Time to Craft!

With the chaos of Christmas over I am hoping to spend some time in the craft room - yippeee! That, I hope, is going to be this afternoon! In the meantime I am posting one of the Christmas cards that I made this year. I hope you like it!

The Frozen River Bann in Coleraine

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas with family and friends. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time together with family on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. We had lovely meals on both days and all of us ate far too much! The diet really would need to start NOW!

Anyway I thought I would post a couple of photos of the snow in Coleraine for you to see. Last year the river began to freeze at the edges but this year the River Bann totally froze over and the last time this happened was in 1947! I was totally amazed to see this as I never expected it to happen in my lifetime! Here are a few photos!

A Post - at last!

At last - a post! As I mentioned in my previous post my youngest daughter who is only 10 has had Glandular Fever. As she is only 10 and we live in Northern Ireland she has been preparing for her transfer tests and unfortunately has missed more than a month from school - certainly not the best timing. As you can imagine she has been my priority in the last few weeks. I have not had the time to craft at all but did manage to tidy out the Craft Room at the end of last week! Until I manage to create again I am posting some cards I made a few months ago. Thank you for dropping in!

AWOL!

So sorry that I haven't been able to post recently. My youngest daughter hasn't been well and as it turns out she has Glandular Fever. Crafting time has just been non-existent recently but I do hope to make up for it once she is feeling better. Take care. xxx

An Anniversary Card!

Today is our 15th Wedding Anniversary - and do you know I wouldn't change him for the world! This is the card that I made for my husband - I'm not really sure why it ended up with pink!

Something a Little Different!

I have been working incredibly hard over the summer making cards that I have been fortunate enough to sell. This is one of them. I do like using black and white with a good accent colour and I quite like how the pink is a strong contrast. What would I do without my Papertrey Ink stamps?

A Tried and Tested Colour Combo!

I really love this Sweet Pea image from Papertrey Ink. I could (as you may have noticed) use it over and over again! I like to try it out with different colour combos and for different occasions.

Pearl Anniversary Card

I have been so busy during the last week since coming back from Scotland I haven't had a lot of time for crafting. However, I am fulfilling an order and this is one of the cards that I have made. I am trying to work out whether I should also have added a '30th' somewhere on the outside of the card also - still not sure.

A Simple Card!

This is a quick and simple card which is easily amended to suit any occasion. It is a simple card but it works for me and I think it is quite effective! The stamp set I have used is PTI.

Zorbing at Lake Winnoch!

Zorbing in Wow Balls! We travelled to Loch Winnoch so that our girls could have a go at this exciting new activity. We certainly don't have these in Northern Ireland! Brilliant fun - an inflatable cylinder that the children climbed into and bounced about in - on the water. The activity centre was called Castle Semple and it had loads of water based activities for both children and adults - great fun was had by all. We even had a picnic at the side of the loch.

Scotland!

We are having a fantastic time here in Scotland. The weather has been brilliant, we have done so many things and have enjoyed spending time with family.

These are the photos of Benson as I promised. Isn't he beautiful!!! He is only 16 weeks old and has the gentlest nature and is soooo well behaved - just like Ella at home (NOT!!).

A Few Days in Scotland!

We are spending a few days in Scotland especially to introduce my children to their new cousin - Benson the labradoodle!!! He is 16 weeks old and looks just like a real live teddy bear! I have taken some beautiful photos of him but as yet am unable to download them to this computer as I did not remember to bring the lead! However, I will share 'Benson' and some card photos if I am able to remedy the situation.

Finished my First Order!

I have just finished the first large order I have received for my cards. Up until now I have only made cards for myself and the odd one here and there for friends and family but mostly for pleasure. What that means is that until now I have had no time restrictions or deadlines. Making a large number of cards within a short time is hard work, in fact I am exhausted and happy to say that I have another large order which will need to be started - soon! !

Here is one of the card I made for my first order!

An Anniversary Card!

I have been working really hard for the past few days producing cards for a little shop a few miles from where I live. I have never sold my cards on this scale before and can't believe how exhausting making so many cards can be! I don't think that it will make me a millionaire - I definitely don't have the stamina!! I will post some pics tomorrow but in the meantime here is an anniversary card that I made with the Stampin Up bird punch - very handy indeed!

A Pink Birthday Card!

This is a card I made this evening. Pink and pussycat were the stipulations! I bought some lovely pearlescent card last week and had already used it on my previous project with Papertrey Ink's Sweet Blush cardstock which I thought worked well together.

Waltzingmouse Challenge #8

This is a wedding card that I made for this weeks's Waltzingmouse Challenge.

At last - a card!

I needed a quick contemporary card and this is what I came up with. The designer paper came from The Paper Mill and I have just recently sent for this set of sentiments from Papertrey Ink.

Some holiday photos!

Here is a photo of my girls! We actually don't have a photo of all four of us together as I was usually taking the photos but I will post one of hubby and I later!

The next few photos are of the Moors and Christians Festival. The colours of the costumes were stunning - can you imagine a card with these wonderful vibrant colours?!!

Just like showgirls! Again the colours were amazing - a card with black and gold?!!

I'm back!

I'm back from a lovely family holiday in Guardamar, Costa Blanca, Spain! We had a fantastic time - the weather was brilliant and we all enjoyed lazy days by the pool and down at the beach. We did a fair bit of walking each day which we all enjoyed despite the 30 degree heat! The high point of our holiday was definitely the 'Moors and Christians' Festival which we watched last Saturday evening. It was truly incredible - the costumes, the music and the floats were unbelievable. In fact I would say that they compared with any West End Show! I will share some photos later. I also have some cards to post . Until later.

A Post - at last!

This has been such a busy week for me. Lots of things to sort out, tidy up and make ready for our holiday. Anyway, this is a card that I made for a friend who received a beautiful wedding invitation - in a box! When I saw it I said "I can make that" and this is what I have done for the wedding card. The original had a little pocket with several inserts giving further details about the wedding and from this idea I made the little inside pocket to hold the gift card. At the last minute I had a disaster (screams included) as I must have left a black ink pad open and marked the inside of the card itself - badly. This is the reason why the RHS is covered in black cardstock before the pink and then white with the little border - all fixed - nobody would ever know!!

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 5

I thought that I would try something different (for me) and this is what I have come up with! I had to think about this one to get into the 'vintage' mode! I think I might even like it!! Hope you do too!

Time to create!

I am so enjoying being on holiday. I am getting up early and trying to do a little bit of it everything each day = a little bit of housework (not too much of course!), a little bit of crafting and lots of time with the family - perfect!

This card is very simple and another slighly different colour combination. I so love colour and finding a new colour combination that I haven't tried before makes me so excited!

Sweet Pea!

This is my post for Mojo Monday. I have only just heart about Mojo Monday and since I am now on holiday I decided that I would like to take part. This card is a little more fussy than I would usually make but I thinks its good to try something different occasionally. I have only recently received my Sweet Pea stamps set from PTI and I absolutely love it. This time I have used my Prismacolor Pencils with Zest given to me by my good friend Joyce (Crafty Quills). I have also used a different colourway - not sure about that!

Sweet Pea Card!

Did I say I love this set??? Mmmm, maybe I did! First of all, I must confess, this is a case of a fantastic card by Debbie Olson. As a rule I don't case other peoples cards but this is definitely the exception to that rule!

Sweet Pea!

I have just received my new Sweet Pea stamp set from Papertrey Ink and it is so fantastic. It is one of those sets that I know I will be able to use over and over again. I spent this evening colouring some of the images with Copics - I happen to love those too! I managed to colour a few images and hopefully will get some cards completed tomorrow.

Another Colourway!

I did say I was on a roll when I started to top up my stash of cards. I used Papertrey Ink cardstock as I love their colour combos. This one is with Lavender Moon and Plum Pudding with some Dark Chocolate. The small sentiment at the bottom is from a set by Lizzie Anne Designs. The stamps are made from red rubber and stamp out beautifully.

ANOTHER FAVOURITE COLOUR COMBO - AQUA MIST AND SPRING MOSS!

How could anyone just have one favourite from Papertrey Ink! I love so many of their colour combos. Anyway, I had decided to use my Beautiful Blooms stamp set with this colour combo so I went to get it ...... I am still looking for it. It is driving me insane - I so love that set - especially the leaves and how the little flowers were specially designed to work with the little Cuttlebug flower dies. I'm sure it will turn up as I know that no one has borrowed it. Instead I used this Stampin' Up punch set and it worked really well for this card.

Thank you cards!

SWEET BLUSH, BERRY SORBET AND DARK CHOCOLATE

Things have been so busy here coming up to the end of term. Everyone seems to need thank you cards and thank you gifts! I just received some Stampin' Up items I ordered recently and thought I would like to try them out. I do so love Papertrey Inks colour combo of Berry Sorbet and Sweet Blush. This is such a simple card to make - it would be so easy to make it in bulk. This photo probably isn't the best as I took it just this evening not in the best of light.

Heaven is a little closer ....

This is a Stamps Happen stamp which says - 'Heaven is a little closer in a house by the sea'. I love this image and I love how it can be layered up - especially in my favourite colours. Who wouldn't want to live there - dream ......

A Quick Birthday Card!

This is one of those cards that takes only a couple of minutes - perfect for those last minute occasions!

Fathers's Day

I wasn't quite sure what kind of card I should make for my Father for Father's Day but while I was going through some old stamps I came across this one. I decided to stamp it out in black and see what I could do with it without colouring. I think I like the result - quite effective without a lot of work!

WMSC3

I have had a really busy week and time for crafting and stamping was zero! Determined to remedy this situation I took a little time last night made some cards for my own (mostly my daughters') stash. When I got up this morning determined to do some (lots of) housework I found myself being 'pulled' towards the craft room (not physically of course)! I think I have been on a roll ever since - but definately not where the housework is concerned!! Here is the card I made for the Waltzingmouse Challenge 3.

New Look Blog!

With a lot of help from my friend Debbie my blog has been given a new look. A new banner, new background and a new colour scheme. I have some other bits and pieces still to add but I will do this when time allows. It seems that I am quite keen on the colour aqua!!! I hope you like it too.

I purchased this blog pack from Shabby Miss Jenn Designs who have a great selection of complete packs including all the elements to transform a plain old blog.

I came across this website at Christmastime and purchased a pack of digital images for use with family photographs to make unique personal Christmas cards. We were delighted with the result and I imagine that we will create our family Christmas cards this way again. Of course I do handstamp many of my Christmas cards but for family members we like to send a special photo at this time.

Another Waltzingmouse Favourite!

This is a card I made a little while ago but I did like it. I thought that I would go with a neutral theme and this is what I came up with!

What a versatile stamp set!

I've had a really busy week and haven't had the opportunity to do much crafting so I am posting a card I made a couple of months back. One Saturday afternoon just after I received the 'Roses in Bloom' I sat down and made four totally different cards with this set and this is one of them - probably my favourite. I stamped the large rose image with White Stazon, masked and repeated. These images were then coloured with Copic Markers for a slightly different effect. This was then mounted and completed with a white ribbon and a little tag.

Stamps - Waltzingmouse Roses in Bloom
Paper - Paper Mill
Ink - Stazon - white
Accessories - unknown white ribbon, Kaiser rhinestones, Copic markers

Waltzingmouse Challenge!

Waltzingmouse Stamps have just started a new challenge today and I thought that I would like to join in. This is what I made!

If you would like to join in too here is the link:

http://waltzingmousesketchchallenge.blogspot.com/

Another Damask Design!

I've had a really busy few days and didn't have much crafting time. However, I quickly put together a different colour combination of the previous card I posted here on the blog and added a little sentiment.

A Damask Design!

I needed to make a birthday card, and, true to form I chose my favourite colour for the card base (aqua)! I so love using this colour - I find it so versatile and teams up with so many other colours to give a pleasing combo - aqua with pink, aqua with spring green, aqua with black, aqua with grey and the list goes on! I used my Scor-pal to create the embossed diamond shapes on my grey layer and stamped a small Gel-a-tins stamp in black to make the repeated pattern. I finished each corner off with a Kaiser pearl and a sheer ribbon at the bottom - easy, quick and effective!