Birthday card

This is the birthday card I made for one of my friends on the MadAboutCards forum - the metal charm with the flowers is leo - her starsign.

The embossing on the happy birthday panel has been highlighted with blue ink and also glittered in places with stickles.

The paper flowers are from my new purchases (I lost my original bag of them, which must have contained 100s and am now trying to rebuild my collection!) and the centres are a mixture of brads and gems.

Tilda is coloured with whispers pens and highlighted with stickles glitter and the ribbon is from Hobbycraft

Oh dear!!!

This is a card I made during the summer for the DoCrafts forum Friendship card exchange in August. The challenge was to use something the recipeint said they like... the lady I sent this to likes cats, buttons, red, black and blue - I think I met the requirements! lol

This was the first time I have used buttons on a card or scrapbooking layout and I was actually quite pleased with myself - I CAN sew I just choose not to (as anyone who has seen the bag of badges ready to go on my camp blanket will know!!) but they look really good so maybe this will be the start of something new (when I have used up lots of my stash which is taking over the spare room!!! and got some money! lol)

Well I have definitely failed in the task of keeping this blog up to date!

The summer holidays disappered in a blur of catching up with old friends and people I have not seen for a long time finishing with my high school reunion which I organised and which was fantastic!

The weather was so awful we didn't manage to get anything done that we had planned for the house - namely the drive!!

Tigger has grown loads and is now allowed out in the garden (supervised!!!) as he has had his vaccinations!

I have got a long list of cards that I need to make for orders (and 12 invitations for our nephew's christening to finish - but the new ink cartridge we got for the printer doesn't work!!) so should really be getting on with them!

I have a new job - Recpetion teacher at the school I was at last year, covering maternity leave from October 5th for the rest of the year, been in this week to meet the children, going to be great fun with 10 children until Christmas as the other 18 don't start until January! Really enjoyed being in Reception with them this week, got a 4-day first aid course to look forward to next week (hmmm...!!) then a week in Nursery and playgroup before going back to Reception for the last week before they become my class!

Oh dear, looks like I failed in my task of keeping my blog up-to-date!!!

This is the first year when I have actually had a summer holiday! Until I started teaching I worked every summer holiday. At the end of my first year of teaching I moved to Chirk and spent the summer trying to throw out things I could live without and update my CV to get it out to local schools. At the end of my second year we moved into our own house and spent the holidays doing work on it and last year of course we got married (and I spent the week before the wedding at an international Guide camp!)

So we have spent the holidays doing not a lot - watching tv, doing various jobs around the house, watching tv, rearranging the spare room, watching tv, building bookcases, watching tv, went to the races a couple of weeks ago and I have managed to make some cards (only quick ones, nothing too exciting and certainly not worth posting on here!!) and complete some scrapbook pages... in my DLO per month I am now upto May, have matted the photos and stuck them on to the page, just need to add some journalling and embellishments!!

Anders and I spent a lovely weekend in Devon with Naomi (my best friend from uni, who was my chief bridesmaid), Mark and Luke the weekend of our anniversary and I have been out for meals with various friends which I don't often get time to do when we are at school!

Tonight we went out for dinner with my mum and a family who I used to babysit for when the girls were little (they were like the little sisters I never had but I didn't have to live with them!!) The older 2 were 5 and 3 when I first babysat for them, they are now 18 and almost 16 and their little sister (who was 6 last time I looked after them) is now 11 - they have been living in Indonesia for the last 5 years and I haven't seen them in all that time, managed to get back in touch through Facebook and managed to arrange to meet up while they are all back here for a visit! I can't believe the oldest is now off to uni and the middle one is coming back to the UK to do her A levels! Where has that time gone?! I was amazed at some of the things the older 2 remembered from all those years ago!

Must try harder to update my blog, not done too well so far!!

Wednesday 22nd July

I don't know where the last 2 weeks have gone! Finished school last Friday, Anders took me to see Harry Potter on the Wednesday and apart from that I'm not really sure what I've done!!!

Tigger is growing quickly and is now 8 weeks old. Tilly has not been too impressed with him but the hissing is now down to only when he tries to get in the bowl when she is eating (even though there are 2 bowls of food!!) For a tiny kitten Tigger certainly is brave.... he is the one who starts 9 out of 10 of their fights! Poor Tilly doesn't know what's happened to her lovely, calm, peaceful home!!!

Crafting-wise there is very little to report! Mum asked for some 'thank you teacher' cards which someone in work wanted but far too late. I think she forgets I have to make the cards and then post or deliver them over to her!

I will remember to take a photo of the card I did for an order for my MIL - for someone who has just completed a degree in music. Not the easiest card to make but I think I did quite well with it!

Wednesday 8th July 2009

Today's big news is our latest addition... a gorgeous 6 and a half week old kitten. He was the smallest in a litter of 5 and the last one left! Compared to our other cat, Tilly, age 2, (who was 4 months old when we got her) he SO small!

Just adding some photos of him now. He was temporarily called Spud by the people who own his mummy but we think he's going to become Tigger now!



Tilly investigating the new arrival!

Monday 6th July 2009

9 days until the end of term! Can't wait!

Today was the last session of my scrapbooking after-school club for Year 4 and 5.... next year I'm running the choir!

Yesterday I took part in the Race for Life at Birkenhead Park with 4 of my friends, will put the photos on when I have time! We walked the 5km (ran the last 500m!) and I raised about £150 for cancer research (just got to collect it all in now!)

I've just found out that my local craft shop is having a huge sale, starting on Saturday (they have been promising this ever since they moved out of their old shop into the one opposite - months ago!!) so I will have to be up nice and early to get there for 10 (when it starts) and to school for 12 to run the tombola at the summer fair (how exciting!) Going to the races on Friday night might make that a little bit more of a challenge than it usually is!!!

Jessica's 9th birthday

The card I made for our god-daughter's 9th birthday. Patchwork Tilda sitting on a tag cut from a sizzix die. Banner at the top is also a sizzix die-cut. More paper flowers (I said they pop up everywhere!) and the tag swings from side to side as it is suspended on a piece of co-ordinating thread! Went for the brown and yellow colour scheme as Jess is also one of my Brownies!

Father's Day card

This card was made using the Edwin image I received in the MAC Secret Stamper exchange for June 2009. It was supposed to be for father's day but didn't have to be so I decided to make mine a birthday card, then changed my mind when I realised my mum had left all my father's day samples in work so I didn't actually have any left to give for father's day!

Thank you teacher

With the end of term approaching I made a couple of these as samples to show people what I can produce for children to give to their teachers. The Edwin image is out of the friendship wallet I received in April. The Tilda image is one I bought when I realised it was the perfect partner for this image to use on end of year cards for teachers.



and

The photos aren't brilliant because I took them late at night to get them posted onto facebook in the hope of getting a few orders (which I did!)

Abbie's 21st

21st birthday card for my cousin. Forever Friends bear with cake stamped image. Create&Craft card blank coloured with chalks from PebblesInc.

Bespoke order for 70th birthday

I had a message from my mum last week to say that one of her colleagues would like a card for her father's 70th birthday. He likes cruises and gardening and is a handyman, and she wanted it A5 rather than my usual A6 size!

As we went on a cruise (Queen Mary II) for our honeymoon last year and bought the scrapbooking kit they sold onboard, I had a few cruise themed embellishments to work with, and this is what I came up with...



Map paper from the cruise pack, with a pale blue velum layer attached on top (with eyelets - my first ever attempt after buying a silent setter off someone on UKScrappers!) to mute the colours, letters cut with Day and Night sizzix alphabet and cruise images from the QMII pack.

There is also a 'Grandad' card which the lady ordered for her children to give, which I will add to here as soon as I get chance!

Bespoke order for mum's work colleague

My mum had a colleague who was leaving and the other in the office wanted a card for her. The only info I got was that she's of Asian origin so they wanted something bright and colourful!
With only that very basic brief to work with, this is what I came up with!



Lots of handmade papers cut and torn into squares. Paper flowers fastened down with brads, which have quickly become a regular feature in my cards! Stamped letters using patchwork alphabet from Dimension Fourth.

DoCrafts April

I am a member of the DoCrafts forum and sometimes take part in the monthly Friendship Card Swap. In April there was no set challenge, so my partner and I thought we'd set our own challenge. We decided on the colours chocolate and mint (it WAS Easter after all!) and chose the Sketch Saturday Challenge layout for the week we were on and this is what I came up with! I was so impressed with it that I am definitely going to use layouts a lot more, when I have time to have a look at some and print some out!



And this is the card I received in return....



Complete with some fantastic stamped images which may appear later on!

Mackenzie's christening

The first card is from my parents to their great-niece on her christening day.

Mackenie is my cousin's daughter so this is the card we sent to her:

Easter wallet for Olivia 2009

You can't give to one without the other... Easter wallet card for our 4 year old god-daughter!

Easter wallet for Jessica

I received this image in the April Secret Stamper Swap on the Mad About Cards forum and decided to use it on this Easter wallet card for my 8 year old god-daughter. I had just bought my first set of nesties and was desperate to use them, not bad for a first attempt with nesties I think!

Dawn's birthday card 2009

Birthday card for one of my close friends. I can't actually remember how it all started but for years now (dare I admit it's 10 years?!) whenever Dawn's birthday (or Christmas) comes around our close friends and I always try to find her something cow-related as a present, so when I received this image in a Penny Black image swap I just knew whose card it was going to be used on!!

The papers are from a Sizzix 6x4 pad which I got with my Big Shot, the tag is a papermania one.

Naomi's birthday 2009

Birthday card for my best friend who was chief bridesmaid at my wedding. Forever Friends shoes and handbag stamp (it's a standing joke between us that whatever colour outfit anyone is wearing I will have a pair of shoes to go with it!)

Bernadette's 11th birthday

11th Birthday card for the girl I tutor.



Tilda image coloured with whispers pens. Lettering stamped using Dimension Fourth clear stamps (patchwork alphabet). Paper flowers bought on ebay!

Omi's mother's day card

This is the card I made for us to send to my sister-in-law on mother's day, when she was 6 months pregnant with our nephew!



Pregnant lady from sizzix die, letters from sizix alphabet (will have to check which one!)

New baby Chloe - February 2009

One of my favourite cards from this year. Quite simple but very effective.


Clothes cut with sizzix dies, letters written on with whispers pens, embellishments unknown as they came out of a box of allsorts which I have on my desk and regularly empty packets of new stash into!

Thursday 2nd July (just about!)

I have finally managed to upload (to photobucket) my recent creations. When I get chance I will post some of my favourites to my blog, I promise!

http://s558.photobucket.com/albums/ss27/tali1981uk/?albumview=slideshow

Let me know what you think!

Thursday 3rd July

Ooops! Where has the week gone?! One minute it was Monday, all of a sudden it's Thursday!

Rainbows on Tuesday and babysitting last night makes the evenings go so much quicker... there just isn't enough time in a day to get everything done - and in this heat everything takes twice as long as it should!

Having organised my wedding last year, I have given myself 2 'projects' for this year... organising a school reunion (12 years since we did our GCSEs!) and setting up a new Rainbow unit in Chirk... lots to keep me busy (as if school, cardmaking, scrapbooking, Anders and Tilly don't keep me busy enough!)

Started uploading my recent cards to photobucket the other night but the batteries in the camera died! Will try again tonight and hopefully have some photos to post here soon!

Monday 29th June

Spent all day in Shrewsbury with a colleague who was convinced it was June 30th today... how confused was I?!? Not quite sure what we learnt but it was a day out of school and out of the nightmare that is getting 25 children out of the classroom with hats on and convincing them they don't need to put more suncream 5 minutes after the last time they put it on!

Can't believe it's been 27 degrees all day while we were on our course, got home ready for half an hour in the garden before going out for tea only for it to hailstone!!!!!!!! What's that all about?!?

Going to meet my 4 oldest friends (as in known for the longest amount of time!) for tea in a while, must get 2 cards done to take to my mum first though - an order for a colleague of hers!

First effort... Sunday 28th June 2009

I'm not really sure what I'm doing here but I keep reading about blogs and blog candy on my craft forums and I decided I was going to give it a go! Please bear with me as I figure out what this blogging lark is all about!