Why do I spend more time crafting than cleaning?

Because crafting is fun! I hate cleaning and to be fair its not hard for me to do more crafting than cleaning, but with Jeannie poping in tomorrow, I really should leave blogland alone and tidy up a bit!

So without further a-due today's card is...

I'm so in love with Warren from CWC. I really wanted to buy the stamps, but my spending has been so high with my Stampin' Up! business costs that I really couldn't justify it! I'll just make do with the printed versions that are ready for me to colour.

I've used some of the gorgeous CWC cottontail papers and coloured with my copics. The sentiment is by High Hopes.

As it's Wednesday and I'm talking about my disaster zone, do you want to have a peak as part of WOYWW??? Ok here goes.... eeek!

Creme eggs - nom, thanks mum!


Well you'll probably remember from my previous post that my stuff has a tendancy to migrate out of my craft room. The net result is it then migrates off the living room floor and is dumped on the dining table away from little hands. Oh well, lets see how much I can clear up in the morning as I'm totally pooped! (I work with too many Americans!)

I'm waffling a bit today, so hopefully you've not completely lost the will to live!

I just wanted to let you all know that I've just announced the date of my first workshop and the theme is Men's Cards!!! oh yes!!! I'm already nervous, but it should be a fabby day and I hope some of you can make it. If you'd like to come, just pop on over to my Stampin' Up! blog for all the details (www.thestickyelf.co.uk). 

Nxxx

It's Christmas!!!!!!

Yup, it's March and I've just made my first Christmas card of 2011. I do love Christmas although I never seem to find enough time to play with the many, many Christmas stamps I have. I have an embarrassing amount of virgin Christmas rubbah. But if I start in March, I do stand a chance of rectifying that don't I?!?

So the theme over at Kraftin Kimmie this week is Scoopy scallops. I was feeling a little scalloped challenge, so I went for my oval nesties and then found a stamp that would fit, thus the Christmas card was born. I've coloured Stocking Miles with my copics and Prismacolour pencils. I have to say it does look so much better when using too mediums. I should do it more often. I've co-ordinated with some DP from the Basic Grey Jovial stack (another virgin Christmas item) it's such a nice stack, I'm certainly going to be using it again soon. I've used some stickles to make the fur of the stocking to give it some texture and I've finished the card with some CWC Candi

So all that's left to be said it happy Friday! Apologies for the lack of blog hopping this week. I've been suffering from severe headaches for the last couple of months, so I've been trying to reduce time on the PC to see if that will help. I will no doubt get to take a look at what you've all been doing over the weekend.

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon.

Nxxx

I nearly forgot to post this!

I've created a card with this week's Friday Sketchers sketch....

I've coloured Savvyshoppabella with my copics and all of the DP is Memory Box's Gossamer. Still my absolute favourite stack of papers (and I'm not a pink person!) sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

That's about it really. Short and sweet, just like me ;)

See you tomorrow with my Kraftin Kimmie card (if I get it finished in time...!)
Nxxxx

Ahhhh what a lovely weekend

Hallo!!! Did you have a nice weekend??? I have been Ben free for the last 2 days and it has just been lovely. The house has been quiet. I got some jobs done and I managed to make cards - yay!!!

Now I'm seriously thinking about becoming a Stampin Up rep. What do you think? Any of you had any experience of doing this sort of thing? Good and bad, let me know. I'm really yoyo-ing with the idea.

Today's card features House Mouse. This stamp is from the balloon set available from Joanna Sheen. I've coloured with my copics and teamed it up with some K&Co papers. Now it looks like I've mounted the fab LOTV sentiment onto a scalloped nestie, but alas I don't have any scalloped circles, so I improvised with two die cut flowers from Craftwork Cards.

That's about it for today. I'm all chilled and ready for the stressful working week ahead...
Nxxx

Happy Hump Day!

Hi-di-ho!

Happy Wednesday. Boy have I had a nice day. No work and no little person. I got up at 9:30, went to weigh in and lost 2lbs, then the supermarket and I've spent the rest of the day making cards. I'm so relaxed its fab. I'm wondering how long this feeling will last when I'm back in the office tomorrow, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

I have a brighter card (especially for Mary, but you're right, pastel tones are more me!) featuring another fabulous image from Kraftin Kimmie. This is my only Miles the Mouse stamp and I had a bit of a mare finding someone in the UK that stocked it. There's a couple of others that I've got my eye on, but I guess I'll have to get them direct from Kimmie and ship them over from Canada. Not a big deal, but I'm trying to curb my spending, so it'll be a while before they make it into my stash. I coloured Birthday Cake Overdose with my copics. The DP I've used is from a stack of Making Memories paper that has been stashed away for a couple of years and I've used some more Craftwork Cards Card Candy. Apologies for the finger in the photo, airbrushing it out, would just mean less time for crafting, so I hope you'll forgive me :)

Fingers crossed I'll be back tomorrow with some evidence of the cards I made today.

Nxxx

Did you think you'd lost me???

Sorry it took me a bit longer to say hi than I'd anticipated. I still haven't posted all of the cards I made over Christmas! Last weekend we were child free, which was a-ma-zing. Hubster and I have been full of cold and I'm now up to week 5 of this cold thing (yes that does say five!!!). We were supposed to go to a works do last Friday and as we had the opportunity, we thought we'd go out to dinner. Neither of us were well enough to go out on either night, so we had a Chinese on the Saturday and got food poisioning - nice! At least we didn't have to worry about the little mister and could actually be ill. Before the food poisioning I did some colouring and I've just made some cards with them - yay!

The theme over at Kraftin Kimmie Stamps is 'fairytales'. Kimmie does have some fab fairytale stamps to chose from. I have lots that have yet to see ink (something I will rectify over the coming weeks, I hope) I coloured up Cinderella last weekend which is just perfect. I've teamed her up with papers from Basic Grey's Cappelia stack. I chalked the edges and finished with some Craftwork Cards Card Candy. As always, apologies for the dodgy photo...

I hope you've all had a nice crafty weekend. I can't wait to see what you've been getting up to.
Nxxx

Another day, another card

Well we're up to 4 days in a row. I really am spoiling you! At this rate I wont have any cards left to share, so I better get some more crafting done, but as I don't finish work till 8.30 it does get rather tricky. Never mind, where there's a will there's a way!

So today I have another birthday card. I've used another Bella image Lulu's Cherry Blossom Tree. I've coloured with my copics. I took about 20 photos of this card, but couldn't get the lighting right. I've actually glittered all of the the blossom on the tree. It looks lovely in real life, but I'm afraid you'll just have to trust me on this one! Papers are from the gorgeous Glossomer stack from Memory Box. I don't deny it. I'm totally in love! Sentiment is Craftwork Cards, but you knew that already didn't you...

That pretty much sums it up for me today. Hopefully I'll find some time to stop by some of your blogs tonight. I've had serious withdrawal symptoms over the last few month.

See you soon (maybe even tomorrow!)
Nxxx

Never stop sparkling

Its a sentiment that I could give to so many lovely, lovely people out there. I made this card for one of my closest friends that's fighting cancer, but my mum fell in love with it, so I thought I'd make another and so far haven't got round to it :(

The fabulous image and sentiment are Stamping Bella. DP is from Craftwork Cards. Today I've coloured with my copics and prisma colour pencils.

Lets see if I can make it three days in a row...

Nxxx

Happy New Year!!!

I know I said I was back months ago, but hopefully this time it's for real. Things have been somewhat challenging and I'm been finding absolutely no down time, let alone craft time. But it's a new year so that means new me :)

I hope you've all been having a fabulous Christmas and New Year. We've all been full of cold, so not as merry as I would of liked, but it's been nice not to be at work. The upshot is I've made some cards over the last two days wooooooohooooo!!! House is a complete bomb, but that's what tomorrow's for (and tomorrow never comes...)

Today's card uses a fab new image I bought from Lili of the Valley. Their store is closed for the holiday, so I can't check what it's called!  I've coloured with my copics and mounted on some gorgeous dp which is Memory Box's Gossamer (My sister's tooth fairy was called Gossamer, but I digress!) I'm totally in love with this paper as you will see by the number of cards I'm going to post over the next few days featuring it. I may have to buy some more...The lace is from Wild Orchid Crafts, the flowers are prima and the sentiment is craftwork cards.

The theme over at LOTV is new beginnings, as this is a new stamp, I'm going to have a punt. Wish me luck!

Now I have a question for you. What method do you use for sticking lace to your cards? I have so many different glues, but none of them seemed to be the tool for the job. Please leave a comment, letting me know your adhesive of choice - ta

I apologise in advance for the dodgy photos that are going to be appearing over the next few days. I need a daylight lamp!

Enjoy the remains of your holiday.
See you soon (for real this time)
Nxxx

Friday sketchers upside down card!

Apologies for the lack of posting recently. So much has happened that I've been planning to fill you in on, but I was struck down by an evil flu like lurgy on Monday and I've been pretty much unable to move since. Hubby has been taking time off work to look after me and packing the little mister off to the MIL as he couldn't cope with us both - Such a man! LOL!

So I had a go at this week's Friday Sketchers. I've never been one for following sketches as I really struggle to put paper together. They have a tendancy to look too busy. But, my inspiration is running dry and my cards have been stuck in a rut, so I've followed a couple of sketches this week, so let me know what you think. I do believe I may have found the way forward.

I've made this card with the stunning Belles n Whistles Lil Miss Poppy Stamp. I think she's absolutely gorgeous. I've coloured her with copics and chalked up the edges. I've used the stunning GCD Studios Ella Blue stack for my DP. Sentiment and card candy are both from Craftwork cards.

I'm also going to enter this card into the Belles n Whistles challenge this month which is distressing. Chalking is about as good as I get with distressing, but you never know...

When it came to standing my masterpiece up to admire it, I discovered that I'd mounted it upside down. Oooops! First time in 20 years, it was bound to happen sooner or later!

I have some more cards to post today, so check back later :O)
Nxxx

Well it's Wednesday...

...and I didn't want to disappoint my darling commenter Elaine ;O) Hopefully there's someone else out there that laughs at my random waffle!

Sooo today's card is...

Featuring the beautiful Prezzies for LULU stamp from Stamping Bella. And today I coloured with my Prismacolo(u)rs - oh yes, pretty much first time out of the box. I need to practice with them, but so far I'm liking them a lot! I've chalked the background again...seems to be a bit of a theme at the moment. One day I'll have a Copic ABS, but I dream a lot! Papers are DCWV The Glitter stack. Birthday button is Craftwork cards and the flowers I bought on ebay about 10 years ago, but I noticed that Wild Orchid Crafts stock them now - woohooo!!! 


Edited to add: To the lovely Elaine, this is what my last package from the other lovely Elaine at Quixotic looked like...I have to stop spending money!

Thank you for stopping by and saying hello. It truely is lovely.

And guess what I've had a rummage and I've got some more cards scheduled in to pop up over the next few days...hope you stop by and say hello again!

Nxxx

Happy Father's day!!!

I hope that you've all had a lovely day. It was my hubby's first father's day, but unfortunately I'm so full of cold that we were unable to go out and enjoy the sunshine. I'm sure we'll make up for it next year.

On Friday I was able to drop Ben off with his grandma and enjoy craft day with the girlies. It was so wonderful to have a day off. Who would have thought that a small child could be so much work??? Thank you to the fantabulous Linda for hosting craft day. It was sooo fab!

I made, sorry that should read Ben made (LOL) this card for his dad on craft day. I followed the Cute Card Thursday Sketch (from memory, so it may not be totally spot on!) and used one of Karen's Doodles fabulous stamps. This stamp is perfectly entitled crafting widower. I've coloured with my copics and chalked the edges. DP is from K&Co. and the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

As well as the card "Ben" also made his dad a picture. I was inspired by a catalogue, they wanted £69 for something similar. I bought the tiles off ebay and the frame was from hobbycraft. Worked out at just £18 - Bargain! I was a little worried what the DH would think, but he absolutely loved it. I think it really hit him that he's actually a dad now. ahhhh!

Well that's about it for today. Hopefully my cold will disappear soon. I've got some more projects to share with you this week - yay!

As its Father's day, it does seem to be the theme over at a few blogs, so I'm also entering this card into the following competitions:

Cupcake Craft Challenge ~ One for the Boys.
Crafty Cardmakers ~ Cards for Men.
Cards for Men ~ Fathers Day.
Creative Inspiration ~ One for the Boys.
Fairy Fun Friday Challenge ~ For Dad.
Raise the Bar Challenge ~ What a special guy.
One Stop Craft Challenge ~ One for the Boys.

Craftwork Cards

Well I've been a loyal customer of Craftwork cards for some 5 years now and its amazing how much of their stuff I have stashed away. I through this card together really quickly as I bought this as a shaped card. Just a matter of glamming it up. Everything (except for the glue!) is from Craftwork cards.

I hope you like it :)

Nxxx

Sunburned piggy!

Today has been a really good day. My dearest darling kitty cat managed to find his way home!!! Sammy was missing for a total of 15 days. Whilst he is very, very thin; the vet has said that he's ok. Sammy is ver releaved to be home (as am I).

I made a card with this fantastic image from Karen's doodles. I've coloured with my copics, just for a change. The pig is looking somewhat sunburnt, but unfortunately I only have 2 pink copics which made colouring slightly harder. I've mounted onto some DP from Doodlebug design and finished with a craftwork cards birthday button. The button looks gold in the photo, but its actually silver. My photographic techniques leave a lot to be desired.

Thank you for stopping by.
Nxxx

Happy (Belated) Birthday Amy!

It was my dearest darling friend's birthday yesterday. I thought it was on the 5th June so big ooops from me! Amy is a complete rocker with her hair colour changing from pink to blue to green and purple depending on what mood she's in and if its football season! As soon as I saw Ebony from TGF I had to have it as it's just perfect for Amy. I coloured Ebony with my copics and co-ordinated with DCWV Rockstar papers (cut the wrong way, very annoyed about that!) and some core'dinations black magic. I've added a lovely little mini safety pin from Queen & Co and finished off with a Craftwork Cards Birthday Button. Simple!

Tomorrow I'll have to dash to the shop and buy some crunchies as they're her fav and get my card shipped off to the states. Hopefully it wont take too long to get there.

Nxxx

PS. Still no news on Sammy. I've now created a FB group. I figured by applying 6 degrees of seperation theory, someone will know what's happened to him. Feel free to join in and help spread the word http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=125968777431006

Club Anya Sketchy Saturday - Geisha Anya

I inked up my Geisha Anya last week, oh how I love TGF! I coloured with my copics which are rapidly becoming my medium of choice. I thought I would follow the Sketchy Saturday Sketch for this card over at Club Anya. I've used some beautiful oriental style papers by Yuzen Chiyogami, which I just love, but rediculously expensive. If you know of anyone that stocks oriental papers, do let me know!!

Nxxx

Friday Sketchers 86 & Cute Card Thursday Challenge 96 : Fairy Fantastic

Wow, I can't believe it, but my hubby took Ben out to see his grandparents to 3 hours so I was free to get some crafting done! 3 hours of pure bliss whilst it was odd being seperated from him for the first time since he was born, it was also the first time I've been able to relax.

I siezed the opportunity to make a card using the Friday Sketchers sketch and combined it with the Cute Card Thursday Challenge of Fairies. I used the beautiful Fairy Song stamp from Ladybug and Friends and coloured with watercolours. The papers are from My Mind's Eye. (freebie with this month's cardmaking and papercraft magazine - hurrah!) Prima flowers, Anita's crystals (birthday present from the lovely Jen. aka the other fickle pixie) and sentiment from Craftwork cards.

I hope you like it. One day I'll invest in a daylight lamp and will be able to take some half decent photos. It's Linda's birthday tomorrow so I've decided to give it to her. Fingers crossed she wont see this post before then, but considering she's not blogged since October, I may be ok...