SHOP STUFF...

Hello...today for want of anything else to show and since it seems to be all I am doing just now I thought I would show you some of the bits I have in my Etsy shop...and some of the custom cards I have made...I thought these were quite cute as they are so wee and dinky and I love that Unity sunflower...

And this one is part of my determination to use up the mountain of patterned papers I own so watch this space for more... Stampin' Up papers and bird stamp with a Unity sentiment...

This was one that was asked for by a friend...it's such a cute little stamp by Unity...I stamped directly onto the kraft card and then again onto patterned paper and cut out the house and trees and then added a beautiful button to the sun...

These ones I have on sale as singles and a pack of 3...I used more Unity for these...The tree is stamped with Stampin' Up's Old Olive and Close to Cocoa and then I stamped the tree part again and cut out the biggest butterfly which I then layer on top...

I think all the sentiments are Unity ones...

These cute little butterflies embellishments are made using the Cricut with an SVG from Dan99..I double layered cardstock and patterned papers and added some bling!!

As you can see I have had to take all my photos outside as the light has been so poor inside and that is a feat in itself what with the rain and the wind...

I have some birthday invitations that I have done for a friend but they will have to keep til they have been handed out...x

PS Forgot to say I have been appointed the Design Team Coordinator on the Simply Create blog...so get yourselves over there and see what we have been up to...hoping to have daily updates with little 'recipes' thrown in on how to make the gorgeous creations the team are coming up with and when the shop website is up and running(which hopefully won't be too long!) there will be links to all the products being used...exciting times ahead...Don't forget to scroll down the page for the latest post as the first one is a sticky...xxx

HERO ARTS AND SIMPLY CREATE SHOP RELAUNCH...

So Saturday saw me, Sonja and Judy meeting up for lunch at the Bistro in Alford - if you haven't tried it...WHY NOT???? Gorgeous food and very reasonably priced... we all opted for the steak pie, chips, peas and gravy....mmmhh and pudding to finish - the sticky toffee pudding was fab!!! Afterwards it was a mooch across the road to Simply Create who were having a Hero Arts demo day and a relaunch of the new shop...and how fab it is...lots of lovely space with shelves full of lush products...what more could a crafty girl ask for...lol.... And here she is the Hero Arts Tart (as she has taken to calling herself!), Kath in full flow - although I have to say we didn't get near enough to see what she was actually up to due to the crowd that was surrounding here for most of the afternoon so we settled with browsing the shelves and sitting relaxing on the sofa with a cuppa....

Some of Kath's gorgeous creations....

A nice close up (well as close as I could get without having an elbow poked in my ribs!!!)

and another couple of lovlies...

I do love a nice relaxing Saturday afternoon with great friends...makes a change from running around after the kids for football and dancing...here's to the next lunch girls...:0)

ALMOST FORGOT...

There is a new challenge up over at Simply Create...Pop over and check it out...

Using the inspiration board make something with paper or fabric reflecting the colours and what this board suggests to you. (I found this on a blog, who knows where all I can tell you it was a gorgeous blog and it was a wedding blog - and no I am already married so nothing to report). The best entry will be judged by my Mum and will win £100 of stash and this challenge is open to everyone, design team and staff. All I ask is that leave a comment, become a member of the blog and link to the challenge on your side bar. Happy Crafting!!!

Closing date 14th February 9 am GMT.

Have fun:0)

Also it you pop over to my Etsy Shop I have some new clean and simple (took me and Sonja ages to work out what everyone was going on about with CAS...haha) cards in...the shop isn't going as well as I would have liked by now but I am persevering and I have sold a few things by word of mouth through my Facebook Page so hopefully things will pick up...It would be great if you popped over and became a liker and then you can be kept up to date with what is going on in the shop as I often post things on here first so bypassing Etsy if you don't want to join...I also have a couple of dates for fairs booked - one in April and my first Christmas one so if you have any coming up and are looking for stallholders please do get in touch...my friend Emma from Wee Tooties is also available for fairs if you would like to get in touch with her...

That's it from me today...must go and clean the kitchen floor before going down to school to help out P1s with computers!!!...Toodleloo for noo...xx

PARIS MINIBOOK AND SUITCASE...

This is my creations from this month's DT kit...Sonja got hers the day before me and as soon as she showed me it I knew I was going to do a Paris minibook and I still had the mini suitcase from the last kit so thot it would make a great little set... The papers are Glitz by Scarlet Lime and all available from Simply Create....

I painted the suitcase with black acrylic paint and then covered it (apart from the straps) with the Paris map paper which is gorgeous! I then made lots of little flowers from punches and spiral rolls...The Tim Holtz tickets are scrumpled, inked and covered with crackle accents...I wrapped the handle with the orange thread that came in the kit...took ages getting it lined up and then used some gold buff and rub that I found in Jacqui's shed at the Save the Children event she had last year - looks fab...I also did the whole of the inside of the suitcase with this...

I decided on a tag book for the inside and since I bought SCAL the other week I have been having much fun cutting out all manner of shaped...I cut one size for the background from the black cardstock and added some green too and then I cut a slightly smaller size out for the top layer...There are so many photographs I had to collage them in Picasa... Basically the book is about a trip to Paris that Allan and I went on in February 2008...I actually won it!! I was feeling sorry for myself one Saturday night and went to bed early with a Magnum Ice Lolly and my book...there was a code on the stick which you had to text in and since it was only 25p I thot I would have a go (you have to be in it to win it as they say) so imagine my surprise when I had a text back immediately saying I had won....Was so excited...I texted Allan (even tho he was downstairs) and I don't think he quite believed me til I had the email confirming I had won a weekend to either Paris, Barcelona, Reykjavik, Cannes or Rome...we chose Paris as we were allowed to fly from Aberdeen!! It also included all transport, hotel and 250.00 spending money!!!

Unfortunately I lost a lot of photos when my PC crashed and these were some of the best ones that were recovered but I really like my wee memento of this weekend and would love to go again...

Hero Arts Launch Party & Simply Create Official Relaunch

Come along to Simply Create in its new home 59 Main Street, Alford on the 22nd of January between 10:30 am and 3:30 pm for a fun filled day with Kath Stewart in the "Create Station" demoing our beloved Hero Arts stamps and have a play yourself with some of the new stamps from the 2011 catalogue.

And as if that wasn't enough receive 10% discount off ALL Hero Arts stamps purchased and ordered on the day.

Go on, you know you want to...(I really have to stop saying that...haha!)...it promises to be a fun packed day with Kath as she is such a laugh and such a talented lady!!!

I for one am hoping that Morgan's football matches don't start back for a few weeks yet... with him playing on a Saturday now it really scuppers my crafty weekend plans...lol...xxx

A-Z TAG CHALLENGE...

I am doing the A-Z Photography Challenge over on UKS this year as well as Kate's Calendar Challenge(which I haven't started yet...ooops!!) and thought it might be fun to start a tag challenge based on the A-Z theme since it seems quite popular this year....so starting this week I will do a tag beginning with the letter 'A' and fortnightly there after...

The theme is 'YOU'...anything that is topical to you and yours...Sonja has said she will join me as well...so that's two of us...feel free to join in and if enough do I will (try to) add the Mister Linky thing so you can see what everyone else is up to!!! It can be in any style and any size you feel comfortable with...It's up to you - it's your tag!!! xxx

Edited....was thinking the 15th and the 30th of each month as the dates for for the tags!!!

WOYWW...5th January 2011

It's that day of the week again....Hop on over to Julia at Stamping Ground to see what it's all about and catch up and have a nosy at some desks from around the world!!!


This week on my desk is my DT project that I am working on for Simply Create - gorgeous Scarlett papers by Glitz are the order of the day there...I love them...will show you the rest of the project when I have finished and uploaded to our DT blog!

I am also working on one of those brown cardboard/paper mache boxes that you get from Hobbycraft...I thought the style of the canvas I did in a previous post would look great on the lid of one of these boxes...I downloaded some images from a gorgeous shop I found on Etsy called Cemerony...go check her out - she has some beautiful images and is lovely to deal with too...can't ask for more than that...

So that's it from me today. The kids are of back to school and I have the house to tidy and then the shopping to do before going to watch Niamh perform her Nativity that was postponed due to the horrendous weather before the holidays!! Let's hope they still remember their lines..heehee....xx

GIVEAWAY TIME....

Well not me(yet) but it is one of my very good friends who is having a blog giveaway when she reaches 100 followers so get yourself over here to Daisy Daydreams and have a wee peek...she also has a beautiful Etsy shop...

I met Mandy on holiday in Ibiza when Allan and I were about 22/23 and we have been firm friends ever since...don't see so much of her as she lives in Yorkshire and we live in the NE of Scotland...met up in the summer last year and it's like we had never been apart...we talked and talked and talked...lol...love her to bits!!!

She has also promised lots of exciting plans for 2011 with a new Etsy shop...check her out, you won't regret it!!

MY YEAR IN 365 CALENDAR PAGES

A quick run down of all my 365 Calendar Challenge pages for 2010...I am so chuffed with myself for completing this project and well done to everyone else who finished it...I think my favourite one is September as I tried to copy how my blog looks....I have loved every minute of it.....So, who is doing it all over again next year????

We are having Allan's sisters and the kids round for a meal and then probably (quite a few) drinks afterwards - what are you up to??....

All that's left now in the final hours of 2010 is to wish all my friends, family and followers a very HAPPY NEW YEAR AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2011.....

A LITTLE CYBER CHAT AND A CANVAS...

A couple of weeks ago Darcy asked me if I fancied joining in with her and a couple of friends for a little Cyber PJ Party....sounded like a great idea...so I thought while I was chatting I would make something as well and this tutorial popped into my inbox the other day from Scarlett Lime....I didn't follow the tutorial exactly, in fact I veered quite a bit off-course...Darcy's friend Rosie joined us and so did Sonja...Wine and chocolate mandatory...lol..we had a great chat about all sorts of stuff and had quite a few laughs as well...I had a great evening...thanks girls... I am really rubbish at remembering to take stage photos when I am making projects so this is the only one there is...for full instructions see the tutorial...I decided that I didn't want to do a Christmas Tree as I wanted to keep mine up all year round so I opted for a house theme...First of all I stuck down various papers with gel medium and then I used a couple of Tim Holtz masks(btw, does anyone know how to clean the back of these so they are sticky again...one of mine is all gunked up) and sprayed with Dylusions Sky Blue ink...I then used some white paint with my brayer and rolled it up from the bottom...I don't think the ink was quite dry tho as it smeared a little but I did like the effect this created...

Sorry that's where the stage photos stop...lol... I enlarged a couple of Dyan's Downloads house shapes and a few of the other little doodles that were round them..stuck them all on and then started adding rub-ons(I don't have many rub-ons that are not alphabets but I found these hearts and lines of squares which I thot were quite sweet...I also have a sheet of 'fuzzy' white ones which I think are fab...these were used on both of the roofs...

I printed out 'HOME IS THE PLACE TO BE..." using my dymo label maker...

I also stamped this little Glitz bird(from my Simply Create DT stash) onto tissue paper and adhered it so it goes of the from and down the sides of the canvas...I love this technique as it means you can 'stamp' anywhere...

I finished of with a line of glitter down the edges of the roofs but unfortunately you can't see this in the photo...I am very pleased with the end result and maybe I should drink a bottle of wine everytime I craft...lol..

DECEMBER 365 CALENDAR...YES YOU DID READ THAT RIGHT...

Well who would have thought after just finishing November I would have had December all ready and waiting...but shock - horror - gasp - here they are!!! It's the last month of this fabulous challeng wich was started by Kate over at the Kathryn Wheel...why not start your own one since the New Year is just around the corner...it was great fun... These are quite straightforward pages this month - scraped on some Holly Berry acrylic paint and then scraped some gold over the white spaces that were left...I then used a piece of non-stick cooking mesh that I picked up in Poundland for...well a pound and sprayed though with some Pomegranit Dylusion Ink...gives a fab effect don't you think!!!

I had in my head that I wanted to use Christmas baubles for my days when I remembered I had a pack of Christmas Blonde Moments papers lurking in my paper store so I cut them out and arranged on the page (they are a little small so in hindsight I should have maybe scanned them and enlarged them)...I used another Blonde Moments sheet and cut out the santa, reindeer, snowman, trees and Christmas pud and edged them all with gold embossing...I think I am in need of a new Versamark pen and a new Stazon pad as both seem a little dry... The rosette in the corner was done using my new Hougie Board which is great for this...I was going to buy the Tim Holtz Rosette die but then I seen a YouTube video using the board and I thought that would be better as you could make different sized ones rather than just the one size from the die...it can also be used for loads of other things to so all in all I think it was a slightly better buy...

I stamped the numbers using Autumn Leaves Messy Dates and the words using MSE Multi Retro...

All done and ready to start next year!!!

WOYWW...1st DECEMBER 2010

Well folks here we are at Wednesday again...it's been a b****y awful week weather wise here in the NE of Scotland and I think pretty much the whole of the UK has the dreaded white stuff to some degree...I have just been out and measured in the back garden and its up to 18"..WOW!!! (see my post of a couple days ago for piccies but it's much worse now, our kids have been of school since Friday and it's not looking good for going back tomorrow as it's been snowing quite heavily today on and of)... Anyway onto WOYWW...the little stars and gingerbread people are for a new friend Emma...go across and visit her wee_tootie shop selling allsorts of gorgeous hair accessories for your little ones and big ones alike!!! I also have some gold embossing powder and my heat gun out as I am working on my December pages for the 365 Calendar Challenge...It has been a great experience doing this and I fully 'intend' going on with it next year if anyone fancies joining me...

These are the pages on this desk - a work in progress - I am hoping to have these finished by the end of the day(hopefully!)...that's all from my desk today but why not pop over to Julia's blog and catch up with everyone elses...xxx

NOVEMBER 365 (and on time too!!)...

This must be some kind of record on my part...lol...finished this month on time... I think there is about 5 layers of paint on here in my quest for the perfect colour of icy blue...wasn't happy with it but in the end but after scraping on some white paint with an old credit card it looked better...I then had the idea that I wanted to do sequin waste squares for my days but after cutting out a stencil from the Cricut and overlapping it with the sequin waste and daubing all over with my splodging tool and some distress ink this didn't pan out the way I had hoped so instead I cut out squares from a huge sheet of white tissue using my paper cutter (very slow and tedious) and glued them on instead and then I 'stitched' round them with a black pen...you can just still see the inked dots thru the tissue paper...

I added lost of swirls round the edge with Versamark at the top of both pages and embossed them with Kaleidoscope embossing powder but this didn't show up too well with the Versamark..

I used a Tim Holtz stamp on the inside edges and embossed in white and I also stamped and embossed various snowflakes in the same way...

November is stamped using black Stazon and the same kaleidoscope embossing powder and this shows up much more sparkly than with the versamark...I think I may need to get a re-inker for my stazon tho as the powder didn't sick very well to some parts...I borrowed these stamps from Sonja who got them when she visited NYC recently (lucky moo!!!) and I just love them..have been on ebay hoping to get myself some but to no avail...will have to keep looking...

This is a better view of the versamark/kaleidoscope stamping and embossing....as you can see from my squares the children have been very busy this month and I have been very busy running them around...lol...that's November finished then..have started prepping December pages and the question is will I finish them in time for tomorrow...Can't believe there is only one month left of this wonderful year long challenge by Kate over at The Kathryn Wheel...wonder who will carry it on into next year???