Fe-Fe's World Of Craft, Creations and Kids.

Cute Card Thursday

2011-10-31T22:11:00.001Z

The Cute Card Thursday Challenge this week is a sketch and here is my interpretation of it.

The papers are by My Minds Eye.

The snowman stamp is by Fun Stamps and coloured with Twinkling H2Os.

The snowflakes are made with a paper punch.

ABC Christmas Challenge

2011-10-31T22:06:00.000Z

I made these cards for the ABC Christmas Challenge which this week is Vintage. Well I actually wanted to try out my new stamp from Crafty Individuals and the ABC Christmas challenge just happened to fit my cards but it amounts to the same thing. :0)

The papers for both cards are by Kars which I've distressed using scissors.

As previously stated the stamp is by Crafty Individuals (fab website and they sent not one, but two free gifts with my order - lovely surprise). The image is coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The snowflakes are made using paper punches.

Penny Black Challenge

2011-10-31T21:52:00.000Z

This week's Penny Black Challenge is a sketch. This is my interpretation of it.

The papers are all by My Minds Eye.

The image is a Penny Black coloured with Twinkling H2Os.

The snowflakes are paper punches with small gems in the centre.

The swirl is a Sizzix die which I've customised.

Less Is More Challenge

2011-10-31T21:30:00.000Z

This weeks "Less is More" Challenge is "Stars" Having looked through all my stamps this is about the only one I have that has stars on it. It is of course a gorgeous Penny Black Stamp which I've coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The sentiment is from the Fizzy Moon collection by Trimcraft.

Baby Card

2011-09-07T20:54:00.000+01:00

My friend asked me to make this card following the birth of her new baby sister Jessica.

The wording and is done using dies by Quickutz. The flower is another die but by Marrianne Designs. The little giraffe is cut out from some papers by Dovecraft?

1st Birthday Card

2011-08-18T18:57:00.000+01:00

This is a card I made for one of the babies at the nursery I work at.

The papers are by Dovecraft (I think) and the wording is done using Go Kreate Dies in my Cuttlebug.

Card and Present

2011-08-01T07:47:00.000+01:00

I made this card and altered box for my daughter's friend Darcy who has just turned 8. They are designed using the info I got from her which was she like pink and purple and her favourite animal is rabbits.

For the card I used a Penny Black Stamp which I coloured with Twinkling H2Os

The sentiment and flowers are all done with Go Kreate Dies and the leaves are a paper punch.

The box is made using the same things as the card but I also added some lace ribbon around the edge of the box just to finish it off.

Laura's card

2011-07-31T12:40:00.000+01:00

I made this card for one of the girls at work. I try to keep the front as flat as possible because the other girls at work all need to sign it and it's hard to write on the inside of the front cover if there are lots of bulky embellishments on the front. It's not an easy task, let me tell you!

The stamp is a Penny Black which I half paper pieced and half coloured with Twinkling H2O's.The sentiment and swirls are a combination of Sizzix and Go Kreate Dies.

Xmas Card

2011-06-15T19:01:00.003+01:00

This week's Less Is More Challenge is "In the Frame" and it has to be one layer.

The Merry Christmas frame stamp is by Hobby Art.

The mouse enjoying the snow is a Penny Black Stamp.

I added a little stickles to the snow and ice to make it sparkle.

Father's Day

2011-06-11T14:18:00.004+01:00

Talk about keeping it simple!

The stamp is by Hero Arts. I coloured the hearts using Twinking H20s
I love the simplicity of it though. It's just a shame it doesn't qualify for this weeks Less is More Challenge.

Dad's Birthday

2011-06-10T13:29:00.004+01:00

It's my dad's birthday soon but he's on holiday for it so in true Fe-Fe style I left it until the last minute to make his card. I thought I'd use the Less is More Challenge to make his card which this week is Monochrome.

The car, sentiment stamp and the layering are all in brown even though on the photo the layering looks black! The car stamp is by Funstamps and the sentiment stamp is by Do Crafts

30th Birthday

2011-05-26T07:00:00.000+01:00

I made this card for my boss at work. It was her 30th a couple of weeks ago. The other girls wanted it to be in a pink and purple theme and cheeky so this is what I came up with.

This is a close up of the stamp so that you read the sign.

The lettering and numbers are all done on the Cricut. The sentiment is done using the ZooBalloo cartridge and the 30 is using the Jasmine cartridge.

The lady stamps is by Stamps Happen Inc and coloured with Twinkling H2Os.

Laurence's Card

2011-05-24T07:00:00.001+01:00

I made this card for my friend Laurence. It was also supposed to be for the Less is More Challenge which was to use a bit of red on your card but the challenge was weeks ago and I've only just put the card on so it's a bit late to enter it now! The embossing across the bottom is an embossing folder by Cuttlebug used in my Bug.
The lady is a stamp by Art Impression and is paper pieced with red card.
I added red self adhesive gems to the centre of the embossed flowers to tie in with the red dress.

Chloe's Card

2011-05-22T09:43:00.002+01:00

I made this card for my niece's 7th Birthday and also for a card challenge which was to use pink and yellow. I thought that particular colour combination might be quite hard to pull off but once I found some pink and yellow paper in my stash it seemed to come together quite nicely. The papers, sentiment and lettering came free with a craft magazine.
The girl image is by Kanban and coloured with Twinkling H2Os.
The little snail is from a small set by Nellie Snellen and is also coloured with Twinkling H2Os.

8th Birthday

2011-05-08T21:09:00.005+01:00

It's my daughter's friend's 8th birthday in a couple of weeks so I thought I'd use the sketch on the C.R.A.F.T. Challenge Blog to make her card. The cow stamp is by Nellie Snellen which I've paper pieced.
The papers are by K&Co
The flowers are a mixture of paper punches and Marrianne Designs Die cuts which I used in my cuttlebug. The ribbon threading border is also from the same range.
I finished off with a few gems and a butterfly charm.
Oh and the sentiment was done on the computer... I think that's covered everything but if you have any questions please ask.

I do love the little Nellie Snellen calf, she's so cute don't you think?

Tatton Park

2011-04-26T18:00:00.004+01:00

My mum and I took the kids for a day out at Tatton park today. My brother and his daughter met up with us there for a picnic too. Shame about the change in the weather but we had a lovely day regardless.

They had a Alice in Wonderland themed thing going on over Easter but unfortunately we'd missed that but the chair from it was still in the gardens so we took the photo opportunity.

Then Ellie and Josh found these boards to pose behind.

My little Alice. :0)

And smiley rabbit.

Ellie and her cousin had great fun on the carousel together while Josh played on his DSi in the car - aren't teenagers great!

We tried to go to the Old Hall before we left but it was shut so we're going to go back another time and see if we can do that. Evidently it's been on "Most Haunted". What out for those ghosts!

Mother's Day Outing

2011-04-03T16:43:00.005+01:00

I thought I'd take the kids for a trip out since its Mother's Day. We went to Quarry Bank Mill and as it's part of the National Trust, and we are now members, we got in free. Hooray.

This is the kids twisting fibres

and feeding coal into the steam engine to power the loom.

Ellie asked me to take this photo.

Then after all that fun we had a stop of at the cafe for ice cream and cake before coming home.

And these are the lovely presents my kids got me for Mother's Day. A beautiful Orchid and some yummy chocolates.

I'm such a lucky Mummy. :0) Thank you for such a lovely day kids. x

Happy Mother's Day

2011-04-03T08:28:00.006+01:00

I thought I'd start by showing you the cards my children made for me. This is Josh's card which he made on the computer at school.This is the insideand this is the back. Charming eh?! lolAnd my daughter raided my stash (with permission of course) to make me this cute card using one of my favourite Penny Black stamps.

This year I thought I'd make a photo frame for my mum. It didn't quite turn out how I wanted to. I think its because now I'm working I just haven't been able to spend the time on it that I would have liked to have done. Maybe it will look better when it has a nice photo in it?! Failing that I might ask for it back and re-vamp it for next year. ;0)

This is how the photo frame started out. and this is how it looked when I'd finished with it... or ran out of time to do anything else with it.

The papers, labels and sentiment are all from a set by K&Co. The flowers are made with die cut by Marriane Designs and two other paper punches.

For the card I used the same K&Co papers and the Marrianne Designs die cut to make the flowers. The rabbit stamp is by Penny Black and coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The Happy Mother's Day stamp is by Inka Stamp Designs.

For the inside I used a clear stamp by Inkadoo it says "You make me smile all over my face" which my mum does. She's the best mum in the world ever! :0)

That just leaves me to say Happy Mother's Day to all you Mums out there in Blog land. Hope you enjoy your special day.

Thank You

2011-03-21T06:13:00.004Z

A friend of mine really got me out of a tight spot a few weeks ago and offered to look after my son for me on a day I had to work. He had to go into school for 10 minute meeting with his teacher but other than that was at home all day.

He set off to go to school for the meeting but he ended up having a wobble and came back in a bit of a state. Luckily my friend also has an autistic son who is much older Josh so she's been there and done it all before and she managed to calm Josh down and phoned her husband up, who had been working nights, and he came down and took Josh to his meeting and brought him back afterwards. How lovely was that?!

So I made them this card to say thank you and bought them a box of chocolates to share. The papers and the Die Cut Hedgehog are all by Papermania. The ribbon threader border is by Marrianne Designs which I don't know if you can tell on the photo but I added tiny lilac gems to the centre of each embossed flower on it.

For the inside I added a stamp by Inkadoo which says "You make me smile all over my face. Ian Hobson age 5"

Cards for Twins

2011-03-20T08:57:00.004Z

I made these two cards for twins who turned 13 a few weeks back. For the card for Grace I used papers by Hot Off the Press. The stamp is by Sugar Nellie which I coloured with Twinkling H2Os. It's the first time I've used this stamp but I think it's perfect for this age range.

I tried to make Jake's card in the same sort of design to Grace's. These papers are by K&Co and didn't have the little tags so it didn't quite work out the same. The image is a Woodware stamp again coloured with Twinkling H2Os.

Less is More Challenge

2011-03-13T18:29:00.005Z

This week's Less is More Challenge is "Off The Edge"

I don't have many stamps that would look ok "Off the Edge". In fact I looked through all my stamps and didn't think I had any that would work so I'd decided not to do this challenge. Anyway I was messing around on the old interweb, as you do, and I came across some Christmas stamps and then I suddenly remembered my new Christmas Tree stamp that is part of a set my mum bought me for Christmas.

So I stamped it off the edge in Black Stazon and added a Penny Black Sentiment which says "have yourself a merry little Christmas" then added some small green gems to the tree to add a bit of bling - hope that still qualifies as one layer otherwise I'll have to pick them off again!!!

Stamps: Penny Black, Papermania

I've just been to upload it to the challenge blog and realised it's not that different to the example card. Doh! I did try putting the sentiment in various different places but it didn't look right. Oh well it's the taking part that counts! :0)

Girlie Card

2011-03-12T12:36:00.005Z

I made this card for one of my daughter's friends at school who was 8 last week. The papers are my Hot off the Press, the stamped images are by Kanban coloured with a mixture of paper piecing and Twinkling H2Os. The flowers were made using a die by Marrianne Designs.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

2011-02-22T08:12:00.000Z

Yes sorry, it's another Christmas card. I made it using a sketch for a challenge over on Trimmies although I flipped the sketch on it's head - just for the fun of it. The image is a stamp by Stampavie coloured with Twinkling H2Os, the papers are by Kars and the Sentiment is a Penny Black.

Happy Birthday Mum

2011-02-21T08:59:00.003Z

It was my mum's birthday on Friday. I thought I'd make her a card that was a bit different from the norm this year. My mum loves hot chocolate and chocolate in general so I thought I'd make this mug shaped card in to a frothy hot chocolate card. The papers are by Hot Off the Press. The flowers I made using a die cut by Marrianne Designs

in my Cuttlebug.

The stamp on the tag says "All you need in life is a friend who has chocolate" which is from a set by Inkadoo.

Inside the card I put "or a daughter who has Gooey Chocolate Brownie Cake!" We'd made my mum a birthday cake using a Gooey Chocolate Brownie recipe. Then we spread chocolate icing over the top and decorated it with mini eggs and chocolate buttons. Very squidgy but delicious! Mmmmmm.

Thank You Card

2011-02-15T14:40:00.006Z

Since I split up with my husband back in October my family have been absolutely brilliant in particular my Auntie and Uncle have really been there for me and so I made this card for them to say thank you and let them know I appreciate everything they've done and continue to do. They are fab!

As the "Less is More" Challenge this week is One layer card with a flower or tree I thought I'd enter this as it ties in quite nicely, don't you think? The card blanks I've had for ages and the pattern is already on there. I used a Cuttlebug embossing border to make the flowers and added adhesive pearls to the centre of each flower. The sentiment stamp is by Stamping Up which I just stamped in black ink on the other side to the flower.

Clean and Simple

2011-02-13T19:46:00.001Z

I have a blogging friend who makes the most stunning cards but has a very clean and simple style. The trend at the moment is to have many layers and embellishments and I do love that style too but I've set myself the challenge to make some more cards in the clean and simple style as I do love that style too. So here is my clean and simple Christmas card.

The embossed background I made using an embossing folder in my Cuttlebug. The Robin is a stamp from a set by Papermania which I coloured using Twinkling H2Os. The Merry Christmas is from a die cut tag from a set of papers also by Papermania.

1st Birthday Card

2011-02-11T17:51:00.004Z

I made this card for one of the babies I look after at work. It was his first birthday last week. The papers are by Dovecraft (I think). The sentiment is all done with Die Cuts by Go Kreate which I used in my Cuttlebug.

ABC Christmas Challenge

2011-01-09T13:44:00.003Z

I made these two cards before I went to look at the ABC Christmas Challenge Blog but then I saw their challenge was "Anything Christmas Goes" so I thought as they qualify I might as well put them up for it!

I have set myself the added challenge of using up some of those scraps of papers that I've been clinging onto for years. Yes we all have them don't we?! The papers for this one are so old I can't remember who they are by I think it might be Basic Grey but please correct me if I'm wrong.

The topper is by Kanban and I bought them as a cheat because I was so ill on the run up to Christmas and I still had loads of cards to make after Ellie pinched all mine for her school friends.

For the second card the papers are by Blonde Moments and the topper is another Kanban but one my Mum got for me.
I just added some faux stitching around the edges of the squares of paper so that they matched the sentiment. I used up some more scraps on this one too!

Christmas Card. Already?!

2011-01-01T18:31:00.003Z

I would like to say this is the first Christmas card I've made this year but it's not, it's about my 9th. My excuse for starting so early is that my mum bought me a set of adorable Christmas stamps for Christmas and it seems a shame to have to wait until later in the year to start using them.

I actually made this card for a sketch challenge over on Trimmies. I've not taken part in any challenges for a while so I thought it would be a nice start to the New Year to do one.
The sheep stamp is part of a set by Papermania and is coloured with Twinkling H2Os, the sentiment is by Stamping Up. The papers are by Kars. The oval and scalloped oval are Nestabilities dies.

Cat in a Bra

2010-12-31T08:57:00.003Z

This is one of my favourite Penny Black Stamps. It started life as my Mums' but somehow found its way to my house and decided to stay!
The papers are by K&Co. The cat in the bra stamp is coloured partly with Twinkling H2Os and partly by paper piecing. The "Hello Friend" is a Cuttlebug Die.

Birthday Boy

2010-12-30T11:51:00.003Z

I recently started working at a day nursery and I offered to make the birthday cards for the children in the room I work in.

This is the one I made for Joe who turned two. The dinosaur in a Whipper Snapper stamp coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The papers are by K&Co. The sentiment is a combination of Go Kreate Dies used in my Cuttlebug.

For a Sophisticated Lady

2010-12-29T08:46:00.002Z

My friend asked me if I could make a Birthday card for her Mum who is very glamorous and sophisticated.

I used my Rubber Romance stamp and a mixture of purple and black so give a sophisticated look to the card. The flourish is a Rhonna Farrah stamp which I embossed with black embossing powder and then added the bow in black satin ribbon. The sentiment was done on the computer and was the words my friend asked me to put on it.

She was very pleased with the card.

Altered CD

2010-12-28T11:37:00.003Z

I made this altered CD hanger for my friend's little girl for her Birthday.
The image is a Sugar Nellie coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The papers and butterflies are from a set by D.V.W.C. The flowers are a daisy punch and the leaves are a variety of die cuts that I made with my Cuttlebug and then added Stickles the the edges.
I've been told it now has pride of place on her wall in her bedroom.

Baby Boy

2010-12-27T11:23:00.002Z

My friend asked me if I could make a card and a gift for her dad and his partner for when they had their new baby.

We decided on a photo frame for the present. Excuse the rubbish photo, I need to find a space to put my photo studio back up so I can take better photos but you can get the general idea.

For the card, we waited until the baby was born so that I could put on the baby's name, date of birth, time of birth and birth weight to make it more personal.

and this is them both together.

Bad Blogger!

2010-11-13T13:24:00.004Z

A big hello to anyone who is still checking in on my blog. Sorry I've not up-dated in what seems like years! So much has been happening.

Where to begin. Well, my husband and I split up in February and I finally managed to move out the 1st October. So lots of changes there and a lot of packing and un-packing although luckily we didn't have to shift it all too far as we've only moved to the house next door. It's great for the kids though as they haven't had to change schools or anything and our morning routines have managed to stay the same so it's all good in that respect.

The other big change is that I've now gone back to work so not so much time for crafting and up-loading. I've started working at the Day Nursery that is on the grounds of my daughter's school which is lovely because I get to wave to her at play times and lunch times when they are all out in the playground.

Ok so enough about my life and onto the more important crafting. :0)

I know I'm very late but these are the invitations I made for the Halloween Party that we had.

The stamp is a Penny Black coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The embossing is done using a Cuttlebug embossing folder in my Cuttlebug, the wording is Peel Off stickers.

Saturday Challenge

2010-08-27T11:12:00.010+01:00

I made this card for the Saturday Challenge at the beginning of this week but I've been having a mum and son week while my daughter is over at my mum's for a few days so I've only just got round to putting it on my blog.

The Saturday Challenge this week is blue and cream. I used my Penny Black Stamp for this card and papers from Papermania.

Josh and I went to a secret nuclear bunker on Wednesday. Unfortunately it wasn't the best day out ever but we had fun looking for the spy mice and rats.

There were a couple of hands on exhibits but not really enough to keep Josh interested. We had a nice picnic outside afterwards though before we drove home and it was certainly something different. I don't think we'll be going again though.

Sunday Sketch and Stamp

2010-08-15T20:07:00.003+01:00

It's my friend Denise's birthday a week tomorrow. Last year I made her a cheeky card so this year I thought I'd make her a cute one and use my Penny Black Hedgehogs. I also decided to use the sketch from the Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge.

This is their sketch. And this is my card for it.
The papers are My Mind's Eye. The hedgehog stamp is a Penny Black coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The Happy Birthday is also a stamp which I printed in Perfect Plumera Chalk ink then outlined it with a red Marvey le Plume pen.

ABC Christmas Challenge

2010-07-28T15:35:00.005+01:00

The ABC Christmas challenge is Presents. I have so many stamps I could use for this one but my favourite is this lovely snowman one by Stampavie which I've coloured with Twinkling H2Os and added dome stickles to give the snow some sparkle.

The second card isn't for the challenge but I made it last week so I thought I'd just tag it on with this one. Hope no one minds and if you do tough. :-)

This one is a bear image that my mum gave me that came on an A4 sheet. It's so cute! The papers are by Cricut.

Cream Challenge Card

2010-07-26T20:52:00.003+01:00

I must admit I don't work with cream very often so when I saw a colour challenge on the Trimmies forum and everyone moaning about how difficult working with cream was, well I just had to have a go and see what I could come up with.

The image is a Sugar Nellie which I coloured with Twinkling H2Os and Distress Inks and a bit of paper piecing. The papers are a mixture of K&Co and something else which I've had so long I have no idea where is came from. The flowers are Primas and the fern leaves are a punch.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

2010-07-24T17:24:00.003+01:00

This week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge is "It's Christmas in July". Very handy since I've been making lots Christmas cards at the moment.

For this card I used papers by Cricut and Lily Of the Valley. The hedgehog is a Penny Black coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The snowflakes are brads. Christmas in July - Done! :-)

Duck Day

2010-07-22T16:21:00.006+01:00

Thought I'd start with another two Christmas cards.

This one is made from free papers and images from a magazine. I have decoupaged the Christmas tree and some of the circles although it doesn't show up well on the photo.

This one is quite a simple one. The stamp is by Stampavie and coloured with Twinkling H2Os. I've then mounted it on to some paper by Blonde Moments and then embossed a border across the bottom.

And now onto the Duck Day!

My friend Charlotte has been trying to take us for a picnic at this lake she found near Siddington where there are loads of ducks you can feed. Anyway we've kept getting rained off but we decided today that even though it looked grim we'd take a chance and go anyway. We had a great time. We got there at lunch time so we went straight to the picnic area and had lunch then the kids explored and climbed trees for a bit and had a game of tig.

This is my friend Charlotte with her son and my two of course.

Then when they'd had enough of that we walked back down to the ducks to feed them. They were so tame they were taking the bread right out of your hand.

Ellie kept saying how she's never been this close to ducks before. She loved it and even Josh was enjoying himself.

I wasn't quite quick enough on this one but the duck did take the bread out of Ellie's hand which she thought was great fun.

I have to say I have never seen so many ducks, geese and swans all in one place before.

I counted 27 swans so goodness knows how many ducks there were, I would guess at least 300.

We finished off with ice creams and managed to get away just as it started to rain. A really lovely afternoon out.

More Christmas Cards

2010-07-21T13:14:00.004+01:00

For this Christmas card I used one of my Cuttlebug embossing folders. Then I've used scraps of Blonde Moments papers and an image from Deanne that I got in a Christmas image swap over on Quirky Crafts.

For the second card I've used papers by Do Crafts from the Forever Friends pack. The image is a Whipper Snapper stamp which has been coloured with Twinkling H2Os.

The snowflakes are done with a paper punch and I've added gems to the centre for extra sparkle.

Another Christmas Card

2010-07-20T10:05:00.004+01:00

This is an image I got in a Christmas image swap over on Quirky Crafts. I think this one came from Cazzy. The papers I think are My Minds Eye but I might be wrong. I am wrong they are Basic Grey. I have had them a while. This was quite a quick card to make as I'd already coloured the image.

Christmas Cards

2010-07-19T18:57:00.003+01:00

I thought I'd have a blitz on making Christmas cards today as I'm already so behind. I started by making one for the Bah! Humbug! Challenge which is "Christmas Stocking"

I used my Penny Black stamp of the little mouse with the stocking. I think it's the first time I've used this one. The background stamp is a Magnolia one. The patterned papers are all freebies and odd scraps that I've had left over from other projects. I actually managed to make 8 cards altogether which I thought was pretty good going. I won't put them all on in one go though I'll spread them out a bit for you.

New Home

2010-07-13T16:36:00.003+01:00

My friend Denise has been moving house today so I thought I'd make her a card to wish her good luck in her new home.
I used papers and lettering by K&Co and a mixture of Nestability Dies and punches to make the house.

For the inside I added a couple of peel off stickers on the left hand side and on the right I used some more K&Co paper and a Go Kreate Die.

Just wish we could find somewhere to move to now.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

2010-07-10T20:10:00.017+01:00

This week the Penny Black Saturday Challenge is a sketch challenge.

I thought I'd use the sketch to make a thank you card for my daughter's teacher.

I used papers by K&Co. The bottom piece I have scalloped the edge like in the sketch but you can't see it very well in the photo as the tag and the image cover most of it but the tag is free swinging so you can see it in real life when it moves.

The image is a Penny Black coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The oval and circle were cut using Nestabilites Dies in my Cuttlebug.

I swapped the text and the flowers places round from the sketch to make it work for my card but I'm pleased with the result. Hope Ellie's teacher likes it too.

I've now finished the tin to go with it. It started life looking like this.

And now it looks like this.

And this is the card and the tin together.

I bought some fudge and toffees from Thorntons to go in the tin - hope they last until Friday without me eating them!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

2010-06-28T17:00:00.003+01:00

This weeks Penny Black Challenge is "Paper Patch" which is where you use paper squares to make a patchwork quilt effect. I must say I do love the way it looks and it's a great way to use up those little paper scraps you get left with from other projects.

For this card I used papers by Blonde Moments. The image is of course a Penny Black coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The Happy Birthday is a Go Kreate Die. It's been a beautiful day again here today. I even got the paddling pool out when we got back from school - the one I bought 3 years ago and this is the first time it's been out of the box. Good old British Summer eh?! Hope this beautiful weather is going stick around for the 6 weeks holidays and we can actually get some use out of it rather than it go back in the box. Fingers crossed eh?!

Craft Challenge

2010-06-25T16:55:00.005+01:00

I think this is the first time I've ever done the Craft Challenge. This week its a colour challenge and the colours you have to use are black, lime green and lilac.

Black and lilac I have in abundance but lime green?! Hmmm. Well this is the nearest I could get without having to go out and buy some which I can't do as I'm on a stash starvation diet. So I hope it still qualifies, if not well at least I had a go eh?

The metallic card is by DCWV which I've embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The Happy Birthday is a Go Kreate die cut. The little bird is by Imaginisce. The ribbon is recycled from something but I can't remember what exactly.

Happy Birthday Josh and Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T09:55:00.003+01:00

Today is my son's 12th Birthday. Doesn't time fly? I can't believe he'll be a teenager next year... Ooooh scary thought.

This is the card I made for him. I used some green metallic card that Josh bought me for my birthday last year, plus papers from a set by Hot Off the Press. The image is from a set of Forever Friends papers. The Happy Birthday and Josh are made using Go Kreate dies in my Cuttlebug. I added a couple of small buttons just to finish off.

Josh opened his DSi before his birthday - long story but he got lots of great games for it for his birthday. I'm sure we won't be able to drag him away from it today.

Of course it's also Father's Day today. This card I made for my dad who's away on his holidays right now. Hope he's having a good time.

and this one I made for my friend Charlotte to give her Dad.

and the inside.
Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

2010-06-13T14:27:00.004+01:00

I haven't done any crafting for a while and need to make some more birthday cards for up coming birthdays. So I thought I'd have a go at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge as I do love my Penny Black Stamps. This week it's a sketch challenge. I thought I'd use one of my Hedgehog stamps. I do love the expression on the face of this one, so cute. I coloured the image with Twinkling H2Os. The papers, flowers and frame are all from a set by Colorbok. I've got a busy week next week, I'm starting my Paediatric First Aid course. It's only Monday to Wednesday but I have to be there for 9am. Luckily Peej isn't working so he's going to take Ellie to school in the morning and I'll just take Josh then go straight to college from there. It's going to be really funny going back to college and being a student again even if it is only for 3 days!

Happy 7th Birthday Ellie

2010-05-31T15:37:00.004+01:00

Today is my daughter Ellie's 7th Birthday. Where does the time go. She doesn't seem to have been on the planet long enough to be 7 already.

Ellie loves my Sugar Nellie stamps so I thought I'd make her a concertina card so I could put a few of them on her card for her.
Because it's so long I thought I'd take a closer picture of it in two halves so that you can see it better. This is the first half.

and this is the second half.

My daughter has been wanting a Nintendo DSi for ages and I've finally given in and got her one for her birthday. This was her face as she opened it. I think she was pleased?!

Josh is so jealous though as he said he wanted one for his birthday. Unfortunately for him Ellie's Birthday comes first but on the plus side his is only 20 days away. I wonder if he'll get one for his???

Another Man U Card

2010-05-08T07:00:00.000+01:00

My friend that asked me if I would make a Manchester United card for her sister-in-law to give her son Jack was so impressed with the card I made she asked if I would make one for her husband from the kids. She wanted it exactly the same but you know me I don't like making the same card twice so it is slightly different but not by much. The stamps are all from a set by Onefourzero, the wording is all done with Go Kreate Dies in the Cuttlebug.

The stamp inside the card is by Papermania.

Happy Birthday Chloe

2010-04-27T07:23:00.000+01:00

This is the card I have made for my neice's birthday. The princess paper is by Dovecraft. The image is a Sugar Nellie coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The sentiment and lettering are all Go Kreate die cuts. For the inside I used a strip of the Dovecraft paper and then used my Go Kreate Frame die cuts to make the insert to write on.

Chloe is very into Princesses and horses so I hope she likes this card!

Happy Birthday Irene

2010-04-23T07:17:00.001+01:00

This is the card I made for my Auntie Irene whose birthday is today. I used this gorgeous House Mouse image that a friend sent me which I coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The paper is by K&Co and is double sided. I used one side for the layering and the other side for the leaves and sentiment. The leaves were made using a die cut from Little Claire Designs and the sentiment is a die cut by Go Kreate.

Sorry about the quality of the photo. I really need to get my photo studio set up again!

Monochrome Card

2010-04-19T14:15:00.006+01:00

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week is to create a monochromatic brown card. Since I needed to make a card for my friend Shaeron and I'd already decided I wanted to use this Penny Black Stamp I thought I'd give it a go.

The papers are by Papermania, the stamp, of course, is a Penny Black coloured with Twinkling H2Os and paper piecing. I really do love this stamp. It used to be my Mum's but I have permanently borrowed it from her and now it's mine, all mine!! :-)

Card for Tanya

2010-04-17T19:51:00.004+01:00

I started making a card for my daughter's best friend Tanya who will be 7 in May. I'd got so far with it and then wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Then I was looking through my favourite challenge blogs and found this sketch on the Truly Scrumptious blog. So I inverted the sketch and used it to help me finish Tanya's card. I think it works really well.

The papers are by K&Co, The image is a Sarah Kay by Stampavie and is coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The sentiment and name are all done using Die Cuts by Go Kreate, The purple ribbon is some that Tanya's mum gave me although I think it looks black on the photo?! I still haven't got my photo studio back.

Good news though we did get our first viewing today. She seemed to like our house but it's always difficult to tell. She did say her husband needs to see it before they can make a decision so we'll just have to wait and see if they make an appointment to come back again. Fingers crossed eh?! It would be great if we could sell to the first person that comes to look round but I think I may be being a little over optimistic.

Happy Birthday Debbie

2010-04-14T07:30:00.003+01:00

It is my blogging friend Debbie's birthday today. This card I made using my new stamp by Nellie Snellen that I got at the Harrogate Craft Fair in March and my new fern punch. The papers are by Papermania and Bazzill. The Happy Birthday is a die cut by Go Kreate.

For the inside I used papermania papers again and then cut a white insert using another Go Kreate die and then used pen to create faux stitching around the edge to add definition.

30th Birthday

2010-04-08T07:05:00.002+01:00

I made this card in a rush as I was a bit late for my sister-in-laws birthday. Luckily they were away on holiday for it so I might just have got away with it?!

I used my gorgeous new stamp by Nellie Snellen that I got at the Harrogate Craft Fair, coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The papers are by Papermania. The flowers are a mixture of Prima's and some I have been sent. The ferns were done with my new paper punch. I hope she liked it!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

2010-04-05T14:29:00.005+01:00

I was making this card for my brother and I had already picked out the image I wanted to use but I thought as it was a Penny Black I'd just check out the Penny Black Saturday Challenge blog to see if I could make it to fit in with their challenge.

Their challenge this week is "Check it out" they want to see checks on your project. So I looked through my boys/men papers and found this great checked paper by K&Co to use. It's not the most inspiring card I've ever made but I'm trying to keep them quite simple at the moment so that I can get more done just in case the house sells and we have to start packing everything up and I can't get to my craft stuff for a while. It's not my brother's birthday until May 3rd but I don't think he looks at my blog so I'm safe!

Happy Birthday Laurence!

2010-04-05T12:11:00.002+01:00

It is my friend Laurence's birthday today. I made her this card using a gorgeous dress that my friend Sabina in Australia made and sent over for me to use. I've had the dress a while but I didn't want to use it on just any old card as it's so pretty. When I realised it was my friend Laurence's birthday coming up I new she was the right person for the dress to be used for. Laurence is very girlie and often wears lovely dresses in a similar style to this one. I added the sentiment "People who say shopping doesn't bring happiness don't know the right shops" I wanted to keep it clean and simple so that the focus is on the lovely dress. I think it works.

Sorry!

2010-03-29T14:05:00.002+01:00

I haven't blogged for ages! A lot has been happening in the last few weeks. I don't want to say too much on here just yet but one of the things that's been happening is that we are selling the house. This has meant a lot of sorting and clearing out and tidying up as had to be done in order to get the house ready and as the last part has been done today, we are now officially on the market.

I have been so busy I've not had chance to do any blogging but I have still been making cards. I thought while it's the Easter Holidays I'd try and catch up a little. However my photos are going to get a little dodgy as my photo studio as had to be put away so I'm back to the old method of natural light and a white sheet background! Not good!

This is a card I made for my new neighbour Charlotte for her son Bobby. She wanted a dinosaur and balloons on it which made my day as this Whipper Snapper stamp is one of my favourites but my son is too old for it now. It was fab to be able to use it again.

The spotty papers are all by K&Co. I love this set of papers for boys cards.

This is the inside of it.I'm now trying to get ahead on all my card making so that if we do sell quickly and I have to start packing everything up I'll already be enough ahead to not have to worry for a while and can move and get settled before I need to make any more. Hopefully once we've moved I will be back to a more regular blogging schedule. Until then I hope you will all bear with my irregular blogging pattern.

Mum's Birthday Card

2010-02-23T20:37:00.003Z

It was my Mum's Birthday on Thursday 18th. Luckily for us it usually falls during half term week so we take the opportunity to go and stay for a few days so that we can be there for her birthday and also my mum's house makes a good base camp for then going off to visit other family and friends that live over that way and further afield.

We went over on Wednesday and after dropping most of our stuff of at Mums', the kids and I went through to my friend Shaeron's who's just moved from Bradford to Knaresborough. It was a very foggy drive but it was worth it to catch up as we haven't seen each other in an age. We had a lovely lunch and then a walk to the ruined castle before setting off back to Bradford.

Thursday was of course my Mums' birthday. This is the card I made for her. I used my favourite papers by My Minds Eye and my favourite stamp which is a Stampavie Sarah Kay stamp. I used paper punches to make the flowers and the leaves and wording at the bottom are My Minds Eye rub ons. For the inside I used the Birthday Cake stamp that Josh bought me for my birthday.

To celebrate my Mums' birthday we went out for lunch, there was seven of us all together, my Uncle Don, Auntie Ann, my Gran, Mum, Ellie, Josh and little me. It was a lovely meal and Josh coped really well with it all which is always a bonus.

In the evening Mum, Auntie Ann and I went to watch an all male pantomime in Marsden called the Wizard of Ossett. It was so funny and very well done. I was suitably impressed and we all had a great evening.

On Friday it was back over to Harrogate to visit my Dad and his wife. Another lovely lunch and a walk followed by a play in the local park.

Saturday morning we headed back home in time for Ellie to go to her swimming lesson in the afternoon. So a very busy week lots of fun.

Quirky Crafts Challenge 22

2010-02-21T16:36:00.008Z

We have a new challenge over on the Quirky Crafts Challenge Blog. This fortnight we are doing Gez's Challenge which is... Cute.

As we're still being sponsored by The Cutting Cafe I used one of their Digi downloads to do the wording around the fox which says "Because nice matters and you're one of the nicest people I know." Isn't that such a lovely sentiment?!

The fox is one of my favourite cute stamps and is by Imaginisce. I paper pieced the stamp so that it would match the other papers I've used which are all by My Minds Eye. I added a couple of Rub Ons also by My Minds Eye just to add a bit of detail and finish it off.

I gave this card to my friend Denise who came to my rescue and took my daughter to school for a couple of days last week while my car was getting fixed after her exhaust fell off! She really is one of the nicest people I know! Thank you Denise!

If you would like to join in with out Cute challenge and be in with a chance of winning some Cutting Craft Digi Downloads then you can find out more about our challenge here.

Little Mice

2010-02-09T09:55:00.000Z

I don't seem to make male cards very often so it's quite a novelty when I get to make one. I love these papers by Hot of the Press but they can be a little dark so I've used white lettering and a white gel pen to make little highlights to brighten the card up a bit. The stamp I've used is a Penny Black, I really do love their stamps. I saw this stamp at the Harrogate Papercrafts Extravaganza last year when I was looking for some more male orientated stamps to add to my collection. It really did make me laugh out loud so I just had to get it. The sentiment is a Go Kreate Die cut and the circle was cut using Nestabilites in my Cuttlebug. The ticket corner punch is by Stamping Up.

Quirky Crafts Challenge 21

2010-02-07T10:59:00.004Z

We have a new Quirky Crafts Challenge for you only this time it's not on the forum. It's on our brand new challenge blog which you can find here!

This fortnights challenge has been set by the beautiful, talented and incredibly creative... little old me! Tee hee!

The challenge I have set is Valentine's/Foreign. You can find more details here.

For my DT examples of the challenge I have made a Valentine's Card. I like to keep it quite simple for my hubby as he doesn't do cute or fussy. I did have to use the Cherub stamp on it though as my 6 year old daughter gave it to me as a Birthday present in December and she'd be mortified if I didn't!

The heart stamp is by Crafty Individuals which I stamped onto white card and the cut round. The Cherub/Cupid is by Hobbycraft and the swirl stamp is a Rhonna Farrer, she does some beautiful swirl stamps! We are sponsored this month by The Cutting Cafe who provided us with some Valentine's downloads to use on our projects. The Valentine's sentiment is one of those downloads which I printed onto while card and then mounted onto black. The small heart is a paper punch. To finish I coloured in some of the swirly bits with a red Marvy Le Plume pen.

I also thought I'd make a Valentine's ATC which has the sentiment "Je t adore" which makes it qualify for the Valentine's and the Foreign part of my challenge.

The heart stamp is by Crafty individuals again and is a larger version of the one I used on my card. The lady and the sentiment are from a set by Limited Edition. I did paper piecing on the ladies dress so that the colour would match the backing.

If that has whetted your appetite and you'd like to join us for this fortnights Quirky Crafts Blog Challenge you can find all the details here.

I hope to see you there!

DT Call and New Challenge Blog

2010-02-06T16:18:00.003Z

Over on Quirky Crafts we are looking for a new DT member to join us in providing examples as inspiration for our fortnightly challenge. We are open to all different types of crafting, styles and techniques, so if you are looking to joining a Design Team and think Quirky Crafts might be the one for you then you can find more details here. The post is open until 28th February. Good luck!

Also, our forum challenge is being re-launched as a challenge blog instead. Very exciting stuff!

So even if you don't want to be a DT member you can still come and join in with our brand new challenge blog. We have some great sponsors lined up offering great prizes and you have a fortnight to enter. If you'd like to join us then you can find the Quirky Crafts Challenge Blog here.

Hope to see you there!

More Snow and a Card.

2010-01-31T09:32:00.003Z

We woke up this morning to more snow!!! Arggggg! At the moment its lovely and pretty but it's knowing that it isn't going to stay that way for long that's the problem. No doubt it will melt a bit and then freeze and we'll be back to the ice rinks for pavements again. Something to look forward to I guess!

Ok enough of the moaning and onto the card. A friend of mine at the gym asked if I could make her a very sophisticated 16th Birthday card for a girl who is into Audrey Hepburn. Well you know me, I love a challenge.

So I started off with a black DL card blank which I stamped my "Chic Background" stamp by Butterfly Kisses onto using Versamark ink which I then embossed with clear embossing powder. My friend Deanne very kindly let me have a couple of her Audrey Hepburn stamped images to use. I cut one down and double mounted it on to black and then white card and stuck that over the embossing.

Susanne also wanted "My Darling Aimee" on the front so I printed that out on the computer and double mounted it and put it across the bottom.
I couldn't find a way to add the 16 to the front so I used the full image of Deanne's stamp on the inside and put the 16 on that instead.

Susanne loved it. Hopefully Aimee will too.

Quirky Crafts Challenge 20

2010-01-24T15:57:00.004Z

Hooray! It's the new Quirky Crafts Fortnightly Challenge!!! It's time for challenge 20 already and this fortnight it's Deanne's turn to set the challenge which is "Teddy Bear". You can't go wrong with teddy bears can you? A great challenge.

So I've made two DT cards for this one again. The first one being on a feminine theme where I've used Debbie's teddy bear images from The Crafty Pad Designs and I've used some Cuttlebug embossing borders in my Bug to make the beautiful flower border at the top of the card and the "with love" at the bottom.

For the second card I used a Forever Friends bear and went with a more masculine theme. I used papers by Hot Off The Press which I distressed using brown chalk ink. The Bear is coloured with Twinkling H2Os (of course, you know me so well!)

So if you would like to join in with our Teddy Bear challenge over on Quirky Crafts you can find more details here.

Hope to see you there!

Quirky Crafts Challenge 19

2010-01-17T09:48:00.005Z

I can't believe a week has gone by already and I still haven't put this on my blog. I actually panicked a bit this morning as I thought it was the new challenge Sunday and I haven't done mine yet but then I realised I still have another week. Phew!

So our first Quirky Crafts challenge of the New Year is "Yellow" and has been set by our lovely DT member Anne. We've got a sponsor for this month too - the very talented Debbie from The Crafty Pad Designs who very kindly let the DT use one her Digi images for the challenge and has offered up the great prize for the winner of this fortnights challenge. So if you'd like a chance to win then you can find more details here.

For my first card I used Debbie's digi image which is called Roshel with Brolly. I coloured the image with Twinkling H2Os in colours to match the papers which are all freebies from a magazine. I used nestabilies in my Cuttlebug for the matting and layering of the image and I added a little yellow wooden dragonfly (which I've had for years and years) to finish.

For my second card I used some patterned paper which I've also had for years and I've no idea who it's by. The image is Sarah Kay by Stampavie (as if you didn't know!) coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The flowers are mainly Primas and the sentiment is a sticker.

There is still another week left if you'd like to take part in our challenge. Please come and join us here!

Just Magnolia Challenge

2010-01-10T15:31:00.006Z

Don't you just love trying something new?! Well the Just Magnolia Challenge this week is paper pleating. I've never seen this technique before but it looks very effective so I thought I'd give it a go. If you'd like see the tutorial on how to do it you can find in on the Magnolia Challenge blog here.

For my card I used papers by Basic Grey. The two stamped images are both Magnolia's. The little girl I coloured in using distress ink and a small amount of Twinkling H2Os. I thought the distress ink would go better with the look of the papers.

Well so far so good on the weather front. Although we've been forecast more snow none has arrived yet. In fact I would even dare to whisper that what we have seems to be melting! Shhhhh don't tell anyone. It is still very cloudy but the optimist in me is hoping that it's just going to pass us by without shedding any of it's contents on us! Fingers crossed!

Truly Scrumptious!

2010-01-07T19:19:00.007Z

Ok it's not the best photo in the world - I will take another tomorrow. (I have now added a better photo!) You see I meant to take the photo today while the sun was still up but I forgot and so rather than leave it yet another day before I posted my card on my blog and into the Truly Scrumptious challenge I thought I'd take a badly lit photo and then update it tomorrow when I have taken a better one.

So this weeks challenge is a sketch with the added extra of using the colours pink, green and black. Now they are not a colour combination I would normally go for but then that's the whole idea of a challenge isn't it - to take you out of your comfort zone and challenge you?!

So I raided my 6 by 6 paper stash as I remembered I had some papers in there that would fit the colour combo really nicely and this is the card I came up with.
I love the little bird on this card. It's by Imaginisce and cost 99p. It's so simple which makes it great for paper piecing and I just love the flower on its bum! I think the papers I used are by Dovecraft but I'm not sure, please correct me if I'm wrong! The squares and circles are all done using Nestabilities in my Cuttlebug and the flowers are mainly Primas.

Snow!

2010-01-05T20:52:00.006Z

We woke up this morning to rather a lot of snow. Both Josh and Ellie's schools were closed due to the roads being so bad no one could get to them!

Ellie and I decided to make the most of it and go out and build a snowman with a bit of help from Max puppy of course.

This is Ellie and I starting to make the snowman.
Here is Max starting his collection of snowballs on his paws.

Max absolutely loves it when you throw snowballs for him. He's waiting so patiently for Ellie to throw this one.

and the snowballs on his legs get bigger!

Ellie really enjoyed finding the deep bit of snow.

This is Max playing catch the snowballs.

and this is our rather dodgy looking snowman! It didn't help that Max kept attacking his head while we were trying to roll it!

My First Christmas Card for 2010

2010-01-03T15:44:00.006Z

Well start as you mean to go on eh?! Actually I found a really cool new blog called "ABC Christmas Challenge" and their first challenge is "A for Angel" and I thought while I still have my Mum's angel stamps that I borrowed to do Ellie's card I might as well join in and use them for this challenge too.

The papers for this card are all by Lili Of The Valley, the Angel stamp is by Judi Kins, the Poinsettia stamp is one that came free with a craft magazine. I've coloured the angel using Twinkling H2Os and I added some Stickles to her halo to add some sparkle. There was an added challenge to use a charm or beads on the card so I added a little snowflake charm which I added a gem to the centre of.

1 down - 149 to go!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T15:27:00.004Z

I can't believe it's 2010 already. Where did 2009 go?! All I can say is that I hope 2010 is going to be a better year for everyone and the start of good things to come.

So I thought I'd start this year off with a challenge. This is the Cute Card Thursday Challenge which is a sketch this week, my favourite! The papers, bird rub on and ribbon are all by My Minds Eye. The image is one someone sent me which I have coloured with Twinkling H2Os. I love these papers, I think they are my favourite at the moment.

If you want to join in with this challenge you can find the details here.

Altered Art

2009-12-20T18:01:00.003Z

Josh was asked to take part in a Secret Santa at school. He had to buy a gift for a boy called Tom for no more than £2 and bring it in wrapped up with Tom's name on it. We decided to buy a gift card and rather than just send it in in an envelope I thought I'd alter this empty Dove gift box and send it in in this instead.

It started off looking like this... and ended up looking like this...

The papers are by Basic Grey, I love the distress look of them and are lovely to work with. The ribbon I think is by Dovecraft but I might be wrong. The "Happy Christmas" is a Go Kreate Die used in my Cuttlebug and the letters for "Tom" are Quickutz Moxie alphabet dies also used in my Cuttlebug. When we'd put the Gift card in it I tied some red foil ribbon around it to stop the lid coming off in transit to school. I hope Tom liked it!

Quirky Crafts Challenge 18

2009-12-06T17:21:00.003Z

Our lovely Carol has set this fortnights Quirky Crafts Challenge and it's a nice easy one for you. Yes it's "Christmas"

I've made a Christmas Card for the challenge since I added up all my cards yesterday and realised I still need to make about another 20! Whoops! Ho hum.

The image I used on this card is one of my Mum's Magnolia's. Sorry Carol! (She doesn't like the Magnolia Stamps) I coloured it in with Twinkling H2O's of course. The papers are Cricut Christmas papers. The swirl is a Sizzix Die used in my Cuttlebug and the snowflakes are all punches with a gem added to the centre.
If you would like to join in with the Quirky Crafts Challenge you can find more details here.

See you there! :-)

I'm Divine

2009-12-04T12:08:00.003Z

I have a claim to fame! I've been featured on the Divine Influence Blog courtesy of my lovely Trimmies friend Leanne. So I can now proudly display this lovely banner.
I finally have something new to share with you all. This is a leaving card I made for my friend Melissa who is going back to Australia in a few weeks time. It's from all the Bunco ladies so I went for a tag card again so that everyone could write their own individual messages on a tag and I could just pop it in the card.

The papers are K&Co, the Mouse Stamp is a Penny Black coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The writing is done with Quickutz Dies in my Cuttlebug.

The tags are all done on my mum's Cricut as mine has now completely packed up.

Melissa got her card and present last night at the Christmas Bunco and I'm pleased to say she loved them both.

Quirky Crafts Challenge 16

2009-11-15T17:11:00.002Z

I'm a bit late putting this on here. It was supposed to go on last weekend! Whoops.

The challenge this week has been set my Julia and is to make a project with a "Masculine Theme"

I made two cards for the challenge. The first one is for a birthday I have coming up next month. I've used a Penny Black Stamp and papers by Hot Off the Press.

The second card I made for my Uncle Don whose birthday was on Wednesday. The papers again are by Hot Of The Press. The bear stamp is by Judith at Stamp Addicts. The rod is a die cut by Go Kreate which I shortened slightly to fit better on the car and I hung a little silver fish charm on the end of the line.

If you'd like to join in with this weeks challenge you can find more details, including what the prize is, here.

Hope to see you there!

Manchester United Card

2009-11-12T21:00:00.004Z

I was asked to make a card for a 7 year old called Jack who likes football. The trouble with football cards is that you need to know which team they support because if you use the wrong colours that's not good! Anyway I found out that Jack is a Man U fan so a black, white and red theme it was!

I used a set of stamps that my mum gave me a while ago and this is the first time I've used them. They are by a company called onefourzero and are a really good set of stamps if you are into football. The scarf is just plain and I stamped "United" onto it. The T-shirt I stamped onto red card and then stamped a 7 onto it. The shorts I stamped onto white card and then added the red stripes with a Marvey Le Plume pen. The football and the boot at the bottom are also part of the stamp set. The Happy 7th Birthday are all Go Kreate Dies which I used in my Cuttlebug and the ovals were done using Nestabilities in the same machine. The Jack was done using a Quickutz alphabet also in the Cuttlebug.

For the inside I used a Happy Birthday stamp by Papermania and the football borders are from the onefourzero set.

Just a little proud mummy moment to finish off with. My daughter's class have been reading the script for their Christmas Nativity to see who is going to have which part this year. As they are the eldest infant class they all get parts on the stage but they all get to read through the script like at a play reading so the teachers can get a feel for who would be best to do what.

The show is called "Whoops-a-Daisy Angel" and is about a little Angel who is always late and untidy and never gets very special jobs to do like the other Angels. Anyway she ends up getting a very important job to go and tell the shepherds that a special baby has been born and for once she does the job well and she gets three cheers at the end.

Ellie came out of school on Tuesday and told me she has been given the part of Whoops-a-Daisy Angel. She's been given a script so that we can help her practise her lines at home. It is such a cute story. We're so proud of her. I can't wait to see it now!!

Thinking Of All The British Soldiers

2009-11-08T21:50:00.007Z

THE FINAL INSPECTION

The soldier stood and faced God, Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining, Just as brightly as his brass.

'Step forward now, you soldier, How shall I deal with you ?
Have you always turned the other cheek? To My Church have you been true?'

The soldier squared his shoulders and said, 'No, Lord, I guess I ain't.
Because those of us who carry guns, Can't always be a saint.

I've had to work most Sundays, And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I've been violent, Because the world is awfully rough.

But, I never took a penny, That wasn't mine to keep....
Though I worked a lot of overtime, When the bills got just too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help, Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God, forgive me, I've wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place, Among the people here.
They never wanted me around, Except to calm their fears.

If you've a place for me here, Lord, It needn't be so grand.
I never expected or had too much, But if you don't, I'll understand.

There was a silence all around the throne, Where the saints had often trod.
As the soldier waited quietly, For the judgment of his God.

'Step forward now, you soldier, You've borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets, You've done your time in Hell

Thinking of all the British soldiers

Thank You Card

2009-10-29T07:30:00.000Z

I made this thank you card for my Mum. We went over to Bradford yesterday to see her and my Auntie Ann and I took it with us to give to her. We had a really lovely day complete with chocolate cake! Yum. The papers are by Hot Off The Press and the image is of course a Tilda by Magnolia. I embossed part of the backing paper using a Cuttlebug embossing folder in my Cuttlebug. I made some extra flowers using different sized paper punches. I added detail with adhesive gems and a flower charm and pearl brad.

Halloween Treats

2009-10-28T16:49:00.004Z

I made these little treat bags for Josh and Ellie. We're not going "Happy Halloweening" this year as we've been invited to a Halloween party at a friend's house so I thought I'd make some treat bags just for them.

I have used my favourite Penny Black Halloween stamp which I've coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The circles have been made using Nestablities in my Cuttlebug. The chocolate is all from Thorntons.

I hope the kids like them.

and the best thing is I can enter them into this weeks Penny Black Challenge which is "Halloween" Hooray!

Quirky Crafts Challenge 15

2009-10-25T15:50:00.004Z

This week Anne has set the Quirky Crafts Challenge. Anne chose to do a recipe challenge. You have to use:
1 Ribbon
2 shades of pink
3 Eyelets

I made two cards for this challenge. The first one I used lots of Cuttlebug embossing folders and lovely Sugar Nellie stamp.
The second one I used some duck paper that I've had since the earliest days of crafting and a gorgeous Penny Black image that someone sent me which I coloured with Twinkling H2Os.

I made the second card as I thought the first one turned out a bit plain but I think they are both ok.

If you would like to take part in this fortnights challenge you can find more details here.

Hope to see you there.

Leaving Card

2009-10-24T18:10:00.004+01:00

When Ellie started back at school in September she had a stand in teacher as her regular teacher was off on sick leave. However the regular teacher has now been given a clean bill of health and is taking over again after half term. Sadly this means that the stand in teacher had her last day on Friday. I made her this card as a leaving card, I also made her an altered After Eight Mints box but I stupidly forgot to photograph it before Ellie took it in to give to her.

The papers for this are all by My Minds Eye. The image is by Woodware and I did paper piecing to colour it except for the puddles which I did with Twinkling H2Os and blue stickles. The flowers I made myself using paper punches of different sizes.

You know (in the crafting world) they say there is no such thing as mistakes only happy accidents? Well this card had a lot of "Happy Accidents" The orange spotty strip was supposed to go underneath the image but I managed to get glue on it and when I tried to rub it off it made a right mess. To disguise it I put the strip over the top instead and then added punched leaves to give it a little bit of something. Also while I was inking the edges of the spotty backing paper I slipped and put a big green smudge down it so I had to cover that with the punched flowers. I still think it's looks ok though and if I don't tell anyone they'll never know! :-)

Shhhhhh!

Foxy Loxy

2009-10-23T16:10:00.004+01:00

I made this card for my friend Melissa whose birthday was on Tuesday. I used the gorgeous My Minds Eye papers and rubs on and my adorable little fox stamp by Imaginisce. He's so cute! The circles are Nestabilities used in the Cuttlebug of course. We had Josh's parents evening on Thursday. We didn't get very much out of his teacher but she feels he has settled in well and is doing ok.

We did go and see a presentation on a residential stay they want all the year 7 kids to go on to a centre in Wales. It looks fabulous but we were a bit worried about how Josh would cope with it all. We managed to speak with the guy who is the Director of Student Services at the school and he was great. He was talking about meeting up with all the 20 parents that have kids with special needs and finding out what things they need to be made aware of for each individual child so that their needs will be met while they are away at the centre. (I'd better start making notes now!)

It was all very reassuring and such a nice change to have someone wanting Josh to go and not miss out and genuinely interested in finding out what Josh's needs are so that he can go on the trip rather than being grateful that he's not going so they don't have to deal with a "problem child."

I think if, after we had spoken to him, we'd still said that we were unsure the guy would have kept us there and kept talking until he had managed to convince us to say yes. lol. It really is a whole different attitude to what we've been used to...

...and I love it!

Christmas Is Coming!

2009-10-16T16:51:00.005+01:00

Not the best photo in the world as the sun was shining in the wrong direction. I should have taken the photo this morning when the light was better. Ho hum.

I made this card using my Forever Friends Christmas papers and as luck would have it, it qualifies for this week's Forever Friends Challenge.

I used the sheets to make a decoupaged image of the bear and then used the off cuts to make the squares. I think it's turned out really cute.

We had Ellie's parents evening on Wednesday. She got a glowing report and is doing fabulously well. She's only 6 and has a reading age of a 9 year old and a spelling age of 8. Her teacher says that Ellie is always keen and enthusiastic and tries hard at everything. We came away very proud of her. Josh has his parents evening next Thursday, fingers crossed that his is as glowing.

Quirky Crafts Challenge 14

2009-10-14T10:01:00.005+01:00

This weeks Quirky Crafts challenge is Halloween or Autumn if you don't celebrate Halloween. I went a bit over board and made quite a few for this one as I love Halloween and my Dad bought me the cat Halloween stamp for Christmas last year and I've been desperate to use it ever since.

I used a cuttlebug embossing folder to make the Halloween circle background which doesn't show up very well in this photo but you can see it better in some of the others.

On this card I used embossing borders on the edges then I used the "Boo to You" embossing folder on some Core'dinations card, cut out the spider circle using a small nestabilities circle then used some sandpaper to take off some of the black to let the purple of the core come through and show up the embossing better.

This little mouse is another Penny Black but my mum gave me this one recently. I think it's so cute.

The "Boo" for this one I originally wanted to do bigger on my Cricut but unfortunately it has decided to stop working altogether now. It did take about 5 hours to warm up but it did come on eventually however it was on for a whole day and although the green light was on under the power button it never sprang into action. My Cricut has officially given up on me. Thank heaven's for my 'Bug it came to the rescue for me and did a little "Boo" instead. You've gotta love that Bug!

If you'd like to join in with this fortnights Quirky Crafts Challenge you can find more details here.

See you there!

Just For You

2009-10-10T16:54:00.004+01:00

I am on a mission to use up images that I have been sent by lovely blogging friends. I have such a big stash and because they are images I don't have myself I never think "Oh I'll use that one" I always think of the stamps I already have. So I have all these lovely images sitting in my "Stamped Images box" (old ice cream tub) that I never think to use.

At the moment every time I start to make a card I get out my images tub and have a look through to see what I can use and for this card I chose these adorable Pennyblack Hedgehogs which I teamed up with some free papers from a magazine. It's the new Quirky Crafts challenge tomorrow so please make sure you come back to see what our next challenge is. I'm sure it's one you'll love and everyone can join in with.

Back tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Card

2009-10-07T14:33:00.002+01:00

I made this card using free papers from a craft magazine. The image is one I was given by a blogging friend which I've coloured with Twinkling H2Os. I added a small Happy Birthday peel off to the edge of the circle of the stamped image to finish.

My mum and auntie are over visiting today, they nearly didn't come as Ellie is off school with a tummy bug and I wasn't sure if they wanted to run the risk of catching it but they decided they would still come anyway. Ellie seems fine in herself but she keeps having stomach cramps and her numbers twos aren't quite right if you know what I mean?! I'm hoping she will be back to normal tomorrow as it seems a shame for to miss school when she's ok to play but just can't trust her body. Poor little thing, last week she was off school because she was being sick and now it's the other end! I'm wondering if it's part of the same bug or whether she's caught this one after being run down from the sickness one. To top that off everyone except me is full of cold too. I guess it's just that time of year. lol.

5th Birthday Card

2009-09-29T11:15:00.005+01:00

My friend asked me if I would make a card for her daughter Evie who is going to be 5 next month. As Evie is having a chocolate party Denise wanted a chocolate themed birthday card for her and couldn't find one in the shops. So I took on the challenge! :-)

I used my Cricut to make the over sized chocolate muffin for Tilda to sit on. I ran the bottom layer of the muffin through a paper ribbler to make the muffin case have some texture to it then layered the top of the muffin over that on foam pads for a 3d effect. The chocolate sweets were also done on the Cricut. I added a flower to the centre of one and for the other I stamped out a Happy Birthday circle stamp then used my Nestabilities circle die to cut round it. I did a scalloped circle layer for it to sit on and then attached it all to the sweet adding a number 5 to the centre.

The swirls are a Sizzix die which I added pearls and flowers to. The letters for "Evie" are by K&Co and the papers are from a scrap booking kit but I can't remember who made them.

For the inside I used the same Tilda but cut her down to just the circle of her head and shoulders. I used the same papers from the scrapbooking kit and added another Cricut sweet to finish it off.

Ellie told me she thinks Evie's card is lovely so I'm pretty sure Evie will too. :-)

Christmas Cards

2009-09-28T11:34:00.003+01:00

These are the last two Christmas cards I made while the electricity was off. As I'd used up all the fairies I started using the reindeer and polar bear die cuts from Lili of the Valley instead. The papers are a mixture of Lili Of the Valley and Cricut Christmas papers. Again they are very simple cards as these are for Ellie's class mates.

Poor Ellie is off school today. She started being sick on Saturday night and although she wasn't sick all day Sunday she was sick again this morning at 5.45am. So the poor little mite is snuggled up on the sofa under her fleecy blanket watching DVD's. We'll see how she goes today. Get well soon baby girl.

Quirky Crafts Challenge 13

2009-09-27T20:15:00.003+01:00

The Quirky Crafts Challenge is back!!!! This week it's my challenge! How fab is that? So I know you are all going to rush over and join us this week aren't you?!

My Challenge is "Out and About" so there is lots of room for interpretation and I'm sure everyone has got something in their stash that would cover this one. If you would like to join us for the challenge you can find all the details (including a photo of the prize) here.

I thought I would use my new Fishing Bear Die cut for this one. I've had these Fishing papers by Dovecraft for a while now and the bear (who also doubles up as Fairy Bear). The fishing hat, rod, and fish are all part of the new die cut set my mum bought me at the Harrogate craft show a couple of weeks back. I attached the fish to a bit of cotton thread so that he dangles down from the rod.

Papers: Dovecraft

Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Boo Bear, Fishing Bear and "Happy Birthday" Go Kreate Dies

Have A Fairy Merry Christmas!

2009-09-26T11:03:00.002+01:00

More fairy Christmas cards. These are the last of the fairy ones that I made while the electricity was off last week. They are all pretty basic as they are for Ellie's friends at school but I'm sure her friends will like them. The fairies are all from Lili of the Valley.

The papers are all from Craftwork Cards
The big snowflake is a Cuttlebug Die which I've added a crystal to the middle of it to give it some sparkle.

So that's all my Lili of the Valley winter fairies used up now.

Happy Birthday Auntie Ann

2009-09-24T07:30:00.000+01:00

Don't you just love My Minds Eye stuff? These papers are my favourite at the moment. I just love the colours and they are so great to work with.
For the inside I used some of the off cuts from the front of the card and I used a flower rub on that I got from winning the recycling challenge on Trimcraft.

Stamp: Imaginisce

Papers: My Minds Eye ~ Bazzill Basics

Embellishments: My Minds Eye brad, Rub ons, Flower and leaves

Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Go Kreate Dies (Happy Birthday and Frame) ~ Corner Rounder Punch

More Christmas Cards

2009-09-23T20:41:00.003+01:00

These are some more of the ones I made while the electricity was off last week. Luckily everything is back to normal again now. Our drive no longer has a huge hole in it and the pavement to the side of our house has had new tarmac put down today. Hooray!

The papers for both these cards is from Craftwork Cards.

The "Have a Fairy Merry Christmas" is by Lavinia Stamps. I used a Ticket corner punch by Stamping Up to make the corners on the sentiment.

The fairies and reindeer are all from Lili Of The Valley.

Quirky Crafts Challenge 12

2009-09-20T18:40:00.004+01:00

This week's Quirky Crafts Challenge is set by Gez and is "Vintage"

I thought I'd use this Santa image that my mum gave me, along with papers by Basic Grey and my Magnolia round Christmas stamp to create this Vintage Style Christmas Card. If you'd like to join in with our challenge you can find all the details here.

Christmas Cards

2009-09-19T09:44:00.003+01:00

While the electricity was off yesterday I decided to make the most of not being able to do any house work and got stuck into making some Christmas cards. I thought I'd try and use up all my die cut fairies which I've had for about 2 years now. Ellie's friends are all into fairies but next year they'll all be in the juniors instead of the infants and I don't know if fairies will still be as popular then?!

I was also trying to use up my craftwork cards paper which I've also been using for the past 2 years. It has a lovely pearlescent sheen to it which doesn't show on the photos. It's very pretty but my hoping is that if I can use up all my old stuff this year then I can buy new up-to-date Christmas papers next year! :-) The sentiment says "Have a Fairy Merry Christmas"
Papers: Craftwork Cards
Image: Die Cut Fairies by Lili Of The Valley
Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Nestabilities ~ Corner Rounder Punch

Truly Scumptious Challenge

2009-09-18T18:57:00.008+01:00

I haven't done a challenge card in ages but when I saw the sketch for the Truly Scrumptious Challenge I thought I'd have a go. I had an idea to make a Christmas card for it using a Christmas pudding stamp in the centre and then a little mouse Penny Black stamp to one side.

However the challenge was to use three or more stamps as well as following the sketch. Anyway I faffed and messed and tried this and that and the Christmas version just wasn't working so I scrapped that idea and decided to make a birthday card for my friend instead.

I finished the card a couple of days ago but unfortunately our electricity went off yesterday. I came back from taking the kids to school and walking the dog and thought I'll just make myself a cuppa then I'll take some photos of my cards and upload them onto my blog. Ha ha, No cuppa. No blog. No electricity.

Peej found out from a neighbour that someone would be coming to fix it at 11.30am. At about 11.45am there was a knock on the door.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" asked the geezer from United Utilities

"Oh just give it to me straight" I said, wondering what on earth he was going to say.

"We need to dig a hole in your drive" the geezer said.

"Oh"

This is our lovely driveway and incidentally the current view from out of our living room window. Lovely isn't it?!

On the plus side, after two days with no electricity during daylight hours, it is now fixed! Hurray. However it could be the end of next week before the contracted guys come to put our drive back together for us.

What you can't see from the above photo though is that when the guys came back today they had to dig another bigger hole in order to get to the problem to fix it. This photo was taken from Josh's bedroom window. You see, you are all jealous now aren't you? You want a hole or two in your front garden too! Oh well hopefully it won't be like this for too long.

So now, finally, onto the card for the challenge. This is the sketch. and this is my card.

The stamps are all Magnolia's coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The papers are My Minds Eye.

This is the Christmas card that I started making with the challenge in mind but just couldn't get it to work. You can see where I was going with it though can't you?! Never mind I think the one above works just fine and I'm happy with that.

For this one the papers are all from the Cricut Christmas Pad. I'm not sure what make the Christmas Pudding Stamp is because it's one of my Mum's. The mouse is a Penny Black of course.

With the power being off again today I managed to make 10 Christmas cards. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have no electrical distractions. No washing to put in, no ironing, no hoovering, no TV, no computer. The only problem was I need to use my Cricut for a commissioned Birthday Card and of course I couldn't so that I've had to save for another day. Thank goodness my Cuttlebug works without power though. Hurray for the bug! Lol.

A Christmas Card!

2009-09-16T17:07:00.004+01:00

Yes I have actually managed to make another Christmas card. I have used my Basic Grey Christmas papers and I have to say - I love 'em!

I'm not feeling too good at the moment though. I came down with a nasty cold bug at the weekend. I spent most of Sunday in bed shivering under two duvets! I feel much better now than I did at the weekend but if I could remove my head, I think I would. lol

Stamp: Fun Stamps
Papers: Basic Grey
Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Go Kreate "Happy Christmas" Die

Quirky Crafts Challenge 11

2009-09-13T18:00:00.003+01:00

This week it's Deanne's turn to set the Quirky Crafts Challenge and (bless her little cottons) she came up with a real challenge, which I have to admit did have me stumped for a while, but I got there in the end.

Deanne's challenge is "Board Game" I printed the Scrabble board from Google images and then used my Nestabilites to make the little squares. I then used little peel off letters to spell out the words. It's looked a little bare though with just the letters so I added a little bear to make it a bit more interesting!

If you'd like to join us for this weeks challenge, you can find all the details you need here.