Happy New Year, Goodbye to 2020 & Happier Times.

Here we are the very last day of 2020, the last few hours of what has been a very different year for everyone around the world. Lots coming to an end, making way for the new and as always unknown, but then that does make it exciting. This week the new Oxford Vaccine was given the green light, giving us hope that things will return to normal at some point, whether that is this year or next. It’s going to be a strange New Years Eve, without the normal parties and get togethers. I don’t think there are many who will be sad to see the end of 2020. I’m sure we’ve all had some good times in 2020, I know it hasn’t all been bad. Today, I had a beautiful gift from a dear customer along with a handmade card that will be treasured.

Thank you ever so much Mary, it really was very thoughtful of you to send me such a wonderful Scarf, it usually gets very cold here so it will get a lot of use, I can tell you. Not quite yet though as the weather has been unseasonally warm for the last few days, it’s set to continue for the next week or so. I’m not complaining, but it’s strange to have temperatures of 20 & above. Anyway back to your lovely card along with the message, it really was moving, I am so happy I have been able to help you.

Early on in the year, one of my cats decided to have here litter of kittens while sitting in my lap, which was fun. Trying to get my dressing gown off while not causing to much movement was another tricky, but hilarious task. I managed it but goodness know what it looked like. She had 3 lovely kittens, one fairly huge, the other 2 were quite a lot smaller.

June came along, I never normally bother with my Birthday, but this year it was my 50^th and it would have been nice to have done something special for it. Sadly it wasn’t going to be possible. I did meet up with friends though in the Village square. Actually after being stuck in for a few months, there was nothing nicer than sitting in the summer sun with friends and a couple of pints. For the next few months it was something nice to look back on and remember what it was like to be free to do all the normal things that we’ve all taken so much for granted. My little Niece Charlotte sent me a beautiful handmade card and all her own design, another one that will always be treasured.

By this time, the kittens had got a lot bigger, once they open their eyes and start playing it’s a lot of fun watching what they get upto. This is a photo I had to get. The larger cat is ‘Tiger’ she doesn’t like any other cats, I really mean that and never lets anther one come within a few inches, without screaming the house down. To come into the room and see this was astonishing, I honestly don’t know how the kitten managed to get on top and sleep there for so long. Luckily for the little one, she managed to get off before Tiger woke up, I dread to think what would have happened otherwise.

An update about ‘Monkey’, I will have to have her come and do another video with me, if she will behave. She still loves to sit on my shoulder and my head, so luckily she hasn’t grown too big. Here she is in her favourite box, she also likes to snuggle up in the odd saucepan as well. She will actually get comfortable in any tight space. Lol

I’m sharing the voucher with you again for those of you didn’t see it in an earlier post. The voucher code will give you 50% off anything across the store. If your order is 30 pounds or more it will take off the 50% off. There will be a delay in posting, as you might know all post between Europe and the UK has been suspended, but it should be back to normal very soon. If there is something you want, please don’t wait too long as some things are low in stock. It’s probably good that I can’t post at the moment as everything I touch seems to be going wrong. If you can give me your support and buy something from the store it will really help me. I don’t want to give up, I have so much ore to share with you and I know with a little support from you all will make all the difference in the world. I would love 2021 to be the best year so far, so please, if you can support me and Craftascope it would be very much appreciated, it will never be forgotten. The link for the Craftascope Store can be found at the top of the Page. Thank you ever so much.

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year, I am hoping that 2021 with be a great year for you. Take care and Stay Safe. Bless you All xx

Have a Groovy Birthday

Hi everyone. At last things to seem to have cooled down a little. A lovely day, wonderful sunshine and much more comfortable as well. How about a great birthday card for today's post made with some of the Retro Collection. This would be great for a teenager, a bloke, well actually anyone really, a really fun card, looks totally different with other colours or embellishments. This one also uses the small set of rose petals to add the balloons.

You Will Need:

Craftascope Retro Vibes

Craftascope Small Rose Petal Dies

White Card Blank 5 1/2 x 7 3/4

Archival Forget Me Not

Archival Sunset

Versafine Black Ink

Black Fine Liner

Copic Alcohol Markers (Blue, Red & Yellow)

Glossy Accents

3D Glue Gel

Step 1: Use the single frames and solids to position and stamp onto your card blank. Start with the solid colour, then add the frames and words.

Step 2: Cut 3 of the rose petal dies, each in a different size, Colour with your alcohol markers.

Step 3: Stamp another of the large solids with the Archival, Then stamp 'Birthday'. Cut out and mount onto some Black Card.

Stamp 4:  Use 3D Glue Gel to position and add the last sentiment and the balloons. Use a black fine liner to add a wobbly line around the card, approximately 1/4'' in from the edge. The use the fine liner to add some strings to the balloons. To finish the card, add some glossy accents to the balloons to add a lovely gloss.

Thank you for joining me today. I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and the finished card. It's been great for you to join me. I hope you will stop by again very soon.xx

Happy Birthday to me

Hi Friends and Crafters. Well I want to say a huge Thank You to every one of you for my wonderful Birthday messages, I am really touched and a special thank you to those of you that have sent real cards to me either through Hochanda or to my UK Hub, it's been a real shock and very welcome to have some nice things to open. It really has been very special for me indeed.So a HUGE THANK YOU.... Here is a closer look at the copper tree I made with the Retro Leaves. A really nice piece that would look great on a wall. Tutorial coming soon.

Well, here goes. A lot of people will know that I used to run a Craft Club in my Village, I was kindly offered the Library, which was smashing. It's a lot busier there now and they kept cancelling at the last minute. Anyway to cut a long story short, I have to stop doing it. My aim was to buy a small house in the village and do the craft club there with no having to arrange it months ahead for the odd session.

Quite a few people have said to join one of those fund raiser sites to help raise the money, but I have to say, that I would not feel comfortable doing that. I also didn't want to do a fundraiser for my Birthday as that seems to be a popular choice to. My dream is to get the money together to get this building and get it sorted for the craft club and so I a asking, not for donations as I feel it is like begging, (thats just me). What I a asking is that if you could buy something from my Etsy Store, that way it helps me to save towards the goal and you also get something nice to craft with. I love this t shirt made with the Retro Chaos Stencil, a real winner for any bloke or lady of course.

It also means that you can leave a review to help others decide on any purchase, and you will also be entered into the Huge Giveaway, with a chance to win the full August collection, consisting of 3 Stamp Sheets, 2 Stencils and 2 beautiful dies. A wonderful prize just for leaving a review on the store. Take a look at the Natter with Nick for a few sneek peeks of whats to come. The new Dolphin Die and some wonderful Rose dies and stamps.

I really pray that this does not sound like begging, a lot of you know me well enough to know that is just not me at all. I would hate to think you thought that of me. I am just so passionate about this and really want to make it happen and leave it for the Village after I am gone. I think you in advance for any support you can offer, It would make a huge difference. Take care and Happy Crafting.xxx

Happy Birthday Nan.xx

Morning, My Nan would have been 95 years old today. To mark her special day, I wanted to share a double spread scrapbook page that I made last year. I really hope you like my project, her favourite flowers were roses and Lilies, so I just had to cover the pages with them.

For those of you that have been following my blog, you will know that I adore Graphic 45, but I never use it, for this I broke all my rules and used papers from The Gilded Lily 12 x 12 & 6 x 6 collections.

I chose the papers I wanted from the pad along with some border strips. I used the very border from two of the pieces as a frame for both pages. I also used 2 sheets of cream cardstock for the base of my pages.

Then I took the border strips and background papers and cut them to size.

I used a border for the top of the page, leaving a gap for the frame. I used the other border strip just over half way down the pages.

Once the papers were in place I added some Distress Ink around the pages, I used Victorian Velvet and Tattered Rose. Then I added the frame and finally some cream crochet lace from Creative Expressions.

For the decoupage element, I took a page from both the 12 and 6 inch pads. I worked out which roses and lilies I wanted and cut them out with scissors.

Having chosen the photos. I used some of the sentiment frames and cut out the centre sections so I could add  the photo's behind. I took one of the mini folders and used it as a journal pocket and added a matching tag for journaling. Here is one of the final layout after many re arrangements. 

I took some other embellishments from Bo Bunny and scrappberries, A cameo as Nan always used to wear some beautiful ones, some filigree metal butterflies and some letters to spell 'Nan'. The letters were printed with type, but white so I coloured them using Victorian Velvet Distress ink. I also coloured some seam binding with the same colour and scrunched it up before making a 'Sue Wilson' messy bow. Finally I assembled my decoupage elements using 3D glue gel. I wrote something in the journal pocket  and invitation with details of the wedding. I added a ribbon to the journal card and attached it with a matching brad.

To finish the pages I added some pearls, using some cosmic shimmer pearl PVA from Creative Expressions.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post today and for all of your comments. I do hope you have enjoyed what I have done here. Before I go I would also like to share this medal, I collect coins and I designed it as a commemorative piece and had them made. 

Thank you again for stopping by and I hope you will pop back very soon. Take care and Happy Crafting xxx

A Doctor Who Easel Card For A Friend

Day Four, I have done really well keeping my Blog up to date. Hopefully people are liking what I am sharing.

I wanted to share this one today as I am fairly proud of it. I have a friend who is a great fan of Dr Who. So for his birthday I decided to make a Dr Who easel card to include all of the Doctors. Its quite a large card made with A3 Centura Pearl for the base card.

I imported the doctors into Serif Craft Artist and used a variety of frames around them. Then after cutting them out, I suspended across the back of the card using a construction weight acetate cut into an arc shape joining on the right hand side to the flat Tardis picture.

I then made a three dimensional Tardis which acted as a stopper along with a group picture of the Doctors. I printed a background paper which looked like the start of the universe for the background and made mats and layers from Black Pearlesant card. I hope you like the end result, I think it was well worth taking the time over this and he was very pleased.

I am entering this card into the challenge at Suzy Bee's.