Hoppy St. Patrick's Day

Heevnin' my lovelies!

As you know, yesterday was St. Patrick's Day and I have a couple of close and very dear friends who are Irish (and proud of it they are too!). I made two cards, both the same with a cute little froggy.

Here is the little chap...

What you need...

Stamps: A Little Lovin - Paper Smooches; Picture It - Avery Elle

Card stock: white

Patterned paper: Social Club Mini Deck - Cosmo Cricket

Promarkers: Bright Green, Grass, Ice Grey 1, Lime Twist, Sleigh Bell, Tulip Yellow

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Gems: clear, pale green

Adhesives

What you do...

Cut scallops along one edge of green plaid paper 4cm x 12cm and attach to the bottom of a top fold white 12cm square blank.

Stamp the photo frame and mask the right and bottom edges. Stamp the frog in the lower right corner and a crown on his head. Stamp three pieces of tape and colour in, along with the frog.

Write a sentiment in the lower portion of the photo frame in uneven lettering.

Cut out and mat onto the card with foam tape.

Add a pale green gem to each point of his crown and add three clear gems to the plaid paper.

There you go, simple and cute!

That's me for the mo. Thanks for popping by and I'll see you soon! xx

Easter Chickens!

Hello chums!

What a glorious day it is today! The sun is shining, the birds are singing.....wonderful.

I know I haven't really been posting much this year because of with everything happening with my dad; but I am getting back on track now and hope to be posting a lot more makes. I also have something exciting in the pipeline that you will all be able to join in (watch this space).

I would also like to get back to doing a regular spot showcasing makes using the Cricut Mini. You never know, it might tempt you to pop one on your birthday or Christmas wish list (just make sure you leave it so it can be seen/found/read.

Anyhoo! Talking of makes; I know Easter has been and gone (there are still some choccy eggs left - yummy) but I have another little card to show you.

What you need...

Patterned papers: TV Dinner 8"x8" Mini Deck - Cosmo Cricket

Card stock: white

Stamps: Picoti Picota - Artemio

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Promarkers: Apple cider, Cocktail Pink, Pineapple Crush

Ribbon: dusky pink

Gems: clear

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp three chickens and the eggs across a piece of white card 12.5cm wide. Colour in and mat onto the bottom of a 12.5cm square blank, trim any excess.

Cover the top two thirds with the quirky squares paper. Tie a loose knot in a length of ribbon and attach across the bottom edge of the paper.

Print out a sentiment, trim and fix to the right of the blank just above the ribbon and finish off with a few gems.

This paper pad from Cosmo Cricket is so me :o) it's very retro with lots of quirky images and wonky lines. The colours are muted tones of pinks, greens, yellows and creams. Reminds me of some of those 1950's cartoons. Love it!

Tomorrow I'm in London for the launch of the new Cricut Explore, hosted by the fab Cricut EU and Ranieri Communications. So looking forward to it. I went to the Cricut Mini event last year and it was a fantastic day, with lots of demos, makes and goodies. Why not check out their website? http:/uk.cricut.com/intl

For now though, back to the commissions for Crafts Beautiful and PaperCrafter magazines.

Take care and thanks for stopping by xxxx 

Glad Tidings

Hellloooo!

Yippee! It's Friday! I hope you are all looking forward to the weekend ahead.

I'm going to be busy with commissions. What better way to spend a cold Autumn weekend tucked up crafting? So there is no way I'm going to complain... only about the housework I'll have to do too. Bleugh! :o(  I'll get up early tomorrow and get it done and dusted (excuse the pun).

So, onto another Christmas card. Again I have done a variation of one I made last year (click here to view).

I decided to use a muted colour palette (I know, not like me AT all). I recently purchased a paper pad Jolly Day by Cosmo Cricket, they do fantastic retro inspired stamps and papers and this doesn't disappoint.

What you need...

Patterned paper: Jolly Days 8"x8" Mini Deck - Cosmo Cricket

Stamps: Joyful Greetings - Paper Smooches

Ink pad: Vintage Sepia - Versafine

Buttons

Garden twine

Parcel string

What you do...

Cut five 2cm wide strips in varying lengths. Snip a notch from one end of each one. Attach to a cream top fold blank 12.5cm x 15cm, lining the top of each banner with the fold.

Select five buttons in co-ordinating colours. Thread and tie frayed parcel string through each and trim. On one button only glue a small bow made from garden twine. Glue a button to the bottom of each banner and finish with the sentiment stamped in the lower right corner.

This card is great for using those lovely co-ordinated paper pads because you get to use five different patterns. Of course, you could adapt this to any occasion, male or female. It's quick and simple too.

Right. I'm going to pop off now. People to do and things to see....

Thanks for stopping by, until next time xx

P.S. Dolly laid a double yolk egg this morning - three times the size of a normal egg! Bet that made her eyes water....

Have A Great Day Mum

Hi folks!

Happy Mother's Day to all mums out there. Sadly, I'm unable to have little ones, so I don't get all the flowers, cards and chocs. I thought I might get something from the cat (dropped a hint or two) but no! -  nothing, zilch, zero. Oh well :0)

Tally-ho! Onto the Mother's Day card I made for Simon's mum.

I was looking through my stash and I came across some Cosmo Cricket stuff. It was a huge scrapbook and card making kit that QVC did years ago. I bought one and loved it so much, I asked Simon to get me another for Christmas. As usual with Cosmo Cricket the colours are lovely, soft and muted.

What you need...

Card blank: ivory scalloped - Cosmo Cricket

Papers: various co-ordinating patterns - Cosmo Cricket

Die cut: sentiment - Cosmo Cricket

Dies: Framelits Ovals (657563); Bigz Flower Layers #9 (657114) - Sizzix

Stickers: Infuse Sugar Alphabet - Basic Grey

Brads: gems

Stickpins: ivory heart, teardrop

Lace: ivory cotton

Flat-backed pearls: ivory small

What you do...

Die cut the largest oval in blue distressed paper and attach to the left side of the blank, overlapping the edge slightly, trim any excess.

Die cut each flower in red floral paper, the two largest in ivory patterned paper and the smallest in blue distressed paper. Hand cut three leaves from dusky pink distressed paper. Scrunch everything up, then layer the flowers and attach a gem brad to the centre of each.

Arrange the flowers and leaves on the oval. Tie a bow in a length of lace and fix above the flowers, push two stickpins through the knot. Adhere the sentiment die cut to the right of the flowers, with 'mum' spelt out in alphabet stickers underneath. Embellish the sentiment with pearls.

There you have it. I'll post back later with the card I did for my mum and my nan.

Toodle-pip for now :) xxxx

Advent Calendar

Aft'noon peepsicles!

I thought I would post a few piccies of an Advent calendar I made a couple of years ago. It always stands on the dresser in the kitchen and is very much part of the Christmas decorations. I bought the calendar from Craft Mill, it's still available and costs £31.99. It comes all assembled in bare pine, ready for you decorate. It's really sturdy and the doors open and close really easy and it will last for years.

Here's a few close ups of some of the doors.

I used a selection of retro themed papers from K & Company, My Mind's Eye, Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket and American Crafts. Some of the embellishment are die-cuts that co-ordinate with the paper collections. Others are ribbons, gems, shaped buttons, brads, snowflakes and rub-on words/phrases. The numbers are a mix of black and white glittered and plain white (some I coloured in).

I waxed the whole calendar, except the door fronts. Then I sanded it back, more in some places than others, to give it a distressed look. I made a basic template in card and then used it to cut out the papers. The papers were then carefully glued onto the door fronts. When dry I again sanded the edges, to give the distressed look. 

To finish, I embellished each of the doors and added the numbers randomly. Ta da!

The most important job is to fill it with loads of choccies. I usually buy the chocolate coins, mini bars and little chocolate puddings, except for 24th December, when we have Lindt miniatures! Oooh yummy!

The good thing is, if it starts to look tatty in a few years time, I can remove the existing decor and do something different. Apart from the fact it's going to last years, and you get the pleasure of decorating it (and filling it - eating any left over choccies - rule #1) £31.99 doesn't seem that bad, especially when you think of how much the throw away calendars cost.

This could be your New Year's resolution, to buy and decorate one of these calendars ready for next year, or you could get one now, decorate and fill it, then have a catch up choccy fest. I think the second suggestion is the best:)

Right, that's me for the nonce. Off to make a coffee and get the fire going. Until next time....xx

Ding-dong!

Good afternoon chums!

The Christmas card I'm showing you today is just a quick one I put together. I actually did this one last year and I showcased it in a post in January. This time, I've changed it just a little bit.

I adhered the 'Ding-dongs' phrase (Jolly by Golly Elements - Cosmo Cricket) to the top of a tent fold A6 blank, then covered the bottom with the bells paper (Jolly by Golly 6x6 Mini Deck - Cosmo Cricket).

The join was covered with green grosgrain ribbon, I tied red baker's twine around the ribbon, threaded on two silver bells and tied the twine into a bow.

Last time I made this, I used two jingle bells in yellow and green and tied with pink baker's twine. I bought these little silver bells and thought they would be good to use on this card. I love the colours of this Cosmo Cricket collection, they are just that little bit different, especially with the yellow.

Okay, I'm signing off now. Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your Friday! xxx

A twit and a thank you!!

What'cha Peeps!

I haven't posted for a couple or weeks, been so busy! Just finished another commission for Crafts Beautiful. Just the destructions to compile, then I can print them out and send it all off, hope they like!!!

Managed to get the plants done in the greenhouse last week and some of the pots done around the garden, herbs and stuff. I've also planted a few fuchsias, I love fuchsias, they are so pretty and uncomplicated. There are quite a few hardy bushes in pots that have survived the winter and are now coming back, though I did get some more the other week the replace the non-hardy varieties.

The fern is doing well too, it's still uncurling its fronds. I've never seen a fern as big as this one. When we first moved in, it was November, Simon took one look at it and said 'That's dead'. Shocked, I told him it was a fern, it wasn't dead, it will come back in the spring, they're not cheap to buy and not to touch it if he values his dangly bits. Needless to say he doesn't really do much gardening apart from mowing the lawn and any construction jobs that need doing, I don't think I could trust him to look after the plants - gulp!

You're probably wondering about the title of this post, well, it was my brother-in-law's birthday this week and I did him a card with an owl on the front. It does say 'twoo' inside though, he is not a twit by any means:) Here is a pic....

...and the inside.

Out of all the stamps I have, I couldn't find the right one. I wanted an owl with that 'Why are you bothering me?' expression they have (some might call it grumpy). So I drew my own!  The paper is from the 'Social Club' 6x6 pad by Cosmo Cricket. It's full of lovely manly colours and prints, very retro. I coloured in the owl with Promarkers, matching the colours to the paper. The branch and leaves are cut out from a piece of white card, then mounted over the patterned paper. A few leaves were cut by hand and added to give a bit more dimension. I stamped the 'twit' sentiment on to a piece of white card, wrapped garden twine around it and secured with a couple of staples. The card was finished with the 'twoo' sentiment inside and a 'Happy Birthday' rub-on from Kaisercraft.

My friend Caroline sent me a lovely card and gift voucher for my birthday, so I decided to send her a little 'thank you' card.

The papers and stamps are Doodle Deux by Prima, just a simple card with stamped elements, papers and buttons placed randomly, finished with a  'thank you' rub-on in the top left corner. I just love this collection, especially the little birdie stamp. It was so hard to choose which paper to put on the card.

Off now, going to make a coffee, then back to the typing of the ol' destructions. Have a lovely weekend and thanks for visiting!!

Happy New Year!!

Hi everyone! Happy New Year! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. It's been a while, as like many people, I've been busy leading up to and during the Christmas period.

My resolutions are:

1. To build up a stock of cards for the coming year

2. To make my Christmas cards throughout the year (saves panicking at the last minute)

3. To get into a better work routine at home

4. To get back into my yoga and meditation

5. Leave weekends and evenings for hobbies and other pastimes

6. Try to get an early night once in a while

Hmmmm!

I've got a few commissions for Crafts Beautiful in the pipeline and I've just sent one off, so that has been keeping my busy, though I love it!! Check out his month's copy (Feb issue) it's jam packed with loads of fantastic projects. If you're like me and not the most romantic person in the world, in this issue I have a fun, quirky set of Valentine cards that aren't slushy or soppy. Perfect!

I have also got back into my needlework, and I am thoroughly enjoying it (resolution #5). I've missed doing it so much. Knitting is another thing I've been partaking in over the holidays (resolution #5 - again). Simon is now the proud owner of a stripey beanie hat! Here are some pics modelled wonderfully by Spongebob. I'm going to knit him a matching pair of gloves next. The wool is Soft Tweed by Patons. It's a 50% wool mix and is really soft and cosy. You can get it in some nice manly colours too.

Here are a few pics of cards that I did for Christmas (not part of the stock - resolution #2).

Here I used Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly papers and embellished with two jingle bells and green ribbon. The colours are unusual, but work really well.

I made this from card scraps and mounted it onto a snowflake background, finishing off with a rub-on sentiment and a button tied with bakers twine. Ooo! and a pom-pom for the hat.

This is a stamp by Stampendous, one of my favourite images. The paper is from the Peppermint Twist collection by K and Company. I think the pink and green theme works well too.

Again, I used scraps of card to make the Santa, then stitched around the design. The alphabet is 'Vixen' by QuicKutz. The holly motif is by QuicKutz too. 

Kraft card is really popular and good for men's cards. The snowman stamp is from the Basic Grey Snowman stamp set and the greeting is from the Penny Black Let it snow set.

This is simply using die cuts and paper from the Peppermint Twist collection by K and Company.

As is this one.

This again uses the Basic Grey snowman set and the paper is from the Basic Grey Jovial collection.

Hope you liked browsing through my cards and waffle. Until next time, ta ta!