Missing mojo ......

........has anyone found it??

I haven't a clue what's up with me this week. Normally i'm quite excited about making my cards but I just don't seem to be able to get motivated at the minute. Maybe it's because I have taken on quite a few awkward orders ..... you know sometimes it's hard to say no to folk, especially when they're an existing customer. Sometimes it's difficult to understand exactly what some people mean when they say they want a special card. I do quiz them for details but all you get is 'sure whatever you think' ....... anyone else find it hard to make cards for people they don't know?

Anyway, i shouldn't complain, this is what keeps my obsession funded so i'll just have to search for some inspiration for these projects ..... any tips for male cards greatly welcomed!!

Above is a simple wee card I made for my cousin and his partner who have recently moved away from wee Norn Iron to the big bad world on the mainland ..... Reading to be exact. It's probably lovely but rather them then me with the commuting times they now have. It's the only time I have used this sale-a-bration set but it is simple and effective so maybe i should make some more of these to see if I can get myself back into the swing of things again.

Maybe next time i'll be a touch more enthusiastic, next job today is to finally place my SU order from the new catalogue ..... might have to starve all week!! lol

If your heading to the convention, have a great time :) x

New Beginnings

WOW! How cool is this? The UPS man has visited and brought goodies ..... yes! My starter kit! I am now officially an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. My new adopted mummy in the world of Stampin' Up is none other than Monica Gale .... you can find her here http://monicas-passions.blogspot.com/ ...... lots of help and inspiration on here :)

Now, my crafting time has been very limited lately due to redecorating, sickness and a few parties here and there. I have managed to quickly put this together, wasn't sure about the distressed look but it is growing on me and I have to admit, i rather like it. This one is rich razzleberry and whisper white and i have also made some in very vanilla and rose red. Think i may make a few more of these to send to friends and family at Christmas. It also gave me a chance to show off one piece that I produced with my new cuttlebug :)

You'll have to let me know what you think!

Oh my baby ...

..... is 11 tomorrow! I can't believe it! Year 7 in primary school ..... how time flies ..... makes me feel quite ancient. He has a better social life than me lol.

Sam is a typical wee lad, full of life, full of fun and full of mischief although I have to say he is also a wee angel :)
This card captures his cheeky chappy personality. I have vowed to try to use up my scraps of paper and card before the new SU catalogue comes out, trying to save my pennies :) i have lots of other bits and pieces too that i need to use ...... i suppose everyone has a stash of some dsescription ..... us crafters dont like waste!!

Things have been busy in the house this weekend, preparations for Sams birthday and also we have a painter coming to do some work ..... yikes, paint makes me sneeze for about a week .... perhaps i should move out lol. Dont think the guys would like that.

Going to wind down now as have work tomorrow. Telly for the rest of the evening ...... Missing Andy for Must Be The Music!!!!!

xx

Expecting ....

Whoopee! Found out at the weekend that my pal is expecting her 1st baby!!! Such excitement, so, as you do, the occassion has to be recognised and celebrated.

Taking inspiration from Monica's blog (sorry, still havent figured out the hyperlinks :$) i have used tempting turquoise and so saffron colour combo.

Isn't it fab! i also made my own background for the first time using my itty bitty buds stamps .... are you impressed yet? lol The stamp and sentiment I have had for a while but this is their first outing .... i'm quite sure it won't be the last.

Short and sweet post today but I have been very busy over the last week making cards and I do have pics of them all so this blog will be bursting at the seams soon ....... that's a good thing, right?

It will be next week though as i'm off on a wee long weekend to sunny Spain (YES! away from the rain!) with my Mum and big sis ..... should be fun.

Laters :) x

Can you spot it?

Actually, what I should say is .... can you spot them? There are two mistakes in my card :O lol ..... still think it looks no so bad tho :)

I think this this week I have been a wee lil bit pre-occupied and not fully concentrating on the job in hand. Normally my crafting helps me relax and chill. However, this weekend my nephew is off on tour to Afghanistan and my sister had asked me to make him a card. At first I said no, I didn't think I could do it without crying all over it as well as it being terribly difficult to come with something. On reflection, I had ideas reeling around in my head so after playing about a little I managed to create something. My sister loved it and im sure Stephen will too as I managed to incorporate his regiments bagdge.

As you can imagine, things are quite sad at this time and we are all hoping and praying hard that all will be well and we will have our hero back with us safe and sound before too long. We are having a family get together on Friday night so im sure there will be lots of laughs and tears then.

Wish me luck :) x

How many flowers..........

...... can you make with a couple of punches?

I have been playing with my punches a lot lately (I think I may have already mentioned this!)and came up with this masterpeice .... well I think it's a masterpeice anyway :)


All you seasoned crafters probably know all these tricks of the trade but I thought i'd post a few pictures to show you how I got the shapes. This is what I started with, 3 flowers punched with the 5 petal flower punch. i had the 1/2 inch circle punch close at hand!

I inserted each petal into the circle punch as shown below and this is what you get, you can chop as much or as little of the petal off as you like. A little tip for you ...... you know the nail buffers you get at the beauticians ...... well, i use that to rub down the edges to smooth them out :)

Next i stuck a flower to a piece of paper, put it back in the punch and rotated it, nice effect don't you think?

So, this is what you end up with and if you also use the boho blossoms punch you can have even more flower shapes to play with.

I think i'll making more of these little gems :) I hope you will too. Leave me a comment and let me know how you get on. xx

been to the zoo lately?

No? Actually neither have I. I think the last time was when we were in Dublin for the day .....yikes.... that has to be at least 3 years ago.

Anyway, you'd be forgiven for thinking I had been given my inspiration this past week. I had been asked to make a few kids cards. Now, this is relatively new to me, i've only ever been asked to do grown up stuff before. I think i managed to pull this off ... I know Christian's Mum just loved it.

Basically it's just a development of the post before. Using the punch art with the sweet pea papers only with a giraffe added thios time ..... so cute. I know i'm still using peel offs but I do still have some left and its a shame not to use them. I've also taken to inking the edges of things, messy, messy, messy but I do love the effect.

Really getting back into my crafting now and loving every minute of it. I have orders for another 4 specific cards to make over the weekend ...... hmmmmmm ....... hope the housework doesn't get in the way!

Have a great weekend ...... laters xx

Monkey Business

Is it just me or is there gremlins in Blogger today ..... took me a couple of attempts to get this wee guys picture up. Anyway, he's here now and how cute is he? I'm so so chuffed with him.


I was checking the blogs I normally look at and spied a picture tutorial for the monkey on Julies blog http://juliesjapes.blogspot.com/ Forgive me, I do not know how to do links back properly, it is in there somewhere. My friend had asked me to make a card for her grandson and this is it .... cool eh? I know Cody will just love it.

I see a giraffe of Julies page as well, maybe I should try that one too :)

That's it for now, i've just popped home at lunch to finish this off ...... hope Fri 13th is just another day .... mines going great :)

Have a grand weekend everyone x

Tickles .......

Did you ever make a card, or something else for that matter, that tickled you so much you didn't want to part with it?

Well, it has NEVER happened to me before. But ....... during the week a friend asked me to make her a card cos her wee sis had gotten engaged and she couldn't find anything she liked or that she thought was suitable. This is what I came up with ....


....... I was so happy with the way it turned out I didnt want to part with it. Of course I did and it has since been delivered and the recipient was completely overwhelmed. That has made the tear of separation bearable lol ...... i think I might actually make this again for someone else.

I've been practising some new techniques so stay tuned to see how i've been getting on.

TaTa for now x

Mistakes .......

..... I make mistakes ALL the time!


Some are just terrible but I think the one in the picture below turned out just grand :)





I had a completely different vision in my head when I began making this card but after stamping in the wrong place, not stamping hard enough and adding the teal strip to the wrong end i've managed to come up with something i'm actually quite proud of.

I will forgive myself this time as my craft time has been quite non-existent this past while what with holidays and the general routine. I am a wee lil bit out of practice but I have enjoyed so much making a mess!

I have also managed to get myself a copy of the new US Stampin' Up catalogue. I can't wait for ours to come out, i do so hope we get build-a-brad in ours. A nice teal stamped centre for my medallion would have been just great on my card, not that i don't like it just the way it is!! There's also this kool, kool tool in it simply called a paper tearer. It makes a real raggedy edge and a beautiful vintage finish. Please, please, please can we have these ...... oh, and all the new colour add on kits too ...... please?!?!?

Ta, ta xx

Girls on Tour .....

... no photograph for this post ..... no time .... we leave in 9o mins time and still i have not packed my suitcase!!! Yikes!!!

Im so so so excited to be going on hols with my pals, 4 girls let loose, oh wat fun we will have! I have been to get my nails done ...... inspired by my elegant eggplant ribbon (which i brought to the salon!) i have them the most gorgeous purple colour with white and silver art.

So must dash, still have a few jobs to do ....... back in a week, maybe ;) xx

Stardust and Moonbeams

Tomorrow is my niece's 2nd birthday.

Lil miss Lucy is such a girly girl, already loves her shoes, handbags and sunglasses! So, I had to produce something to reflect her little personality.

Any of you that know me personally, know that i'm a real sucker for anything magical or fantastical. That's why when I saw this stamp set from Elzybells I just had to have it. Stardust and moonbeams, so cool and so perfect for this project. Although I generally love my SU products I think they fall down in some respects in that they don't really have anything funky or modern, especially for little people. Maybe as the product range expands there will be some of this kind of stuff. I have a nice mix of stamps now that are really quite versatile, what I need to invest in though is an alphabet set so i dont have to use peel offs. Not that theres anything wrong with peel offs, they do a grand job actually.

I love the shimmer ive sprayed on this too, only thing is, i sprayed the card once it was finished and sort of warped a bit, maybe i used too much or maybe i should have sprayed the pieces individually before assembling the card, i dunno. It still loks cool tho and im quite sure it will go down a treat.

Party tomorrow with a bouncy castle *excited* fingers crossed the weather behaves itself.

Back soon x

Grounded .....

........ all those poor people. I really for them stranded in far flung exotic places!! Ahem!! Mind you, wouldn't you be sick if you had paid for a happy holiday in the sun and weren't able to get. Who would have thought volcanic activity would have caused so much bother in UK. just as long as the banana supply doesn't dry up, it doesn't really affect me.

My guys and i are just back from a wee lil trip to London and we just missed all this disruption. Next holiday is in June with the girlies so fingers crossed the spewing has well and truly finished by then!

So, I thought i would share some creations with you. First of all a wedding card for some friends. Can you tell I like purple? I love the patterned satin ribbon too.



Next up, a wee selection of small cards for various occassions. I love being able to use one layout and get lots of different results. Purple again although Perfect Plum this time as my Elegant Eggplant cardstock supply is well and truly depleted!

I'll be able to use this design with lots of different colours and it will allow me use up a lot of old paper and card i have. I do really need to make some room in my little haven so this is a good thing :)

And isn't the news so exciting, rich razzleberry WILL BE AVAILABLE *jumps up and down .... again * I so cannot wait for this. I could go on for hours about this one colour .... but I won't.

I have found some new blogs that I adore so am off to satisfy my obsession.

Maybe back soon!

Rich Razzleberry and the ultimate in disappointment

Well, well, welll, does it really surprise you that the Americans get ALL the good stuff.

While having a wee look around the WWW I was oh so excited to stumble across a US copy of the Stampin' Up catalogue. I downloaded it, printed it and had it bound. New ideas, tips and all that but my oh my the differences in the products available is almost unbearable. Rich razzleberry now has to be my most fav colour ever, and I mean EVER! Just look at that ribbon, the fact that I can't have it just makes me want to cry :(

There are also funky stamp collections, lots of diff punches and papers to die for .... and don't get me started on the buttons! Sherbet buttons .... delicious, cordorouy covered buttons ... devine. *sob*sob*sob*

That's I suppose a failing of SU, u cant order this stuff online which really sucks. You have to order through a demonstator ...... I don't know anyone in USA ...... how disappointing is that?

Whilst I'm feeling all neglected and disappointed can I just also mention that I live in a town that doesn't even have book store!!! This is me, the wee girl who only ever wanted to live in a castle with a huge library and a craft room ...... nothing else mattered ......

Think that's as much disappointment as I can manage for today!

Blog's Alive!!!!!

Well Goodness Gracious Me ....Happy New Year everyone!

A new year and time to make an appearance on ye olde blog. Kinda was a bit half hearted about this in the run-up to the end of year hols. Sorry for not blogging to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Excuses ..... i have none ..... none at all ..... just busy doing other things .... or if im truly honest .... but doing nowt much lol.

Actually, the week before Christmas especially was busy .... with parties, parties and more parties. There was of course also the snow, ice, last minute shopping and cars in ditches!!

Don't you just love snowy scenes tho .... here are a couple taken in Portadown (where we live) yesterday.

Doesn't it look lovely. I sure some clown from town will don ice boots and try to Jane Torville it up the river!! Ironically there is a funeral parlour just to the right of the bridge there .... just in case! TBH it is nice n all but the novelty of having a white Christmas, New Year and weeks after has totally worn off. Today it has started to thaw a little so hopefully conditions will be less dangerous. The weather has been slightly obsessive this past week with every news bulletin making reference to it ..... I even was dreaming last night about temperatures dropping so far below zero that it would be impossible to survive! i don't believe the whole global warming thing either ..... winters and temperatures years ago were just as extereme .... people just got on with it without complaining!

Ah well, that'll do for now, don't want to burn out so early in the year ..... *hugs* for all and i look forward to entertaining you with my ridiculous little life in 2010.