Design team make....Wall Plaque and Cushion Cover

Hello everyone..Genny here. I wanted to share my two makes with you this week. The first one is a plaque that I have made using a MDF blank. I kept seeing these words on lots of home decor items and thought..I could do that..lol. I first began with the blank plaque and painted it with some light green acrylic paint. I then added some torn papers..the paper was from a pad from the selection here at JB-Crafting Supplies. I then inked the edges with distress ink in a green..I do have a bit of a thing for green..as I'm sure you all know by now..lol. The letters that I used on the plaque were from an alphabet that I've had lurking in my stash for a couple of years..but I'm sure that Julie could source some for you. I finally added some die cut flowers from my stash. If you don't have a diecutting machine you can of course make your own flowers in any way you like. There are lots of templates out there...looking through my stash, I have a few that I had totally forgotten about. I'm going to put this plaque on the wall in my parlour.

And now for my second make...I just had to share the story with you all. The picture is of a cushion cover that has only taken 40 years to finish. My Grandmother began this in the 1960's and I can remember her sitting sewing it. Sadly my Grandmother died in the 70's and all her embroidery got packed away..boxes of half finished projects. Now my Mother was a hoarder and all the boxes of embroidery and sewing moved house with her about 5 times. She passed away in 2004 and I had the job of sorting all her belongings and I moved the boxes to my house. Well I decided that the time had come to go through the final boxes that had been in my loft for the last 12 years. I went through the remaining boxes and came upon the box of my Grandmothers sewing. I had to smile..there was pieces of Crimplene..the wonder fabric of the 60's and 70's..and they are so in trend now..lol. The colours are as vibrant as ever..I may even make a top up using some of it. I also found lots of rolls of daisy edging and rick rack edging..I can remember it on my dresses. Then I dug deeper and found this cushion cover..half finished but with all the threads still in the bag. So I finished it and it's now about to sit on my couch. You can tell where I've stitched because the thread edges can be seen..where as where my Grandmother had stitched they have sort of blended. But as I look at it..it takes me back to the days when I was a little girl, sitting talking to my Grandmother whilst she stitched. Happy memories. So if you have anything that has been sitting around for a while, I would encourage you to finish it.

Next week I will be sharing another wonderful Pinflair kit with you all. So until then...take care and happy crafting.

Design team make...Another Tag..Another Tale

 Hello everyone...Genny here again.For this weeks make I decided to make another tag. This one continues the story of my Grandmother. I so enjoyed making last weeks, that I decided to do another. I began by covering the tag itself with some more of the beautiful paper from the set brought to us by Craftwork cards..the shabby vintage range. Both the tags and the papers are available from Julie here at JB crafting Supplies. To to be the basis of the tag I stamped this old english prayer which was from my stash but very much was the way that my Grandmother lived her life. No matter how busy she was, she always made time for her friends.

I can always remember when they got together to put the world to rights..lol. I remember the scents that they wore and their pretty dresses. Quite often when they got together they brought their sewing along and you would see their needles flashing as they chattered and laughed. That gave me the idea of the pansies. They are from a rubber stamp set by Joanna Sheen called embroidered flowers. The whole sheet of stamps reminds me of all the table cloths,chair backs and tray cloths that they spent many hours on. I am lucky enough to have many of the pieces myself and have sewn some myself to add to the collection. So in thinking of these, I stamped out the pansies and the leaves and coloured them with my promarkers, cut them out and used them to edge the prayer. For the base of the tag I used some lace stamps from my stash, then coloured them to match and then added them to the tag. Finally I added a bow and a butterfly and dragonfly.

Now as I look at the tag, I see the ladies with their sewing in my minds eye, their sewing on their laps, the laughter of their stories and as fanciful as it may seem, am transported back to a happy place. This is one of the fantastic things about tag art..it doesn't too long and you can build your own story or a simple memory...whatever you like. I even fancy having a go at one featuring one of my cats..I may do that one over the next couple of weeks.

Next week I will be working with another wonderful stamp from the Stampendous range. Julie has a wonderful collection of stamps in the range of crafting goodies she has instore.If you ever have any questions about anything that I have made..please just get in touch via Julies facebook page and I will be more than happy to get back to you. So until next week...take care and happy crafting.

Design team makes..using a Joanna Sheen cdrom

Hello everyone..Genny here. For todays design team make I am using a Joanna Sheen cdrom called One Summers Day. This cd features the wonderful artwork of Barbara Mock, For this weeks make I have made three cards, all using the same image and backing paper. I thought that it would be a nice thing to share and hopefully encourage you to look at how many ways that you can use the same image but make different style cards. The only thing that is different is the way in which I have embellished each card. As you know, I collect cutting dies and always try to buy ones that will work with either my favourite styles of card or will work alongside the ones already in my collection. All the dies that I have used on these cards are from the Signature die range by Joanna Sheen. I like to also create borders that match with the image. On the second card I have created a border that has one strip of lace and the third card has a border with two strips of the same. I love to play around and see what I can come up with.Also I like to use different edging card..on the first card I've used gold mirri and the other two with purple. I try to look at the image and find either a matching card, a toning card or a mirri. When I first started cardmaking, I found this quite hard but the more you play, the easier it becomes. Now I have great fun seeing how many different cards I can make using the same image. This is only one image from this fabulous cd..there are so many it's hard to know which one to pick. I will share some more images from this cd tomorrow.
I love working with these images on a miserable day, dreaming of the warmer weather. It does seem to be be a long time coming. So until tomorrow...take care and happy crafting

One Summers Day from Joanna Sheen

 Hello everyone..Genny here. It seems an age since I last posted but I'm so happy to be back. Todays cards are from the new Joanna Sheen cdrom. It's called One Summers Day and features the fabulous artwork of Barbara Mock. The cdrom is available from Julie here at jb-crafting and is a great one to add to your collection

 There are so many toppers on this cd that really would be useful all year round.I just love the floral and china images. I could use them in so many ways...birthdays,anniversaries,get well soon. Or even just a card to say that you're thinking of someone. There are as usual some gorgeous backing papers which could be used in all your other cardmaking. The cd also includes decoupage, bookmarks and inserts to name a little of what else is on the disc.

I have so enjoyed working with cd and hope that you will take a look. So until the next time take care and happy crafting

Distressed Fairy Card

Good evening!

Today card that I am sharing with you was made using distress inks, fantasy film and angle fibres.

Thank you for looking.

Julie

80th Birthday!

Hello everyone!
What a beautiful day it has been, well we have had a good week really.

Now this card was commissioned by a neighbour for a friends 80th birthday
and as I type it is winging it's way to Canada.

I am still busy uploading new supplies to my shop, It is a mammoth task
but I am getting there.

Happy Crafting
Julie