AWOL

More candy and no postings.......

I know I'm rubbish, but I have been really busy with work in the week and we have been following the Ashes cricket around the country at the weekends. So with all the normal chores to fit in as well I have been neglecting my crafting time. No worries I have been making some cards and I will post them soon.

In the meantime check out the candy on Rach's site. here

I just love Martha Stewart punches and don't have these so here's hoping.....!

and the lovely Marlene here who has just got back from CHA

Over and out for now....

Sara x

Whiff of Joy fall release

Dear all

I have such limited time to craft at the moment let alone blogging, but did need to tell you all about the pre-order now open at Whiff of joy for their fall release of stamps by the very talented Elizabeth Bell.

Here is a sneaky peek

Katharina has two sets available as blog candy so get on over there and check it out...

So its back to getting some work done. I will post soon promise

Sara

Kay Carley - Blog Candy 2

Kay has just put up some more delish candy on her site.

So check it out here

Year end starts at my company on Wednesday so that means I am just about to enter our really really busy time, just as the weather gets to scorching level ............ no fair

so there will be too little time for crafting, but will try and get something posted soon

Sarax

Hey Kay sorry I'm late

Dear all

Well its been a little while since I did my last post, but I have been a busy little bunny..... Work is still unrelenting, but I did manage to find time to make and sell 32 fathers day cards (woo hoo 131 - 163/365), make a fabulous 60th birthday card for my aunt (164/365) and have a great time down at the Glitterpot on Saturday with Kay Carley (165-168/365), where we made 4 lovely cards, and Kay is posting them on her blog over the next few days here. Unfortunately I managed to misplace my memory card so have only been able to take pictures of the cards I didn't sell/post last week Gggrrrrhhh. Oh well here are a couple of the fathers day cards:

I used rub-ons in the middle of the board depending what people wanted to allow a bit of personalization, but they mainly ended up being either 'love u dad' or with love.

The message on the inside says 'Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Dad', which I think is rather sweet. I used it in quite a few of the cards as you can see below.

Anyway back to the task in hand, as mentioned above I made a fab 8' by 8' card for my aunt, who had family party yesterday to celebrate. It ended up being much more than that as my cousin had a little boy (George) the weekend before and of course it was Father's Day. The weather behaved itself and we had a fabulous time. My parents came down to stay for the weekend so there was very little time for anything else given I spent all of Saturday at the GP! whoops!


So as promised, Kay, here are the cards I promised to post on Saturday night, but missed by a mile! Sorry.Recipe: 169/365 Stamps: Sugar Nellie - Daisy; Rubbernecker - words Other: From The Glitter Pot Paper: Bazzill Dotted Swiss Card - Honey & Mud Puddle, DCWV - The Spring Stack; Nestabilities - Scalloped circles, labels 3; Martha Stewart punches Double Scallop & from Crafts U Love - Leaf Frond

The flowers have been made by cutting out a scalloped round nestability and then cutting down between each scallop 3/4 of the way to the centre and then curling the petals with a bone folder. I have then stuck them down with silicon glue to give a little more height and lift between each layer.

Just time for one more. this one is really simple in that it only has three elements on the card, diamante, some holographic paper and some of the new(ish) white wash coordination card. Out came the trusty cuttlebug and voila a card in less than 15 mins. Great when you are on the run.

Recipe: Stamp - serendipity stamps; Cuttlebug - Cut & Emboss A2 Combo - Friends Forever & Butterflies; coordinations - whitewash; diamante from stash

Anyway off for a well earned rest after all this fun...

Ciao for now

SaraX

Candy Time

Hi all

I've finally managed to work out how to post links to blog candy and how appropriate that I start with one from The Stamp Man www.thestampman.co.uk. This is where I bought my first ever stamp back in the late 1990's, on a day out whilst visiting my parents. I originally hail from the South of England but spent from the age of 6 to 18 living in Clitheroe in Lancashire. Hence the northern twang that intersperses with my Surrey accent!! LOL An eclectic mix as I'm often told.

I am also in love with the new stamp sheets by Kay Carley especially the funky flowers sheet so here's hoping..............
If not then hey ho its off to empty the piggy bank, which is feeling rather abused at the moment following a recent over indulgence.....

More cards tomorrow and will try to include some of the fathers day cards I have been making as well

See ya soon

Sarax

Its a little bit crazy

Hello crafty ones!

I've had a bit of a crazy day today. Monday is always busy at work as its the payment runs for the whole group which I have to check and sign off. We are also due to move floors in the office on Friday and I have been trying to sort my team out, but in the process have had no time to sort my office out and I only had this morning to get my act together. Everything was on track until I managed to jarr my back and it all went downhill from there. I'm now prostrate on the sofa full of pain relief and still in agony. So this post will as a consequence, be very short and sweet.

This is still following the cat theme ( Iwas obviously missing Minx!). I have used the same stamp, but in a different colour way and layout.

Recipe: 130/365

Stamps: Inkadinkado Clear stamps- Cats, My Mind's Eye Double Sided Paper - Moving Dots,, Buttons - Eternal maker, Ink - Vivid - Ultramarine, Stickles - Diamond

I also carried the theme through with another cat from the set and one of the messages from the Hero Arts - Clear Design - Card messages (large). They do seem to fit together quite well. The pictures are bit dark, but I am not mobile enought to fiddle with the light box so they will ahve to do.

As I said short post tonight so its an early bath for me!

Bye

Sarax

The Cats Meow

Hiya

Well so much for the predictions a poor weekend of weather. We had the most beautiful day today, which was good as we were at a christening and Dean was made godfather to one of his best friends James's son Reilly. Good weather always seems to bring up every one's spirits and today was no exception. Even the kids seemed to sense that this was a snatched moment of fair weather and behaved immaculately.

Anyway enough of the weather here is tonight's card

Recipe: 129/365

Inkadinkado Clear Stamps set - cats, Pink pearlescent card, Bazzill Dotted Swiss Card - Slipper , Spellbinderss nestabilities, Craftwork cards - Oh My Word! - Birthday Circles, Ink - Colorbox Queue - Tulip Field, Stickles - Diamond.

H&K

Sarax

Derby Day

I live quite near to Epsom so the first thing I did today was get in my car and get as far away as I possibly could to escape the bedlam! So where would I go? Well of course I booked a class at the Glitter Pot with the lovely Jane Gill who had thoughtfully devised some beautiful cards, which co-ordinated perfectly with my outfit!! (123- 126/365). I don't feel right about putting cards from a class on my blog, as they are somebody else's design, so you will have to check out Jane's blog to see them.

However, I have added another pair of cards from my trip to Cornwall still following the bee theme.

Recipe: 127/365

Stamps: Elzybells - Flower/bee; words - Rubbernecker stamps

Other: Cuttlebug Embossing folder- D'vine swirl, Paper - Bazzill Dotted Swiss Card - Honey

Recipe: 128/365

As above but used additional stamp from Magnolia - (aptly entitled) Bees.

On the inside I used a greeting from a set from Hero Arts called card Messages, which I stamped using a Marvey Black pen so I could stamp it twice to insert the double 'e' in the being as a play on words.

More cards to come tomorrow, but for now I'm off to put my glad rags on for a night out with the girls.

Evening

Sarax

Busy as a bee

Well so much for posting my cards over the week, its Thursday already. Can't even moan about where the week has gone as I have been busy catching up with all the work I didn't do last week!! So I suppose its quite apt that the first bunch as cards I have loaded are all based on our little workaholic. Before I get to the cards I have to add that I went to a great class at The Glitter Pot by Kay Carley. http://kaycarley.blogspot.com/2009/05/pink-and-green-dragonflies.html (118 - 121/365) Kay makes such feminine cards and I love to go to class of hers to inspire me. Anyway to digress a little, the class tends to have a core of 'regulars' and we always catch up during the day and chat about some of the things we are doing. One lovely lady, Gill is a very keen and talented photographer, and she then takes these beautiful shots and creates the most amazing scrapbooks. I promised I would include some Sugar Nellie stamps. So please wait a little longer Gill, they are coming.......

Recipe: 122/365

Stamps: Magnolia - Tilda with Bee (from the Glitter Pot)

Other: Watercolour pencils, Cuttlebug embossing folder - Forest Branches, Nestabilities, Buttons - Eternal maker, Rub-on's - Pebbles Inc Rub-Ons - Thank You - Black

I loved making this card as it has all my favourite elements (Watercolouring, embossing and die cutting), but each is very simple.

Anyway its up the stairs to bedfordshire to me

Night

Sarax

I'm alive!

Forgive me for not posting for a couple of weeks, but my 3G card wasn't working and I have been down in the depths of Cornwall for some serious R&R (including some crafting LOL).

My family has a place down in Pentire, near Newquay and we disappear down there once a year or more if we can manage it. The beauty of going to the same place is that you don't feel inclined to go out sight seeing every day, which means time to craft a little. As you can see below the views are pretty inspiring anyway whatever you are doing........

The property is an old house build by a rich business man in the 1920's for entertaining and is set into the cliff right over the sea. The place was left empty for quite a while until it was converted into 5 holiday apartments Over the years the sea has reclaimed all the marble patios lined fountains and urns back, but is still one of the most beautiful places I know.
I took this shot on Bank Holiday Monday when we were having some of the recent wonderful weather. As you can see all the Sea Pink thrift is in flower all over the cliff tops, which gives the whole area this fantastic pink glow. As I said inspirational. The house is on a National Trust headland and the only other building is a pub (just above in the picture), which is great for sundowners!

As you can see (above) the whole of the cliff side was awash with a diverse mix of plants and colours and the best bit is that as is it close (see below), but not really walking distance to Newquay it is relatively quiet for such an exquisite place. You can just see Fistral Bay, reported to be the best surfing in GB, over the headland and Newquay is in the next bay to that. I love watching the surfers waiting to catch that perfect wave and off they go with a whoosh of adrenalin. Heavenly.

Well enough waxing lyrical about my break - time for craft.....

I did make quite a few cards, but didn't get time to finish all of them off as there is only so much stash I could sneak in the boot - LOL. So I will post them over the next fews days as I add the finishing touches.

Over and out for now

Sara x

Birthdays and crafting - What a great combination

As I said on my previous postings I have been trying to get all my antics of the last week uploaded and failed three times so this is the last part of my post from the weekend. I have quite a number of birthdays this week and so have been busy trying to get together a pile of cards so I don't get caught on the hop so to speak. (non seasonal pun intended!)

Saturday I took my friend Hilary to a Jane Gill class at the Glitter Pot, which was great fun albeit there was a huge amount of cutting out which she was not happy about we did a great card using the Hero Clear Design - Printed Flowers stamps. (115/365)

I will link to the card on Jane's site once she has loaded it.

Afterwards we went off to another friends house for a party for her daughter who was four. We managed to arrive just as all the kids were worn out or leaving (what a shame LOL). Anna was having a great time and loved our present which was a big box of crafting goodies I had put together to start her on the right way forward.

We had a fantastic evening sitting around chatting to people that I hadn't seen for ages, but it was a little curtained as I got a call from Dean to say he had managed to take a bounce into his face when playing cricket and had just got back from the hospital. Fortunately they managed to glue and steri strip the cut, but he has a lovely shiner developing now!

Sunday was free so I managed to get our in to the garden for a while, but although it was sunny it got quite cold later on allowing me to sneak off and do some crafting for a little while.

I had a packet of acetate cards, which I had sitting in my stash for ages and this stamp just looked so good on a smaller layout.

Recipe: 116/365

Stamps: Penny Black - Squeeze 'til I squeak & Scrolling along!, Alota - Happy birthday to you, Woodware - Jane's script.

Paper: Single Fold acetate Card Blanks, Bazzill Bling - Hollywood and bank roll

Other: Embelishment - Craftwork cards, Stickles - diamond, White stazon, Watercolour pencils

Recipe: 117/365

Stamps: Penny Black - Squeeze 'til I squeak,

Other: Bazzill Bling - Emerald City & In The Pink, Cuttlebug - Bloom dots, The Robin's Nest dew drops - Poinsettia, papermania ribbon - Pretty Pink Floral, Birthday wishes from Craftwork cards, Ink Colorbox Queue - Tulip Field, H2O's - can't remember the colours, Green square card from stash.

Phew, well that just about wraps it up. All that precious crafting time wasted......

So its toodle pip for now - have to dash to get to my aerobic class

Sara

x

Birthday Bonanza

Well here is part two

I have so many birthdays at the beginning of May I was under quite a bit of pressure to get some cards made, but luckily for me (LOL) I had some new stamps from my visit to the Glitter Pot the day before to ink up so off I went.

Recipe: 111/365

Stamps: Penny Black Little Edition - Teddy and Company; Stamping up - Circle of f- riends

Paper: Bazzill Bling - Bank Roll

Other: Watercolour pencils, Quickutz - Nesting Flowers,Glossy accents, Stickles - Diamond

Recipe: 112/365

Stamps: Penny Black Little edition - Teddy and Co; Stampendous - Words
Paper: Bazzill Bling - Bank Roll, My Minds Eye - Graceful Circles
Other: Versamagic - Green Tea, Cuttlebug embossing folder - Bloom Dots, Quickutz - Nesting flowers, green dots and diamante from stash



I carried on the flower theme on the inside with the Quickutz nesting flowers from Crafts u love


Recipe: 113/365
Stamps: Penny Black Little Edition - Team Teddy
Paper: My Minds Eye - Graceful Circles, Bazzill Bling - bank roll
Other: Prima flowers, Brads, words from stash, watercolour pencils, Glossy accents, Stickles - Diamond

Recipe:
Stamps: Daisy & Dandelion Stamps - Dandelion Goes Fishing
Other: Coordinations paper, Glossy accents
Phew so far so good so am going to try and post this while everything is still working!!

Late Post for May bank holiday

AAAAH

I have trying to post this entry onto my blog for the last couple days and I keep having issues. Technology & I really don't mix LOL

So here goes.... my third attempt! I'm going to break this down into three posts in an attempt to sneak my entries into the 'puter.
So last week end ended up being really great as I managed to persuade Dean to take me down to the Glitter Pot on the Sunday in exchange for a nice lunch in a pub on route. There were some great demo's there and I picked up some really great ideas. Paula Pascule was using the new Co-ordinations Whitewash, which looks great with the cuttlebug folders. Jane Gill was showing us a miriade of uses for the Woodware Chippies and the lovely Stamping Caz was of course demoing the new 'Little edition' Penny Black stamps which were gorgeous and meant I had to have a little spend. Well it would be rude not too.......
So on bank holiday Monday I agreed to give up my 'crafting' day to go for a long walk. This ended up being a bit of a long walk interspursed with visits to some pubs on routs around the villages Cobham as the weather was pretty dodgey.

In between all the pub hopping we did manage to take a couple of shots of the blue bells.
And when Dean collapsed on the sofa later on I finally managed to to get some crafting done

Happy Days

How fab

Its Friday night of the Bank Holiday weekend. Three whole days of no work and it promises to be sunny as well. Miracles never cease! LOL So I have a plan I'm going to split my time three ways. One day for chores and the garden,which is rapidly looking like a jungle with all these alternating rainy and sunny days. One day for a day out with Dean somewhere nice. It would be pushing it too far to suggest a day out in West Sussex, maybe near a well know haunt of mine..... The Glitterpot. They have a Spring Spectacular Saturday and Sunday and it promises to be great fun with a line up of demonstrators as long as your arm.

http://www.theglitterpot.co.uk/scripts/

Check it out if you can.

Oh well can't have everything..... My final day is going to be all mine.... Dean is playing cricket on Sunday so if the weather is good it will be reading in the garden or if its not so great a full day of crafting. Utter bliss.

Here are a couple of cards I made the other night. I have a couple of friends who are expecting and I have to hope they are girls as I accidentally (on purpose) made cards with pinks and greens. Oh well I did make one in Lilac that should do if there is a boy in the mix...

Recipe: 107/365

Stamp: Ellie in pose No. 4 - Stampasaurus

Papers: Bazzill bling - In the pink & Envy, DCWV - Nana's nursery baby girl

Others: Cuttlebug - Swiss dots, ,stickles - diamond ,H2O's, ribbon and peel offs from stash

Recipe: 108/365

Stamp: as above

Papers:Bazzill bling - In the pink, Forever friends - Hugs and cuddles, bazzill dotted Swiss - Irish eyes

Others: Cuttlebug - swiss dots embossing folder, Stickles - diamond,H2o's, prima flowers, brad, peel offs and ribbbon from stash

Recipe: 109/365 (above)

Stamp: as above

Papers: DCWV - Nana's nursery baby girl

Bazzill bling - in the pink

Others: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Perfectly Paisley, peel off words, H2O's from stash

Recipe: 110/365 (right)

Papers: Forever friends - Hugs and cuddles

Stamp: Words from Rubber Necker

Ink - Voilet from Colorbox Queue - Tulip Field

Stickles - diamond

It isn't very easy to see, but I have decoupaged the bear at the bottom of the page to give it some texture. I was really stumped as what I could do with these sheets in the pack so using them all in one go, was actually a bit of a result.

I also made another card for my nephews 10th birthday this week, but stupidly forgot to take a photo as my brother turned up early to pick up his present etc so missed it in my haste. I will try and get him to send me a copy as it was really out of my comfort zone all blues and I used a new Stampendous perfectly clear spot's botz robot stamp set from Crafts u Love . Ho Hum I must be more organised in future...

So I'm off for a glass of wine to start the evening off.

Happy crafting

Sara x

Glitterpot Saturday

Forgot to mention that total is now 106 as I went to a class by the lovely Stamping Caz at the Glitter Pot.

Her style is quite different to mine so its always fun to go along and have a chat and a play..

http://stampingcaz.blogspot.com/2009/04/daisy-dandylion.html

I really am going now!

First Challenge

Hello everyone,

Well the time had to come where I had to embrace the blogging craft world of challenges, but being the chicken I am I thought I would start off by setting myself a challenge first before I ventured into the outside world so to speak. LOL

So where to start ....

I had a look through my stash and came across a sheet of Penny Black stickeroos, which are not really my thing (whats the point of taking out all the fun bit of stamping and colouring in!!!). So with stickers in hand I set off to use all the stickers up in one go.

Here are the results:
Recipe: 94 & 95/365

Penny Black Stickers - A bunch of love

Craftwork cards scallop card,Bazzill bling . Embellies from Stash

Cats eys ink

• Card above uses cuttlebug embossing folder - Bloom dots & Cut and emboss set - with gratitude
  Card to left uses Cuttlebug embossing folders - Bloom Dots and Hearts

Recipe: 96/365

Penny Black Stickers

Flowers from Lakeland Limited

Cuttlebug folders - Stylized flowers

Scalloped Square - Nestabilities

Message: Craftwork Cards

Brads & glitter from stash

Recipe: 97:365

• 
  
  Penny Black stickers (as before)
  
  
  
• 
  
  Paper - Deja Vu - Fresh mango, Bazzill bling
  
  
  
• 
  
  Frame - Sizzix - Bigz frame W/swirls & Flowers with additional swirls using EK Success large swirl Punch
  
  
  
• 
  
  Embellies - Craft work cards covered in Cats eye ink
  
  
  
• 
  
  Recipe: 98:365
  Paper: My Mind's Eye Double Sided Paper - Bloom - Eye Candy
  
  
  
• 
  
  Martha Stuart punch- Doily
  
  
  
• 
  
  Message - Craftword Cards Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Borders - With Love
  
  
  

Recipe: 99:365

• Paper: Scrappy cat - Lucious Lime
• Stamps: Woodware Jane's Script
  
  

Recipe 100:365 (Treble figures - WHOOO...)
Paper: My Mind's Eye Double Sided Paper - Bloom - Eye Candy,Bazzill Dotted Swiss Card - Clover Leaf

• Stamps: Woodware Jane's Script
• Flowers and brad from Stash

Recipe:101:365

Paper: Bazzil Bling and Dotted swiss card as before

Tiny woodware flower (doubled up)
Stamp: Woodware Janes Script





















And finally (drum roll please)................... I managed to get a total of 9 cards from one sheet. Not bad for one days crafting. (102:365

I think this is my favourite of the 'series' (oh look at me! LOL)
All of the items I have used in this card are itemised in the other cards above.
Phew I don't know about you, but I'm worn out now.
Speak to you soon
Sara x

Big Birthdays

Well this post is hopefully my final catchup of the day. My parents finally went home today so I have spent the whole evening doing all the things I had not manage to do over the last few days, namely finishing off the two birthday cards I needed for my lovely work colleague Michele.

One is for the staff to sign and one is from me.

This one (92:365) was for everyone to sign. So I left plenty of room inside to sign.

Recipe:

Stamps: Alota stamps - Happy Birthday, Hero Arts - Special Birthday, Penny Black - Scrolling along Papers: Magenta - Dancing Butterflies, Bazzill Bling - In the pink & Petty Cash, Craftwork Cards 8x8 white card stock. Other: Chipboard templates, Nestabilities, MS Punch, Cuttlebug - Butterflies (cut & emboss) and Birds & Swirls.

The next card was designed as I hated having all my birthday cards with numbers on the front so I stuck one inside...! LOL.

93:365

Of course it had to be a Gorjuss girl for a gorgeous girl! I really enjoyed making this card as all the colours are so spring fresh and I carried the colours from the paper all the way through.

The fun of this card is only revealed once you pull the ribbon to the right and everything slides out on either side and all the words are revealed. Don't you just love it...

I will definitely use this template again.

Recipe:

Stamps: Sugar Nellie Gorjuss Girls - Sitting & a little birdie told me. Inkadinkado Birds Galore, words & numbers - Fourth Dimension.

Papers:Bazzill Bling - Bankroll, Basics - Lakeshore & Java, Bobunny Abbey Road- Sky

Other: Memento Ink - Rich Cocoa, Coloursoft Pencils, Sansador,Stickles - Diamond, Green Ribbon, Nestabilities - Hexagonal, Pearl - stash, Punches - Woodware.

Night all

Saraxx

Easter fun and family

Well its a while since my last post, but to be honest in my defence I have been a busy little (Easter) bunny. For the last week I have had my parents to stay, which is always lovely as they live over 250 miles away and I don't get to see them too often.

I took my Mum out on the Good Friday to do a couple of classes at the Glitter Pot as part of her Mothers day present. The class was one run by Gaynor White who uses decoupage to fantastic effect. I have to say that this is not a technique I have used before and I primarily booked the class as a treat for my Mum, but the cards were such fun to make and the way she manages to transform a simple stamp into something so dimensional using just stamping and layering with patterned papers is definitely a technique I would use again.

Card 88 of 365 (well it looks like I will have count every card to make my target! LOL)



Recipe: Stamps: Magenta Cling Set - Garden Flower Tile Papers: Core'dinations - Dandelion, Bazzill Embossed Card - Vintage Vines - Ruby Slipper, Doodlebug - Snowdrift, Pebbles Inc Double Sided Paper - Basics Spring Green Flower/Dot Embellishments: Ladybird (Gaynors stash), Distress Stickles - Peeled Paint & Stickles - Stardust Other items: Friskars border punch, Glossy accents

We popped off to the local pub for a hearty lunch of Scampi and chips (well you can't diet on a Bank Holiday. It's the rules isn't it?). Then back for a little retail therapy in the shop and onto part two of the day.

This time Gaynor used a new Woodware stamp, which I would never have thought to use in this manner, but as you can see it is fabulous.

Card 89:365

Recipe: Stamps: Woodware - Mary & Friends, Penny Black - Clique, Hero - Bold Flourish Papers: Doodlebug, Pebbles & Bazzill Basics. Other: Ink Memento - Sky Blue, Stickles - Stardust
All available from The Glitterpot

Easter Sunday was spend crafting again as the boys had all gone off to watch the Rugby so Mum and I did some stamp swapping and I made a few cards as below.

Card 90:365 (& 91:365 as I made two from the same recipe, but assembled it differently)

This one was for my Dad's birthday which was on the 16th. He has just retired and for Xmas my Mum bought him an electric guitar (is she mad!), So I thought these stamps were pretty appropriate and beats the usual rugby and cricket fall backs I usually make!


I had great fun with this as the papers just seem to lend themselves to this design and I know I will definitely use these stamps again for male cards.


Recipe:
Stamps: Inkadinkado - Rock Star

Papers: Basic Grey - Archaic, Cream card - Craft work cards, bazzill - Java Other: Cuttlebug embossing folders - D'vine swirls & Diamonds in the rough, Craftwork Cards Card Candy - Chocolate Drops



Toodle pips for now

Sara

First photo

Well here goes... First photo posted although its taken me over an hour to try and move the slide show to the side bar. If anyone can advise how to would be very grateful