my motto .......

...... quick, clean and simple!

This applies to my post today too, still off work and not enough hours in the day lol so i'm just flying through to show you my latest festive effort. Made with items from the seasonal catalogue I still haven't decided if I will mass produce this particular design or not.

I didn't go for any of the new in colours this year, I have a huge rainbow already so need to make use of these first. This card is night of navy, using the new holiday frame embossing folder (which I have completely fallen in love with!), the ornament keepsake stamp and die cut, a tiny tag cut out in the small jewellery tag and some rhinestones for the obligatory bling ;)

Have a good weekend people, whatever your plans.

'til next time ...... xx

I just wanna dance ......

....... but I can't :( Last night I enjoyed getting dressed up for the first time in weeks. My wee cousin got married and we were off out to the evening do. I love these kind of things, nothing beats meeting up for craic and banter with family and friends. It was a fab wee night and my feet were tapping away, sadly I'm not well enough yet to be doing the usual crazy moves on the dance floor. So, i had to do some serious 'chair dancing', you know what I mean, we all do it lol ....... but my boys were not impressed! Typical teenagers eh.

Today i'd like to share with you some more of my cards trying to use up my old stash. This first one is a colour that i loved ...... taken with teal, simple layout with a stamped piece from the Circle Circus set.

Same idea for this next one using pumpkin pie with pieces of Haiku paper. Added a brad on this one from the free set we got. I do have quite a number of these to use up lol.

And again with old olive and Haiku papers ...... and a brad ...... and a peel off sentiment (still have a huge amount of these!)

Hope you're all enjoying your Sunday whatever you're at, the remainder of mine shall be very very lazy indeed!

'til next time ...... xx

Did someone say ..... CHRISTMAS???

What a hectic week that was! Both boys now back to school and routine well and truly established. The one thing I dislike about this starting back to school lark is that I feel that I need a Mary Poppins purse. Every day there is something else that requires a fee, i've lost count of the cash i've handed over already and there's more to come with music lessons starting next week.

Ah well, has to be done, will just have to make sure I have something left for the new catalogue release on 1st October.

On with some crafting, I did say I was going to try and seriously deplete my stash before a delivery of new products, so here it continues ......

..... a wee Christmas card to get me in the mood, seeing as the nights are already starting to close in! I still have a selection of pre-scored cards that I bought in bulk a few years back so although I am now an SU convert I do need to use these up. This red one works well with the junior varsity DSP (also from many moons ago) and some foil card that I have. Don't you just love that mischievous wee elf from the Kidoodles set. The ribbon is the free lucky limeade from a couple of months ago, i just wrapped it around a couple of times to give it more depth as it is quite narrow. Doesn't look too bad for being so simple :)

Well that's it for today folks, i'm away to see what else I can produce from whatever is lurking in the craftroom.

'til next time ...... xx

Out with the old ......

......... and in with the new!

September is one of those months that is filled with all things new. New teachers, new classrooms, new schools, new uniforms, pencils, pens, schoolbags, even new attitudes for some students. All nice and shiny and bright. And now for us craftier folk we have (drum roll please....) our new SU Seasonal Catalogue ..... exciting stuff eh?

I'm sure by now you all have wish lists as long as mine, I really do NEED approx 75% of what's in that catalogue ....... and I do mean NEED lol. But ...... there's always a but ....... i do need to make some room. I know i'm not on my own in saying that I have accumulated a large amount of product that I haven't managed to get through. On further inspection it really is worse than I thought. I have found papers and other bits and pieces that haven't seen the light of day for quite some time.

So, I have started off with this little project ........

.......... using an SAB set, elegant eggplant card and some .... wait for it ..... really rust DSP! I have a few of these old DSP pads so need to get cracking. I've used Pear pizzaz ink and ribbon. I had to improvise with the ink for the sentiment and ended up using my tangerine tango marker. Turned out quite pretty so i made a few more :)

Hope you are all using up what you have to make room for some new goodies!

Til next time ........... xx

Exam success

It's that time of year again when all the young folk see what they have achieved with all the had work they've put in. My niece is one of those young folk this year!

She did fantastically well in her GCSE's, a brilliant set of results so is heading back to college next week to begin her A level courses. We're all so very proud of her so I decided that even in my condition she deserved a special card :) 

It really didn't take much effort to produce this and all the components are easily identified, so that's it, plain and simple.

And now that i've started again, I may not be able to stop, after all, I do have another couple of months off work to recover :)

Til next time ........ xx

Recouperating ....

........ taking things very slow and easy at the minute. I can just about manage to make myself a cup of tea and I have been out and about for a few wee walks which is real progress.

Whilst I have been unable to do much physically I am longing to get back to my supplies to start on making some Christmas cards. I am always much more inspired for this occasion than any other and I find it much easier to come up with ideas.

However, to break the boredom I have been surfing the net in search of all things pretty and I have come across a novel idea ...... something I had never seen before ....... doorstops! In all shapes and sizes, from funky to quirky to retro to vintage and then of course plain and simple. Now, I am in no way a seamstress and I don't possess a sewing machine but I thought some of you guys might just give this a go. This is just a wee picture of the kind of thing I mean....

arn't they just so pretty and cute? Just imagine what they could look like in that delicious stampin' up fabric! I suppose this opens a whole range of products you could make, wee scented sachets etc  ....... ideal gifts for folk for birthdays or Christmas :)

I did find a tutorial on how to make a doorstop, not the shape as in the picture, a pyramid style which looks good too but i'm such you're a clever lot and can adapt to whichever size or shape you want. You can find the tutorial here.

Have fun with this and be sure to leave me a wee comment or a link to your blog if you try it. Would love to see a finished product :)

Til next time ......... xx

Olympic fever .......

So who have you been cheering on? For me, as always, it's the cycling that grabs my interest. I just love that Bradley wiggins got his hold medal. This time, I have plenty of opportunity to watch every piece of the action. Have had a wee ongoing health issue and was booked in for keyhole surgery. However, things didn't go as planned and I had to have open surgery, has knocked me completely off my feet which is unusual for me. I am extremely sore and am relying on help for the simplest of tasks. So, no crafting for a while but I do have a lot of time now to stalk everyone else's blogs so I'm relying on you guys out there to keep me entertained lol.

Time for a wee nap .......

....... Till next time xx