1920s Fancy Dress

Hello everyone. I'm sorry that it's been so long since my last post but I don't have any cards to share at the moment. Unfortunately there won't be a Claritystamp show on Create and Craft tomorrow so it might be September before I have any more cards to blog. I thought I'd come on and say hello though and share some sewing I've been working on. I'm afraid it's a bit of a long post but you have got a month to read it!

Since rediscovering sewing I've learnt quite a few things. One of them is that although I'm only 5'3" I'm not petite - I just have short arms and legs on a pretty normal length body! I also have a bigger bust than most patterns are designed for. This is how I discovered Colette Patterns as they are designed for a C cup, which I am in sewing terms (this doesn't relate to your bra size but the difference between your upper bust and full bust). Luckily my measurements perfectly correspond with their (US) size 6 so I figured that should make my life a bit easier!

The first thing I made was their Sorbetto top which is a free download. I've now made three of them as I was pleased with how it turned out. So when I found out our Summer Ball would have a 1920s theme I thought their Laurel dress would be perfect to work with.

I made a toile to start off with and realised that I needed to make some alterations as it was a bit looser than I wanted it. I started off with the 6 and graded it down to a 2 below the bust. I also took ½" out of each side of the back seam.  A lot of this was probably due to the fabric not being ideal but I love the pattern and couldn't resist it! I was able to slip it on over my head so I omitted the zip.

This is me badly modelling it in the garden this morning as I didn't get any decent photos of it at the do.

The dress ended up a bit longer than I intended, as I when I chose the length I was going to attach the fringe with the bottom of it level with the bottom of the dress. In the end I decided it looked better lower down and I didn't want to do the hem again!

The fringe is 6" long and was originally looped at the bottom but I cut them off as I knew I'd get caught on something!

So I stuck it to my cutting mat, following one of the lines to keep it level, then tipped it up to get them to hang straight.......

...............before carefully laying it back down and trimming it with my 6" x 24" ruler and rotary cutter. No more annoying loops.

The bag was designed to fit my big and beautiful iPhone 6 Plus as so many of my evening bags are too small for it. The bow pattern is from (and the rest is inspired by) Making Vintage Bags - A gorgeous book by Emma Brennan. It originally had the same length trim on it as the dress but after some feedback from my FB friends I trimmed it down to 4½". Much better!

The overarm strap was really comfortable and very handy for eating and drinking. I'll definitely be making some more for other evening dresses.

Hubby looked fab in his pinstripe suit and I made him a matching tie and pocket square. The tie was a free pattern by Sweet Shop Sewing on Craftsy. It was a really easy pattern but it made a lovely tie. It was also a good conversation starter as people noticed that we matched and commented, Hubby then said that I made it all and I got lots of lovely compliments which was really nice after all that work.

I'll leave you with a few photos of the Mess as they did such a fab job of decorating it and getting everyone in the mood. It was probably the best function we've had here.

The beautiful lady silhouettes were everywhere and looked very Clarity to me.

They would make fab stamps or stencils!

Lots of lovely food and drink. Nom, nom!

Cheese and cocktails - What more could a girl want?

Maybe some crafty goodies. If you fancy a spot of Clarity shopping, this week (1st - 7th Aug) is Groovi Week on their website. If you spend £40 on Groovi products you get a free Christmas Tree Groovi Plate.

Groovi baby! Not entirely sure what I was doing there!

Lynne
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Old School Clarity - Thinking of You Card

Hello. I just realised that I haven't blogged my card from the recent US show. It's been a funny few weeks as Hubby has been away adventure training. Apparently 3 weeks of teaching diving in the Florida Keys is "Hard work" but I don't believe a word of that and I haven't been at all jealous stuck here! Still he's coming home tomorrow and we'll be able to celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary which was yesterday.

These trees and the Moonshadow were some of the first Clarity stamps I bought, over six years ago. They were also what Barbara was using the first time I met her on my first visit to the Harrogate Show in September 2009. We were totally enthralled by Barb's demo...........

............and were very lucky to be given it (photo above).

With all this nostalgia I couldn't resist going old school with them for my card. Things have changed a lot in those years but it's still what I love to do the most.

Back then it was all done with a brayer, hills torn from copy paper and masks cut out of Post-its. Now we have the Clarity stencil brush and Clarity masks to make things easier. I used them with Adirondack Eggplant and Denim ink to create the scene.

Stamps and Masks Used

Trees, Moon and Birds Set

Letterbox Stamps and Masks set

Landscape Masks Set

Woodland Animals Set

Lynne

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Merry Christmas From The Wee Folk

Good evening. I hope you've had a good day. I've spent the last few days sewing - I've finished my flapper dress for the Mess Summer Ball and had enough fabric left over to make a matching evening bag for me and a tie for Hubby (if he'll wear it - he's not convinced that matching clothes are a good look but I know it will look fab with his pinstripe suit). I'll blog some photos after the do. The tie may or may not be being worn!

Thank you for the comments on my last post; it was interesting to see which were your favourites.

Today's card is the other one that I made for this month's Claritystamp show.

I started off by stamping the Merry Christmas stamp in Jet Black Archival ink, then I added the Wee Folk to it. Merry Christmas is coloured in with a red Sakura Stardust pen so it has a lovely shimmer that doesn't really show up in the photo.

I added some Distress Ink with a Claritystamp stencil brush to tone down the white card so that it blended better with the backing card, which is from an old Kanban kit. I used the same card with a Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die to make the flower. The leaves are cut with a Joanna Sheen die - Ivy Flourish.

I'd better go and tidy up my craft room now. I thought it looked bad after I've been card making but it looks even worse after I've been sewing!!!!

Stamps Used

Merry Christmas Sentiments

Christmas Wee Folk 7

Christmas Wee Folk 8

Lynne

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My Wee Folk Christmas Cards - July's Claritystamp Samples

Hello everyone. What a lovely show today. It was great to see Leonie on with Barbara again and I was blown away by the Groovi samples. Such talent and patience! It was also great to see Barbara and Carole's DT debut. Patience again with all that cutting out on Barbara's fab tree and talent all round. I do feel very lucky to be a part of such a talented team.

I was so pleased that my Wee Folk cards were shown as a set and I thought it only right that I blog them that way too. Unfortunately that will mean that My Crafty Little Blog is a bit quiet for the rest of the month though.

They were inspired by one of my favourite cards that I've made this year - the "Walkies!" one with the Wee Folk woman and dog. I later made another version as a Valentine's Day card.

When the Christmas Wee Folk arrived I couldn't resist revisiting them and making a series of little Christmas scene cards. I had such fun creating them!

The base card are 6" x 6" and the scenes are on a 3"x 3" square cut with a Spellbinders die.

In this one they're decorating the living room tree.

The Floral Circle stamp from the Floral Figures Set made great wallpaper. The curtain pole is the bar from the Best of the Classroom Set and the chandelier is from the Wrought Iron Dolls House Set. The stamps on the rest of the cards are all from the Christmas Wee Folk and Word Chain sets (I'll link to them at the bottom of the post) and have been stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink.

The children have had a great morning here; they've built a snowman and now they're having a snowball fight.

The trees are stamped in second generation Library Green and Olive Archival Ink. It doesn't show up that well in the photo but they've also been glittered. The snow is created with Weathered Wood Distress Ink (applied with a make-up sponge) and the hill section of an A4 Claritystamp blending mat.

This skating scene is my Mum's favourite. The shape of the pond is again created with the bottom of my Clariytstamp blending mat. It's coloured in with Slate Adirondack ink on a brush. I added a few blade lines with a really thin black pen and her shadow with a black Spectrum Noir pencil.

This one caused a bit of a disagreement here - Mum and Dad really liked it but Hubby thought that Santa shouldn't be out in such a heavy blizzard! I possible did go a bit OTT with the Frantage but Hubby was overruled on this one.

The trees are stamped in the same Archival colours as the other scenes but I used first generation ink on this one.

The Frantage is Shabby Blue Opaque embossing enamel. It's predominantly white but also has specks of gold embossing powder and blue glitter in it. I sprinkled it on top of the scene and heated it from underneath to melt the powder.

I think that Maya might be helping out the reindeer here as they seem to have run off and left poor Santa behind!

The sleigh does have Santa in it but by carefully positioning the stamp I was able to leave him out. Santa waving at himself would have been confusing!

The roof is drawn in black pen and coloured in with a black ProMarker. I added a few white dots with a Sakura Souffle pen for the stars.

In this one the elf is bringing in some presents for under his tree. I love how he's balancing them - I think they will all go flying any second now!

I hope you like them and I'd love to know which is your favourite. I think the elf one is mine.

I'd better get on now as I have lots to do today, including making some more Clarity samples. I'll be back soon with the other card that I made for today's show. The Wee Folk make an appearance on that too - I do love them!

Stamps Used

Christmas Wee Folk 7

Christmas Wee Folk 8

Word Chain 13

Word Chain 14

Lynne

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My Gelli Print Father's Day Cards

Hello. I know when I write my posts that I'll always get at least one person reading them - My dad. So I'd like to start by wishing him "Happy Father's Day".

As I mentioned in my previous post, he loves bird watching. Where as my father-in-law loves horses, so I thought I'd make a bird card and a horsey card (not very original but I never know what to make for men's cards). Other than that I was stumped. Then I saw this post on Barbara Gray's blog and was inspired.

I haven't played with my Gelli plate for a while so it was great to get it out again. I've used different colours, stamps and stencils to Barbara but I followed the steps she took.

This is my dad's with the new Geese stamp...........

.............and this is my father-in-law's with the Wooden Horse stamp.

I hope they (and you) like them.

Thanks for joining my dad and visiting my Crafty Little Blog today.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Remountable Geese

Wooden Horse

Clockwork Stencil

Lynne

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Birthday Card

Yay! It's nearly the weekend!

Today's card is the last of my samples from this month's Claritystamp show. Quite appropriate really as next month's stamps arrived this morning. I think you know what I'll be doing this afternoon!

I used a couple of the Framer Shapes Stencils to create it - the semi circle one gives shape to the scene and the oval one created the sun.

Due to the bird theme I thought of my Dad and added "Happy Birthday Dad" to finish it off.  I think it would also make a lovely Sympathy or Thinking of You card though.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Remountable Geese Set

Framer Shapes Set 2

Framer Shapes Set 1

Grass from Summer Shades Set

Word Chain 2

Word Chain 3

Wordpress Letters

I hope you have a lovely weekend. I'll be back on Sunday with my Father's Day cards.

Lynne

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Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!

Good morning. What are you up to today? I'm stuck indoors waiting for a parcel to be delivered, so I thought I'd sit down and blog another card.

I went bold with this one!

I wanted to have the chicken sat on her nest, so I had to get rid of her legs. Don't worry, she didn't feel a thing - I did it by masking off the bottom of her before I inked up the stamp. Then when I stamped the nest afterwards it looked like she was sat on it.

I then masked off the chickens and stamped "Cock-a-doodle-doo" above them. I did have to remove the legs from the mask too but I did it carefully so that they can still be used.

I cut some copy paper to follow the line of the text and used it as a mask when I brushed in the hills. I then used the bottom part to mask those off when I did the sun.

The chickens are coloured in with Spectrum Noir pencils.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Cockerel and Hen

Sunshine

Hurry up delivery man. If you come early I can still go out!

Lynne

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