Penny Black Challenge

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. 

Happy Mother's Day

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

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"

Christmas Card. Already?!

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.

Bad Blogger!

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.

ABC Christmas Challenge

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

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.

Duck Day

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.

New Home

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

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

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?!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

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!

Another Man U Card

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

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 Debbie

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

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!

Sorry!

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

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.