December daily

Most years I put together a little book to store our christmas memories in

This year I have altered a plain Kraft notebook

I have used Bo Bunny patterned papers, die cuts for the year and a little ribbon and lace

Circle squash book

Tonight I have an unusual little project to share, a circular squash book type project

The pages were made from lining paper ( thankyou Margaret - who shared hers with me)

They were spritzed with glimmer mists and stamped with gold acrylic paint ( again thankyou Margaret) and Stampin' Up inks, once they were dry and folded and assembled together, I added glitter to the edges

Then I fashioned covers from card and patterned paper, adding snowflakes and fibres to finish

I think this unusual little book lends itself more to an ornament than a little book.

A little personal note tonight, thankyou to all those who have asked about AJ

My regular class members and friends know he has been undergoing some examinations and tests, he hasn't been well for a while and is underweight and tired 

It turns out he is iron deficient ( being treated with tablets currently) and initial tests have also shown he may be gluten intolerent / coeliac. We have had to take him for further blood tests - poor kid is going to resemble a pin cushion at this rate and if the most current blood test also comes back positive he will have to undergo an exploration with a camera, we are hoping with all our might that the next set of results comes back negative, but I would just like to thank everyone who has been asking after him and offering their support, it means the world - thankyou xxx

Christmas commission

I was asked last week to create a special card for a little boy's first christmas, the criteria being that is was cute, decoupaged and had the colour lime green as well as his name

Tick tick tick tick, all criteria met

The card base is an 8in x 8in scalloped design, the papers are Bo Bunny, the santa etc are by Nitwits and the name was computer generated.

Get well soon

I made this for Neil to give to a colleague/friend

The recipient has just been diagnosed with a serious illness and Neil wanted to let him know we are thinking of him

I went with rich chocolate shades of brown, layered onto an 8in x 8in scalloped card base and lots of lovely layers with the Fleur de Lis set of dies from Spellbinders.

Scrapbooking

I was recently asked to create a trio of scrapbooking layouts for a customer as a gift for her friend

I was given a selection of photos and free reign to use whatever colours etc I liked

In each case I used the photos as inspiration 

I really enjoyed creating these pages and it has reignited my passion for scrapbooking, which I rarely have time to do for myself 

Note to self - get out those photos of my gorgeous three kids and SCRAPBOOK them !

Saturday Workshop

Good evening, just a quick stop by this evening to remind you I am holding this workshop on saturday - this saturday 30th November

10 am to 3pm ish

I managed to get hold of just a couple more frames so I have just two spaces extra if anyone is interested

The price of the class is £20 and includes all you need to alter the frame and to create all the little decorations inside

Please telephone the shop to reserve your place

01472 359158

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, tra la la la la, la la la la

Yesterday saw me stepping into Bonnie's shoes just for the day, due to prior arrangements Bonnie was unable to teach the monthly die cutting class.

The shop is currently in full Christmas mode so I promised two more cards towards the steadily growing yuletide supplies.

We performed a special cut and and emboss technique on this first card

And some lush traditional colours on this second card

It was a lovely day, we had some new faces to the class too.

Thankyou to everyone for their patience, I hope I lived up to the high standard Bonnie has set !

Also thankyou to my regular lovely ladies who always stay back after class to help me clean up, I really do always appreciate your help - thankyou xxx

This marks the last die cutting class for this year as December's class falls too near to christmas, but the class will resume as normal in January.

Happy Birthday baby girl

Twenty years ago today I was cradling a tiny little bundle all in white

Our first child

Our daughter

Twenty years ago today I was the proudest mum ever

Today I am still the proudest mum ever

Amy you are so beautiful both inside and out

You are kind and generous, forgiving, understanding, clever, thoughtful and the most perfect daughter we could wish for xxx

Here is the card I made for Amy

This is an 8in square scalloped base, altered to create an easel card

Papers are by Tilda

Today has been a hard day for me, it is the first year in twenty years that I have not been able to wish happy birthday in person, nor have I been able to hug my daughter on her birthday, but I honestly couldn't be prouder of the little girl who has grown and developed into an individual, unafraid of blazing her own trail and daring to be different.

Happy birthday Amy

Love always

xxx

Japanese Stab Binding

Yet again  I find myself apologising for another week slipping past

I am sorry

Life just does seem to get in the way sometimes

Tonight I have a little project to share with you that was inspired by my good friends Anita, Margaret and Jan

They have all signed up for a local book making course

I didn't want to take part in the course for numerous reasons, 

ie  time - 

I like having my evenings at home with the hubby and kiddos - yeah... boring and old fashioned -  I know

 I like learning stuff on you tube for free !

and lastly I don't enjoy being confined to a timescale, I prefer to do things in my own time, as quick or as slow as I like ( more slow at the moment though lol)

So... the girls told me what their first project was  - stab binding !!!!

 And this is my version ( learnt via you tube)

I made the book base from chipboard I had left over from a previous book and all the papers were a gift from June, so the whole project was very frugal

The covers were chipboard wrapped in handmade paper ( gifted from June)

The pages were handmade paper ( also gifted from June)

I used odds and ends from my stash to decorate the front cover, lovely mother of pearls buttons from my special friend and mum number two Beryl

Seed beads which I have had in my little hoard of crafty goodies for ever !

Mulberry paper from my dear friend Ann and a chippie heart which I painted with acrylics

And finally the back of the book which shows off the finishing of the binding.

I am so pleased with my cute little frugal book which took me all of two hours to make.

 I might have to expand my horizons a little and play some more with book binding, pages and background techniques - just don't hold your breath for an update !

Get well number two

Another get well card, this time for my lovely friend Paula, who I have come to know through playing on line scrabble, hence the scrabble letters

I used a Julie Nutting Stamp for the paper pieced girl and the papers are from the Mariposa range

The scrabble tiles are from my stash, I have had them ages, and can't remember the make as the label has been long gone, the flowers are by Prima

I do hope I don't have any more get well cards to make any time soon !

Get well soon

A little later than promised - oooops sorry the days ran away with me this week

The first of a couple of get well cards I have had to make recently

This one was for Maureen who had the misfortune of breaking a bone in her foot 

I saw the image and thought of Maureen straight away

Maureen is one of my regular class members and such a lovely lady, she has us in stitches sometimes - so funny, we missed you whilst you were away Maureen, get well soon xxx

Happy retirement

I have yet another 8in x 8in card to share this evening, I think I am addicted to this larger size at the moment, I seem to have made rather a lot in recent weeks

This time round it was for one of the ladies where Neil works, she retired this week.

Sorry about the poor quality of the photo, I gave the card to Neil, Neil passed the card to Sue, then I realised I didn't have a photo to share so he had to ask for it back and take a photo with his phone in a dimly lit office, she must think I am bonkers !

The watering can is a Magnolia stamp I have had in my stash for ages and the papers are from a Tilda pad, also been in my stash for ages.

 I am desperately trying to use up some of my crafting hoard which is slowly taking over the house, just like my lovely friend Pat who admitted she would have to make cards until she was at least 300 years old in order to use up all her patterned papers.

I have quite a lot to blog this week as I have been super busy with little projects, commissions and all manner of crafty happenings. Sooooooo I will be back tomorrow with a get well card, one of two and the rest will follow over the next few days.

Happy crafting xxx

What a doll !

This card has been made a while and is now with it's rightful owner so I can share it with you my blog readers

It is an 8in x 8in card and was made that size because the lovely lady I made it for loves larger cards

I used a Julie Nutting doll stamp by Prima and made the colours all very soft and very pretty as I know Carole loves all things girlie

So glad you are my friend Carole, you are one of the kindest, most loyal, most hardworking and generous people I know - and you make me laugh !

She's a diamond

This card was made last week for my lovely friend Anita,  I created a large 6 inch square diamond fold card as the design 

If you don't have an 18inch length of card it is possible to make one of these by joining two pieces together and the join is invisible on the finished card

Whilst I was at it, I added a little embellishment to the brown paper bag I had brought home to put her gift in

We had a fabulous time helping Anita celebrate on tuesday, with gifts and cards and cream cakes and all the usual fun, teasing and easy laughter that only comes with truly special friends.

Hope your day was as special as we intended it to be  - my lovely friend 

xxx

Feeling Blue

Sympathy cards are always my least favourite cards to make, obviously because of the subject matter, but I really wanted to make this one for my mum to give to one of her lovely friends who recently lost her hubby

The card is on an 8in x 8in scalloped base and the whole thing is made with just cardstock, no patterned papers, I used die cuts and inks and kept the design fairly simple

Red roses

Another recent commission

This one was created for a gentleman customer who wanted something romantic with roses for his wife's birthday

This is an A5 card and I did create a matching box too (just forgot to photograph the box before I gave it away - oops !)

My gent was delighted with the card and box, hope his wife was too.

Sorry blogging has been erratic once again, Amy is due to go to uni next week and we have been busy sorting out all the financial, logistical and practical stuff that goes with that.

Don't mention the emotional stuff though, totally not ready for my baby girl to be leaving home ( I am completely in denial that I left home two years younger and went twice the distance ! - sorry mum xxx)

Birthday commission

I recently created this card as a commission for one of Rob's mates, he wanted a special card for his mum's birthday as I had made his dad's father's day card earlier in the year

I created this on an 8in x 8in card base ( see Carole L I do sometimes create 'large' cards lol)

I don't really know the lady in question and Joe just asked me to create something girly and pretty ( free reign to use lots and lots of flowers, ribbon and lace in my opinion)

I didn't have the heart to charge him, I just thought it was so sweet he wanted a handmade card for his mum. But he came the following day with this massive bouquet of flowers for me - bless his heart !

St Ives, Cornwall - August 2013

Our last holiday of the year saw us travelling 7 hours down the country to Cornwall - St Ives to be precise

I took masses of photos and have tried to narrow it down to my favourites, please feel free to skip if you are here for crafting inspiration

The harbour and one of the beautiful beaches surrounding St Ives

Walking down to St Ives from our campsite ( Polmanter)

One of the many tiny little cobbled streets, full of quaint little cafes, stunning studios and beautiful blooms

The boys were determined to try and learn to surf, and by the end of the week they had both mastered the art of picking the right wave, springing up onto their boards and riding in to the beach

I introduced all my kids to water very early in their lives and taught them all to swim from being toddlers, Amy and Robbie took to it straight away and loved being in the pool,  but AJ had a morbid fear and I seriously worried that we would never entice  him to swim let alone swim in the sea or have his head splashed.

Thanks to one of my mum's friends -  Wendy, AJ - as these photos go to show has quite clearly overcome that fear and absolutely loved the water. Tears stung my eyes when I saw him confidently run into the waves and throw himself into surfing and swimming. Remembering back to his shivering little form absolutely terrified and clinging onto me for grim death, it was hard to believe the difference. I cannot thank Wendy enough, this is all down to her patience and ingenious little games and pool toys  - Wendy if you are reading this - thankyou so much.

And the big guy did good too, he never gave up, was resolutely determined to stand on his board and ride it to shore

And just to prove that boys (regardless of age) are always little boys at heart, never too old to play in the sand and bury each other

One of the rainy days was spent at the Eden project

The vision of these biodomes as you enter the site is truly awe inspiring

We loved seeing all the weird and wonderful plants and flowers, but if I am honest my favourite part was spotting all the fabulous sculptures and objects of art

I have no idea what the boys found so amusing in the Mediterranean biodome but I love this photo of them

One of our favourite days out was a pretty little harbour town called Mousehole

We bought little nets and the boys went searching for crabs among all the rock pools ( and yes all THREE boys did some crabbing)

We told AJ that the fish and crabs liked to lurk under rocks, hiding from preying eyes and prodding nets and fingers

We also visited St Michael's Mount

This was one of the highlights for Neil and I, we left the boys playing on the beach and took a little boat out to this stunning island

The building now belongs to the National Trust and has been sympathetically renovated for over three years, steeped in history and absolutely stunning

The views from the roof - that pale line you can see running through the sea from the island to the harbour is the Giant's Causeway. You can walk the causeway during low tide, unfortunately we arrived too late in the day and the tide was in, but if we go back we have set our hearts on walking it

These guys amused me, made up to look like statues - until you dropped some pennies in their buckets, they then came to life ( frightening the life out of unsuspecting passers by)

I was just hoping the little doggy wasn't hoodwinked too - was waiting for him to cock his leg !

I popped some pennies in the jesters bucket, he sprang to life, began juggling, pulling silly faces and blew me numerous very loud lip smacking kisses

And I can't leave without signing off with a couple of photos of our tent set up this year - we had a new smaller kitchen tent this year, much easier and quicker to erect

And finally a view from the tent, we could see the sea every morning as we sat sipping our coffee and munching our croissants - truly blissful