back crafting!!

It's been so horrible being too ill to craft, but the past few days i've been back making cards and a chipboard album. I can't show the cards just yet as they are for a competition on a forum i go on, and some of my friends from there are on here! So they will follow soon. It's nice to have had a go at easel cards and i love them, so can imagine i'll be making planty more! 

This baby album is for an order from a friend of mine for friends of his who have had their first baby. I love making these albums as they always seem to be appreciated by people. 

:-( i'm trying to upload pics but it's taking forever to even upload one, so will try again later. 

I hope everyone is as well as possible x xx 

here in spirit.

I miss blogging and card making daily :-( 

The ME seems to be controlling me far more than normal and i just don't have the energy to sit up at my desk and craft for hours like normal :-(

I keep coming on and having a peek and all of your lovely creations, and i hope i can soon start to get back to my daily cardmaking, especially as i may have a stall at my nieces school fair in november so need to get lots made to sell! 

I hope those who read my blog are well x x 

too poorly to craft :-(

I'm going out of my mind with frustration! I want to craft!!! But my ME has flared up hugely and i can barely stay awake long enough to do anything, let alone sit up and craft :-( 

I may take some images to bed to colour in, just to keep my crafting therapy going. I hope i don't miss any challenges i wanted to join in with. 

Fingers crossed tomo might be a better day and i can get back to what i love doing the most. 

Hello to my regular followers, whose comments have been so welcome!  

Christmas in September!!

I adore Christmas. I love every little thing about it and i just could not wait to use my gorgeous new magnolia stamps! I've always wanted a bench to sit them on and this little cutie with her santa hat on is just too cute! 

I've made this card for the following challenges:

Colour create- to use Red, Gold and White/cream. (i am literally going to keep everything crossed for this one as there is a lush nestabilities die up for grabs!!) 

Secret Crafter- i've used the sketch given over there. I loved it straight away and it's just worked perfectly on this card. 

I am also now desperate for copics or promarkers, as i still only have watercolour pencils, sakura pens and H20's and i would love the rich colours you get from the pens. 
Any advice on copics or promarkers??


My next, simpler card is for a guy, so i didn't want to go OTT with it. I also went mostly monochrome to macho it up a bit! lol 

It covers 3 challenges:

Friday Sketchers- I followed their sketch. 

Penny Black Sat Challenge- was to make a card for a boy/man. 

cute card thursday- " a play on words" which i knew my "i love moo" stamp would fit just perfectly.

 

Sunday's creations.

Happy sunday everyone! I'm still feeling poorly with a head cold but i was determined to carry on card making and not mope about so i've made two so far today. 

This first card was made for the spoonful of sugar challenge which is called "animal crackers"  and also for the creative inspirations challenge of using autumnal colours.

The second card was made for another little girl from Postpals as she loves loves loves pink!
I also made it for the pink challenge over at Flutterby Wednesday (by using an angel stamp), I used the sketch from pink gem and the theme of "spots and stripes" over at Stamp Something.

Princess Tilda

I have loved making this card! It's been made for the little sister of the poor girl mentioned in my previous post. I think she deserves a lot of sparkle with what she will have to go through losing her big sister, so i went all out glittery and girlie. 

I've used my new, gorgeously cute Tilda and coloured her with watercolours pencils and H20's. I also added some sparkle with some stardust sakura pens. 

I've used my favourite cuttlebug embossing folder, swiss dots. I then added some stickles glitter glue around the circle to add even more sparkle! 

I hope it helps put even a tiny smile on the little girls face.

I am now entering this into this weeks challenge at Just Magnolia (now i actually remembered to use a magnolia stamp! lol) .

postpals card

I was very saddened to hear that a young girl, who is a member of postpals, has been moved to a hospice to get end of life care. It is just so sad that someone so young should be in the position and i wanted to send her a card to let her know i am thinking of her. 
If any of you haven't heard of postpals please go and have a look and send some of the kiddies a card x x 

This is using my adorable new stamp from wild rose studio. I fell in love with this little fella as soon as i saw him and hope to get a few of the other designs too. 

This is with flash to show the sparkle:

and a little closer in for some detail:

I followed a sketch over at Just Magnolia, but then realised i couldn't enter is as i didn't use a magnolia stamp!! (i am so brainfogged today with the ME and the head cold) but i can enter it in the Fab and Funky challenge of "What'eva".

I am also entering this into the cupcake craft challenge whos theme is "books and stories", as this could represent "puff the magic dragon".  

I have just found the totally papercrafts blog and their theme this week is "go dotty" so as i have used my favourite dotty paper for the circle on this card, i thought i would join in with them. 


I really hope it will bring a smile to the faces of Jazmine and her family at such a terribly sad time for them all. I will be making her younger sister a card to so she doesn't feel left out. 

NEW STASH!!!!!

I am so lucky to have such a loving, generous auntie. I'm really struggling for money as i'm having to fight for the disability benefit i really really need to live on, with how ill i am with M.E. Life has been a huge struggle lately while i'm waiting months on end for the benefit decision, and it's made me more ill with all the worry and stress about bills etc... 
Aaaanyway,  my auntie knows how much my crafting is such good therapy for me lately, so she treated me to a few bits from the glitterpot. 

Look at my lush new stamps and goodies!! 

It has come just at the right time too as i'm feeling really poorly with a cold/blocked sinuses, so when my mum dropped this little lot round it worked better than lemsip at making me feel better! lol 

I just adoreeeeeeeeeee those new magnolia christmas stamps and hopefully will make a card for a challenge somewhere tomorrow! 

The sugar bowl challenge 43.

I found a lovely blog called the sugar bowl, which is for the lovely range of stamps from sugar nellie. 
The challenge was a sketch (here) and i came up with this card using one of my favourite maggie stamps:

 Top two with flash, bottom two without, to show the shimmer of the H20's. 
The theme was also to use buttons so i just covered the heart on her jumper with a heart button and added some other cute little ones on the edges. 
I decided to leave the square from the centre of the circle as i wanted to do this edging with a small elzybells flower stamp around Maggie. I hope this is ok!!

stamp something challenge

I thought i'd join in quickly before the deadline with the challenge over at stamp something

Its theme was "cute" so that is right up my street!!
I went through some of my stamps and found this cute penny black image i'd not used in a while. 

 I hope they like it! 

It's been so lovely having some sunshine today and has really made a difference! 
Unfortunately i have a huge pile of washing up to do before i can get back upstairs making more cards! 
I'm also so excited as my auntie treated me to a few bits from my favourite place in the world, the Glitterpot and i managed to catch them before they put it in the post, as my auntie could go and pick it up early for me after all! So i'm hoping i get it dropped round tonight. 
A couple of gorgeous magnolia stamps fell in the basket so i can't wait to play with them!! watch this space... 

more yummy blog candy!!

I've had a good look round some blogs for some inspiration and to see what lovely cards people have been making and came across a lovely blog called Pink Gem. Not only does she love pink and her doggy Gem, she also designs her own stamps that are really cute! 
This lovely candy is up for grabs, so pop along and have a look at her blog. 

Crafty creations.....

I've had another good day of crafting but didn't get as much made today as i was trying to find some bits and pieces i knew i had but couldn't find! 

I stumbled across the crafty creations challenge blog and decided to join in with this weeks challenge.  The theme was "transportation" and this cute penny black stamp popped right into my head. 
I hope they like it! 

I also wanted to join in with this weeks challenge at the ABC christmas blog which is using S for Santa with an optional extra of not using red. I managed to do that with my santa, as i know he was green before Coca Cola got hold of him and made him red! I have a tiny bit of red in the paper, but it could be classed as dark pink :-) 
 Its made me feel Christmasy already and whenever i use that gorgeous text stamp from penny black, i always sing that song and imagine watching christmas movies with the fairy lights on! 
I feel like his beard and tash is a bit flat so will get some of that snow writer stuff i think to fluff it up a bit! 

 

more challenge cards

I'm really loving following challenges and have had a little play today with some sketches and card themes. 

My first is using a sketch at Mojo Monday:

The sketch had a "tag" element to i used a cute little tag from a doodlebug clear stamp set and tied it with the ribbon. 
I have struggled to get the colours to show up right on here as the light is not great in here. The dotty paper is actually dark pink not red as it looks here! I hope they like it! 

My second card is from a sketch found at our creative corner
This is their last sketch until the spring as they are taking a break but i liked the sketch so thought i'd join in for the last one. 

I then decided to join in with the "clean and simple" challenge over at the secret crafter:

I also made a few other quicky, simple cards to sell:

I've really enjoyed another crafting day and it's really helping me emotionally wise, as i've been struggling a lot lately with an M.E relapse, so it's nice to lose myself in gorgeous papers, glitter and ribbon! Even when i can't get off the settee all day, i can sit and colour some images ready for a better day health wise. I think crafting should be on the NHS!! lol

blog candy!

Look at this lovely blog candy!! If you want a chance to win this lovely lot pop over to pinkpuds . Closes on 26th sept.

This lovely candy is being given away over at Poppy's papercraft patch in celebration of getting over 100 followers.  Closes sept 11th.

 This lovely candy is being given away by Ying at Ying&Magnolia blog. She is splitting the candy to give 4 people a chance of winning and will choose a winner on her birthday on the 28th sept.

Challenge cards

I decided to have a little play along with some challenges so my first card covered a couple:

I found the sketch at A spoon full of sugar but it also fitted well with the "anything goes" challenge at Just Magnolia  and the challenge at Fab and Funky to use material- (i've used two types of ribbon).
It's really helpful to use sketches as it stops me making "samey samey" cards. 
I hope they like it! 

My next card: 

This card was for the sketch challenge at Sketch and Stash.

* oh no, i didn't read that challenge properly, i need to include some new stash, so i can't enter this card now!* 

Exploding box album

I made this a while back, for an order, but hadn't blogged it yet. I'd never made one before but thought the instructions looked easy enough. I loved the outcome but would prefer to make them bigger next time. (dammit i have just seen that i have blogged this before! lol My memory is atrocious, but i'll keep it here for those who missed it! lol)

 I adore the bazzill bling card and its shimmer. It really makes these type of albums look extra special. 


Why i have the chance, can someone give me a link to instructions on how to make an easel card? I keep seeing them and they look great! Thank you x 

more blog candy!

yes i am on a roll tonight!! I keep finding such lovely blogs and amazing cards. It's making me want to improve my cards a lot as mine now seem so plain and simple. I know i need to buy some lace and flowers as they go with magnolias so well! 

Anyway, back onto blog candy. This lovely lot:

is available to win over at Liz's creative corner. (ends 3rd oct) http://lizscreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Look at this lovely lot! This is available over at CraftyC's crafting library here:
http://clairebsd.blogspot.com/ 
(ends 18th sept)

 

2 new cards

This first card is one i made for my friend for her birthday. I love this Elzybells image and it works so well on cards for friends. 

and this next one is another to sell. 

I really need to photo my cards better. After looking at loads of blogs today, the photos really show off the cards well. I think maybe taking the pics right above seems to flatten the look of them, whereas i like to add some dimension to my cards.

yummy blog candy

Whilst looking round some blogs, and finding some inspiration, i came across this lot of lovely blog candy. So don't miss out if you want a chance of winning and visit these blogs! 

 This candy is at: http://quixoticcards.com/?p=3667
(now ended)

T

This lovely candy is from Jacqui, who has some great tutorials on her blog. 
http://jacqui47.blogspot.com/2010/09/better-late-than-never-little-blog.html
(now ended)

  Being a huge fan of magnolia stamps, this blog candy makes me drool!! It's a great giveaway from over at http://paperinkcolor.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-blog-candy.html

(ends sept 30th)

 This lovely blog candy is from Lynsey's place. http://lynseys-place.blogspot.com/2010/08/thank-you-christmas-candy-for-my.html

(ends 17th sept)

 More gorgeous magnolia blog candy from Bev at "all the things i love" blog. 
http://bevscrafts.blogspot.com/ 
(ended)

 Look at this lush blog candy!! yum yum yum! You can find this over at Deb's Treasures: http://debstreasures.blogspot.com/2010/08/candy-candy-candy.html#comments

(ends 18th sept)

 Look at this amazing blog candy too! Go over to Free 4 Ever for a chance to win. http://fancyfree4ever.blogspot.com/

(ends sept 26th)

 Yet more yummy magnolias to win at a new blog called Top tip Tuesday.
http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.com/2010/07/welcome-candy.html

(ended)

More gorgeous blog candy!! I can't believe how generous bloggers are! 
You can find this at just ducky (great name! lol) at http://justsoducky.blogspot.com/

(ends sept 15th)