Thanks a bunch - Craftwork Cards

I have no idea where the last week has gone. All I remember  of it was the dull, miserable weather having to put the light on throughout the day and how cold it was - yes, I am moaning....

That's the great thing about crafting, its cheers you up when your down.
Just browsing paper and stash cheers you and once I had decided it didn't take long before I was  cheering myself by making some Thank you Cards - always handy to have ready when you need one.

I have used pretty floral papers from Craftwork cards, nice fresh colours and you can't beat flowers
My favourite colour - Turquoise and you have a recipe for the perfect card.
I've added a Tattered lace die cut into the mix to lift and seperate(as we used to say)
The ideal thank you card for anyone who has helped you out, given a gift or if you just want to send a card to someone for being a friend

I love the fresh colours and it makes me happy just looking at it.
You can see the dimension from this side angle photo.
You will find this and many more of my cards in my newly opened

ETSY SHOP
Have a great week, it can only be better than the last one.....
Happy Crafting
ju x

Seahorses......

I would love to have an aquarium, but I don't have the time to put into one, I just love seahorses, and when we go to the garden centre I can spend most of the time looking at them, while hubby is off looking at bags of compost.

So I have made my own aquarium in these cards, my under the sea versions, using my loved distress oxide inks, ink tense pencils, white graphmaster pen a little water spritzing and lots of imagination

layer upon layer of stamping and colours
and having lots of fun, which is what crafting is all about....

You can find these for cards for sale in my Etsy shop thanks for looking and come back this way again soon
Happy Crafting ju xxx

Keeping your Watercoloured or Spritzed Images Flat!!!

Keeping your image flat once you have watercoloured or spritz your card isn't easy.

The old fashioned method was to place it under a pile of books for the duration, just like we did when pressing flowers.(the good old days lol)

The Modern Method is to pass it through your die cutting machine, as long as your plates have no indentations in them I find it works well to an extent.

I have the ebosser and so I have 2 large thick plates at the bottom of my sandwich, in which I place my pieces of card
also at the end of the night I place all my card pieces in little piles between the sandwich and then place my ebosser machine which is very heavy on top.

I also place them under my workmat when I am at my workdesk,
altho this sometimes means I forget about them and find them again when its too late, as I did with some christmas toppers I was making. I have just found some layered between scrap paper, ah well they will help me towards next or should I say this years cards......

How do you flatten your images???

This week I have been playing around with shell stamps, heres a sneaky peek, and you will find them in  my ETSY SHOP now open and ready for sale.....

Happy Crafting
ju x

Dreamcatchers....

I've been doing a little research into dream catchers its nice to know a little back history when there's an image you like so much
 dream catchers

There are many interpretations of the Dream catcher, I find them romantic, a part of the past which has nestled into our modern culture.
 In some native american cultures, the dream catcher the inanimate form of the word for spider is a hand made willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. The dream catcher may also include sacred items such as certain feathers or beads. 

On this card I finished off by adding tiny dots to the background and lines on the feathers with the White Graphmaster Acrylic Marker it comes with a black, gold & silver in a set of 4 and are lovely fine lines.



The Dream catcher - Another form traditionally hung over cradles as protection, it originates in Ojibwe culture as
 the "spider web charm"  or  "dream snare",  a hoop with woven string or sinew meant to replicate a spider's web, used as a protective charm for infants.
Many different options as to beliefs with these fascinating hand crafted items
The circular shape of the dream catcher represents the circle of life, with no beginning and no end and how forces like the sun and moon travel each day and night across the sky.
This is significant to many native american cultures they believe that death is a part of life and that the spirit lives on. The dream catcher is woven to resemble a spider's web, and a single bead represents the spider.
 The web catches the bad dreams during the night and disposes of them when the day eventually comes.

I love the background on this card, thats the great thing about Distress Oxide Inks you have fun playing and never know what your going to end up with.

These cards will be for sale in my
  Etsy shop next week so If you know someone who loves these as much as I do send them my way, thank you.
Happy Crafting
julie x

There's a whole new season to look forward to.....

Its been such a long time since I have been here in this special little space, to my own little world of craftiness, it looks nice and inviting and its good to be back.
This is the start of a whole new season, and I want to start spending a little time on me (and you too) and enjoy a little peace and tranquility, if only for at least 30 minutes each week.
I'm wanting to get back into playing and getting messy and showing some ideas along the way

Today is the most awful day outside, January wet windy and miserable so lets get messy with these ink pads and have some fun x

Fun backgrounds with Distress Oxide Ink Pads

I have added them onto a Gelli plate, smooshed them around, spritz with a fine water mister smooshed with my finger and then placed my white card on top before pressing lightly to pick up the inks

 The 3 paper prints are from right to left, 1st to 3rd, as you can then add layers of other colours once it has dried.

 Here I have added more of the pink, before stamping with the
Marianne Designs Stamp set

I added colour by painting with the Oxide inks, and adding some shadow with a inktense pencil
I love the colours on this, only fault was I dropped the word stamp right at the end and it printed onto the sheet,(right at the centre top) lightly but you can still see it, I tried to cover it out by dotting some blue ink over the top but it still shows so this will end up in the bin, but I shall make some more of these to show you over the next few days, hopefully this time in perfect condition... lol cant stick a butterfly over this mistake.
So heres to my first post of the year, with many more to come hope you enjoyed it and call back to see some perfect examples over the next few days   
Happy Crafting  julie xxx

Craftroom Madness.....

Slowly moving into my new craftroom, very Slowly, waiting for hubby to finish off my shelves so I can move over more crafty stash, I want the shelves flush to the wall meaning he has to jigsaw out small notches where the uprights are..... He says you can use them as they are, just so he can get out of the job.....but the ladys not for turning I will stand my ground, and I SHALL win,lol

All my shop stock has now been moved into the old room but until I move My stash I cant fill the shelves with the shop stash.....all very exciting and great fun
New stamps from Stampendous and woodware just arrived, heres a sneak peak and will all be in the shop for the weekend

jolly santa £9.45 free p&p

Christmas Cottage £9.45 free p&p

jumbo snow £12.95 free p&p

Forest £5.99 free p&p

Tall Christmas £5.99 free p&p

Rudolph and friends £5.99 free p&p

Happy Crafting  ju x

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Cornish-Cottage-Crafts

www.facebook.com/pages/Cornish-cottage-crafts/641434185941699

please join us on facebook I really need to get some numbers crunching ju x

Time to Move........

Can I possibly say I was a little bit happy when my son decided to move out, at the age of 24 and start his own home with his partner Zoe,(not really, I should be unhappy my son is leaving home)tee hee hee
But you know what that means crafters......
No longer cast out in the little box room to craft but into a whole new world of space and freedom, Its happening NOW and I am a little bit excited. lol.

Heres how things are looking at the moment , not too good eh! lol

But look what is to come

I have just finished painting the whole new larger room white, a lovely blank canvas to start me off
Can't wait to start moving everything over and to get crafting again........  more pics as I get to grips with all my stash... Happy Crafting  Ju x

Please follow us(Cornish Cottage Crafts) on Facebook we need more likes.....Get info of our latest stock updates and the heads up on those crafty bargains before the rest.

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Vintage Christmas from Crafter's Companion

Newly arrived in my little crafty shoppe, is the new Vintage range from Crafter's companion.
Heres a few of the photos to tempt you with

At the moment I am moving into a new bigger craftroom so I am unable to make much at the moment but soon as I get myself organised I will be back with samples to show what you can do with these amazing embossing folders stamps and CD ROM.

 The 6 x 6 folders are £5.99,  The 8 x 8 folders are £7.85, The A4 folders are £12.85, the CD ROM is £14.50 and the Stamp sets are £4.95 each or £18.00 for the set of 4
All with free P&P so fill your crafty stockings and get Christmas Crafting straight away..........Have fun ju x

HOME AGAIN STICKER SHEET by BO BUNNY

stores.ebay.co.uk/Cornish-Cottage-Crafts

My son and his girl friend moved out 3 weeks ago and I am only now getting round to making them a New Home card, this is the one I choose to give them.

The other cards are available in the shop

As are the sticker sheet from Bo Bunny which they all have been made from

So just a little inspiration for what you can use your sticker sheet to make

This card is also available in the shop and is my top selling New Home card

Did you see on create and craft today, CARD-IO stamps demonstrated, well they will be available in the shop later this week, stamp sets, peg packs and loose pegs, I can't wait for them to arrive and try out some of my ideas... Come back soon, and please take a look around the shop I may be able to tempt you to a crafty little something......go on you know you deserve it.... ju x

Cottage Garden Cards

 A busy day at the Cottage, Enjoying making these cards with the Cottage Garden Paper Pad and Candi Pack found in the Craftwork Cards section of the shop.
The square card has been made using just 1 sheet from the pad layered onto some Mirri, I punched out some butterflys from the left over pieces of the page and also stamped the sentiment onto scraps from the same page. Added some gems a little glitter and the card Candi....Quick and simple yet so stunning.

 The 2 cards above, again each of them made from just 1 sheet of the Cottage Garden paper pad and Candi pack.

 This card has been made using 2 sheets from the pad, I have decoupaged the flowers with just 1 extra layer, These have been coloured using promarkers as on the sheet they are a mono tone colour.
A little added sparkle with a quickie glue pen and some glitter and a stunning birthday card is ready....
Please take a look around the shop and see if I can tempt you....... Happy Crafting..... ju x

TIME to craft

How is it when you start something new, events take over and you have no time to CRAFT lol,
My son and his partner have just got the keys to their first place together, that's good news and bad news.
The good news is I get a bigger crafty room - yipeee(are you moving out today)lol,  the bad news TIME, not a lot available for crafting at the moment.
But by the end of next week, Normality should resume......
I cant wait to get showing crafty stuff using crafty goodies available in the shop so please watch this space for inspiration hopefully very soon....
Some new goodies I can show you, if your into bling, are the Tattered Lace self adhesive Pearl and Diamante flourishes and Flowers, which make any project stand out from the crowd...

Normal Service Resumes....... Well almost

Its been a long time since I last blogged.....
But at last I have something to blog about, I have just opened, in the last month my own little crafty shop.   
Cornish-Cottage-Crafts
As you all know I am a mad cardmaker and love to make cards. I am hoping to show some of my skills in cardmaking once again using quality products, which we all know make all the difference to our projects
If your in for a crafty fix today, you've had your chips, but hopefully in the morning I will be on top of Blogger once again and into the swing of using Blogger once more,
Have a fun filled crafty day and evening.........  ju x

Artie Long in Pencil

Check out  Zoe's blog  for fabulous pencil drawings and see Artie Long in her feather coat !!!

The Rubber Stamp Gallery - Now on Facebook

Please check out The rubber stamp gallerys new facebook page and add them to your likes, they have fabulous rubber stamps, all individual so you can collage them into your own specific design cards, they will even make you your own custom stamp
So easy to find just put in The Rubber stamp Gallery in your search box and they will pop up straight away

Heres a card I made with one of there latest stamps of beach huts

And now we have the sun

Take care everyone x

A Happy 2013 from Cornwall

New Years resolutions have already gone out the window with a sausage sandwich for breakfast this morning but it was darn good and I really enjoyed it lol
2013 is a new start with the blogging and I hope to add some of my cards each week and stay in touch more this coming year
A warm wish for the coming year for all my crafty pals and new ones in the coming year.

Hope you like the first 2 cards, using a celtic seahorse stamp from scottish border stamps with backgrounds made from spray inks by adirondak.
Have a crafty day everyone
ju x