Glass, Glass and more Glass

Finally I got out of the house yesterday! Now I love snow and it makes everything look so pretty but am now getting fed up with being indoors and being sooo cold. A trip round my local charity stores is what I needed to cheer me up. Wrapped up like an eskimo I set off on my travels, looking stylish in freezing temperatures and sleet is not something I do well ;o) Despite the cold it did feel good to be out in the big wide world again.

It didn't take me long to find some treasures, a pair of traditional jelly moulds and a citrus juicer just like my nan used to have. A really pretty crystal dish with lid which will look lovely on my dresser and will come in handy for all those little bits that always seem to appear on there! Lastly I just had to have the pretty little vase which will be just perfect for showing off bunches of tulips, my fave spring flower!

Total cost of all these goodies .............. £5.50, and the smile it put back on my face .... priceless!!

The Cutest Gift Pouches - Pink Petticoat

The amazingly creative Liz over at Pink Petticoat has set a challenge for February to make up some of these.

Aren't they just the cutest! And so easy to do, will be having a go at making some for valentines and mother's day. The kids at my sisters school will love these for their Mummies!

And to top it off Liz is giving the lucky winning entry this gorgeous cake stand.

Go on have a go................!

More Snow!!!

My niece and I were up late last night and when we went to bed and switched the lights off I thought why is it so bright outside. Rushed over to the window and this is what we saw, it was all we could do to stop ourselves running out in it, but it was 4am and we were in our jim jams!!

All this snow is not helping my cause for getting things done as keep wanting to go out and play in it. Look what I made in my back garden.

The cats are not too keen though, my black and white one Alfie is the brave one and goes out frolicking, dashing around in the snow.

Morgan my tabby will only walk round the perimeter where there's gaps with no snow. He much prefers to have a snooze and particularly on my clothing! But don't he look cute!

Last piccie I promise, this is how my trees looked at the end of my garden, just magical!

Hope you are all having fun!

Valentines - Penny Black Stamps up for grabs

The lovely Sharni and Clair over on Valentines are giving bloggers the chance to win this:


I'm keeping my fingers crossed as don't own any Penny Black stamps yet and would love to get my hands on these ones!

You should go visit them, they have a lovely blog and make some beautiful things.

Fluffy White Stuff!!

Hey everyone it's snowing! Such a magical sight watching the snowflakes floating to the ground.


It has been causing just a bit of traffic chaos though. Don't think many people will be making it into London today as they have heaps more than we do here Cambridgeshire, although there is more on it's way this afternoon!

Just looked outside again and it is coming down thicker, yippee!! Might just have to go and play............... ;o

Pink Petticoat - Blog Candy

The lovely Liz is giving away some beautiful Martha Stewart ribbons over on Pink Petticoat so I just had to enter. The challenge was to use her background papers and alter them in some way. My card below uses the following:

• Big Dots Negative in Cranberry
  
• Big Dots Negative in Mocha
• Valentines background paper
• Pink Ribbon
• Sakura Stardust Pens
• Clear Glitter Glue
  

I opened the papers in Paint and then transferred into MS Powerpoint to make my background paper. I drew my own heart with sentiment on using Powerpoint tools. Once printed I just added a lovely pink bow, pink jewel heart and added glitter highlights around the heart, lines and dots.

And this is how it ended up!!

The glitter effect is really hard to capture on camera but it is there!

What do you think?

xx

Clear Stamp Storage

So it's been a dull rainy Sunday here so what's a girl to do .............. why organise her craft room of course! Now I have been collecting a rather large amount of clear unmounted stamps over the years and have tried a few different storage solutions, none of which were giving me that feeling of control. However over on UK Scrappers Forum I came across the lovely KimmyS who had used blank DVD cases to store hers. I loved the look of it and spent the next few days trying to track down a good deal on bulk purchasing these little babies.

After much searching I ended up getting them from my local Poundland store at £1.00 for 10 and completely cleared them out, lady at the checkout looked at me strangely, probably thought I was setting up a dodgy market stall eh!! I hopped and skipped back home smiling at my lucky find.

So today I made a start, I have tackled only borders, backgrounds and frames so far but am loving the feeling of control it is giving me already. The DVD cases that I have used are standard Single 14mm, do not get the 7mm slimline or double disc cases as this system will not work with those. Here are some shots of how the system works.

I just cut up some plain white paper to 27cm x 18cms and stamped the images using Stazon ink pad onto the right hand side of the paper and this then becomes the sleeve insert for the cover.

The stamps are held in place using strips of high strength double sided tape placed on the plain side of the DVD case.


I've yet to put the labels on the spines though. I have used 14 cases so far, only another 50 to fill up ;o) Once finished they will sit nicely in my Billy CD Tower from Ikea.

Here's to rainy days for organising :o)

Purely Stamping - Card Challenge

Okay this is my first entry into a blog challenge, it's been set by Linda over at Purely Stamping to celebrate her first 10,000 hits...... wow!!!


Clearly my photographic skills need some improvement!! Anyway I used the following:

• K&Co Dollshouse Papers
• K&Co Dress/sentiment
• Pink Flower is from an imitation flower I bought from the pound shop and took apart!
• Threading Water Punch by Fiskars

Have to say I was very nervous about this as there are some lovely entries that have been submitted by lots of lovely bloggers!

The prize is a stamp set from Stampin Up, I have recently received one of their catalogues and can see myself getting rather hooked ;o)

Driving Test - He Passed!!

Ooh forgot to update you all, my nephew Jordan passed his driving test first time the other day! Am sooo proud of him. Both he and my niece share my mum's car as she doesn't use it that much, good job too as it is hardly ever on her driveway now that both of them have passed ;o)

Sister's Anniversary

Is in a few days and here's the card I made for her. It's done using cardstock from DCWV, there luxury stack, the sentiment is from a huge K&Co kit that I have had for like ages and I got to use my new Fiskars Threading Water Punch for the border. Think I need a bit of practice with the punch as the edges aren't as neat as I would like them to be. I outlined the sentiment using Sakura Stardust Pen but it doesn't show up that well on camera.

Hope she will like it as it is all the colours of her lounge!

Creativity Life - I won some blog candy

I can't believe I was lucky enough to win some blog candy. First time I have entered for one of these. It was on the lovely blog by Becks Fagg of Creativity Life. First saw her on QVC a while ago and really liked her style. I've now got some lovely Core-dinations Cardstock winging it's way to me, cant' wait to get it and play.

How's a girl to get any work done!!

Now don't get me wrong I just adore my cats, but honestly this one (Morgan) has taken a recent liking to wanting to be sat at my desk when I am!! I can't turf him off coz he is just too cute, but if I could just get him to operate the keyboard!!! A fellow blogger over at All About Eden seems to be having the same problem with furry friends! We are just too soft.

Magazine

This magazine caught my eye in Waitrose today so I bought it. It is the latest Ideal Homes issue. There are some really good storage ideas in there. This alcove solution is just gorgeous, I love the wallpaper they have used!


It also comes with a free CD which has software on it to print the most beautiful lables that come in 3 different shapes and sizes with some lovely prints on them. I am going to use them for labelling some of the stuff in my craft room and on jars in my kitchen. Can't wait to play, will post some piccies when I have done some of them.

(don't know why piccie this way round as is right way up on my pc!)

Anyway it is out now and costs £3.20.

My Nan's Birthday

My lovely nan turned 84 yesterday and all the family went round there for dinner. She lives with my mum (who is her daughter) in a house just 2 mins from mine which is great. My sister also lives a few doors away from them so as you can tell we are a very close knit family.

A couple of cards that I made for her in her favourite colour of lilac. On the card from me there is some glitter stripes at the top which were done using some very fine lilac glitter that I'd forgotten I had! Too much stash!





We all had a lovely dinner then it was cake all round. This was my first attempt at baking using my newly acquired Magimix which my other half got me for Xmas. Think it turned out okay, well everyone's plates were empty.


The recipe came from my fave cake book 'How to be a Domestic Goddess, by Nigella Lawson'.

With bellies full we all watched while she opened her pressies, sat chatting for a while and watching my mum's ginger cat promptly knock all her cards down! He never gets told off though, oh to be a cat! She had some lovely flowers next to her fireplace so just had to photograph them.

Then it was off back to my house to feed my pussycats, I have 3, Levi, Morgan and Alfie. I made myself a lovely cuppa only to remember that I had left my extra slice of cake at my mums............. biscuits it is then xxx

Fresh Start

I've been in clearing out mode recently and as part of that decided I wanted my blog to be more streamlined. Hence the revert back to a classic template with white background. Unfussy is the theme for me at the moment, it seems to be helping my mind focus that more easily. A blog that inspired me for this look was Stamping for Sanity. It's not as plain as mine she has a fabulous tab system at the top of the page which I love but have no idea how to do. I definitely need to learn more about blog modification.

Another blog layout that I love for it's simplicity is Pink Petticoat, in fact I love everything about this blog, especially her beautiful product designs. Am already building up a collection of them!

Am currently having a bit of crafting time this afternoon, QVC have a 2 hour show on which I am watching in my craft room. So with my new clear mind am off to make some birthday cards for my nan who is going to be 84 this Wednesday but honestly she looks about 10 years younger than that and still glamorous!!

xx

Blogger List dissappeared

Logged on for a little light reading this afternoon only to find my blogger list was completely empty!!! My little heart sank ;o( But then I remembered my 'history' button on firefox and spent the next hour trawling through and revisiting/adding the blog links...... phew!! I think I've managed to capture them all. Have now copied a list of them all to my harddrive incase the blogger gremlins catch me again!

So calm is restored to my blogger land, I can now relax and go make a cup of tea before tackling the task of taking down the decorations. I really am going to label the boxes this year, my poor nephew had a hell of time in the loft with me shouting 'they must be there somewhere, what about that box, oh okay well what about over there then.............' For a 17 year old he was very patient with me. Ooh and he's got his driving test in 9 days, wow that's crept up on us. He's so going to pass ;o)

HAPPY 2009 EVERYONE!

Well that's it, 2008 is almost over............................ my how the years race by now, they used to go much slower I'm sure!

Looking forward to a fresh start and renewed vigour for the year ahead.

Can I just say this has been my first year in blog land and I have loved every minute of it. I have been inspired by so many of you out there and look forward to another year sharing with you all.

Have a good one xxxx

So what resolutions will it be this year?

Xmas has been and gone, my belly is still full up!! After much indulgence recently my thoughts are now turning to the New Year and what my plans for it are. The usual things spring to mind, work on body, improve health, i.e. stop smoking which would impress my niece immensely and be more organised! Why do we always choose the dark dismal days of January to change our lives, is it because we need to punish ourselves for all the weaknesses we had in the run up to Xmas? Or do we just need something to focus on and occupy our minds.

Apart from the above mentioned reso's I shall be adding a new one of 'get my ass into gear if I really want to make a go of earning money from my creativity'. Now don't get me wrong this could be the riskiest reso of all, yes even more so than giving up the 'weed'! For starters my timing is way out, everything around us seems to be crumbling under the weight of the CRUNCH! People aren't spending on luxuries anymore and want cheap cheap cheap. So why would anyone want to start out on their own in this climate..........because I think local and handcrafted are things people turn to in times of trouble as it gives them a sense of security and comfort, a nod back to the days when people didn't worship at the altars of the big corporate.

So I must procrastinate no longer and get on with it, it's now or never. I will have to get a real job very soon and would love to be able to have the luxury of only needing to look for a part time one to boost my creative earnings.............................. of course if I give up the weed as well I will need less earnings to start with ;o) Wish me luck!

Anyone else putting together a list............ lots of luck from me to you x

The house is ready for Santa, do you want to see....

I just adore nighttime at this time of year, everything looks much nicer by the gentle glow of fairy lights, including myself!!

Fluffy stockings for Santa to fill!

Twinkle Twinkle!!

A fave ornament
and my new fave ornament bought this year..

My mum got me this cute snowman family at TK maxx

Got this idea for using paint cards as tags from A Spoonful of Sugar, think they work well.

And lastly a few cards made the new Anna Griffin papers I got from QVC.

Have a lovely Xmas and hope to see you all again in blog land in the new year xxx

Oh my oh my, it's been a long time!

17 days to be precise!! I really didn't mean to stay away soo long but things just seem to have snowballed (excuse the pun) over the last few weeks. There I was thinking the big day was ages away when all the time it has been lurking round the corner.

We are trying to keep to a minimal xmas this year rather than all end up with endless lists and a negative bank balance. It's working out really well, we all put down ideas for gifts upto £15 and have to say apart from my other half (who are the most difficult to buy for) all gifts have been secured and now await in a pile in the back bedroom for wrapping. This is the part I love to do, presentation is key and being a crafter I have stacks of stuff to choose from to pretty them all up. Promise to post some piccies of the finished wrappings.

Have also been busy at my local charity shop, we opened Sundays for xmas run and have to say it has been very successful. Think people are being a lot more careful where they shop this year and I have really enjoyed seeing so many of them come into the shop and find something they like at very little cost. The kids section has been particularly popular! We had a lovely family with two twin boys who must have been 3 years old, they were dressed the same and both had matching ruck sacks on and beanie hats. They were just fascinating to watch as they rummaged round the shop. Needless to say they found the lower shelves of the brick a brac section far more fascinating than the toy section much to their parents dismay!

Made a few cards recently, some of them were done using my recently purchased mini stamp sets from Pink Petticoat. Have to say I am in love with these and shall be buying loads more of them! She had a lovely blog giveaway of an MM Slice last week, I would have loved to have entered but hadn't had much practice with my set then, and anyway the competition was really stiff, the winner's entries were just out of this world! Anyway here are a few piccies as I am sure you have all had enough to read for the moment ;o)

Think my colouring skills need to improve!

The 3-d embellishments are from Anna Griffin and velvet to the touch, I just love her stuff

Have no idea why this has rotated, oh well you get the general idea!

Be back soon, hope your xmas run up is going smoothly ;o)