Birthday Gifts

Hello Bloggers

Cripes, 18th January already! - I'm trying to arrange meetings at work at the moment, and am already starting to look at March dates (the meetings should have been in January really - oopsie!! - time is just going so fast).

Anyway - I made some small gifts for Eleri to give to one of her friends at the weekend - we bought a Felicity Wishes Cookbook, and I made a corner bookmark to match the card we gave her (see post here). Then Eleri said that she thought her friend would like a keyring to match.

So here they are:



and this is how the bookmark looks on the book:



The bookmark was so easy to make, out of a 5x5" piece of card. I found the instructions for it here. The keyring was made out of shrink plastic - I had to trace the image because the image is a digi and the shrink plastic I have is not printable. I coloured her with Sakura Stardust pens. And just added some beads at the bottom. Not really very impressive, but OK.

That's it for now - I do have a card to show you, but I want to check whether it will fit any challenges first. Maybe show you tomorrow?!

Love, Andrea xx

More Sadness ...

Hello, and Happy Saturday everyone - I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

I have not been able to post about this until now, but my Uncle Raymond passed away last Sunday morning. He had been in and out of hospital for a few months, and was on the same ward as my mother in law for a while. I struggled to get to sleep last night, thinking about things (my mother in law passed away on 14th December). His funeral will be next Thursday, and I've been told his grave is going to be next to my mother in law's!

My Uncle Ray and Aunty Betty were so good to me in the past (they are my Godparents) - I lodged with them for a while when I first started working, before I passed my driving test. They used to brew their own cider, lager and elderberry port (wonderful stuff LOL!) - so we had a tipple most evenings, and there was lots of laughter. Uncle Ray was a lovely man, who loved to joke and laugh - Aunty Betty was telling me this morning how he could make a joke out of anything, even housework! She was telling me that she was heartbroken in the hospital last Sunday (unfortunately she did not manage to get there in time before he passed away), but then she remembered a holiday they went on - when they were walking down the hill from their guest house, he was in front, and he put his cap on back to front and said he didn't know whether he was coming or going - and that brought a smile to her face. She says she has some wonderful memories!

I regret that I have not been visiting them enough in the last few years - we seem to let life get in the way of important things like spending time with family! I visited him in hospital when he was there at the same time as my MIL, and I also saw him on Christmas Eve - he said to me that day that he could do with some of that homemade cider, he thought that would perk him up!

I really must make more effort to keep in contact with my Aunty Betty now!

I made her a card, and I've realised that it fits the following challenges:

CES Challenge - No design papers
Hodge Podge Shop Challenge - White on white.



The image I've used is a Little Claires stamp which I've decoupaged up, and the sentiment is from Hot Off the Press. The little flower stamp was in a freebie set on the latest Do Crafts Creativity magazine. I stamped and embossed everything in silver.

Finally, if there is anyone you love who you have not been in contact with recently, go give them a call this weekend! And make sure you have a laugh today!


Love, Andrea xx

Second Joint Birthday Card

Hello Everyone - Friday tomorrow - where has this week gone? I've spent this afternoon at home waiting for a plumber, who phoned late afternoon to say he would not make it today (gggrrrr!!!). We only have a small problem with a tap that won't stop running (all of a sudden this morning). But (in a whisper LOL!) I don't trust my husband with DIY and repairs - he started fiddling under the sink this morning, trying to find an isolator tap (?), he turned something, and then there was a gushing of water (OMG!) - I think he'd turned something that's linked to the washing machine! The bl**** stop cock is only in the cupboard next to the sink - why didn't he just switch that off straight away like I wanted him to!!!! I'm dreading putting the washing machine on now! The plumber is supposed to be here at 9.30 tomorrow - which means I've got to take time off work to wait again.

Anyway, on to my card. This is the second of the cards for Eleri to take to the joint birthday party on Sunday.



The image is On the Bench from Di's Digi Downloads, and sentiment from Pollycraft again. The papers are some scraps from my Kay and Co bumper pack. I love the paper thread that I found in The Works - I think I had a pack of six different colours for 99p, quite a lot of thread of each colour too. I also love the buttons - they were lime green, but I coloured them with a brown Sharpie!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

CES Challenge - All Creatures Great and Small - my image has a little doggie!
The Crafty Pad - Birthday
Craft Your Days Away - Anything Goes

Well, that's enough from me for now. Thanks for popping by!

Love, Andrea xx

First Card for Joint Birthday Party

Hello Fellow Bloggers

I have managed to make the two birthday cards with a couple of days to spare - not like me LOL! But I do want to make a bookmark to go with a book for one of the presents, so that will probably be last minute!

For the card I'm showing today, I have followed the sketch on Friday Sketchers. The digi image is Miss Bitty from Fred She Said, and I have coloured her with Promarkers and added diamond stickles to her wings. The papers are My Minds Eye Quite Contrary. The plain card I've used for the matting and layering is a plain ivory textured card which I bought from Crafters Companion, and I coloured around the edge with Promarkers to match the image. The sentiment is a digi from Pollycrafts.

Unfortunately, for some reason, the glue I used to stick the punched flowers has seeped through and spoiled the flowers. So, after photographing the card, I removed the spoiled flowers, re-punched them, and added flower gems - sorry I haven't been able to take a photo of the improved card, it's just too dark! I'll try to upload another piccie tomorrow.

Here's my card: (edited to add improved card)



I'm also entering this in the following challenges:

I Love Promarkers - Use punches (my punched flowers)
Kaboodle Doodles - Do it with digis
2 Sisters Challenge - Gettin girly
Incy Wincy Designs - Go dotty

Must say goodnight now - I will show the other birthday card tomorrow.

Love, Andrea xx

Two More Notebooks

Hello fellow bloggers and crafters - 5th January already aaarrrggh - I have a feeling this year is going to go very fast LOL!

Well, I finished making notebooks to take for teachers today. Again, I used the Whiff of Joy image, Melinda with book, coloured with promarkers. Papers from the Kay & Co stack - there are still so many gorgeous papers in the pack - I think it'll take me years to get through LOL!

I used the Sew Easy Tool again, with the scalloped head, to stitch down the side, but it is not showing very well on the photos. It added texture, and looked good IRL.

Please excuse the poor photos - it was still dark this morning when I was taking them, and I got flashback!







I'm entering these in the following challenges:

Kaboodle Doodles - Anything Goes
Flutterby Wednesdays - Open
CES Challenge - Anything Goes

For the teaching assistants, I put together some packs of Snowman Soup (hot chocolate mix, white and dark chocolate fingers and marshmallows), with very simple toppers. I didn't get chance to take photos of them, they didn't look particularly special as I did them in a hurry - but they went down well with the teaching assistants.

Well, Eleri has come out of school today with an invitation to a joint birthday party, so I'm gonna have to get my thinking cap on for gifts and cards - hope to have something to show you next week!

Bye for now. Thanks for popping by, and I hope you call again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

I Found a Bargain

Hello again everyone.

When I was Christmas shopping, I popped into the QVC outlet store, and found one of the We Are Memory Keepers Sew Easy tool kits for £1.99 (wow! real bargain, as I nearly bought it when I saw it originally - it was about £20). It is a kind of paper piercer with different heads (straight, criss cross, scallop and flower), plus a piercing mat and some coloured threads. After I bought it, I read some poor reviews about it on the QVC website and, because of that and everything that happened just before Christmas, I didn't give it a go until a couple of nights ago. And I am so pleased with it (though I don't really think it is worth the full money!).

I used it on a notebook I covered - I sewed scallops across the corners of the papers and across the panel in the centre under the image. I fastened the panels with the sewn corners on the cover, then opened the book, and realised I'd covered the back by accident (oops!), so then had to do some more sewing for the front cover. Lucky I realised before I added the rest of the elements (LOL!).



The image is from Whiff of Joy and the papers are Kay & Co, again - sorry, and I have two more to do! Here's a close up of the stitching on the middle panel.



I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers - Anything goes
Creative Inspirations - Something new - new tool used
Creative Cowgirls - Something new - new tool used

That's it me thinks. Need to colour up some more images to cover the other two notebooks. Hope to see you again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Happy 30th Birthday Emma

Hello Fellow Bloggers, and Happy New Year to you all - I wish you peace, love and happiness for 2011.

My cousin, Emma, went to live in New Zealand about four years ago and she was able to come home to spend this Christmas and New Year with her family. As we have not had a big family get together for some time, my Aunty decided to hire a local village hall and hold a party for Emma's 30th birthday today. Would you believe, there were approx 80 of us there this evening - on my Mum's side of the family - my Mum's brothers and sisters plus their partners, their children (my cousins) and their partners, and their children, plus some members of my cousin's boyfriend's family I think. I love family get togethers like that - it was lovely to see people I have not seen for a long time. We always used to see each other when we visited my Nan, but we don't see each other very often since she passed away a few years ago - I still miss her so much for that reason. I remember the times we used to have Christmas parties in my Great Uncle's house - all of us spread out in 3 small rooms - there weren't so many of us then of course, but it still must have been a squash!

Anyway, enough waffle from me LOL! I'll show you the card I made for Emma.



I made an easel card. I do wonder whether I should put a little picture inside these cards to show how they should stand, cos I'm not sure that non-crafters understand how they should look, or am I being unfair?! I could see that Emma had displayed her card still in its box this evening and, when I was going to stand it up properly, it had been moved! I wonder what other crafters do??



The image is a Miss Anya, coloured with Promarkers. The papers are from a huge Kay & Co stack I had from QVC. The sentiment is from Pollycrafts. I also added a die cut heart with 30 on it under the easel bit of the card. I did wonder if I had overdone it with the flowers really, but I do quite like the finished card.



That's probably enough from me. I do have another project to show you, but I think I'll leave that til tomorrow.

Ooh, I nearly forgot to list the challenges I would like to enter with this card:

Passion for Promarkers - Anything goes
Crazy 4 Challenges - Celebrate something
Catch the Bug - Anything goes

Love, Andrea xx