Done and dusted!

Well if that was Christmas, you've had it! Hope you all had fun! I had a lovely time back with my family, with one of my dad's amazing roast dinners on Christmas Day, playtime with my niece and nephew at mum's on Boxing Day, and all sorts of other shenanigans! I braved the sales briefly yesterday but didn't buy anything too exciting - hair dye and a purse! And now I have rather a lot of work to do today, hence being up so early!
Sad news though is that Bodd is going back to the farm to live with his family this evening. I am going to miss him tonnes so anyone who sees me should automatically offer me a hug and purr at me to make me feel better!


Anyway, back to business! I made this card for Zoe from WI for her birthday last month. I CASEd it from a swap I got at Convention. The DSP is Woodland Walk, which is superbly awesome, and the sentiment is from the hostess set Cute By The Inch, which you can only earn by hosting a workshop! I added the final touches with ribbon and Pearls for some elegance.

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Some Christmas presents

This afternoon I will *hopefully* be getting the train back to Chester to spend Christmas with my wonderful family. Fingers crossed everything goes to plan! So far the trains are OK, but you never know! Bodd will be packed up in his basket, but unfortunately won't be coming back with me - he's going back to the farm as I'm moving in with my friend Tessa in January. I will miss him loads, and I'm sure he won't be happy about being outside in all the snow, but he will have his family there and I can visit when I go home.
Anywho, today'spics are two of the Christmas presents I have made this year. The bookmark is for my grandma and the cushion is for mum. Took me many hours to cross stitch them, and my good friend Hayley helped me construct the cushion! I made lots of other things as well, but forgot to take pictures before I wrapped them up.
Well I'm all packed and the house is tidy so not tokill a few hours before I head off!

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Special birthday card

I made this card for my friend Hayley, who is 31 today. I know she loves the Newsprint DSP almost as much as me and is also a fan of little bits of ribbon, so I made sure to use both on her card, along with my fave Broadsheet Alphabet.
She's having a party at her house this afternoon so I will be off there shortly armed with some wine and nibbles!

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Last Christmas cards

Well I have made my final Christmas cards of the year! These are two commissions I had from my friends.
Fay wanted something classy and elegant for her parents, so I used the lovely Contempo Christmas and added some glamour with the amazing Jewels and Pearls. The colour combo is Marina Mist and Crumb Cake, which is a bit of a different Christmas look - cool and snowy I think!
The tree card is for the niece of my friend Jo from WI. She wanted something very tactile, so I cut a felt tree and stuck on loads of bits! The star at the top is covered in glitter and the baubles are Designer Buttons and DSP stacks, punched out and given a coating of Crystal Effects. This gives a clear laquer tomake them shiny, just like baubles! And the trunk is a piece of card wrapped in Linen Thread and the tinsel is some random fluffy ribbon from my sewing stash.
Phew! I have just two presents to finish making and then I'm all done!

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Hello!

I love this really simple card. Just the Music Notes Wheel, Just Perfect Alphabet and a bit of Newsprint DSP. Et voila! Quick and effective, just the way I need things to be at the moment!

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Gift tag page

This is another of the mini scrapbook pages I was playing around with a few weeks ago. I love making gift tags, thay're my new favourite thing!
This is the awesome Marina Mist card and uses the gorgeous Bella Toile MASSIVE background stamp on the Basic Grey card. I punched the bottom, added a sentiment from Tiny Tags on the Scallop Square Punch and decorated with ribbons and buttons and brads.
I think the blue and grey is such a classy combination and am really pleased with how this turned out.

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Christmas cards box set

Wowser, bit of a fun and crazy weekend! Following on from the Slung Low Christmas Fayreon Saturday, yesterday I had more crafty and Buns & Roses fun! I went along to a Craft Swaparama and I gave the little tin with a calendar and cards in to a nicelady called Lisa and got a gorgeous matching bag and urse she had made in return. Thinking I will keep the purse and give the bag to my mum! Then it was book club with the WI. We had read a book called Jam and Jeopardy, which wasn't what I expected but was a good read. Then I went to an Origami class and made some awesome things and I finished off the evening with more wine!
Today's pics are of a set of Christmas cards in a little gift box. I sent them to the PR company I freelance for. Apologies for the poor pics, I probably should get myself a proper camera soon rather than relying on the one on my BlackBerry! I think you get the idea though.

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Date reminder tin innards and WI goodness

Today I have had a really lovely day. Myself and some of the Buns & Roses WI ladies had a stall at the Slung Low Christmas Fayre in Holbeck. We sang carols round the piano, spoke to Father Christmas via webcam, sold some of our wares and, of course, met lots of lovely people. I also did a little SU demo as part of my friend's new project The Knowledge Buffet. I'm rather tired now so having an early night in preparation for another crafty day tomorrow!
Before then, here's the inside of the important dates tins I made. Now all I have to do is remember everyone's birthdays and write them on the calendar! I'll have to buy a book of stamps to keep in there too!

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More from the card tin

Here is the first peek at what is inside the tins I decorated yesterday.
The calendar journal was really quick and easy to make - just 12 pieces of card with the month stamped using the Just Perfect Alphabet and all sorts of stamps used to decorate at the bottom. I also wheeled with the Sanded Jumbo Wheel in Crumb Cake to give some texture. With a ring to hold them together and a bit of ribbon it's done! Just need to write all the special dates on each card now.
And the first little card I put inside the tin uses the gorgeous Just Believe set. Again, I stamped tone-on-tone with Crumb Cake and added some colour with the sentiment, which is Marina Mist card and Night of Navy Ink with one of the Neutrals Buttons.
This afternoon I'm off for another of the Free Festive Workshops in Armley with the I Love West Leeds peeps, then we have Buns & Roses choir practice tonight.

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Remember the date sets

Well this evening I have been very busy and made some bits that I am incredibly pleased with. And I'm still in bed before 10pm! Win!


I bought these tins from Wilkinsons. Inside were 15 little cards and envelopes (which are now heading for the recyling bin, of course!).
Instead, I made my own selection of cards as well as a calendar mini-journal for making note of important dates and anniversaries. So there's no excuse to forget or fail to send a card - it's all written down and the cards are ready and waiting!
I will post pics of the innards over the next few days.
The top tin I am keeping and the second one is one of my items for the Craft Swaparama in Leeds this Sunday. I hope the recipient likes it!
They're my new favourite thing and I'm going back to Wilko's tomorrow to buy as many as I can so everyone will be getting them as presents!

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A weekend in Harrogate

Well, finally time for a show and tell on my weekend in Harrogate with mum.
We met up on the train on Saturday morning and bumped into two of my lovely WI friends, Natalie and Sam, then headed off for some shopping. We got lots of great bargains. Mum bought me some pyjamas, which I just love, and we got some nice bits from a church fair we stumbled across.
After walking around for a few hours in the snow we were ready for a rest and I had booked us in for afternoon tea at the Imperial Suite at Bettys.


It was really lovely. The room is stunning and there was a pianist and the staff were lovely. We had some sandwiches, scones, cakes and lots of tea! Just what we needed after all that shopping!
We checked into the hotel (I had a nap) then headed out for a meal at Orchid restaurant and some drinks at Revolution and Rehab. Here we are with all the shots and cocktails!


We had a really good sleep that night! Sunday morning we were off to the Knitting and Stitching Show for a bit of shopping and some workshops. I'd already been on Friday to help on the WI stand and learn new things.
Here are the creations and purchases ...

A little gift bag I made on canvas using random stitches.

Fabric I bought to finish off mum's Christmas present.


Button dolly!

Buttons to decorate an apron I made, which needs finishing off so pics another time!

A little beadwork Christmas tree.

A fabric panel using Angelica fibres.

A piece of Japanese folded patchwork. I'm in the process of making more of these to create a bag.

Some Oriental fabrics.

Kits for Oriental bags and brooches.

It was a very wonderful weekend but rather tiring! We'll be back next year!

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Feel like a yo-yo!

Life is still bringing me many ups and downs and taking great pleasure in making everything crash down around me again just when I think things are looking up.
Long story short, am being kicked out of my house, so need to find quite a few quid and a new one where I can take Bodd. Not to mention figure out how the hell to move all my stuff! Needless to say I'm not feeling in the greatest of moods, but I have several card comissions to sort this afternoon, so will have to rustle up some creativity!
In the meantime, here is a cute little black and white card. Of course, it features my fave SU products at the mo - the Music Notes Wheel, Broadsheet Alphaet and Newsprint DSP.

I punched the flower with the Five-Petal Flower Punch and dampened the cardstock/DSP then scrunched it all up to give a nice worn effect.
And so, on to battle through another day! I had wine with Tessa and her kitten last night and tonight am singing with the WI then off to see Hayley, so at least I know I have great people around me.

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Looking good

So, for reasons unknown I have just spent the last hour changing my blog design. Have to say I'm rather pleased with my new look. And now I'm going to sleep as I have to get up in less than six hours!

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A little scrapbook all my own

Today I decorated this awesome little scrapbook. I did it in between making Christmas cards with people at the I Love West Leeds shop in Armley.
I'm trying to do more scrapbook and vintage pieces so have got LOTS of new stash recently to play with. Just an excuse to shop and see the cute UPS man really!
I decided to title this one with my blog name, and if I can work out how to do it may even alter my layout to incorporate it!
Anywho, the check DSP was some random stuff I found on the net, as is the journal, which has some really funky cards in that I will show you another time. That is, when I have figured out what to do with it! The cotton reels are also from a sheet of DSP so I cut them out and wrapped some embroidery thread around them. I added SU buttons and ribbon and the wording is done with the yummy Broadsheet Alphabet and the Just Perfect Alphabet on Marina Mist card stock.
I'm in Harrogate all weekend so won't be around till Monday. I'm helping out on the WI stand at The Knitting and Stitching Show tomorrow, on Saturday mum is coming up and we'll be shopping and taking afternoon tea at Bettys and then on Sunday we're going to the show for more shopping and to learn new things. So excited!

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More Christmas cards - it's coming fast!

Just over a month to go until Christmas! These two cards were ones we did at Chapel Pie WI a couple of weeks ago. Dasher is my fave Christmas stamp, but I love the Contempo Christmas with the tree as well. The Dasher card also uses the So Swirly Jumbo Wheel, which is incredibly versatile.
Don't forget that the Christmas bundles are still available to help you with your cards and wrapping. Details over there >>>
Hopefully I only have a few more Christmas cards to make. Then I have many presents to do ...

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Just Believe Convention card

This card I made at Convention. In our bags we got two free stamp sets - this one is Just Believe and the other one was Party This Way. What a fab present!
I had to tackle some new things doing this card. The image is stamped on to Watercolour Paper, which was then spritzed with a bit of water to make it bleed slightly so it looks like a painting. I also used the Spritzer tool to spray on some dots of ink and give a vintage look.
I love this design so much I did it with my class the other week. They loved it too!

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A new colour combo

I bought the yummy Woodland Walk DSP a while back but haven't done much with it, so decided to get stuck in. I used the colours in the sheet as the inspiration for the card and ink colours used, so we have Garden Green, Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip, which I think work wonderfully together. The stamp is one from the Cute By The Inch hostess set and I added some Linen Thread and Regals Buttons for extra interest.
It was a little bit fiddly to make, as I had to wrap the thread around the two separate pieces of DSP/card then stick it all down straight, but it was worth it.

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Convention gift swaps

Here are the items I made for a gift swap at Convention earlier this month.
I used some Twill Tape to make little brooches. I stamped the cotton tape with the So Swirly Jumbo Wheel and folded it over at the ends. I then added a folded piece of 3mm Taffeta Ribbon and fastened on a couple of Neutrals Buttons with Linen Thread.
The backing cards they were presented on used the beautiful Newsprint DSP and Broadsheet Alphabet.
I kept one for myself, which I wear all the time, and gave one to Shelli Gardner, the co-founder of Stampin' Up!
I love being able to use the SU products for things other than cards - it is all so versatile and you just need a bit of imagination!

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Christmas robins

Christmas will soon be here! I've not got a single present sorted yet! My mum's is nearly finished, but I don't even have ideas, let alone the time to make them, for anyomne else!
But at least I have cards! I love these robins, made with the Two-Step Bird Punch. They're so simple but very effective and the colour combo of Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler is yummy.
So, best get cracking on the present making!

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Sparkly flutterby

Here's a fun little card with some added bling!
I have used Basic Gray here and the DSP is from the Love Letter stack and has been folded and creased a bit and pounched with the Spiral Punch. The flower background and sentiment are from Just Believe - one of my Convention freebies! - and the butterfly is All A Flutter - one of the A La Carte stamps that are sold separately. I gave him some sparkle with a few of the gorgeous Rhinestone Jewels et voila!
I think I'll be doing more of this colour combo, it's quite contemporary and understated. I can picture a kitchen in these tones!
PS Please visit Bodd's blog at http://busyboddcat.blogspot.com/2010/11/bodd-in-bag.html for his take on how to use the SU bags!

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Another bookmark

Last night I had some of the lovely WI ladies round for my monthly card class. We drank tea, chatted lots and made several projects.
This was my favourite - a bookmark. It uses the beautiful Love Letter DSP and I punched out a little heart and added some sparkle with the amazing Rhinestone Jewels. I love little touches like that, it really sets the whole thing off. The monogram is from Broadsheet Alphabet, of course, and once again I wheeled the Music Notes Wheel on to Twill Tape.
Now I need another book and some extra hours in the day to read it!

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