Country Vintage Projects

I took one Country Vintage Kit:

And used the embellishments on a cushion, a layout, and a brooch.

The cushion is a warm-looking stuffed cushion to sit on my blue sofa and make people feel at home:

I made it using two pieces of fabric approx 9" square, the front piece is hessian/linen type fabric, the back piece is grey felt:

I embroidered the word 'home' using backstitch and cream wool:

And once I'd sewn the rest of the embellishments I wanted onto the front, I sewed the cushion right-sides together, leaving a 3.5" gap to pull it right-side out, and to push the stuffing in:

The 7" fabric strip was ironed on with bondaweb and then machine zig-zag stitched over, everything else is sewn on by hand:

Here's my layout, about visiting Gold Hill in Shaftesbury (the location of this hovis advert if you're interested!):

Background Paper = Basic Grey 'Phoebe', Photo Mat Paper =  DCWV 'Once Upon a Time',
Gold Outline Stickers = Anita's, Pink Alphas = Papermania,
Journaling Spot = We R Memory Keepers 'Tiffany's', Kraft Flower with button = homemade,
Everything Else from Country Vintage Embellishment Kit

My daughter just had to go down the hill and back up again, so of course me and her grampa had to as well!

I cut five 2" pieces from the vintage fabric strip in the kit, sewed them to the centre of the flower
at the same time as the button, and then glued the fabric pieces to the layout using Copydex.

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Finally I used the bits left in the kit to make this brooch, adding a quirky button I bought in a haberdashers:

The brooch was made by taking a strip of the white lace trip (approx 11" long), and stitching a loose running stitch along one edge:

Then pulling it all together until it formed a flower shape. Once it was the right shape I sewed the two ends of the lace together to hold it in place:

Then I just had to sew the lace, crochet flower, and button onto a brooch back:

And attach it to my handbag!:

What do you think of the Country Vintage Kit? What would you make with it? This, and some other style kits, are now available in my Etsy Shop! 

Check back tomorrow for a blog hop:

I'm very excited about it! xxx

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Dreamy Evening Projects

Hello all,

When I announced my Etsy shop I also said that I'd show you a few things I've been making with the kits. So today here are the projects I've made with one Dreamy Evening Kit like this one:

A layout:

Papers = DCWV 'Taj Mahal' & 'Old World', Journaling spot = My Little Shoebox 'Robots Uncut',
Cute Word Bead = Magnetic Poetry, Proud Alphas = Thickers 'Roller Rink', Daddy Alphas = Papermania,
Everything Else from Dreamy Evening Kit.

If you're wondering why the 'u' is a strange size,
it's because I had to cut down a 'q', I had no 'u's left!

I love the photo of hubby holding our newborn daughter, and am glad to have finally scrapped it. I also have a photo of me holding her the same day, but I look like such a mess that I never want to use it on a layout. I don't know whether to go ahead and scrapbook it even though I hate the picture, or just do a non-photo page about my first memories of her and just keep the photo in the family album!

I used some more of the kit for an elastic Alice Band:

I cut the vintage fabric strip down to 14", and backed it with some lilac felt to strengthen it - my felt wasn't quite long enough so I used two strips, just making sure the join would be hidden behind the felt flowers.

I attached two strips of elastic because my elastic was quite thin and I didn't want it to twist too much. If you're clever you can sew the elastic between the vintage fabric and the felt - I didn't think of it until afterwards so the back of my alice band is a bit ugly where I attached the elastic!

It only took a few hand stitches to attach the felt flowers for a cute finish. I'm going to have to make one of these to fit my daughter too!

I used up almost all the rest of the kit on a birthday card:

Card Blank = Papermania, Outline Stickers = Anita's, Happy Birthday Stamp = Whispers Words,
Flower Stamp = Anita's, Fimo button, crochet heart, and fabric from Dreamy Evening Kit

I think I'll keep this card for my Mother-In-Law's birthday, she loves these colours.

So there we go, three projects from one kit! I even had a little bit of the white lace trim left to use on something else. If you'd like to buy a Dreamy Evening Kit then head over to my Etsy Shop!

I hope you're all having a relaxing Sunday, xxx

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Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Hop

Hello and welcome!

If you're starting here and haven't seen the rest of the Blog Hop, then start back at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog to find out what it's all about, and to check out all the inspiration along the way!

If you're already hopping, then you should have landed here via Milissa's blog, and I hope you've been enjoying your journey. The challenge for the blog hop was to find some inspiration from your favourite scrapbook manufacturer's blog. As I had a couple of sheets of Bella Blvd 'Sunny Happy Skies' paper in my kit I headed over to their blog, I love the bright patterns and cute images on their products.

I chose two bits of inspiration from there, first a tutorial on embossing alphas (see the tutorial here, though my letters are pearly rather than glittery because of the embossing powder I had to hand!) I also scraplifted ideas from this gallery layout by Ebony Van Der Starre (see it on the Bella Blog here):

I loved all her layers and clusters of embellishments, and I used my 'sunny happy skies' cloud paper as a background like Ebony's flower pattern. Here's my layout:

All my embellishments were from my counterfeit kit, all I added for my page was the We R Memory Keepers stitched green cardstock for the background, and the pink Papermania scalloped card for the photo mat.

I was happy to finally use one of the tags I'd made, tucked into the top right under a banner strip from the sunny happy skies 'borders & blocks' paper:

I also used cosmo cricket 'togetherness' journaling card, and layered lots of bits on top of it, including one of the fabric buttons I made for my kit:

I had fun making this page, I've felt happy every time I've used my counterfeit kit, because not only am I using up some stash, it's also that the colours are so bright they cheer me up when I look at them!

Okay, time for you to head to the next stop on the hop, Lesa's blog. Before you scurry away though, don't forget to check out my current Giveaway here.

Hope you have fun on the rest of the hop! x

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** giveaway ** NOW CLOSED

Hello all!

As promised, here's a giveaway for you. I have been cutting, crocheting, moulding, and stitching, and have put together some Handmade Embellishment Kits to sell in my Etsy shop. To celebrate this I want to give you the opportunity to win one of the kits for yourself:

All you have to do to win one of these kits is visit my Etsy shop, have a look at the kits, then come back here and leave a comment telling me name of the set you'd like to win. That's it! Just make sure, if you're not a regular reader of my blog, to leave your email address in the comment too, so I can easily contact you if you win. (You can disguise the email address eg. jennifergrace(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk)

For an extra chance at winning, you can also become a new follower, and leave a second comment telling me you've done so. Or if you already are a follower, leave a second comment reminding me of this fact!

I hope you like the kits, and enjoy browsing the shop. If you have any other advice / suggestions on the shop or kits then I'd love to hear them, it's a new venture for me so I'm happy to hear what you have to say!

The giveaway closes on Sunday 5th June, midnight GMT, I'll pick a random winner the next day (or my daughter will by pulling a name out of a hat!) In the meantime I'll also be doing a few posts to show some of the projects I've been making using the kits. (Update: for example projects using the Dreamy Evening Kit see here, for projects using the Country Vintage Kit see here, for projects using the Summer Brights Kit see here, and for projects using the Gentle Romance Kit see here).

Bye for now, x

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I'm a lucky lady!

I've been the lucky recipient of a few crafty items lately:

• First, I won a giveaway on Meghann's blog, and received some fabulous robot themed papers and rub-ons - I've already dipped into the journaling spots but can't bear to cut into the paper yet! 
• Then I won a giveaway on Fay's blog, and she sent me a very pretty bag which she made herself - I think I'm going to use it to keep some crochet bits in.
• And then yesterday I received some rainbow ribbon from Lea - she offered to send me some after I said how much I loved it on this layout of hers. 

I want to say thank-you to you wonderful ladies for your generosity, I love all these bits and will enjoy using them!

I'm going to pass on the generosity by doing a giveaway of my own. If all goes to plan I will post it here on Thursday (26th May), so check back then!

If you can't wait that long to try and win something, then head over to the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog, as they currently have three lists featuring hundreds of blog giveaways taking place right now as part of their spring 'giveaway day'. It's mostly sewing blogs participating, but there's other stuff too, and you can win handmade items or supplies. But you'll have to hurry - most of the giveaways need to be entered by Wednesday night (25th) so you only have a day or so to try your luck. Don't blame me if you now spend hours and hours going to all the links - like I have been!

Hope everyone is having a sunny, happy Tuesday. x

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Holiday Harmony

I have a layout to share which I made for a challenge on the Cocoa Daisy Spring Crop - the challenge was to find an old holiday photo and to alter it somehow. I used one which I blogged about here just over a year ago, of a family holiday to Scotland when I was young (click photo to enlarge):

Me and my siblings were often fighting at the time, just because of the awkward ages we were at, but on this holiday we also found harmony. It's my favourite family holiday to remember because of the games I can remember us playing and the songs we sang along to.

Have you got any old holiday snaps you really should scrapbook?

x

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I am happy today because...

... we went shopping. I know I shouldn't be so pleased about material things but wait, look what I bought.

First, after checking several shops, I managed to grab the last copy of Mollie Makes off the shelf in Sainsbury's:

Shimelle blogged about the magazine the other day here (her post also contains an awesome project to turn a t-shirt into a ruffled cardi), and I was dying to have a look. But the mag is selling out fast, so I'm glad to have got hold of a copy! I can't wait to read it later, probably in a hot bath with a bar of choc to hand. I haven't been so excited about a magazine since Scrapbook Inspirations was cancelled.

That purchase was enough to put a big smile on my face for the afternoon. Then, I went into TK Maxx (a UK store which sells discount brand-name clothes etc) - they often have random craft bargains. Today they had these scrapbook packs of We R Memory Keepers papers and embellies, reduced to £2:

I couldn't open them up while in the store, but it looked like they had a few sheets of paper and a couple of packs of embellies in each, and there was lots of different themed packs, so I bought four packs. Then, when I got home and tipped it all out, I was very excited to find all this:

That's 8 x glitter papers, 14 x double sided papers, 2 x sewn cardstock, 8 x die cut papers (so total 32 sheets of paper/card), one pack of layered chipboard and one of buttons, 2 packs of brads, a die-cut journal pad, self adhesive glitter lace, one sheet of dimensional stickers and one of rub-ons. All for £8! 

It includes the ranges '72 & Sunny', 'Tiffany', and 'Madame Royale', with one or two other random bits. I especially love the 72 & Sunny products, they really fit with my love of brights at the moment. I can't wait to play with it all.

So now you can see why shopping made me happy today! If you have a TK Maxx nearby then go check it out!

Have you made any fabulous purchases lately? x

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counterfeiting for our anniversary

It was our 3 year wedding anniversary yesterday, and I got the inspiration for a card for my husband from this sketch, set as a mini-challenge on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog:

Here's my card, created using bits from my counterfeit kit, including a Cosmo Cricket Togetherness-elements 'love' sentiment, Junkitz Salsa Dots paper, and a little girl and boy punched from pink and blue cardstock (click pic to see card larger):

I think it proves that we're meant to be together that we both chose cards with one detail in similar - I put the little 'you & me' sticker onto the card for him - and just look at the card he got for me:

Great minds think alike!

He also bought me these, which was a nice surprise:

I don't often get flowers from him, so I'm enjoying looking at these.

I also realised I haven't blogged about a layout and a card I created at the weekend for the Cocoa Daisy online crop. This layout was for a one hour challenge to use a hybrid element on your page. The background paper was from my counterfeit kit - a piece from DCWV Taj Mahal stack. Because the layout was made so quickly it's a lot simpler than my normal style and I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with it:

It was fun to try and get a page done so fast, but I don't think I'll pressure myself like this too often!

This card was for a challenge to create a tiny card, mine measures 10cm x 7.5cm:

I used only things I had to hand, mainly bits left over from the one hour challenge layout. 

That's all for today. I've signed up to both twitter and pinterest over the last couple of days, so if any of you use these let me know! I'll post my details for them on here once I've got the hang of it a bit more!

x

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One little monkey...

... jumping on the bed!

My second layout using my counterfeit kit, and using a sketch from a Two Peas in a Bucket NSD challenge (link to the challenge is here).

The sketch:

My layout (click to enlarge):

I loved being able to pull most of the bits for this from my kit, it made it all come together so quickly! I added the orange circle of paper, and printed the little monkey from clipart. The title is from a song my daughter sings at playgroup about monkeys jumping on the bed, luckily my daughter has not yet bumped her head like the naughty monkeys do in the song! I added some paint (the white circle and the swirl) and then doodled on top. I hope the page reflects the fun and energy in the photos.

I had been waiting to scrap these photos for a while, I like it when I catch my daughter playing something by herself. The other day I managed to get this picture of her:

These 'My Little Ponies' were mine when I was a little girl, I kept them all this time hoping I'd have a daughter. This is the first time I've caught her playing with them by herself, she said they were all reading the magazine. It was so sweet! Now I can't wait to scrap this photo! x

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Smile ... it makes people wonder!

Well, I couldn't wait very long to dip into my Counterfeit Kit (see post here for my kit contents). I made a layout today using bits and pieces from my kit - with a few added papers and embellishments because I was inspired by this picture from the Polkadot Door Designs blog:

They set this picture as an Inspiration Challenge, and I loved the mix of colours and elements. There was a blog hop of fabulous examples too, so I couldn't resist joining in - it just meant that I added a few things to my counterfeit kit contents.

I got inspiration from everything in the picture - the colours, the embellies and the quote. Here's my layout (click image to see it larger):

I made the crochet flowers and the pinwheel, and used buttons, brads, the flower paper, alphas and the journaling card from my counterfeit kit. I also zig-zag stitched the flower paper onto a metallic green piece of cardstock - I always have trouble zig-zagging like this - when I get to the corners I keep going the wrong way. It's very annoying but I guess I just need to practice more!

Once I'd finished I challenged myself to make a quick card using leftovers and the same inspiration picture. The card didn't end up being a quick make though - because I had the same trouble with the zig-zag stitch and ended up finishing it by hand stitching! Here it is (click to see it larger):

I just bought these A6 Papermania Kraft card blanks the other day and I love them, I think they'll be appearing a lot.

If you're inspired by the Polkadot Door Designs picture to make something, then you have until the 15th to enter the challenge - head on over and take a look here.

Or if you've been inspired to make a counterfeit kit and don't know what that's all about, you can see the blog here.

I think I'm having a crafting splurge before the baby arrives (due 7th July) - it doesn't seem like long left now! x

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My Counterfeit Kit

I've been following the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog for a while, since Sian posted about it months ago. I keep thinking I will get around to it... next month. Well, May appears to be the month when I finally join in the fun! I had to have a go after seeing this Work In Progress kit which is this months inspiration - the bright colours are very me right now!

I didn't have anything at all that's in the original kit, so have made up my own entirely, and handmade a few bits to go along with it. Here's my kit:

The alphas are all packets with odd letters missing, but as they're all bright I'm hoping I can mix and match. I've got some Heidi Swapp Journaling spots in there which I bought at a car boot sale, and some stickers that were bought in a Paperchase sale last year. There's a couple of Papermania mini albums in there, I only plan to use one but I don't know which colour yet. 

Here's a close up of the papers:

The papers include a couple each of Bella Blvd 'Sunny Happy Skies', and Cosmo Cricket 'Togetherness' - I've been hoarding these for a while as I like them so much, I'm hoping that having them in this kit will push me to use them! Other papers are a mixture of some Basic Grey, some DCWV 'Taj Mahal', and other random bits that I've had for ages.

Here's a close up of some of the embellishments:

I made the tags using a template and eyelets, and I HAD to make some fabric covered buttons (the three round flower buttons) after seeing the tutorials on the Counterfeit blog here. Luckily hubby works in a shop that sells the supplies to make these - I was able to make some the very evening that I'd seen the tutorial rather than having to wait for supplies through the post!

The little cloud is hand drawn, and so is the little girl. I didn't have any cute little kid images like in the WIP kit (though I did find the girl & boy punches in my stash) - I wanted a kid image that looked a bit like my daughter. So I drew one myself, then scanned it in and printed it onto card before colouring her in - so that I can print more if I want to and colour them differently. 

If you'd like to use this cute flower girl image for your own personal crafting you are welcome to. If I've done this right you can click on the image below to download her from 'keep and share' documents - it will open as a word document. Or you could just right click the image and save it to your computer, but the quality might not be as good:

So that's the kit all put together, I just need to start using it now! I'm sure I'll be back to share some cards or pages soon. x

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