Inspired by Stamping New Releases......Princess and Fancy Circles

Hello, I'm back today with two more stamp sets from this month's Inspired by Stamping releases. First off, is the Princess set, perfect for all your little Princesses, this is a 4x8 stamp set with a total of 14 different stamps.

 

I picked up this cute, pink frame from the Pound store and created this framed picture for my little niece, who will be moving out of Mommy and Daddy's room for the first time, sharing with her big sister. Hopefully with pretty, new things for her bedroom the transition will go smoothly for my sister.

I cut a piece of fairy pattern paper to size to fit in the aperture, then stamped the Fairytale Castle onto some pink spotty paper. I then stamped it again on various different pieces of pattern paper, cutting out the turrets and hearts, paper piecing them onto the stamped castle, then adding some rhinestones and stamping "Beautiful Princess".

The next set I'm using is the Fancy Circle set, with 9 different circles and sentiment stamps.

This is a quick and simple creation, I cut a square of pattern paper to cover the front of the card, I took some kraft card and used a border punch on both edges. I took some spotty paper and layered onto the kraft, then cut a double pointed banner.

I stamped one of the fancy circles and sentiments and with a circle die,cut out the circle and mat it onto a die-cut oval, adding some Inspired by Stamping flowers.

Check out what the other DT have created.

Cindy Blancett

Colleen Dietrich

Irit Shalom

Vicki Dutcher

Shani Thomas

Nazeema Bastian

 Joanna will be giving away a $25 gift card, today and each day until the 10th March, just leave a comment on Joanna's blog post, to be eligible. One comment per person, each winner will be randomly selected and the winner will be announced daily the following day.

All the stamp sets will be available to purchase from the 10th March with free shipping on orders of $25 or more, for 24 hours only. All stamp sets will be offered as a bundle for a 10% discount.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Crafting.

xxxxDebxxxx 

Inspired by Stamping March Releases.......Beautiful Iris.

It's the start of the Inspired by Stamping March releases and I'm kicking off with the Beautiful Iris set. I love this set, it's perfect for my preferred style of vintage/shabby chic.

I started off by stitching around the pattern paper and adhering to the card, I then took a piece of white card and with Pan Pastels, added various shades of green and lilac, stamping the Iris and Friend in grey ink.

I made a frame using glitter card and dies, layering onto patterned paper and kraft card, lastly die-cutting some tiny butterflies. I think this is my favourite card I've created using this months release.

This Inspired by Stamping beautiful 4x4 stamp set has the gorgeous Iris image and five sentiments, available to purchase from the 10th March.

Check out, what the other DT have created using some of this month's releases.

Joanna Munster

Cindy Blancett

Colleen Dietrich

Kendra Sand

Irit Shalom

Pam Bray

Nazeema Bastian

Gloria Stengal

 Joanna will be giving away a $25 gift card, today and each day until the 10th March, just leave a comment on Joanna's blog post, to be eligible. One comment per person, each winner will be randomly selected and the winner will be announced daily the following day.

All the stamp sets will be available to purchase from the 10th March with free shipping on orders of $25 or more, for 24 hours only. All stamp sets will be offered as a bundle for a 10% discount.

Thanks for taking the time to look, come back tomorrow and see more creations using this month's releases.

Happy Crafting.

xxxxDebxxxx 

Stampin'Up Mother's Day Card......

Saturday was our monthly Bromsgrove Crop, each month I do a card class and as it's Mother's Day in the U.K. on Sunday, I did a Mother's Day card for the ladies.

Firstly, I added the pattern paper to the front of my card, using a border punch on the narrower paper, I love the new papers from Stampin'Up, there are some of my favourite colour combo's in this pack.

I stamped one of the 'Vintage Verse' sentiment onto the tag, this stamp set is one of the free ones when you spend £45 from the SU catalogue but only available until 22nd March.

On the bottom of the tag, I added some SU First Edition text paper and cut out the chevrons from one of the  Tea for Two papers. If you like the chevron and hexagon craze at the moment, you will love this paper pack.

I then layered up the lace, a punched leaf, pins and a fabric flower from the new SU Flower Trim, you get approximately 2 yards of flowers on strips of tulle, it's very pretty.

I made the bow by getting two different lengths of ribbon, putting a glue dot on the one end and joining them to form a circle. Then layering the small circle onto the larger one, take your button, threaded with linen thread, tie around and pull tight.

The ladies who didn't want to make a Mother's Day card used a Happy Birthday sentiment instead, the card is perfect for both occasions, everyone seemed very happy with their card. Everything I used is from Stampin'Up except the pins, which I just bought from an haberdashery shop.

Supplies
Stamps-  Vintage Verses,  Something to Celebrate.
Papers- Tea for Two, First Edition.
Pretties-  Lace trim,  Flower Trim, Baja Breeze Seam Binding,  Vintage Faceted Button,  Linen Thread.
Punches- Bird Builder (for the leaf), Scallop Trim Border.

Thank you for stopping by, have a great week!!!!
xxxxDebxxxx

Whoo Hoo Wednesday........Embossing Folder Kiss Technique.

Hello there my lovely friends, I've created a card today for Whoo Hoo Wednesday, if you head over to Inspired by Stamping, you can find a tutorial on how-to do the Embossing Folder Kiss Technique.

Also, if you give this technique a try and link your creation to Mr Linky, one lucky winner will be randomly chosen to win a $25 gift card to the Inspired by Stamping Store and featured on Joanna's blog.

You can find out all the details here.

Happy Crafting

xxxxDebxxxx

What to do with Left-Over Yarn..........knit a striped baby blanket.

Hello there, did you all have a good weekend ? I'm back today with a new project, that I need to finish by the 16th March.

I'm knitting a striped baby blanket for my soon to be born nephew, I'm hosting a Baby Shower for my sister on the 16th so want to give it her then.

It is very similar to a blanket in a famous baby store, that I love but which is £36, I'm using just left-over yarn and the odd ball I've found in my stash, so isn't costing me anything to knit.

It is all knit rows and I've worked out that if I knit 4cm per day, I will get it finished in plenty time, I've then got to sew a fabric border around the edge.

The wrong side of the blanket is actually the right side, if you know what I mean, with the wrong side you get the lovely mix of coloured stripes.

I have a little sequence going for the stripes but the colours are totally random, depending on how much I have left of certain colours.

I will put a post up when it's finished, thank you for looking, have a great week, everyone.

xxxxDebxxxx

Ray of Light Shawl............by Suzie Johnson.

Whoo Hoo. it's Friday and I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'm back today to share with you, what's on my needles, this week.

I've had this beautiful yarn in my stash for sometime, with nothing in mind to use it for until I kept seeing that quite a few people on Instagram were knitting a shawl using Rowan Kidsilk Haze and a DK yarn.

It is the Ray of Light shawl by Suzie Johnson, another great pattern, I made the The Kendall Mint Cake Cowl by Suzie, last week, you can see my cowl, here. Suzie has some great patterns, that are fun and a little bit different to other patterns on the market.

I used Rowan Cashsoft for my DK, the pattern says Rowan Wool Cotton but I would have thought most DK's would work. I've used the 3.75mm needles for a tighter knit and will change to circulars soon as it's getting too wide for my short needles.

This pattern will become one of my all-time favourite patterns, it is such an easy knit but looks gorgeous and is so soft, it will be perfect for cool summer nights to just wrap around you shoulders or used as a big scarf wrapped around the neck during the winter months. A good all-rounder.

After knitting lace pattern socks and cable knitting, it is so nice to just sit and knit without keep looking and concentrating on a pattern. I will be definitely making another one in a different colour. I would recommend this pattern to anybody, from a beginner to intermediate, who just wants a quick, easy knit.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend, I'll be back soon.
xxxxDebxxxx

Addicted to Stamps Challenge...... Vintage.

Hello there, I'm back today with a card for Addicted to Stamps challenge, Kylie asked Inspired by Stamping and all the D.T. if we would like to be Guest Designers for the week.
How could we refuse this fab weekly challenge site and this week's challenge is Vintage , my favourite style !!!!
Here's the card I made for the challenge.

I started off by die-cutting the edge of the card with the Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Distressed Doily Edge Die and also cut some patterned paper to cover the base card.

I stamped one of the frames from the IBS Just Beause stamp set and the sentiment from IBS Birthday Wishes, finishing off with Inspired by Stamping Crochet Trim, IBS Flowers, buttons and pearl swirls.

I hope you get chance to play along with, this week's challenge, just add your creation to the link over on Addicted to Stamps challenge blog.

Enjoy the rest of your week.
xxxxDebxxxx

Kendal Mint Cake Snood....a two hour knit.

Hello there, I hope you've all had a good week. I'm back today with a really quick knit. I have been so cold this week and walking around Cardiff, I realised I haven't got a knitted scarf.
So, when I got back, I started looking for a really quick knit. I found the Kendal Mint Cake pattern over on The Wool Sanctuary.

I love Suzie Johnson patterns, she has some fun, quirky and quick knits, she taught Kirsty Allsopp to knit on Kirstie's Homemade Home.

I started it at 4.30pm on Monday evening and finished it at 6.45pm, with a couple of little breaks so probably two hours of knitting.

The pattern called for 15mm needles but the largest I had was 12mm, which worked but I just had to cast on a few more stitches, I used Rowan Big Wool, which I had in my stash, I could of got away with one ball but I wanted it a little bit bigger but I've got quite a lot left of the second ball so will make a smaller version for my 11 year old niece.

Check out other FO's over at Tami's blog.

Have a great weekend.
xxxxDebxxxx

Inspired by Stamping February Blog Hop..........

Each month, Inspired by Stamping will be having a blog hop featuring a different technique, idea or colour combination.

This month, it's all about BOWS , Joanna did a wonderful video tutorial, this month on how to make her pretty bows.

So all you have to do to be in for a chance of winning a $25 gift card for the IBS Store is to use a one of the fun bows shown in the video onto your creation and add your to Mr Linky on Joanna's blog.

The deadline for entries is 25th February at 11pm EST

Winners will be featured on Joanna's blog

Here's my card using IBS Cute Circles.

I also used this week's sketch from Retro Sketches.

and also the colours from this week's IBS Inspiration Challenge #46.

Happy Crafting

xxxxDebxxxx

Nest Step Sock KAL.....my finished Crenate socks.

I'm back today, to show you my finished pair of socks for the Next Step Sock KAL over on Ravelry, it didn't start off to well, after having to frog the first pattern, I started.

After looking through my magazines for another pattern, I chose the Crenate socks by Rachel Coopey which I thought were ideal for a newbie sock knitters, like myself, as it didn't look too complicated. It still took me to the next step with sock knitting though as I'd only done stocking stitch before and these had a pretty lace pattern.

I used The Natural Dye Company Dazzle Sock, that I had from the December YOTM club, they are so soft and comfy to wear on these cold days, I can see why people love to wear hand knitted socks, I'll be definitely starting another pair soon, I didn't realise how many different methods there were for knitting socks. I think I may have to invest in a book, I'd appreciate any suggestions for a good, simple to follow book with different techniques and patterns.

There are a few people who have finished their first pair so check them out over on Sarah's blog, Crafts from the Cwtch.

Back soon
xxxxDebxxxx

A Weekend in Cardiff..........

Hello there, did you all have a good weekend ? Mick and I went to Cardiff, I bought him a two night stay at Jolyons 10 boutique hotel for Christmas, he did question if this present was for him or me and said he was going to take his mate!!!! LOL.

We took a leisurely drive down on Friday morning and went to Barry Island where one of Mick's favourite T.V. show 'Gavin and Stacey' was filmed. We walked past Marco's cafe where Stacey worked.

We sat on the sea front and ate chips from Gavin and Stacey's 'favourite' chip shop, I'd made a flask of hot chocolate for us, to warm us up !!!!!

I played on the slot machine's in the amusement arcades.

We had a walk along the headland.

We both really enjoyed our afternoon there, it was so nice to visit a traditional seaside town.

We then headed to our hotel, it looked gorgeous on the internet and I wasn't disappointed when we arrived, it was a five minute walk from the city, close to Cardiff Castle.

Our bedroom was beautiful with a big plunge bath in the bathroom.

We dropped our cases into the room and headed down to the bar.

We sat in front of the log burner for the rest of the afternoon, enjoying a beer and snack, perfect!!!! I would highly recommend this hotel, the facilities and food were fabulous. Our evening meal was one of the best meals we'd had, the egg benedict for breakfast was amazing too.

Saturday was spent wandering around the city, what a wonderful place, full of old Victorian arcades, quirky shops and High St stores.

 The outdoor seating area of the cafe's had heaters and traditional wool blankets to throw over your legs, it reminded me of French cafe's.

A shop that sold nothing but buttons !!!!!!!!! It was button heaven !!!!!!

My favourite shop though was 'Hubbard's Cupboard' full of vintage and local design goodies. Look at the shop window, I was drawn straight to it!!!!

You will find vintage clothes, jewellery, vintage fabric and buttons.She also had some beautiful vintage wedding dresses and lots of unusual bits and pieces for weddings. I bought these lovely vintage buttons from there, well worth a visit if ever you're in the area.

Thanks for letting me share my weekend with you, it is a great city and will definitely be going back. Have a good week.

xxxxDebxxxx