Craft day!!

Well it's craft day on QVC and I am so excited. IT's my DO work as well so can watch TV and craft to my hearts content. I have already ordered the Cosmo Cricket TSV. It is just delicious and have been waiting for this for months since I saw it on QVC America.

I love the vintage feel to this kit and such outstanding value. I just have to wait for it to arrive now so I can have a play! I am also considering getting the BIG BITE. I already have the original cropodile, but may just treat myself to an early christmas present! Decisions, decisions!! :-)

Well enough about QVC,here is another christmas card I have made with my new Elzybells christmas stamps. I am totally in love with them!

Elzybells image was coloured with my whispers pens, snowtex added again to create the snow effect. The stamped sentiment is from a studio G clear set. Matted onto green CS and red mirricard. The background paper is left over from the card I made the other day and was free from a magazine. Green CS embossed with cuttlebug folder, distressed with emery board to highlight the design. Snowflakes have been punched from silver mirricard with my x cut punches, adhesive gemstones added to the centers for added sparkle.

Well have a good day everyone, whether you're working, crafting or whatever you're doing. If you're watching craft day try not to spend too much money!

Vicky x

Jeanette's blog candy!

There is some fab blog candy up for grabs over at Happy Thoughts and Inkspots. Jeanette is celebrating reaching 10,000 hits after only a few months of starting her blog.Wow! Pop over and take a gander as her creations are just fabulous, hence the 10,000 hits!

Happy Birthday Vicki!

It is Vicki's birthday today, so this is the card I sent to her to wish her a wonderfully special day!

I also included some images of my new Elzbells christmas stamps by way of a present!

The image was kindly given to me by a friend on the do crafts forum and I colourd her in with my whispers pens. The background papers are both from papermania. Stitching added with my sewing machine. The sentiment is from craftwork cards and matted onto purple CS. Flowers are from prima. The sentiment on the inside is from a studio G clear set, papermania paper and my own doodle border!

I hope Tara liked her card and enjoys using her Elzybell images. Happy Birthday Tara!

Vicky x

I've been tagged..

... by Sally and Sarah. Thank you both.

RULES:
1: Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2: Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3: Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4: Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

Seven Facts about me!!!

1. I have recently moved house and bought my first home with my wonderful boyfriend
2. I am addicted to shoes and handbags (like most women!)
3. My favourite food is italian, closely followed by Indian (well most food really!)
   
4. I am a member of weight watchers and have lost 22.5 lbs in the last 16 weeks, still want to lose another stone, but have gone from a size 16 to currently a size 12/14. My final aim being a size 10/12
   
5. I am double jointed in my shoulders and can dislocate my shoulder blades!
6. I am doing a Masters degree in community nursing practice at Huddersfield University as well as working part time as a community staff nurse
7. I love going to exotic places on holiday, my favourite destination is the Maldives. Everytime we go I hope my boyfriend will drop down on one knee and produce a big diamond (but he never does!).

The seven people I would like to tag are:
Tara
Katy
Natalie
Vicki
Sandra
Rach
Bev

I love to visit all of these blogs, they are a great source of inspiration to me!

Vicky x

Winter Wonderland!

Well I seem to be on a roll with my christmas cards! I like to make different cards in different colours so seing as I've made a few in the traditional green/red/gold I wanted to make a blue one.

The image is one of my recent stamp purchases from Sugar Nellie and has been coloured with my whispers pens. The background spotty paper is from last years DCWV Christmas paper stack. The CS is from the new coredinations range. I love the coloured inner core, as you can see on the right where I have torn it! Blue CS also embossed with snowflakes folder and distressed with an emery board to make the snowflakes 'pop'. The sentiment is from a studio G clear set and the snowflake brads are from a papermania brad caddy and I have added a few pearl beads to the tops of the snowflakes.

I am going to visit some friends this weekend so may not be able to do much blog hopping. I will try and get round to you all when I get back tomorrow!

Hope you all have a great weekend, enjoy the glorious weather!

Vicky x

Cute Card Thursday!

The challenge over at Cute Card Thursday this week is 'lots of sparkle'! So this is what I created!

I decided to use one of my new Elzybells stamps that I got this week. I am in LOVE with them! This image is from the Christmas Dinkies set, coloured with my whispers. I have stamped some snowflakes on the background and added glamour dust to them. I then added snowtex (3D snow effect paint) and glamour dust again to create the illusion of snow.It's the first time I have used this and am really pleased witht the result. Here is a close up so you can hopefully see the sparkle a little better.

Doodle border added to the image and matted onto green CS. Background paper was free from a a magazine and matted onto green CS again. Right side of card embossed with snowflake folder, sentiment from a studio G clear set. The white snowflake brads are from the papermania brad caddy!

I am really pleased with this card, I love the colours and think it's really christmassy!

Thank goodness it's friday. Lie in tomorrow and no work until monday! Yipee! Enjoy your last day at work everyone!

Vicky x

Monkeying around!

I thought I would take a break from making christmas cards so here is a card I have made for my nephews birthday next month!

I have used one of my favourite new stamps, the changito birthday monkeys, coloured in with my whispers pens. Matted onto DCWV CS. The background paper is also from DCWV, corrugateddark brown card, and the sentiment was created on my dymo machine, matted onto CS. Three buttons, threaded with green satin ribbon to finish! Hope he likes it!

I start back at university today after the summer holidays. I am doing a part time Masters degree 2 days per week (as part of my job), but I also work 3 days a week, so there may be a little less time for crafting once they start handing out the essays! :-(

Vicky x

Quick Christmas Card!

This is a quick christmas cars that I have made, one that I can make in bulk for my general cards. This doesn't hapen very often lately, but you may have noticed there is no stamping on this card! It is also quite rare for me to make A6 cards, I've got a thing for square cards at the minute!


Christmas tree has been cut freehand from some DCWV christmas stack paper. Although if you have got papercraft inspirations this month (November) there are some free acrylic templates and one of them is a christmas tree! Matted onto red CS and gold mirri card and adhesive gems added for baubles! Background paper is also DCWV, matted onto red CS again. Gold snowflake brads are from a papermania brad caddy. Sentiment is a rub on from Traditional American Crafts. Et Voila, a quick christmas card for those multimakes!

I was busy last night playing with my new elzybells so will hopefully have some thing created with these gorgeous stamps to show you really soon!

Hope you all have a good day, thanks for stopping by.

Vicky x

Han's blog candy!

Han has some fab blog candy on offer to celebrate reaching 20,000 hits. You go girl! So pop on over and take a gander at her marvelous creations!

Just a quick post today, my Elzybell stamps have arrived today and they are soooo fabulous. I've had a quick play with them and they stamp so crisply. I can't believe I haven't bought any of these sooner. I will post a picture of them tomorrow!

Hope you are all well!

Vicky x

Tis the season to be jolly...

...fa la la la laa la la la la! I could not stop humming this song whilst making this card! I have made this card using the Ismaki challenge sketch and am going to enter it into Vicki's pins and needles challenge. She is giving away some gorgeous blog candy to celebrate 20,000 hits and her birthday on the 28th Sep! If you don't already know Vicki and her blog (which I'm sure most of you already do!), pop over and have a look at her fabulous creations!

This card blank is just slightly smaller than A5 size, I got a christmas colours CS kit from QVC a couple of years ago and have just discovered I have some left. Love this green, nice and traditional christmas colour. Stamped image is one of my new sugar nellie's and she has been coloured in with my whispers pens. I have stamped some snowflakes faintly onto the image background, not sure if you'll be able to see if you click on the image. Background paper is from a Brenda Pinnick christmas kit I got from QVC last year, CS is from the coredinations range, you can see the inner coloured core where I have torn it, love this! Sentiment is from a studio G clear set, snowflake brads are from papermania brad caddy, stitching around outer edges of card done on my new sewing machine and organza ribbon with hat pin through to finish. I just want to say thanks to Rach for advising me that the zig zag stitch is more forgiving, I much preffered working with this stitch!

I really enjoyed making this card, it took me long enough to make but I love the end result so it was worth it!

Back to work for me today :-( After 2 long weeks off work and crafting to my hearts delight I'm back to the daily grind of boring work! Oh well, I need to earn some epenies to buy all that lovely craft stash!

Have a good day everyone!

Vicky x

Sketch Saturday!

My niece is 2 in a couple of weeks and I have been meaning to make her card for a while. So whilst my OH was watching Golf yesterday I thought I'd use this weeks Sketch Saturday LO and make her card. I really enjoyed using this sketch, I just hope I've done it justice as I haven't done a sketch challenge in a while.

The image is Fairy Maggie from Sugar Nellie. I have paper pieced her dress with papermania paper and used watercolour pencils and whispers pens to colour her hair and face. I have added plentyof irridescent glitter to her wings, wand and stars on her dress, I just hope you can see it on the close up of the picture. The CS is from the new coredinations range and the spotty paper is from the new papermania sweet nothings range, I love these papers, so girly! The sentiment is a sticker from a QVC kit I bought ages ago. I don't normally like using stickers, but I couldn't find anything else to match and thought this went quite well. I have covered the chipboard '2' with paper (also from sweet nothings range) to make it match as it was previously blue, edged it with pink ink and then covered with 3d gloss for that lovely epoxy finish! The pink dots in the corners of my card were punched from the coredinations CS and 3d gloss added again!

I would also like to enter this card for Vanessa's candy giveaway as she was looking for a glittery card!

Well more of the golf on today so should be able to get some more crafting done before I go back to work tomorrow! :-(

Enjoy your Sunday!
Hugs, Vicky x

Lots of Candy giveaway's...

... at the moment.

Bev has a wonderful whiff of Joy Willow with hot chocolate stamp to giveaway, along with some ribbon and flowers. Pop over to her fabulous blog to be in with a chance of winning!

Beth has some really cute Forever Friends papers and a stamp up for grabs over at her blog, so what are you waiting for, head on over and check it out!

Vanessa is also giving away some 'bits and bob's' candy to celebrate her birthday and over 12,000 hits. All you need to do is make a card that incorporates glitter somewhere.

and finally Carole has some fab goodies to give away including a magnolia stamp, ribbons and papers. You need to visit her blog, not just to enter the candy but to take a peek at her fabulous creations!

Good luck everyone, Vicky x

Well and truly stitched up!

I thought putting stitching on my cards would be a relatively easy process. How wrong could I be! Having never used a sewing machine before how was I to know! After this, my first effort, I may have to go back to faux stitching, either that or just do a LOT more practising!

I'm not entirely hapy with this card. It probably wouldn't have been so bad without the stitching! I managed to get the stitching on the background paper relatively straight, However, on the image it's somewhat higgledy piggledy. My OH asked if I'd got parkinsons! Oh well, we learn from our mistakes!

The image was sent to me by Sally and coloured with whispers pens and irredescent glitter glue. The background paper is from last years DCWV christmas paper stack, and the white CS was embossed with the cuttlebug snowflakes folder. Sentiment is from a stugio G set and matted onto coredinations cardstock before adding anita's 3D gloss to give that epoxy finish!

On a brighter note I am really excited as I placed my first order with Elzybells yesterday! I don't have any of these stamps yet but have seen some of the fantastic creations out there. I hope they don't take too long to arrive, I want to play!

Have a great saturday everyone, whether you be cooking, cleaning or crafting!

Hugs, Vicky x

Birthday Bella for a friend!

This is a card I have made for my friends birthday next week. I wanted to try something slightly different for me and use a side tab to put my sentiment on.

The image is Bella and I have coloured her in with my watercolour pencils and whispers pens. If you click on the image for a close up you can see that I have added some irredescent glitter glue to the wine glasses and just above to give the illusion of bubbles! The background papers are from the new papermania sweet nothings range. The CS is from the new coredinations pack. All of the edges have been inked with black ink to add definition! 'Happy Birthday' is from a penny black clear set and has been stamped onto a Colorbok adhesive chipboard tab. The other sentiment is from a See D's set, the happy birthday on this stamp was masked off so I could just stamp the 'To a special Friend'. Finally flowers are from prima and the pearl brad is from papermania!

Hope you all enjoy your last day at work before the weekend, unless you're unfortunate enough to be working the weekend! Take care & happy crafting!

Vicky x

Have a holly jolly christmas!

Here is another of my recent christmas card creations. I am really pleased with the final result, very traditional colours, but I think the pink petticoat image gives it a modern twist!

The image was kindly given to me by Katy and coloured in with my whispers pens and matted onto red CS. The background papers are last years DCWV christmas stack. The sentiment is a rub on from American Traditional Crafts, matted onto red & green CS. The holly border is a peel off, unsure of the make, that I got last year from a craft fair and the LO is an old one from friday sketchers (several weeks ago) that I liked so much I used it again!

We had a lovely day out in Blackpool yesterday, the sun was shining and we had a real 'scream' at the pleasure beach. But boy were we tired when we got home!

I'm not back to work for another 4 days so am hoping to get some more crafting done. I am really enjoying being able to look at all your blogs again now I am back online. There is some truly inspirational blogs out there, so keep up the good work everyone!

Vicky x

I've started my christmas cards.

Well after seeing so many of you had started your christmas cards I was beginning to feel inadequate so thought I'd better get a start on mine!


I made this monochrome card first and was really pleased with how it turned out. My OH said he would prefer it if it were in more christmasy colours so I also did it in red/green as well, which he prefers. I think I prefer the monochrome card though, not as traditional but quite contemporary I thought!

The right side of the card was embossed with the cuttlebug snowflakes folder. The background paper was from a DCWV christmas paper stack that I got last year. I stamped the santa collage image (from rubber stampede) onto acetate. and attatched it to some irredescent glitter card with eyelets. Matted onto some foil card and secured to card with foam tape to give it dimension. Simple design but effective I though. I think I may do quite a few of my christmas cards in this design. They are really quick to do, ideal to make in bulk. I will make more special one's for family and close friends! I love this stamp. My OH bought it for me last year and I am so pleased he did as it appears to have been discontinued and the only way to get it is off of ebay. Most of these one's have been used and seem to be selling for nearly 3 times what I got mine for!

Anyway, I'd best get a wriggle on as we're going out for the day today. We are both off work for 2 weeks as we were going to go on holiday, but following the recent house move it has been postponed until early next year. Most of the past week and half has been spent organsing the house and decorating, so we thought we deserved a day out. Don't laugh but we are going to Blackpool! In the three and half years me and my OH have been together we have never been to Blackpool so we have wristbands for the pleasure beach and are going to scream ourselves silly on the 'big one' and stuff our faces with donuts and fish & chips! Mmmmm Donuts!

Hope you all have a good day, no matter what you're doing!

Vicky x

New nesties card!

This is my first card made with my new oval nestabilities which arrived last week from cut@home in the US. I already have the circle nesties and have seen lots of wonderful cards made using the oval's so had to mae these my next nesties purchase! Still have the square and rectangle to go though!!

The image was kindly sent to me from one of my buddies on the do crafts forum, Gina, so thanks Gina! I coloured it with my trusty whispers pens using a watercolour technique and matted it onto my nestie oval scallops cut from pink and green CS. The background paper is from the papermania retro floral paper pack, and the glitter strip of green card was cut from my DCWV glitter stack. Flowers are from prima, kindly sent to me by Tara in a recent RAK (thanks Tara!) and the sentiment is from craftwork cards!

Tfl, Vicky x

My new toy!

I've wanted a sewing machine for a while now as I've seen lots of stitching on other people's cards that looks fab. I was going to put one on my chrstmas list, nothing too fancy as I will only be using it for my crafts (I'm definately not a seamstress!). I'd seen one in argos for £49.99. But then yesterday afternoon I was in Tesco and saw this one!

It was half price at £24.98 and was calling out to me to be bought, so naturally I had to listen to my instinct and purchase it! I've had a quick look at the instructions and boy does it look complicated. I've never sat down to a sewing machine before (my mum will be sooo dissapointed with me!) so haven't the first idea what to do with it. I have a feeling it may take me a while to get the hang of it, so don't hold your breath waiting for any cards in the next few days!

If anyone has any helpful hints and tips then I would love to hear them!

Vicky x

I'm back...

... and not before time!I have been going stir crazy without my internet!

Hello everyone, nice to be back. The house move went well, we are still settling in, but slowly getting there. Lots of things still in boxes though. Not managed to organize my craft room yet but I've been in there over the weekend getting creative whilst my OH was putting up curtain rails and light fittings! Bless him!

Don't have anything to show you tonight as I still need to take pictures of them, but I just wanted to say hello. I'll be coming around your blogs and catching up on what you've been up to whilst I've been offline over he next few days!

It's so good to be back!

Take care, Vicky x