A Halloween Pumpkin Treats idea

Halloween Pumpkin Treats!

Take a look back at my blog post from last October for a great trick or treat creation!  I have to admit I've been a little busy this year and due to the fact that both DD and DS are getting older and growing out of the whole Halloween thing we've not been quite so organised!  Never the less, 'A' will be off out tonight with her friend and I'm making a last minute dash now in a futile attempt to find a pumpkin.  Mother of the year I am ;)

October update and a change of scenery

First of all, sorry!  Long time no post!

Things have been a bit busy recently.  Work has picked up, which of course is good but just means things are a bit more hectic.  Have been spending a lot of time over the last couple of weeks making updates to the website and looking at marketing strategies for the business.  We have a couple of meetings lined up this week too which should help things along.  Our lease now looks like it will be extended into 2012 which is good news as it means not having to start hunting for appropriate business premises again, which is just impossible!

'A' is still loving high school and has now been set for some of her subjects, really pleased that she's been placed in the top band for English and Maths.  She's joined the school orchestra and after a shaky start is now enjoying the sessions each week.  Her rehearsals are also well under way for Youth Onstage's production of Hairspray that will run at the end of November.  'S' finally decided to stick with his GCSE music option after much deliberation but has changed from Woodwork to Food Tech which we are enjoying as much as him as we get to sample his culinary delights :).



Finally decided last week that the grubby cream walls in the lounge just had to go!  We'd actually bought some green floral wallpaper samples back from B&Q some time ago with the intention of revamping the bedroom, but after buying the new sofa's we decided to go for this scheme in the lounge.  I trekked off to B&Q on Thursday to stock up on the supplies (Dulux Malt Chocolate and Laurence Llewelyn Bowen wallpaper) and we spent the weekend filling, painting, glossing and wallpapering.  Poor Arnold has spent the majority of this time behind his gate watching the proceedings.  I don't think he could quite work out why he'd been shut out but I think after last night's stressful wallpapering events and profanities he was quite glad to be as far away from me as possible!  All in all though I think we did well to get it all done in one weekend and we're both really pleased with the results.  Just curtains to buy now once we find some we like.



 

 

 

Bulk Christmas cards - Choir of Angels

For a 'certain' group that I belong to, I thought it would be nice to make them each a handmade Christmas card this year.  As there are 23 of them all together I needed to come up with a fairly simple layout for each card so as to not be too time consuming (I do have a life outside crafting and a business to run...*shock*!  :)).

I chose a lovely and very appropriate digi stamp from 'Little Musings' which was just £1.50 for both a coloured and an outlined image.  It's the stamp colouring that's actually taking the most time but I much prefer the overall hand finished looked rather than the pre-coloured.

I've used red card stock from my stash and run this through my Cuttlebug to get the dotty effect.  The musical paper is from Dovecraft's Jolly Christmas.  I've coloured the stamp with Promarkers, inked the edges of my image with red ink and finished off the Angel's wings with glitter.  The sentiment is from my Daisy & Dandelion collection (which I'm making great use of!) and the button and bakers twine are from my stash.

All in all I've made 5 of these so far and am hoping to make a batch of 5 each weekend.....that's the plan anyway :).

I am entering this card for the following challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge - 'U' is for Unused Stash (Dotty Embossing Folder)
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Seeing Spots
Jingle Belles - A Carolling We Will Go (Here We Come A-Wassailing)
Sparkles Christmas Challenge - Christmas Songs (Here We Come A-Wassailing)

Thanks for stopping by! x

Christmas Humphrey - Make a wish

I'm just loving the Humphrey decoupage sheets that I bought the other day by Crafters Companion.  This is my second creation and I decided to have a change from the usual red and green and instead match up the colours in the decoupage.

I've used lightweight card from my stash and the blue swirly paper is downloadable from Shabby Princess.  This is from the 'Holiday Magic' collection.  I've used my Martha Stewart scallop punch and the ribbon and stars were also from my stash.  I thought the sentiment was a lovely match to the picture and this is from my Daisy & Dandelion collection.  The decoupage image has been finished with varnish.

Thanks for stopping by! x

My Mind's Eye Christmas freebies

Well, another beautiful day today in the Midlands.  It's hard to believe with all the lovely weather that Christmas is just around the corner.  Went for a super dog walk this morning which Arnold just loved as we were with his best bud Arthur the Airedale Terrier :).   

I received some lovely free papers and chipboards with my October edition of Cardmaking & Papercraft so I thought I'd give them a try.

The free goodies are by My Mind's Eye and I've used lace, ribbon and gems from my stash (although the lace doesn't show up very well on the photo).  The sentiment is a rubber stamp from Daisy and Dandelion and I've coloured this with promarkers.

Thanks for stopping by! x

A butterfly sympathy card

My brother asked me to create a sympathy card for him to send to a friend so I decided on a blue and ivory theme using butterflies.  I ordered some pearlescent card from Ebay and a new embossing folder and decided I would use a die-cut butterfly to finish off the design.  Unfortunately, although dispatched some time ago my Marianne butterfly die has not arrived and I think it's looking less and less likely that it ever will :(.  Due to this I've used a mirrored butterfly instead that I bought a while ago from a sale at Hobbycraft.

The embossing folder is 'Garden Flowers' by Crafts Too and I've used my Nellie Snellen die to cut the circle.  the flowers, ribbon and pearls were from my stash and I've printed the sentiment using a grayscale shade.  I'm quite pleased with how the overall card came out and I think it's definitely a design I could use for other occasions such as anniversaries, birthdays etc.

Thanks for stopping by! x

My First Tilda Stamp

 I took my DD to the local craft shop, MSA Crafts last week as a treat for doing well settling into High School.  Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! (Although I did buy a fair amount of stuff too ;) ).  I can't believe I've never visited before and I can't wait to go back again as they had a really good selection.  We bought another pile of Promarkers, rubber stamps, decoupage sheets, card blanks and I was really chuffed to see they had a massive collection of Marianne dies.

I've seen a lot of Tilda stamps around on various blogs and magazines and I just love these cute stamps. So I decided whilst out 'treating my DD' that I would also treat myself to one of these :).  The Magnolia 'Tilda Wants a Hug' stamp grabbed my eye but it wasn't till I got home that I realised it's actually a Christmas Stamp as she has holly in her hair! Oh well, I shall enjoy using it for this years Christmas cards.

I've used Dovecraft backing papers and my newly bought Marianne swirl die.  The paper edges have been torn and inked with Dovecraft Forest Green ink and the stamp coloured with promarkers and finished with a little red glitter glue.  The sentiment is from Daisy & Dandelion with Mulberry flowers from 'Flowers4Crafts10' on Ebay.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

CES Challenge Blog - #56 Totally Gorjuss/Pretty Girls

Thanks for stopping by! x