -  I LOVE this app and seriously want an iPhone now)

She loves sushi, and these earrings really appealed to her. I have created them out of Fimo, following instructions from a superb little book I bought a while ago. I was so pleased that she liked them, there is something really  special about being able to give gifts to your friends that have been handmade, especially when they love them.

So, I am now back into the swing of sixth form, with a lot of work and deadlines to keep to. I have my TSA entry assessment rapidly drawing closer for my Oxford uni application, so am busy at the moment juggling subject work with practising the many different required skills for the entry exam. I am also continuing with my driving lessons, I've managed roundabouts, dual carriageway, slip roads and a bit of manoeuvring now. :) I'm afraid this means crafting is taking a bit of a back seat, I will still be doing it when I can, but it may be a bit less frequent. 

So, from me, bye for now, thanks for popping by.

P.S. I was very thrilled to be a featured project at The Colour Room last week with this LO. Very chuffed. Also, congrats to Katherine who had her great work featured again for the second week in a row :)

Hannah :)

What's your favourite embellishments? -TPV-

Today at TPV, it's the final one of our 5 special challenges to celebrate our 1st Birthday.

If you are here for the blog hop, you'll find it here

So, today the challenge is to use your favourite embellishments.
We all have embellishments that we grab time and time again and appear on all of our LO's, and at TPV, we'd like to see them.

I found this quite a challenge at first, as I have so many favourites. So I settled on this...

Yes, I LOVE that background paper from Crate paper, but that isn't the 'favourite' that I've used on here.
My favourite embellishments are handmade ones :)

All of the flowers and buttons on this LO are handmade :) I had brilliant fun making these. I think one of the reasons handmade embellishments are my favourite is because they are sooo fun to make, can be tailored to suit your project, and they are great fun to use :) This was the first time I had experimented with making my own buttons from Fimo, and it was really good fun. There are so many different designs and things you can do.


Here are tutorials for the flowers:


Large purple/blue book print flower -
This was made using this tutorial, which is really great. I have used book paper, and then coloured each layer with watercolours as it gives it a gorgeous mottled colour effect, and because of the water, the petals become easy to shape and then dry crisp. It is amazing how water can allow you to create such form from paper. When it dries, it dries crisp and keeps it's form. I now wet most flowers I make.


Large white flower -
I think I made this using roughly the same technique and tutorial as above, which is here. The main difference with this flower is that I haven't coloured it and have used mulberry/handmade paper. I have then misted the layers with water and shaped them by scrunching the petals and using a cocktail stick. The paper absorbs water very well and really does keep it's shape :)


The teal ribbon flower -
This has been made exactly the same as most ribbon flowers are made. I'm sure you know how to, but if you don't, I shall give you the basics. You start with a circle of card, then stick the ribbon to the centre. As you wrap the ribbon around into a circle, twist it as you go , making a coil of ribbon. Cut off the remainder of the ribbon once you have reached the edge of the card base, and glue it down.


Small purple flower -
This has also been made using roughly the same principle as the first two, with this tutorial. I have created 2 layers like these with book paper, and then one with some coloured card. I have misted them, and shaped them, then let them dry. I have then rubbed an ink pad over them to bring out some of the creases and definition.

I hope you like the LO, I was really pleased with it, I really like that colour combination, I should use it more :)

So, pop over to TPV here and share your projects with us, and make sure you use those favourite embellishments, they deserve that attention!

The lovely prize on offer for this challenge is..

This is the "Sophia" kit from CTMH and is filled with patterned papers, cardstock, buttons, twine and a clear stamp set! Isn't it lovely. I am straight away drawn to those buttons, which are another of my favourite embellishments. :)


Here are a few close ups of my LO :)

Bye for now,


P.S. Thanks to those of you that commented on my last post and gave suggestions as to what to do with the spelling mistake. I have taken your advice and tried replacing the 'e' with a heart :)

Rescued? Does it look ok?
Thanks so much :)

A Juicy Fruity Summer

Hi,

Well, I thought it was summer .... until today. It hasn't been too bad, it's been grey and drizzling finely for most of the day, but I'd still rather be enjoying sun. Although, this is England, and this is our typical summer!!

Anyway, I'm here today with some fruity crafts.

First up, a card for this weeks LIM challenge which is

FEELING FRUITY

I am really pleased with this card, it is definitely summery and warm. I have made the watermelon slice myself, from layers or fabric, felt and card, and using nestabilities, 2 circles and a scalloped circle. I have then used Gunmetal stickles to create the seeds. I have kept the other half of the circle to create another of these embellishments for scrapbooking :)

Staying on the Watermelon theme, I have also made these, what do you think?

I made them for a friend as part of her Birthday gift. Her birthday was back in May, in the middle of exams. We had a very late birthday party for her a few days ago, when she was presented with her very late birthday present. She straight away put them on and they hung just below her short hair style, and I must say I felt very pleased with them, they looked great on her :)
I've recently started to have a play with FIMO, after buying a great little book on how to make tempting treats from the modelling clay. It's quite an interesting medium to use, I guess I was expecting it to be a lot more pliable as I am used to working with sugar paste, but it's great fun. :)

And staying on the sugar paste theme (anyone would think I planned it to flow like this!!!), I have been cake decorating again.

It is my another of my friends' Birthday today, and I went on Monday to decorate a birthday cake with her. We hadn't a clue what we were going to do on the cake, so just decided to have a summery feel, and started from there. This is what we ended up with.

The strawberries are created using a heart cutter, which was then moulded into more of a strawberry shape, and the flowers are circles, with little snips in, then moulded and made to look like a flower :) I was quite pleased with it, considering our limited time to plan and create. She really enjoyed watching me create, it was great fun to teach her, and she loved the cake, bless her :)

Ok then, I think that's all for today, so much fruit!!!  I have a layout to share (no fruit this time), so will be back at the weekend :)
Bye for now,