At last, I've started!

I was beginning to feel like the Quartet's tortoise with my progress on this project - not that I should mind because actually I love tortoises and have two very characterful ones myself who are often far from slow especially when they are doing things they shouldn't be, but that's another story!

I actually made time to spend a quick hour starting my project this afternoon. I have changed the scale of the project from the orginal very small envelope, I am in awe of what Jean manages in such a small space! I needed to make my envelope a bit bigger so I could use the gorgeous rose edging I found. In honour of the inspiration for the project I have used a Crafty Individuals stamp - rather a passionate one I feel - just right for my Valentine's theme!! I am loving this rich red colour scheme I have chosen and hope the whole thing comes together in the way I want it to,

I have a really busy week ahead, so I suspect there will be more progress reports from the other girls before I get to post again.

Elaine xx

Making a start

It's been a few days since I showed you my chosen materials for my project. I have made a start, and thought that I would show you some pictures of how I was getting on. I have made a flower using metal, painted with Viva precious metal paint. I used the Nestabilities Flower creations 3 set, and punched out three shapes, which I then curved a bit.

 I painted them, almost dry brushing on the inside of the petals, and laying the paint on thicker around the edges, to give a depth to the flower.

 I then used my embossing tool in the middle of each petal to make them curl up, and fixed them together with a pearly brad. 

I can't decide which paper to use for my envelope, it will probably be a last minute decision, as I love them both. Either that, or I will make two! I have also been making my own beaded trim, using beads from my jewellery making stash, and sewing them onto some velvet ribbon that was a freebie from a card making magazine. I love this colour combination, I normally go for purples, so this is a nice change for me. My project is slightly bigger than Jean's original, but purely because one or two of my elements have dictated that I had to increase my dimensions. I am really enjoying this project, and hope to bring you more peeks very soon! Judith x

My First Sneak Peeks

Here are three little tasters of some of the things I've been making to go on my offering for our February project.



I can tell everyone right away that my project will bear very little resemblance to Jean Hardy's pretty piece in February Craft Stamper.



How she manages to put so much into such a small area confounds me so I'll come clean and own up to having taken a lot of licence.

I can't wait to see what the others have been up to. I'm the only one who is retired so I hope they all find time to play soon so they can post some pictures to tantalise us with.

A little needlework

Now this is quite unlike me! When assembling my embellishments for the project I noted that Jean had used some coloured scrim on hers. I raided my fabric collection for something that might work and found a gorgeous piece of velvet. It is pink and brown and shot through with gold threads. I decided it would be too heavy to use as Jean had, but then had a vague recollection of seeing some velvet flowers on someone's blog. It's a while ago and I feel bad that I don't remember who had made them. If you think it might be you let me know as I'd love to credit you. Anyway, I got out the old needle and thread and made my own flower. It reminds me a little bit of Judith's lovely paper lollipop flowers, which are very modern looking. But by adding the pretty metal brad I'm hoping my flower will look nice with a vintage image I have my eye on.

It might turn out that the flower is a little big for this project but I'm quite pleased with it so if it is I'll save it for another occasion.

I think I know what I'm doing!!

Well this is my first post and I too have been busy trying to decide what approach to take for this project.

I was the lucky one of the quartet to choose the first project from February issue of Craft Stamper and I chose Jean Hardy's lovely envelope card. I am a big fan of Jean's work. I was lucky enough to meet Jean twice in 2009 at the Craft Barn and the Graphicus Retreat. She is so relaxed about the way she works, she really made me feel confident enough to have a go at the sort of projects she makes. I love the intricacy of what she does, her projects often include miniature detail which I love. They are always quite "busy", but so well forumulated. I also adore Crafty Individuals stamps too. So here is the stash I have put together for this project.

As the project is to be posted by the end of February, I have decided to go for a Valentines theme in reds and burgundies. I love rich fabrics and have found an amazing fabric rose trim which I hope will fit into the project OK, but may be a little too big. I have also chosen deep red satin mirri card, and red and burgundy velvet paper and some backing paper with red roses. I am hoping to include a romantic CI stamp, plus my favourite Elusive Images Damask Hearts stamps, hopefully on shrink plastic, although it will be the first time I have ever tried to use it. I also have some organza fabric, paper red roses, other red flowers, some poetry and various other bits and pieces I hope to use. It has already been enjoyable hunting out the materials.

I am working with a talented group of girls here. most with a lot more experience than me, but we are all agreed, this blog is not a competitive, but co-operative venture where we all learn from and inspire each other with our efforts.

Thanks for popping by! Elaine xx

I think I'll go with these!

I've been looking through my goodies to see what I would like to use for our first project. As you will know if you've read our previous posts, Elaine has chosen Jean Hardy's Enveloped Elegance (Craft Stamper Mag - February 2010, p34). This is definitely going to be a challenge for me as Jean's beautiful project is much 'busier' than the sort of thing I'm used to creating.

These are the items I'm going to try to incorporate but some may be discarded along the way - who knows? There are some Laura Ashley papers, some lovely sheet music kindly shared by Jo, Elusive Images and Aspects of Design stamps, lace, beads, buttons and other embellishments too.

Now to see where it takes me over the next few weeks.

Thanks for visiting. Lesley Xx

Gathering my stash

Well my thoughts are turning to the project that Elaine has chosen for us from the February edition of Craft Stamper magazine, Jean Hardy's Enveloped Elegance. I am planning to use some new stamps that I have just bought from Graphicus called Key to my Dreams. These are gorgeous stamps, and the keys are crying out to be stamped onto grungepaper and embellished with crystals, or some sort of gilding. I have pulled together some beads from my jewellery making stash in turquoises and greens, and then found some Bo Bunny and Papermania papers in the same colour range. I also have some Nestie flower shapes, as I may make a metal flower with a Papermania make it youself brad, (see photo), which I plan to paint with some lovely metallic paint.
However, nothing is cast in stone, you know how it goes, you start playing around with things, take a left turn, and end up somewhere completely different. So, we shall see! Bye for now, Judith x

First ever sneak peek

I decided, as I am statistically the weakest link in this quartet, I need to disguise my lack of finished projects by adding more sneak peeks that don't actually feature any work. Here's a little bit of loveliness destined for my first project. It is my starting point so will determine what else I use. I was thinking beach huts and seagulls but maybe that's too obvious. Either way, I'm determined to actually use this. Maybe I should stop planning right now and just throw some stash around until it makes a shape I like.

Here we go!

For the first month, Elaine has chosen Jean Hardy's Enveloped Elegance p.34 from the February issue of Craft Stamper magazine. The completion deadline is the end of February for the four projects.
We hope that you will follow us along the way as we work on our projects to see how they are progressing. If you would like to become a follower of our blog, or to leave a comment, your support would be very much appreciated.