A child is born

I bought some 12 x 12 papers with various images from Swedish House Crafts. This is from a Pion sheet Long Ago in Bethlehem. I thought it was time i made another Christmas card. 

Paper - Dovecraft Winter Blooms

Die - MFT wonky stitched oval

Sentiment - LOTV grungy Christmas

Flowers - Wild Orchid

Lace- Crafty Ribbons

Other - cheesecloth, wooden star

It's another busy week for us. On Monday we had back massages and I had a facial, yesterday lunchtime was our regular line dancing lesson and today we have a day in the city. Graham has appointments at the optician and hairdressers which are nicer than my appointment at the dentist.  Just a check up so nothing to be done I hope.  

So cute

I have used another of the cute new LOTV images available in both rubber and digi until 15th June when unfortunately LOTV have had to take the difficult business decision to stop selling rubber stamps. I know this will disappoint some people but businesses cannot continue at a loss and the sales don't justify the cost of producing the stamps. I would rather they continue as a business selling digis than to close as I love their images and there are enough craft companies that have closed in recent years.

I coloured the image with Copics using the MFT min cloud stencil for the sky. I made the frame using Go Kreate frilly 9 dies.  The papers are First Edition Gardenia.  I used Martha Stewart fern and Hobbycraft butterfly punches and some flowers from Wild Orchid.

Summer Days

Now if you thought my hair was curly on the last scrapbook page it is even curlier on this photo which is from the late 80's. The photo was taken in our neighbour's garden at our previous house.  And talking of hair this was before Graham turned grey!  I do love following sketches and this was a Facebook challenge sketch which suits the photo perfectly.  I used a MFT sun die and added various pieces from scrapbook papers along with a wooden heart.

I am drawn to more simple layouts and when I look back at some of my first layouts some of them are a bit too fussy.  Just shows how we all change our styles and ideas over the years.

Sewing Rita

I have a couple of new images from Pink Gem to use and this one does make me smile. This Sewing Rita and I know it will amuse my Mum who visits my blog every day. She has a friend called Rita who knits but doesn't sew and a friend called Sylvia who does sew so this image is an amalgam of them both I think.

I coloured her with Copics, the paper is from The Works, ribbon from Crafty Ribbons. I added some wooden embellishments and buttons tied with baker's twine as I don't like naked button unless they are very tiny.

Lots to do in the garden today including clearing out some of the Spring flowers and bulbs from pots and replanting them with Summer bedding.

Denim and Girls

I really haven't bought much new craft stuff this year in comparison to other years but I couldn't resist buying the new Maja paper pad Denim and girls and whilst I was buying this from Swedish House Crafts I also bought 4 12x12 sheets of Maja images. This one is from the sheet Denim and girls - girls in jeans.   I haven't made any flowers with foamarin for a long time so I thought it was time I had a play with it again. I used Lady E dies no 5 and added some stamens and silver glitter acrylic paint. I also found the pink stringy stuff in my stash, no idea where I bought it, and added some pearl string from The Hobby House.

It has been such a busy week since we got home from holiday and I am still behind with catching up on blogs. ha k you for all your continued visits especially those who leave comments. I know how much time that takes and most people now just click like on Facebook rather than visiting blogs so thank you x

Chef Mickey

And here is the last scrapbook page for my Disney/Universal scrapbook.   This one is also from 2004 when I had permed hair. We had breakfast at Chef Mickey's in one of the Disney hotels. We had a few character meals on our first few trips there and they are great fun. It is lovely to see the children with the characters and adults acting like big kids too and why not. I used papers from a Gorjuss girl pack and added various elements from different packs. The red arrows were cut using Spellbinder dies.

Thursday means hubby volunteering on the powerboat rescue so that gives me a free afternoon and evening to spend in the craft room.

Launch Day

Today is launch day at LOTV and they are celebrating 15 years of their company. This cute stamp is from the Little Friends set and I also added the sentiment stamps. They will be available as rubber or digi. I coloured it with Copics and added some doodling. The paper is MFT and I added some scrim from B&Q. The fence is an old memory Box die, flowers from Florida and Hobbycraft.

I'm sure these new stamps are going to be very popular. There are three sets, Birthday Pots, Little Friends and Wedding Bears.

Tigger and Graham

Before we went on holiday I managed to make my last two Disneyworld layouts and this is one of them. The photo was taken in The Magic Kingdoms' Crystal Palace where we had dinner. My favourite character is Winnie The Pooh and it was a lovely meal and fun when the characters come out. The photo was from one of our first visits in 2004.  I used various papers, a hexagon and Tim Holtz film strip dies, crimped some kraft card, added some wooden stars, Bo Bunny hexagon strip and bunting and some wooden bunting.  The title was made with wooden Scrabble letters and I diecut some mini tags using MFT dies.

I'm back with a sneak peek

I managed a little while in the craft room yesterday as I was longing to use the cute new stamps being released on Wednesday 15th from Lili of the Valley to celebrate their 15th Birthday.  This one is made up of various stamps from the Birthday pots set. I added the flower to the pot and just drew a line to connect it to the leaves. The sentiment is also from the set which will be digis and rubber.  Coloured simply prints will also be released.

The papers are First Edition Gardenia. I used a new die from Your Next Stamp called grass tufts. the ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons.  I also used a MFT wonky rectangle and an old Memory Box dragonfly die. The butterfly is from Docrafts.  Colouring medium is Copics and I used a MFT mini cloud stencil for the sky.

The holiday washing is all done, actually did some of it in the cottage we stayed in which meant we came home with a lot of clean ironed clothes. There is a pile of ironing still waiting to be done unfortunately.  The new shower room is gorgeous. I will take some photos.

Coming home from holiday

We have been away on holiday since 30th April. We travelled part way on that day, staying overnight in a Premier Inn at Weston super Mare before travelling on to Cornwall the following day where we stayed for 9 nights in a beautiful cottage.  We left yesterday morning and stayed at another Premier Inn in Coventry and will be driving home this morning.

Thanks for all your comments whilst I have been away. I only scheduled a few posts but really appreciate your visits and comments. Sorry I haven’t had much time to visit your blogs but will catch up soon.

Whilst we have been away we have had a builder friend and some of his men come in and take out the bathroom replacing it with a shower room.  I took a couple of pictures of the bathroom and can't wait to see the change today. It has been lovely being away whilst this was being done.

Scrapbook layouts of the conservatory, bathroom and Cornwall to be made I think.

Welcome Baby

Thank you so much for your positive comments on my last card which I wasn’t very pleased with. I have used another of the new Paper Nest Doll stamps which you can find at Swedish House Crafts. This is so cute. I have a habit of sometimes colouring animals a little darker than I intend so I made sure I used very light greys this time and it came out just how I wanted.
Image - Paper Nest Dolls Welcome Wagon
Medium - Copics
Papers - First Edition It's a Girl
Die - MFT wonky stitched oval
Sentiment - LOTV
Punch - Fiskars tag punch
Flowers - Wild Orchis
Lace - Crafty Ribbons

Happy Birthday

Sometimes I have an idea in mind for a card and mostly it works but I am not very happy with the way this one turned out. Still hubby said he liked it and maybe someone will want to buy it. Sometimes the cards I like least surprise me by selling quickly.

I used some old First Edition man made papers to create a starbust effect.  I diecut the Woodware sentiment with a MFT wonky stitched rectangle, added a frame and some punched stars. A great way to use scraps.

Hippo in PJs

I got a new set of 5 hippo stamps to play with as I am guest designing for Paper Nest Dolls at Swedish House Crafts. You can find all their products on their website Swedish House Crafts. Do come and join our Facebook group Swedish House Crafts Lounge for lots of inspiration and giveaways.
Image - Paper Nest Dolls Hippos
Medium - Copics
Papers - MFT hearts and stripes
Dies - Lawn Fawn stitched circle, Go Kreate frilly 7
Sentiment - LOTV
Punch - Fiskars tag
Other - enamel dots

Disney parade part two

I made this page to go opposite the page I posted on 27th April. The layout is different, again inspired by Pinterest with the banners under the picture.  The layout is quite different to the previous one but they complement each other nicely.  I used MFT pierced banner and stitched jumbo banner dies and a lovely MFT ricrac die which is discontinued. The banner dies must be my most used dies I think.  I added some Tim Holtz words and tiny wooden stars. The title alphabet is one I have had for ages and I was so pleased I had all the letters I needed.  There are never enough vowels and useful letters like T and S so I always end up with part alphabets but I do mix and match them sometimes or use my alphabet die.

Underneath the lamplight

I really need to get some more Christmas cards made and as I have a folder full of precoloured images I selected this Pink Gem one to make a quicker card. I used some of my fave papers, Bo Bunny Altitude. The lamppost is an old Marianne die which I haven't used for ages.  The sentiment is another fave, LOTV grunge Christmas.

Christmas trees

Another layout for my Orlando them park scrapbook which should be finished soon. I can then move on to my other books which are all started but have lots of pages still be made.  These pics were taken in The Magic Kingdom. The Christmas parades are always fabulous and you can't help singing along.  I was lucky enough to win a Fiskars circle cutter on their Facebook page and although it is meant for fabric I knew it would also be very useful for scrapbooking.  Normally I draw round plates and bowls but circles aren't that easy to cut by hand.  I used various Christmas tree dies to echo the trees in the pics.

As many of you will know I love reading and a friend told me about an author, Steve Cavanagh. I hadn't read any of his books but when I saw his latest novel for £2.50 in Tesco I bought it and loved it. A very clever story which kept me guessing. This was a stand alone novel but he has also written a series of 5 so I bought the first three. I do like to read books in order if I can and I can highly recommend him. His first novel is called Defence.

Disney parade

I never feel that a scrapbook layout looks as good on the screen as it does in real life but then I suppose that is often true of cards as well. I am really loving my scrapbooking and am so pleased with how many pages I have done already this year. I love using Pinterest for inspiration on my layouts though the finished page is always quite different to the original but it is a great starting point. I love how this page turned out. As usual I used a variety of papers. I used Spellbinders tag and La La Land heart banner dies.

Looking forward to an evening out with an early meal with friends we haven't seen for a while and then an ELO tribute band who are supposed to be very good.

Over the moon

For the latest Crafts Beautiful magazine I was commissioned to make a Wedding card. This is 7x7 using some lovely Nitwits papers Romance and Roses. The sweet image is from All Dressed Up and has been coloured with Copics and diecut with a sitched scalloped die from The Works. The ribbons are from Crafty Ribbons, flowers from Wild Orchid.  The border die is from Doohickey.

James in the rain

I still have several images left from the old LOTV art pads and although they are no longer sold you can buy James with his umbrella as a digi stamp or a coloured digi. The papers are a mix of MFT and the stitched clouds are also MFT. The sentiment is from the LOTV teenage girls set.

The powerboat racing season starts this afternoon so hubby will be leaving straight after lunch to get the rescue boats ready and then he will be driving one of the rescue boats when the racing starts at 5.30. So I am back to having an afternoon and evening crafting. I am hoping to get lots made today.

Santa Claus is coming to town

Another page for my Florida theme park scrapbook.  This splendid Santa was part of the Macy's parade at Universal Studios.The papers and title are from an old Me to You Christmas pack.  I added some Bo Bunny embellishments, diecut some leaves from a Sue Wilson poinsettia set and added a poinsettia from Hobbycraft and some Christmas butons. The stocking bunting was made with a Memory Box die.

We had our fourth line dancing lesson yesterday and I am pleased to say we are still loving it. We have really got the hang of three dances but need more practice on the one we learnt last week and the one we learnt yesterday as that had some steps in it which we found trickier.  Looking forward to  my monthly back massage and facial this afternoon.

The caterpillar became a butterfly

I haven't used this lovely stamp for a long time. It cam from Hobbylobby in America and is by Stampabilities. I went for the shabby chic look again, distressing the edges and using Dusty Concord distress ink. The papers are some old Studio Light ones. I added some cheesecloth, cream hessian and some butterflies from Docrafts.

Islands of Adventure

These photos were taken several years ago at Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando. We loved Seuss Landing as it was so colourful and full of fun animals including The Cat in the Hat.  I used a mix of papers from Pink Paislee and Echo Park. All the embellishments are from Echo Park scrapbook kits and the letters are American Thickers.

Mother and father of the bride

I had an order for a Wedding card and a card for the parents of the bride. I decided to keep it quite simple and pretty. I typed the sentiment and diecut it with a Spellbinders floral oval. I added some Tattered Rose distress ink to the edges. The double heart is a Gummiapan die, flowers from Wild Orchid and butterfly from Poundland. The paper is Anna Marie blissful pink.

We bought some plants yesterday so this morning we will be planting up pots and having a tidy in the garden.  The weather is incredible for April. It should last until Tuesday according to the latest forecast and then go down to about 13 degrees.

Happy Easter

This is the Easter card I made for my Mum. It's another LOTV stamp which is available as a digi, This is Spring bunny and daffodils. I have coloured it with Copics, diecut it with a Lawn Fawn pierced rectangle die and used the pretty new papers from First Edition, Gardenia.  I really like the simple layout but thought maybe I would add some flowers. They just didn't look right so I kept it with clean lines.

We are meeting some friends for lunch today after doing the Tesco shop.  I hope you enjoy your Easter.

Amongst the primroses

I had a request for an Easter card and found this very cute coloured simply print image from LOTV. The papers are some new ones I bought recently, First Edition Gardenia. I don't know why the backing paper looks grey when it is actually green. I used MFT pireced banner and wonky stitched oval dies. The sentiment was in my stash and the butterflies are from America.

Flower arranger

I seem to be having a Lili of the Valley week for some reason. I found this in my images to colour and thought I fancied colouring the flowers orange for some reason. First I needed some papers and opened one of my paper drawers at random and the first sheet on the top was orange! How odd was that. I don't think this stamp is available any more but as they keep bringing out old stamps as digis maybe it will appear again.

Image - LOTV

Medium - Copics

Papers - Lilybee Head over Heels

Dies - Go Kreate frilly 10, MFT stitched inside and out rounded corner square

Punch - Martha Stewart fern

Flowers - Hobbycraft

Looking forward to seeing Mum today. She is coming over to visit us so we will be off for out for lunch somewhere after a catch up.

Look at that sea

I have used an old LOTV coloured art pad image and some old LOTV papers for my 7x7 card. Aren't the colours of that scene wonderful.  I distressed he edges, added some pale blue lace, flowers from Wild Orchid and some clouds made with MFT stitched cloud dies.

We are off for our third line dancing lesson today. We have been having a practice at home to the music. I thought Graham would be better than me but he can't remember all the steps for the three dances we have learnt so far. We were in fits of laughter the other day as he was trying to do it. Once he followed me he was ok. All good fun and exercise.

An old favourite

Some of the first rubber stamps I bought were Sugar Nellie and I treasure those stamps and must use more of them. They did also bring out some digis later on and I love the sweet girls, this one is Sophia. I haven't been colouring too much lately, something I need to remedy so I rummaged through my stamped and printed images and decided to try this one. They are great images for practicing hair colouring and I am fairly pleased with the way she turned out.  I kept the layout simple so she could really be the main focus of the card.

Image - Sugar Nellie Sophia digi stamp

Medium - Copics

Papers - Lilybee Head over Heels

Sentiment - LOTV

Dies - MFT scalloped stitched border, x stitch circle (no packaging bought from a friend)

Punch - Fiskars tag

I ma having a haircut and colour today. I would love to have my hair with some red in it but each time I have tried it the red fades really quickly. My hair just won't keep the colour so I stick to blonde and caramel colours now.

Coffee Time

I used to only drink black coffee and low fat hot chocolate before bedtime. I was suffering from acid reflux and was advised caffeine can cause it. I don't drink fizzy drinks other than mineral water so needed to look at drinking less coffee. I hadn't drunk tea since I was a little girl and although I have tried it a few times over the years I just didn't like though I wished I did as a change from coffee. However I gave it a go and after a few cups of black tea I found I really like it. A couple of people told me if you try something 7 times you will get to like it. I also tried some herbal teas as they are caffeine free and guess what I found some I love. I don't like fruit flavours but I love peppermint, buttermint and chamomile and now have chamomile before bed and it really helps me sleep better. So if you had told me a year ago I would mainly drink herbal tea and black tea and hardly ever drink coffee or hot chocolate I would never have believed you.

So onto my card which is all about coffee! I bought a 12 x 12 pack of Laserowe Love Coffee Time from Swedish House Crafts and this is the first card I made. I inked the edges with vintage photo distress ink and distressed them all. I added some cheesecloth, crimped kraft card and a wooden cup, saucer and spoon I had in my stash.

Do unicorns dream?

I don't know how unicorns dream differently to any other animal. Oh wait, they aren't real are they.  I used a lovely stamp and sentiment stamp from LOTV. Coloured with Copics, I used the same MFT hearts paper as yesterday, well I do have two pads of it. I used stitched square dies from The Range, that lovely star semi circle die again and some little star dies.

We are going to a cancer charity event today in Wymondham and will probably have a look round the town too with a spot of lunch.