Natural nursery banner...

I've finished the fabric banner I was making for Natural Nursery!...

Large banner with applique design. 2.5m x 1m

You can see some of the 'work in progress' pics here on MZ.

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crafteroo

Check this out! A brand new crafts forum has opened it's doors...
Crafter...oo is a new forum, part of a larger site to be launched later this year. It's a place were anyone of any crafts discipline can get together and talk shop. It's brand spanking new so go and make yourself at home!

A Birthday Card for Someone Special

I thought I'd share my latest creation with you. A slight deviation away from canvasses, but I had a sudden desire to make a card for Shelleys 4th birthday, which is later this month. So armed with a quick sketch I visited the local craft shop and this is what I came up with. I'm kinda its got to be done right now sort of person so I hid in the kitchen and made it and covered it up with some papers everytime Shelley wandered in. She didn't see it so all is well. I took the fairy from a spare party invite which she choose herself, so at least I know she'll like that bit.


Thanks for looking.

Amanda (aka Colourart)
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Arts and Crafts for Tots

If you've got a few minutes spare make sure you check out Colourarts 'Art and Crafts for Tots' blog. It's full of great crafty ideas and has some easy to follow ('how to make') projects to keep your little ones busy during the summer holiday.

Here are just 2 of the fab projects which can be found on the blog... - Chinese Dragon Puppets

& cute little peg dolls

Footie Mad!!!!

I was asked to make 2 cards for a 18th Birthday for a celtic MAD!!! young man I think I carried this off rather well.

I googled for the celtic badge and decoupaged the badge for the main thing on the card, a nice touch adding 18 today to it, also him being the man of the match.

The second card a simpler card was wanted for her other son. I found a comic sketch of his favourite player for a little touch of fun. I really hope he likes his cards and Happy Birthday Matey!!!!!

Freebie Winners ...

With the help of this random number generator we have 2 lucky winners...

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Well done number 3 - Chiggs and number 9 - Clip Clop :)

PM me you address details and I will get your bobbles in the post.

x

Farm Art

Its taken a while but I have been working on a couple of ideas for nursery paintings which aren't really girlie, although I know of a couple of little girls who like a visit to the farm. So far I've painted Farmyard Cow and Mr Pig who are great buddies down on the farm - hehe. Still to come are a sheep, and someone has suggested a chicken!!

Thanks for having a look at my farmyard friends :0)

Freebie!

Come sign our guest book (at the bottom) and you could win some incywincy hair bobbles.

__***This freebie competition has now finished ***

RULES ~ Anyone can enter. There will be 2 winners who will both receive a pair of bobbles. ____

Competition opens on 25th April 2008 and closes Friday 2nd May ! The winners will be announced here on the craftzone blog. The winners will receive their prize within 10 days of competition closing. (The 3 people who have already signed the guest book will not be included - sorry!)

Good Luck! x

p.s - You only need to sign the guest book once. (thanks Chell & Ginger) Your post will appear once I approve it, plus I'm also keeping track of people in the comments section below.

p.p.s the guest book isn't working very well :( So just add your name to the comments box! ta. x

Xx

Scrapbooking

After visiting KatieQuiggle's house last week and admiring her wonderful scrapbooks I decided to give it a go myself. There was much time spent pondering over a blank sheet of card but eventually I found inspiration and made my first page - I decided to use photos of myself that my mum had given me in an ordinary photo album for my birthday.

The first photo is my first effort. I was quite pleased with the result, considering I've never done this before. So feeling confident I decided to do page 2. I started once again with much time staring at blank card and pink backing paper until after a while things started to come together. The finished result is the second photo. I know the ribbon at the bottom doesn't look straight but I think its just where the paper was distorted when I took the photo.

I hope you like my efforts. Feel free to pass on any hints and tips that could improve my work. Meanwhile, watch this space for page 3...

Von

XXX

Handmade Buttons

I brought myself a button covering machine this week. I've always been a bit mad about buttons! So now I get to make my own and use them on my designs.

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2 Red embroidered/ 1 red linen/ 1 orange linen

I've even decided to list some in my shops on Tuggle and Etsy -

Pack of handmade fabric buttons -19mm

I have 3 dies of varying sizes - the largest perfect for making brooches. So watch this space for more funky fabric buttons and brooches!

3D people

WooHoo another decoupage day for me today. This had two purposes for me one to stop me eating every bit of chocolate left in the house and the 2nd was to occupy my time instead of doing the boring old house work!!!!!!!!!!!

The First one is a basketball boy made from papernation sheets
The Second one is a little boy enjoying life!!! with his little pup unsure of the make of sheets used for this one, some I had stashed in the cupboard no doubt, Thanks for looking.

Aka grommie

I've gone decoupage crazy!

I think decoupage is definitely the way forward for me! I started to make a card tonight with some lovely backing paper I got for halfprice at Hobbycraft. I got halfway through the card and was about to bin it when I got a brainwave. I remembered a cute decoupage buddha I had made some months ago and thought it would make a lovely good luck card. What do you think?

My ever first blog

Thought i would show this card, i decided for a change, as Mariahsoaps is up to date with orders until tomorrow, i got bored, went out and spent a fortune on card making stuff, it all adds up eh?

So what do you think? My youngest daughter is 8 years old and she loves art and crafts, she has decided to decoupage, so i have been showing her how to do, i have not got much patienct at all, but she is getting the hang of it.

Soap, here is a soap scroll, i made a few of these for a wedding, i have not made many of these, i love these scrolls.

An Easter gift ...

... for my niece ~
A little flowery sleep suit for Issy ~ Machine appliqued flowers with rubber stamped lettering.
I love the stitching on this sleep suit - looks like a little spiders web joining up the flowers. Might have to do some more of these :)
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Happy Easter,
Sam. x

White Bunny Hat

Well Alisha my daughter has to make a hat for easter to wear into school on Thursday so today we sat round making this one........................ well we think the end result is fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was quite suprise how long it took us we did cheat a little because the hat template did come from tesco but SSSSSSSSSSSSShhhhhhh!!! I wont tell if you wont, its still a very good effort. Our next try will be the same style hat in an easter theme..FOR A BOY!. well we do have a few ideas I will post a picture when we have done that one..

Thanks for looking.

Decoupage - a work in progress!

I thought for this post I would show before, during and after photos of a decoupage card I have made. I am really enjoying this skill but it can be tricky and I almost lost this one it was so fiddly!

After all that, here is the finished article. I think its a beautiful card that any girl would absolutely adore.

HBV
XXX

Something Felty In The Air

There must have been something felty going on at the weekend because I've made some felt brooches too. These are my first attempts so a bit basic but I just fancied doing something else other than Little Snugglers. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, might put them on my website and see what happens.

Just for Fun!!

I had a crafty weekend and ended up making this brooch and giving it to my daughter as she loved it. I don't get much chance to sew as I am always filling my spare time with painting so it was nice to do something just for fun. I got a bit of a bug and made some more flowers which I plan to use on a canvas sometime, but for now Shelley is enjoying her brooch.

Amanda - Colourart

11,100 felt balls ....

.... arrived yesterday. So now my little old website is fully stocked again.

I've also had a fantastic selection of handmade felt sheets arrive - all 100% wool and I'll be getting the hand dyed silk strings next weekend. So, lots of lovely things for you to use in different projects.

Today I've been helping my little man make a mask of his favourite book character, so that he can take it into school on Monday to support World Book Day. Thank goodness he's only 5 and chose a Mr Men character - my drawing skills really aren't up to much !!

Tomorrow I shall be doing a 10 mile training walk to try and get myself ready for the Breast Cancer Moonwalk I'll be doing in May. For anyone who doesn't know, it's a walking marathon around London over night (hence the name Moonwalk). And this is going to sound really cheeky, but if anyone fancies sponsoring me with the money going to a really good charity / cause, I would be extremely grateful. If you think you'd like to sponsor me, please drop me an email.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sarah x

Blooming Felt

A little blog from little old me :)

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I spend most of my living hours eating sweets and chocolate so i thought, why not make some. So i did, this is my first attempts at using fimo.

These have been really fun to make and im really pleased with the result. I would like to thank Sand who has given me lots of tips about using and storing fimo, and Kate who is always there to offer and share her knowledge, thanks ladies.

Back to the sweet shop - Whassat :)

cup cakes

Emma at JellyBelly*JellyBrain emailed me last night and linked me to this cupcake flickr group. (thanks jb) With over 1400 images in the group it took a while to look at all the lovely pics, and by the end I was totally cup caked out!!
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Anyway - here are just a few that caught my eye on the flickr group and also some of my lovely cupcakes that I've made over the past few months. >>>
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Chocolate and Pink Vanilla Cupcakes - by sugar chic baby ~ These felt cupcakes actually look real!
cupcake softies - by paper & string ~ Loving those ribbons :)
And of course I had to link this ...
Cupcake Drawstring Gym Bag - by jellybelly*jellybrain ~ yummy!

Logo I designed and made for pinkfairycake.com

Em wearing a commission 'Charlotte' apron for me to take some photos

One of my personalised cupcake aprons available at pinkfairycake

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Right I'm off to add my cupcake pics to the flickr group now :)
Sam/incywincy.

Happy Mothering Sunday

A really hard day for me today with it being Mothering Sunday and all. Even though my mum is no longer around I made this card for my MIL to mark the occasion.

The pyramage card is made from a royalty free image using 7 layers of the same picture.

The verse inside reads:

Somehow we always say the least to those we love the best

And hope our thoughts are understood.

Although they're unexpressed

-That's why it means so very much,

when days like this are here

To say how very much you're loved

each day throughout the year.

Happy Mother's Day

Thanks for looking and Mum's everywhere enjoy your day!

Nickie xx

Happy Mother's Day !

Today I finally managed to get a little go on my new embellisher. I've had a few ideas floating around in my head but wasn't sure whether they would be possible to do, so today I spent half an hour trying them out.Egg Cosies !!

I don't think they're bad for a first attempt and they do need a bit of fine tuning, but overall I'm pretty pleased !

Hope all you other Mums out there have had a lovely day !

Sarah (Blooming Felt)

Mothers Day

Happy mothers day to all mums. Am sat here wondering if I am going to get a chance to do any bathcare products for Fathers day, since I missed Mothersday, Mariahsoaps has been so busy, it's non stop.
I have a few new ideas up my sleeve, when I get a chance to make them, I shall post a few photos of them on here.

Happy Mother's Day

I made this card for my Mum's Birthday last week, but it seemed appropriate to post it here today.
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Rubber stamped Birthday card - with ribbon and button detail.

I simply stitched the button through the ribbons and fabric to hold in place, then attached the piece to the card with 2 brads on either side. I love my little rubber stamp alphabet set - great for card crafting :)
Hope all Mum's are having a lovely day.
Sam/incywincy x

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As promised...

....my first contribution to this fab Craftzone blog. I am very happy to be asked to contribute. I have been painting canvases for a couple of years now after leaving my job as a textile designer to stay at home with my children. It has turned from being a hobby to a small business although it is always a pleasure to paint up a new idea. My business, Colourart allows me to do what I like best, picking up on trends, then sketching up ideas and putting paint to canvas. This is a page from my sketch book (left) with my nursery artwork in mind. This page is very colourful and it helped when coming up with colours and ideas for my Fairy, Flower and Bee canvas (right)

Thanks for looking at our collective craft blog.

Amanda - Colourart

xx

Cards and Stuff

Hello crafters, Vonnie here!

I'm really pleased to have been invited to contribute to this fabby bloggy thingy! I love making cards, I make them purely for personal use, have never sold or attempted to sell anything. Wouldn't know where to start actually! I've dabbled in decoupage, played with peel-offs and enjoyed embellishments for just over a year now and am always keen to try out new stuff. I learnt to do some origami after going on holiday to Tokyo last year and have used a few bits on my cards which I've been really happy with.

The one thing I find difficulty with is cards for boys and men and I have yet to find anything to really inspire me. I am sitting here right now racking my brain as I have to make a card for a 13 year old boy - I have until tomorrow afternoon so any ideas would be welcome!

Well I think I've bored you enough, so thanks once again for inviting me to share this exciting project.

Von

XXX