Handbag card

Over on www.madaboutcards.com/forum a group of us take part in a birthday card exchange. This was the first card I made since Joseph was born, which amazingly got to Linda (Tag) on time!

The card is one that was in a pack my brother gave me for Christmas (from Hobbycraft I think?!), the paper is from a stack which was free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine a couple of months ago.

Tilda arrived in a stamped image swap (I love this one so may have to purchase her at some point!) and was coloured with Copics - I didn't think to make a note of the colours at the time, was rather pre-occupied with a tiny baby!

The purple flowers are from my stash and the smaller ones were punched from the scraps of the paper used to cover the handbag shape, with gems added from my stash and a peel-off sentiment. I also made a matching ATC as we had been discussing them on the forum, but forgot to photograph it!

60th Birthday / Retirement card

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to a 60th birthday and retirement party. If you look in the shops you probably won't find one card that combines both sentiments, but when you make your own you can! So that's what I did...





Ingredients:



* Ivory pearlescent card base from www.crafterscove.co.uk
* Green marbled card from a stack I bought in a sale at www.thecraftbug.co.uk
* Black paper from my stash
* Die-cut glass from stash
* Silver 'congratulations' tab from stash (originally bought from www.madaboutcards.com) a few years ago
* Peel-off sentiments from stash

Lots of matting and layering and 3D foam pads to add interest as I didn't have a lot of time to make this with an 8 week old baby!

Christening Invitations

Well, as promised, here is one of Joseph's christening invitations:

Recipe:

* Ivory pearlescent card blank

* Blue paper cut with petite scalloped ovals large nesties

* White card cut with petite ovals large nesties

* LOTV Christening baby stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, coloured with a layer of Ivory and a layer of Blush Pro-markers; edge of baby's pillow coloured with Pastel Blue Pro-marker; edge of christening gown - Baby Blue Stickles.

* 'Invitation' gold peel-off sticker

I have had to make a slightly different version as well, using a more turquoise-blue paper and Waterfall Stickles because I didn't have enough of either shade of blue paper to make all 50 invitations (thanks to the Paper Mill shops closing - I used to buy all my plain paper and card there as they had so many different shades of every colour!)

*

Christening Invitations

With a bit of help from my mum I made a start on the christening invitations yesterday! She cut out white ovals using my nesties and I stamped the LOTV baby in a christening gown onto them all. While I then used my nesties to cut out scalloped ovals from blue paper, Mum folded the card blanks (which I had already stuck the inserts into) and when she had gone home I stuck all the white ovals onto the blue scalloped ovals and started adding Stickles to the baby's gown - I need to keep working on that tonight!

Mum is coming back on Wednesday so we can hopefully finish them - colouring in the baby with Copics or Promarkers (any recommendations as to which colours are best would be gratefully received!!), sticking 'invitation' peel-offs on each card and then just writing names, addressing envelopes and typing & printing out directions!

Hopefully by the end of the week I will be able to put a photo of them on here, then it's back to the thank you cards for all the presents he received when he was born!

New year, new design

Thanks to the very kind RedRottie from the Docrafts forum I have found out how to make my blog look much more interesting than just the plain pink background I had before! I am still experimenting to find which one I like best but as everyone who knows me 'in the real world' could tell you I am well known for being a chocoholic so when I saw the quote on this layout I decided this would be the one... for now at least!!

Now I can blame the baby for my lack of crafting!

Well, a lot of crafting DID take place between 14th September and 20th December - mostly Christmas cards with the odd birthday card thrown in. Being pregnant meant I could only sit for so long at a time so everything took much longer than planned and I didn't have the energy or inclination to blog about my crafting as well!

On Monday 20th December I was in the middle of making the last of the family Christmas cards when I had to go to my routine 38 week midwife appointment. Expecting to only be out for 20 minutes or so I left everything where it was so I could finish the cards when we got back, then the plan was to tidy the whole of the downstairs, make a start on clearing my craft desk upstairs so the craft room could be transformed into baby's room and put the Christmas tree up.

Unfortunately things didn't go quite to plan and the midwife decided to send me to hospital, adding 'take your overnight bag as you may need to stay in'... I was in for 3 nights being monitored, was induced for the first time on the Tuesday and the baby - a little boy, Joseph David, eventually arrived on the Thursday, 23rd December at 15:11, weighing 6lb 1 and a half oz. We finally escaped the hospital at 5pm on Christmas Eve and life hasn't been the same since!

I now have a VERY good excuse for not crafting, although I am itching to get back to it - aside from all the thank you cards I need to make, I have lots of ideas floating round in my head about scrapbook pages I want to create about Joseph! I just need him to get into a routine now so that I know when I have got time to do a bit of crafting - hopefully soon!

I have only made a couple of cards this month and haven't got round to adding them on here yet! What I HAVE been doing is stamping... lots and lots of images (mostly unused stamps I have to confess, it's amazing what you buy and put away for another day then forget about!)

I was looking for a specific stamp I knew I had for a specific card.... and came out of the spare room with a stack of pages of stamped images!

Hopefully some of them will make it onto cards very soon!

I didn't get round to making my Christmas cards today as the weather was just too lovely to even be thinking about it1

Instead I have entered a draw for Bev's Blog Candy (along with over 400 other people! lol) - she has lots of fantastic ideas and lots of links to other fab things, why not go and have a look?!

http://bevscrafts.blogspot.com/

I can't believe it...

my 'chocolate and caramel' cake card has won a prize! And even more exciting is that the goodies I have won are going to come all the way from America! I think I need to go and find myself some more challenges to enter now!

The latest card in my collection (which is being given to a friend for her birthday as she has just got married 2 weeks ago) was made for a challenge, following a sketch. More information can be found here ~ http://justmagnolia.blogspot.com/2010/08/week-70-sketch-by-dawny.html on the Just Magnolia blog. I LOVE Tilda stamps and this challenge made me go and get out one of my new stamps that I haven't used yet. I'm really pleased with the result and have used colours I don't often use in my cards. The reason I have used these papers is because they are similar to the colour of bridesmaid dresses they had at the wedding.




Tilda With Flower is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, her hair and skin are coloured with Copics, the rose and trim on the dress are coloured with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, I have added Aqua Stickles to the middle of the flowers on the paper (which is Wild Rose Studios Spring Fling), the flowers are Prima paper flowers, the ribbon is from a piece I bought at Hobbycraft and the sentiment has been placed onto the smallest of my petite ovals dies (I think that's what they're called, without going to check!!)

Oldie But A Goodie Challenge Blog

I have just come across this blog and given that over on the MAC forum we regularly have comments about stamps that have been sitting in drawers/boxes/on shelves unused and unloved I thought this might be a good challenge blog to follow!

http://oldiebutagoodiechallenge.blogspot.com/

Hopefully some of you will join me as followers over there!


And given our recent obsession with Lili of the Valley stamps, I thought this might be useful too:
http://liliofthevalleythursdaychallenge.blogspot.com/

Ooooh, how exciting... I have just received my first ever award and hopefully I've added it here! Thank you SO much to Andria at http://iona-rose.blogspot.com/



There are a few rules to go with this award so here goes...

1) Thank the person who gave you this award ~ THANK YOU Andria, I'm amazed you've given it to me, I know I need to keep my blog up-to-date more often and promise I will try hard!!
2) Place the award on your blog ~ Done.
3) List three things you love about yourself ~ I have a fantastic husband, I have lots of friends and I am going to be a mummy in January (that's the thing I love most!!)
4) Post a picture you love ~ this one is easy, I just have to figure out how to get it on here!

The very first time we saw our baby at our 12 week scan on 14th June 2010. We are now 21 weeks and 3 days - 18 weeks and 4 days to our due date!

5) Pass this award onto 5 other people ~
This is also a bit tricky because I don't have many followers and I don't follow a lot of blogs. One of the ones I do follow is Andria's (where the award came from!) and 2 of the others were given the award BY Andria so I'm a bit stuck with this one!
Anyway, here goes...
1. Gemma at http://makedoandgem.blogspot.com/ - I can't remember how I why I ended up following her blog (as is usually the case with me!!) or she mine but never mind!
2. Sandra at http://stamperontheshore.blogspot.com/ - again not sure how she ended up being a follower of my blog but she is!
3. Lisa http://crafty-moments.blogspot.com/who I recently bought some stash from through the DoCrafts forum (even though I'm not supposed to be spending money any more!!)
4. Emma http://emmalouisecards.blogspot.com/who I also bought goodies from via the DoCrafts forum!
and 5. Sarah and who was one of the regulars at our crop here in Chirk until the shop closed. Fingers crossed we will be restarting at Froncysyllte Community Centre in September or October! http://craftamongthelandrovers.blogspot.com/

In the last week or so since my last post I have made a couple of cards - 18th birthday, wedding and birthday, which I will add here later. In the meantime here is a card I started earlier this week and wasn't quite sure what to do with to make it better. A friend of mine is hosting a challenge on scrappers delight http://scrapersdelight.blogspot.com/2010/08/sweet-as-candy.html and this card fits what they're looking for so I'm going to try and link it (this could take a while!!) Anyway, here it is...



It fits the challenge on both counts
1) it features cakes in both the paper and the topper
2) it is made using stash in chocolate and caramel colours

The cupcakes paper is from a Dovecrafts stack; the ribbon is Anita's spotted ribbon in Cream; the embossed paper is Black Magic Coredinations run through my new Sizzix Texture Boutique (I HAD to get it - it was only£17 in the QVC shop and I find I only really use my Big Shot for die cutting, particularly Nesties! and not for embossing, have done more embossing in the 2 weeks since I bought it than I've done all year I think!!) and sanded, with glitter glue added randomly to some of the dots; the cake itself is from a cardmaking kit my mum bought me a few years ago and the brad is from my general stash!

It's something a bit different to my usual cards so perhaps that's why I'm not so sure about it!

Following my posts on Facebook last week and this, I have had 2 orders for A5 size cards - one for my cousin's little boy to give to his nursery when he leaves to go to 'big school' and the other for an old schoolfriend's little boy's birthday...


I have entered this card in 2 blog challenges, my next challenge is to figure out how to link to those challenge pages, here goes with the first one:
and http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.com/

A long long time ago

I started my blog... I knew I wouldn't keep it completely up to date but hoped I would manage to update it once a week or so. As you can tell from the date of the last post I really did fail at that! Since the last post on here I have found out I am pregnant, baby Rowlands is due on 2nd January 2011 and we have been very busy getting things organised ready for him / her!

As I am now not working, I am hoping to increase my card sales so I will be making a more concentrated effort to keep my blog up to date in order to show off my cards! If you would like to order any bespoke cards, please email me - tali1981uk@hotmail.co.uk

As well as making my cards, I am still going to be babysitting for as long as I can manage up to Christmas, and when I am ready after the baby is born. The same contact details above can be used for babysitting enquiries!

Not a lot to report!

Hopefully you will forgive me for not posting in 2 weeks - we spent half term in Las Vegas (flying via Philadelphia, where the airport had been closed the week before due to snow and I was very worried we weren't going to get there... but we did!!) and it took us a few days to get back into the swing of things!

6 hours with 31 Reception and Year 1 children on 3 hours sleep is not much fun, but it's what I did on Tuesday - couldn't get to sleep until gone 3am and the alarm goes off just after 6 for Anders to get ready for work!

I have to admit the week flew by and we are now well and truly back into the swing of things.... and counting down the days until the Easter holidays (4 weeks and 4 days in our county; I know some people only have 4 weeks to go!!)

I have been to my scrapbooking crop at Polka Dot Crafts here in Chirk today - the first scrapbooking I have done in 2010! and apart from a few embellishments which need adding to a couple of pages, I have finished my 12x12 book 'A Year In Our Lives... 2009' - I am not going to attempt one that size this year, I may do an 8x8 but I haven't decided yet so the photos are staying safely on the camera/laptop/CDs for now!!

I haven't made any more cards since coming back from America, but do have a few orders to get on with!

My mum has almost emptied my stock of 'stand by' cards for the basket she has at work and sells for me, so I need to get a move on with making some more... I have lots of stamped images which are now coloured in and sitting in a pile on my desk, but instead of using those up and building the collection of cards up again, I have bought a whole load of new stamps and just sat and stamped them so I can do some more colouring with my fab Copics! Polka Dot Crafts have a lot to answer for... Thanks Claire!!! www.polkadotcrafts.blogspot.com if you want to know more about them!!

Cards from January and February 2010

Slowly catching up!

Card for the lady Anders is covering for at work when she had her little boy....



card for my friend's little boy's birthday...



Friend's birthday card....



Birthday card for another friend...


Card for a friend from the MAC forum...



Engagement card for friends of ours...



and a birthday card for my cousin...



That's it for now! lol

And I'm saying goodbye and going on my holidays, with a promise that I will update much more regularly once I'm back!!

Cards from November and December 2009

Cards from Christmas card making class at Polka Dot Crafts (www.polkadotcrafts.blogspot.com)

Shaker card...



Pop up card from the same course....



outside

and...



inside

First birthday card for my friend to give her niece...



Forever friends stickers mounted on Dovecrafts papers

Cards from October 2009

As the title says, here are some more of my cards from October last year!

This is the leaving card I made for the teacher whose job I am covering....



image is a sizzix die-cut, papers are random pink left overs from my rather large paper collection!

A birthday card (A4 size!) for my friend to give her daughter on her 7th birthday ...



Image from an online site, very carefully cut number 7 to cover the flower Tatty Ted was originally holding! Papers again came from my large collection, diamante buckle and pink butterfly were amongst an order I placed with a website which was closing down, the letters were cut on the Big Shot (I forget which alphabet) and glittered individually with Stickles glitter glue. Ribbon from a selection I bought at The Paper Mill, Cheshire Oaks so probably a DoCrafts brand!!

Finally for October, a birthday card for one of my best friends, whose birthday is on Halloween!..



Image is a Greetings Farm stamp, coloured with Copics. Flowers are from a pack I bought at my local craft shop (www.polkadotcrafts.blogspot.com) and charm is from a collection I bought from a website which was closing down. Paper layers were cut using Nestabilities.

I AM useless... I admit it!!

As my last post was in September and it is now the middle of February I think I can safely say I have failed in my attempts to keep my blog up-to-date BUT I am determined to do better so am resurrecting the blog in the hope that I will do slightly better on my second attempt!



I have been making cards (lots of them!!) in the long time since I last blogged. I have also nearly finished my 2009 scrapbook (unfortunately the last 2 attempts at cropping which would've been my push to finish it have both been cancelled due to the snow so it's still not quite done!) but still have a huge pile of books I need to begin/continue with!!



Earlier this week I finally got round to adding some photos of my cards to Photobucket, so I will add them here too!



Going back just a little while to October (oops!!) this is the card I made for our nephew/godson on his christening day (backing paper is the wrapping paper we put his present in, FF image coloured with my BRAND NEW COPICS CIAO PENS!!!)...