SUNSHINE GALORE!

We are having the most amazing March weather here in the UK - my son said we were hotter than the Sahara desert the other day, and I can almost believe it.  We also had a fabulous week in Whitby - part holiday, part workshops, last week.  The weather was lovely there too and Malcolm took me on a six mile walk to Robin Hood's Bay along the cliff tops on one of the days, and as I'm not the fittest of folk the last 1/2 hour was a 'killer' for me (...we got the bus back!!).

We met some lovely ladies there who joined us for a couple of days and we made a framed scrapbook type piece, and then a decorated clock.  I will post some of the images of their work at the end of this post to show you their gorgeous creations, with further pics to follow.

Firstly I just want to catch up with you by blogging another layered die cut card that I made before we went away using CI-338, and more corrugated card.

And now I will add a couple of projects by Lynne of Adorn that just must be seen.

Lynne has used CI-017, CI-342, and a mini image from one of our books inside a die cut frame in the project above.  Very pretty indeed!

Plus a great tag using CI-336 as the focal image -

Now as promised here are some snaps from the Whitby days -

Firstly just some of my lovely ladies (the empty seat is mine!) - very hard at work:

Feel the concentration -

Then I'm going to show you the first three of the framed pieces by the ladies  - the rest will follow in further blog posts soon.

Well done Anne ......

Well done Daniele ......

And well done Helen ....

All projects to be very proud of, as I'm sure you will agree!!

Plus some sneaky bits from my own framed project to finish off this post, although as I said previously the main piece is going off to Traplet (Scrap 365) very soon for publication, so I can't show you the whole image I'm afraid.

(with thanks to Lee of Crafty Loops for the brilliant floral rosette idea above)

Better get off to bed now as lots to do again tomorrow!

Jean x

OFF TO WHITBY - BUT BEFORE WE GO ....

Malcolm and I are off to Whitby on Saturday for a week.  During this time we are running two days of workshops, as those who are signed up to the website mailing list will already know.  I haven't mentioned the workshops here on our blog as they became fully booked very quickly - which is great for us of course.  I have made two quite substantial projects for the days that I'm pretty pleased with and hopefully the ladies attending will enjoy.  I will be able to blog one of them at least on our return, and just snippets of the other one, as this particular project will then be going off to Traplet for magazine publication, therefore I won't be able to show you the whole thing.

Because of our Whitby visit I won't be blogging until our return, and as Mother's Day here in the UK is nearly upon us, I thought I had better show you a few more projects that I have (in addition to Sue's lovely book in the last post), with a Mother's Day theme in mind, before we go.

The first two are cards by myself - the first was made when I finally had a chance to play with our new hearts element plate CI-342 for the first time - its a great set of stamps for layering up as well as creating backgrounds.

I used a Tim Holtz Sizzix Cabinet Card die to made the corrugated card itself and added a frame charm and some torn calico ribbon that I had spray dyed and stamped plus a sentiment from CI-256, which is a very useful stamp!  I also popped a beaded heart stick pin through the little central heart.

Hearts are such pleasing shapes to work with.

Next I have been having quick and easy fun with nested dies.  This is a very simple card made with some X-Cut nested dies which I must say are excellent value for money and widely available (my set was £7.99 from The Range). I cut two of the larger squares, scored one of them near the top and bent it back, and then glued the top edges together.  This then makes a lovely standing card.

I used an image from our Nature's Beauty mini book for the main frame.

Now I have another gorgeous hanging from Lynne of Adorn made especially for Mother's Day -

Lynne has used the hearts stamp again in the background stamped onto fabric -

With a 'People and Places' mini book image in the centre frame.

And I'll just add a little postcard again by Lynne, which would also be rather apt for the same occasion.

And as hearts and corrugated card seems to be the flavour of tonight's post - here is a delightful card by Isabelle incorporating CI-338 beautifully....

Hope you have enjoyed checking out that little lot?!  Thanks for all the continuing kind comments which I love reading.  Have a great Mother's Day - has anyone told my own boys by the way???!!

Back in a little while.

Jean x

QUICK POST - LATE AT NIGHT - AGAIN!

Where does the time go?!   Well I have no idea, but I certainly don't have enough of it in my life to get everything that I want to do done in a week!  It is late at night again, but I want to do at least a little blog post as I have lots of superb projects building up again on my computer desktop - which like the rest of my house is very untidy I'm afraid.

Firstly here is one that should have been posted during the last 'Spring' Challenge - but due to email problems didn't ever reach my own computer!  It is a beautiful project by Helen, using CI-337 with a very pretty background created with Cosmic Shimmer inks, all mounted on to an old stamp woodblock, with 'springs'.

Then quickly on to one of Isabelle's lovely creations, using CI-340, with a cookery theme!

I've got that Tim Holtz Sizzix cabinet card die, and I love it!

Now another project by Lynne - with a 'man' theme this time - just adore her crafty creations!

Lynne has used an image from our People & Places 2 mini image book plus paisley details from CI-342 and a couple of other 'Individuals' stamps in the background.

Plus here is a card that matches very nicely too ....

So you see making very attractive cards for men can be done!

To end tonight Sue has been very busy in between being a 'hands on' grandmother to two tiny ones, and has made this gorgeous 'Mother's Day' book, using several of our stamps which you will find details about on her blog Here.

What a great gift for your mother!!

Thanks to all the ladies for their delicious contributions.  Hope you have enjoyed looking at them?!

Jean x

FEBRUARY CHALLENGE WINNERS, AND AN APRIL ISSUE OF CRAFT STAMPER ..

Malcolm was in charge of the February Challenge, and he picked 'Spring' as a theme.  We had 36 fabulous entries which you can check out at the bottom of the post HERE, and they were all sooo good he couldn't make a decision.  He whittled the choices down to around 11, and then we had to kind of choose the five by rolling the dice.  His comment was 'its hard this judging lark!'.

So here are the final five - well done, and thanks to everyone who joined in to make the Challenge a success.

Izzwizz - loving those dangly charms!

May - Great colours - check out how she went about making this tag on her blog -

KJJC - Great idea, and very pretty -

Giogio - Another very original idea - loving those textiles -

And Kath - a great combination of grunge and loveliness -

As usual ladies if you would send us an email to info@craftyindividuals.co.uk with your choice of stamp, plus your address, we will be delighted to send it out immediately.  Thanks again.

The next Challenge will be starting at the beginning of April and I hope you will be joining us then.

Just to finish tonight I would like to say in an 'over the moon' sort of way that one of my own projects has made the front cover of the April issue of Craft Stamper - and I am totally delighted, of course.  It is a decorated mini Tando Printer Tray which you will find on the CI Website in the 'MUST HAVES'  section, and it features several of our stamps and papers.  There are also lots of other great projects inside, and you will find the magazine for sale on our Website HERE.  The mag is definitely a must have for anyone interested in stamping!!

Bye for now.

Jean x