Happy New Year Bloggers! A little on the late side, sorry!!!

Gosh, Hello Bloggers, I haven't been in this part of the cyberspace world since May last year!  I had to post on my class blog yesterday which reminded me I have been seriously neglecting my own little blog.  I think I may have said in May that I needed to visit more often so, as it's still January, I shall make a New Year resolution to do just that.  There are so many projects that I've made and not uploaded that it will take too long to explain how they were all done!  So..  what I will try and do is post them as photos over the next few weeks. Feel free to slap my wrists if they don't appear!  Here's one or two to be going on with!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Two baby cards using my Cricut - simple 8x8 cards and a Birthday card using a digi image from Charmed Cards and Crafts.

Well....It's a start!!

Leaving to have a baby x2

Here are the two cards I made this week for two associates who both left work on Friday.  They're large 8x8 cards so that all the staff could write a message. Both use a digi image from Bugaboo which I paper pieced and coloured with my usual pens!  I used Spellbinders Labels 20 for the mounts, my Cricut for the embellishments and various flowers and gems from my stash.  I haven't used flat flowers for ages, I love Wild Orchid Crafts flowers but they are such a devil to get in an envelope!!  As you can see one recipient was blonde and the other dark brown with olive skin!

ps.  One of them knows she is having a baby girl! :)

Mo Manning and an apology!!

Gosh!! It's soooo long since I was here - I'm sorry for neglecting my little blog but I just haven't got round to updating it lately.  I am still here and crafting away, I have loads of projects to upload as well as all the holiday photos.  I had a fantastic summer holiday in Tuscany and an equally fantastic week in Derbyshire this summer. I've been busy crafting away too but am now back in the rut of school and work and the time just flies by.  I have big apologies to make to my lovely Penny Black friends (you know who you are!) as I've missed so many Birthday celebrations lately.  I do intend to make up for this soon - I've just been a rubbish friend this year!! 

Anyway, before I go again here's a little card I made using a Mo Manning digi stamp 'Celebrate'.  I used my trusty Promarkers and loads of glitter!  The dp is Basic Grey ( a piece I had laying around) and the sentiment is LOTV. I cut the banner on my Cricut and used Wild Orchid Crafts flowers to finish it off.  Hope this will keep you going for a day or so, will try and post a few more this week.  So sorry again,

Table Numbers

This is a set of table numbers I made for a friend's wedding.  I made ten of them in a gift box.  I used Centura Pearl card in Ivory ( it has a lovely gold shimmer) which I cut along with the numbers on the Cricut.  I embossed a flourish on each side with pearl embossing powder using a stamp from Creative Expressions. I used gems on the antennae.

Time for Some Cards!

About time I posted a few of the things I've made during the beautifully sunny month of April!  I'm just going to add some short descriptions otherwise I'll be doing this for ages.  Hope you don't mind.

 This is a birthday card for a retired friend. The pyramage image and backing paper is from my 'You're Never Too Old!' CD.  The sentiments are from Craftwork Cards.

 This  A5 one is a Jolly Nation decoupage sheet and backing paper for a friend's husband who was starting a new job in the City.  I used my Cricut for the letters.

This is the 8 x 8 square card I made for my Brother last month.  I scanned a page from my one of my Rupert annuals (we're both big fans and have had annuals since we were children - we buy each other one for Xmas every year now!)  I decoupaged the characters and used a font like Rupert to make the greeting and my Cricut to make Brother.  The sentiment is from a  Kanban set I got from QVC.  I used glossy accents on the balloons.

If you have a spare half hour.....

.........then check out all my blog posts for January. I've added all the things up until this week which I've made lately instead of blogging!! Life has been so busy - no time for challenges. I have a few more cards to add which I have made this week but I'll do them at the weekend. Meanwhile here's one more Christmas card - a quick design with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and a Cricut glittered tree! See you at the weekend. Hope you all enjoy looking through my crafty cupboard. ( I really do need a real crafty cupboard actually - I hadn't realised how much stuff I had until I had to clear the dining room for Xmas dinner - shocking!!!) lol

Round Lili of the Valley Birthday

I used my Cricut to cut out a round card and mats for this Birthday card. The image is from Lili of the Valley stamped and coloured with Promarkers. This time I used a Prima flower! The sentiment is another from Craftwork Cards, these are so handy.

Party Boy Birthday

This is the card I made for the teacher I work alongside of and this is what he's like. The image is a digi download from Kenny K downloads called 'Let's Party' which I coloured with Promarkers. I cut the sentiment on my Cricut.

Here's the card I made for Uma's 30th Birthday. I die cut the 30 on my Cricut and used a flourish stamp from Creative Expressions to embellish it and also gold stickles. The bp is from Dovecraft and I used the same Tilda stamp as the last card with Promarkers. Three Prima flowers and a Craftwork cards sentiment finish it off.

Unusual Golden Wedding Card.

The card in its box

The verse on the little book.

The inside card insert

The spine

The box and matching tag

Open to reveal inner card

Homemade seed packet with real seeds.

This was a real challenge - a golden wedding card with the themes: fishing, cinema, gardening and reading!!! A challenge if ever there was one. So this is what I did:

Firstly the card is like a book, the main image is the poster from the film 'A river runs through it' for the fishing/cinema aspect. I photoshopped the blurb to read Golden Film Productions and changed the director's name to the card recipients. The front of the card closes by slotting into 3 hearts one of which has a bouquet made from flowers from Hobbycrafts. Inside I attached another card. I made a little bookatrix book with a verse about a garden by Thomas Moore. I made a sunflower seed packet and called it 'Golden Anniversary' which I filled with sunflower seeds. I thought they could grow them next year. The letters were cut on my cricut as was the little sunflower on the packet. This card is fixed inside the first and opens to reveal the insert. The spine of the card reads Golden Wedding. I then had to make a box as it wouldn't go in an envelope! I think I covered all the briefs!! The friend who it was made for was thrilled with it and it's going to her partner's parents next week so I hope they like it too.

Simple Retirement

This is a retirement card for a lab technician at my husband's school, apparently he liked to read the Rapid Catalogue all day!! The words are cut on the Cricut.

Tilly Cake No 2

This is the second cake with a cream and white theme this time. The photos aren't great again but you get the idea. I'm going to make a Golden Wedding themed one next. I used Kanban embossed card again, it comes in cream or white in 12x12 card and is absolutely gorgeous.

Tilly Wedding Cake No1.

I have made two of these so far and loved every minute of it. This one has a red and white theme, the wedding colours. I used Kanban embossed card for the cakes and then just embellished them with ribbons, flowers and hearts. You can go to town on the embellishments. I used Pinflair glue gel to glue them on. I used peel offs on the box. The template is from Arty Farty and was easy to make. They come out of the box but I didn't have time to photograph them as it's fiddly to get them back in. The sentiment on the box has the bride and groom's names and the wedding date. I cut the Mr & Mrs tag on the Cricut.