A break from the norm...

Hi there crafty people! How is your week going? I'm OK, still pathetically tired from my op. I thought my energy levels would increase dramatically after the op but I've still yet to see it but I remain optimistic! lol. We saw Mum's oncologist on Monday and they have said they would definately still like to give her chemo but when the drain is out. We have to go back for a review in 6 weeks as they have said that a few weeks here or there shouldn't matter for the chemo which is what we were worried about. We just hope and pray for the bile to stop leaking as the sooner she has the chemo the better.

Right enough personal stuff, onto the crafting! As the title of this post reads, my crafting has taken a bit of a different turn this week. We have some non-cute cards and some jewellery!

First up is a card for my Auntie. I really love the papers on this one. The stamp is by Inkadinkado coloured with watercolour pencils. The papers are by Bo Bunny (brown and large dots) and Fancy Pants (small dots). The ribbon was a lighter brown but I coloured it with copics to match the colour scheme.

I'd like to enter this for:

Create 4 Fun Challenge- sketch

Pile It On- bright and breezy ( you can't get more bright and breezy than a sunflower!)

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Inkadinkado); Papers (Bo Bunny, Fancy Pants); Nesties; Watercolour pencils; Ribbon (?); Sunflower (?); Gems (Lakeland); Copics; Button (Walmart); Twine (recycled)

Next up another card for my Auntie. I used the sketch from one of my CPS sketch books. The butterflies are by Stampington and the sentiment is by Stampsmith. Papers are Laura Ashley and I used my new Tim Holtz paper distresser liberally!

I'd like to enter this into:

Cupcake Craft Challenge- Seeing red

Theme Thursday- words

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Stampington, Stampsmith); Papers (Laura Ashley); Assorted cardstock; Paper distresser; Ribbon (recycled); Flower (Ebay); Button (Walmart); Thread; Pearls (Prima)

Whooooo! Something I haven't done in yonks..... some jewellery!!! Here is a necklace and earring set I made for myself. I love the colours and mixture of Swarovski crystals and pearls plus the cord gives it a different twist.

Here is a close up of the necklace beads.... so pretty!

Crafty stash used: jewellery kit (Shiney Rocks)

Ha! You didn't think I could go a whole post without some cuteness did you???!! Here is a card for one of my friend's little boys. Stamp is by Elzybells coloured with watercolour pencils and copics. Balloon is paper pieced and background is sponged with ink. Paper is by Colourbok. Sentiment is by Papertrey Ink.

I'd like to enter this into:

Sweet Stop Stampin- sketch

Wheeeeeeee!

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Elzybells, Papertrey Ink); Watercolour pencils; Copics; Nesties; Papers (Colourbok); Assorted cardstock; Die-namics die (MFT); Button (Walmart); String; Ink

And lastly some new crafty stash. The Sizzix dies I'm going to use for some fabric crafting. The stamps were a new range I'd not heard of before but I love the folksy style. I'm definately going to be crafting Christmas cards throughout the year this year, I'm determined! I thought some new stamps (and I've order some new papers) would give me the push to start early on.

Ooh, one last thing I'd like to say thank you to the lovely Karen at paperscissorsandglitter for sending me a love blog award. I'm really touched Karen for sending me such a sweet email! I'd like to spread the love to all my fellow crafters out there! Big hugs!! xx

Thanks for dropping by today. I really appreciate every comment you leave me. Have a fun crafty week! xxxx

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all out there in craftland! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a fun New Year's Eve and that Santa brought you all your crafty heart desired! It's a long post today. I've got a couple of makes left over from Christmas to show you and then lots of pics of my birthday and Christmas crafty stash!! Yay! Sometimes I feel like I might have too much stash but then the moment passes!! Lol.

My Christmas, as ever, was an eventful one. You didn't actually think the holiday would pass without some drama did you??!!! We took Mum to Basingstoke Hospital on the Tuesday before Christmas where they told us they would have to do another operation as the drain had not stopped like it should have and then did a procedure to change the existing drain. We were told they would try and get her in the first week in January but we haven't heard anything yet- so yet again, we are playing the waiting game. Anyhow, Mum seemed to have picked up a cold that day and as Christmas approached steadily seemed to be getting more and more run down. This all came to a head on Christmas Eve when I had to call out an emergency doctor as she was running a ridiculously high temperature and was struggling to breathe properly. The doctor came out and diagnosed a chest infection and pneumonia, gave me a stash of antibiotics and said if she wasn't better by the morning to get her into hospital!! Well you can imagine how much sleep I had Christmas Eve!!!! Thank god, she was no worse but we postponed Christmas Day and I spent the afternoon trying to get a couple of hours sleep so a bit of a wash-out all round really. She is finally now doing a bit better so fingers crossed she is finally on the mend...

So onto the last of my Christmas makes....

First up is this handbag charm I made for my Mum to go with a handbag she has that is dark pink. Some of you will remember the beads from the stash I got on hols in the US earlier this year. I really like the colours on this one. I really want to do a little bit more jewellery making this year as I have a couple of kits which I've been meaning to do for ages so I'm determined to do them this year.

Onto a couple of cards. This image is Elzybells coloured with copics and her dress is paper pieced. The paper is Doodlebug stitched onto some card. The curved scalloped was done using a Die-namics. The sentiment and snowflake are Sizzix dies.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Elzybells); Copics; Paper (Doodlebug); Assorted cardstock; Sentiment (Sizzix); Snowflake (Sizzix); Nesties; Die-namic scallop die; Gem (Lakeland);

My final make for Christmas was using my gorgeous Penny Black stamp. Just a really simple card this one, didn't want to gild the lily. I coloured her using Glossy Accents and Glamour Dust and added some silver gems. Sentiment was a K&Co rub on.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Penny Black); Glossy Accents; Glamour Dust; Ribbon (recycled); Sentiment (K&Co); Gems (Wild Orchid Crafts)

Now onto birthday and Christmas crafty stash...yay! This little lot I got in the States at bargain prices. These were from Michaels, JoAnns and Walmart. I really love those flowery buttons!

I also got a variety of books. The Joy of Card Making I got cos I read a review which said it was full of sketches. It looks like a really nice book. The 3 books in the back row are all fabric-type books which is a totally new thing to me cos as you know I can't sew for toffee but I really wanted to try to make some simple sewn gifts this year. The 2 on the right were surprises from my sis so I must have been wittering on about doing it at some point!! All these books are so gorgeous to look at and really inspirational. Watch this space for (hopefully!) some new crafty items other than cards this year. See how hopeful I'm being that I might actually have the time this year??!!!

ooooooh! Loooooook at my gorgeous Stamping Bellas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And finally I succumbed to a Bind it All. Been thinking about it for ages and wondered whether I'd use it enough but my in-laws didn't know what to get me so I thought this would be perfect. Again fitting in with my attempt to make pretty gifts this year.

oooooh and preeeetty papers! This little lot I also got in the US- you remember me telling you about the scrapbooking shop that was closing down and had everything half price?! Well this is my gorgeous stash!

And finally some more copics and watercolour pencils.

Am hoping to visit you and see all your lovely Christmas stash! Am at least going to try and colour some images over the next few days and hopefully do some challenges next week. Hope to see you all soon xxx

Is this getting boring???! More Christmas cards... and a gift!

Hi. I hope everyone had a good weekend. Did you see the X Factor? Thank goodness Lloyd has gone. Cute kid but way out of his depth. I think this week will be the really interesting week as all 4 of them are good singers. I think the finalists will be Olly, Stacey and Joe. What do you all think?

I'm feeling a bit better but not great. I've got to ring the GP for my test results today so I'm hoping it'll be a case of just getting some more antibiotics. Anyway, feeling grotty gave me the chance to do alot of crafting so here are my makes for last week.

This first card I'm really pleased with. I wanted to go for a more elegant style. Using my nesties I cut a circle out of a post-it note and then stuck it down on white card to act as a mask. I stippled a variety of blue and silver inks around the edge of it. I then took off the post-it to reveal a white circle. I then stamped the Papermania deer over the top of the circle. I then used this gorgeous Inkadinkado beaded swirl set to create a frame by stamping off the page. I then double mounted it and tied a bit of recycled ribbon around it. The sentiment is from the Papermania set too. I'm not sure where the paper is from, I bought it as a single sheet.

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Papermania & Inkadinkado); Assorted cardstock; Ribbon (recycled); Buttons (Recycled); Nesties; Inks & stipple brush; Post-it note

I liked this style so much I decided to do the same thing for this gorgeous Inkadinkado lamp stamp. This time I used an oval nestie and I did the edging on the main background of the card instead of the image. Finally I added a Christmas ribbon and some hot fix crystals.

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Inkadinkado); Assorted cardstock; Ribbon (?); Hot fix crystals (London Bead Co.); Inks & stipple brush; Post-it note; Nesties

I've had a couple of orders for my handbag charms for Christmas presents so this is the first one I made this week. The photo doesn't really do it justice as the light is reflecting on the colours too much but you get the general idea! This one is called Red Scarlet.

So now on to some challenges! This card is for the Our Creative Corner Challenge who have a sketch with baubles to follow. It came along at just the right time as my friend, Fi, bought me these fab little bauble embellies and I was wanting to use them! The paper is Papermania. I pulled the hanging thread out the back of the embellies to make one long thread rather than a loop. I added some lovely wide silver ribbon with a strip of silver on top and then added a silver Sizzix swirl which I thought would look great as a sort of silvery branch. I then added a sentiment and silver sequins (also from the set Fi gave me).

Crafty stash used: Paper (Papermania); Assorted cardstock; Embellies (The Works); Stamp (Papermania); Swirl (Sizzix); Ribbon (recycled)

And on to my final make. This is for the ABC Challenge and Card Patterns and Our Secret Crafter. The ABC Challenge is I for Indigo Blue. I'm not sure if this looks indigo blue in the photo as the flash had to be on but it is! Card Patterns obviously have a sketch to follow and Our Secret Crafters' Challenge is Christmas trees.

The paper is by Doodlebug, the trees are little embellies given to me by the lovely Fi as well! The gems are by Lakeland. I loved this sketch, think I will use it again!

Crafty stash used: Papers (Doodlebug); Assorted cardstock; Embellies (The Works); Gems (Lakeland)

Hope you enjoyed your visit today. Look forward to seeing you all soon! x