Happy Birthday Dad

Nothing makes me happier than giving handmade cards to the ones I love, the most important people in my life. I know my Dad always looks forward to getting his card and I know he appreciates the effort I make to make time to create it for him.

Sadly though, I had to make a decision earlier this year to let my SU! demonstrator status lapse. Work and family commitments mean I just dont have the time to craft enough to justify spending what is required for quarterly minimums. I have an extensive supply of product to keep me going for quite some time ....... i will have to refrain from looking at all the delicious new products so as not to be tempted. I will always be an SU! crafter, as it oozes style and quality.

Have decided to enter this wee card into a challenge ...... yes..... you heard me right ..... something I do once in a blue moon and ive just about made the deadline on this one ..... 3 hours to go lol. ColourQ Challenge runs until midnight tonight .... hope I qualify :)

Thanks for looking today ........ til next time ........ xx

The week that was ....

...... and what a week it was. Things were extremely busy in work and I was never as glad to see 5pm on a Friday ....... ever!

Would you believe I wrote a post on Saturday on my iPad and tried several times to get a picture attached and upload it. Boy, technology didn't like me over the weekend it just was't happening so here I am on my trusty netbook. Glad to see a few other bloggers having a few issues, makes me feel more normal lol.

Anyway, here is what I wanted to show you, some wee Easter treats for my pals in work. I sure hope they enjoyed them.

Back to work tomorrow *groan*  ...... holidays always seem to pass so much quicker.

....... til next time xx

Inspiration ......

....... where do you get yours?

Do you spend more time looking than actually crafting? Have to admit I am sometimes guilty of this. I could fritter away an hour easily oo-ing and ah-ing over all the loveliness that's out there. I will also admit to *cough* stalking a few peoples blogs. They all know who they are lol.

This weekend I had been looking at a couple of challenges out there, not intending to make anything ..... yeah right! So this afternoon I was sitting having a chat and a wee cuppa with my other half and it just arrived in my head ..... didn't even wait to be asked. Cool when that happens. Just had to leave my tea and go!

So the challenges that were lurking in my head, even though I didn't realise were:

Dynamic Duos a nice wee colour challenge that this week has spring influences - this was also our theme in church this morning :)

And also CASology where the cue word this week is

Combining a colour challenge along with a cue word or a sketch is great inspiration. And here is my wee offering

This is very plain, very simple but I think it's effective nonetheless :) Can you tell I had my delivery of Sale-A-Bration goodies this week lol.

Hope you all have a good week folks ......... 'til next time xx

ATCAS #7 - IT'S RAINING MEN!

Came across a wee challenge blog today over at Addicted to CAS The code word this week is 'masculine' - love the wee tagline 'it's raining men' lol

I have just the card for this. Male cards are always difficult but I find that the less time I have to think about it, the better they turn out. Sometimes we just overthink the design and that is why I love CAS :)

Cardstock is very vanilla, choc chip and sahara sand. Choc chip ink and dotty scallop ribbon. i ran the sahara sand layer through the lattice emobossing folder for extra texture.

Perfect, clean, simple, quick and easy.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks ......... 'til next time xx

That Friday Feeling

Why is it we always feel much better on a Friday than any other day of the week? Well, I do anyway :) For me it is the thought of being able to spend some time with the family. I love my boys so much it overwhelms me, I have been truly blessed. 

Changes in my working life now mean that this time is going to be reduced given that Saturday working is now compulsory. I am willing to give it a try, let's face it, there aren't many folk out there who can do without a salary, bills still need to be paid. I will give it a few months and rethink once I see what, if any impact it has on our wee family unit.

Change is never easy but lets wait and see what happens.

This week the boys were off school for a couple of days and the sun was shining, even though there was no heat in it at all!! So, we decided to take ourselves out in God's good fresh air and celebrate that we're alive and able to enjoy things so many others can't.

We took ourselves to the big city, that's Belfast :) Our Parliament building are Stormont which are set in the most gorgeous grounds, brilliant for a casual wee dander about.

Here we are:

You can see the building behind us, quite impressive! What you can't see is that where we are sat is about 3/4 of the way up the driveway, and I do mean up, its some hill to climb! Should have taken a photo the other way too to let you see the brilliant view you have over the city.

There is so much good in this world if you take the time and go look for it. life take's over for a lot of folk and I too have been guilty of that. Get yourself out and about, see what is out there, you won't be disappointed.

I want to thank everyone for all the lovely comments on my previous post. It's nice to know there are people out there who care.

And lastly, i just have to fit in a wee card that I admit was made in a bit of a rush, but it turned out just right :)

more mustard and choc chip card with Spice Cake DSP and sentiment from happiest birthday wishes. Male card as you can prob guess lol, hope he likes it!

Have a good weekend .........'til next time xx

Crafty Feeling

Does anyone else find crafting therapeutic?

I have had a very difficult few weeks in my personal life and although in the beginning I wasn't able to concentrate for long I found that crafting let my mind wander from my problems.

Happy to say, we have turned a corner and things are looking much brighter. Fantastic family, great friends and strong faith have gotten us through and we will be much stronger as a family unit for being tested in such a way.

So I thought I would share a few of my creations with you. Sadly I am not the only one going through a difficult patch, have needed a lot of sympathy cards lately as friends have lost loved ones.

This first one I thought I would actually enter into the CASology challenge The cue word was 'red' Being February you immediately think of Valentines day. A sympathy card would most definitely not be your first choice.

Although there is a pop of colour I like the simpleness and elegance of this card. It uses the SU Fresh Vintage and Close As A Memory stamp sets, real red and soft suede ink and suede taffeta ribbon.

plain and simple again with just black and white, all stamps SU Close As A Memory.

And finally,

night of navy card and ink, white craft ink and the same stamp set.

These cards were made with specific people in mind but I did make a few of each extra to have on hand. Hopefully I won't need any of them!

Off now to start the taxi runs for the kids social lives. Perhaps I shall fit in a wee lil bit of crafting later.

Have a good weekend folks ........ 'til next time ........ xx

Season's Tweetings

I am feeling happy today. Look what I found, my wee girl and robin stamp with the cutest sentiment. I had misplaced these, it must be a couple of years ago. it was my favourite and I was devastated and so where some of my customers, they loved it too. I came across it when I rummaging about in one of my boxes with card scraps, how it got there I'll never know. I will be much more careful with it now it has been found.

Isn't she gorgeous :) I've stamped it on a piece of card that I ran through the Northern Flurry embossing folder and just coloured it in with my markers. Simples!

Blogging tonight whilst catching up with my Sky+. Some of these drama series are too good to miss.

...... 'til next time ...... xx

CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge #6

Good morning crafty folk, another wet, dull and totally miserable day here in Co Armagh, Northern Ireland. Shouldn't complain, the predictions for the next month are heavy snow and temperatures plummeting to -20! Yikes, that will not be fun. It is only a prediction and Mr Weatherman may have gotten it wrong as they sometimes (?!) do, ha.

I'm blogging early today, much to do, first stop is the gym. I was at the doctors yesterday and he was impressed with my improvement but has still given me another 4 weeks off work, and I have to keep doing what I'm doing :) happy with that.

Today i thought i'd play along with the sketch challenge over at CAS(E) this sketch . They do a fab job with the sketches there and I love looking at all the submissions. Here is the sketch

And here is my take on it

I've used cherry cobbler, kraft and lucky limeade. The ornament is from the ornament keepsake set and i've embossed it using the cherry scented powder, delicious lol. The leaves are Little leaves sizzlits, More merry messages (again) for the sentiment and some bakers twine and some be of good cheer paper for interest. Can you spot the bling?

I made another similar card but I think I prefer the one above.

Well that's me off to the gym, and if it puts me in a good enough mood I may even venture to the shop. We have a humungous new Asda store opened in town yesterday, am dying to see what they have to offer but I really can't be bothered with crowds so it may have died down a little, well, hopefully.

Have a good day folks ......'til next time xx

Festive Medallion

Good afternoon crafty folks, no challenge from me today. Predictably another Christmas card though.

I think I actually love this card so much I may just send it to myself!

Don't you just love the medallion stamp, it has so many uses. This is stamped in cherry cobbler and i've embossed it using the divine cherry scented powder. I wish we had smell o vision so you get the effect! I've created a wee bow using a vintage brad and some tulle ribbon. The whole thing has been sprayed with champagne shimmer mist and a little extra bling with a rhinestone, can you spot it? :)

My poor stampin' scrub has worked extremely hard this week and it had got to the point where it wasn't really doing what I needed it to do. So, i took out the pads and scrubbed them in warm soapy water, they've come up good as new. Wasn't sure if this was something I should be doing but I'm glad I tried, it worked a treat.

Now I'm off to watch the cycling, world cup in Glasgow, do not disturb sign is up :)

Have a good weekend ...... 'til next time ...... xx

CASology Thanks

Everything this week has gone at the speed of light, I've almost missed it. Having said that I have managed to blog every day.

Today I'm playing along with the CASology cue word challenge. 

Thanks is the word and my aim again today is super speed. So here is my card, made in less than 5 minutes, but no less effective. :)

This uses the SU hostess set Tagtastic stamped in the gorgeous melon mambo, layered on black and kraft, and some rhinestones for a wee lil bit of sparkle.

There are already some fabulous cards submitted for this challenge so it's def worth a look for some inspiration.

The weekend starts here folks ...... 'til next time ...... xx

Clean & Simple FTL216

Today I thought i'd join in the fun with the wee sketch challenge over at Clean & Simple Stamping Pop on over there to see some beautiful cards. This is the sketch

No surprise for guessing that i've created another Christmas card :)

Everything in this card, except for the sentiment, is from old stash that i'm trying to use up. I do love the nesties square with the scallops although I don't use it very often. Reason being that it doesn't cut out cleanly. There is always one side that I have to fight with no matter how many times i run it through. Having said that, this is the largest of the dies and i've never tried any of the other (slaps wrist) maybe they're ok.

Maybe that's just what i'll do now as I have the dinner all prepped and ready to go, will just need to watch the clock so I don't forget to get the kids from school. :)

'til next time ...... xx

Washout Wednesday

Goodness me, how miserable it is looking out the window today. It has been raining constantly since I got up. And it's that really fine mizzle that soaks you right through in no time at all. 

I did venture out to go to the gym and then will have the school runs later, then the door will be locked and no-one's getting in or out :) I will admit i do like this time of year, dark nights make me feel all warm n cosy inside.

Today I thought I'd try a card that was shown at the recent convention. A nice wee quirky take on a Christmas tree. Now mine hasn't turned out half as well as some of the one's i've seen but not bad for a first attempt.

I used some old stock of ballet blue card for the background, crumb cake and the tree used the pennant punch and festival of prints DSP. The sentiment is More Merry Messages in choc chip.

I have to say I've found More Merry Messages invaluable in making all my recent cards. I love them all and they can all easily be used either on the card front or on the inside.

Think I need a wee lie down before the school runs start! Have a good day folks.

'til next time ...... xx

Super speed Tuesday

So far my day has whizzed by without me seeing a lot of it. Chores, shopping, picking up sick children and my Mum & Dad's admin.

We all need quick and easy things to help us along with our daily routine so the cards today are just that.

How simple is that? Festival of prints DSP, Snow festival tags and a sentiment from More Merry Messages :)

same again ..... but different. Aren't these tags wonderful for quick and easy cards, and very effective. Here's another with a little bit more to it.

This time we have Baja Breeze card & DSP, pear pizazz ribbon and a wee element from my hodge podge tin, which incidentally was one of first purchases from SU ...... and i'm still using it .... fab!

Now i'm off for some more super speed. My SIL is consultant for Slimming World so she has given me a recipe for quick and easy curry sauce which is also supposed to help speed up weight loss. Hmmmm, not sure how tasty it will be given that the first 3 ingredients are, a tin of baked beans, a tin of tomatoes and a tin of mushy peas (?)! I am trying to keep an open mind so maybe i'll pop back tomorrow and let you know how it turned out.

Now matter how hectic your day, make someone smile and tell someone you love them :)

'til next time ...... xx

It's Monday ..... time to get challenged!

Happy start of the week everyone :) I do hope you are not feeling the Monday blues?

New week and i've taken steps to start as I mean to go on ...... yes ..... i've been to the gym, YIKES! Now this is a very big step for me and marks a milestone in my recovery. The staff in the gym are fab and so understanding about my lack of fitness. They have taken my under their wing and this time next they'll have me like Lara Croft. Well, maybe not lol, but at least i've taken the first step which is always the hardest.

Another challenge I set my self today was CAS(e) This Sketch

I saw this on my friend Karen's blog and felt like joining in the fun. Here is my entry ....

Whisper white card, SU festival of prints DSP, cherry cobbler ink and merry mini punches. I adore these punches, you can use up the tiniest bits of paper, you know how us crafters never like to throw anything away lol. The sentiment is from SU More Merry Messages and of course no card is complete without the bling ;)

My 3rd and final challenge involves collecting the boys from school and getting them to the dentist on time! If you know where I live you will know that with all the roadworks in town at the minute this is the hardest challenge yet! Wish me luck.

'til next time .... xx

Preparing ....

...... so yesterday I thought, it's almost halfway through November and I haven't really started my cards. My MIL always asks for about 20 cards and she likes to have them written so she can post them ready to arrive on peoples doormats on 1st December ...... oh to be so organised!

I didn't really have anything in mind or any specific ideas when I went into the craft room so I started just lifting bits of this and bits of that ..... you can image the mess i've made, come on, we all do it :) It's no fun being a tidy crafter lol.

Anyway this is what i came up with.

Cherry cobbler card and ink, festival of prints paper and some seam binding ribbon. i've used the Four Seasons stamp which perfectly inside the large scallop circle punch. I just sponged the edges a little to make it stand out more. Also added a couple of those glitzy rhinestones.

So, I liked this stamp, and I like it in this colour, so here is offering No.2. Same colours, same stamp, some tulle ribbon and a vintage brad. Didn't turn out too bad eh?

I think I need some practice at tying bows ........ I will admit to some serious bow envy when I look at other peoples work lol. 

That's it for today folks, if you've dropped by leave me a wee note so I know i'm not talking to myself :)

'til next time ...... xx

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