JINGLE ALL THE WAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday.

I hope life has been being kind to you and if not that things soon turn around.

We had a fabulous weekend celebrating our son's birthday and hearing all about their holiday.  Sadly as suspected their excursion didn't involve them seeing the Northern Lights.  Their photographs showed just the tiniest speck of light on a big black background .. .. that was as good as it got.  But thankfully they could laugh about it.

They are now back home and we are already looking forward to the next time we will all be together .. .. which will be Christmas! That is going to come around very quickly now that November is within touching distance!!!!

I am happy to say I am actually starting to feel like I am slowly getting "back on track" with life again .. .. .. after a rather hectic few weeks.  Mum is much improved, which has helped settle my brain enormously and all of my wedding work is waiting for "happy couples" to get back to me with their signed off proofs or next instructions .. .. so Christmas is once again getting a much needed look in.

I started today with a card for taking over to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the current theme is "Jingle all the Way".

This used:

Image:  Just part of Penny Black "2238K" Jingle All The Way!
Sentiment:  Computer generated
Backing Paper:  The Lovely Studio "Jingle Bells Book Print"
ProMarkers
Ribbon
Glossy Accents
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is it .. .. making my total number of Christmas cards made this year 40 .. .. and another nice flat one for easy posting.

Enjoy your evening.

Catch you again soon

MEETING MYSELF COMING BACKWARDS

Hi Everyone

So much for me being back in blogland!!

Since my last post .. .. which seems a lifetime ago now .. .. my feet don't seem to have touched the ground.  My time has been taken up making samples for interest new "happy couples", magazine commissions, card orders and having fun with Mum!  No general crafting has happened at all .. .. which will never do!!

I have also been having to "find the back bedroom" ready for the London kids coming home tomorrow for a couple of nights.  Can't wait to see them again!   They will no doubt be here at the crack of dawn to avoid all that chaotic London traffic.

They have been away on a cruise to celebrate our Son's 40th birthday and were hoping to see the Northern Lights.  I didn't get any excited phone messages so I am guessing that perhaps didn't happen for them .. .. but it will be an excuse for them to go back again sometime. 

I must admit I really don't feel old enough to have a son that is 40!  I can't say I even feel 40 myself!  But the weekend will be a lovely time and we will have fun celebrating his milestone birthday.

So with no new creations under my belt I will share some of the cards I made for Issue 202 of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine .. .. .. which should now be available on the shelves.

I got to work with some lovely Sue Wilson stamps and dies and these were my favourites from a set of five:

 

So back to the wedding samples for me before heading off to Mum and I will hopefully catch you again soon.

Take care everyone and have a good Thursday.

JUST FOR BEING YOU

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a good Tuesday.

Sadly my regular supplier of card blanks retired recently and as stocks are starting to run low here I have begun (after all these years) to make my own .. .. which inevitably means once I have cut my 14.5cm square base card from an A4 sheet I am left with a strip of card.   

No way can I throw that strip away .. .. .. and rather than add them to the "white snippets" box I thought I would put them to one side for tags at Christmas.  But then I looked at it again, folded my strip in half and wondered if it would make another good "small card" .. .. similar to my teeny tiny ones but a different shape.

So that was what I made .. ..  but I did cut the length a little to give me a base card that measures 6.5 x 13.5cm

But guess what?  It would appear other crafters use these "cut off" pieces and turn them into cards and bookmarks .. .. ..  and they have their own official crafty name .. .. scraplings!!!

Just look at these scrummy makes on Pinterest here .. .. all from scraplings .. .. and all individual works of art in their own right.  

So with itchy fingers and delight that my offcuts would come in useful this is what I came up with .. ..

This used:

Image:  Hero Arts "S5316" Silhouette Grass
Sentiment:  WOW!  "Stamp Set 41" Just Saying
Distress Ink Pads:  Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord and Faded Jeans
QuicKutz Dragonfly Die
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Mr Heart has also made me a template for my skinny envelope  -  but I haven't made that yet (having him at home more is proving very useful in some regards LOL!!)

So with offcuts used up what better place to take my creation than Pixie's Snippets Playground (sadly somewhere else I haven't had chance to visit recently .. .. sorry Di!)

You will notice in my material list a QuicKutz Die .. .. did anyone else invest in the QuicKutz Squeeze Die Cutter.

I still have mine and an array of little dies.  The dies are two inches square and you can see those in  that little plastic bag in the middle of this box.  You put the die on the magnetic plate then add your card and squeeze a few times for all your worth!!  Boy does it work your arm muscles!!

The picture above has come from the internet.  Mine no longer has it's box - it just had a layer of dust!!  Tut tut!!

Anyway, that is me, and many thanks for your lovely comments on my wedding work post of yesterday.  You are very kind.

Catch you soon.

MORE WEDDING WORK

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a good Monday.

A really busy day here and no time to make anything to share, so I decided to take some more wedding stationery pictures and post those.

If Mr Heart and I were to be getting married again I think this is the stationery I would make for us to give  .. .. but ask me again tomorrow and I may choose a different one.  (Invitation that is not husband  LOL!!)

and that is me for today.

Short and sweet.

CHRISTMAS KICKSTART CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

Two posts in two days!!  Wow!!  Things are looking up!

A lovely day here that is going to be full of rain from start to finish .. . .. perfect for crafting and not feeling guilty about ignoring those outdoor chores .. .. and a day when once again the bird bath will be turned into an infinity pool!  Lucky birds - they will have fun in that!!

So we are into October and Christmas cards are high up on the "must do" list. 

With things having been so hectic during the last month I have unfortunately slipped back a little with these and sadly I have missed a couple of the Christmas Kickstart Challenges.  Sorry Jo!  But I am pleased to say I back today!  

The theme this fortnight is "woodland friends" and I think this little character fits in nicely.

This used:

Image:  LOTV Digital "Woodland Owl"
Sentiment:  LOTV Christmas Sentiment Tags
Backing Papers:  Make and Create "Merry & Bright"
ProMarkers
Crystal and Gold Glamour Dust
Ribbon and Twine
Glossy Accents
White Gel Pen
Nail Heads
Eyelet for the Tag
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So this now means I have made 39 Christmas cards this year so far .. .. nowhere near enough .. .. and  the ones I have made are no longer nestled in my stock box because I have sold most of them.

I must admit though I have been good this year and am putting to one side some I would like to send myself.  That is half the stress of Christmas for me.  I make cards and then sell them all and end up making my own in a panic at the last minute.  But not this year!!!  I have promised myself a stress-free Christmas with no last minute cards to make.  My own little stash is going to stay nicely tucked away.

Anyway, that is me for today.  Off to link up today's creation.

Have a good day everyone.  Sorry if the rain is going to spoil something you had planned.

WISH BIG

Hi Everyone

Happy Saturday!

I hope you weekend has got off to a good start.

My whole week feels all mixed up because Mr Heart has now dropped down to a three day working week ahead of retiring next year .. .. and I no longer have the foggiest idea what day of the week it is LOL!!  I am sure I will get used to it eventually.

Most of my time this week has been spent making wedding samples for the "happy couples" I met last weekend .. .. .. but today I started with a card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  This challenge is always "anything goes" but with an optional theme which this month is "black and white and one other colour".

So here we go with my offering using black, white and yellow

This used:

Images:  Penny Black "3788F" Art of Love and Penny Black "3811J" Winsome
Sentiment:  DigiStamp Boutique (sadly no longer trading .. .. boo hoo!)
Backing Paper:  Pink Petticoat "Gingham"
ProMarkers
Glamour Dust
Nail Heads
Ribbon
Papermania Dew Drops
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

Enjoy your evening and I will catch you again soon.