NEC

 Saturday I attended the NEC craft show with my mum. We had a great time although it was incredibly packed. We had our usual frustration of people with trolley's. We are no different to anyone else when it comes to grabbing a bargain but you can put things outside for just a £1. My mum is disabled and uses a stick and these trolleys are an absolute menace. To be honest I feel like they ought to be banned for health and safety. As I say it only costs a £1 to go outside to the cloakroom and put shopping to the side. Something we will be taking full advantage of next year.
 I managed to pick up several great bargains and get almost everything on my wish list for this year. I bought 2 Prima doll stamps, 2 sets of Spellbinder's dies, 3 embossing folders, 4 sets of Xcut dies. I also bought myself a new purse, a Navajo wolf bracelet and my usual mini haul from Linden Lady chocolates. As soon as I got home I ordered my Xcut Xpress from Craftsuperstore as I couldn't find a better deal at the show. It arrived yesterday so I was really chuffed and got it straight out to play. I will put my little bug away in the cupboard for the time being.
 I have just over a week until my local RBL Women's Section County Conference, so I need to get a wriggle on with what I want to make to sell. I also can't believe I've been here over a year now, Keish and I are so at home here. I hope to start decorating in the new year and finally put my own stamp on the place. The biggest thing but also the one thing that will take time is the garden but it will all come together in the end.

Craft time

 It's been lovely weather again and like most of us I have been outside enjoying the sunshine. I've been outside crafting over the weekend catching up on all the birthday's that I've got coming up. It's also given me the opportunity to work out what I need to do for my craft stall next month. I've been going through Pintrest and YouTube gathering some great ideas. I want to say a big thank you to Sam Donald from Pootles for some amazing ideas and tutorials. A number of which I have made myself either directly or by changing slightly to suit the project I'm working on. Two of which you can see below borrowed from her YouTube channel.

 Sam's tutorials are so easy to follow. There is no messing around and all the measurements she gives are in both imperial and metric for those who use 'new money'. Plus all the measurements can be found on her website. I highly recommend checking out her channel.
 I've fallen in love to with DOcraft's latest ranges at the moment. I went along with my sister to a demonstration at my local Range store. We met a lovely demonstrator called Diane. She showed us one of the new ranges called Heritage which is especially for those difficult to do male cards. I picked up a previous goody bag with the Sew Lovely range in it as I missed it when it came out but had really wanted it. I can't wait to play with the 12"x12" 's and scrapbook several mini cross stitch kits I've made over the years not to mention scrapping several photo's of cross stitch projects that were completed. I haven't scrapbooked for a good year or more so with such lovely papers I have no excuses, just the time.
 My Miss Keish is thoroughly enjoying herself going out and barely leaves the garden these days. I guess that shows just how settled she's feeling. She's up to all sorts of mischief as usual but is still terribly funny though. She has me up early most mornings just so she can go and play. Comes back in to make sure I'm ok and then goes back outside again bless her.


Happy crafting

Pop up box

 Like most crafter's I'm always on the look out for something new to try. One of the latest new ideas is the pop up box. I did one and that was it I was hooked lol. Ive now made several and even taught a friend how to make them.

The top one I did as part of a card swap on Facebook. The lower one was made for my Auntie to give to her great niece this Easter. The top one was made using papers and embellishments from Craftwork cards. The Easter one was made using paper from K&Co, a Marci stamp from La La Land stamps. The easter bunny and greeting were both a freebie from a craft magazine. (Unfortunately I don't remember which one as it's been in my stash for a few years now. The card is from DCWV in various colours. Martha Stewarts monarch butterfly punch and one of her floral punches. The other flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts. I'm a very big fan of Wild Orchid Crafts.


Happy Crafting

Mother's Day

 It's been awhile again since my last post. This is a little late but I wanted to share with you one of the projects I made for mt mum for Mother's day. I'd seen a video on DOcrafts YouTube channel for a window recessed card. I have altered it as Jo's was a small recess where as I needed something much bigger so I created my own template. I also made a lid for the box insert in acetate so the frame could be hung up without the picture getting dusty. I also made a back for the frame rather than putting it onto the front of the card. I was really pleased with the end result as was my mum when I gave it to her.

I used Bazzil Basics card stock for the frame itself. I then used products from Stampin Up! to decorate the box and paper piece my stamped image. The image itself is Steampunk Marci and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.


Happy crafting

Card Swap

  It's been a very long time since my last blog and much has happened. I move home in a lovely area. It's taken a while to get sorted out and my health hasn't been good. My new neighbour's have made me feel very welcome here. It's a new year and a fresh start which I've really needed.
  The weather has been really awful and my heart goes out to all those who have been severely affected by the extreme weather. Finger's crossed things will begin to improve slowly now and this government pull their finger's out to resolve an issue that has been ongoing for a very long time now.
 I'm beginning to craft again now which is slowly helping my mental health. I still haven't found my mojo as yet but I have been looking through Pinterest and adding pins to my own boards for sources of inspiration. I have also been watching a lot of crafty YouTube videos for inspiration and ideas. I joined a Facebook page just after christmas that does card swaps to help me with my mental health problems. Here is a card I did for a cascade card swap. I've never made one before so I did a little research into how to make one. I rather enjoyed it and will certainly be making another one.

 

  I used a LaLaLand stamp (Steam Punk Marci), a sizzix die to create the rosette, a Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Marianne Creatables dies and X-cut dies and Cuttlebug's swiss dot embossing folder. The papers are from K&Co. I coloured the stamp using Promarker's to co-ordinate with my chosen designer papers.


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