Happy Birthday

Good morning all.

Slowly getting back to normal here after a fabulous trip (minus the unscheduled visit to hospital!). New Zealand was just so beautiful and the people so friendly. No rest for the wicked though as we get the keys for our new house tomorrow...luckily there's no rush to move.

It's my sister in laws birthday tomorrow, I managed to make her card before we left for New Zealand.

More Kanban cardstock used up. Stitched square from Lawn Fawn. Sentiment die and stamp from Whimsy Stamps. Border stamp from STAMPlorations, corner stamp from Happy Little Stampers. Gems from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Happy Birthday Brother

Good morning all.

I've got a few posts scheduled for this week...I'll try to catch up with you all in the next few days once we're settled back home and sorted out.

This is the card I made my brother...he supports Newcastle Falcons so it is designed loosely using their strip colours!

Sentiments from Whimsy stamps. Brother was a magazine freebie. Stripes from Clearly Besotted. Mat dies from Spellbinders and Lawn Fawn. Sequins from my stash,

12 Today (or tomorrow as the case may be!)

Good morning all.

Time to go home...we should be headed towards Melbourne as this goes live. We've had a fabulous trip despite not being able to do everything we planned, I think a return visit could be on the cards in the not too distant future.....all change!!!!....Emirates won't let me fly today so we're here for another two nights at least until they decide I'm medically fit!!! Worse places to be stuck I suppose!!

Both my brother and youngest nephew have birthdays tomorrow, this one was for my nephew who currently supports Arsenal so I've used their strip colours.

Happy die and stamps from Whimsy stamps...one of my favourite stamp sets and my all time favourite sentiment die! Mat dies from Spellbinders and Lawn Fawn.

Happy Birthday

Good morning all. Hope everyone is well.

I was discharged from hospital earlier this week, so taking things easy for the rest of our stay. 

 Driving over to near Hamilton today for a three night stay, hoping I'm up to a trip to Hobbiton tomorrow.

My nephew's girlfriend has a birthday tomorrow, here is the card I made.

Card from Kanban...the stash is slowly disappearing! Square stitched die from Lawn Fawn. Happy die from Whimsy stamps. Stamps and sentiment from Happy Little Stampers. Sequins from my stash.

Happy Birthday to you

Good morning all.

We should be in Queenstown if all has gone to plan, we have 8 nights here so lots of time to relax before we start the long drive north....arrived safely, the scenery here is stunning, totally gobsmacked by the beauty of the place.

One of my nephews is 30 today, here is the card I made him.

Stitched square die is from Lawn Fawn...a Christmas present from one of the kids. Stencil is from Suzicraft, happy die and stamps are from Whimsy Stamps. Sequins from my stash.

HLS Mixed Media Challenge January "Stencil"

Good evening all.

Time once again to inspire you for this month's Mixed Media Challenge at Happy Little Stampers. Our theme for January is:

This challenge is sponsored by

Winner will receive one stamp set from HLS.

Here is my card, made for a nephew who has a birthday this month.

Background made with 2 stencils from Memory Box inked with blueprint sketch and hickory smoke DI. Backing card from Kanban. Happy die from Whimsy Stamps. Birthday (heat embossed with EP), dots and circles from Mix Mash stamp set.

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see the inspiration from the other girls, you won't be disappointed.

Challenges entered:

More Mixed Media - blue

Where the HeART is - anything goes

ABC Challenge - Y for your choice

The Sisters of Craft - anything goes

Seize the Birthday - anything goes

Happy Birthday

Good morning all. It seems to have been a short week...not sure I'm ready for the New Year yet! We're off out to the neighbours for drinks and nibbles this afternoon.

Hope everyone is well and dry...my heart goes out to those affected by all the flooding. 

I've been having a break from blogging and spent the time getting organised for our trip to New Zealand. The last couple of days have been spent trying to get ahead with the cards needed whilst we're away. This one is for hubby's cousins daughter who is 18 next month.

Still using up my stock of Kanban card. Stitched square die from Lawn Fawn, I got two sets of these for Christmas! Happy die and stamps are from Whimsy Stamps.

Challenges entered:

Crafty Creations - anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner - anything goes

The Crafty Addicts - anything goes/celebration

Creative Card Crew - anything goes

Deep Ocean - anything goes

Tuesday Throwdown - anything goes

Wishing you all a happy and safe Hogmanay. May 2016 bring health and happiness...and lots of crafting to you all. xx

Happy Anniversary

Good morning all.

A little change today...I'm sharing the anniversary card made for my sister and her husband who celebrate their 2nd Anniversary today.

Images from Unity Stamps; anniversary die from Cheery Lynn Designs; Happy from Whimsy Stamps. Square dies from Spellbinders.

Challenges entered:

Crafting by Designs - anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner - anything goes

Inspiration Destination - anything goes

The Crafty Addicts - anything goes celebration

Eclectic Ellapu "Balloons, Banners or Bows"

Good morning all.

Oh my word November already!! It must be time for a new challenge over at Eclectic Ellapu and this month Yvonne set the Pink Team the theme of "Balloons, Banners or Bows". I've gone with balloons.

Cake stamp is from Hero Arts, stamped in Memento ink witht he little baubles coloured with a silver gel pen. Balloons are from Whimsy stamps, sentiment from HLS and dies are from Spellbinders.

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see what the rest of the team did or alternatively you could join the Purple Team who have a theme of "Altered Art".

I'll be back later with my Stencil Sunday post.

Challenges entered:

Simon says Stamp - anything goes
Hiding in my Craftroom - freestyle
Alphabet Challenge - s for sweet treats
4 Crafty Chicks - anything goes
Aud Sentiments - birthday + sentiment
Crafty Gals Corner - anything goes
Artistic Inspirations - anything goes twist birthdays

Happy Everything

Good morning all.

Managed to beat the migraine into submission overnight on Sunday, so yesterday I had a trip to the hairdressers followed by a crafty evening. Off out for a girly lunch and some pampering today.

Sharing a female version of the birthday card I made last week for my nephew....this was one of my makes at the weekend.

The coloured card is from Kanban....a very old Christmas pack (I've got loads of it so there may be a few cards made like this!). Die and stamps are from Whimsy Stamps. Sequins from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Addicted to CAS - sparkle

Allsorts - all sentimental

Polkadoodles - use a die cut

Addicted to Stamps - anything goes

Vintage Stamping - use dies

Happy Birthday

Good morning all.

Sorry for being such a bad blogger of late....I spent two days down at home last week helping sort my Mum's house out. As she has moved in with my sister she has decided it's time to clear the house and sell it...quite difficult and emotional for us all but it needs done. I've been gathering up all the photos, paperwork and boxes full of bits we didn't know about and have unearthed some fabulous pieces of our heritage...I'll share these later this week.

For today I'm sharing a card made for a nephew who has a birthday this week....I finally made it into the craft room yesterday after my backed eased up somewhat.

I've gone CAS this year...done all the football and other sports to death so decided to use my favourite Happy die (from Whimsy Stamps) in his teams colours. Stamps are also from Whimsy and sequins from my stash. Square dies from Spellbinders. Hope he likes it!

Challenges entered:

Allsorts - no design paper

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - anything goes/twist something beginning with S (sequin, star, sentiment)

Sweet Stampin' - use script or text

Addicted to CAS - sparkle

That's Crafty - boys will be boys

$25,000 Reward

Good morning all.

Things are slowly returning to normal here and I hope I've caught up with most of you by now. A slow internet connection and the Ipad are not conducive to frequent blogging - hence my absence for two weeks.

Spent yesterday down home as it was my nephew's birthday, along with his Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary and as I was running late with the birthday card I had to hand deliver!

I finally made it into the craft room on Tuesday but the mojo is still hiding in the suitcase or perhaps under the pile of ironing I've managed to create! This is the card I made for my nephew....luckily the wedding anniversary card was made some time ago.

I made a similar card for my BIL last year and Jack asked me to make him one this year so I knew where this one was going. The backing paper was the waste paint piece from a gelli plate play (the results of which you may or may not see in the future!) which I ran through a Crafter's Companion brick wall embossing folder which I'd inked with black soot DI....I love how it turned out! The reward stamp was a magazine freebie...I managed to print the photo the right size and overstamp perfectly first time before heat embossing with black EP and cutting with a nestie die....love it when things go right first time!

The happy birthday die and stamp are from Whimsy Stamps and I finished with a smattering of sequins....I've had a few comments in the past from people who love sequins but feel they never manage to place them right....please know I belong in the same group! So if I can do it so can you!!

Challenges entered:

Crafty Gals Corner - to die for

Inspiration Destination - anything goes

Top Tip Tuesday - Bingo (embossing, sentiment, punches/dies)

Card Mania - anything goes

Craft Your Passion - anything goes

Dream Valley - embossing wet/dry

Fashionable Stamping - all about men

Penny Black and More - anything goes with a sentiment

We Love to Create - anything mixedmedia/creative/inky goes

A Gem of a Challenge - birthdays

Eclectic Ellapu "Travel"

Good morning all.

Saturday evening saw Mum and new baby blue lighted to hospital with baby suspected to have a punctured lung.... a not uncommon problem in premature babies (and possibly occurred as he was born so fast) but none of the Dr's had picked it up before they dispensed them off to the local maternity unit on Saturday morning. Thankfully he's on the mend and is hopefully now out of high dependency.

Monday's funeral was a very "happy" sad occasion and it was lovely to see the extended family again.

Another new month and so it's time for another new challenge at Eclectic Ellapu. It was my turn to set the challenge for the Pink Team and I chose "Travel".

This was Gary's birthday card. I had planned to go with a motorbike theme until his travel plans changed! World stencil is from Suzicraft, I used texture paste and covered it with white EP before drying and heat embossing. Card was then inked with salty ocean DI. Sentiments from Stampers Anonymous and Technique Tuesday. Dies from Whimsy Stamps and Clearly Besotted.

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see how my teamies have interpreted the challenge, you won't be disappointed.

Challenges entered:

Cards 4 Guyz - something beginning with B (birthday, blue, black)

Die Cuttin Divas - anything goes

Crafting From The Heart - anything goes

Craft your Passion - anything goes

Not Just Cards - anything goes

Oh La La Creations - happy birthday

Allsorts - blue as the ocean

Creative Corner - happy birthday

Country View Crafts - on your travels

Happy Anniversary

Good morning all.

Yesterday I became a Great Aunt to a little 6lb 7oz baby boy called Sebastian...two weeks earlier than expected but mother and baby both well. So thats added another couple of cards to the list to be done before I go on holiday...best get a shift on!!

Sharing an anniversary card made for my nephew and his wife...I can't believe it's almost two years since their wedding!

Background made using an ink layering technique found on Jennifer Mcguire's blog, die cut with that die again from Wplus9! ARTplorations Hearts Tumbled stencil is from STAMPlorations. Anniversary die from Cheery Lynn Designs. Happy stamp from Whimsy stamps. Sequins from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Paper Artsy - stencils

 inspired by the stencil bumping technique mentioned by Leandra

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

Die Cuttin Divas - wedding/anniversary

Tuesday Throwdown - stencilling

AAA - paste or stencils

We Love 2 Create - anything mixed media goes

Happy Birthday Son

Good morning all.

I think summer is forecast for the rest of this week...looking forward to a little warmth and sunshine!

It's going to be a busy week....Gary leaves on Thursday for his trip to Iceland and his motor bike is only just ready to go on the road!! We're a bit concerned he hasn't had much road practice yet but there again he hasn't had time to learn any bad habits either. He has his birthday next week so that has to be sorted before he goes and younger son has his birthday on Friday so there will be lots of celebrations before the week's out.

Today I'm sharing the card I've made for Mark.

After die cutting a panel with a nestie square I used texture paste to emboss the Texture Distress Grid stencil from Memory Box. Once dry I masked the edges and using stamps from STAMPloration's Celebrate Artsy set I stamped over the paste. Stamps were inked with DI and sprayed with water. Happy die from Whimsy Stamps is cut three times, birthday die is from Clearly Besotted. A pearl, some sequins and black soot splashes finish the card.

Challenges entered:

Pretty Pink Posh Water Colour Bloghop - use water colours

Happy Little Stampers CAS - sprays/mists

My Time to Craft - male

Crafts 4 Eternity - birthday

Simply Create Too - male

Virginia's View - ombre/mono

Moving along with the Times - happy birthday

Mema's Crafts - twist male

Addicted to Stamps - make your mark

Simon Says Stamp - for a man

Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday - rainbow

Happy Birthday...again!

Good morning all.

Hope you're enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend despite the weather. The forecast is good here today so going to make the most of it.

Today's card is very similar to Saturday's one.

Stamps from Unity Stamps and sentiment die and stamp from Whimsy Stamps. Nail heads from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Less is More - use opposite colours on the colour wheel

Inkspirational - space

CASual Friday - birthday  and colours

Happy Little Stampers - dies/punches

Simon says Stamp - anything goes

Happy Birthday

Good morning all.

A quick card from me today. I've not done a lot of crafting this week...been trying to sort out holidays!

Background stamp is from Unity Stamps, sentiment die and stamp from Whimsy Stamps. Cord and gems from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Unity Stamps - Friends with Flair

Brown Sugar - anything goes

Polka Doodles - anything but square

Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes

That's Crafty - keep it simple

Simon says Stamp Monday - anything goes

Simon says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

Happy Birthday to you!

Good morning all.

Another lovely day yesterday weatherwise, a little pampering session in the afternoon for me...then fish and chips for tea (well I couldn't spoil my nails!) all followed by a lazy evening...life is good!

A simple male birthday card to share today.

Happy die is from Whimsy stamps, suare dies from Spellbinders, birthday sentiment from Clearly Besotted and to you from Winnie and Walter. I die cut the happy from the black layer, cut the card through the middle of the die cut and trimmed a small amount from one piece. Happy die was cut several times in white and inlaid into the black layer and stacked up for dimension. Sentiments were stamped with versamark and heat embossed with white detail EP. Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Challenges entered:

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - use die or punch

Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes

Crafting from the Heart - anything goes

Incy Wincy Designs - clean and simple

Mema's Challenge - anything goes with die or punch

Through the Purple Haze - anything goes

Amusing - birthdays

Happy Little Stampers - sketch

Sister Act Cards - anything goes

Happy Everything

Good morning all.

A quick scale and polish yesterday at the dentist...then a see you in six months! Unfortunately Mrs Officious was working and wouldn't divulge whether the boys had any appointments which they might miss whilst travelling so I guess hubby will have to ring up and change his name!

A quick card for today, the theme at Less is More this week is "Yellow and Green".

Background stamps are from Unity Stamps and I've used various shades of Memento inks. "Happy" die and "everything" sentiment are from Whimsy Stamps. Die has been cut twice from waste card and once from the base, after layering them all up they've been inlaid back into the base card. Stitched die is from Spellbinders. I've added a few gems to finish.

Challenges entered:

Less is More - yellow and green

QKR Stampede - bring on the green

Whimsy Inspiration Challenges - use a sentiment

Addicted to Stamps and more - CAS

Sweet Stampin' - green

Happy Birthday

Good morning all and welcome to my new follower Robin....not sure whether you have a blog or not!

Have you seen the polar vortex thing heading our way??? Looks like we could be in for some horrific weather in a few days time....think I'd better do some panic buying in case we get snowed in lol.

One of the bearings went in my Grand Caliber at the weekend and it is now rattling...it has been repaired once before so not sure it's worth having it done again. It's four years old and doesn't owe me anything and is still working fine at the moment so I'm hoping it keeps going for a little while longer as I really liked the look of the new Spellbinders machine which was showcased at CHA...not sure when it's due out though.

Sharing my brother's birthday card today...he shares his birth date with our youngest nephew so I've used the same card stock but made a completely different card. 

Square stamps and die from Papertrey Ink. Happy die and birthday stamp both from Whimsy. Mat dies from Spellbinders. Mostly new goodies...yes I've had a bit of a spending spree but the expensive handbag that hubbie bought me for Christmas had to go back so I bought a much cheaper one to my taste and now I'm busy spending the difference on new crafting goodies! (PS don't tell him that though!!!).

Squares have been cut out of the white mat, stamped then inlaid again...this worked perfectly first time (it needed two cuts as there are only six squares on the die), then disaster struck and I dropped the back dewdrop ink pad and of course it landed ink side down on the mat!! Four attempts later I again had one I was happy with! Happy has been cut twice and layered up to make it stand out.

Challenges entered:

Less is More - sketch

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - add layers

Craft for the Craic - favourite word (happy)

Seize the Birthday - anything goes + opt sketch

Inspiration Destination - anything goes