You make me smile!

Hello again everyone, here I am dropping by to share a CAS card that I made today using Kelly's gorgeous colour combo from Inspiration Friday over at Hero Arts.The butterfly was stamped in brown Memento ink, coloured with Promarkers and then literally smothered in Glossy Accents. I scored the wings before adding the Glossy Accents so they'd lift up very slightly when dry. The stamp is from a Christmas present of the lovely Polyclear Antique Engravings set. Not my usual style but I'm just loving the stunning images.BTW, I'm on the look out for a good white embossing power. The last two that I bought have proved to be very disappointing so I'd welcome some recommendations.

I start Jury Service tomorrow. I've borrowed a whole load of books from the library as I have been warned that there is plenty of time just spent waiting around.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

A quick thank you card.

Hello everyone, yes it's me again! I'm finding going 'cold turkey' from blogging rather hard to do.

I can't promise regular posts but will try and join in the fun whenever I can!

I needed a few 'thank you' cards. What a great excuse to ink up my latest Pure innocence stamp called 'Being cute is what I do'. I think she may just be my favourite PI girl so far. I paper pieced her dress and coloured her with Promarkers. The papers are both scraps from Basic Grey and look lovely with that turquoise card from Stampin' Up!

Using my newly serviced and repaired sewing machine I was able to stitch around the centre panel of the card. Stitching on cards may just become my new obsession!

Anyhooo, enjoy the rest of your weekend. I have a card to finish (hurrah) and then the ironing awaits (boo hiss).

Take care everyone and happy crafting!

Happy New Year!

I thought I'd just drop by and wish everyone very Happy New Year! A big thank you to everyone who left a comment on my previous post or who has been in touch by email. Thank you so much for all your kindness and friendship. Just to prove that I've not been leading a totally craft free existence since November I thought I'd share a few views of my untidy desk and one or two of the cards that I've been working on recently. These are my quick make/mass production cards at the assembly stage... A close up after adding oodles of Stickles!

And here's the final Christmas card for 2010.

This golden oldy from the fabulous Emerson Quillan has to be one of my favourite Christmas stamps!

Finally, I couldn't resist making this set for my sweet niece. These little digi's from Heather Ellis look uncannily like her and so were perfect for creating simple single layer 'thank you' cards.

Life remains hectic and is likely to become even more so in the run up to the submission date for my ICS work. In addition I now have the added stress of two weeks of jury service in late January! Seriously, is someone having a joke????

Take care everyone and happy crafting for 2011!

Ta ta for now....

I've been putting off this decision for a few weeks.... but I think the time has come for me to take a little break from blogging. I've noticed that I seem to be dropping Followers and I'm not posting as often as I feel I should. Work is proving very challenging right now, plus I have my ICS qualification to complete by March 1st and there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Before I take my leave I thought I'd share a few projects that I've managed to slot in amongst all the recent craziness.

This first card uses lots of lovely Stampin' Up! goodies and that beautiful Hero Arts background stamp that I bought recently. I don't often show sympathy cards but thought I'd share this one as it showcases stamps from one of the new level one Hostess sets from the current Stampin' Up! catalogue.

The second card that I'm sharing today is one that I made for my best friend's wonderful daughter Hannah. Don't tell her, but along with her ever so slightly crazy Mother, Hannah is one of my favourite people on the planet!

Myself and my friend always say 'if it's going to happen it will happen to Hannah'. Once again she proved this to be true by having her appendix removed and being in a car accident in the two weeks proceeding her 18th birthday last Thursday. Thankfully she is on the road to recovery and still managed to celebrate her birthday in style.

This adorable new Sugar Nellie stamp by Krista Smith seemed perfect for a sleepy 18 year old who can't understand what all the fuss is about! The sentiments and beautiful paper are both from Kaisercraft.

My final project is the reveal of how I altered that cardboard cat food box you've seen loitering on my workdesk for the last couple of posts. Perfect for my overflow of punches!

I love this Gorjuss/Sugar Nellie stamp called Up, up and away, and the highly appropriate sentiment from Hero Arts. I also used the Memory Lane stamp from Crafty Individuals and my new Hero Arts block - totally gorgeous!!! I've never done anything quite like this before and learnt plenty to take forward to any future projects!

So now I'll say au revoir... I'm sure that I'll pop up from time to time as I know I'll find it very hard to stay away from my blogland buddies.

Thanks for dropping by at my blog, thanks for your wonderful friendship and encouragement and thanks for all the amazing inspiration and fun. You are all totally fabulous and much appreciated.

Ta ta for now... and very happy crafting everyone!

WOYWW - slightly dispelling the tidiness myth!

What a lovely Autumn day - chilly, but bright and sunny. Perfect for tidying the garden and then coming indoors for a little crafting!

So, what is on my workdesk today?

The ingredients for at least three cards... ... plus some yummy new Kaisercraft papers and a bottle of Glossy Accents that I've bought to give to my Mom!

As you can see I have four images stamped and ready to go. I spotted this new Sugar Nellie stamp called Pillow talk by Krista Smith and knew I had to get her. Perfect for teenage birthday cards! I haven't worried about stamping her very carefully as I'll be cutting her out.

I've just received my latest Stampin' Up! goodies from the lovely Michelle so will be playing with my new Hostess set 'Silhouette Sentiments' asap.

Christmas has come a little early as you can also see my new Hero Arts Clouds Design Block and a cute Whipper Snapper block, both from the fabulous Sir Stampalot.

I think these will work great together: love the expressions on those bird's faces!

I thought I'd also share a picture of my cute crafting buddy... Mr Monkey.The shelves are from Ikea and my desk clips onto them, which is a great space saver. As you can see I am a bit of a hoarder and love my nick-knacks and bits of junk!

Hope you all have a happy Wednesday and don't forget to drop by at Julia's blog to catch all the workdesk fun!

Better late than never!

This morning I realised that I had forgotten to post my October Card Chain Challenge cards.

Shame on me!

So without further ado here is the little beauty that I received from the lovely Hilde in Norway.

Don't you just love those flowers and the placement of the gems! This card is simply gorgeous and a great take on Deborah's sketch.
Here's the card that I sent to Barb in Minnesota.
I just couldn't pull together an attractive enough combo of colours that even came close to Deborah's colour palette for October. Instead I went with pinks and blues, and her theme of Guardian Angels.

I found the sentiment by Googling 'angel quotes'. It seemed to fit perfectly with this sweet Sugar Nellie Angel by Diane Duda. The papers are from Stampin' Up! Believe it or not the clear embossing says 'Giggle', unfortunately it hasn't photographed well!

I have so much housework to do that I don't know if I'll manage to make a card today. This is a real shame as I have got lot's of ideas AND a fabulous new stamp that I'm itching to use! Wish someone would invent the self cleaning house!!!!!

Happy crafting everyone!