Magical Christmas

I thought I'd share this card with you today. I am loving the Enchanted Christmas set of stamps by Papermania.. and this little Fairy is no exception. She fits perfectly into the scallop circle die and is a lovely size to colour. 

I stamped and coloured the little fairy with watercolour pencils, and inked around the edge of the circle to shade it down a little. The background was done with the Papermania embossing folders, a spotty one and a snowflake one.

This is a closer look for you.

Sorry it's such a quick post, but I'm having to play catch up this morning - I've got some Creativity TV items to finish off making (they're looking lovely, even if I say myself!!) and I've also got some Creativity magasine commissions to get stuck into when my kit arrives.

Apart from this, I'm still running up and down to the Hallamshire to see my daughter, who is probably going to be in until next week, and trying to keep up with the h******rk! Sorry for swearing, crafters! lol.

Right.. must make a move! Things to be done. So, whatever you're upto today.. have a good one! xx

Punches and Dies..

Hi everyone.

Sorry for the lateness of this post - and the others I meant to put up over the weekend! - but things have just been a bit hectic recently.

First things first, and yesterday was the day that the new My Time to Craft Challenge went live, and the theme this week was Punches and Dies.

Here was my card -

I've used the lovely papers from Docrafts - Forever friends Christmas Tale - and I layered the red onto the white card. I then took a 1.5 inch scallop square punch to cut the second layers. This was the punch section! My die section was the central circle and scallop circle. The toppers that were released a month or so ago finish the card off perfectly. These were layered up with 3D pads and then finished with gems.

Aren't these toppers lovely?? I managed to bag myself a few of the snowmen ones and a couple of packs of reindeers.. I think they're so cute.

In addition to making cards for the Challenge, I've also been busy doing some cards and things for the Creativity TV. I'm off down to Bath next week for shooting the next set of videos - and there are some great techniques going on!

Things in the house have also been rather hectic. Holly has had a few days where she's been generally off colour and a bit sicky.. but I think she seems alot better today. No sickies, and looking quite alert and raring to play. This is a quick pic that I snapped this morning whilst she was out in the garden.

My little pupster! Love you Hollypops!

Mr Scoobs has also got a poorly footsie, so he's off to the vets again later to check and see if it's able to be unbandaged. Does he look worried?? I don't think so! Here he is this morning.. the handsome thing!

My daughter was out with Truly last night on a quick evening walk, and came across a poor little hedgiehog who was a little out-of-sorts. He was circling around the field, not really knowing where he was going.. he was a teeny tiny little thing (around 200g, so really underweight to survive the cold), so we bought him home and made him comfortable and warm. He was fed and ate the lot.. he must've been hungry. Here's Harold (as we named him.. cos everyone knows that hedgies need a name!)

 This photo was taken around 10pm last night, when we were bedding him down for the night. He was quite a fiesty little thing.. very nosy, but oh so cute!

This morning, he was all snuggled up in his towel, all nice and comfortable, and fast asleep. His little belly and feet had warmed up toasty warm, and he rolled himself to a ball when I picked him up for a picture.
This is a really good sign that he can curl up... so he must've been feeling better.

Look at his tiny little nose..

I have a love for the little hedgies.. they're such a lovely creature. It's such a shame that they are in decline.

Harold has now gone off with the RSPCA man, to be overwintered in their Wildlife Centre. So good luck to him, and I hope he goes on to live a very happy life, much like our Hyacinth that we raised a few years ago.

Well.. that's it for now.. more posts will be here tomorrow if I get chance! I'm back to running up and down to the Hallamshire again this week, as my daughter got admitted yesterday. It's been a bit of a tough month for her, but hopefully after her second MRI scan in as many months, we will know a bit better to what's happening and what will be done.

Until then... happy crafting! And thank you for popping by!

Enchanting

The new range of Enchanted Christmas products have been really popular in the stores, and this past weekend I was over at Samual Taylors doing my demo, and was working with this range.

I coloured in the deer using the same technique that I used before, and here he is.. I hope you like it. Sorry for the quick post..I'm playing catch up after hospital appointments in Sheffield yesterday.

Loving the Big Ones!

The new big stamps from Papermania are great! They instantly fill up a large card and are great to colour in too!

Here, I've used the Bauble Stamp and it was Project of the Week last week.

You can click HERE to find the full instructions and how to make it!.

Happy Crafting everyone.

Tuesday's Craft class update

What a night.

It was my Craft Class on Tuesday evening and we had a few newbies there too - Welcome Lynne and Gemma!

We made two projects this week because they were slightly more time consuming, but everyone seemed to enjoy doing their cards. Here's what we made.

This card was inspired by Francoise Read's card that I saw on Saturday over at Samuel Taylor's demo day, where I was working. I told her I loved it, and bought the set, and this was my take on it.

We used brads for the nose of Rudolph. Doesn't he look cutesy?

The next card that we made was this one here - a paper pieced birdy. Again, Francoise was using it, but I can't remember what the original card looked like.. so I simply matted and layered it up onto Christmas papers.

And the obligitory close up..

Now then... hold on to your waistline...

I usually take biscuits or something to have with our drinks on the evening, but yesterday decided to do some baking.

This is what I made - Lemon Cupcakes. The recipe is a basic sponge, with a little bit of a twist in the centre, and I dressed them up with lemon icing and drizzle on the top... don't they look nice??

Everyone enjoyed them.. even if they were a bit sickly.. lol.. Now onto next times cakes.. well, more on the  8th November as this is the next class that I'm taking. For our next actual class on the 25th October, Sharon is taking the lead for that evening, as I am going down to Bath to do some Creativity TV filming.

So.. until next time - Happy Crafting!

A Monster bash...

Hi everyone!

I have well and truly been chasing my tail this week with one thing or another - in fact, it's been the same more or less since all the hospital visits the other week...  but I'm finally managing to get my blog updated and post some bits..

The first thing that I want to show you is a project that has just gone live on the Docrafts site this morning.. and it's one of my favourite things for this Halloween that I've made!

Here you go -

A little Monster family.. it started to grow the other week, with a little project we'd done in class.. and it developed into these.. I love 'em.. they're so cute and sooo easy to make!! Check out the Docrafts site HERE to get the instructions.

A weekend of work

It's been a very busy weekend with demo's on both days.

Yesterday, Saturday, I was over at Samuel Taylor's in Leeds, working on behalf of Docrafts for their Big Demo Day.. it was great - Sheena Douglas, Clare Rowlands, Nikky Hall and more were there, and it was lovely to chat and be part of it.

I also had a fab group of ladies who kept popping back to see me and ask me things, which is really lovely, and I loved sharing all my ideas and thoughts with you all!

Today, I was back at the Range in Rotherham.. a great store for a crafter.. and what a shock I got when one of the girls from the Doncaster store walked over. She has had a bit of a promotion, and is now permanently at Rotherham.. quite sad that I won't see her in Doncaster anymore, but it's lovely to know that work is going great for her.

The folks over at Rotherham were a great group too - and there were familiar faces from yesterday too! Too much spending going on there me thinks! lol.

Well.. That's all my news from this weekend - I will be back with some projects soon I promise. I haven't had the chance to take any photos of what I've been making, but I will this week!!

Take care everyone - Happy Crafting!!

Is it... or isn't it??

Animated.. that is the question!!! lol. Fingers crossed... here goes...

Kraft-y times again..

As you can guess, I have been at the Kraft card again - and decided to use it with the fantastic Enchanted Christmas range of products.. two of my favourite things from this loop of demo's. Here's a close up to start with.

I have used the darker side of the Kraft card to stamp and colour and coloured using the same technique that I did on yesterday's card.

I layered onto mirror card to add a bit of shine, and kept it quite simple. I also created some little 'buttons' to add to the card -

These were created using the small xcut punch and then embossing the centre with the cropodile.. simple, but nice!

Loving the Kraft....

I can't quite believe another week has nearly passed and I didn't manage to get back online to update my blog - so sorry if you've been visiting for updates and there hasn't been any! I promise I'll try harder ... lol.

This week has been really hectic in more ways than one - we've been helping my daughter move into her new home she has with Lee, waiting in for furniture deliveries, trying to get some samples made up, projects needing to be sent here, there and everywhere, and finally spend some time for 'me' to keep me sane! lol.

Still... we survived it, it's just the dust bunnies now that need sorting out in my house! But they can wait a little while until I get this post up and sorted.

Today, I want to share with you a card idea I've been playing around with for a while, and it uses the Papermania Kraft card as my base for stamping.

 I decided to try out the Tatty Teddy on it first, as he does actually look really nice coloured brown, so thought I'd put him on brown and colour him as normal.. he looks a bit good doesn't he?!

Here's a close up of the teddy.. adding the colour onto the Kraft makes it go slightly textured, and you can blend really well too... I think he looks lovely. What do you think?

I'm going to sort out the post to put my second card on tomorrow (In case I forget as I'm meeting Sharon in town for a coffee!).

I do think that this is a technique I'll be doing more of - everyone at my demo on Saturday was loving the different look.. why don't you give it a try too, and let me know if you do, and I'll come a blog-visiting!