Roses are red

Morning!

This is a post I've been meaning to share for a couple of weeks.  My blogging hasn't been too regular recently, and I'm trying to put that right!  I've got a few things lined up to share, so I just need some time to sit down and get on with writing them.  

This post is to share the flowers I made a few weeks ago, and seeing as it was Valentines Day, I decided to make some roses.  I'd done a bit of Pinterest searching  and had found lots of flower tutorials so thought I'd have a go instead of just pining.  Anyone else guilty of spending too much time browsing for projects to make one day and the list just gets bigger and bigger?  This is a link to the pin showing how these roses were made.  

The card stock colours used for these flowers was Soft Suede, Primrose Petals, Riding Hood Red and Pretty in Pink. They were all daubed around the edges with Cherry Cobbler ink with the Sponge Daubers.  Three flowers were punched using the Blossom Punch, and were assembled using a glue gun.  

The first flower, the centre one has a long glass headed pin through the centre of it, which is what the stems were attached to.  The second and third layers were then joined with the glue gun, and held in place for a few seconds until the glue dried, which keeps hold of their flower shape.

This is a close up of one of the roses.  It looks like there's a bit of glitter around the edges of the petals, but it must be traces of the glue from the gun.  It looks quite pretty! They are spritzed with the Champagne Shimmer Paint so that might be what is showing in the photo.

This picture shows the underneath of the rose, which was made using the retired punch 5 Petal Flower.  I used three different colours of green for these to add a bit of variety - Wild Wasabi, Garden Green and Old Olive.  

The pins were glued to thin green wire stems that I picked up in a local craft shop, and then I wound florist tape around the stem.

This is a basket with glass jars that I picked up from a local shop to display the roses in. It was less than a fiver, and a few days after I'd bought it, I saw one in Laura Ashley for about £12! 

The basket came with a little wooden heart, attached with some ribbon.  I replaced the ribbon it came with with some Cherry Cobbler Seam binding ribbon.

I'll be making these soon again I hope, they'd be great for a special birthday, or for table decorations for a wedding or a party. Let me know what you think!

1. Papers / Card Stock - Soft Suede, Pretty In Pink, Primrose Petals, Riding Hood Red, Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive
2. Stamp Sets - N/A
3. Tools - Sponge Daubers, Blossom Punch, 5 Petal Flower Punch (retired), Glue Gun (not SU) 
4. Embellishments - Cherry Cobber Seam Binding Ribbon
5. Inks/Markers - Cherry Cobbler
6. Other - Vase, Basket & Jars, Florist Tape, Glass Headed Pins and Wire Stems (not SU)

Easter Baskets

Today I'm sharing with you another project that I was set whilst having my crafty weekend at Kylie's. I made three Easter baskets, using card stock in Pool Party, So Saffron and Pretty in Pink. They were stamped using the same colour inks, with the stamp set Charming. I used the Scallop Edge Border Punch to make the handles. To make the filling inside, we used a shredder which made the perfect sized strips which were scrunched up and put in the baskets. The flowers on the front were punched with the 5-Petal punch and the Boho Blossoms punch. To finish the flowers off, I placed a Rhinestone Pearl in the centre. I managed to resist eating the chocolate eggs as I was filling the baskets!

Handles made with the Scallop Edge Border Punch



Flower made with the 5 Petal Flower and Boho Blossoms punch



Baskets with the chocolate Easter eggs

They look so effective don't you think? Perfect for an Easter Egg hunt!

Papers / Card - So Saffron, Pool Party, Pretty in Pink, Subtles Paper Stack, Certainly Celery textured cardstock

Stamp Set - Charming

Embellishments - Rhinestone Pearls

Tools - Scallop Edge Border Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, 5 Petal Flower Punch

Inks / Markers - So Saffron, Pretty In Pink, Pool Party

Daisies

Morning!

Last weekend, myself and Kylie (my downline & crafty pal) had a bit of a craftathon marathon! She was preparing for her first workshop, and had lots of projects she wanted to have on display.  I made some bits and pieces for her, and took the opportunity to make some things I'd had ideas for.  It's given me plenty of things to share with you, I've just got to get the 17 blog posts that have been drafted written up and posted now.

Those of you who were involved in The Craft Garden at Leeds Town Hall for Night Light 2011 (see my previous blog post here) may recognise these flowers. I'd not done anything with them since they came home after the event, and thought it was about time they were renovated into a display project for my workshops and classes.

Kylie decorated a plain kraft flower pot with the Hostess Benefits Cheerful Treat DSP and I removed the old non Stampin' Up! Buttons from the flowers and replaced them with orange and yellow buttons from the Brights set. The daisies were made using the Big Shot and the Flowers, Daisies #2 die with Whisper White card stock. They were inked around the edges with Cherry Cobber ink with the Sponge Daubers.  The stalks are made from garden wire from my local garden centre. I've forgotten to take a picture of the back of the flowers, but the wire is attached by using the sticky strip and a flower punches with the 5 Petal Flower punch, in Old Olive.  I'll add the picture later.

 

I love seeing them being used again after Light Night, all the effort I put into making them was worthwhile.

Papers / Cardstock - Whisper White, Cheerful Treat DSP

Stamp Set - N/A

Embellishments - Brights buttons

Tools - Big Shot, Flowers Daisies #2 die, Sponge Daubers

Inks / Markers - Cherry Cobbler

Light Night Leeds - Craft Garden

Today seems to be a good day for catching up with overdue blog posts, and I'm on a roll - so here it is - the long awaited post about what kept me very, very busy for a few months at the end of the summer.  Earlier in the year, I joined a craft club in Headingley, Leeds.  It's a great group and I've made lots of crafty like minded friends, who totally understand the addiction to all things crafty! It's very reassuring, to know it's not just me who drools over stamps and wool and craft books!  Anyway, one Bank Holiday Monday spent in the pub, a few of us put together a proposal for Light Night Leeds http://lightnightleeds.co.uk/.  Our idea was to create a Craft Garden, using crochet, knitting, felting, paper crafts, and plenty more. We'd originally wanted to put it in garden sheds, but then changed to using the Victorian prison cells under Leeds Town Hall. Things went quiet for a while, when we were waiting to hear about the funding, which then was confirmed, and we had about six weeks until the night. As you can imagine, it was pretty hectic, and we didn't really have an idea what it was going to turn out like until the day before.  I don't think there was any of the group who at some point, who didn't have a weird crafty dream, we couldn't even escape the stress of it in our sleep!  In the end, it was totally worth it, and there was a constant stream of visitors on the night, with over a 30 minute wait in the queue! It was amazing to hear the compliments and oohs and ahhs, and people asking if they could take pictures.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me on the night, but luckily there were a few talented photographers in the group, who have let me use their photos on here.  I've mainly posted the photos of stuff I made, but for anyone who wants to see the full set on Flickr, check them out here.  The behind the scene / setting up shots can be seen here and for an idea of how busy the evening was, see here.

We had three cells - an English Country Garden, a Night Garden, and a Tropical Garden.  Most of my creations were for the English Country Garden.  As well as the crafty items, we had a hidden CD playing with bird noises, and some flowery smelling essential oils to make it more realistic and to hide the damp smell!)  Below are a few general shots of the cell.

In this picture, you can see my crocheted mange tout, and some vegetables created by some of the other members of the group.

These are the crocheted daisies I made, with a beaded ladybird in the pot too.

These are some more daisies, this time made with the Stampin' Up! Flowers, Daisies #2 Die, in Whisper White card stock, and inked round the edge with Cherry Cobbler ink.  The buttons were from my craft stash, and the stems made from garden wire.

Using the Flowers, Daisies die again, I made some gerberras, using Melon Mambo card stock, and inked round the edge with Cherry Cobbler ink.

These are my favourite creation - the fuchsias! These took longer than I want to remember, but I'm really pleased with the outcome.  They were made using Melon Mambo, Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive card stock, and punches 5-Petal Flower, Scallop Oval, and Boho Blossoms.  These were also inked around the edges with Cherry Cobbler Ink.  I think there were about 80ish fuchsias altogether.  I got the idea for the fuchsias here, I love finding new things to make with the punches.

These are my birds, I have made plenty of these this summer! My friend Kylie got married recently (blog post to follow!) and we made these for her wedding.  I'd brought them to Craft Club, and they were really popular, and I was asked to make a few for the Craft Garden.

This is a bunny I made from the book "Crafting Springtime Gifts" by Tone Finnanger.  In the background on the floor next to the bunny, you can see the leaves made using the Stampin' Up! Leaves #2 die.

I didn't get photos of the next few items on the night, but luckily I took some pictures while they were being made.  These are my leaves, made by cutting an inch strip of Old Olive card stock with the Paper Cutter, then scoring it down the middle.  Using the Extra Large Oval Punch, the leaf was cut, and then run through the Crimper to give the leaf texture.

This is a picture of another beaded item - bumble bees.  I didn't get a good picture of these - they were tied onto invisible nylon string and keep moving around!

Finally, here's a picture of my crocheted fern leaves.  I made ten of these, and they were used in the tropical garden.

On this picture, you can see the doughnuts, cakes and felted battenburg cake, made by my sister Judith - don't they look tasty!?



Here's a couple of pictures from the other two rooms.   Don't they look great! The Night Garden was full of little LED lights, stars, owls, a fox, mushrooms, toadstools and leaves.

The Tropical Garden was full of recycled items, and loads of clever props to create vines, trees and a waterfall.



So, I think that's the end of my mega post for today.  I hope you liked the pictures, and take a look at the rest of them on Flickr.  Please contact me if you'd like to know how to make any of them items, or if you want to get your hands on the things to make them. 

Leave a comment, I'd love to know what you think!