The window box is looking good

I still have several of the old LOTV art pads and yesterday I made a couple of cards using the James Bear pad. I don't know if this is James or Jenny admiring the window box. I used Lilybee Double Dutch papers, Hobbycraft butterfly punch, Martha Stewart flower and fern punches with enamel dots and a MFT wonky stitched oval die.

Housework this morning, haircut this afternoon. That'll be another day gone. Where does the time go? We may be retired but we have busy lives.  Always so many things we want to do.

Looking Good

After guest designing for Swedish House Crafts for two months I am delighted to say I am now on the permanent Design Team. For this one I used Maja Denim and Friends 6x6 papers along with an image from  the 12x12 sheet Snapshots guys in jeans.  I used a MFT jumbo stitched banner die, added some quirky paperclips and wooden chevrons and stars.

Snowman time

I really must get some more Christmas cards made. I did manage to make two yesterday as well as two anniversary cards and half a Birthday card. I decided to have a look through my stamped images and choose the first one that I felt like colouring and it was this sweet snowman from Lili of the Valley. I coloured him with Copics, diecut with a die I bought from a Facebook friend and added some pearl dots for snow. The paper is LOTV scandi Christmas.  I used a MFT rolling hills and old Memory Box die for the snowy layers.  The ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons.

After a lovely day spent crafting, reading and doing a jigsaw yesterday I must do some housework and ironing this morning before going to our line dancing lesson and then Tesco.

Vintage lady

Well things didn't turn out as planned yesterday. No sooner had hubby left for the day than he was back again as the car was showing a fault. He could drive it but it had lost performance and said to contact service to get it fixed. So he had to ring BMW breakdown assist and they sent out a technician. He hooked it up to the computer and said it was a very unusual fault but would need sorting at the main dealers. Luckily it is still under warranty with two years breakdown cover as well. So after a few phone calls our car will be collected on Tuesday and they have lent us a hire car.   We did get to the garden centre which we had planned to do later in the week but I only got two cards made as we were waiting on phone calls and getting a few other things done. We did sort out some photos to get printed as I had an offer come through from Photobox so lots more scrapbooking to be done. Oh and one of the smoke alarms started beeping meaning the battery needed changing. Now if hubby hadn't have been here I would have had to put up with that until he got home. It was really awkward to open as well, he spent ages fiddling with it. so all in all a funny old day.

So my card was made using Maja Denim and girls papers and an image from the 12x12 Maja sheet Sofiero Ephemera. I used a MFT scallop border die, flowers from Wild Orchid, wooden birdcage and hearts and added some diecut leaves and a bow.

Let's hope I get lots of crafting done today.

Springtime

I made this card for the lady who owns the vintage cafe and gift shop where I sell some of my cards and gifts. It was her 50th Birthday and she was also celebrating 4 years of Prima Rosa opening. Having this type of cafe/shop was always her dream and when I spotted the paper in a pack of The Works papers he sentiment couldn't have been better.

Image - LOTV simply print

Ribbon - Crafty Ribbons

Dies - Cheery Lynn faerie toadstools, cross stitch circle bought from Facebook group

Scrim - B&Q

Flowers - Wild Orchid

There is a national powerboat racing championship on today and tomorrow and hubby is volunteering both days on the rescue boats. That gives me two days at home so lots of crafting time which is just as well as I have several occasions coming up.  Enjoy your Bank Holiday.

Apple cart

A lovely Summery card today which is one I made for the latest edition of Crafts Beautiful magazine.  They wanted a bright Summer card and MFT papers are so useful for creating bright cards.  They are some of my favourite papers to use. I also used a couple of fairly new dies, the bunting and heart border dies, from Dies to Die For.

Products

Lili of the Valley digi stamp Apple Cart

Lili of the Valley digi stamp Everyday Greetings

My Favourite Things Rainbow Stripes paper pad

My Favourite Things Sunny Skies die

My Favourite Things mini cloud stencil

Lawn Fawn pierced rectangle die

Lawn Fawn bunting borders die

Your Next Stamp scallop heart border die

Copics

We stayed overnight in Ipswich after the show so will be heading home today. First we are stopping to meet a lady I know through Facebook. She crafts and her and her hubby love 60's music. She has lots of land with her house and rescues hedgehogs and keeps chicken and two pygmy goats.

Underwater scene

It's my turn as guest designer at Swedish House Crafts and I have used two new paper Nest Dolls stamps which are on an exclusive offer at Swedish House Crafts. There are three and I will be sharing a card with the other stamp another day. I used the two mermaid stamps on my card, Ellie with Seahorse and Emma and fishy friend coloured with Copics and with sparkly tails using a Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen.  The backing paper is First Edition Beyond the Shore and I added some blue stringy stuff from stash, used a turquoise pearl pen and added some fish diecuts using Impression Obsessions mini nautical die.

We are out this evening for a Chinese meal and then to see Rhod Gilbert at the theatre. For those who don't know he is a comedian.

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.