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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

A Year In The Life...

Back in the summer I saw something I really wanted to try out as Christmas presents. I suggested it to Mum who said 'that'll be easy, we can do that'. So we brought the things we needed and planned to do them. Trouble was, as Christmas approached we got some devastating news that threw everything about Christmas out. So I didn't think we were going to do them. But, Mum being Mum managed to surprise me on Christmas day with this....


A year in the life of me!! My own personalised little diary for a whole 365 days!! Oh and as is the norm with us, when one Sister has...


Yep, Crusty got one too!! 

Now...as I said, I'd planned to make these little diaries as gifts. Mum and I were going to add them to our Little-Lady's gift range for Christmas, before Christmas got sidelined. So when we were thinking up the ideas I'd asked Lady if she'd want one. To which she had said yes. Only I forgot all about it until I opened my diary on Christmas day. Then when I took my diary to work, Lady moaned soooo much about not having one...


So she a little later than planned, she got it!! 

Little x 





Monday, January 20, 2014

Da Na Na Na Na Na Na Na .....

BATMAN!! Well, Batman's 21! ...



Mum was asked to make two 21st birthday cards with a batman theme for a girl!! Batman isn't always the easiest of things to make girly, but I think you'll agree she managed it rather well!! You might not be able to tell from the photographs, but the first cards is sooo glittery...and with the second card she managed to add the flowers in, with thanks to the die she used. The die is technically supposed to be snowflakes, but we like to use it on the everyday cards too as it means we can add more sparkle! 

Little x 

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Little Does Stitch!

Having brought a Grand Calibur (die cutting machine) over a year ago, we're continuously finding new things we can do because of this useful machine. One of the things we discovered is that it not only cuts paper but also can cut fabrics. Once I'd discovered that my brain automatically went on to question whether it would cut a certain fabric...aida!! Aida's the fabric you use when cross stitching. Which left me with a dilemma. The only way I was going to find out whether it would work, was to try it out...so I had two choices...either I got Lady/Crusty to stitch something small, or I tried stitching something myself!!! I hadn't stitched in years. I think I was around 13 the last time I had (yes that was a long time ago!). Thankfully I managed to find a small little Margaret Sherry Teacup Kitty Cat cross stitch kit that had been a freebie with Cross Stitch Card Shop magazine. So I took on the challenge and started to stitch ...

I don't mind telling you that after about a week of stitching the thing my hand was unbelievably painful! It probably partially my fault. I was so eager to get the thing finished I pushed myself and stitched far longer than I should have. But I DID finish it, and I was sooo proud of myself! Then I just needed to see if my idea worked! I was sooo nervous as I cut the little kitty cat out. In fact as I took the Calibur's plates apart, I couldn't look just in case all my effort (and pain) had been all for nothing. 

It wasn't though! IT WORKED!! So then I had a very cute little kitty cat ...all I had left to do was put it onto a card. After throwing a few things together, I came up with this...


Ok, so the stitching wasn't the best, but my plan had worked! I could cut aida into beautiful shapes. I could make a cross stitch card in the same way as a papercraft one. The cross stitch became the topper instead of placing it in an apperture!! And I'd managed to used the Memory Box Snowflake Corner Die to finish it off. Not only was I pleased with my efforts, but Lady suddenly found herself with a dilemma too...did SHE need a grand calibur?? Well the answer to that was YES! So last summer she purchased her own machine and joined the fun! (I'll show you some of her makes soon). 

As I said, I was sooo proud of my little effort, that I had to make another for my Nan's best friend who loves cats too...


BUT THEN!

Wellll...Then I got the idea in my head that I wanted to make a cross stitched card for Mum's birthday. I knew what I'd have loved to do, but wasn't quite brave enough for that (not just yet). So one evening when I went to dinner at Lady's house we devised the plan. You see Mum usually gets all the stitching threads as the only place in town we can get them is where she works! I couldn't just go in and buy them or she'd have got suspicious....so we gave her a list and told her they were for Lady...nothing out of the ordinary...or so she thought! 

I started it back in the summer sitting in the sunshine in my back garden. I was confident it wouldn't take that long...Oh how wrong I was! In between working and still trying to get our business orders fulfilled I was stitching when I could, but it took forever!! In fact I didn't finish it until about a week before Mum's birthday! Woops!! 

Again I then had to work out what I was going to do with it. The last time the two little cats had been finished, Mum ironed the backing fabric onto them...this time I had to do it myself!! Gees was I nervous. BUT I DID IT..yay me!! Then I had to put it onto a card...what I'd planned to do didn't quite work and I was far too afraid to cut the thing in the Calibur in case I hit the stitching ...months of work would have been for nothing...Uh oh...I spent all day putting the card together, but once I had, I couldn't quite believe I'd made it...and all by myself!! I was practically dancing on the ceiling haha. All I had to do then was wait to give it to Mum...I didn't quite make it to her birthday..I had to give it to her the night before...I wanted her to see! I hadn't quite bargained on her crying...but she did, and she loved it!! For all the months I'd said "I can't I'm busy" whilst seemingly to her was doing nothing, and all the times I'd disappeared during the time I was stitching, Mum finally understood why!! Why was it?? Well look....


I had to be a little cheeky and use her Memory Box Flowering Vine die to finish the card, but I'm sure she'll forgive me! In fact I have this card in the bank for at least another month or two...That is until I stitch the next one...the big one I was originally scared of, but it's my 2014 challenge piece, so I'll let you know in November how it worked out haha! Look closely and you'll see I've stuck some of the little die cut butterflies onto the aida too! Oh and I only had to unstitch the occasional bit of Fizzy Moon that I'd messed up! 

Oh I was proud of him...still am. Even Lady was impressed. So much so that when I showed her she said "I can't wait to get my cross stitched birthday card...WAIT!! WHAT!!! I hadn't planned to do her one...Fizzy had taken months and I only had 5 days...uhoh!! But as I couldn't leave her disappointed I tried my best and made her this...


A very little SomeBunny Cross stitch...but I promise you here and now Lady...this year you WILL get a better one...a bigger one!! I know what I'm doing and I have months!!

Little x 




Friday, January 17, 2014

It IS Felt Friday! - Mum Hearts

I think I got away with yesterday's post...so far Mum hasn't noticed I cheated and shared a felt make on a Thursday! Better news than that...today is Friday, so I can share another felt make with you...woohoo!!

Today's make is my favourite so far...In fact I know Mum loves them too as she's requested one for herself...although I told her to make it herself as she's got no chance of me doing it haha (Sorry Mum). I just can't sew that neatly, not am I THAT clever!!

What am I jibber jabbering about?? Well, look....


See! Didn't I tell you they're cute! Now Mum chose lilac and white, but again they could be made in any colours. Although we think the coloured heart with white accents looks better. 



What do you think? Feel free to hop on over to our facebook page Facebook.com/L.L.Crafts and let us know...sometimes I feel like I'm just talking to myself!! 

Crafty makers bit... Dies used are Tonic Studios Indulgence Affections - On Mothers Day Insert Die Set.

Happy Friday 

Little x 



Thursday, January 16, 2014

ThursFriDay!

Seeing as how we're back in business and keeping this blog up to date with all of our crafty makes, I'm itching to show you all a few of Mum's latest felt makes. The only problem with that is we wet ourselves up to have "felt Friday" last time, and...well it's only Thursday!! So I've decided as I can't wait, that today is now ThursFriday! AND as there's Friday in that title, I can show you a felt make (yes, yes, I know it's cheating...just don't tell Mum!).

So when you're ready...

Twit...

Twooo...

Three!!


Now I'm not the biggest fan in the world of owls, but I do love these....She's getting ever so clever with her felting makes is Mum (Just wait til tomorrow and you'll see what I mean!) 


When Mum first started making the owls she used just the felt. Which obviously we thought were cute...


But then she tried using a mixture of felt and fabrics, which are so much cuter! Not only that, but you can make them more colourful and in so many different colours...



And again for all of our crafty maker friends, these cute owls were made using the sizzix bigz owl die - owl #2, and the xcut scalloped hearts dies. 

I shall be back with another felty make tomorrow! 

Little x 




Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Snowman hats!

Back with another post...two posts in two days! I'm just about remembering how this all works haha! 

Today I thought I'd show you something we decorated our Christmas table with....


Snowman hats! Scrap that...Snowman hats filled with chocolates! They were our little place settings on the Christmas table. I also gave them as little gifts to some special people for Christmas. Just a little something different don't you think?

Little x 

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

And so we're back!!

From outer space...

I just walked in to find...

Lol ok this is not where this post was supposed to be going! Nope it was instead just supposed a short update to let everyone know that we're back and will be updating both the blog and our facebook page more regularly. So to everyone who has stuck with us over, and to all the new people we're looking forward to meeting over the coming year...a big HELLO and THANK YOU for joining us!! We hope you'll enjoy reading about our crafty makes.

Talking of crafty makes...2013 wasn't the greatest of years for us all at Little-Lady's, but despite that we were still crafting. I won't bore you with all of the things we've made over the last however many months...that would take hundreds of posts...Oh wait a second lol!! Hmm. Perhaps I should set myself another of our "post a day" challenges? For how long? Well...lets see how long our crafty makes last shall we lol

So starting with today...

Back in November we spent the weekend in Birmingham at the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC. For anyone that doesn't know or hasn't been. They turn the NEC into one almighty craft shop with hundreds of stalls selling an array of things we always decide we don't need, yet inevitably walk away laden with bags of goodies! One of the items we decided we didn't need was a snowflake die. "will we really use it that much"..."Do we need it" were just a couple of the questions we'd asked ourselves. Yet as you're probably guessing, we did in fact buy it. Oh and what a bargain it was too. Not only did we use the die, but I think we 'over used' the die!! Well, it was difficult not to once we'd seen how pretty it could be! 


I chose to make the card in pink and white for Lady...


Then it got made in blue...


In teal...


In purple...


Slight variation to black and white...


Purple again (but with black!)


Yellow and black...


And finally pink and black!!


So I think we proved we DID need the die! lol For our not so crafty friends, the 'die' part was the snowflake background. It's cut four times in the differing colours, then glued to it's opposing colour. Add the circles on top of that with a very cute 'snowy' and another snowflake, and voila! You have this card (in lots of colours). And for our more crafty friends, the die we used was 'snowflake mesh border - B372 by Cheery Lynn Designs, snowy is a stamp from Penny Black and the 'Let it Snow' was from Tonic Studios as part of the Christmas Sentiment Die  set 1.

Oh and I almost forgot! I hope you like the new look we've given our blog!

Little x