Happy Bird-Day!

I'm really into circle or scallopped circle cards at the moment....I made this one a few weeks ago for Melissa's birthday which happens to be today! :)

Sitting here very sorry for myself as I've picked up his man-flu and I feel pretty grotty today, whole body just aches and I don't know what to do with myself as I'm not the sort of person who can sit around doing nothing but physically at the moment I just can't imagine moving other sitting here huddled under the duvet!

Anyway the scalloped card is made usung the Sizzix Bigz XL Die - Scallop Circle Album die. I got the die at a cheap price and was very excited when I realised that the scallop is larger than a regular nestie scalloped circle, it also comes with the smaller circle which I used on the background paper.

The owl is a Penny Black stamp (which is a favouite of mine) she is coloured in with copic markers and I used a white pen to highlight.

I thought the inside looked a little plain so I cut out a swirl and attached it to the piece of card which is holding the scallopes together and I just couldn't resist using the embossed butterflies over the swirl, thought they looked effective!

Right I'm back off to do nothing but huddle under the duvet with my cat and try to shake off this flu that I've got... thanks for looking!

Bo Bunny Edgy Mini 50th Album

This little project has taken me on and off nearly 2 months to make it was for my very special crafty aunt’s 50th birthday, I wanted to do something special for her big birthday and knew she would appreciate something crafty seeing as it’s all her fault for getting me into this habbit in the first place LOL!

I’ve been quite stressed out trying to get it complete as it had been a busy few months for me outside of my crafty bubble and I’ve not had loads of time to play. Plus it came to a point a week before her birthday I had 4 pages to do and I had lost my mojo and was stuck on some of the photos and what I was going to do with them.

I was up until nearly 12pm the night before I had to send it doing the last 2 pages and all the finishing touches to get it complete… In all honesty I’m still not happy with it but I had to tell myself that it was complete and not to do any more because I would probably spoil it!

I struggled to get photos from some years of her life a lot of the younger years photos I had were so small I was unable to use them and finding an up-to-date photo of her without sunglasses on is an almost impossibility!

I was very nervous about giving it to her and seeing what her reaction would be, I was due to be there for her big day but Paul's nan took a turn for the worst and we had to make a spur of the moment decision to either use the last weeks holiday on going to see my aunt for her birthday or going to see his poorly nan... I was of course upset to miss my aunts 50th but we made the right decision in the end and I even managed to pop over to see her 2 weeks before her day so it kinda made up for missing out on her birthday.

Her birthday was on 20th September so she's had it for a few weeks now and she apparently broke down in tears when she opened it and it's been passed around the whole family to see it and they have all come back to me with lovely comments, she even sent me a card to say thank you and said It is something that sheI will always treasure and that she would leave it to me in her Will.. LOL so I think it's safe to say that through all the stressing and worrying it's gone down rather well!

So it feels like a weight has been lifted and all I need to do now is tidy up from the mess I left behind in my craft room, I must have a pile 5 feet high of stuff I pulled out to use that needs to go back in it’s place

Crumb Cake Birthday Bird Card

I Love Stampin' Up Kraft cardstock… well technically it's been re-named as Crumb Cake … I'm going to stop calling it Kraft Crumb Cake does sounds yummy LOL!

Very excited that SU have announced that they are bringing out Crumb Cake ink, I just love how everything matches with SU and I've hoped for ages that they would bring out the ink and as from 1st July they have in the US YAY!!!

Anyway here's a card I made for the lovely Linda, The bird die I have wanted for months after seeing Becky's… every time we get together the requirement was she had to bring the bird die LOL!

The die had sold out everywhere in the UK but one of my friends tipped me off a few months back that someone in the US was selling 3 on Ebay and I never moved so quickly to get to a PC even though I was poorly at the time!

Supplies
Papers/Cardstock: Bo Bunny, Stampin Up Pink Pirouette, Crumb Cake & Baja Breeze
Dies/Embossing Folders: Quickutz Bird, Cuttlebug Birthday Embossing Folder,
Ribbon: Pretty In Pink Grosgrain - Stampin Up
Other: Scallop Border Punch – Martha Stewart, Flower punch & bling

Summer Days Layout

I’ve been quite busy scrapbooking over the past few months when I have been able to get the time.

This is a LO I did when I went to Shirley’s Crop back in May for National Scrapbooking Day, been meaning to take photos of all the LO’s but just not got round to it!

When I got to crops normally I take stacks of everything with me and then spend ages flicking through papers and photos trying to decide what to use. But a few weeks ago I actually started planning my Lo’s.. just sat down pulled out papers I wanted to use and picked out sketches and photos and put them aside so that when I had the time to scrapbook I was knocking them out… never thought to plan them before but it really worked for me so I’m trying to keep that up!

It’s funny as when I was at the crop some of the American ladies thought this was a photo of my daughter, I had to explain that it was me when I was younger and they couldn’t get over it!!

Supplies
Papers/Cardstock: Bo Bunny, Bazzill Swiss Dots, Stampin Up Chocolate Chip
Stamps: Just A Note - Maya Road,
Other: Alphabet – Bo Bunny Stickers, Prima Swirl Bling, Basic Grey Pearl Flowers

A Different Card Using Tim Holtz Sizzix Bracket Die

I was inspired by a card on Paula Pascual’s blog, I wanted to give it a go as it looked really different and hers was stunning, it was an excuse to try out my new Tim Holtz Bracket die I bought the other month that I hadn’t had the chance to use!

The card took me probably about 4-5 hours from start to finish which I know sounds a lot but half way through I really took a disliking to the papers I had chosen but I was trying to be good and use some of my scrap papers that I’ve used for other projects that need using up… I just find it hard cutting into those nice new papers when I have loads of papers that need using plus not sure his mum would fully appreciate how hard it is to cut into the new Bo Bunny or My Minds Eye papers LOL!... I still don’t like the colours… I think it’s the pink and red that I don’t like as I wouldn’t normally put the two colours together!

The flower on the front of the card was made using a Martha Stewart scalloped punch, I love this effect! So simple to do but a bit fiddly, you could really do with an extra pair of hands when it comes down to gluing ends together!

To make the flower first punch a strip of cardstock using a border punch, then fold the border like you did when you were a kid making a fan, make sure you use your bone folder on the creases to get a crisp fold.

Then glue the two ends together, here's the tricky part where an extra pair of hands comes in very handy!! Next cut a small circle with a 1/2 inch punch and glue it to the back of the flower so that you can attach it easily to a card, leave it to dry.

Once dry add a brad, bit of bling, button or whatever you choose for the middle of the flower. I think this looks really effective and it’s what drew me to her card in the first place! Hope you can understand my instructions!

I also love the new Quickutz alphabet that I had recently bought, it's a limited Heidi Swapp alphabet and I just love her style and was so excited when I spotted that she had an alphabet set out, first time I used it on this card and I just love the style of it, think it's going to be one of my favourite alphas!

Supplies

Papers/Cardstock: My Minds Eye, Pink Pirouette cardstock – Stampin’ Up

Dies: Heidi Swapp handwriting Alphabet - Quickutz, Label One – Nestabilities, Tim Holtz Brackets – Sizzix

Stamps: Everyday – Penny Black

Ribbon: Certainly Celery Grosgrain - Stampin' Up

Other: Scallop Border Punch – Martha Stewart, Glamour Dust

It's been a while!

OMG can't believe it's been such a long time since I last blogged.... 2009 was a crappy year and this year has been a rather stressful one and I haven't had a huge amount of 'me' time to walk into my craft room let alone actually sit and my desk and play!

I'm sure no one comes here any more to my little blog as I've been away so long and my cards and pages aren't very good but they say writing it down all helps you move on so deep breath....

To cut a very long story short, mum fell ill last July and got progressively worse and was diagnosed with cancer of the womb in October but we had to wait until January for her operation (good old NHS) it was horrible to watch your mum get so sick and not be able to really do anything to ease the pain.

Anyway she had her operation in January and is gradually getting there but it's a long process getting her back on her feet, she's been told it could take up to a year to fuly recover and she's itching to get back to work but the docotrs still say she needs more time to rest

Thankfully she got the all clear in Feburary and no further treatment is needed so we hope that the nasty C word never comes back knocking on her door. But she's now started to file for divorce which is another story in itself and feel this is going to be another stressful time for us all.

We lost Paul's grandfather to cancer in February and my uncle has been in and out of hospital over the past 6 months after having both legs, toes and ankles broken and re-set. He's actually just been rushed into hospital again today with suspected DVT in the lung which is worrying...
Just feel worn out with all the stress and worry for the past year... I'd just like to get back to plodding along with a quiet life!!

Anyway I had a little craftime today and pulled out all my scrapbooking stuff that has been mounting up in my little room, my lack of mojo hasn't stopped me buying the odd few bits but just haven't been able to do anything with it, just have had no inspiration

Enough of my waffle LOL here's my LO with the lovely Bo Bunny stash that I bought last year that I simply love because I love snowflakes and also the colours on this paper go so well with the SU colours !!!

So hopefully I'll be back to scrapping and blogging now as I need to use up all my lovely stash!!

The Bradley Bump

Well back to more scrapbooking layouts.... 24 days to go before I have to hand this over... gulp!

This photo is one that she hasn't seen and I don't think she had many photos of her whilst she was pregnant. This photo was taken of us at my 18th birthday party.... blimey... I look young and thin here... if only I could turn back the clock! I still have that dress it was a size 10 dress... if only I could fit into it again LOL!

I can't believe I used a sheet of the new Bo Bunny Alissa range on this layout, she better appreciate it LOL .... the other side to this is all pink, with flowers and soooooo pretty, LOVED it as soon as I saw it but I thought I'd stick to black and white for this one.

The Journaling stamp is a Prima acrylic stamp and the alphabet is an acrylic stamp set that I bought at Ally Pally last year and have never used it but I LOVE it... Can't remember who makes it but I'll add it in later as I'd like more of their stamps!

Strike A Pose

There was so many photos of Sharron posing when she was younger that I just had to use this title!

Yet again more lovely paper that I wasn’t supposed to be using for this album, Bo Bunny again…. God I just love their card stock, I really really should be using up my old papers but I just can't help being drawn to the newer stuff and BTW their new range is just stunning!

I’ve scalloped the border using my Fiskars Threading water punch, I just LOVE this punch… mine broke an while back and I had to wait about 3 months for a replacement as everywhere was out of stock… Do you know how hard that was for me to be parted from this punch LOL!

Anyway we are reunited now and this is the first thing I used it on…. Just need to be careful with this one!

Bo Bunny Love Word Book

Well here it is my Valentine's Day book I gave to Paul! I bought this Bo Bunny word book a while ago from CTM and didn't know what I was going to do with it as I've never done one before but I've been inspirde by the examples at CTM.

Seeing as I didn't manage to make him an anniversary card this year as I had too much going on, I thought I had better make a special effort for Valentines Day... We got engaged on Valentines day 1999, he took me up Sleeping Beauty's Castle and proposed down on one knee, much to my embarrasment as everyone stopped to watch!

I've used the new Doodlebug valentine papers and the yummy Heidi Grace papers along with a selection of goodies from my don't part with just stoke box!

Get Well Soon Nan

Wow November already... scary hey?! Where has the time gone?! 48 days until christmas... not long and actually quite scary how quickly it's come around and I so wanted to be organised with my chrimbo cards this year!! How many have you made?! Me I have now made 34 which is pretty good going considering I've not had an awful amount of time but I have over 100 more to make ... gulp!

Sorry I haven't been around much, just don't seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything done and I have been feeling quite stressed recently!

This card is for Paul's nan who had a stoke last week, it's her second stroke in about 5 years, she's still in hospital and her speach is quite slurred at the moment and she's been asking for her husband who passed away 4 years ago :(

I needed to make something quick and simple to let her know we are thinking of her as she's quite a way from us and we can't get down to see her.

Yes more owls... I seem to be addicted to owls at the moment, this little fella is a Hero Arts stamp and the branch is a Hero Arts set too. The scalloped oval is a nestability set and the little flowers are cut from felt using one of the cuttlebug alphabet sets, Olivia I think. Yummy bo bunny spotty paper... love this colour, I have to admit I found it very hard to cut into this!!

It's been a while...

Well it's been a long while since I posted anything... sorry I have't been about much I've either been racing around with very little time to play or when I have sat down to play I've been having one of those moments where I don't like what I make and just sit there at the craft desk not knowing what to make! I've managed a few scrapbook LO's but looking at those now I'm not 100% sure...

Anyway three cards to start my blog up again... the little SU froggie is actually on actetate so he bounces but it doesn't really show up on the photo.

The owl stamps are from pink cat studio, I'm really into owls and birds at the moment so be warned because you might be seeing more birds and owl cards! :) The dotty circles were drawn on using a circle template that I bought from Scrap Revolution and the paper is fancy pants which again I struggled to cut but I have a spare (PHEW!)

The 50th card was for my Uncle, more bo Bunny paper used... I seriously need to stock up on Bo Bunny dotty paper!!! The cat in the 0 is one of their pussy cats called Bobbie... he's a real cutie and as you can see a complete poser! :)

I really need to get my christmas head on to make a start on the 120 christmas cards I need to make... I am so behind but I've lost my mojo again :(