Lots and lots of goodies!

Good morning!  How are you all?  I'm fine and feel nice and rested after yesterday's exertions lol! So after doing a bit of housewifely duty by doing some ironing, I have been taking photos of my lovely purchases.

My first photo is of the lovely and talented Julie Hickey from Craftwork Cards.  She is such a star, so friendly and helpful, always ready for a chat.  Craftwork Cards is always the first stand Mum and I stop at, whenever we go to a stamping show. 

I wasn't actually going to buy anything from Craftwork Cards this time, but as you can see from the photo below, I changed my mind.  I think I must be one of few who don't actually like their Warren the Rabbit images, and I'm not so keen on Frosty the Snowman either - I don't really do cute.  But I was taken the colours of the papers and card stock that go with Frosty - love the contemporary colours.  Also bought some delicious new Candy - gorgeous metallic, holographic colours.

I got a really good deal on Promarkers - 10 for £15.00, so I bought two lots to take advantage of the offer.  I won't be buying anymore for a while now so why not?

Another must have stand to visit was Sugar and Spice - I am such a fan of Marion Emberson, as I am sure I have mentioned once or twice!  So it was nice to meet her and say hello.  I bought a couple of sets of her stamps - alphabets, as well as a retro flower punch that I have wanted for a while, some silver Glamour Dust, and some crystals and a couple of packets of buttons.

These masks were  a bit of an impulse buy, but I thought they would be really handy for journalling, using Distress Inks and spray inks.

I bought some journalling spots and tags, some plain Manila tags, memo and bingo cards, as well as a script stamp from Paperartsy.

Some more Glamour Dust (crystal), some calendars and a memo stack, some glue pens and some Pinflair glue (everyone is raving about this, thought I would try it out).

The Craft Fairy is a such a great stand to visit - lots and lots of beautiful ribbon, in every colour you can imagine.  It was really hard to choose.  They are so reasonably priced too - about £1.30 for 3 metres. 

Any finally (well nearly!), two new Nestabilities, some magnetic sheets, Promarker fine nibs, a new acrylic block, some Diamond Glaze and even more buttons.

Well, that's all the purchases that I made for me.  As you can see, I had a really successful day.  My only disappointment was that Art From The Heart wasn't at the show.  I had intended to buy some more spray inks, a pack of Moleskin Journals and some pre-printed images.  I also wanted to take some photos of their beautiful artwork for inspiration, but it was not to be.  I have made an internet order since I have been home, so I am sure the products will be will me in a matter of days.

My final, final purchase at the show wasn't for me, it was for my mum, for her birthday in November.  She was umming and ahing between two designs of Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page punches - they were a really good price from Stamposaurus, so I bought one for her and she bought the other.  I'm really glad because she wanted them both so much, and now I don't have to worry about what to get her for her birthday.

If you have stayed with me until the end, thank you!  Hope you haven't been too bored.  It was so exciting to spread all my goodies out this morning and see what I spent my money on.  I won't be having anymore splurges like this for a while now - got to think about Christmas (urgh!).  Just need to find some time to have a play!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, take care.

M x

Good morning!  Well, this is the last day of my summer holiday, so regular postings will now go out of the window!  Here are three more cards to share with you, all for birthdays in September.

 Ingredients

Card, embossed frame and sentiment : Craftwork Cards

Ink : Versamagic Spring Pansy

Ribbon : Craft Fairy

Glitter Glue : Stardust

Ingredients

Card blank, sentiment, Candi : Craftwork Cards

Flowers : Prima

Paper : Sugar and Spice by Dovecraft

Ingredients

Card blank, Candi, Digi Smooth cardstock : Craftwork Cards

Cardstock : From stash

Stamp : Time for Tea by Beth Gunnell (free with Quick Cards Made Easy)

Nestabilites : Large Classic Oval and Large Scalloped Oval

Promarkers : Duck Egg, Walnut, Lime Zest, Sky Blue, Meadow Green, Canary, Peach, Rose Pink

Sakura Glitter Gel Pen

I think it will be unlikely that I will get any more cards made today which is a pity.  My day will be spent getting myself and the children ready for tomorrow - checking bags, pencil cases, PE kits etc.  Making sure shoes are polished and phones are charged and locker keys are found.  I'm trying to eliminate the panic tomorrow - would like the morning to be calm, particularly for Emily - so no dramas would be good!  I'm off to chivvy Edward to get dressed (how is he going to get ready on time tomorrow??!!) so that we can walk the dog.

Have a fun day.

M x

Bits and Bobs

Evening!  Well what a busy old week it's been this week.  I've made quite a few cards, been shopping quite a few times, been to the cinema, out for tea and walked the dog plenty.  Not to mention the boring chores of washing and ironing and planning meals.  I'm feeling pretty pooped to be honest.

Today Mark and I took Emily to Lakeside to buy clothes for 6th Form - not my favourite thing, shopping, but needs must.  Emily has had a rough old time in the last few  months and we did doubt that she would be able to go to 6th Form, but she is determined to give it a go.  So she needed kitting out.  Lots of clothes were tried on, a good many of them were discarded but we came home with quite a few shirts, trousers and cardigans, plus boots and a bag.  My bank account has taken quite a battering (the Ally Pally fund!!) but it will be worth it on Tuesday if she goes to school.

I wanted to share with you the card I made Mark for our Wedding Anniversary last week.  I've been meaning to post it on the challenge blog Less is More but haven't quite plucked up the courage.  I am running out of time for that one of my holiday goals, so I hope the challenge tomorrow is one I fancy!  Anyway, back to the card, it's a bit different to my usual style.  I inked all around the edge with Barn Door Distress Ink, and around the outside of the elements.  I also used Barn Door to stamp the heart border and hearts on the sentiment (which is a Paula Pascual stamp).  The main element is from a set of stamps by Marion Emberson - you know I am such a fan.  The grosgrain ribbon was from my huge (and I am not joking) collection of ribbon and the "Just For You" sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.  I wasn't too sure of the finished card at first, but I've come round to it.  Mark liked it anyway.

This next card is another departure for me too.  I'm not such a fan of cute images and rarely use them on my cards, but what can you do when you have to make a card for a 2 year old boy?  I don't really have any stash that fits the bill, until I remembered this set of paper that was a free gift from Scrapbook Magazine.  I thought the pirate boy was perfect.  I cut it out and used a strip of the waves backing paper, plus a little bit of plain card stock from DCWV and Bob's your uncle!  The button embellishments were part of the paper pack too and fit in quite nicely.

Have any of you read this book - One Day by David Nicholls?  If you haven't, I can't recommend it highly enough.  I couldn't put it down and was reading it every available minute of the day (just as well I am on holiday!).  I am toying with the idea of going to see the film version, but I have a feeling I may be disappointed - I hope Anne Hathaway can carry off a convincing Yorkshire accent.  We'll see.

Talking of the cinema, we took Emily to see The Inbetweeners film on Wednesday while Edward has been staying with my parents for a few days.  The film was very funny but SO rude!  If you are easily shocked, I wouldn't recommend it.  It is all about four 18 year old boys on holiday in Greece and nothing is left to the imagination!

I'm off to have a facial first thing in the morning - using a voucher that the children bought me for Mother's Day - and I'm really looking forward to feeling pampered.

Take care

M x

New Cards 2

I'm on a roll now! More cards to show you.

These are very simple too and didn't take very long to make. I cut a panel of coloured card and embossed the bottom half with a Swiss Dots embossing folder through the Cuttlebug. Then I cut various circles/scallops with my Nestabilities and stamped some images and words from Paula Pascual's range of stamps with Stazon ink.

I really loved the embossed bit of the card. I mainly use my Cuttlebug for cutting shapes, but I think that there will be more embossing on my cards from now on.

Hope you are all having a fab weekend. We are off to take the dog for a long walk. See you soon.

M x

New Cards 1

Here are a couple of cards that I have made recently. I used Paula Pascual stamps called Simple Flowers and my trusty Cuttlebug and Nestabilities to cut the circles. The beauty of these cards is that they took minutes to make, and that they are very inexpensive. I finished the centre of the large flowers with foiled Candi from Craftwork Cards, and added a little bit of glitter glue to the centres of the smaller flowers.

I'm feeling very happy today as I have a new toy to play with - an early birthday present. It's a new laptop. My old one was a cast off from Mark's job and was painfully slow, sometimes it wouldn't boot up at all, other times it would just switch off with no warning - totally unreliable. Not helped by the fact that Chloe had bitten off one of the keys! Anyway, all my family are clubbing together and I am feeling very lucky indeed.

Take care everyone.

M x

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday and here is the card I made for him. I'm really pleased with the simple, clean look of it and will probably make a lot of cards using this design. The two papers are from a paper stack by My Minds Eye and the three little circles are Card Candy from Craftwork Cards. I also used their chipboard letters as a template for the wording.

I have a few cards that are works in progress - a 30th birthday and a 50th. There are a lot of milestone birthdays this year for friends and family, so I anticipate being kept very busy!

It was Craft Day on QVC last week and luckily I was working otherwise I would probably have spent lots of money on things I can't afford and don't really need, however I did spot these Paula Pascual stamps at a very reasonable price, so I decided I needed a treat to cheer myself up (hasn't this month been SO long and depressing?).

Filled With Flowers

Simple Flowers

I'm hoping to go to the cinema and see The King's Speech tomorrow night. I've heard it is very good. Anyone seen it?

Take care

M x