Universal Studios

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. We did and I have also had a break from crafting and blogging.  It felt quite strange going back in the craft room on Saturday and even stranger to start scrapbooking after several months break from it due to lack of time. I am determined to do more scrapbooking next year and am off to a good start as I did another layout yesterday.

I have several scrapbooks which only have a few pages left to do and then I can start getting the last few year's holidays printed.  This is a simple layout using Kaisercraft backing paper, washi tape, a Tim Holtz ephemera ticket and Spellbinder arrow dies.  One of our favourite rides there was the ET ride and as I sorted through my bits and pieces from our trips I found this ET ticket to add to my layout.

We are going for a trip out this morning, probably to the coast and then having a quiet night in with a bottle of bubbly, some nice food and a couple of movies. See you in 2019.

In the field

I made this card for a friend and as she opened it yesterday I can now share it. I bought a new set of Card-io stamps at the NEC and have been waiting to use the horses and fence as my friend loves horses. I have a circle template I made which I used to create the frame, stamping two different leaves. Using a MFT hills stencil and a dry baby wipe with small ink pads I created a sunset and then stamped the trees. I used Copics as I wanted them in a field rather than leaving it white.

Merry Christmas

Last year our tree was blue and silver but this year I wanted it to look more handmade and less showhouse. I added in some red ornaments and several of my handmade decorations.  You can see most of them in this photo.

Thank you for all your support, visits and comments this year. I appreciate each and every one. It is so easy to simply like something on Facebook but it takes more time and effort to leave a comment on a blog. I struggle with finding time to leave as many comments as I would like but I do love visiting and seeing everyone's creations and hope to do more next year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

For those we have lost

Whilst I ahd my Card-io stamps out to make a Birthday card for a friend for 27th December I decided to make a sympathy card too.  I need to build up my stock of all types of card ready for next year's craft fairs. I simply stamped two different leaves around the edges and then stamped the Stampin' Up sentiment in the middle. Simple but heartfelt.

We are off to Tesco this morning and then we have friends coming over this afternoon for a buffet so will be preparing that when we get back from the shopping.

Patchwork Bauble

This is another bauble I have been longing to try and having found various tutorials on Pinterest I have managed to find time to make one for our tree.

They are quite challenging to make and this one isn't perfect but I am pleased with it. It took me about two hours and I did unpin some of the layers on the first side but the second side came along much better, The tricky thing is that you make one side and then the other and hope they meet. I added some lovely ribbons and glittery white berries. I do prefer making the pine cone baubles and they are much easier to make so this may be a one off.

I would like to enter this into the feeling festive challenge at Creative Inspirations.

I am feeling very organised for Christmas and hope you are too. We will be doing the housework this morning and then this evening we have been invited for dinner at friends. 

Teddy Gift Bag

I decorated this gift bag for my friend Lynsey's daughter. The papers are lovely vintage LOTV Christmas and I used the coloured Christmas teds art sheet. The main image has been cut with a MFT wonky stitched oval die, the lace and banner ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons. I diecut a label using a Spellbinders tag die and a MFT rolling hills die. I fussy cut the teddy and robin from the art sheet, ycraft wooden red star and the snowflake are from Hobbycraft.

Challenges

Crafteezee Gift 

Creative Inspirations feeling festive

Pulling candy canes

This is the card I made for my friend Lynsey and as I visited her for lunch yesterday with a couple of other friends I can now share her card with you. She actually bought me this cute Stamping Bella stamp for my Birthday so I knew she liked the image. I coloured it with Copics and fussy cut it to fit my little scene I created with some new MFT candy land papers.  I used a MFT mountain die and a Lawn Fawn forest border die. I diecut some trees from white glitter card, then smooshed some green 3d pearl effect onto paper and smooshed that over the trees.  he sentiment comes with the reindeer stamp.  Lynsey loves pink so I knew she would like this contemporary colour combo.

Challenges

Creative Inspirations feeling festive

Christmas with the cuties Carols and songs (Rudolph the red nosed reindeer)

Second sneak peek of Lily

A contrast to my clean and simple Lily card on Sunday. This is another of the four new Lily images launching on 1 January at LOTV. They will be available in both rubber and digi.  There will also be some fab bunting stamps along with numbers and alphabet stamps so you can stamp them into the bunting. 

I used the digi stamp and added two lots of the star bunting.  She has been coloured with Copics and I used various sparkle pens.   The sentiment is LOTV, the lace I found in my stash along with the pearl stems which I think came from Wild Orchid a long time ago. The flowers are all Wild Orchid.

Carolsinging trio

This is the card I made for hubby using my new LOTV carolsinger stamps. I do like digis but there is something so nice about new rubber stamps. I am not sure if I have ever masked images before, if so it must have been a long time ago.  I knew I wanted to mask these so I could have three of them together and I am really pleased with how it turned out. Good job he appreciates cute characters.

The papers are LOTV vintage Christmas and I coloured the images with Copics. I mixed some glitter with fun flock for the hats and added some silver acrylic paint to the snow.  The lamp post was diecut with a Doohickey die and I added some wooden stars.

Challenges

ABC Christmas Y for your favourite (Lili of the Valley are my fave stamps) 

Creative Inspirations feeling festive 

Penny Black and more at Allsorts traditional Christmas colours 

Stamping Sensations Winter sparkle 

Simon Says Christmas
Christmas with the Cuties Carols and songs

We will be coming home today from a one night break at Potter Resort on the coast. We love it there, great food, lots of activities, quizzes etc and a fantastic Christmas show.

First sneak peek of Lily and a tutorial

Meet Lily the sweet new fairy launching from LOTV on 1 January. Lily will be available as both rubber and digi stamps which will please everyone. I created the card using a Go Kreate frilly 10 die and MFT paper. The scalloped circle was also cute with a Go Kreate die.

Along with the new images will be a lovely set of circular sentiments. They all come with this pretty flower circle and as one of hem is a blank circle I placed Lily inside the circle. Now I thought this would be simple in Word but as this is a digi the backing is a white rectangle so when I placed her in the circle parts of it were missing.

So this is how I did it. I inserted both images, clicked on each, clicked text wrap and through. I then needed to make her background transparent. I clicked on the fairy, clicked format, recolour, transparent and then resized her to fit in the circle. Simple when you know how. I have a book with tips, measurements etc so this info has gone into my book ready for next time in case I forget how I did it.

I coloured her with Copics and used some sparkle pens. Her wings are super sparkly.

Elephants at play

I bought some of these MDF  blocks from the Inkylicious stand at the NEC. I wanted to make a present for a lady who works at the hospital and who always comes to see me when I am there. She  rarely goes away without buying at least one thing and usually a few items. She loves elephants and I know teal is her favourite colour. This has been painted with Rustoleum chalk paints and I then used some stamps from the MFT adorable elephant set to create a scene. I used a black fineliner to add some grass.  I hope she likes it.

Challenges

Crafteezee Gift

Hello Mr Robin

This is the last of the four cards I made for last month's Making Cards magazine using a coloured Lee Holland digi. The papers are Nitwits. I used Go Kreate frilly 3, Lawn Fawn stitched circle, Marianne poinsettia, MFT pierced banner and Impression Obsession birdhouse dies.  The sentiment is LOTV.

Christmas preparations are going well. Some of the presents are wrapped and the last of the cards has been made.  Shopping trip to Tesco this morning and then late afternoon we have been invited for nibbles at the cafe and gift shop where I sell some of my gifts.  I hope you are all prepared for the Big Day.

Challenges

ABC Christmas Y for your favourite (snowmen are my favourites) 

Creative Inspirations feeling festive 

Simon Says Christmas 

Allsorts Christmas flowers

Purple dragons, why not!

Firstly let me start by saying I really don't like lime green.  However having coloured the dragons purple the green seemed to go so well. Then looking through a new MFT paper pad I found these papers which matched the images perfectly. So a rare sight on my blog, lime green.

I used an old Spellbinder labels 10 die and some Little Claire dinkie sentiment stamps. The banner was cut with a Joy die and I added a couple of enamel dots.

I would like to enter this into the sketch challenge at MFT and anything goes challenge at The Ribbon Girl.

Sweet foxes

As a complete change to Monday's clean and simple fox card I have gone for my preferred style today. I have used another of the new LOTV Simply Sweet fox images coloured with Copics. I used a MFT mini cloud stencil with Copics for the sky. The papers are Crafter's Companion Rustic wedding. I added some diecut Cheery Lynn mushrooms coloured with distress inks and some diecut grass.  The wooden hearts are from Hobbycraft and the sentiment is from a Stamposaurus set.

I would like to enter this into the anything goes challenge at The Ribbon Girl.  Looking forward to a meal out with friends tonight.  We are going to a local restaurant that we haven't been to for a couple of years so hope it is as god as it has always been before.

Simply sweet

Have you seen the new Simply Sweet digis available here from the LOTV shop at Etsy? This is one of the cute foxes which I have coloured with Copics. The colouring isn't as good as I would like as I feel a little out of practice having used more toppers recently. That will change now that I will have more time for colouring. I always struggle with colouring big faces. 

I kept the design really simple, just adding a stamped sentiment, 

some cabuchons I found in my stash which I bought ages ago and some doodling. I wanted some neat doodling for a change so used a fineliner and ruler.

I wold like to enter this into the anything goes challenge at The Ribbon Girl.  I was very sorry to see that this is closing once all the stock has been sold. Another lovely craft store closing, such a shame.

After a few chores I am planning to get my last two Christmas cards made today and hopefully some tags and a Christmas bag then all my Christmas crafting is finished. Need to get wrapping next.

Mum's card

I can share this card as I have given it to my Mum. She dos love an easel card and I had the design in mind and it came together just as I wanted, Apart from the ribbon which is from Crafty Ribbons, white glitter card, wooden trees and fun flock all the products are from MFT. I love these cute new penguins and am glad I bought the dies to match the stamps which have been coloured with Copics. I used he stitched mountain and Winter tree dies and a new paper pad candy land.

Challenges

Creative Inspirations feeling festive 

ABC Christmasyour favourite (I love penguins) 

The Ribbon Girl anything goes 

As you Like It Your favourite Christmas animal (I love penguins as they are so cute and funny) 

Crafty Calendar It's Christmas time 

Stamping Sensations Winter sparkle

No cooking today as we are going out to see some friends and then going for a late lunch with them at a nearby restaurant. Somewhere they recommend and new to us so looking forward to a carvery.

Nearly finished

Have you finished your Christmas cards yet? I just have two left to make, one is hubby's and I always make his last. He is  finishing buying my pressies on Monday so I shall make it then. I have some new stamps in mind for his card.

I made this one for the neighbours who have a pug so this image from one of the LOTV coloured art sheets was just the thing for their card.  I used LOTV scandi papers, a LOTV sentiment and just added some wooden snowflakes. I used one of my fave dies, MFT wonky stitched oval.

Challenges

The Ribbon Girl anything goes 

Creative Inspirations feeling festive

The sun is shining for a change from the last couple of gloomy and partly wet days, though it is quite windy. I am looking forward to a morning in the craft room.

Mice in a cup

The new Crafts Beautiful magazine is published today and this is the card I was commissioned to make for it. I coloured the cute Stamping Bella image with Copics. The papers are MFT and I used a Go Kreate frilly 9 die to create the shaped card.   The leaves were diecut with a Britannia die and he roses are from Wild Orchid.

Challenges

The Ribbon Girl anything goes

The right decision and thank you

Wow we had a brilliant day selling at my last hospital shop on Monday.  I had my very best sales ever. I know that I have made the right decision not to continue though. It was hard work spending about two and a half hours on Saturday setting it all up and then standing nearly all day on Monday and being so busy and then having to take it all down and get it to the car.  

I am really looking forward to having more free time in the future which will include more time for blog commenting.  Thank you so much to everyone who visits and comments so regularly. I really do appreciate every comment.

I have booked a local craft fair for 23 March and have my first hospital craft fair on 20th March. I have been told by several of the staff that they will miss me being in the shop so I hope to sell more at the craft fairs there. I shall look for a few more fairs to do, mainly from September onwards as that is when I sell the most.  

I also hope to get back to posting every day if possible and you can expect to see more scrapbook pages next year too.  Back with a card tomorrow. Today mu Mum is coming to Norwich so we will pick her up, back to ours for coffee and then we will be going out for lunch with her.

Penguins galore

I made this gift bag for a friend for her Christmas pressies and I gave it to her yesterday because she works at the hospital and I won't see her again until next year.  I used an image from one of the LOTV coloured art sheets and the scandi Christmas papers.  The sentiment was cut from white glitter card using a MFT die and I added some of my fave diecut Christmas trees also from white glitter card. For the tag I used a Lawn Fawn die and a Winter penguin stamp and die coloured with Copics.

Challenges
The Ribbon Girl anything goes 

Crafteezee a gift

Crafty Calendar It's Christmas time

Snow family

Yes, another card made for Making Cards magazine using a coloured Lee Holland digi. Papers are Nitwits and I used my favourite GO Kreate frilly10 dies along with MFT wonky stitched oval and Lawn Fawn stitched circle dies.  I added lots of fun flock to their hats and simply added some cute wooden trees from Hobbycraft.

I would like to enter the anything goes challenge at Simon Says and The Ribbon Girl.

It is my last day at the hospital shop today so an early start and a long day. That is me done then with selling until next March. I have had a very good year but having enough stock for the hospital shop once a month plus a few craft fairs has been a lot of work. I have therefore decided not to continue with it next year and shall just be doing some craft fairs. I want to have more time for colouring and scrapbooking and time to experiment with making other things. I also want more time for going out and other hobbies. I love crafting and cannot imagine ever giving up making things but I want to make things I want to make and when I want to make them not feeling I have to make them which I have sometimes this year having to make quicker cards than I like just to keep up stock.

More hugs

I said when I used this stamp hat I had coloured two images and he has been sitting on my desk waiting to be used. I coloured this image with Copics adding some snow with a white gel pen. I used my MFT wonky stitched oval die again. I diecut some trees from white glitter card using Marianne and Doohickey slender fir dies. I haven't used either of these much this year. The sentiment is from LOTV.

Challenges

Simon Says anything goes

Penny Black and more at Allsorts traditional Christmas colours

Stamping Sensations Winter sparkle

As You Like It rubber or digi (I love both but if I could only have one type of stamp, as I did when I first started stamping I would choose rubber. I love the process of stamping rather than printing and feel I own the stamps rather than having them filed on a computer.)

The Ribbon Girl anything goes 

Crafty Calendar It's Christmas time

Hang in there

I have the second of the four cards I made for the last Making Cards magazine to share today. I diecut the Lee Holland coloured digi with a MFT wonky stitched oval die. The papers are Nitwits, wooden snowflakes from Hobbycraft, sentiment from LOTV diecut with a Lawn Fawn stitched circle die.  I added fun flock to his hat.

I would like to enter this into the anything goes challenge at Simon Says.