My first Christmas cards!!

Hi. Hope you're all well. Today, believe it or not, I'm not going to moan!! Not to tempt fate but the nurse thinks Mum's infection is looking a little better today so fingers crossed..... So I've had a little time to myself in the past few days so finally have made a start on my Christmas cards!

This first card is the cutest stamp from Elzybells. I bought it in their closing down sale. I coloured with copics and paper pieced their coats. I bought some Glamour Dust for the first time and love its fine quality- now I know what all the fuss was about! The papers I've used are Basic Grey and I stitched with my sewing machine. This is only the second time I've used it because I'm so hopeless with anything "stitching" related but with this wiggly line design I'm OK so will definately try and use more often now! Letters are a Sizzix strip die. Snowflakes are a mixture of a punch and sequins.

I'm going to enter this into the following challenges:

Creative Inspirations- Christmas in August

Pollycraft- In Stitches

Charisma Cards- Die cuts

Winter Wonderland- Winter Wonderland

Moving Along With the Times- Glitter

Creative Card Crew- Sparkle and Shine

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Elzybells); Copics; Paper (Basic Grey); Assorted cardstock; Lettering (Sizzix); Punch; Snowflake sequins (The Works); Sewing machine; Glamour dust; Stickles; Gems (Lakeland)

Here is a little close up of the carol singers. Don't they look cute and cold?!

This next card is made with a stamp I absolutely adored from the first moment I saw it. I got it from The Glitter Pot the first day they stocked it. I decided to do a very simple card because the image is so beautiful and doesn't need a lot of fuss. I paper pieced and decoupaged her dress. Papers are by Bo Bunny. I created a present look by adding some strips of chocolate card. The bow at the top was an ancient freebie with a craft magazine which I coloured brown with copics. Sentiment is by Craftwork Cards.

I'm going to enter this into the following challenges:

Creative Inspirations- Christmas in August

Papertake Weekly- 321- 3 hot fix crystals, 2 papers and 1 image

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Penny Black); Papers (Bo Bunny); Assorted cardstock; Hot fix crystals (London Bead Co); Sentiment (Craftwork Cards); Copics

And finally here is my Glitter Pot and Sarah's Cards stash that I bought the other day. Some papers including Bo Bunny, Doodlebug, Fancy Pants, Cosmo Cricket and My Mind's Eye and new Penny Black Christmas stamps. Funny how much 12x12" paper costs!!!!!

Have a fun rest of the week. I'm hoping to make some more Christmas cards! x

Life of Riley!

Hi everyone! Hope you're all doing OK. I've been feeling a bit down this week- I bet you're thinking, does this girl ever cheer up?!!! My Mum's oncology appointment got cancelled because they said there was no point in discussing the chemo until her infection has cleared up. She had a scan on Monday which showed that she didn't have any "collections" which is good news so they basically think because she's been so ill, her body can't fight the infection and heal itself. So we just have to wait and hope it clears up. So that was a bit of a downer and I've just been missing my Dad alot this week, no reason for it, sometimes it just hits you.

Anyhow, I actually managed to make 3 cards this week!! I have to say this is because I'm slightly panicking over how many cards I've got to make over the next few months and I wanted to be well into my Christmas cards by now as I always leave them to the last minute and then end up getting sick of them by the end. So because I was feeling a bit low and needed some inspiration, I decided to treat myself to a load of new Christmasy crafting stash. Oh dear! I think I bought too much really but I'll post a photo of what I bought (yet to arrive!) next time!

So onto my first card. It's mine and hubbie's 5 year anniversary next week. Can't believe we've been married that long!! So I used 3 stamps from the cute Elzybells Smooches set. Image is coloured with copics and cut out with nesties. Papers are from a free My Mind's Eye pad I picked up with one of the crafty mags. My hubbie is a big old softie so I thought he'd like this though I added the black touches to make it a bit more masculine!!

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Elzybells); Copics; Nesties; Paper (My Mind's Eye); Assorted cardstock; Gems (Lakeland); Punches (Martha Stewart & Woodware)

Yay! Now on to my new Riley stamps which I've been itching to use! This card is for one of our friends. Riley is coloured with copics. I added Liquid Pearls for the froth on the beer and glossy accents on the beer glass. Papers are by Basic Grey and sentiment is from the Hero Arts cupcake set. Both ribbons are recycled.

I'm going to enter this for:

ABC Challenge- blue

Papertake Weekly- sketch

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Riley & Hero Arts); Copics; Papers (Basic Grey); Nesties; Ribbons & Button (recycled)

And finally a second Riley card. My Mum asked me to make a card for her brother. Riley stamp again coloured with copics and more Basic Grey papers here. The wavy bit is a BG sticker. Buttons are made using a Sizzix die threaded with twine.

I'm going to enter this for:

Sunday Sketch and Stamp- sketch

ABC Challenge- blue

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Riley); Copics; Papers (Basic Grey); Assorted cardstock; Nesties; Black fine liner; Wavy sticker (Basic Grey); Sizzix die; Twine (recycled); Sentiment (Craftwork Cards)

Hope you enjoyed dropping by today x

Hi guys, hope you're all well. Nothing much different to report here in the last week! My Mum's infection is still going strong so I've been doing alot of driving Mum around to doctor and hospital appointments. Her second appointment with the Consultant Oncologist is on Monday so we might get a better idea of when her chemo starts, or at least they might take some decisive action over this wretched infection.

As well as making a couple of cards, I've been refurbishing a jewellery chest for my new dressing room. At the moment I've only got as far as sanding in down but I'm hopeful it'll look nice so I'll post some piccies at a later date.

Anyhoo, this is another birthday card for my sis who loves to shop so I figured this Stamping Bella stamp was pretty appropriate for her. I coloured her with watercolour pencils and added some highlights in glitter. Do click on the photo as you'll get better detail. I then highlighted the whole image with a copic. The papers are all Basic Grey- I love these colours! Sentiment is by Papertrey Ink. The tiny purple flower in the centre is actually a cheap blue one from a sheet of ones from The Works but I used my copics to colour it so it matched and then added a load of glitter on top! The swirly die is by Boss Kut.

I'd like to enter this for some challenges:

Basic Grey- pearls

Daring Cardmakers- use the colour peridot

Creative Card Crew- Cute and girly

Here is a little close up. Hope my sis likes her hair as I've tried to get it to look auburn like her's.

My second card is a Moving House card for my sis. Hope I'm not tempting fate by doing this as they haven't exchanged yet but they're close so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I've just realised I've used really similar colours to the previous card! So I love my 2 new stamp sets by Papertrey Ink. I love how you can create little scenes with them, they remind me SO much of Fuzzy Felts. Do you remember them?! I LOVED Fuzzy Felts!! Such a simpler time, can't imagine they'd be very popular now!! I did some major paper piecing with this one- the sofa, cushions, mugs, rug, lampshade are all paper pieced. The rest I coloured in with watercolour pencils. All the papers are by Stampin Up and the carpet is a piece of Stampin Up cardstock. The sentiment is by Elzybells.

A close up of the scene, it looks cosy, doesn't it?!

I'd like to enter this into:

Cute Card Thursday- anything goes

Have a great week! Thanks for dropping by x

A Springtini and the return of an old friend

Hi everyone! Hope you're all OK. Thanks for your support re my Mum. Unfortunately her infection has still not cleared up and I'm still driving her to the hospital every day. We were told by her GP that unless she was bed-bound, there's no way she'd get a district nurse!! Despite the fact that she can't drive and lives in the middle of nowhere!! We are getting a little concerned now as unless the infection clears up and the wound heals, there's no way she'll be able to start chemo and may miss the chance to join the clinical trial as well.

Life seems like a series of frustrations at the moment especially since I have seen the return of an old friend this week....my dreaded CFS- definately an uninvited guest! Just when I thought I'd seen the back of it, it rears its' ugly head and I'm totally zonked this weekend with pains everywhere. I managed to make this card for my sis's birthday but it took so long, I totally feel like I've lost my mojo and suddenly crafting seems really difficult!

Well enough of my moaning, I'm sure you just wanna look at my card instead of me droning on......

So here is my Springtini! I've had this stamp by Stamping Bella for ages (you may remember my previous Valentini cards!) but haven't yet used it which is crazy cos it's gorgeous. I coloured it with Lyra pencils and Sansador and added some highlights in glitter. If you click on the image, you can see the detail alot better. The papers are a My Mind's Eye freebie pad with one of the craft mags. Sentiment is by Papertrey Ink (Signature Greetings).

Here is a close up of my Springtini, I could really drink that myself right now!!!

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Stamping Bella, Papertrey Ink); Papers (My Mind's Eye); Assorted cardstock; Lyra pencils; Glitter (Lakeland); Butterfly (Prima); Nesties; Hot fix crystals (London Bead Co)

Thanks for stopping by x