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I think when I use the word rustic it should be rubbish as I am not a neat worker at all. I think it is because I craft from the heart and make things up as I go along. If I do get organised or use a pattern or anything like that I over think the project and it ends up in the bin or unfinished forever. This is the bag I made for challenge 18 at Out of a Hat Creations and Sandra asked how I made the flowers so I thought I would write down how I made them. The tutorial flowers may not be exactly the same as the ones on the bag--well none of those are the same as each other either because they were just made roughly with no pattern or anything else. Here goes--hold onto your hats and use your own measurements and adapt anything that I have written to suit your style. I have hand sewn my flowers but I am sure they could be machine sewn and look even better. Just to say that thinner material is the easiest to work with--the one I used for the middle was very thick and it made it a harder t

Hello Friends This week at Out of a Hat Creations  we are asking you to make something that shows some of your sewing. Hope you will join in with us as it is always terrific to see what people make. Loved the pieces for the Time challenge and visiting the blogs of the people who joined us with the challenge. Do pop to Florence's , Janet's and Sandra's  blogs to see what they have made for the sewing challenge-we Hatters love company :) I have lots of material and cottons and a sewing machine but I rarely sew anything these days. This was my chance to have a go. This is what I made from an old curtain and a pillowcase that we have never used. The pocket is a double one but I am not sure what the bag is going to be used for yet. It is lined with the pillowcase material-this determined the size of  the bag as I used the part already sewn, and when I had made the flowers as well the whole of the pillowcase had been used up--one flower is a petal short as I didn't even ha

So pleased to see the challenge here at Craft-room Challenge  as I needed to make a little gift for a friend and it gave me an idea. I had bought a few note pads weeks ago and didn't know what to do with them so I used one of them to make this rustic looking wall hanging. It started out as two bits of card and the note pad and with a bit of distressing, cord, buttons and bows it ended up as a little gift. Thank you for the challenge.

I was pleased to see a sketch  as their challenge for this week  at Addicted to Stamps  . I needed to make a birthday card for my daughter and couldn't think what to make at all. She used to make lots of cards and sold them at work for charity but now her passion is patchwork. I have made this card more in her style than mine and I think she will like it.It is a fairly big card. Made the shapes with nesties and my Cuttlebug. The flowers were from a sheet that my daughter gave to me years ago-so were the words. I made the sentiment in Paint Shop Pro. Simples!

I was so pleased when I saw this challenge as I have just bought 'Book 5' (Travels in Italy) pages from Crafty Individuals and they are so beautiful. I do like the challenges at Artful Times . Always lovely to see what the team have made and to join in there. For the next 2 weeks the challenge is 'Travels in Europe Tag', so lots of things to chose for sure. I covered a tag with part of one of the pages then looked for a menu board in Italian. I found one without writing but it was in garish colours so I made it black and white and removed the white background to use it like a digital stamp. After that I found an old Italian Proverb and printed that onto the tag using Paint Shop Pro. Next the edges of the tag were distressed in three different colours of Rangers Distressed Inks and finished off with a thin strip of Cosmic Glimmer Mist used like a paint. A bit of fluffy wool for the tie and that's it really. Oh the proverb when translated says 'At the table with

Not sure why I find this type of card so difficult to make cause I only had to add three things to a piece of card :(. I do like to join the Addicted to Stamps Challenge  and it is clean and simple this week so I have tried my best to make a clean and simple card. I went outside in the beautiful sunshine and took a close up of a few of our poppies--I thought they were red but they are more orangey--hence the ribbon colour. Just did a border in Paint Shop Pro on the photo. Added a simple stamped sentiment and the ribbon and that's it really. Well I tried lol. I am more an, add as much as possible and make it complicated, type of person.

I love to visit Cindy's blog here  she makes such wonderful things and is so kind and generous with them. You have until July 28th to comment on her latest giveaway and maybe win the canvas. I left a comment and she has sent me an ATC with the image that I loved so much. We haven't got a car so all our shopping etc. goes into our rucksacks and I thought the little 'lady' looked liked me with a very full bag on my back :) Cindy also sent a beautiful little card as well. Both will be treasured. Thank you so much Cindy

This week at Out of a Hat Creations  the theme is Time. Lots of scope with that subject for sure and difficult to know where to start. Lovely to have people join in with us on the Twinchies last week and I would like to thank Lorraine for the tut on her page marker here . I did make this sample for the Time challenge a few weeks ago but the page markers on my project can be made as the ones in Lorraine's tut so do pop and have a look. I'm am sure you will want to visit  Florence    Sandra   and  Janet  to see what they have made for this challenge and also don't forget that for the whole of July if you enter in a challenge at Out of a Hat you will be in Janet's Hat for a chance to win the Tando Prize. I covered a piece of card with old book pages that I distressed with various Rangers Distressed Inks. Then I stuck on a Clock image that I found online. Added text around the edge and a cog in the middle. Now for the exciting part lol I made 4 page savers to fit around th

I really enjoyed Wimbledon this year and I will be following lots of tennis at the Olympics so I decided that tennis was to be the sport for me to enter a card for the Craft-Room Challenge There are lots of the pattern images online and I loved this Butterick one. The backing paper is from a craft magazine.The heart paper is the top layer of part of a serviette and I used the other two layers of the piece to make the simple flower. Distressed around the edges of the image then layered in on some card with a bit of a sparkle though you can't see that on the picture. The faux ribbon is from a magazine and the sentiment I made in Paint Shop Pro

At Out of a Hat Creations this week we have Twinchies as the Challenge. I had to look up Twinchies as I wasn't sure what they were when they came out of the hat but it is always nice to try something different I think. I'm am sure you will want to visit Florence   Sandra   and Janet  to see what they have made for this challenge and also don't forget that for the whole of July if you enter in a challenge at Out of a Hat you will be in Janet's Hat for a chance to win the Tando Prize. I made the twinchies with eggshells which is a technique I have never tried before. There are lots of tutorials online and all seem a bit different so I used them as a guideline then did my own thing. The background is a piece of corrugated card from a packaging box. I emulsioned it and while it was still wet added alcohol ink drops and worked them into the background. Distressed a page from an old book for the next layer-then some gold mesh and lace-all finished off with a feather, button

I seem to having a blue fest at the moment so couldn't resist the challenge at Addicted to Stamps  again this week as it is anything blue. Here is the card I have made for the challenge. I used two of the stamps from the Chocolate Baroque sheet Punky Romance which I just adore. The sentiment is from a very old stamp set by See D's-not sure who the wooden butterfly is made by--I wish I knew as I have two boxes of leaves and butterflies that I sent for ages ago but I forgot to save the labels. The background paper was from a magazine and I made the little felt flowers with the help of a Marianne die and my trusty Cuttlebug.

Well it certainly isn't very summery here in the North East UK but nice to be able to make something to remind us of Summer Days. The challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow  is to do just that so I made a card with something I always enjoyed doing when I was kid. Bike rides in the summer holidays meant adventures for me. I used a big sponge swirl for the background then distressed the edges with Rangers, broken china, distressed ink. The image was a free digi image which I painted in pale shades. The circles are cutout of a paper tray cover.  That's about it really apart from lace, ribbon, buttons and a die cut flower

At Artful Times the challenge for the next 2 weeks is Mode of Transport. I noticed that 2 of the three samples were bikes and I had already decided to do a bike one as well--looks like bikes rule so far lol Not decided if this will be added to a card or just stay as a canvas but I just had to use my new Chocolate Baroque, Punky Romance Stamps on something. The tandem wasn't one of the stamps-I got it at A Surcee Life  where Cathy shares some digital images. I made a background with Big and Juicy Waterfall and ditressed the edges, then printed the tandem onto it. Masked the tandem and lightly stamped over it with one of the Chocolate Baroque stamps-a bit of dodgy stamping by me but I think it adds to the effect. Then I used other stamps from the same set to add some finishing touches. There is so much on this A4 sheet of stamps I will be able to use them for weeks and not repeat them. I added the cog stamp to the middle of the wheels to make it look more Steam punk.  Just did simpl

Here we are on Challenge 15 already-time flies when you are enjoying yourself doesn't it? This week at Out of a Hat Creations  we have the challenge to make a Travel Postcard. I didn't know where to start at first but my ideas seem to evolve once I had started and then I didn't know where to stop as usual Do go and see what Janet , Sandra and Florence have made for the challenge as we all love to hear from you. This week sees the start of Janet's special prize which will last all month so do go to Out of the Hat to see how you can join in and have the chance to win. This is a postcard size with smaller postcards on it, all of places that we visit regularly and not too far from us. The little postcards are made from our photographs I started off with this photo of some old suitcases that I took at Grosmont at the steam train station Then I used a simple programme to change the photo into a digital stamp and printed it onto a background that I had distressed with various

At Addicted to Stamps this week we are challenged to have Christmas in July. I must say I was a bit stuck as to how I would make anything for this as I haven't got much at all that is Christmasy at the moment. After a bit of searching I found a few things The reindeer my daughter made on her 'magic' sewing machine', the little trees were a pack from a company called Craftime-the snowflake buttons I have had for ages-same with the flowers. The Merry Christmas was a free digital download.