Crafty Claire's Blog

Tilda card

2010-06-15T11:05:00.005+01:00

A birthday card I made for one of the ladies I work with. I just love this new Tilda blowing bubbles. I coloured her with copics and sprayed smooch grape ink over the inner part of her wings. I coloured some clear 'rainbow drops' with alcohol inks which I then glued on as some of the bubbles with sticky backed gems as the rest.

As you can see in the picture below I embossed the backing nestie. You can see the glimmer in the wings, I just love it.

PaperYumness blog candy

2010-05-31T10:26:00.002+01:00

Hi so sorry I haven't blogged for months, having spent yesterday at a craft fair and seeing some lovely things people had made I decided it was time I started blogging again. Also Nenane at paperYumness has some astounding blog candy on offer. She has asked that we tell her what our favourite embellishments are, well at the moment (apart from stamps, which I just luuve) I would say my fave embelly is my border punches as they add interest to matting and layering. It really is so difficult to pick just one fave embellishment as my real answer would be the contents of a craft shop - I just love everything crafty.

Cute gift card holder

2009-09-29T12:32:00.002+01:00

I have made a gift card holder for Christmas (not sure who for yet). It is like an old matchbook with an envelope inside containing an insert which has the card stuck to it.

A forever friends sticker on white card matted onto a slightly larger black piece of card which in turn is matted onto some Christmas paper.

Image stamped using the new Papermania duo stamps and gold embossing powder on VersaMark ink.
Gift card stuck to a piece of white card matted onto a lovely shimmery card with a tab punched from Christmas paper using Stampin'up round tab punch.

Save Jess

2009-09-23T20:36:00.007+01:00

I normally keep this blog (which I know I have been lax in updating) for crafting, but today I am posting about the save Jess campaign. This young lady is amazing, while many in her situation would feel sorry for themselves and accept their situation, Jess does eveything in her power to raise awareness of the desperate need for organ donation not just for herself but for all the thousands of others who are on the list and who will go on the list in the future. Jess was born with Cystic Fibrosis and has been on the transplant waiting list for new lungs for over 4 years but time is running out for her. At the beginning of this month she took part in the Adidas Women's 5K Challenge 2009 where she walked 200m out of every km, that might not sound much to you but here is some of the information from her just giving page

I was in hospital recently as I had a partial collapse on my lung. My lung function is now 11% (or 0.35 litres - that's about as much air as you'd fit in a can of coke!) and I'm struggling even more but I am really determined to walk as far as I can. Emily has made a video for me which you can see here: http://tinyurl.com/mxx2v4

Since doing this walk Jess has deteriorated and is back in hospital waiting for somebody to say 'yes' to her having a chance of a normal life so please go check out her website and register on the organ donor register so that when you no longer need your organs they can go to saving the life of somebody like Jess. Remember to talk to your loved ones about your wishes.

Cato's Blog Candy

2009-09-05T08:20:00.002+01:00

Cato is offering some fantastic candy over on her blog, she makes some absolutely stunning cards so pop on over and have a look.

I must appologise for the length of time between posts recently but we have been away on holiday and I have had a few problems with my teeth meaning I have struggled to settle down and get on with anything properly. I also am just rubbish at keeping anything like this regularly up to date but promise I will try harder from now on.

Creating from the heart's blog candy

2009-07-25T08:29:00.003+01:00

I am sorry I have neglected my blog for so long but things have been busy here.

Go check out Creating from the heart blog, she is offering some FANTASTIC candy until the 5th August, see below for what she is offering:
~ 1 Martha Stewart Drippy Goo Edger Punch
~ 1 October Afternoon Cherry Hill 8x8 Paper Pad
~ 1 Making Memories Slice 8x8 Ledger Pad
And to go along with the Slice Ledger Pad...how about a SLICE MACHINE!! Yup, a brand new Slice machine and starter kit!! How amazing is that, so spread the word and try to win this amazing candy.

Boo on his bum teacher thank you book.

2009-07-10T20:42:00.003+01:00

I have been trying to resist buying the Go-Kreate die Boo Bear, I ended up buying Boo and this one shown below which is Boo on his bum. Isn't he just so cute?

I decided that as teachers get so many boxes of chocolates at the end of term it would make a nice change to give something a bit different, it was also a great excuse to craft (as if I need an excuse, inspiration maybe but not an excuse).

I made this book as I thought it would make a change for my son's teacher to receive it and it would hopefully be useful to her. Above is a picture of the front of the book, below the inside front cover.

I had blanked out both her name and my son's, as I thought it would be sensible as this is on the open web and he had put his full name.

Matterials:Sorry I can't remember which paper downloads these were, the book was bound using my Bind-It-All with 3/4" wires, Boo is sat on a deckled rectangle nestability die and the ribbon was from my stash (a gift from my lovely Mum). The to, from and thanks are from the cuttlebug alphabet die set 'Olivia'.

Never Ending Card

2009-06-27T18:24:00.000+01:00

Things you will need to make this card:
6" x 12" double sided paper (I cut down a 12" x 12" sheet)
Something to score with, I used my Scor-pal
Adhesive I used double sided tape and a glue stick

Paper/Card to decorate the card with, I used 8 2.75" x 2.75" white card.

Firstly cut the paper into 4 strips 3" x 6" (see above photo, I have shown both sides of the paper)
Score at 1.5" in from each side, as the width of the paper is 3" this will mean 3 score lines per piece of paper. I think it is best at this point to fold the scored lines so that they move freely both ways.

When you have done this with each of the strips lay two of the strips vertically on your work surface and put adhesive on each of the outside corners as shown below. When I remove the backing off the double sided tape (DST) I coat the tape with a glue stick as it allows the paper to slide whilst being positioned but when it dries it has the strength of the DST.

You now need to lay the other two pieces horizontally across the top of the other two strips with the matching patterns touching (as in the photo below) making sure that you line up both the outside edges and the folded seams ( I know I haven't in the photo)

I have done a post showing the finished card and how it opens.

Never Ending Card - Decorated

2009-06-27T18:23:00.003+01:00

I made this card for a challenge where the theme was sayings/quotes, so each pannel has a quote or saying on it.
I matted 2.5" squares onto 2.75" squares to add some definition and interest, I also inked around the edges of the inner squares.
I suggest you make a rough copy in cheap paper and play with it 'til you are confident of how it moves and which sides are seen on which turn of the card. If you look below the 'love' and 'joy' are visible on the second and third rotations of the card.
The top picture is how the card looks when it is taken out of the envelope and each photo is the next 'fold' of the card, you will get back to the start if you fold the card again.

Basket made using my Scor-pal

2009-06-18T20:36:00.000+01:00

I saw a video for this on Scrapy Land and really enjoyed making one of these baskets for my Mum so decided to make another and do a photo tutorial on how to make one. Do check out the blog as there are some great videos, which I may do photos on here of what and how I have made them as I find after watching the videos I sometimes need to check on key points again so like the photos to refer to.

Things you will need to make this project:
Scor-pal or other scoring apparatus,
6"x6" piece of card
Piece of card for the handle (for this example I have used a 1 1/2" strip of card cut from the short side of a piece of A4 card)
Scissors
Ink (optional)
Hole punch and brads or other securing system.

Take the piece of 6"x6" card, if one side is textured then place this side facing upwards on your Scor-pal as this will be the outside of the finished project. Score the card at 2" and again at 4", rotate the card a 1/4 turn and repeat. Your card should now look like this.

Flip the card over so that the side you want to be seen is touching the scor-pal and place the card so that it is a diamond shape with the longest distance between corners is central on the board, that is to say two opposite corners are both on the same line. Score along the lines at half inch intervals, rotate a 1/4 turn and repeat. This will give you the basket weave effect, see photo below. I have then taken a purple ink pad and gently rubbed it over the raised side of the basket weave on the card, I would probably use a darker shade of ink in the same colour as the card. You need to cut two of the original score lines on the same side of the card and the opposite side of the card, I have lifted up the outer sides to show these cut lines in the photo below.

Go over the original score lines with the side of the bone folder to 'sharpen' the creases. Fold the sides up so that at the end you have an equilateral triangle, this is easy just line the cut edges over the 'weave' scor lines from the corner as shown in the photo below.

Now it is time to secure this joint, depending on how you wish to do this it may be worth attatching the handle at the same time. I found that I needed to punch a hole in the basket near where my fingers are in the photo below seperately to punching the handle as my crop a dile wouldn't fit when the handle was in place. Having punched a hole (1/8") in both the basket and the handle I slid the handle in between the two side flaps and the central flap, see bottom photo, but this is purely personal choice. I punched holes and put a brad through the hole but you could glue or staple or whatever you want to secure this.

I have put photos below of a side view and end view of the finished basket obviously it looks better when filled, especially chocolate or sweets :lol:

Whiff of Joy new release.

2009-06-13T08:12:00.004+01:00

Whiff of Joy are releasing some lovely new stamps 'women's delight', Wedding and baby collection tomorrow (14th June). There are some fantastic stamps in the new range as always from Whiff of Joy. Katharina is offering some blog candy

Women's Delight Blog Candy:
I am giving away 2 surprise packages filled with stamps of the new Whiff of Joy Wedding and Baby collection designed by Elisabeth Bell.

Above are two of the pictures of the stamps from Katharinas blog, it is well worth checking out the whiff of joy store and Katharina's blog to see the rest. I do hope she doesn't mind mew using the pictures to help promote this release.
The sentiment stamps in this as with most/all Whiff of joy collections come in English and German. They now offer a flatrate shipping within Europe for 1.5Euros and the stamps are good value.

Katharina's blog is full of wonderful projects made with these stamps, it is well worth checking in often to see what she has been upto and for inspiration.

Dutch Dare and Post Pals.

2009-06-11T16:28:00.002+01:00

This week on Dutch Dare the challenge is

So this week all you have to do is make a charity card, something that would cheer an ill child.

This is because somebody wrote to them asking if they could get the people who enter the challenges to make a card for Post pals, this is a wonderful organisation who I first heard of about a year ago and have sent cards and letters to some of the children they are involved with. One of the children they help is William, I have followed his Mum's blog for sometime now and have sent post in the past. I was so very happy when William got his transplant back in November as it was clear that his body couldn't cope with more line infections but without the transplant the only thing keeping him alive was the line that fed him directly into his blood stream. He is now able to return to school after having to be isolated from other children for the past 6 months as his immune system post transplant is not very good at coping with stuff that children pick up. So to celebrate him going back to school for the first time in a long while I made this card. It was just perfect timing for this weeks challenge so this is my entry.

If you are a crafter who makes lots of cards just for the fun of it and then doesn't know what to do with them then please consider sending to some of the children registered with post pals. Some of them struggle to live as normal a life as they can whilst battling some horrid health conditions:
like Mima (see here for her website) who has ALL (Leukaemia) and still manages to be positive the vast majority of the time,
or Seren and Dylan , they are siblings who both have Cystic fibrosis (CF) (Dylan is also Autistic and Seren has Hypermobility syndrome meaning here joints aren't 'fixed' in place like most peoples but move too much causing her lots of pain) their Mum tells how their lives are affected by their conditions in her blog. Seren is currently poorly with flu and because of her CF it is harder for her to shift it.
These children are an inspiration to me as they get on with life and are often so positive even when things are not going well for them. Obviously there are MANY more children on the post pals website who could do with receiving your cards as it means alot to them to know people are thinking of them. So if you can please send a smile through the post.

More Blog Candy

2009-06-05T22:30:00.002+01:00

Very quick post before bed. Jacque's offering some gorgeous candy, things she has made using Magnolia stamps. She is also this weeks host of Friday sketchers so nip on over and check out her blog.

C.R.A.F.T challenge blog & Happy Fathers Day

2009-06-04T14:00:00.002+01:00

Mum went into town the other day and couldn't resist buying this new stamp set Dandelion goes FISHING from the Daisy and Dandelion range. Well as I Dad was a keen fisherman until he became too ill to sit on a river bank. So I made this card yesterday evening then logged onto my computer this morning to see that this weeks C.R.A.F.T. challenge is 'Fathers Day and colour combo blue/brown' so thought this card would be perfect for it. Now I just need to decide what to do for his birthday which is the same day as fathers day mmmm can't really use the same stamp so need to get my thinking cap on.

Fantastic Blog Candy

2009-06-03T20:23:00.003+01:00

I have seen some fab blog candy in the past but this one has to be the most generous one I've seen, so pop on over to Creating from the Heart to see some fab projects as well as the candy on offer. I never know what to put in these posts, it feels greedy to just put check out the blog candy but then you want it to be the focus of the post, so I sign off now letting you know that the candy will be drawn on the 12th.

Carole's Blog Candy

2009-06-03T11:06:00.002+01:00

Carole has some fab candy up for grabs over on her blog, you have until the 8th to enter so go on over and check it out. Her work is fantastic and I'm sure you will get lots of inspiration.

The Next Level

2009-05-31T10:21:00.005+01:00

There will be a new challenge blog starting tomorrow called The Next Level it looks like it will be worth checking out as they will not be linked to any companies - making it easier for everybody to enter. They are offering some fantastic candy (see below for pictures of both sets of blog candy) to raise awareness of their new blog. I look forward to seeing what challenges they offer us.

Retro Rose papers

2009-05-30T22:24:00.002+01:00

I made this card for a friends birthday this weekend, I just love the spring/summery feel of this backing paper. Firstly I inked the edge of a square white card blank and the retro rose backing paper which I had rounded the corners off. I then stuck down a piece of pink ribbon, from stash, to the backing paper then attatched this to the card blank. Stuck a happy birthday peel-off to a small pink oval and of course there is the Sugar Nellie stamp which I stamped onto a white oval of hammered card which I painted using mica paints. This was then inked around the edges and put onto a pink oval (all ovals were cut using nestability dies, petite ovals).

Sugar Nellie and LLB

2009-05-27T20:25:00.003+01:00

Another card using the Venaissance range from Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, both the backing paper and sticky ribbon are form this range. I cut the ovals using nestablity dies, the backing one is cut from a paper bag (who says recycling needs to be dull?). Image is a Sugar Nellie stamp painted. The black and silver paper is torn using my new ruler.

Finally a card

2009-05-17T18:27:00.006+01:00

I was very happy when I discovered one of my local craft shops is stocking the new ranges from Trimcraft and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. I couldn't resisit buying the 6x6 papers from the Venaissance range (and some ribbons) so decided to have a go and see what would work well with the images I had stamped and painted. I thought that this lovely deckled edged purple paper went well with my Sugar Nellie reflective girl. I finished it off with some Smirk ribbon and a slider cut with my nesties and a rub-on. The clear blob on the yellow brad through the flowers is from when I was experimenting with some clear shrink plastic and clear embossing powder, I think I heated it a bit too much and this blob just fell off - so couldn't waste it, decide to put it on a brad.

CFS/ME awareness day.

2009-05-12T10:03:00.002+01:00

As today is international Awareness Day for ME/CFS I thought it was about time to post a bit about how these conditions affect me. I was diagnosed back in 2005 and have gone from somebody who was always busy to now having to balance my energy levels by taking regular rest spells.
The condition when first recognised was called ME, ME stands for myalgic encephalomyelitis. Myalgic means 'muscle aches or pains'. Encephalomyelitis means inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Doctors didn't feel that this was always medically accurate and expensive to check (involving brain scans to test for the debatable swelling) so came up with CFS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which they prefer due to it's accuracy but patients dislike as people see it as tired all the time but aren't most people? Chronic means 'long-lasting and always present', Fatigue is the main symptom and a Syndrome is a collection of symptoms. These conditions have constant flu like symptoms of fatigue (NOT tiredness) which is not relieved by sleep, lack of temperature control/fever, all over aching and joint pain as well as

Loss of memory or concentration
Sore throat
Painful and mildly enlarged lymph nodes in neck or armpits
Unexplained muscle soreness
Pain that moves from one joint to another without swelling or redness
Headache of a new type, pattern or severity
Sleep disturbance
Extreme exhaustion after normal exercise
Abdominal pain
Loss of appetite
Alcohol intolerance
Bloating
Chest pain
Chronic cough
Diarrhea
Dizziness
Loss of Balance
Feeling lightheaded
Dry eyes and mouth
Earache
Irregular heartbeat (for me a regular but very fast heartbeat approx twice what it should be, for which I am going to the hospital to see if it needs treating)
Jaw pain
Morning stiffness
Nausea
Night sweats
Depression, anxiety, panic attacks
Mood swings
Shortness of breath
Tingling sensations
IBS ..(irritable bowel syndrome)
Hypersensitivity (light, sound, increased allergy)

These are the main recognised symptom groups for example the 'loss of memory or concentration' covers a huge range of things including going into a room and not knowing why you are there, not being able to find the words you need (it can be words you use everyday) and general 'cotton wool head'. I have put the symptoms which I feel I 'suffer' with in red, those I have some problems with in blue and the few I am lucky to avoid in black.

I think that this is enough for a first post on how I am affected by this, but I want to make the point that fatigue is something very different to being tired.

It is very different to everyday tiredness (such as "after a days work").
It is not eased much by rest.
It is not due to, or like, tiredness following overexertion.
It is not due to muscle 'weakness'.
It is not 'loss of motivation or pleasure' which occurs in people who are depressed.

Thank you for reading this, I hope it helps people to understand a little more of what sufferers experience every day.

My cousins wedding.

2009-04-08T13:26:00.003+01:00

A group shot of some of the family at a wedding at Chatsworth house at the weekend, the little girls look so pretty in their pink dresses. The bride looked stunning, her dress has a band of Hunter tartan (the grooms family tartan) and later she wore a tartan bolero jacket. It was a wonderful day, everybody enjoyed themselves. The groom (my cousin) is the man stood at the back.
Me and my boy, it was great to get a nice photo of the two of us together. I have quite a few photos of him on his own but not many recent ones of just the two of us and I'm sure he soon will not be prepared to pose with his Mum for photos.

Sorry but my mojo seems to be on an extended holiday and I fear it is going to stay away until I have been to the hospital next month, it just better not stay away 'til I see the physios as they have a long waiting list.

Blog candy

2009-04-02T13:33:00.002+01:00

Carole has some great blog candy over on StarDust Gems and Ribbon. It is well worth checking her blog out for some inspiration, you may have seen some of her cards as she is part of the design team for a couple of popular challenge blogs. She is including a couple of stamps (which are difficult to get) as part of the candy, you never know you might be lucky enough to win.

Friday Sketchers,

2009-03-29T20:39:00.007+01:00

So sorry I have been neglecting my blog lately but my mojo seems to have taken a holiday.
This card was inspired by the Sketch over at Friday Sketchers

I have tried to keep to the sketch as much as possible, as I hope you can see. The picture above is the sketch, so you can see what I was aiming for.

The backing paper is K and co (it is lovely but I have struggled to find a use for it as it has a large blank area in the middle) with Forever Friends paper in a strip across the middle. The tag is made from a piece of DCWV pocket full of posies paper and a rub on. The rectangle with the Forever Friends sticker on is cut with Nestabilities.

Blog Candy

2009-03-22T16:15:00.003Z

Claudia is offering some fantastic candy over on her wonderful blog. You may have seen some of her work before as she is on the design teams of a few popular challenge blogs, it is worth having a look at some of her fantastic cards. This is a picture of what she is offering, as you can see it is broken into 6 lots which will be sent out to winners. Claudia has said she will she interntionally so get spreading the word and see if you can be one of the lucky winners.

Oakley on tree stump

2009-03-12T22:28:00.000Z

This week at Tilda and Friends ATC challenge blog and Charisma cardz challenge blog the theme is 'one for the boys/guys' so I decided that my new Oakley and tree stump stamps would be perfect for this. Normally I would stamp these separately then layer them but today I decided to try masking Oakley to stamp the stump as if it were behind him, they were then painted using twinkling H2O's. The background is embossed using the Cuttlebug spots and dots folder, I added a flower brad to each side of the tree stump for added interest..

Double Trouble

2009-03-07T17:43:00.001Z

This week over at Tilda and friends atc challenge blog this weeks challenge is Double Trouble.

This is my entry, for the 'two/double' element I chose two images. I embossed some rose stardream card with the Cuttlebug swiss dots folder and highlighted the raised spots with a purple brilliance ink pad. The two characters are from the Magnolia Christmas Kit, I love the way they look like they are about to kiss - so I thought the 'cherish' sticker was appropriate.

I was lucky enough to win one of last weeks stamps (a very pleasant surprise) so doubt that I be lucky enough to win again but really liked this weeks theme.

Organ Day - 7th April 2009.

2009-03-04T19:24:00.001Z

Today Holly blogged about the work she has been doing on her Battlefront campaign. The above logo will be the logo for the new gift of life website, which should be up and running by the end of the month.
I have copied the next bit from her blog but it is worth having a look at her blog as she has lots of interesting posts on there.

What is Donor Day?

To mark World Health Day (7 April 2009), I am organising a Donor Day to raise more awareness of Organ Donation and to encourage more people across the UK to sign up to the Organ Donor Register.

Donor Desk

I am setting up a Donor Desk in Public space in London to talk to people about Organ Donation and encouraging them to be pro-active and sign up, leaflets will be available to people who want more information about Organ Donation. A laptop will be to hand so people can sign up on the spot via UK Transplant, you will be able to sign up the ‘old fashioned’ way by the Organ Donor Registration Form.

If you want more information on organ donation or on how you can help make Organ Day a success then see Holly's blog or the live life then gift life website. It really is an important topic especially the very difficult topic of child organ donation. I know that it is difficult for us to think of our mortality which is why many people never get around to signing the register but it is even harder for parents to think about loosing their child but that is a daily reality for parents whose child is on the waiting list for an organ. This was the reality for Sarah until her son William had a bowel transplant last November just a couple of weeks after she posted this post on her blog. It is wonderful to see the change in all of them but especially William since the transplant, it has given them back their smiles.

Sorry about the long blog.

Tilda ATC (happy birthday)

2009-02-27T09:09:00.001Z

An ATC I did for Tilda and Friends ATC Challenge blog. The backing is the Marie Curie daisy stamp embossed in holographic powder.

Whiff of Joy Willow (from Spring Stamp Kit)

2009-02-26T18:32:00.001Z

Yesterday was a good friends 30th Birthday so of course I made her a card and what elsr could I use but my new Whiff Of Joy (spring kit) stamp. I love this stamp Willow with basket, she is just so cute and pretty. I coloured her using coloured pencils and glitter glue on the flowers in her headband and the tie strip on her top. Her face and arms were coloured using mica paints. The letters were cut using stardream card (it has a lovely shimmer to it) on the Cuttlebug (I think it was Hippy Chic). I loved the frame with it's "As you get older three things happen, First your memory goes, and I can't remeber the other two."

I cut a scalloped circle with my nestabities with kneeling Willow on it and she is painted with Mica paints. The circle is matted on another nestie circle done in a shimmery pinky/purple. I have then stuck this on a lovely K and Co paper and finished with a large Happy Birthday peel-off.

Dutch Dare Card Challenge Blog Yellow and Green.

2009-02-21T19:23:00.003Z

Dutch Dare Card Challenge blog have green and yellow this week as the theme. These are not colours I normally use even though I like them. So I thought it would be good for me to have a go and I must say I do like the result. It was also a good excuse to play with my new Whiff of Joy stamps (from the spring stamp club) and I must say she does look good in pretty spring colours but in fact she looks great in almost any colour scheme. Well I will stop rambling now.

2009-02-15T18:28:00.003Z

Firstly I would like to say sorry for not blogging for ages.
I know I'm a day late with them but I thought I'd show the two cards I made for my husband for Valentine's day.

The backing paper is printed from Shabby Princess. The card on the left has a Smirk character on it and a cake stamped and painted with a gem on the top as the cherry. The other one has Melinda blowing kisses (Thanks Maxine) with stickers saying love + kisses.

Whiff Of Joy and Challenge blogs.

2009-01-20T12:46:00.002Z

Yesterday the stamps I ordered from Whiff of Joy arrived (the stamp club ones should be here in a few weeks, can't wait). So of course I had to test them and see if they were any good :lol:

Here are two of the projects I made: Melinda hugging Heart fat page, and Willow with Hot Chocolate ATC.

Melinda hugging Heart fat page

Willow with Hot Chocolate ATC.

The theme this week on the challenge blogs all seem to be inspired by Valetines day.
Over at Ooh-la-la Creations their theme is Love is in the Air / Valentine, I thought my fat page of Melinda hugging heart was a little bit unusual but still very much of the love theme.
Saturday Challenge have hearts as their theme this week so again the Melinda fat page fits in perfectly.

Dutch Dare

2009-01-20T09:46:00.003Z

This weeks theme over on Dutch Dare Card Chellenge blog is to use green-blue and brown on your card. I had these lovely papers from the DCWV spring matstack which were just crying out to be used for this project, I teamed them up with some ribbon (wrapping form a present) and Prima flowers and brads. The image is a Penny Black stamp coloured and cut with wizard nestabilities.

2009-01-17T19:40:00.003Z

Hi check out the wonderful Katharina's blog candy, she is offering the Whiff of Joy stamp kit to one lucky reader of her fantastic blog. She has done some fantastic crafting and has a super blog, well worth a look. She will be deciding the winner on the 25th, the stamp club stamps are available to buy until the 26th of Jan.

Awards

2009-01-14T20:26:00.003Z

Wow it must be the season for awards.

I have received these three awards from my friend Julie. Leanne and Katherine
both awarded me the butterfly and encouraged awards.

For the Encouraged and Butterfly Awards all you have to do is:
1) Put the award on your blog
2) Put a link on your blog of the blogger who gave you the award
3) Nominate 5 other bloggers
4) Leave a comment on their blog notifying them

For the Fabulous Blog Award you have to also state 5 things you are addicted to...
1) Coffee
2) Chocolate
3) Crafting
4) Chatting on my Computer
5) Cutting on my Cuttlebug

Ok maybe number 5 should have been sleep but I had got that far with them all starting with C so had to try to finish it the same way.

Ok so now for the difficult part finding 5 bloggers who deserve these awards but who have yet received them. In no particular order:
1)Angel
2)Vanessa
3)Vicky
4)Sandra
5)Jenni

Blog candy

2009-01-11T14:26:00.001Z

Hi Just to let you know that there is some fab candy on offer over on All the things I love blog, winner to be drawn on the 17th.

Just Christmas and Birthday cards

2009-01-11T12:48:00.003Z

Here are my cards for the just Christmas and Birthday cards blog this week it the challenge was to follow the sketch from the blog. I love the way both cards follow the sketch but the effect on each is different.

Charisma Cardz challenge.

2009-01-11T12:21:00.004Z

Hi this week there is a new challenge blog called Charisma Cardz they post new challenges on a Thurday. The first theme is PINK.

The edges have been inked in pink brilliance but that doesn't show up too well on here.

Used: Rose Stardream Card, Cuttlebug Perfect Paisley folder, Tilda stamp, Twinkling H2O's, nestabilities (scalloped circle) lilac glitter card.

ABC and Just Birthdays and Christmas

2009-01-09T08:58:00.003Z

Hi I thought that I could combine the Just Birthdays and Christmas Cards sketch and ABC V is for Violet theme, so here is the card I made.

I printed the backing out so that I had a nice violet colour background, then I had the inked Cuttlebug embossed paisly paper which I thought would go great as the strips behind the main image. I then trimmed down the side of an ATC blank so I had a wavy(ish) side and inked the edges, coloured some peel off happy birthday stickers and stuck Tilda sitting on the card. I finally finished it off with 3 buttons downt he side.

2009-01-08T09:04:00.001Z

A list of some blog candy on offer from some lovely people:
Tasha is celebrating her birthday (Happy Birthday Tasha) and is giving a massive £50 Glitterpot token to a lucky blogger on her blog Millie's Magical Moments. (Finishes on the 10th Jan)
Rach over at Papercrafts by Rach is giving away some lovely trims and bits and pieces including some fab Sugar Nellie stamps. (Finishes on the 10th Jan)
Simon Says Stamp have a huge prize on their blog and all you have to do is look at all their lovely stamps and say which is your favourite :) (Finishes 10th Jan)
Emma is celebrating 3000 hits in just a few months of blogging- way to go girl - with some lovely SU products on her blog Something Sweet. (Finishes on the 15th Jan)

Kim is celebrating being Papercraft Essentials Papercrafter of the year 2008 so is offering some great blog candy including basic grey papers over on creative makes

Carlz Cardz blog candy

2009-01-05T21:44:00.002Z

Hi just to let you know that there is some great candy being offered over at Carlz Cardz she is also starting a new challenge blog starting on the 8th of this month.

More ATC's

2009-01-04T18:17:00.000Z

I have quite got into creating ATC's this last few days so here are my latest batch. I used the daisy stamp from the Marie Curie stamp set to create some interest in the background of the top two.

I had an off cut of this paisly paper from a recent project ( I love this K & Co paper) so thought it would work well on an ATC.

Marie Curie Charity Stamp Set,

2009-01-01T22:20:00.004Z

I just couldn't resist buying these stamps on my way to work (well they are a donation to charity as well as stamps, that was my excuse anyway). Below are some ATC's I made this evening with the new stamps. The backing paper on this one is from DCVW spring matstack and the daffodil and butterfly are from the stamp set.

Again the daffodil stamp but this time on a tag embossed with Cuttlebug Divine swirls and i the edges inked in Brilliance. I love the way the daisy stamp embossed in holigraphic powder on the silver stardream card gives a shimmery background to the Tilda stamp.

Blog Candy, Sarah Kay

2008-12-30T09:59:00.000Z

Claudia is offering 3 Sarah Kay stamps, so pop on over and check it out. She has a fantastic blog and is on quite a few DT's (Design Teams) so her work is fantastic.

Spring Birthday Tilda Card.

2008-12-26T22:04:00.004Z

Hi I liked the look of the sketch over at Friday Sketchers.

The next sketch will be posted on 9th Jan.

This is my card maeusing the Tilda stamp I got fo Christmas and some K & Co papers (Sparkly sweet), a tag cut on my Cricut as well as a star embossed in lilac and some papermania gems to finish.

I loved making this card as I had time to relax and enjoy and it is so pretty and spring like such a contrast to all the Christmas stuff I have been doing lately.

Christmas

2008-12-26T15:29:00.002Z

Hope everybody had a lovely Christmas. I got some lovely crafting stuff and some much needed rest so all being well I hope to get chance to play with my new pressies.

Blog candy

2008-12-20T17:28:00.001Z

Wow there is some fantastic blog candy on offer over at Linanna designs. She is offering stamps and papers.

Whiff of Joy Candles.

2008-12-13T23:00:00.003Z

I got my Willow with lantern stamp yesterday that I won in Kat harina's advent calendar. It is a beautiful stamp and so lovely to work with. I stamped it onto tissue paper and painted it. I then placed the image where I wanted on the candle, wrapped it in grease-proof paper and heated with a heat gun until stuck and buffed it using a tissue. These will now be wrapped up and given away as Christmas present. They were so fun to make I just hope that my friends/familylike them.

Tilda ATC (challenge)

2008-12-13T20:03:00.003Z

This week the theme on Tilda and frie nds ATC challenge blog is frosty nights. I love this paper and it makes me think of a winters starry sky, I then thought of where I wanted to be on a frosty night and by the fireside is top of the list and that led on to the 'warm winter wishes' stamp.

For the other ATC I put dreamy Tilda and a snowflake (with Sickles on to make it sparkle) and a Merry Christmas stamp.

Blog Candy

2008-12-10T22:35:00.002Z

Hi Claire has some fantastic blog candy on offer to celebrate 36,000 hits so nip over to her blog and leave a comment.

2008-12-07T10:04:00.002Z

It is well worth popping over to Bea's Blog and checking out the fab blog candy she has to offer. She is celebrating 120,000 hits on her blog and started the blog candy yesterday on st. nikolaus day and will close it and pick the winner next saturday, december 13th, is in sweden the lucia day.

Cute Card Thursday - Lilac.

2008-12-02T22:30:00.004Z

I just love this stamp of Edwin and Tilda skating. The let is snow paper seemed just perfect to go with it and fitted in great with Cute Card Thursdays Lilac challenge. The picture doesn't really show it well but the star is 3d, it folds out making it that bit more interesting.

2008-12-01T21:05:00.002Z

Hi have just seen the Whiff of Joy advent calendar, it is well worth popping over to Katharina's blog to ceck it out. She isoffering a stamp for each day in advent, at 00.01 GMT she will choose a winner from those who have commented that day. How wonderful is that.

Flu

2008-12-01T21:00:00.001Z

Hi so sorry I haven't blogged in a while but been ill with flu so not had much energy for crafting or concentration for blogging.

2008-11-16T21:41:00.002Z

I ordered the Magnolia Christmas/Winter stampclub kit at the end of last month and it arrived yesterday so today I have been playing. I made an ATC (Artist Trading Card) and a Christmas card. I just love the Tilda and Edwin facing each other looking like they are going to kiss, well lets be honest. I love most of them. Tilda and Edwin Christmas card with heart and star brads at the corners, faux stitching rub-ons round the edges and a Christmas tree charm hanging from one of the brads.

Tilda is also from the winter kit but would make a lovely spring/summer image if coloured in brighter colours.
I found the picture of all the stamps on somebody elses blog. Mine were a bit less than perfect but all worked ok so a good buy, but very slow to arrive and no warning of when they post it.

Parents Evening.

2008-11-14T21:44:00.002Z

Ok I know is not good to boast about our kids but I am just so proud of mine this week. It started last Thursday when he brought home a letter from the school saying they were going to register him on the gifted and talented register for his maths skills. His parents evening yesterday was a pleasure to attend and now today he has come home saying his teacher is on about putting him on the gifted and talented register for his English work aswell. I know that academic achievment is not everything but he is also developing into a thoughtful and lovely boy.
I am especially proud of him as has had to adapt to my not being as well as we would like. I also at times felt that there were people who judged us as I was nearly 19 when he was born and then just before he started school his father left. He has worked hard to improve himself at school this last year and I am so pleased he has had this recognition.

2008-11-13T12:35:00.002Z

I received this from May and am very pleased but as my blog had a major hissy fit when I tried to put a new background on the other week and I lost all of my links to peoples blogs. I am not going to be able to nominate 7 blogs as most of the people I have got on my new lists are either too busy with hospitals etc or have already been given this award. I am sorry not to be able to pass it on but am grateful to have received it.

2008-11-13T12:34:00.001Z

I am sorry I have not blogged much this week but things have been very up and down here, I had a really bad weekend pain wise. I was at the pain management clinic on Tuesday and of course was not in much pain that morning, typical. They gave me a dual TENS machine which is fantastic as it doesn't give you all the grotty and groggy side effects of painkillers and with this one I can wear it as long as I need so no running out of it halfway through a shift at work. I also seem to have more energy since I have been using it whether this is just coincidence or if it is that so much of my energy has gone on trying to ignore the pain I have been in I don't know.

2008-11-06T13:43:00.004Z

Have a look at Bev's blog she has some great cards on there and is offering the chance to win some fab blog candy

So, up for grabs is:Whiff of Joy Santa Charlie stamp plus Merry & Bright sentiment stamp

Dovecraft Winter Wonderland 6 x 6 papers

5 pots of flat backed crystals in blues, pinks and reds

Some poinsettias in two sizes and colours

Some of my crochet flowers

A selection of large and small silver spacers

Gold spacers

A selection of silver charms Ribbon

She is closing the blog candy next Tuesday so get on over there and have a look. If you find this post after the candy has finished I would say still take a look as you will probably find some inspiration looking at her cards.

2008-11-06T09:55:00.001Z

Ok so today’s post is showing how I applied the magnolia stamp of baby Alvin, done as a girl, on to a candle and a piece of shrink plastic.

To apply a stamp to a candle you need to get some white tissue paper, I bought some but many people just use the tissue paper from between men's shirts etc. Place a scrap piece of paper underneath the tissue paper and stamp the image you want, it is worth checking it will fit on the candle you wish to use, when it has dried paint it in the colours you want.

Once the paint has dried cut closely around the edge of the image and put the tissue paper where you want on the candle then wrap it in greaseproof paper using the excess as a handle. Warm your heat gun slightly then heat the area over the image, you will see it starts to look 'wet' when the wax underneath melts and the paper sticks to it.

As you will see from the photos the one for the candle is painted in a much stronger colour than the one on shrink plastic. the painting on the shrink plastic does need to be much paler than you would normally paint.

Do not be alarmed when the shrink plastic curls up like this, just keep it still, it will flatten out when it has finished shrinking.

This is how it finished, see what the colour looks like and how flat it has gone.

As I didn't leave enough room when I stamped the image on the shrink plastic to add a hole above it to thread some ribbon through to hang the image I have tried (and so far looks like it might work) applying glue to the back and attaching it that way. I finished the candle off by pushing two eyelets into the warm wax and tying a ribbon around the bottom.
If you compare how the two images looked side by side after painting but before heating and then again now there is quite a change in them

Friends Baby.

2008-10-31T18:52:00.002Z

Yesterday was a good day in that my friend brought her 6 day old daughter Cerys to see me and I got lots of cuddles with the little one. Claire and I have been friends for many years and first met at primary school when we were about 4 or 5, I think but have been close friends since we were teenagers.

This is Claire with Cerys, a lovely photo.

This is not quite such a good photo of me with the lovely little one.

I had overdone it a bit cleaning the house before they arrived as I have been staying with Mum and Dad so hadn't done any cleaning all week so then suffered a bit later for my doing too much earlier.

Friday Sketchers and Cute Card Thursday

2008-10-29T23:42:00.003Z

Todays cards were made following the sketch from Friday Sketchers.
I loved this sketch and felt it was just perfect for my singing snowmen stamp would . I made a card to A5 size as I thought this was best with such a large image for this sketch. I went for traditional Christmas colours with this one as I felt they worked with the traditional nature of the stamp. I also liked the irony of the 'Silent Night' music paper and the Choir Snowmen

After making the above card I thought the sketch would work well with this reindeer stamp but decided this time to be more adventurous with the colour scheme. Again I had to make the card myself to fit the elements I wanted to use on it. I had the stardream quartz card and it worked out just right for the starry paper and the reindeer atc image (also in stardream card). I think this one might also be 'starry' enough for this weeks Cute Card Thursday blog, so I had best get over there and add a comment or I will be out of time.

2008-10-28T16:28:00.002Z

It was the pink card that was needed as my friend had a little girl last week and as far as I know both Mum and daughter are doing well. Will hopefully post some more on this when I have seen them.
I posted a while ago about a young lady called Holly who was part of channel 4's battlefront campaign, well I have excellent news - she has now had the kidney transplant. Ironically enough the call to tell her that there was a kidney which would be a good match for her and thus the transplant operation came less than two weeks after another young lady also called Holly had her planned kidney transplant operation, a friend of hers Oli proved to be a great match for her as regards to a kidney transplant. Their blogs are an honest account how the wait for a transplant affects them as individuals.

New Baby Cards, and Think Pink.

2008-10-18T17:52:00.013+01:00

Below are a couple of cards I made for a friend who is due to have her baby soon, as she doesn't yet know if it is a boy or girl I have made a card for each.

This is the one for Suzanne at Slumber Cards for a girl, showing both the outside and inside. I thought it would also work well for Suzanne at Slumber Cards blog candy. The stamped image is actually baby Alvin from the magnolia range, I didn't want to buy both Alvin and Tingla so bought just Alvin but I think he does well as a girl. She says "I want to do something special for my blogoversary and 30,000 hits BLOG CANDY The October "Think Pink" campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness is very close to my heart and I am sure it is the same for many of you too"

This is the one I think she will get as for some reason I think she is having a boy. I love the way the buttons and star on the babygrow stand out, they were done with flock powder.

2008-10-08T21:26:00.007+01:00

I have had fun playing with the sketch over on Sketch Saturday #19

Above is the sketch which has to be visible in the card you make from it.

This is the first card I made using the sketch, it is in my favourite colours.

I then did this one using a lovely K&co paper with a black card for contrast.

They were great fun to make and will hopefully bring a smile to the girls who receive them.

Sorry it's so short a post but not got time for more apart from to say nip over and have a look at Camila's blog and leave a message for a chance to win her fab blog candy.

Friends Wedding

2008-10-04T20:41:00.004+01:00

Our friends at their wedding.

At the weekend we went to a friends wedding, it was a great day but very tiring. The Bride looked gorgeous in her dress with the men all looking handsome in their suits, especially the groom and page boy. The service was lovely, the registrar put everybody at ease and got a few laughs. My Mike took loads of photos with his new digital SLR camera, it was a bit nerve racking for him as they didn't have a professional photographer so he was the main photographer but he got some lovely shots. It was really nice as it was the first wedding we have been to since our own last year and with being witnesses we were included nicely.

The Bride and her son.

With her best friend and niece, the bridesmaids.

The Bride with some of the 'girlies' who went on the hen do.

Yet more crafting

2008-10-01T21:41:00.005+01:00

These cards are for Will's sisters, Hope and Ellie. Will is back in hospital again so will be sending cards to him and his sisters to try to cheer them up. You can find out more Williams Post Pals page,

Sarah's Blog

Crafty day

2008-10-01T21:13:00.004+01:00

Today has been a good day as I managed to get loads of crafting time. So will show you what I managed to make.

This is a wedding card made for a couple of friends if mine who get married this weekend. The wedding colours are Fushia pink and silver so I have tried to incorporate these into the card.
I thought I'd try and decorate the inside and back of the card as well as the front to make it a bit more interesting and 'handmade'. I will write their names and ours on the back now that I have taken my pics to put on here.

2008-09-29T16:02:00.002+01:00

Ok I have been meaning to blog about this for a few days but never seemed to get time. I have lifted the section below from other peoples blogs (I took it from Sarah's blog and she in turn took it from Emily's blog - hope you don't mind Em and Sarah).

Channel Four are doing a programme called Battlefront where young campaigners are fighting hard to get their cause featured. 19 have been picked and there is one space left. LLTGL Advocate Holly Shaw, has had her "Gift of Life" campaign idea accepted! And now it's over to us.C hannel 4 are going to pick the most popular campaign to go through to their final group, with their favourite ones being featured on the Battlefront TV programme. To vote people have to do is visit the website above and click on "Vote". That's it! No need to register or anything else. So please, for the love of pie, vote, pass this on, spread the word, hassle friends/work colleagues etc. http://battlefront.co.uk/campaign/the-gift-of-life/ Holly has a disadvantage in that she has only just got her campaign on the website and voting ends 1st October. So we are asking as many people as possible to put a link up about this on their websites, Myspaces, Facebooks, etc. so we can get this campaign on channel 4. Really appreciate any help anyone can give - it would be such a shame for Channel four to run this thing without anything about organ donation whatsoever...

I know that this is an issue which is very emotive, for me we wouldn't have my beautiful cousin if some wonderful family hadn't over a decade ago given their loved ones organs - my aunty got a new liver after a virus attacked her old one and very nearly killed her. We still have her now thanks to the new liver and three years ago she had my cousin so we are very grateful. I also like to think that it gave that family some comfort to now that their loved ones did something wonderful for other people and that others live because of them.

2008-09-25T10:45:00.001+01:00

Hello all! I've been tagged by the lovely Leanne from http://fluttabyz.blogspot.com/ and these are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So 7 things about me:

1. Ok until 3 years ago my first name was legally Helen (always been known as Claire).

2. I was born in Germany, I am a British citizen as both parents are British.

3. I am virtually blind with out my glasses.

4. I completed 2 units of an Open University degree in Maths.

5. My favourite author is Christopher Brookmyre, his books are very funny if a bit sick.

6. I went to see Oasis at Knebworth, August 1996, then the biggest ever concert.

7. My favourite colour is purple.

That was so difficult to try to think of 7 facts about me, probably will think of loads now it's done.

Now 7 people to tag mmmm
Ok I'm going to split my list into two categories firstly those where the blog is predominantly based on health issues and their lives and then those with a crafting base.

1.http://lifeondialysis--waitingforthecall.blogspot.com/

2. http://jemimasellicks.blogspot.com/

3. http://www.sarahmilne.blogspot.com/

4.http://tab-memyselfandi.blogspot.com/ The link between the two lists as both health and craft related.

5.http://crafts-international.blogspot.com/

6. http://vixx-a-craftin.blogspot.com/ check out her blog candy.

7.http://chloecards.blogspot.com/

It took me a while as I started thinking of crafting blogs and Leanne had done some of those I would have liked to tag and then the others I didn't think would respond but then I saw Holly's campaign and thought I can use this to promote awareness of blogs which teach us not to take for granted all we have.

2008-09-21T20:05:00.008+01:00

Hi, I know I am getting so forgetful about blogging but haven't had much crafting time. I have been struggling with my health recently. I have had ME for over 3 years now and a couple of months ago I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I had a really good spell earlier this year (52 good days in a row) but unfortunately am having a setback now which means I have to focus on the things that need to be done and maintaining my routines such as sleep patterns. This doesn't leave much time for crafting or blogging and I don't want this to turn into a blog about my ill-health.

On a much nicer note, I went to stay with my parents last night as Mike was going out and we were expecting it to be noisy here. Mike was such a sweetie and did lots of housework and then went out to our local craft shop and bought me two Edwins and a Tilda. It was such a nice thing for him to do. Will try to upload pics of the projects I make with them.

Here is a pic of a card I made for somebody I know who has just had a baby boy. I love the new forever friends range of papers, they are just such lovely sets. Leebs this is using the alphabet letters from the blog candy that I won from your blog, I think they work well on this card.

Cards for Seren and Dylan.

2008-09-11T19:24:00.005+01:00

Seren and Dylan have Cystic Fibrosis. Seren has a chest infection and has had to have IV antibiotics, this has meant trips to hospital every evening and even an overnight stay.

This is the card for Dylan showing the outside and then the inside views.

This is a pocketfoldstyle card which I made for Seren. The first photo show the front view, the middle photo shows the inside with the card in the pocket, then the last photo shows the card itself.

Dylan's card has an Edwin stamp on the front of it, coloured using pearlised paints. Seren's cards have 3 Tilda stamps coloured using a mixture of twinkling H2O's and pearlised paints. Tilda is sitting on a wall stamped from the Magnolia range (the company that make Tilda and Edwin stamps).

I hope that the children like them as I things have been so difficult on them this last week or so. Seren loves school and has had to miss it as she hasn't been well enough and is very tired.

Friends Hen Night

2008-09-09T14:45:00.009+01:00

Ok firstly I know I am so bad at remembering to post on here. On Saturday a very good friend had her Hen night, for her and me it was a good but sober night for our other friends a good, drunken night.

Me before going out, still got some energy (if only it would last longer).

7 of the ladies from the hen night with the PINK limo that took us into town, it was a very pink night.

The lovely lady who organised the night having fun blowing bubbles.

Craflings Anti-word verification Campaign

2008-09-02T10:10:00.003+01:00

Hi Why not visit Craftling at http://craftlingscosycorner.blogspot.com/ so that she can tell you why she hates word verifiction.
When I first set up my blog I left word verification on as default as I thought it was the sensible option (I know me sensible never but yes I do try) but after a visit to Craftlings blog I realised that I wasn't going to ber bombarded with spam if I took it off. I struggle to read the silly characters on word verification thingys anyway and where possible use the audible version. I have been unable to complete what I want sometimes because I can't read the silly things.
So I am adding my vote to Craftlings campaign to get rid of word verification on blogs.

To make it a bit sweeter Craftling is very generously offering the following blog candy so go along to http://craftlingscosycorner.blogspot.com/ to check it out (below is a copy of what she is offering).

Blog Candy Inventory

12 x 12 papers (x 14), as follows:

HOTP Paper Pizazz ‘Vintage Roses’ x 2

Basic Grey (1 of each of the following)

~Offbeat ‘Impromptu’

Offbeat ‘Unordinary’

Offbeat ‘Nonchalant’

Offbeat ‘Informal’

Offbeat ‘Casual’

Fusion ‘Chartreuse

’Fusion *SWAK*

Fusion ‘Solar Ray’

Fusion ‘Pink Flamingo’

Lollipop Shoppe ‘Huckleberry’

Lollipop Shoppe ‘Raspberry’

Aged & Confused Phresh & Phunky ‘Phern’

Stamps:

Wood-mounted ‘Thank You’*

Wood-mounted ‘Wedding’*

Studio G Clear Stamp sets (x 2)*

(possibly used once or twice, but look new)

Miscellaneous stamped images**, including Magnolia & Sarah Kay images** (not in photo)

Fiskars ‘Hearts’ Border Punch (new)

Fiskars Texture Plates (x 6 double-sided = 12 plates) (new) +

Texturising Tool

Dovecraft Premium Paper Piercer

Satin ribbon x 5 spools (burgundy, black, gold, olive green, red)

Silver glitter thread x 1 spool

6 embossed white card panels, using different Cuttlebug folders

I pack embossed heart table confetti

5 large dark pink paper daisies + leaves

1 pack of 10 white tea roses (heads only)

DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies Foiled 3D stickers

DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies glittered cardstock stickers (open, but not used)

6 bright silver dragonfly brads

2 snap rings for making tag or mini books

Miscellaneous embellishments including

:4 prs of tiny crocheted baby bootees (blue x 2prs, pink x 2prs)

2 x double hearts (silver)

2 x double hearts (gold)

2 x pairs of silver bells

5 x silver storks

10 metallic gold bows

10 metallic silver bows

10 purple satin bows

10 ivory satin bows

4 cream bows with gold trim & roses

I pr gold wedding bands

1 pr silver wedding bands

1 pr gold keys

3 x bright ‘Happy Birthday’s (plastic)

2 silver ‘vases’

2 prs silver love spoons

Fluttabyz crafty blog candy.

2008-09-02T09:46:00.002+01:00

Hi why not pop over to http://www.fluttabyz.blogspot.com/ and enter for chance to win the blog candy. Leanne will be leaving it open for entries until 12pm on Sunday 28th September
so plenty of time for you to enter.

Items you will receive are all brand new. These are:* Dovecraft Fairy Doors Designer Template by Susan Burrows.* Dovecraft Creative Scissors.* Packet of adhesive flowers.* 2 Packets of Dovecraft Peel Off Stickers (one gold, one silver).* Express Yourself DIY 5 Handbag Card Blanks and Matching Envelopes.* Special Effects Bubbles & Borders.* Artoz Scrapbooking embellishments.* Cranberry Card Company Wording embellishments.* Approximately 25 bronze skeleton leaves.* Approximately 400 alphabet beads.* Papermania Present brass stencil (40 x 100mm).

Post Pals

2008-08-16T08:49:00.003+01:00

Todays post has nothing to do with my crfting. It is all about an organisation called post pals and the children/families they help. Post pals is about putting a smile on the faces of sick children, they ask people to write/send cards to sick children all around the country. These children suffer alot due to their illnesses/diseases but they rarely moan and deserve as much happiness as they can get.I have put a list of their websites/blogs. Some are more upto date and informtive than others but all are worth a look.

Friday sketchers challenge #13

2008-08-06T14:49:00.010+01:00

Here is my attempt at the sketch below.

This is the sketch #13 from the Friday sketchers challenge blog.
See link below http://fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/

Here is another card I made that has similarities to the sketch so I thought I put it on here.

Holiday Pictures.

2008-08-04T20:33:00.010+01:00

Some pics from our hols last month. To start it off the one above is my Dad, Mum, Me and my boy Alex.

Me and my Dad

Me and my Hubby, Mike.

This is a pic of the hotel where we stayed (well across the road in one of their private suites) on our honeymoon last year.

Below is a pic of the gardens of our suite from our honeymoon.

Entry for Tilda & Co Weekly Challenge Blog Challenge 30

2008-08-03T22:00:00.006+01:00

Here is my entry to the Tilda blog challenge this week, I know it is a little early for Christmas cards but it just seemed the perfect stamp and colours to make a card. It is such a wonderful stamp and it works so well with the girlie contemporary colours. The stamp is coloured using pearlised paints, she is matted onto a silver circle embossed using a cuttlebug snowflake folder, the snowflakes are cut using a Dovecraft punch. I can't remember where I got the other bits but the glitter backing with Christmas Greetings is from an old Christmas card, I really like the paper with 'Christmasy' words on.

I love the Tilda blog challenge but have never found one where my work has been good enough to enter.

funkyfairyinspirations: FABBY BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY

2008-07-26T19:25:00.001+01:00

If you follow the link before the end of the month then you could be in with a chance of winning their blogg candy - everything they release in the year from Aug 08 to 09. funkyfairyinspirations: FABBY BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY

Tilda Stamps

2008-07-16T22:20:00.007+01:00

Here are two of the cards which I have made using my Tilda stamps.

This one is a thank you card made using two Cuttlebug folders to emboss the background with ribbon over the join. The Cuttlebug was also used to cut out the Thanks. Tilda is stamped using 'summer sitting Tilda' stamp and embossed then painted in pearly paints and stuck on.

This one is a get well soon card made using my DCWV 'all dressed up' paper and the 'summer sitting Tilda' stamp, I have coloured Tilda in using pearly paints to give a nice shimmer to the image.

Will try to upload some more 'Tilda cards' soon as I have bought some more stamps of her.

Blog Candy

2008-07-13T13:32:00.002+01:00

Pretty Pressings is offering some blog candy chosen at random on 19th July 08. I do hope I win as I love the magnolia stamps. It is a cool blog and I would love for mine one day to be as good. Well I don't really know what else to put so I'm going to get back to making my friends wedding invites.

My First Blog

2008-07-06T14:12:00.003+01:00

Hi, I thought it might be fun to have somewhere to show my crafting and just to put abit about me on. Well here we go - I am married with a 10 year old boy. I have ME and Fibromyalgia so crafting has helped me keep my sanity when I have been unable to continue my other hobbies.
Here are a couple of boys cards I have recently made using elements cut on my Cuttlebug

Crafty Claire's Blog

Tilda card

PaperYumness blog candy

Cute gift card holder

Save Jess

Cato's Blog Candy

Creating from the heart's blog candy

Boo on his bum teacher thank you book.

Never Ending Card

Never Ending Card - Decorated

Basket made using my Scor-pal

Whiff of Joy new release.

Dutch Dare and Post Pals.

More Blog Candy

C.R.A.F.T challenge blog & Happy Fathers Day

Fantastic Blog Candy

Carole's Blog Candy

The Next Level

Retro Rose papers

Sugar Nellie and LLB

Finally a card

CFS/ME awareness day.

My cousins wedding.

Blog candy

Friday Sketchers,

Blog Candy

Oakley on tree stump

Double Trouble

Organ Day - 7th April 2009.

Tilda ATC (happy birthday)

Whiff of Joy Willow (from Spring Stamp Kit)

Dutch Dare Card Challenge Blog Yellow and Green.

Whiff Of Joy and Challenge blogs.

Dutch Dare

Awards

Blog candy

Just Christmas and Birthday cards

Charisma Cardz challenge.

ABC and Just Birthdays and Christmas

Carlz Cardz blog candy

More ATC's

Marie Curie Charity Stamp Set,

Blog Candy, Sarah Kay

Spring Birthday Tilda Card.

Christmas

Blog candy

Whiff of Joy Candles.

Tilda ATC (challenge)

Blog Candy

Cute Card Thursday - Lilac.

Flu

Parents Evening.

Friends Baby.

Friday Sketchers and Cute Card Thursday

New Baby Cards, and Think Pink.

Friends Wedding

Yet more crafting

Crafty day

Cards for Seren and Dylan.

Friends Hen Night

Craflings Anti-word verification Campaign

Fluttabyz crafty blog candy.

Post Pals

Friday sketchers challenge #13

Holiday Pictures.

Entry for Tilda & Co Weekly Challenge Blog *Challenge 30*

funkyfairyinspirations: FABBY BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY

Tilda Stamps

Blog Candy

My First Blog

Entry for Tilda & Co Weekly Challenge Blog Challenge 30