Nearly there!!

Nearly Christmas and I'm nearly ready!!!
Thought I'd post a few pics of my last makes....had to keep some of them under wraps till Niamh got home from university.

First is Niamh's advent calendar for this year...I know there are only 12 drawers  but she had the first half of it at university!
It's made from matchbox style drawers covered with a selection of papers and jewelled brads for handles.
The number tags and trees are detachable so the drawers can be used all year round!!

This is a lantern I made at a craft club I go to...inside is a battery operated tealight. It's really effective shining through the vellum windows.

Last of all...a  card for my daughter...pretty in pink. It is a box card with a Lily of the Valley stamped image  inside and pink and silver poinsettias to decorate inside and out.

Have a lovely Christmas everyone!!

Sarah  xxx

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Christmas Bazaar

Yesterday we had  a Christmas Bazaar at our church and I offered to make cards and decorations to sell.  Niamh came home from Uni and was a great help on the day!! She was also the photographer as I forgot to take any  pics of the things I had made!!!

Rudolph candy cane decorations

Chocolate handbags to hang on the tree

Bells!!

Reindeer food

Candles in glass jars decorated with vellum and silhouette peel-offs

A selection of cards

We had lots of fun and sold most of our stock. We came home with lovely cakes and Niamh found some pretty jewellery on the bric-a-brac stall so she was happy too!!

Now I've just got to make a few more cards to send to family and friends!!

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Thanks a bunch

Just a simple card today as I needed a quick thankyou card for my daughters friend who helped me out by doing some printing for me....must look at the printer again and try and get it working!!

The card looks an odd shape but that's my "photography skills"!!

The patterns are made with Waltzingmouse stamps and a selection of inks...

I really need new colours...my inkpads are fast wearing out!!

The trim is sticky ribbon that I found at the bottom of my ribbon box and it's still sticky.

A paper flower and a brad to finish.

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Snowflake

Just a quick post today so I can link up to this weeks waltzingmouse sketch challenge.
A simple white and silver card with a snowflake theme.....

I used a mix of dies and punches. The stamped snowflake is from a Waltzing mouse set called "Santa's coming to town" with a silver brad in the centre. A few extra snowflakes and crystals   all done!!

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Hold Christmas in your heart...

My card today is for the penultimate Rudolph Day challenge here...

I used Kraft card on a cream background, a diecut cream circle and Waltzingmouse Nordic Spring stamps.
I think the little woven hearts go well with the Nordic feel.
Hope you like it.

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Pinterest project

I don't know about you but I pin loads of ideas on my Pinterest boards.......

 and don't often go back and try them!!

I was a bit stuck for ideas for this months Blog party.....Pinterest to the rescue!

This tree is made from a brown paper bag from our last Indian takeaway.

This is the pin that inspired me...http://pinterest.com/pin/168251736049046190/

I sprayed the tree with gold shimmer mist and made little Halloween decorations using Waltzingmouse stamps and punches. The picket fence is a Marianne die and the flowers are made with a memory box die.

Of course you can't have a Halloween scene without a witch so here is Cicely ready to party...

Hope you like it....I might be making whole forests for a variety of occasions!!

                                                                                   

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18 at last!!

My friends daughter seems to have been a grown-up for a long time but she has only just turned 18.
I wanted to make her an elegant card....she definitely isn't a cutesy girl!!

The cake stamp is from Docrafts and I think it's really pretty. The set comes with more tiers and candles
but I couldn't fit 18 candles on the cake so I went with numbers instead!!
The card is a lovely pearly taupe on a black card blank. A simple border and a few jewels to finish.
Hope you like it!!

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Happy 40th!!

I was asked to make a 40th birthday card for a friend of a friend....always tricky when you don't know much about the recipient!!
I thought I'd go for a simple combination of black and pink with a hint of silver for birthday sparkle.

Pink,silver, sparkly rosettes and glittery ribbon.
 I cut the ribbon buckle with a spellbinder die and only added a little "40"
Hope the birthday girl likes it!!

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Bewitched!!

I had a day off work today and had good intentions to catch up with tidying, cleaning and other such exciting jobs. However I didn't do any of those things....I chatted to my daughter on Skype for ages, did a bit of cooking and then some crafting...much better than dusting!!
I've got some new Halloween stamps from Waltzingmouse so I played with them.....

The design is based on a sketch .........WMSC118

I stamped the image and coloured it with markers, then I masked it and stamped the starry

background and embossed it in silver. The papers are from my stash!!

I made a  little rosette to back the sentiment and used punches for the borders.

Done!!!

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Back again!!

The last two months have just flown by and I haven't blogged in all that time!
Now the holidays are over and Niamh is back at uni...time for crafting and blogging again.
My mum sent Niamh a lovely frog card and so I thought she needed a princess to go with it...




WMSC 117



I used the waltzingmouse sketch as my inspiration. The stamps are Waltzingmouse too coloured with promarkers. Need a bit more practise with my colouring/shading I think!

Hope you like it.

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Quotes...a joint project!!

Night duty over for this week at least though I'm not sure my body clock has reset yet!!
My daughter and I went to a craft session a little while ago where we played with ink, shimmer mists, masks and stamps. It was messy but fun and lovely to spend time crafting together!
So...what to do with the tags we made...well Niamh thought they would make a great present for her friend if we made a few more and added some of her favourite quotes...so that's what we did.





 

 

We used a mix of stamps and hand-written words. Some pages were decorated with border punches to add interest and we put in some blank tags for Lizzie to add her own favourite quotes too.

I hope she likes it!!
If you'd like to see Niamh's take on our collaboration check out her blog post at Niamh creates and leave her a comment!!
Thankyou!

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With sympathy...

Just a short post today as I start nights tonight and won't be around much for the next couple of days!!
I find it hard to make sympathy cards sometimes....you want them to convey your love and care without being too fancy.
This is one I made for a friend recently.

I used pearlescent card for the base and the embossed butterflies, floral paper from my stash, a punched lace strip and a few crystals for the butterfly bodies. A stamped sentiment to finish.
Hope you like it.

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Rudolph Day July 2012

Time for another Rudolph Day card and this time I've used a sketch for inspiration...

Here's the card I made........

I used silver card embossed with snowflakes for the background, Nordic Winter stamps for the tag and Santa Was Here set for the main image and sentiment. A little bit of ribbon and a brad to finish!!

Hope you like it.

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A sporty card for the Olympic opening day!!

A little footballer today...kind of appropriate for the opening day I thought!
I'm not really interested in sport but I am planning to watch the opening ceremony tonight...let's hope it's spectacular (and doesn't rain!!)
Anyway here is my card....

I used  sissix dies for the footballer, paper and embellishments from my stash and a Waltzingmouse stamp
for the sentiment..."You're the bee's knees"....great phrase....always makes me smile!!

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Butterflies!!

I needed to make a birthday card for my mum and I tend to make her pink cards so they look pretty in her sitting room which is decorated in cream and pale pink.
I love butterflies and I've just bought a new embossing folder with beautiful swirls and butterflies.
The Waltzingmouse butterflies are the perfect size when stamped on shrink plastic as you can see...

The cream border also uses a stamp from the same set - Nordic Spring.
I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the brocade strip, some cream lace and a tiny doily stamp
for a button.
Off to the post-box now!!

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WMSC 106.....A baptism card

This one was a tricky card to make....one of my daughters university friends has
 become a Christian and is being baptised this weekend.
Baby christenings are lovely cards to make but I was a bit stuck for ideas for a 18yr old boy!!!
This is what i made......

The cross is a Spellbinders die embossed and inked to match the stamped background.
I stamped a celtic border around the main image and a little tile embellishment to finish.
Luckily Niamh approves and thinks her friend will like it too!!

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The great outdoors - WMS July blog party

Cutting it fine but I managed it!!!
The great out doors....well recently all the outdoors has had to offer is rain and more rain!
Grey skies wouldn't make a very cheerful card so I'm imagining the summer we should be having.
Here's my card............

I hope the bright colours chase away the clouds!!

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Thinking of you...WMSC105

I wanted to make a pretty card for a friend who has just been given bad news.
I thought I would use the sketch from Waltzingmouse for inspiration....here is the card...

I think it's pretty and I hope it will make her smile.

Stamps used are all from Waltzingmouse, butterfly border is a Martha Stewart punch.

I think I need to practise my photo skills...any tips??

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First ever Stampin Up party

Last night I went to my first ever Stampin Up party. I have a few of their stamps that I've bought but I'd never been to a party.
So...there were 10 of us squeezed "cosily" into my friends kitchen!!
Pippa had set up a lovely display of her cards...really inspirational...beautiful papers and stamps.
She demo'd two lovely cards with gorgeous paper and stamps...grey and yellow....very elegant.
I was hoping we'd get to make them too but we didn't :(
This is what I did make.....

The shapes were die cut for us so we stamped and coloured and assembled!!

And of course we chatted and drank lots of tea too.

I did find some nice bits to order so I'm looking forward to getting them :)

I loved the colours of the paper/card/inkpads....I might need new inkpads!!

All the matching "stuff" is very appealing!!

So ....it was a fun evening.

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Summer and strawberries

Home alone today ...hubby out at work and daughter at a festival....time for a spot of blog reading and crafting.
Well one of my first blogs to read was Christine's here with a lovely gallery of summery photos for inspiration.
I live in Tiptree....a village with a jam factory....so summer is definitely all about strawberries!
So...here is my card....

The flower border and the plaid background are made with Waltzingmouse stamps.
I made the strawberries with a heart and a daisy punch and added little dots for texture.
The sentiment is also from Waltzingmouse and stamped on a Spellbinders die cut shape.
I'm also submitting this for Waltzingmouse sketch challenge 104.
Hope you like it!

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Rudolph Day....June 2012

Hello blog-friends!
Today's post is the cards I've made for the Rudolph Day challenge here...

I used a Marianne designs cut and emboss die for the background and layered it onto silver paper.
The snowflake border is a Waltzingmouse stamp, layered die-cut snowflakes and a stamped sentiment.
I was really pleased with all six of them!!  Hope you like them too.

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New Home

No ...not a new home for me :(   although I did look at some lovely new houses in Tiptree last week.
I love looking round show homes...legitimate nosiness!!
This is a card my neighbour asked me to make for her and I have wanted to try this style of card...here goes!

I used a double tri-fold template from clevercut.co.uk to make the card base then decorated it with a hand-cut little house and die cut embellishments.
I really needed a little cat to sit on the doorstep but my artistic skills don't stretch that far!!

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Chipboard for Christmas!

I'm now up to May in the Waltzingmouse challenge!!
This month's card had to use chipboard...my sale bargains from Craftwork cards included a pack of chipboard shapes but none were obviously Christmassy.
However this is what I came up with.....

I found little chipboard trucks, painted them red and added detail with a black marker.
The driver is a Half pint hero stamp from waltzingmousestamps and the greeting is theirs too.
The backing paper is a magazine freebie finished with faux stitching and glitter.
Cute!

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Sunshine!!

Lovely sunny day in Tiptree today....sat in my craft room admiring the garden and listening to the birds.
I did move very fast to close the window when the most enormous bumble bee tried to come in and join me!!!
I'm now up to April in my challenge catch-up.
This month we had to use birds or trees...I got both in!

I used Waltzingmouse teeny trees, gold embossed stars and little robins sitting on the branches.
I edged it with distress ink and mounted it on a tag tied with raffia. The border is from Nordic winter stamp set and I also used it on the envelopes to jazz them up too!!

Six more cards ready to go!!

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More Christmas!!

Tidied my craft room desk today...I've got space to work now and made two cards!!

Here is the first...the colours are brighter in real life!
I used green pearl card embossed with a patchwork pattern. The wreath is made from a doily stamp with the centre cut away and card candi added.
Pretty turquoise bow to finish.

The theme for this card challenge was brown and blue so I chose to use kraft card and bright turquoise.
I have used Nordic Winter stamps from Waltzingmouse and also one of their bauble stamps and the matching Spellbinder die. Had to add a bit of ribbon to camouflage a dodgy bit of stamping!!!
Hope you like them!

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Playing catch-up!!

I love Waltzingmouse stamps and I'm building up a nice little collection so I decided to have a go at their Christmas card challenge.
However it started in January so I'm going to catch up this week while I'm on holiday!!
This is my card for Jan 2012...

The cottage, frame and sentiment are all Waltzingmouse stamps.
I also used a Martha Stewart snowflake punch and Nestabilities.
The sky were made by sticking down little star stickers and masking the cottage then inking over the top.
Hoe you like it!

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