Afternoon!  Hope you are all having a fab day so far :-)  I've not got much planned today, I have one order that needs making up, so will do that this afternoon.  George is off to a home ed friend's house later and will be sleeping over so I have the evening free to be getting on with things.  I will be ringing up Portsmouth Uni to see if they can help me with funding a Masters degree as I have seen the perfect one that I would like to do, so fingers crossed for that.


Today's card is another smaller one that I made a couple of days ago:

This card was made using the lovely Create a Cupcake stamp set from the Spring Mini catalogue and was stamped on Confetti White card stock and bordered with Basic Black.

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Coffee and Cake, one of my favourite combinations

Morning!  Another busy day ahead, going to a friend's for coffee and cake this afternoon and then later on we're off to the football stadium to find out about education choices for the 14-18 year olds.  George is nowhere near that age yet, but its always good to know in advance what options are open to home educated children in our area.  I have also had time to play around with making smaller cards, and am quite enjoying it.  


So today's card is smaller, 4" by 4":

I used my new Big Shot die, Beautiful Wings, for the gorgeous butterflies. The sentiment is from the S-A-B stamp set, Outlined Occasions, and I used paper from the dsp, First Edition Speciality.  I also inked the edges of the dsp with Island Indigo to match the colour of the butterflies.


That's nearly it from me today, please feel free to message me if you are interested in joining me as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like more information.  During Sale-A-Bration is a great time to join as new demonstrators are eligible for an extra stamp set of their choice, for free, along with the great value starter kit for £119.

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Heart to Heart

Morning all!  Thought I would get on and post this morning as I find myself up and at 'em earlier than usual :-)  Lots to do today, going to make some smaller cards, just for something different to do.  May package them up in sets for sale, not sure yet.  I'm also hoping to get a Doctorate proposal started at some point today too, will see how time goes...


And here is today's card:

I used Rose Red from the Brights Collection and Basic Black to border it, which I love the effect of.  I used another of my new punches, Heart to Heart, to punch out hearts from Spice Cake dsp, and finished it off with a stamp from the stamp set, Vintage Vogue, bordered and put centre-stage on the card.


Right, that's it for me today, off to get dressed and ready to pop out.  See you all tomorrow :-)
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Sunshine

Wow, what another beautiful day out there!  Fingers crossed it lasts until tomorrow, so I can go out and enjoy a bit of the lovely sunshine we have been blessed with at the moment.  Today I was in Lyndhurst for a craft fair at the Community Centre.  It was rather quiet today, I think people were out enjoying the weather rather than coming in to see our wares today :-)  I caught up with other stallholders there as I hadn't been since before Christmas and caught up on the gossip.  Here are some pictures from my table today:

Today's card is another monochrome inspired one:

I used some more of the dsp, First Edition Speciality, and used two stamps from the Sale-A-Bration set, Elementary Elegance and finished off with three stick on gems.


Fingers still crossed for a lovely day tomorrow, but if it rains, it will give me opportunity to make more cards and sort out my fabrics to make more fabric-y things :-)
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Beautiful day

Apologies for not posting yesterday, it was a full on day at Moors Valley Country Park and we were both pretty tired when we got home.  It was good to see good friends for a chat and watch our children play together well all day.


And, here we are, at the end of another beautiful day today, not a cloud in the sky out there at the moment.  But today has been spent indoors making up some cards ready for sale at Lyndhurst tomorrow.  Here is one of them:

For this one I used the Postage Stamp punch, which can be found in the Spring Mini Catalogue.  I love this stamp alot, it gives a great effect.  I used two stamps from the Perfect Postage stamp set (also available in the Spring Mini) for two of the cut outs, and the rest were punched out using some dsp that I had, from Nursery Nest, Beyond the Garden, and Big Top Birthday.  Finally, the sentiment was one from the Sale-A-Bration stamp set, Outlined Occasions.


Hope you like it :-)  If you fancy any of the stamps, papers, card or punches, please feel free to contact me, only just over a month to go til Sale-A-Bration ends and the Spring Mini is only available til the end of April, so time is of the essence :-)


Enjoy your evening and speak to you all tomorrow.

Just a very quick one this evening, been feeling a bit under the weather today and George wanted to change his room around so that wiped me out a bit.  The living room is in a bit of disarray too, as he wanted to move his xbox and tv into his bedroom.  This means that I can move things around a bit and have a bit more room for my crafting :-)


Sunday I am at Lyndhurst for a craft fair, so really need to knuckle down and get some cards made ready.  Its the first time I have been there since before Christmas as I decided that I would have a little break from it for a couple of months.  I'm quite looking forward to going and seeing everyone and catching up on all the news :-)


Today's make isn't a card, it is a mini file holder to keep cards in.  We made one at Sarah-Jane's all day class last month:

 Looks gorgeous, doesn't it?  I love it and will definitely be making some more of these in the future.  The paper is from Spice Cake dsp again and the stamp is from the Sale-A-Bration stamp set, Elementary Elegance.  Here is a picture of the front:

The fabric is from the Spice Cake fabric and gives it a lovely finish.


Right, that's it for me now, off to bed soon as we have an early-ish start to spend the day at Moors Valley with friends :-)

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Late again

Evening!  Just a quickie this evening, plum tuckered out after a day in the forest with the boy making ancient hunting tools:

We love our day in the woods once a month, its lovely and peaceful and a world away from the town life that we live in day to day.  Its good for the soul to have this opportunity :-)


So, today's card is another one that I made at Sarah-Jane's class a couple of weeks ago:

This one showcases another two of the gorgeous papers from the lovely Spice Cake dsp.  The flower was cut using the Fun Flowers die for the Big Shot and then a big button was used with some Spice Cake fabric threaded through to give the card an added dimension.


Hope you like the card.  I'll be making some more cards tomorrow using my new stamp sets, so see you then :-)
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Monochrome

Today I thought I would play around with the dsp First Edition as I liked it a lot when we used it at Sarah-Jane's class last month:

I used Basic Black and Very Vanilla card from the Neutrals Collection and love the monochrome effect.  Finally, I used a stamp from the Sale-A-Bration set, Fresh Vintage, using black StazOn ink (love the smell of that ink, mmmmm) and used dimensionals to stick the stamped image onto the card.


Sale-A-Bration items are still available on all orders over £45 until 31st March, so now is the best time to get an order in and take advantage of these lovely gifts on offer. 

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New playthings have arrived!

Excitement abound here!  My shipment arrived from Stampin' Up!  Eight new stamp sets, three new punches and a new die for my Big Shot.  How happy am I?!  Lots of new things to play with!  And here is a card that I have just finished making with one of the new stamp sets:

The stamp is from the stamp set, Proud Peacock, which is in the Spring Mini catalogue and I mounted it onto a piece of Spice Cake dsp, which is fast becoming a favourite of mine :-)


Only a quickie, I want to get back to playing with the other stamp sets :-)

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Spring is nearly sprung

Goood Morning!  Sun is shining, spring is on its way finally, I think :-)  All is well with the world (can you tell I got a good night's sleep last night lol)  The boy has had a friend over for a sleepover and they are busy playing on the xbox in the living room, so I am taking time out to do some work bits in my bedroom while catching up with the Corrie omnibus.


So, today's card has spring in mind.  Its another one that I made from some fabric that I found in my stash and I love the rabbit, he is cute :-)

I have spaces available for workshops next month, so if you are interested, please get in touch and we can have a chat.


Right, I'm off to enjoy the sunshine :-)

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Evening :-)  Today was pretty non-productive as I only managed to get about 3 hours sleep last night :-(  So was quite zombie-like today.  Even so, we managed to get over to see the grandparents and popped in to the shoe shop to get George a new pair of shoes.  I keep checking the UPS tracking web page to see where my parcel is.  It departed Barking early this morning and hasn't arrived anywhere yet :-O  Its meant to reach me some time on Monday, so I have cleared the day so I can be in when it comes.


On to today's card then, another that I made at Sarah-Jane's class last week:

I love the big button on this one and love the paper as well, because it incorporates a stamp that I like and have in my collection, Triple Treat Flower, in it's pattern.  It is another paper from the dsp, Spice Cake, that can be found in the Spring Mini Catalogue.  The fabric is from Stampin' Up! too, they have started selling fabric that co-ordinates with some of the dsps and this one can be found in the Spring Mini too and co-ordinates with the Spice Cake dsp.  The stamps used are from the Sale-A-Bration stamp set, Elementary Elegance.
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Dotty.

Just a quickie today, feeling under the weather and am about to get back under the duvet and shut my eyes for a bit.  Hoping that I will feel better for a bit more sleep.  We were supposed to go to Stonehenge today as well, so not a happy bunny right now :-(


Today's card is another one that I made at Sarah-Jane's all day class last weekend:

This one also showcases stamps from the Elementary Elegance stamp set from the Sale-A-Bration booklet.  The stamp was heat embossed onto the card and then the card was embossed using Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder in the Big Shot.  It was then finished off with a ribbon tied in a bow, which I think I am finally getting the hang of doing :-)


Right, that's it for me, off for some shut eye.
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Counting down the days...

Good evening all :-)  We've had a lovely day today drinking tea with friends and catching up on all the news and gossip while the children played.  A fine recipe for a cold winter's day.  I was expecting to get caught up in traffic on the way home, but strangely there was not that many cars on the road, maybe because it is half term.


I'm (im)patiently waiting for my latest order to come from Stampin' Up!  I put the order in yesterday, so it'll be a few days yet I imagine as it is still at the picking stage at the moment.  I can't wait for it all to arrive.  Then there will be the decision of what to play with first!  Especially with all the freebies that are coming too :-D


So, before I sign off to take George to Army Cadets, I have another card to show you that uses the Petite Pennants builder punch and a stamp from the Pennant Parade stamp set:

For this card, I affixed the bunting to a piece of ribbon and used VersaMark ink to decorate the card with the star stamp from the same stamp set.  Finally, I finished it off with a sentiment from the Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set.


Right, that's all from me for now, have a fab evening and speak to you all soon :-)
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Spoiler alert... (It sinks, you know)

Hope everyone had a good Valentine's day.  We had a fab time at the cinema last night, forgot how much better Titanic was on the big screen.  Still not too sure about the 3D bit though, it worked for some things, but not for others.  George enjoyed it, but still would have preferred being able to fast forward the 'boring bits'.  The cinema was quite full and George was convinced that he was the youngest one there, which he probably was, we couldn't see any other children in there.


Today I will be putting in an order to Stampin' Up! and can't wait to get my hands on some new things to play with.  I have so many ideas in my head, and not enough time sometimes to get them out onto card :-)  One thing I am looking forward to is getting a punch that cuts out hearts, which will make cards like this easier to do:

Although I don't mind cutting the shapes out, when it gets to being later in the day, my eyes don't work as well and focussing becomes a bit of a problem, plus a punch means that I can punch heart shapes out of the dsp paper, as well as stamped card.  The card above is simple to make, it has paper from the dsp Beau Chateau, as the background and then I stamped out three hearts using a stamp from the I (heart) Hearts stamp set.


So watch this space for butterflies, hearts, cupcakes and postage stamp inspired cards in the coming weeks :-)
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Happy Valentine's Day

An early one today as I am taking the boy out tonight to go see Titanic 3D at the cinema :-)  Very apt for Valentine's Day, and it is free too.  I'm looking forward to watching it for the fifth time at the cinema, didn't think I would get the chance again.  George, on the other hand, isn't quite as excited I don't think, he does like the film, but tends to fast forward to the bit where the ship starts sinking lol.  He's more of an action/horror film type of lad.


So, on to today's card, which is Valentine's inspired:

The paper is from the dsp, Holly Berry Bouquet Speciality and the stamps are from the I (heart) Hearts stamp set.  The ink used for the inking of the dsp and the stamps was Cherry Cobbler, which is a favourite of mine.


Most of the cards that I blog about are for sale, so if you are interested in purchasing any, please feel free to contact me.  If you fancy having a go at making cards yourself, and live in the Bournemouth area, I will be having classes next month, again, contact me to find out more :-)
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Gosh, nearly forgot to blog!  Was going to blog earlier but the laptop crashed while I was out taking George to army cadets and I got as far as logging back in.  I then headed over to Facebook for a game of bejewelled blitz, which never turns out to be just one game and before I know it, its an hour and a half later and here I am :-)


Here is today's card:

Looks simple, but effective, doesn't it?  I love it.  The flower in the centre is made from ribbon, using a technique that we learnt at our all day class yesterday with Sarah-Jane.  The rest of the flower was cut from a die for the Big Shot using some more of the Spice Cake dsp and the image behind that, was embossed using a stamp from the Elementary Elegance stamp set.
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Spicy :-D

Today I was at Sarah-Jane's for an all-day class, which was lots of fun.  We were working with a dsp from the Spring Mini Catalogue, Spice Cake, which has a vintage feel to it, and stamps from the Sale-A-Bration stamp sets of Elementary Elegance and Fresh Vintage.  Sale-A-Bration items are available free for every £45 you spend between now and 31st March and we love free things :-D

Today's card uses stamps from the Fresh Vintage stamp set which gave me the opportunity to try out the Postage Stamp punch, which is really cute, I like it a lot.  The paper is from Spice Cake and I used Pear Pizzazz ink for the stamps and Pool Party for the circle design.  All the paper edges were inked with Crumb Cake to give it a more vintage look, which looks fab.

There will be more to come over the next few days from the class today, please feel free to contact me to make an order for any of these gorgeous items that I have showcased here today, I look forward to hearing from you :-)

Bunting

Just a quick one this evening, on the super slow Mac Mini which likes to think about every little action that is taken :-(  George has taken the laptop with him to his sleepover at Grannie's house so I am having to resort to this little dinosaur lol

Today's card is another one using the Pennants Parade stamp set and the Petite Pennants builder punch:

I used card from the in-colour collection and stamped the bunting using a stamp from Pennants Parade using VersaMark ink then used the Petite Pennants builder punch to cut them out.  I also stamped the background paper with two other stamps from the same set using VersaMark again.  Finally, the sentiment is from Happiest Birthday Wishes, stamped with Calypso Coral to match the background paper.

Righty-ho, that's it for me this evening, speak to you all soon,

Nearly Swept Away...

What a day today!  We went to Portsmouth to visit the Royal Marine's Museum today and it was so cold.  It probably wouldn't have felt so cold if the wind wasn't blowing quite so much though.  George had a good time and had an opportunity to show off his army cadet skills when the tour guide got the children to line up and learn some drill commands.  It was fun to watch them taking orders like a Marine would, but would have been more fun if it had been the middle of summer, or even spring lol.  I think I will be having an early night tonight to recover from the last two days travelling :-)


With today's card, I am taking a break from Paisley Petals, you will all be no doubt glad to hear :-D  For this card, I wanted to reacquaint myself with the Petite Pennants builder punch:

I used both sides of a paper from the dsp Holly Berry Bouquet Speciality, even though it was designed with Christmas in mind, most of it is usable all year round.  I finished it off with a stamp from Happiest Birthday Wishes.

Only a few days left to get your spot on my Stampers 6 club, please feel free to contact me for further information or to reserve your place.

Snow is on its way (apparently)

Today we went to London to meet some home educating facebook friends at the Science Museum.  We love the Science Museum, there is so much to see there.  George seems to find something different every time we go and we have decided that we need to go back again soon.  We then had to get back home in time for George to go to Army Cadets as he was being tested this evening for his one star, so haven't really stopped at all much until now.  Tomorrow we have plans to go to the Navy Museum in Portsmouth, but the forecast is for snow, so won't know until early tomorrow morning if we will be able to get there or not :-(  Well, I guess if we don't go, I'll have more time to make more cards :-) (plus a little play in the snow if it settles here).


Today's card is one that I made for swaps at our last demonstrator meet up:

For this one I used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and the flower stamp comes from the hostess gift stamp set, Posy Punch, which I love, well worth having a workshop for the treats you get from being a hostess :-)  Not forgetting that it is Sale-A-Bration at the moment too, so more extra free things, AND the Spring Mini Catalogue giving extra choice of what to buy.  Stampin' Up! are definitely spoiling us at the moment :-)

More Paisley Petals :-D

We went to Hobbycraft today, I looked at the cardmaking things and George went off to look at the Airfix models and Hornby trains and we came out with an Airfix model for him and some wooden embellishments and  a pack of envelopes for me.  Today's make was a card for a friend's mother's 60th birthday:

I really like how it turned out, there is a photo in the middle, but I decided to cover it up before photographing it for my blog.  Still using dsp from Paisley Petals lol, at some point I will run out of it and move onto something different :-D  It is so versatile though and hard not to use for pretty much everything at the moment.

Be my Valentine :-)

Bit early for that question, I know, but I thought I'd give you all a bit of time to get your cards made and in the post lol.  We had a quiet day today.  Popped into Christchurch for a little mooch about this afternoon, George wanted to go to Argos to spend his pocket money and bought himself some Star Wars lego.  He has spent the rest of the afternoon playing with his lego on the floor of the living room.  Not much time for making cards, but have been planning a design for a commission that I have been asked to make for someone this week.

Today's card is Valentine's inspired, I love the two pinks, Pretty in Pink and Pink Pirouette, in the Subtles Collection, and I think works well with the green and the blue too.  For this one I used the embossing folder, Vintage Wallpaper, which is my favourite embossing folder from Stampin' Up!  I added ribbon to jazz the card up.  Stampin' Up! has a wide range of ribbons and they are great value for money too.

A late one...

Eeek!  A very late one this evening, where did the evening go?  I was going to post while George was out at Army Cadets, but Louis decided he wanted some one-to-one time which involved plonking himself on my lap for a cuddle lol, so I indulged him somewhat.  Then after I picked up George from cadets (who was late coming out aswell tsk tsk) we headed over to Asda to get some bread, and some doughnuts that were reduced to 10p (who could resist that?).  When we got home, George wanted his xbox sorted so he could have netflix on it, so its only now that I have been able to sit and write this blog post :-D


I wanted to show you today another of the cards that I made yesterday, as I love the paper I used as a background, I like bold, bright designs and this one ticks that box completely:

Again, it is from Paisley Petals, predictable, I know :-) but it is my favourite at the moment.  I am looking forward to next week when I will have new things arriving from Stampin' Up!  New things to play with, can't wait...