Hello!

 Hello my crafty friends, it's been a while!

I hope you're all well, safe & dry (it's pouring down here) and crafting up a storm......I suspect you're mostly getting your Christmas craft on right now......oh, and Halloween too maybe! 

Papercrafting seems to have taken a bit of a backseat for me, I've mostly been sewing but I have to say I'm getting itchy fingers so watch this space......hopefully I'll have something to share very soon.

Cross stitch has been my go-to craft for most of this year......it's where my crafting journey started many years ago and it's still a favourite. It's the perfect hobby for these long, cold, dark nights......get the fire on, light a candle and away we go.......I could stitch all night!

I have a 'Friends' obsessed daughter so when I saw this x stitch pattern everything else stopped so I could stitch it for her........she loves it......but of course once she realised there are patterns out there for her favourite tv shows, films & books etc., she gave me a list!

x stitch chart - SoEasyPatternStudio

14 count aida - Zweigart

threads - Anchor

Takeaway tea tonight courtesy of one of my boys so a long night of stitching ahead and this afternoon I'm off to the craft room to play with paper.Think I'll go make a coffee first and have a wander around Blogland. 

What are you up to this weekend?

Jo x

Everlasting Card

 

Hi crafty friends, happy Monday.........I hope you're all well, warm & safe.

I think my paper crafting mojo is on it's way back.....maybe it'll just be a flying visit, who knows....but I'll take what I can get so, sewing aside I rushed off to the craft room and this is what I came up with. I called it an everlasting card as it's made with an mdf base. It's 6x4, decorated with papers and die cuts & finished with faux pearls............the back is decorated too and has a little tag in a pocket to write a message on.

Rightio, off to get the tea prepped then maybe a little crafty time. Thanks for calling & whatever you're up to........have fun x

Love is in the Air!

 

Hey crafty friends, hope you're all well, warm & safe.

It's a dull, damp day here on the Yorkshire Coast.....perfect weather for snuggling

up with a coffee and some sewing......and that's just what I'm going to do!

Today's share is some more cross stitch...........I was supposed to be finishing up some

older projects but couldn't resist stitching up this little piece. I used 14 count Aida, 

Anchor threads and a 4 inch hoop.......and ribbon from my stash. It was lovely to

stitch and it came together real quick.

If you fancy stitching this yourself you can find the pattern at Zindagi Designs.

Thanks for calling today......see you soon.

xx

A new year, a new start.....

 

Happy New Year friends, hope you're all safe & well.

I wonder what the New Year will bring? Hopefully a slow, steady easing of restrictions and

a return to a new  normal.........whatever that may be.

A new start is needed for me.......I seemed to have lost my paper crafting mojo recently and

have been spending time cross stitching.......oh my, I'm ashamed to admit it but I have

so, so many unfinished pieces. I have so many charts I want to stitch and I've also 

designed a few of my own but I don't want to give up on papercrafting so with that in 

 I've decided to change my blog name to:

StitchPaperCraft

The first project to finish is an outline of a cat......a cup of peppermint tea and I'm ready

 to go. Did you notice the needle minder? So useful, don't know how I managed without it.

What are your crafting plans for the New Year? Do you even have any plans or do you

just go with the flow?

xx

It's Been a While......

 

It's been such a long time since I posted I'm not sure I can remember what's what! I do hope you're all well, safe & warm.........and not struggling too much in these strange & uncertain times. I've been trying to fill my time crafting.....well, to be honest it's either crafting or eating and as the eating isn't good for either my diabetes or my waistline l'd much rather be crafting. Lockdown has given me the chance to get lots of my unfinished projects........finished! So to share today I have a finally finished cross stitch hoop. I used shades of pink & burgundy threads and stitched on 18 count glitter aida. Once I got going again it stitched up fairly quickly......think I might have to do another in different colours.What do you think?

Rightio, off for a wander around your blogs.......thanks for calling & any comments you might leave. Hopefully it won't be so long 'til my next post.

xx

Ho Ho Ho!

Morning crafty friends, hope you're all well.......and dry!

We've had so much rain these past few days I thought it was never going to stop!

So today I'm sharing another Christmas make! It seems there's no end to the Christmas things

 I'd like to make.......there's s much Christmas goodness out there I just need to keep going!

For these cards I wanted to show off how good the die cuts look on their own.........no need

 for any extra embellishments.........of course, you could add more if you wanted  but for me I

 thought plain cards. Or.........if you wanted to add a name they would make fantastic place

 settings.They were a little fiddly to piece together first time but so worth it......and if you 

get all your bits and pieces organised first then you're away.......and what a great way

 to use up scraps too!

These dies are from the cutable & layerable range from Crafter's Companion, card blanks

from my stash and only scraps used!

Thanks for calling......stay safe & whatever you're up to have a lovely weekend.

xx

challenges

anything goes at Holly & Ivy

anything goes at Crimbo Crackers

anything goes at Merry Little Christmas

Santa Badge

Morning crafty friends, hope you're all well.

Today's share is a little different.....I used the gorgeous cutable, layerable dies
from Crafter's Companion to make a badge! And best of all......it's made entirely
from scraps......I just added some glitter to the hat, a brooch back and that was
it.......good to go!

Thanks for calling.........have a lovely day.

xx

Lots of Layers with Crafty Cardmakers

Morning crafty friends, hope you're all well.

Over at Crafty Cardmakers we 're back from our Summer break and we have a new

challenge for you......it's my turn to pick the theme and I chose

LOTS OF LAYERS

Probably my favourite challenge theme, I started with a black card base, added

a distressed paper layer, a die cut frame, a layered sentiment, a handful of handmade

paper flowers then finished with a few faux pearls.

As usual, anything you like to make we like to see just so long as you stick

to the LOTS OF LAYERS theme......and if you're low on inspiration then look

no further than our main blog here. We have a fabulous Dt with an amazing

range of crafting styles.....hope to see you there!

Thanks for calling today......see you soon.

xx

Treat Holder

Hi crafty friends, hope you're all safe & well.......and enjoying the sunshine!

Oh my, it's so, so hot here......roll on Autumn & Winter!

So today I have a little treat holder ......just a plain piece of card folded into

shape then decorated with some patterned paper & using one of the new layerable die

 sets from Crafters Companion (available August 11th on HSN). I especially love how you 

can use the dies as I have or you can separate the words from the tree giving you an

embellishment and a sentiment.

These little treat holders are so useful.....perfect for Christmas, Halloween, Easter...

.....in fact anytime you want to give someone a treat! They look fab in plain colours

and are ideal for all those double sided papers we have in our stash.

Thanks for calling & whatever you're up to......stay safe & have fun.

xx

Winter Wishes

Happy August 1st crafters!

Hope you're all well & enjoying the weekend.....judging by the colour of the sky

I think we're in for a bit of rain. Did you have thunder last night? We had

 the most terrific thunder & lightening.....I've not seen anything like it for a long time.

And now we're into August......how did that happen so quickly?

It's true what they say though......time really does fly when you're having fun.....and

in craft land it's always fun.........especially when you're Christmas crafting! 

So, talking of Christmas crafting.......Crafter's Companion have a new release

of Christmas dies (on Create & Craft on 6th August) and oh my, they are gorgeous! 

The 1st one I'm sharing is called Winter Wishes.....I've gone with navy, white & 

silver for my layers then matted onto paper from the Winter Wonderland 

collection......and finished with die cut poinsettias.

Thanks for calling & whatever you're up to....have fun & stay safe.

xx

Barber Shop

Hello lovelies.....hope you're all well.

Do you remember the old fashioned barber shops? I remember going with my

Granddad ever so many years ago.......the smells, the steam.....I always felt ever so

grown up and if I was good I got to sit on the barber chair & the barber would 

raise it up as high as it would go! Afterwards we'd go to the hotel where my 

Granddad worked (he was a chef) and have an knickerbocker glory!

I feel like there's something missing from this card.....the front panel lifts up so

you could write/stamp a secret message......but not sure what else, if anything,

to add.......any suggestions? I think the main image came from Splashcrafts

 but not sure about the papers as they were all in my scrap box. 

Rightio, better get a move on......thanks for calling.....happy crafting!

xx

You Anchor Me

Hi crafty friends, happy Monday......hope the weeks' gotten off to a good start

for you......I've spent most of the day thinking it's Sunday!

 It's a bit dull, dark & damp here today so apologies for the dull photo....and for it 

not quite being straight but after the 8th attempt I gave up!

Paper & stamps are all Crafters Companion from the Nautical collection......and if

 you buy magazines you might be interested in the month's edition of

Simply Cards & Papercraft.....they have a fab free gift of stamps from the

 collection and it comes with a beautiful seahorse die too!

Rightio, better go get the tea started......thanks for calling.....see you soon.

xx

All My Love

Well good morning my crafty friends.....hope you're all safe & well.

Are you enjoying the weekend? We had rain most of yesterday and  the grass

 seems to have grown at least 6 inches overnight!

Today's card  involves a fancy fold, lots of die cutting & the dreaded paper piecing!

To be fair I did quite enjoy it..........but won't be doing it again in a hurry!

The beautiful die cut panel is one of the Interchangeable Die sets available from

Crafter's Companion and there's some real good offers  over on the website

of you're interested. I used the 'Heartfelt' frame which comes with three different

sentiments -  'all my love', 'sending lots of love' and 'love you' .

Rightio, that's me for today......thanks for calling......stay safe.

xx

Christmas!

Hello from a very wet, dull grey day!

Oh, I so love sitting at my desk when it's raining.....it feels so peaceful, calm

and quiet......I could sit here all day! Mind you, I hope it's dry tomorrow cos

2 of my boys are coming to cut the hedges!

So today I have another make using the interchangeable dies from 

Crafter's Companion only this time I used the celebrate sentiment to make a

Christmas card. No idea if this style of card has a name, I just scored & folded

& cut 'til I had a shape I was happy with.

Lots of my favourite distressed layers on this make, a little paper piecing and lots

of die cuts & paper flowers in my favourite frosty blues & white.

Rightio, think today's craft time is going to be used for cross stitching........do

you have anything planned!

Thanks for calling.....stay safe......see you soon.

xx

Thank You

Good morning my crafty friends, hope you're safe & well this dull, grey morning.

Today's make is another using those fabulous interchangeable dies from

Crafter's Companion.

A different card fold for me this time.....I made an envelope style card where

the panel on the right can be written on the back and popped into the envelope.

I decorated the front of the envelope with some floral decoupage, lightly inked

the thank you panel just to give it a bit more definiton & I added seam 

binding just to make it easier to remove the panel.

I was woken by a knock at the door early this morning.....by the time I'd gotten out

of my chair and unlocked the door there was nobody there. No parcel left on doorstep,

no card through letterbox.....and they only knocked the once. Was starting to think I 

must have dreamed it but the dogs did bark so it must have happened. It was a bit early

 for 'business' type callers (not that I'm expecting any) and family & friends know it 

takes me a few minutes to get to the door so all a bit puzzling really.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have given it a 2nd thought but since

lockdown it's very rare that anyone knocks on my door! Oh well, I suppose if it's

important they'll come back.

xx

challenges

anything goes at Creative Fingers

add ribbon at Crafty Calendar

anything goes at 613 Avenue Create

flowers at A Place To Start

all occasions at Dream Valley

For a Friend

Happy Wednesday friends......aren't these weeks flying by?

Today's make is a 'just because' card.....I so love the pretty colours and how 

easy it all came together. All elements are from the Springtime Pals

collection from the Paper Tree.....Some simple matting & layering, some 

die cut frosting and that's it......all mounted onto a 7x7 card blank.

I've a pie made for tonight's tea.....veggies all prepped & in the fridge so I'm 

planning on spending some time in the craft room. What about you?

Thanks for calling, stay safe & hopefully I'll be back tomorrow. 

xx

challenges

anything goes at A Gem of a Challenge

anything goes at 613 Avenue Create

anything goes at Corrosive Challenges

flowers at A Place To Start

anything goes at Through The Craft Room Door

Sweet Kitty Cross Stitch

Morning lovelies, hope you're all well.

One thing about lockdown is it inspired me to finish some of my works in

progress, not all of it, just some lol........and I say finished but I'm not really

 sure if it is or not......what do you think? Not sure whether to leave as is or

 to add some little flowers or maybe some sequins......thoughts please.

I did enjoy stitching this little sweetie & have an idea to stitch another

reversing the pattern so they'd be facing each other and with a blue bow.

Rightio, shopping day today so I'd better get a move on.....thanks for calling

and for any comments you might leave.......stay safe.

xx

New Dies at Crafter's Companion!

There's a new launch over at Crafter's Companion today, the fabulous

INTERCHANGEABLE DIES! Each set comes with a frame die and three

interchangeable sentiments so the possibilities are endless. Catch them over on 

Crafter's TV and Create & Craft.....there's some fantastic deals to be had!

I kept my make pretty simple as I wanted to show the die off......some simple

matting & layering finished with some faux gems and that's it....all mounted onto

a 7x7 card blank.

Thanks for calling......stay safe!

xx

Paper Frosting Friday!

Morning lovelies.....hope you're all well.

It's a lovely cool, damp day here on the Yorkshire Coast.....such a welcome relief

from the heat we've recently had.....on the flip side though it's so hard to

take a decent pic! Oh well, we can't have it all.

So today  have some paper frosting to share......all made from the beautiful

Paper Posies decoupage pad by Dovecraft. A really lovely collection, I made up

one from each of the pages, you actually get 3 pages of each......yes, 3! And there's

 extra bits on some of the pages too! I always like to have some paper frosting on 

standby.....it comes in so handy if you need  quick card but is also lovely for

journal, scrapbook pages and even home decor.

Rightio, off to get the jobs done.....and then hopefully a little craft time.

Thanks for calling & whatever you're up to........stay safe.

xx

Hello 18!

Hi friends, hope you're all well.

I have a card topper for an 18th birthday to share today..............oh my, it seems such

 a long time ago since I was 18! Would I go back to that age? Not a chance lol.....would you?

Lots of scraps used in the making of this topper but still not much of a dent made

in the scrap box. Rightio.......off to have a couple hours in the craft room before tea.

Thanks for calling......have a lovely rest of the day!

xx