Welcome Lily

Great excitement in the family this morning, my Sister-in Law gave birth to their first child, my first niece this morning at 3.30. Her name is Lily Annabelle and both are doing well. Hope to see her this afternoon and will post a pic then.

WOYWW

I haven't had a chance to join in with this for ages so I know it's a bit late but at least I'm here. This is WOYWW which Julia hosts on her blog for all us nosey - sorry curious - crafters go to see what others get up to in their craft areas.

So here is a pic of what's on mine, unfortunately I had a bit of tidy up at the weekend as my usual push-back style had left me with about a quarter of my glass board to work in and even for me it was difficult.



I had been making a new baby card for a friend to give to her friend so there is the remnants of that making on the desk - ie baby stamps. Also been trying to start my Christmas cards and playing with my new Blue Moon Father Christmas to get some good ideas. You can also see on the left / middle of the photo (next to the cherry bakewell - which I have now demolished mmmmm) a wooden drawer which I am in the middle of decorating. I have one of those plyboard mini chest of drawers and am decorating each drawing individually to hopefully create a collage effect! - we'll see, but here is a close up of the drawer:


There is also a bead necklace that I bought in a sale - I don't like all the beads but have others I want to put on it their place - but it still sits there.

Thank you if you've taken the trouble to pop by and also if you've commented, I will pop by to as many as I can but it may take me a few days.

Latest Quirky Crafts Challenge

That time again - I can't believe that we're up to Challenge 36!

This time Caro has created her first sketch and it's a cracker. I love using sketches and this one is great fun to play with and very versatile too.

Here is the sketch:

and here is what I made of it:


Click here to see how the rest of the Design Team interpreted it.

I'm going.................

..........no not mad (I'm already there!)

I have managed to secure tickets for Pippa and me for the Paperartsy workshop with..........................



I can't believe we're going and that we're going to meet him and actually be taught by him too. I am sooooo excited but have to control myself as we have to wait until the end of Feb next year.

If you'd like to see what we'll be up to and what I'm getting so excited about check out this link here

Latest Quirky Crafts Challenge

Time for another challenge over at Quirky Crafts, this time our lovely Cazzy has set us a recipe that initially filled me with horror! Sewing - not my strongest skill I have to say, but as she wanted lace and buttons and stitching (real or faux) I decided to take the bull by horns and create something fabric as you can see below.

I used my Sizzix primitive heart dies to cut out two large hearts and sew them back to back with the lace in between. Not the easiest thing especially round the top and then made things a whole lot more difficult because I left the gap for stuffing on the pointed end which meant trying to sew it all together on the outside - not fun! Thank goodness for nimble-fingered seamstress friends to help finish it off before it got thrown round the kitchen.

Next time I leave the gap down the long side, and yes there will be a next time as I want to make a few to create a decorative hanging for my new craft room.

Hope this hasn't put you off joining in our challenge - the other ladies were much more sensible and used paper lace and faux stitching..................but then when did I ever do anything the easy way!

Latest Quirky Crafts Challenge

Challenge Number 34 - Deanne's last sketch for our challenge blog, so I thought I would try and do it justice by attempting my first scrapbook page and here it is:

Using a photo of my Phil which was taken at an evening to celebrate a friend's birthday a few years ago. I have chosen autumn colours as her birthday is in October and used my lovely brown and bronze and red papers from Dovecraft that I picked up as a bargain.

Hope you like it and I hope it inspires you to have a go at our challenge too.

Thanks for stopping by to have a look.

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #36

I don't know how they manage to keep coming up with new and interesting sketches on SS&S but they do and they're great and this week is no exception. I make a fab Christmas card using this sketch then realised that for once it had no stamping on it as I had used some of the Nitwits die-cut images. It's not very often that my creations have no stamping on whatsoever, but it's typical that when you have to for a challenge there is none to be seen!

So I had another go with a stamped Anya image that I received in an image swap (possibly even from Maggie Bob?) The papers are from the Craftwork Cards goody bag I picked up at Stamperama - what you can see is that they are all pearlescent and lush.

The image is coloured using my new Promarkers and as you can tell I am still getting to grips with them.

Anyway enough waffling - thanks for looking.

Been having a go at making and decorating cupcakes. Bought these gorgeous pink spotty cases in Waitrose and coloured the icing with a handfull of raspberries from the garden.

Need to get a large star nozzle - not this half star that came in the icing pack, and definately need to practice icing, it was not supposed to be so wiggly!!

Sunday Sketch & Stamp # 34

Gorgeous sketch over on Sunday Sketch & Stamp this time - really simple but great for having lots of fun with. Thought I would try a bit of resist technique with my new Inkadinkadoo stamps, then jazzed is up a it with lots of coloured gems.

Having done this I then checked out another of my favourite challenge blogs Sir Stampalot only to discover that this month's challenge is BLING, so I am also entering it for this challenge too.

Latest Quirky Crafts Challenge

Just a quick post to tell you about our latest challenge over on Quirky Crafts. This time is my recipe in which you must use the following in your creation:

2 different patterned papers, 1 ribbon, at least 1 eyelet and some shrink plastic.

We are trying to encourage the creation of other crafts and not just card-making, so if you are reading this and have not yet joined in our challenges - pop over and have a go. Thanks x

Here is my creation - a grungepaper keyring; coloured with distress ink - spiced marmalade and with two shrink plastic Sizzix flowers and stitched together. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and it was nice to make something other than a card.

WOYWW

Ooh - very late to be adding this WOYWW entry this week, but I have just come back from Stamp Addicts project club and thought I'd take a pick of my desk with tonight's creation plus all the other 'stuff' that's going on at the mo.

Have a craft / food fair going on at my local farm shop on Sunday, so am trying to get lots of cards ready to sell then. Been playing with bottle tops too - 80p ish for 50 in Wilkinsons, and new pencil pot that I won in a competition for my watercolour pencils (but no room to put the pot!).

Sorry must go to bed now, but have a good nosey round and comment tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by and looking. x

Sunday Sketch & Stamp # 32

Haven't joined in the Sunday Sketch & Stamp challenge for a while, for no other reason than lack of time and of course recent events. However I made this card last week for this challenge and have given if to my friend for her birthday tomorrow, but had just not had the chance to get on the computer and load it up to my or their blog. Story of my life!

So here it is and I hope you all like it, I am really pleased with how it turned out.

WOYWW

Ok rubbish crafting day going on today. In fact pretty rubbish day all round although slightly better than the last few - I actually went into work again today but came home at lunchtime and have tried to knuckle down and get on with some paperwork that is still outstanding.

However points of interest include large bag of popcorn that a friend brought round which is keeping me going, cover matchbox box which has one more piece of paper on it since last time I showed it and just peeping out of the top of my craft tote/bag thing is a blank wooden bangle which I am going to decorate with stamping and glimmermist type spray.

OMG I have just looked up and it is absolutely chucking it down - I can almost hear the party my garden is having from here! - however all dogs are under my desk cowering from the thunder.

Hope you're all having a better day and I look forward to having a peek at your desks through Julia's desk first. Thank you so much for visiting mine. x

Latest Quirky Crafts Challenge

Can you believe we are onto challenge number 32 on Quirky Crafts challenge blog! This week our lovely Lyn has designed us a sketch to follow. I really love working to a sketch and I have twisted this one slightly to make it work better.

Here is Lyn's sketch if you'd like to have a go - we'd love to see what you come up with.


and here is my card:


We are making a few changes over on our challenge blog - starting with fewer challenges over the summer - so pop on over and see what's happening here.

This is card I made using my free Craftwork Cards papers from Creative Cardmaking magazine. I have been Craftwork Cards fan for a long time and loved the Blossom range that these papers are, not quite sure whether the tulip goes - but it is one of Pippa's stamps and I love that too.

WOYWW

I can't believe we have got to Wednesday again - mind you at the moment I never quite know which day I'm on!

Bits and bobs of crafting going on this week as I have a few birthdays and anniversarys to prepare for - struggling to concentrate for anyone thing for too long, which is why there are so many part projects on my desk at the moment. These include a card for my friends husband in gorgeous chocolate and cream damask card from Kanban and a part finished matchbox drawer set - just for fun.


I have also taken a pic of what's on my RHS - ie my rather untidy and overstuffed bookshelf.



Well I'm off to have a nosey around the other fun desks on WOYWW - hope you all have a great week and see you again soon. x

Latest Quirky Crafts Challenge

Can you believe we're up to challenge number 31 - no way! The theme for this challenge was chosen by Julia and is 'RIBBONS'. Here is a pic of my card which I sent as a thank you to my friend Ellie for buying me the gorgeous Sarah Kaye stamp - I also managed to incorporate 3 ribbons into it. However definately need to do something about my photography as the colours were much more striking in reality.

Ribbons are obviously a passion of many peoples as the challenge has only been up for 24 hours and already there are many entries.

WOYWW

Firstly, thank you so much for all your lovely and supportive comments last week, they were appreciated so much.

Well this week as you can see I have got onto a little bit of crafting with a sunflower card for our Quirky Crafts summer challenge, which I will also send to my Aunt for her birthday in a couple of weeks. Actually have several more birthdays and anniversarys coming up so must get on with them.

See also to the left of the sunflower card a gorgeous Sarah Kaye stamp bought for me by one of my very good friends, just because...... I am so looking forward to using it!! (trying to type as fast as I can so that I can have a play)

Otherwise the usual jumble of a 'push-aside' work space! Off to have a nose around some of your desks too at WOYWW. Thanks for stopping by. x

Just a quick post to put up my late card for the Quirky Craft Challenge no 30 which has a SUMMER theme.

My first card since I've started back into crafting again and I found this gorgeous sunflower stamp which I bought last summer and haven't used yet - thought it would be perfect. Yummy scrummy ribbons from Crafty Ribbons too!

WOYWW

Not much crafting going on here at the moment, seem to be spending most of my time dealing with that ever-growing pile of paperwork on the left.

The only remotely crafty things I have done are the tag to go on his flowers and his order of service, both of which you can see in the pic.

However last night I dreamt of crafting so that must be a good sign - so this morning I got out some of the stamps I want to use to make some cards to thank a few people for their immeasureable kindness and support. I'm actually itching to get back to crafting which must be good, although as is often the case I think it may become a means of escapism.

I wasn't going to post today but after having a look through a few of your desks, I couldn't help it - how can this be so catching? Off to do some more nosing around! Enjoy your day!

If you're reading this and wondering why on earth I should want to nose around other peoples desks then pop over to Julia's blog at WOYWW and you'll be hooked too!

ps - I have just noticed the Egg card at the top of the photo - there is no point trying to zoom in on it - it was his and has already been cancelled!!! (damn - no sneaky crafty spending tee hee)

Phil - You'll Never Walk Alone

As some of you will know, I lost my husband Phil suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday 29th May at home.

This is his favourite pic of us at our friends wedding in 2005 and I'm blogging this partly as a completeness to my blog and partly as a way of screaming my pain to the world (not that I have many visitors - but you know what I mean).

We had the funeral yesterday and I think we gave him the best send off we possibly could. He is buried in a natural burial ground in a woodland very near to where I live and he was taken there on a tractor and trailer driven by his boss. He had worked on the same farm for over 20 years. We had a short service with his best friend doing an amazing tribute to him, then beer and sandwiches (always a favourite of Phil's) afterwards from the back of his truck. In the evening there was more beer and pizza to watch the England World Cup match in front of this huge new telly Phil had just bought - he was so looking forward to the World Cup!
Although the day was difficult and excrutiatingly painful at times I was surrounded by our families and so many good friends that I had the strength to get through it and appreciate their company - and there were many laughs as we remembered Phil in all his glory!!

WOYWW

Hello and thank you for visiting my workdesk this week. As you can see, not a lot going on as have just completed an ATC swap for Quirky Crafts, sorted and posted back to the recipients yesterday.

Coaster now in use with coffee cup in place. What else? New Penny Black stamps, trusty craft knife, DST and palette for using watercolour crayons (bottom left) and my new best friend - Stone Gray Stazon. I do use black but have always preferred timber brown until I tried Pippa's gray the other week and really like the effect that wasn't too harsh. There in the centre is a mini canvas that I painted cream and stamped in a tulip pattern in red as a trial of some artwork for our newly decorated bedroom. Although I filled the back it still didn't print too well - I'm sure I can add a few other bits and change it's purpose!

Please note Julia that the tidy up didn't last too long and I have gone back to the push aside method again!

Thank you for all your lovely comments last week especially about my coaster and I hope you enjoy visiting again.


I have just taken a close up of this decoration that some of you have mentioned in the past. It is a bookring onto which I am attaching some of my favourite larger stamps as shrink plastics - this week I have added a couple of pandora style beads as spacers too - all looking rather pink and pretty!

WOYWW

Hi all. After my last posting for WOYWW I did tidy my desk before Pippa came but it got untidy again so I have tidied it up before I took this pic!

So what have I got on there, well bottom right is a card I have made last night for Sunday Sketch and Stamp with my new Penny Black stamps - I'm not a big fan of cutesy stamps but I do love these hedgehogs.

To the left is a crackle stamp I borrowed from Pippa and some stamped images I took from her stamps whilst she was here. The red bit in the middle of the pic is a Crafty Individuals stamp I won from a mag (see an earlier post) on alcohol inks.

And behind my workmat is the coaster I have finally finished, it is a off cut of ply-wood that I was determined to do something with and have been adding bits as and when inspiration struck, I finally finished it last week and am really pleased with it, have added a close up pic of it below.

Well thank you for visiting and I look forward to having a nose around your workdesks too.

Sir Stampalot Challenge

I hae just come across a fab monthly challenge at Sir Stampalot with some beautiful DT creations and a scrummy prize, the theme this month is blossoms and butterflies. I have an old piece of plywood which I have been altering into a coaster and which I finished this week which I think fits the theme nicely:

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #28

There is a lovely sketch over at Sunday Sketch and Stamp that inspired me so much I threw together a card really quickly using my lovely new stamps.

Hope you like, sorry I haven't joined in much recently, but great sketch this time Maggie.

Latest Quirky Crafts Challenge

Quirky Crafts Challenge No 28

Our latest challenge has gone live this evening and it's Deanne's choice this week: Chocolate and Cream mmmmm - sounds scrummy! Here is my card in which I have used one of my new Crafty Individual stamps and all the papers are from Craftwork Cards which I bought from their stand at Stamperama last year. The delish 'chocolate heaven' ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons - when they announced they were going to be one of our sponsors earlier in the year I had a peek on their site - Oops!

Blog candy from Passion for Crafts

Now I'm not one for blog candy, as I don't have the time for entering and keeping my blog that up to date. However I was visiting Debbie's blog, Passion for Crafts as she had entered out blog challenge at Quirky Crafts and fell in love with all she is offering for her birthday blog, I don't stand a hope of winning with over 600 comments! but if you don't try ..........................

So Happy Birthday Debbie and ooooh please let me be the winner!

Look what I won............

I often enter the prize draws and competitions in my favourite magazine Craft Stamper, as they always have some excellent goodies to give away. In the past I have won a couple of prizes including the whole range of Cute Companions when they first came out. But last Friday I had an envelope arrive full of Crafty Individual stamps. I adore their stamps they are so classical, so useful and such a change from the popular cutesy stamps.

Here is a pic of all the stamps I have been lucky enough to win, I'm chuffed to bits and can't wait to get using them.

WOYWW

On my desk today is the card I have just finished for a friend, I got the idea from a small Denami stamp with a three tier cupcake stand and thought I can make one of those from my gorgeous and well used Hero Arts stamps.

The second shot is of the rest of my desk - you don't usually get to see this but my friend is coming tomorrow to do some crafting here and I am trying to shame myself into clearing it so she has somewhere to work too!!

My mug says "Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world" - bought for me by a friend who knows me very well.

Last time I was able to post I was working on a tractor card for my 3-year old Godson, some of you were kind enough to be interested in the finished creation, if you scroll down my blog you will see it, along with all the other family birthdays I had in April.

Last birthday for April

Today is my Sister-in-Law's birthday (that is it for April - phew!) I made this top card but wasn't entirely happy with it so re-made it and was much happier with the second attempt so that was the one we sent her.

The flower is a Sizzix layer flower and in the second attempt I have just added some extra layers so that it looks fuller.

Dad's Birthday

It's my Dad's birthday today and this is the card I've made him. For his 60th, a couple of years ago, my brother and I bought him a flight in a Tiger Moth - this is a picture of him in it which I zoomed in on and cut out with nesties (I really love this label set they are so useful).

My Godson turned 3 on Friday, which is just unbelievable, and this is the card I made for him. Phil and Archie's dad both work on the farm with cows and tractors which Arch adores, he also loves red. The cows are a Sizzix die I bought at Stamperama back in August last year, for jus this occaision. I added the yellow stars and the Happy Birthday on yellow as Phil said the card wasn't looking bright enough! Although I haven't put a number 3 on it, there are 3 tractors, 3 cows and 3 stars as he just loves to count things!

Here is a pic of him opening his presents:

Another birthday.......

This is the card I made for my Father-in-Law, he is quite arty and loves experimenting with colours, so I knew I could play with this one. It is based on a card I saw in Craft Stamper magazine ages ago using distress inks on a craft sheet or tin foil, once all the stamping is done rub a piece of card through the ink to create the inside backing - this was so much fun.

The swirl stamps I used were U-mount, the bird and the swirly pattern on the coloured backing were from a Stampers Anonymous sheet I picked up for £4.99 and the harlequin background is a TH I picked up for £2.99!!

Latest Quirky Crafts Challenge

Over at Quirky Crafts it was my turn to choose a theme and I chose Planes, Trains and Automobiles. This was due to having 3 male birthdays in April, my Dad (whose a pilot), my godson who will be 3 and adores all of the above and my Father-in-Law - and all in the space of 5 days!

Unfortunately this card I've made with the fab digi-image from our sponsor Nikki at Limited Run Stamps, won't really suit any of them - but I had fun anyway. I have long thought my cards are a bit fussy and have tried to make them more simple, hence this design and Mum & Dad's anniversary card (which by the way Mum says is my best card yet - so at least I know which style she prefers!) I liked the idea of using plain bold colours for this and used embossing pens for the car to make it shiny.

Anyway, pop on over and have a go at our challenge and you even get a chance to win some of Nikki's fab designs - there are some super scrummy ones there!

Mum & Dad anniversary

Mum & Dad anniversary
Originally uploaded by chocolate fudge cake

This is the card I made for Mum & Dad's anniversary which is today. I had so little time over the weekend that I made it quickly on Sunday night and don't that I'm overly pleased with it. However I love my ne Tim Holtz Stamper Anonymous set which I picked up for £5! The chandelier and the swirls are from there.

WOYWW

Sorry I'm late loading up this weeks WOYWW, but at least I made it this week. I was so poorly last week I didn't even venture into my craft room for several days!

Been a bit manic since, trying to catch up on all the birthdays I have this month and get ahead with my DT creations for Quirky Crafts Challenge forum. What you can see on my desk is the startings of my Godson's birthday card - he will be 3 on 23rd April and adores tractors they will have to be red! Not quite sure what I'll do with it yet but it will involve 3 red tractors and my sizzix cow no doubt.

I did actually tidy the desk up since I last took a photo for you but.......... well you know how it is. Bottom left hand corner you can just see a piece of plywood I found in the barn which I am turning into a coaster.

So nothing else very interesting except of course my prominently perched Mini Eggs Mmmm.

Thanks for stopping by for a look. x

Willow Sketchie Challenge

This is a great sketch from Willow Sketchie Challenge this week with an added twist of a recipe thrown in too!

Love it!

I also thought it was a good sketch to use one of Sharon's images on - this is Winnie Owl and isn't she so cute. I was lucky enough to win this in a previous challenge.

It's my friends first birthday today and I made this card using my gorgeous Jemima Puddleduck stamp (this is not one of the newly released brand but an old wood mounted one). See a pic of little Florence above with her brother on his 3rd birthday.