Happy new year everyone!

I know I say it all the time, but long time no blog. The build up to Christmas was either pressure of getting stuff made for the craft fair, or feeling ill and exhausted, so I just didn't have time/energy to blog.

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas. Doesn't it go so quickly :-( I had an ok time, but I have been poorly all over the Christmas period with that virus as well as the ME playing up, so I spent most of Christmas morning in bed, having a little cry and then my lovely family took a mattress into the living for me so I could at least be with them all. I did manage to get over to mums on boxing day but rested on the settee whilst most of them popped over to the pub for a Christmas swifty.
I hope all of you had healthy Christmases and lots of special times.

I want to say thank you to Sally (Scallywags) for such a gorgeous card!! Isn't it so cute! I just adore the glossy accents on his beak and feet. Thank you for the ribbon too. That was very sweet of you. I'm pleased you liked my blog candy xx

I've not made any cards for a while now but wanted to show you a few of my lovely prezzies and some bits I bought in the Glitterpot sale with some Xmas money. 

I just love owls lately. They are too cute! My sis bought me this gorgeous cushion. 

A cute little hand warmer from my friend. 

She also got me this cute little robin. 

Every year I end up buying more and more decorations as I just adore Christmas and I bought these a few days before:

Yes I bought another owl! lol 

Here are my bits from the Glitterpot:

Ok, enough photos! lol

Now that Christmas is over, I am going to try and concentrate a bit more on my scrapbooking as I have so many years to scrap! Trying to actually use my gorgeous pile of papers isn't going to be easy though! So watch this space!

I wish you all a happy new year. I can't stand new year's eve myself, as every year that passes of me being ill, makes me wonder if i'll ever get my life back. Maybe 2012 will be a good turning point for many, as it's meant to be. 

Distressed Tilda.

Take two again!! I accidentally deleted the post instead of one photo.

Hello everyone! I hope you are all as well as possible and bug free. I'm hoping i'm not coming down with another cold as my niece has another one and i've been sneezing all day. I can't be iller than normal again as I have too much to make before the fayre on Saturday! I really hope it goes better than the first one, but we'll just have to see.

So here is my Distressed Tilda card. I love seeing all the distressed cards that lots of you make, but it's not something that comes naturally to me and my neat and tidy card making style. So I just inked up the edges, flowers, swirls, used kraft paper and some pretty lace. I hope it's a bit "shabbier" than my normal style. 

Again, i'm sorry for the poor quality photos. It's so hard to get a decent photo in such low light and get in nice and close without using a flash. 

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Cute card Thursday- "it's just a number". (I've used my cute LOTV valley 25th Dec stamp). 

Magnolia stamp lovers- "use a Magnolia accessory stamp" (I used the Christmas bench, and the snowflake circle). 

 Just Magnolia- "anything goes with the option of "sparkle"- (i've used a sakura stardust pen for the sparkle)






I'm sorry i've not been able to get round all of your blogs and leave comments but i'm non stop lately getting ready for the fayre on sat, so when it's done i'll be round as normal xxxx

Blog candy winner.

Hello everyone!! I hope you have all had a lovely weekend! I have spent some lovely family time with my lovely mum, sis and niece and have put my tree up today. I've got lots more lights and deccies to put up but worn out so will finish off tomorrow.

Right first things first, I forgot to get my niece to pick a winner from a hat, so the fairest way was to use random.org.
So I had 35 entries and I counted each comment in order and random.org chose:

No 19 is Sally. Well done Sally!! Please email me your address to KezzaGroves@aol.com

It's weird that it chose 19 as that my favourite number being my birthday. 

I wish I could have sent something to everyone and am so grateful for the entries, new followers and lovely comments. 

I have also been sewing for the first time in years and have already made this little darling. My sister tried to steal him and put him on her tree, but I stole him back. I can't wait for next year to get all the reindeers and make a lovely garland with them. 

Isn't he cute!! I want to make more felt decorations now. I think i'm hooked. 

I'm also building up a lovely collection of me to you tree decorations. They are so cute. 

oh how I adore Christmas. I'm watching while you were sleeping too, which is a lovely Christmas movie. I'm off to sew my second reindeer now!
Night everyone and well done Sally. xxx

Totally gorjuss challenge.

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a nice evening. I wanted to join in with the challenge over at Totally gorjuss, which is "sparkle". 

I love this sparkly ribbon. I've almost avoided using it, but it can't just sit there being looked at! lol 

This is the Tilda that "jumped" into my basket and just made me buy it. I am such a sucker for Magnolia stamps. 

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I've made a couple of cards today, which has been lovely. I find it so relaxing and the hours pass too quickly when i'm at my craft desk. 

Here is another of my crafty makes today:

I love this snowflake circle. I have shimmered it up with a sakura pen, but the light is so awful lately, I can't get very good photos. 

This is another one for the craft fair a week on saturday. I am so hoping that I'll be well enough to go. I've felt horrible every day for months now, so I hope my family will do it for me if I am too ill to go, as i've worked so hard on getting bits made. 

I'll show the others i've made tomorrow. I can't wait for the weekend as my mum and sis are coming to get my Christmas stuff down from the loft, so I can Christmas this place up. I just love everything about it and can't wait to put fairy lights everywhere and put my tree up! 

Right, i'm off to finish watching Corrie and then I'm a celebrity, get me out of here. Take care everyone xxxxxxxxxx

envelope box giveaway

Hello everyone! I'm doing a bit of blog visiting and have found this great giveaway. Tracy at Crafteezee has had some card boxes made up and is giving 25 away as blog candy. I try to avoid putting too much on my cards that can be squashed as I've never known how to make these boxes, so this would be great to win. 

So visit this blog if you want a chance of winning! 


Right i'm off to look round more of your blogs then I need to get going as I didn't make any cards yesterday. Have a nice day all of you xxx

Vicky made me spend more money!!

Me again! I just had to share this gorgeous website i've come across. Lovely Vicky at Vixx handmade cards is too much of a bad influence on me. She got me into nitwits paper and now she has made me spend more money that I shouldn't be spending at this gorgeous site:

Sew sweet 

I have been looking around for ideas to make some handmade Chrimbo decorations and when I saw the adorable little felt mittens that Vicky had bought from here as a make you own set, I had to have a look. 

Then I saw these ADORABLE reindeers, which come free with an order. (You get 1 for every £15 spent).


I think these are unbelievably cute and I will be buying them al next summer when Emma releases them all as sets for next Christmas.


Look at how beautiful these roses are as well! 

I have now bought a lovely selection of felts, buttons and ribbons and will get creative. I'll show any creations I make on here with you all. I've not sewn for ages so lets hope it comes back to me easily enough. 

I now need to sell some of my stuff that I've just listed on ebay to try get some money back! lol 

*nb* Don't blame me if you feel you have to buy something, blame Vicky. She started it! lol 

order cards (take two)

Hello everyone!! I hope you are all as well as possible xxx Well blogger is playing up for me today so this is the second try of doing this post. 


Thank you so much for such great advice on my last post and hello to all new followers. I'm so pleased to "meet" more of you and will have a nosey round your blogs later. 


So it seems I need to buy watercolour paper/card. There always seems to be more expense when I try new methods, as different card/stamping ink is needed for different materials, so more shopping needed! Although craft shopping is my favourite kind. I just wish I had the money! lol
I'm slowly building up a nice little collection of crafty bits for my niece for Christmas. She now wants a corner desk like Auntie Kezza has, so we will get her one when we can and I will give her a nice few crafty bits to get started with. Luckily i've found some cute little stamps in the sale, so she has some treats coming!! 


Right, I have some cards to share with you. These were for an order from a friends mum. I hope you like them. 

I just adore this stamp. I think it's one of my favourite of all time. It's so perfect for so many cards and I just love colouring him. I decided to go back and use my watercolour pencils for a bit of change. 

I haven't used this stamp in ages so thought i'd stamp it up for this card. I used watercolour pencils again, as it gives a nice gentle shadow etc.. 

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Somehow another Magnolia stamp fell into my online basket at the Glitterpot! Does this happen to you? They just make me buy them! So I hope to ink that up later and make another Christmas card.

Have a nice day everyone xxxxxxxxxx

somebody heeeeeeeeeeeelp me!!!

Hello bloggers!! I am here on my knees, begging for help and advice!

I've recently bought some distress inks as I see some people using them so beautifully colouring in images.

SO, i've tried and tried but I just don't know if I'm doing something wrong.

When I click on the larger pics on people cards, the colour always looks smooth, even and beautifully blended. BUT I CAN'T GET MINE TO LOOK LIKE THAT!! LOL

Can anyone who uses them give me some hints and have a look at these photos for me to see if what i'm getting is due to the wrong card, too much water, not enough water, or just me not getting to grips with them yet. 

This is after me trying to blend the ink. It really separates. If I use a normal brush, I can't spread the ink enough but if I used a water brush, then I have too much water and it bobbles the paper. 

The red has come out slightly better, but still not seemlessly blended. 

It looks slightly better not as close up. Is that the problem that i'm looking so close? The skin colour is really not blending well though :-( 

So any advice from you talented lot, who use them, please share your tips and wisdom with me! If it is the card, can I have recommendations for that too.

Thank you everyone. It's strictly time now, then X factor, then I'm a celeb, whilst colouring in images. Perfick Saturday night. xxx

Lily of the valley challenge

Here is my card for the LOTV challenge, of anything goes:

I just love this little bear. It's one of my favourite Christmas stamps. I love glittering that tinsel. I've also used some glossy accents to give the baubles a shiny look. 

Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Hello everyone! 

I thought it was about time I joined in with some challenges again and found one I liked over at Penny Black Saturday Challenge. It was "green and trees".  I had to hurry up as it closes later, ready for a new one tomorrow. 

I hope you like it. I adore this stamp. The mice are my favourite penny black creatures and I fell in love with this last year when I saw him tucked up in his little walnut shell, waiting for santa. Just too cute!! I didn't have any PB stamps with trees, so I used this lovely paper and matching chipboard tree. 

I hope you all have a good friday night. Thank you for every comment left as always, as they really do mean a lot to me. xxx

I'm feeling Christmassy!!

Hi everyone. All this Christmas card making is getting me so excited for the festive season. I just adore everything about it. I'll be putting my tree and deccies up on the 1st, so not long now and the countdown begins. 

Edited to wish all Americans a happy thanksgiving!! 

I've made quite a few cards now that I had a few images already coloured, so here are a few to share with you. I'm hopefully doing another craft fair on the 10th, so all these will be for that. ( I apologise for the naf quality of the photos. It's always so dark and I was busy making cards when it was daylight, so this is as good as they get tonight) 

I do adore this little stamp. It's so perfect for baby cards. (The glitter doesn't look as pink IRL. I need to get a stickles that doesn't have a colour tinge to it)

I'm hoping that if I use "relative words like mum, sister, dad etc.. then the cards may sell a bit easier if people can associate them with someone in their family). 

I also made a gift bag with some new, ultra cute papers and embellishments. 

Thank you all for get well wishes recently. The virus has gone I think but it's taken it out of me and I still feel like poo poo every day. Thankfully crafting is such a therapy and makes me feel like i'm achieving something at least.

I'm a little bit disappointed with the take up on my blog candy. I see so many having loads of entries and I was hoping for the same. I don't have much money, living on disability benefits, so it's not as great a prize as some I know.(it's taken me months to get it all together) My main hope though was to get more followers, as I love getting to know new people and sharing blogs. It's a way for me to socialise when I'm too ill to leave the house most of the time. So can I ask a favour. Even if you don't really want the stuff on offer, could you maybe put a pic on your sidebar for others to see? (god I hope this doesn't sound too desperate!)

I can't believe i've just missed Eastenders! lol I was engrossed in Emmerdale and didn't realise it was an hour long tonight. (yes I am a soap addict). Thankfully it's on BBC3 later! I can't wait for I'm a Celeb tonight. I've been loving it. I really don't like how Pat has been acting. Trying to get a laugh, or get noticed, by making someone else look silly is not my idea of a nice person. The trial looks great tonight though. 

Anyway, i've rabbited on too long. I hope you are all well and managing to avoid the horrible bugs about. I'm hibernating so I can try to avoid as many as I can, esp. that norovirus that scares me silly.

Take care xxxxxxxxxx