Off to hobbycraft

Naughty me, i'm up nice and early today as i've got a very strong desire to go to Hobbycraft, lord knows why, i'm always disappointed when i get there.I don't even need anything, i think it may be because the sun is out. Mind you Tesco Home Extra is next door and they sell cards and envies at £5 for 50 so i'll not be coming back empty handed, oh and there's a TK Maxx too.
Here's a card i made yesterday in my nice tidy room , which is still tidy!

The stamp is Penny Black of course and the papers are my favourite Brenda Pinnick.I paper pieced the balloons. I love paper piecing and would happily do it on every card i make but i don't in case i get bored with it.

I finished it off with some doodling and some punched flowers and leaves.
Has anyone else been having trouble positioning photos on their blog posts? For the last week it has taken me exactly 3 tries with every photo to get it to go where i want instead of at the top of the post. I have to click on remove and try again and always on the third try, it works. Very irritating. I've put a post in Blogger help forum but had no reply yet.
Well i must hurry and get ready and get out as it would only take one drop of rain to put me off going.
    Bye for now. Di.xx

He's got the bug.

My boss has definitely got the bug. The love bug..............for his Beetle. He's only 22 and i love him to bits but on fridays i have to spend 11 hours listening to him waffling on about his beloved car,and with it being a newsagent shop this means he's got access to all the latest car mags! So all day it's " oh wow look at this Di" and "i'm deffo gonna get one of these for my car". I tell him to shut up and it's still "only a car". He looks at me as if i've just chopped his dangly bits off and within 10 minutes he's at it again. Fair do's though it is a crackin' car and he's spent thousands on it, he parks it outside the shop and swells with pride when people stop to admire it. The reason i'm telling you all this is because he lets me sell my cards in the shop and doesn't take any of the money. I've even got a card fixture which he doesn't use anymore.So i was looking through my stamps and thought bless him i'm going to make him a couple of cards for a little thank you pressie.

The first one is made from the DCWV Retro stack.

The second is made with paper out of an old atlas.The stamp is by Funstamps.I gave them to him yesterday . I said "here you are luv, a freebie off the card rep". It took a while for me to get him to realise what i meant. They are intended for him to use for his mates birthdays but i'd like to bet they'll end up on his bedroom wall with all his other regalia.
     Well that's me for today, things to, do places to go, debt to get into.......................

Nine lives.

This is a quick little card i made before i decided to blitz my craft room on Thursday.

The stamp is by Incastamp and i got it for £2 in WHS bargain bit. I wonder if it's meant to represent the nine lives of a cat? Maybe not because there's a dog version too.(not for £2 though). The backing paper is from the Papermania Hampstead pad.I don't know whether you can see it but i added a tiny green gem to the cats collar.The card base was a tentfold linen look chopped up by my own fair hands from a piece of A4.
  Off to get ready for work now or i'll be late.  Di. xx

I've been such a good girl.

A few weeks after starting my blog i showed you a photo of my craft room.I had lost my mojo and trashed the place trying to find it. I'm sure you've all done it yourselves.This is what it looked like and to be honest it's been more or less the same ever since........well ............since before then actually!

In fact looking at the photo now, it got much worse to the left side. Everything was piled up. When i needed paper and card they were at the bottom of the pile then i needed my pens and they were at the bottom of the pile now, and so on,every time i unearthed something i buried something else.
 Well yesterday day i got sick of it. I tried to make some cards and was getting more and more annoyed with myself so i stopped and went and got a bin bag. I went through everything and sorted it into rubbish and charity shop.,it took hours! Here is the finished result, take a look as it probably won't last.

Bliss next time a make any cards.Why do we keep all those half made cards which didn't wok out, all those bits of  kits we started off with from "Create and Crap" and all those bits of scrap paper that we don't even like?

Look at the nice clean desk, no blobs of glitter glue or streaks of ink.No scraps of card and paper all over the guillotine.

I've always stored my promarkers in an A4 really useful box with the colour chart stuck inside the lid. I'm sick of foraging around trying to find certain colours so i put the greys,browns, greens and skin tones into zippy bags, problem solved.

All my A4 card is nice and neat again, i think i got this file box from WHS, i seem to remember using a £5 off stationary voucher towards it,otherwise it would have been Rymans as there's nowhere else in Chester. All my scraps of coloured card are separated into colours in A4 zipper wallets in the tub with the red lid. That was from B&M.
I was so pleased that i only just managed to stop myself ringing speedy to get a bottle of wine. I decided to wait until tonight in case it ruined the weigh in! Oh and in case you're wondering..........yes i did keep the peel offs!!

Friday weigh in 9st 10lb but only just, after squeezing out a second pee! Thats one more pound off making it 6 in total. So glad i didn't have that wine last night.

More christmas cards.

Two of my favourite things, Penny Black stamps and christmas.I know it's early but i need to make a few each month because i also make quite a lot of my gifts and stocking fillers so i'm determined to avoid the usual last minute panic this year.

This stamp is from the Holly Days clear set. the papers are Brenda Pinnick available now and again from QVC. They're usually on the Rosemary Merry shows on craft days. 200 sheets of good quality 12x12 for around £10 , keep your eyes peeled. Ohh, look one of my little leaves is bent!
 I'm staying in today as there aren't many mens cards left at work so i need to make some more and i need to carry on with another batch of wedding invitations.
  Bye for now. Di. x

Don't get shirty cos i'm late!

Evening all . Late on parade today because i've been to my mums.Me and sis took her to Aldi and Tesco's, it's like a big day out for her as she's on her own and can't carry much. I don't drive but Nat does so it gives me a chance to get a load of shopping for myself. I hate going to the supermarket with Speedy because he has to buy one of everything in the shop and it all gets thrown out 2 weeks later.
I started a card this morning before i went out but didn't have time to finish it

The stamp is by Funstamps and is coloured with promarkers. The papers are Clare Curd and i used one of the designs to paper piece the tie.I added a bit of 3D glaze over the buttons for an extra bit of dimension.
I took this photo in electric light which i don't normally do but i think i like it better than the daylight ones. I'll have to try some more.
  Well, i think i'd better go and do Speedy's tea before he comes in.  love Di. x

Chocolate, crimped and pimped.

Funny how we can fall in and out of love so quickly isn't it? Last week my new love was my peel offs, this week they've been dumped in favour of my crimper! Lucky for Speedy i'm not like that with men! This time i've used it for something else we've all seen before but sometimes we need a memory jog. Last christmas my mum was stuck for little extras to give to people and as she can't get about as easily as she used to i said get me some choccy stuff and i'll package it up for you nice and festive like. Well next time i went she had a huge carrier bag of chocolate and sweets.This is one of the quickies i made, without the "new" flower of course.

Choc bar from Tesco and the stamp is by Penny Black but you could print something off the computer. Thats all you need really and a bit of fancy paper. Mine is Brenda Pinnick.

The crimped ends make such a difference,just stick together with a bit of double sided tape first.Again it's another nice little idea for fathers day. It's got a good sell by date so i'll keep it towards Speedys birthday in July,at least i won't be tempted to rip my work open and scoff it.
I'm back to work today so i saved this as a draft last night because i won't have my head together after being able to lie in till at least half six for the past week.
 Thanks for visiting. Di.x

Flower box.

Hello everyone, did you all pop over to Lynn's blog yesterday? I've had a paper crimper for ages, well I've got two, one like Lynn's and another one which I bought first and is the one I used to make my flowers with.

I bought it from The Works. It was with the kids stuff in a little kit with some bits of naff card but it was only £2.99 and it works perfectly. The only reason I bought the other one is because it was bigger. I loved how those flowers came out because they have a slightly fluffy shabby surface. Anyway, as i said yesterday, I was able to finish a box I'd started making and here it is.

It's made with black hessian look card from The Papermill Shop. The patterned paper is from the new Papermania Hampstead pad. The width of the sides is 21/2" and it's 5" high. Because it's not a girly box it would be nice for a fathers day gift. I thought it might fit a nice jar of jam or chutney but the ones I've got in the cupboard are slightly too wide. I'm sure I've seen some slimmish jars around , I'll have to take my ruler to Tesco's! Our dads are putting the world to rights in heaven now but I'm sure I can find someone to give it to.
Here's a close up of the top.

I think I need to sharpen my leaf punch!
Right I need to get off my bum now and take a walk into town and burn of some of those weekend calories.
                  See you soon. Di.xx

Wow!! How cool is this!!

D'ya know what there's some clever sods out there.Me and Speedy have different sleep requirements i.e i need about 5 hours a night and he needs about 10. This means i get 5 hours extra to stalk peoples galleries and blogs. Well i was doing a bit of stalking and through SCS gallery i found a site called Learn to stamp and scrap with Lynn Larson.The reason i went to her site was to check out some Flowers she'd made and blow me there was a tutorial! Now i've seen these type of flowers before but theres something different about hers.I'll show you my first attempt but you'll have to visit her blog to see whats so different.

I have made a box which has been sitting around waiting for me to find a suitable finishing touch and these are just what i need. I'll finish it off and blog it tomorrow. Pardon ? What?  Oh you want the link. O.K. it's HERE.

Yappy Birthday.

I didn't make any cards yesterday, i just didn't feel like it. I went with Speedy for his hospital check up ( to cut a long story short he had a prostate op last year) and tests showed his flow wasn't as strong as it was last time.They said it was likely scar tissue from his op blocking his pipes a bit and he is going to have to self catheterise, every other day to start, then less often, to keep the tubes open. Well i felt sick !! I though i was either going to throw up or pass out, i was even eyeing up the waste bucket in the corner.He had to do this while he was waiting for his op which was an emergency one so it wasn't for long. It was just such a shock because last time he went he was told he'd probably just need one more check up as everything was fine.Keep your beady eye on your other halfs waterworks because he had problems for ages that i didn't know about. March him off to the doctor if he starts peeing too often and nip it in the bud. The good thing is that there was no cancer but he's done a lot of pressure damage to one of his kidneys due to a back up of urine.Oh dear, i hope i haven't put you off your  lunch!
Anyway i've raided picasa and found 2 half decent cards.

I made these at least a year ago so i don't know what the papers are.The stamp is Penny Black.I did the little caption on the computer. I hold my hands up to "stealing" it from somewhere but i don't know where.
I keep thinking it's sunday today, i usually work saturday morning but i've been off this week and it feels really weird. I;m going to trundle off into my den now and see if i can do better than yesterday.

Fallin' in love again..............

Yesterday i showed you some cards made from peel offs and scraps. Well today i've got something made from the scraps left over from the scraps!! And do you know what? I'm in love with peel offs again!! I don't know how long for though, it's almost like having another try with your ex, renewed enthusiasm at first, then back to the "ugh just go away"! Anyway,take a look at these then go and and dig out your exes.

I made yesterday's cards and these 4"x4" cards  out of 2 sheets of peel offs and managed to make a box to put them in.I must admit i've got a thing about making little notecard sets and i really enjoyed making these.I hate to say it but i may even buy a couple more sheets of this design.

I've also got something else to show you. I won some blog candy from Gay at Dippy Doodles and it arrived yesterday apart from cardmaking goodies she also sent me a bookmark and a bag charm/keyring which she's made.

They are really beautiful. If anyone would like some she has some for sale here. Thank you very much Gay.

Oh, i nearly forgot. It's the friday weigh in. By some miracle i weighed 9st 11lb this morning! thats another pound off making it 5 altogether. I really don't know how i managed it because i was very naughty at the weekend.

Come on ......confess.................

Who's got loads of peel offs then? I know i have, i've got stacks in fact. I bought loads from create & craft when i first started cardmaking and before i discovered stamps and colouring.I hadn't thought about them until i started those wedding invites which prompted me to get them out and try to make some money back from them.Most of them are really naff but a couple of them were worthy of a play.

I sell my cards at the newsagent where i work and it always puzzles me why people choose certain cards over others. This type of card sells quite well when some that i've spent ages colouring and faffing about with for the same price can sit on the shelf for ever. There's a beautiful Tilda one there which may as well be invisible. These were quick and easy to make, i just plonked the peel offs onto some scrap papers and cut them out.

The cards are 6"x6", one white and one ivory. I'll take them to work next week and hopefully turn trash into cash. I also made some little 4"x4" cards which i'll show you tomorrow.
And yes.......i know i'm supposed to be making those invites but it drives me mad doing loads of the same thing so i'm just doing a few a day. Actually this isn't funny but i haven't made any today................yet....   I think i'd better do a bit of housework first to keep the guilt monster away.
 See you soon. Di.x

The first day of you know what.

More christmas cards today. These are some i made last week. I try and make at least 2 or 3 at a time and more if the design is simple like these.

These little birdies are from the Penny Black 12 days of Christmas clear set which i love because some of them can be used all year round I coloured them with promarkers and chalked the background.The dotty papers are from a Brenda Pinnick stack from QVC.

.I scored 2 lines at the top and bottom of the cards just to add a bit of interest and added a few gold glitter circle stickers to finish. The card bases are 4"x6" from Tesco Home Extra.
 I may nip to Liverpool later. I only live a 2 minute walk away from Chester station but if i go too early i'll be coming back on the same train as the people on their way to Chester races and i don't fancy that as half of them will be drunk already.
                    See you soon. Di xx.

Wedding invites.

What a day i've had!!! Well it started yesterday at the Papermill shop. I went to get more burgundy card for the wedding invitations forgetting i'd got the first lot from Liverpool and yes you've guessed they didn't have exactly the same colour.I also needed ivory for the front panels and bought some which i wasn't entirely happy with but it was all they had. So this morning i decided to make a start with what i had because thats what i've taken a week off for. I've ditched microsoft word and suchlike off my computer to give myself loads of space as i don't really use it for office type stuff. That just leaves my with "My Craft Studio". Anyone who has got one of these CDs will know the faff involved with centering stuff etc. An hour later we're ready to print. The ink bled out on the ivory card so i nipped up to Rymans and got some of the coated stuff. Fantastic...except my printer was printing in pink now! Several head cleans later and it was fine again.I was actually able to start the cards at half past one.

I managed to make 18 as i decided to put a gold mirri layer and only had a few sheets.The ivory layer has got Neil & Nina written all over it to save it being too plain I discovered a site called Backing paper generator a while back which came in handy. Once iv'e got the rest of the stuff i'll be able to do do the rest really quickly as they are a nice easy design. Thanks Nina for not wanting the earth. The only thing that was requested and i thought,  "oh no", was that i try and do something similar to an ivy tattoo she has on her hip. Guess what was hanging on the peel off stand at the papermill shop? Easy peasy. Now i've got to figure out the inserts but after todays faff i;m deffo going to buy the M&S CD.The colours don't really show very well but the writing on the ivory panel is a deepish cream, the only good thing about My Craft Studio is that you can alter the opaque and transparency so its hardly there.
  Right,time to make some creamed sweetcorn and chorizo soup, the diet went to the wall at the weekend!

Out to lunch.

A little something to chew on while i make a start on those wedding invites. I took this photo at Cheste zoo 2 years ago.

Grass.....YUM !                    May report later,off to lock myself in my den,i don't know how long for though, LOL.