Christmas cards

Here's a small selection of my Christmas cards this year - there are more, I've just been really bad at taking pictures of them...  Loving my little fishing penguin stamp and my new Stampin' Up! penant punch, which I've only used to make Christmas trees so far ;-)

And now I'd better get to my bed, in case I have sicky children again over night - there seems to be a stomach bug going round which made me feel a little out of sorts yesterday and had two of my girls staying off school today.  Hopefully everybody will be back to normal again tomorrow, don't they know I've still got some Christmas shopping to do, lol!!!

Take care of yourselves, whereever you are, wrap up warm and enjoy the festive season!

Bracelets!

Hello, I'm back for a couple of quick posts!  It's been busy busy round here, I had signed up for a number of craft fairs, and that, in addition to the usual Christmas preparations, left little time for anything else.  I also spent an impromptu weekend in Germany with my parents - my dad had had an unexpected hospital stay in October and I just wanted to make sure that everybody and everything was going alright (which it was!).

So, above are some pictures of bracelets I made with my pretty new beads (click on the mosaic to see a bigger image).  The friendship bracelets have been quite popular with my girls and their friends, while the wrap ones are really only popular with me... Unfortunately, none of them sold at the craft fairs.  Not entirely sure why, can only assume that they weren't right for the current party season, and people were looking for something more sparkly.  However, not to worry, I have now got a selection of ready-made Christmas gifts ;-)  And I had fun making them.

Right, post with a small selection of Christmas cards to follow, thanks for stopping by!

A tentative promise...

... that I will have some projects to show you very soon.  Shortly after my last post, I succumbed to the dreaded lurgy, had to spend a whole day in bed (which happens very very rarely) and took the best part of two weeks to recover properly.  I had no energy and no motivation, which was no good, seeing I had to start preparing for a number of craft fairs I signed up to do.  And then I got sidetracked by beads and bracelets...  Oh my, the world of beads is very seductive, a lot of prettyness to be had ;-)  Long story short, I ordered a ton of beads and accessories and got stuck in :)  Hey, wider product range to offer at the craft fairs ;-)  So hopefully the weather will be kind enough to allow me to take some photos of my stuff in the next couple of days, and then I'll start sharing.  And hopefully you've not all abandoned me and will come back for a wee look - thank you :)

Excuse me for bragging a little...

... but I've got a wee achievement to share :) Nothing craft-related - I ran the half marathon in Glasgow yesterday!!!  And I did it in 2:19.49 - absolutely delighted!!! :)

Now, I may look reasonably fresh, but that is very deceiving ;-)  By the time we got back to the car, I was ready to fall asleep, and my legs were killing me.  Still sore and tired today, but feeling a bit better, so that from tomorrow, I will be able to attack the housework that has been sadly neglected over the last week!!  Thanks for bearing with me, hopefully will have a crafty creation to share again soon.





Bright and Cheery

Not really my mood at the moment, nor can the weather here be described as such, but the card below certainly qualifies :)

Made this for my MIL's birthday a couple of weeks ago and practiced my Copic-colouring on it.  For the first time, I'm actually really quite pleased with the way it turned out :)

Well, this is the last of my current creations - better get back to my craft table soon ;-) Thanks for looking!

Grungy!

Have got another card to share - this is one for the guys!  I think it's safe to say I'm not the only one who struggles with cards for men, so I'm trying to build up a little stash of stamps that might make that task a little easier :)

This card uses PTI's Boy Basics: Rock On and Grunge Me, along with a bit of rockin' and rollin' (stamp technique, how apt!).  The colours are Stampin' Up! Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise and Always Artichoke, along with some Basic Black for the inked edges and the sentiment.  Now I just need to find a recipient for this card, not sure if it's suitable for my FIL who's turning 81 on Sunday ;-)

And speaking of Sunday, if you could spare a thought for me: I will be running my first half marathon in Glasgow, and I'm getting rather nervous!  I'm pretty confident I'll manage to get round, and it will feel amazing to have accomplished it, but it's still rather daunting.  Thanks for stopping by!

"Dreamy" Cards

Right, another day, another post :) I managed a play with some of my newer PTI sets a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I'd share a couple of cards today which I made with Daydreamer:

The flowers were stamped with SU! Rose Red, Regal Rose and Old Olive, the card base on the first card is Regal Rose and Kraft on the second.  The second card also uses PTI Background Basics: Gingham, stamped in Rose Red, and some Old Olive grosgrain ribbon.  I really like this set, it has a lot of pretty floral images and lots of possibilities.  Thanks for stopping by!

Back to Blogging

Once again, it's been some time since I last posted. For some reason, I found it pretty impossible to get any crafting done over the summer holidays, let alone blogging.  But, the girls have been back at school now for a couple of weeks, and I'm slowly getting back into a routine of sorts (not helped by sick children, sick dog and training for a half marathon - yikes!).  I've made a few cards, I'm working on some layouts, and I've also just finished a crochet scarf, and will share all these over the next wee while :)

First off, a card!

I've been following the Make-It-Monday Challenges over on Nichole Heady's blog for some time, but never got round to joining in.  This week, the challenge was to use colouring pencils!  Now, I don't have any Prismacolor pencils or odourless mineral spirits, but I do have watercolour pencils!!  And I love using them!  So I had a look through my PTI sets and picked out Up, Up & Away and some pencils in rainbow colours.  Enjoyed some pleasant colouring and a wee while later, had assembled my card.  Hope you enjoy, thanks for stopping by!

Checking in...

...to say "hi" :)  Boy, it's been a long time since I last posted!  And I haven't really got much to show either, my crafting has very much taken a back seat to life over the last couple of month.  At the end of May, my grandmother passed away (she was 98!!) and I took a quick trip to Germany for the funeral.  June was busy with end of school year activities for the girls and getting ready for our summer holidays.  And now we're back from hols, I'm catching up on all the washing and housework, the girls are home, in and out of the house constantly with their friends, we've had two sleepovers in the past week, and all I've managed is a tiny little bit of crochet.  My craft table is a disaster area which I'm just passing at the moment, trying not to look, there is a whole pile of new stamp sets on it and I have no idea when I'm going to have a spare half hour or so to try and play with them.  Yes, I've got withdrawal symptoms!!! ;-)

Anyhoo, I went through my camera card today and organised my photos a little, and I came across a card and a layout that I haven't shared yet.

The card was made for eldest daughter's friends birthday and coordinated very nicely with a couple of the little gifts we chose.  I love how the colours pop against the black background, nice and bright and summery :)

And this layout is of middle daughter, photo taken by my mum when we were visiting in February.  Doesn't she look sweet?  Oh, how looks can be deceiving! ;-)  Not sure this is my "normal" layout style, but I like it.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from our summer hols:

 The Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye

 Elgol, Isle of Skye

 Fairy Glen, Isle of Skye

 Schiehallion, Perthshire - that mountain caused us a lot of pain!  Hard work climbing up, just as hard going back down, legs sore for days!!!

My favourite view from the holiday cottage in Glen Quaich

Thanks for stopping by, hope to be back soon, hope you're enjoying your summer!

Swap Goodies

I recently signed up for a swap on Ravelry, in the We Love Lucy group.  This is a group of people who follow and are inspired by Lucy's blog Attic24, so the swap promised to be a very cheerful, happy and colourful affair :)  I have had a lovely time buying and making things for my swap partner Amy (photos of which I will post once she's received her package), and I was lucky enough to receive my parcel from Amy yesterday.  It was full to the brim with wonderful things, so I thought I'd share some piccies:

Crochet coasters, handmade by Amy

Yellow wool and teal cotton - the yellow is much brighter and sunnier in real life :)

The most amazing silk yarn, made from Sari remnants, and it's fairtrade, too :)

More goodies: chocolate, coffee and flowers - what more could a girl want?

I've really enjoyed this swap, just hope Amy will like her goodies, too! Thanks for stopping by :)

Cards!!

Like I said, I'm on a roll!  Here are a few cards I made recently:

The first two use a Lily of the Valley image I've had since before Christmas but never inked up - and that's despite having three pony-mad girls in the house!  I've got a little collection of horse/pony stamps now, and I'm planning to make a pile of cards with them which I'm hoping to donate to the girls' riding school to help raise funds.  They had to pull down one of their buildings and need to replace it with a new structure, so donations are welcome.

On this card, I've used my new Build A Blossom stamps from Stampin' Up!, along with the Blossom Petal punch.  I think I'm going to be using this a lot, it's got so many possibilities :)  The card layout is based quite closely on one in the mini catalogue.

And this last card was a commission I made back in March for Mother's Day - this was for a mum who loves dragonflies :)

That's all for now folks, best get going and get the tea on.  Hope the sun is shining as brightly in your part of the world as it is here (and has been for quite some time, very unusual for us!).  Thanks for stopping by.

Time For Some Layouts!

I've been working away at my 2010 album over the last wee while - this is an album that will feature one, maybe two layouts per month with the main events, highlights or just some fun stuff for that month.  Now it seems I've only taken pictures of some layouts, but I'll try and get the rest done soon.  Here are the ones I did most recently:

April 2

May

June 1



Had fun doing these :)  Will show more as soon as I've taken half decent photos of them.  I've also got some more cards to share, and more to make with some new goodies from a recent craft show.  Can you tell I'm on a roll and really enjoying my crafting just now? ;-)  Thanks for stopping by!!

Woolly WIP's

As promised, here's a wee peek at my current yarn WIP's.  I say "yarn" because, when I was getting out my crochet projects to photograph, I came across a knitting project, too, that I had almost forgotten about...  I am not going to start anything new until all my current projects are completed, promise!!

This is what I'm working on at the moment: some fresh and bright cushion covers for the living room, as my current cushions are anything but fresh and bright ;-)  The top two pictures are cushion #1 which I finished last week.  At the bottom is cushion #2, with the front panel well under way.  I'm joining as I go for the first time and it's working out quite nicely :)  I've got two more cushion pads to cover after this one, but I might start working on the matching blankie first.


Below are some squares for my autumn/winter blanket which I've been working on for SOME time...  I have abandoned it for the moment in favour of the brighter colours, I'm just not in the mood for warm and autumnal any more.

And this is the pile of all the squares that I've completed so far.  I'm just over half way there as far as the squares go, but as you can no doubt see, the ends still need to be weaved in and then there's the small matter of joining all the squares.  Maybe it'll be ready for Christmas this year...

And lastly, here's my knitting project:

It's a scarf following the same pattern as this one, only using DK yarn this time, making it less bulky and therefore suitable for eldest daughter's dainty frame ;-)

So there you go, a wee update on non-papery crafts going on here.  I've also got a card and a layout to share, but that'll have to wait till another time.  Thanks for stopping by :)



More Spring Cards

I'm definitely in the mood for fresh, spring-like colours, so here are a couple more cards that I made recently:

This is Sugarnellie's Daisy, and some DCWV paper that I've had for an eternity.  Sentiment is from Stampin' Up! Circle of Friendship.



And while I had the paper out, I made another card, spring-y too, but I'm not very sure about it.

On this last one, I went very bright, with a mix of Stampin' Up! and Papertrey stamps, and Stampin' Up! colours, card and DSP.  I only wish now I had stamped the sentiment in a darker colour, as it doesn't really show up very well.  Then again, I'm not sure how well black would have worked...  What do you think?

I'm going to try over the next few days and take some pictures of my current crochet WIP's - I have abandonned my autumn/winter blankie in favour of some brighter, lighter colours and am in the middle of making a cushion cover, which will then be followed by a spring/summer blankie :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Springing into Spring

We've certainly had a few lovely, warm spring days here, and even though it's colder again now, the sun is still shining and making everything look pretty and colourful :)  Spring IS my favourite time of year!!

And A Passion for Papertrey's most recent challenge - Sprining into Spring - was just the ticket:

I pulled out my PTI Vintage Picnic stamps, stamped the dotty basket onto Bashful Blue card, cut it out and coloured the dots in white.  Then I added the tulips image to the top of the basket and watercoloured it in fresh pink and green.  Cut it out with circle nesties and a Regal Rose scallop nestie mat to match.  More Bashful Blue card, embossed with Swiss dots, and a Regal Rose lace border, plus a matching pink ribbon to finish off.  I'm really quite pleased with it, and it definitely says spring to me :)  Thanks for stopping by!

A little later than intended...

... but I think I promised to show some Mother's Day cards that I made.  Eventually got round to photographing them and here they are:

The butterfly stamp is by Papertrey Ink, pretty much everything else is from Stampin' Up!, except the yellow buttons on the first card, I think.  I had made a third one with a pink and green theme, but somebody snapped it up at the craft fair :)

Btw, I was a very happy bunny last Monday!  I had entered one of my many daffodil cards in a challenge over at A Passion for Papertrey, and lo and behold, it was chosen as one of the top three :))))  If you look closely over at my sidebar, you will notice that I'm now sporting a rather snazzy blinkie - thanks again to Kate, Aimes and Caryn :)

Well, I wish I had more to show, but have not found a minute to get any cards made.  And my fingers are itching, I'm desperate to get stamping, but general busy-ness dictates otherwise.  Hopefully I'll find some time soon, but right now, I'm off to get a head start on dinner.  Till next time, thanks for looking!

Cute Cards

Here's another wee batch of cards that I made recently, using a Sugar Nellie image I've had for a while now, but never inked, let alone coloured in - not very good of me! ;-)



I coloured the image with watercolour pencils for all three cards, still my favourite colouring medium by far, probably because it's the most forgiving ;-)

I have a spring fair coming up this weekend, hopefully somebody will like these wee cuties!  I've also made a few more mother's day cards, which I'll show you tomorrow.  Till then, thanks for looking!

Daffodils

Spring is coming, and I've been playing around with PTI's Year of Flowers: Daffodil set - I love that big daffodil image!!!  On some of the cards, I coloured the flowers in with Copics (yes, I gave in at some point and bought a few, but we don't have the best working relationship...), on others, I tried some paper piecing.

This card is probably my favourite, and I'm going to enter it in a couple of challenges: firstly, Daring Cardmakers with "Jonquils and Daffodils for March" and secondly, A Passion for Papertrey with "Piece out, Man" (paper piecing).

I stamped the daffodil image on Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and So Saffron patterned papers from Stampin' Up! and then carefully cut out the individual bits and assembled the flower.  Added a scallop edged Pumpkin Pie border to the bottom, with some linen thread and a button, stamped on a sentiment and inked liberally round all the edges - done!  Very warm and spring-y, and I like it :)

Here are some more daffodil cards:



Hope you enjoyed the splash of colour, thanks for stopping by!

And Now Some Woolly Stuff

You might remember from a few posts ago that I signed up to crochet some granny squares for Sarah London's Crochet A Rainbow project.  Well, I stopped at just over 30 and have now posted them to Australia.  I could have kept going and happily neglected everything else, craft- and otherwise, they are so addictive to make!  Here's the bundle of colourfulness that's currently winging its way to the other hemisphere (apologies for the photo quality, the light wasn't great):

I hope they will bring some brightness back in the recipients' lives.

Well, that's it from me for a little while, we're off to see my folks in Germany on Sunday.  The schools, for reasons best known to themselves, thought it was a good idea to give the kids a 10-day break in the middle of February - not really a month known for reliable weather here... So we're making the most of it with a week's room and board at my parents and hopefully a visit or two to my brother's as well to meet my baby nephew :)

See you when I get back, thanks for stopping by!