Felt That...

Hi Everyone...it's Monday and that means it's time to head on over to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog because...

thank you for joining us for last week's "Emboss It" Challenge...we hope you will be able to join in this week too and the theme for this week is...

FELT THAT

and we are showcasing products from the Simon Says Stamp 'Spring Plush' Release. The felt is fabulous quality and the stamps and dies are adorable, CLICK HERE to see the whole release.

I decorated a calico bag as a gift for a girlfriend who is a keen gardener...

To create the flowers...leaves and the scalloped border I used wool felt from Taylored Expressions and oh boy I'm in love...it's high quality...super soft to the touch and comes in an amazing selection of delicious colours...3 perfectly co-ordinated rolls of colour in each bundle...

and I couldn't resist trying them out with the Plush Blooming Heart dies from Simon Says Stamp Spring Plush Release...

and oh boy...they cut through felt beautifully and how cool is this...make the stitching holes too...

all ready for me to grab a needle...some embroidery floss and stitch the detail...a relaxing end of the day task while you're watching TV...

Then all I had to do was arrange the border...flowers and leaves on the bag...fix in place with adhesive and decorate with sequins for a little bit of girlie bling...

I created a tag from Claudine Hellmuth Natural Sticky Back Canvas,...inked around the edge with Ranger Orange Blossom Archival Ink...stamped the word "Friend" from Simon Says Stamp Butterfly Friend Stamp Set inked with Black Archivall...added a left over felt flower and leaves...added a few sequins and a garden twine bow.

I filled the bag with a couple of gardening books...gardening gloves...plant labels...garden twine and packets of seeds...

and I'm hoping that my green fingered friend will be sharing her labours of love and supplying me with lots of plants for my hanging baskets.

You can find all the products I used over at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp online store...just click on the links below...

Why don't you pop over to the Monday Challenge Blog and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team mates and as always you all have the chance to win a $50 gift voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2 pm CET to join in...

You can also follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all create this week

have fun and happy crafting

Hugs Kath xxx

InLinkz.com

Hello...Remember Me...

Hi everyone...it's Friday already and I've just realised it's Friday the 13th...oh dear I hope it's not going to be one of those days.  Hard to believe I haven't stepped into the cubbyhole for a whole week....haven't picked up a pair of scissors or inked a stamp and I'm beginning to suffer crafty withdrawal symptoms but I've been otherwise engaged...out in the glorious sunshine...not sitting working on the tan I hasten to add...but working on the garden make-over. How can such a small area of border take so much time...4 days of chain gang hard labour...digging out shrubs...digging in top soil and sharp sand...levelling it all out and laying the weed suppressant mat and I have to say it looks a bit of a dog's dinner at the moment...

littered with paving stones...stones and plant pots to stop it blowing away until the gravel...aggregate or as we say in my neck of the woods...chuckies arrive on Tuesday...today would have been ideal but hey ho it will give my "I'm getting too old for this nonsense" back a chance to recover from the hard labour. In the meantime the rest of the garden is looking great...it's amazing what a few days of sunshine can do...the buds on the rhododendron have burst into bloom...

 I swear the hosta is taller than it was last week...

 and it's a sure sign of Spring when you see the first flowers appear on the clematis...

but my poor Furry Boy has not been a happy soldier...neither would I be wearing a super insulated furry coat and he's spent most of the last 4 days under the conifers where it's cool and shady.

Now before you start thinking this is turning into a blog about all things horticultural...the forecast isn't looking too good for the weekend so it's perfect timing and I'll be heading back to the cubbyhole to get to grips with a pile of DT and magazine projects and fingers crossed something I can share with you next week.

In the meantime...TODAY is PAMPER DAY with the Friday Girls...a "magic hands" massage to soothe the gardening aches and pains...lunch and lots of chatter. Have fun whatever you're doing...have a great weekend and I'll see you all on Monday for a brand new challenge from Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.

Toodle-oo for now

Hugs Kath xxx

We're having a heatwave...

Hi folks...woohoo we're having a heatwave...in the words of the song "a tropical heatwave and the temperature's rising" and I'm doing a happy dance...it's such a treat to have 3 or 4 days of beautiful warm sunshine on the trot...I'm a real outdoorsey girl so no surprise I spent the whole weekend in the garden with The Furry Boy supervising from his sunny vantage point...in his usual "I'm not sleeping...just resting my eyes" style...

while I busied myself with a bucket of paint and the biggest brush I could find...giving the shed a bit of a long overdue make-over before moving on to the new fence and strange as it may seem...I was finding the whole outdoor painting experience rather therapeutic...

that is...until I moved on to painting the dreaded trellis...crikey that's a painting the Forth Bridge kind of a task and no mistake...

and check out the crackle...genuine weather beaten crackle...not the craft product kind but determination and lots of cuppas won the day and there were whoops of delight when it was done.

Hubby will be digging out the last of the shrubs today...he doesn't know it yet...I need to pick the right moment to drop that bombshell and then I'll be laying the weed suppressing mat...visiting the garden centre to buy new plants and loads of pebbles to complete the "making life easier for this old gardener" look.

And I even got round to giving my Fiskars mower it's first outing of the year...

and no maintenance required after it's Winter slumber in the shed either...the coated steel blades are still as super sharp as they were when it came out of the box. They do say the glorious weather is set to continue until the end of the week so I'm taking a "I won't tell if you don't" break from the cubbyhole and I'm writing my sick note as we speak. Let's enjoy it while we can.

Hugs Kath xxx

Emboss It...

Hi Everyone...woohoo it's Monday and that means it's time to join in the fun over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog...thank you for joining us for last week's Home Decor challenge...we hope you can join us this week too because...

and the theme for this week is...

EMBOSS IT

using embossing folders...heat embossing...embossing pastes or 

any other embossing techniques you care to share with us

I made a card using a Texture Fade Embossing Folder...Distress Crayons...now there's a surprise...a little bit of stamping and heat embossing with a mixture of Stampendous Frantage Embossing Enamels...the Wildflower Thinlits Dies...some vellum and my favourite crinkled ribbon coloured with Distress Spray Stain...

I used one of my favourite Texture Fades...Postale on white cardstock...I love the crisp deep embossing you get when using Texture Fades. I then scribbled on the Distress Crayons...wet my finger to blend them together and took a slightly damp piece of kitchen roll to wipe the colour back from the embossed areas. I then applied a coat of Distress Collage Medium to seal the surface ready for stamping and heat embossing.

I inked the Halftone and Rings Cling Stamp with Versamark Ink, stamped randomly, sprinkled with Ranger White Embossing Powder and heat to set. I also used the Ledger Script stamp inked with Black Archival Ink to stamp small sections (sorry forgot to take a photo at that stage)

I die cut flowers with the Sizzix Tim Holtz Wildflowers Thinlits Die from black cardstock and Distress Woodgrain Card which is already embossed...fixed the black flowers flat on the card and popped the Woodgrain flowers on to 3d foam to create some dimension.

I sprinkled a mixture of Stampendous Frantage Embossing Enamels over the surface and heated from underneath until melted.

I tore a thin strip of vellum and embossed the "Carte Postale" wording

before fixing across the bottom of the card. I coloured the Crinkle Ribbon with Picked Raspberry Distress Spray Stain to create a double bow.  I edged the card with Walnut Stain Distress Crayon before fixing to the card blank.

You can find all the products I used over at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp online store...just click on the links below...

Why don't you pop over to the Monday Challenge Blog and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team mates and as always you all have the chance to win a $50 gift voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2 pm CET to join in...

You can also follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

and now it's your turn to have some embossing fun...

Enjoy and Happy Crafting

Hugs Kath xxx

InLinkz.com

What a week...

Hi folks...thank goodness it's Friday...I can't wait for the weekend after this crazy 3 day week...just when I was polishing my halo...magazine commission done...power washing done...DT project in the bag...the Thursday morning gremlins decided to bring me right back down to earth. Do you ever have one of those days when you would probably have been better off staying in bed...an early morning dental appointment wasn't the best start to the day but silly me for thinking that once the 10 minutes in the torture chamber was behind me..what I had planned for the rest of the day was going to be plain sailing.

photograph projects...camera battery was as dead as a dodo
OK while that's charging move on

to saving last week's projects to CD...drive drawer is jammed and won't open

but not to worry...help is just a mouse click away courtesy of the nice man on the Dell Help Desk...apparently there's an easy fix...uncurl a paper clip and poke it into the hole in the CD drawer...slight problem because I can't see any hole...after half an hour on my hands and knees I finally located that little sucker with the aid of a magnifying glass. Bingo we're cooking by gas...projects saved but now the CD won't eject and I've thrown the paper clip (the last one in the box) in the bin. And according to Dell Diagnostics the CD drive is kaput...knackered...on it's last legs..I know exactly how it feels so before the gremlins could wreck anything else...I hightailed it out of there...off out to the garden with my Furry Helper in tow...

to tackle the next outdoor job on the list...something that involves absolutely no technological wizardry...just a can of paint and a brush...

and woohoo the sun put his hat on and before you know...5 fence panels have been given a fresh coat of paint...just another...who knows...I'm not counting...to go

and today while hubby demolishes the old fence at the other side of the garden and constructs a new one...I'm out of here...I'll be kicking up my heels with the Friday Girls and because I had the foresight to wear gloves yesterday I won't be turning up looking like the jolly green giant.

Have a great weekend everyone...the weather is forecast to be sunny and warm...enjoy it while we can...this may well be Summer. See you all on Monday over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

Toodle oo for now

Hugs Kath xxx