News....news & more news

May/June sees the last challenge until after our Great Big Cubby Hole Expo.

There will be just one theme so it would be great to get lots of submisions.  There just might be some craft candy prizes if you're good.........Watch this space!.........So here goes the final challenge before our summer exhibition is.......there is only one idea to work on as I understand how busy you all are creating......

OOH LA LA!!!!

We've had two fantastic workshop days;-  one with Suzanne at the lead.  It was a day of creative box making and here are some of the end results.

WENDY

DEBBIE

CHRISTINE C

NIGEL

LITTLE SUE

All were fabulous and so very different - all very useful storage too!!!!

In store now are the new stamps from Indigo Blu and we are now stocking Wild Rose Studio stamps and papers....

My son Kieran celebrated his 30th birthday recently.  That made me feel very old.  We travelled down to Southampton and stayed over in a very nice Holiday Inn Express and then spent the Sunday on the Isle of Wight.  What a lovely day!

Our potery blast took place on 23rd April.  Despite a few letdowns and some technical hitches I think we had a really good evening.

Jim Bennett from Merseyside was our guest poet and he was brillant - a real good mix of work suitable for all tastes.  He was also friendly and approachable.  Thank you to everyone who participated and to those who came to support the event.  Thank you thank you to Mark Sheeky who just did loads for me.  Could not have done it without him.

CAROL:)

Tale of the Travelling Canvas

There is a canvas being passed around at the moment.  You just might be lucky enough to receive it.  All you need to do is add something to it - scribble a quick sentence then pass it on.  I wonder how it will turn out?


CAROL

Floral Fantasy

As we have been a little lax in our blogging recently we are having to play some catch up so here goes.....

Our main challenge in March was titled "Floral Fantasy".  Not many entries but none the less stunning!

Suzi B produced this amazing inspirational piece.  Using Indigo-Blu "Anemone Corner" she stamped and layered vellum.  Conincidentally it's also "predominantly purple".

Next have a look at Wendy's Work.  I think this is brillant.  She has snipped, folded and punched papers to create her piece.  The colours are amazing.

Another one from Suzi B - this time she has used  jumbo Stampendous stamp to create the easel crd.  The rich combination of colours is really different.

Jenny from the Tuesday group has created her card with one of her favourite stamps - "Ranunculus Field".  The graduation of colour is then overstamped and embossed in white.

Della also from the Tuesday group has used the same stamp in the same way but made it "predominantly purple".

Finally this one is from Pauline from the Thursday group.  She has never taken part before so - WELL DONE!  

I think you will agree they are all splendid.....I hope all your exhibition pieces are coming along.  Wishes, CAROL :)

Invitation - 4 June

Hello Again & DT - Anne Bennett's

After holidays, illness and busy lives in general Suzanne and I are getting back into the blogging and there are various posts scheduled but in the meantime here is Anne's DT samples and very pretty cards they are!...Anne has been poorly so we wish her well!

Kaisercraft samples

1In the Summertime card

6”x6” card blank, use a corner rounding punch on corners.

Cover front with patterned paper to tone with chosen colour palette.

Use the floral swag stamp to create foliage along the top and RHS of a single piece of card. You will need to over stamp slightly at both ends for best effect.

Use bicycle stamp in foreground, full image, and colour with chosen medium. I used watercolour paint and painted the little bird as a Robin.

Using a bracket shape template cut the finished piece of work down and stick onto card front. This could be raised by using 3D foam . Attach a small bow in bottom left corner to embellish and balance layout.

2Take Time to Smell the Flowers card

6”x6” scalloped card blank.

5.5” x5.5” square in pale blue card with a strip of pale green card at the bottom as contrast. Round all 4 corners.

Stamp the bicycle image on white card and colour, I used watercolour paint. This time I painted the bird as a Bluebird. Cut out image and attach to the blue/green card square. Tie a toning blue ribbon around the green strip and finish with a flat knot.

Stamp the “Take time to smell the flowers” stamp onto pale green card in a toning blue ink and cut out. Using 3D foam attach this to the top of the blue/green square and the square to the card also with 3D foam.

Embellish the centre of the roses with gems or glitter, I used Stickles glitter glue.

3Take the Road Less Travelled card

6”x6” scalloped card blank.

Black card square cut to fit just inside the scalloped front of card blank.

I stamped the bicycle as before but used black permanent pen with silver, gold and red gel pens to colour in the image. I had previously cut the image back to remove all but the roses on the handlebars and rear wheel from the bicycle.

I cut out 4 freehand drawn trees with bare branches. I added leaves cut  from a magazine page and punched flowers  in white card. A gold bird punch out was put into a tree on the LH side. I attached a die-cut fence and gate over the tree scene and using 3D foam stuck the bicycle image against the fence.

Using a quote from a Robert Frost poem I added “Take the Road Less Travelled” to the arch of the gate. My intention in keeping to an almost monochrome colour palette and reducing the floral aspect of the image was to show how the stamps are more versatile than first sight suggests.

There are lots of things happening at the Cubby Hole so please pop in and have a catch up!  CAROL :)

More Challenge Pieces..

As I promised just a little later than I thought:-

Janet's tick-tock - wow she's hand drawn all the characters.

Whilse Janet took her inspiration from Alice in Wonderland Carol B's focus was on Peter Pan.  She spent ages looking for a crocodile.

Debbie is a newcomer to the Cubby Hole.  We were all very impressed with her piece, an altered notebook especially her attention to detail.

My philosphy at the Cub is to encourage individuals to be creative, have a go - we all have a talent somewhere but maybe you just haven't found it yet.

Everyone is at different stages on their creative journeys and all with different interests.  So we do not dismiss anyone - we support them.

My blog may seem a little random at times, but that's what I like about it.  Everyone feels confident enough to take part in challenges and it's great seeing work displayed.

I am always snaffling pieces from people to include and generally everyone is more than happy to be included.

"Make & Take" Sessions

Before starting I would mention that all work by my Customers is on display in store so if you are able to pop in - please do so!

We have been doing loads of "MAKE & TAKE" sessions just recently usually involving learning a new technique or trying out new products.  These, like workshops are your practising times.  It's okay to get it wrong - I am around to help you out.  If you like the ideas you can then go and make it your own.

Jenny from the Tuesday group has done just that with the following two cards:-

Card One  I got this idea from Lynelle of Dreamweaver.

-  spread glossy white embossing paste through the Dreamweaver Solhouette Trees stencil and leave overnight to dry.  On the tub it says it dries within an hour but I don't think it does.
-  the next step is to stipple through with alchohol inks with the felt dabber.  I used a combination of Sunshine Yellow,Butterscotch and Terracotta.  Alcohol inks are solvent based so they dry very quickly and a lovely autumn look is achieved.

Jenny went on then to mount* her work on co-ordinating card and she used a Martha Stewart border punch to complete the look.

*Here at the Cub we always mount our work.  Let's use the English terminology rather than the American "matt and layer".

Card 2

First we stamped "Butterfly Post" from Stampendous onto black card with white "Yinks" from Woodware.  Under the stamp we then tipped on a combination of Aged Gold and Aged Green embossing powders along with Wintage Oliver embossing flakes, Fresh Green crushed glass glitter and Sage fragments along with Shaved Ice polymer film.

Using a heat tool we melted from underneath and this bonds all the products together to create texture.  As before Jenny mounted her piece to create her second card.  Don't they book look amazing?

Floral Fantasy pieces are arriving all the time.  I cannot wait to put them on display.

Predominantly Purple seems to be the more popular "create after eight" theme but we have had wedding invitations too.  Again, all ab-fab!!!!

April's challenge will be announced next week.  Items I ordered at the trade show are now starting to arrive.  Look out for PaperArtsy's Lynne Perrella range.  Definitely different but I love them!!!

CAROL :)