pages from my december journal & a gift

Just a quick post today to share the latest pages from my december/christmas journal

I didn't do much at all on the 7th so i've just been sticking christmassy things all over the page!

Also, i've finally put together my dads christmas gift!!

I've put together a diary for him, he loves music, so this paper was the perfect choice =) i've used the tim holtz winter distress inks to colour it. The letters were cut on my cricut

I use the same distress in on the inside cover and put glue onto the red covering from my sticky strip and placed it round the edges to create the effect you can see at the top of the page. My dad is always taking notes so after each month i've added 2 pages of note paper.

thats all for now, got to go and put a scrapbook kit together for my mother in law =)

xx

Christmas Journal

 I've seen a few people  who are journalling their december/christmas and you can join shimelles online class here http://www.shimelle.com/paper/1284/journal-your-christmas-2011-online-scrapbooking-class/ i would really liked to have joined but i can't justify the cost this year =( will definitely be signing up for next years (it will be included in the xmas budget!!)

Still working on my opening page, i want it to be a bit of a christmassy collage

So i spent me afternoon putting my own journal together. Now i'm no expert book binder so all i did was stitch some of the polka doodles ultimate graphic card together with my cover which is stampin up card stock (sorry can't think of the exact colour !). The image is a christmas freebie on tattered and inked which i printed and then inked with the new winter distress inks.

The numbers i've used for the pages can be found here they are actually in red but i printed them off in greyscale and then decorated them myself, you could still do this with them in the red as many of the designs are very 'open'

I've made too many christmas cards, so i've used one here as a pocket

My journalling may still be not be great but it's getting there and i'm trying to  just use what is around me, i don't want this to be a project full of shiny brand new products (SHOCK HORROR!!) i want it to truly represent this holiday season =)

I'm going to try and post my new pages daily (or every other day at the very least). Hopefully this will keep me on track, as this lil project is supposed to help keep the christmas stress at bay!

xxx

got my crafty mojo back =D

I know my posts have been very sporadic lately, and i apologise to my lovely followers (albeit a small number!)  but to be honest i've just not been feeling very creative lately =( Its that time of year when the hubby spends the majority of his time at work, and it gets me a bit melancholy, you'd think i'd be used to this by now but hey ho!

thanks to sum surfing round blogland i'm back and feeling rather more positive and getting into the festive spirit =D

Before i share what i've been up to i want to share with you some of the blogs that have inspired me...
http://craftyloops.blogspot.com/ Lee, a fellow docrafter, always makes lovely, just a lil bit different things. Shes a fab flower maker but i love all the books and little embellishment items she makes(check out her stick pins)
http://tatteredandinked.blogspot.com/ great freebies and inspiration for all manner of crafty projects
http://dyan-reaveley.blogspot.com/  has inspired me to have a go at journalling: not art journalling i'm not that brave!
http://www.smashstoriesblog.com/ recently got myself a smash book, so its nice having a little nosey at what other people are using theirs for.
http://sweetly.weebly.com/ lots of amazing free printables

any way thats just a few of the bits and bobs i've been looking at (the bits are saved on my ipad!!)

sooooooooooo what have i been up to!? well as i said i have been inspired to start journalling. I like the idea of having a record of my daily life, as well as special occasions. I've started with a small moleskine cashier notebook, and put myself together a lil journalling kit

I'm starting myself off simply, and taking my inspiration from the smash book phenomenon. Everyday i write down what i am 'currently' doing under the following headings...
Listening
Eating
Drinking
Wearing
Feeling
weather
Wanting
Needing
Thinking
Enjoying
sometimes some things don't really change much (like the weather at the mo!) but its really getting me thinking, and i'm sure my style will grow with time.

so you can see my decorated journal

everything all wrapped up

I think this post has gone on long enough now, i've got a couple more bits and pieces to share with you but think i'll pop them on another post!!

TTFN!
XX

Finally made progress...

with my christmas crafting! sorry i've not blogged for a while, had a lot going on lately so unfortunately blogging (and crafting slightly) has taken a bit of a backseat =( but enough of that! I've been getting myself quite stressed about christmas this year but i am finally getting there and have made a couple of gifts, bought a few more and have some more projects ready to go =D I've even got lists now!! so feeling a bit more organised and a little less stressed!

The first thing i wanted to share with you is this little jewellery box i've decorated for my mum.

it really didn't take me long at all, i was watching kirsties handmade britain and she was making a decoupage seagull and straight away i just got up grabbed some papers, pva, paint brush and a little wooden box i'd been hoarding for ages and got cutting and sticking!

Secondly i want to share my version of a smash book, i saw this scrap 365 magazine and, seeing as i have been coveting smash books for ages now (i have finally ordered myself one & i cannot wait!) i just could resist giving it a go.

This will be going to my sister for christmas, its a great way to use up your stash, and i had great fun picking out all the papers and playing with all the different bits and pieces to put this book together.

I cut pockets and tags from my cricut, inked up some postcards, and put in some stickers had i had around the house (mostly picked up in pound shops, wilkinson etc.) so she has a few bits to use with the book.

The kit on the front contains a small glue stick, a couple of pens, a date stamp, a small pair of scissors and i'm hoping to add a small masking tape or something similar, so she can scrap on the go. i really enjoyed putting this together and i know i'll end up making loads but thats fine, i'll give some as gifts and i'll use the rest. They are perfect for me anyway.  I keep a lot of little bits and pieces, in fact i have a box full hidden away somewhere which would probably fill a few books in one go!

another birthday card!

Tomorrow is my middle sons 4th birthday tomorrow, and to say he's excited is an understatement!! this is the card i have all ready to give him in the morning before he dashes it aside (after taking the badge off) to open his presents!!

i've used another LOTV image as the main image and the papers were actually 'scraps' from other projects! the card blank is from hunkydory and i got my distress inks out on it, as well as the lettering for is name ( cut on my cricut).

anyways better go wrap the presents now!

Bit of a late one tonight...

but I had to share! I've been really wanting to start scrap booking for a few months now, but i just didn't know where to start. I have so many pictures on the computer its ridiculous,  i've been thinking i need to buy a whole co ordinating scrapbook set and i'm a bit scared of starting with a 12x12 page. But tonight i got all that out of my head!! I've found a 6x6 album i like and i decided to start with the newest arrival to our family and then from there i hope to move on to a 12x12 of all three of my boys.

So this is what i came up with...

Sorry about the quality of the pic, i'll try and get a better one in the daylight

I drew a sketch based on a 12x12 page I saw (sorry can't remember where right now!) and adapted it for my 6x6 page. i have to say, i'm really proud of myself for just getting on with it and i can't wait to so some more pages (just got to get all my pics printed now!!)

Birthdays...

I have a fair number of family birthdays from september onwards (as well as other events such as my anniversary!) today we had a birthday party for my (now) 7 year old and soon to be 4 year old, so now that i am taking some time to relax after having a bunch of over excited kids running around i thought i'd share a coupe of the cards i've made so far.

The first is the card i made for my sons 7th birthday which was on monday

The image is a lilly of the valley stamp which i have coloured with spectrum noirs and copics. i cut the puzzle letters out on my new cricut (which i got for my anniversary at the end of sept) and inked them with real red stampin up ink. the badge is actually  from haven, my sons been collecting them so i keep a small stash of them as little treats and this one worked well with the colours for the card.

my mums birthday is two days after my sons so this is the card i made for her...

The stamp i have used is one from the kanban fashionista sets. I inked the base card with crumb cake stampin up ink and stamped with a birthdays wishes sentiment stamp, also from stampin up and the crown image is from the same kanban set as the dress. the card across the middle was embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder (elegant script i believe)

The zipper rose and the hat pins are from creative expressions, the other two flowers were cut on my cricut and inked in pumkin pie and early expresso stampin up inks. i used card candi for the centres which i also inked to match. the main colours used in this card came from the flowers as i made a whole batch of them while i was experimenting with my new toy! and i just loved this colour combo =)

and finally (i promise this is it!) the gift i made for my mum...

originally i was going to do a floral display (she really likes paper flowers) but during one of my evening colouring sessions (while hubby was watching some rubbish on TV!) i fell i love with this image (from Polka doodles - a double sprinkle of kraft cd rom) so i decided to work around it =)

The image was coloured using a mix of copics and spectrum noirs

I used more flowers cut from my cricut coloured using distress inks, copics, spectrum noirs and stampin up inks. the scrunched flower was cut using the peony spellbinders die.

This butterfly was also cut using the cricut, i cut all the layers in very vanilla cardstock and the inked the bottom two layers to create the effect and added some self  adhesive rhinestones for a bit of bling!

its my dads birthday on wednesday and my middle sons birthday on friday so i'll be back to share those projects soon =)

Quick baby shower card

last week a friend of mine had a beautiful little baby girl :) so i'm a bit late in posting this card! i wasn't going to other but i think its soooo cute! (hopefully you'll agree!)

It was really quick and simple to make, which is lucky as i didn't leave myself much time to put it together! i used one of my fee j designs cd roms and just added a little hint of glitter and a glittery peel off over the join between the papers. the letters for the wording are from the do crafts me to you range.

over the next few days i'll have a few cards to share as i've got a few family birthdays all together so i've messed up my recently tidied craft space making cards for everyone =)

21st birthday

For the first time ever, i was asked to make a card on behalf of someone else!! it was a lovely confidence boost, but also very nerve racking, it would not be good to muck up for someone else!! i didn't have much to go on design wise but anyway heres what i came up with...

the backing paper is by K & Co from my huge 'best of' stack :), the butterflies, letters and numbers are from the double sprinkles of kraft cd rom by polka doodles and the flowers are some hunkydory ones i had floating around my stash.

i got to use my brand new bigshot (even though its not my birthday yet..hehe) to make the mount for the '21' to live on. this card ended up very pink, which i haven't really done before, but i took my cue from the polka dots in the '2' and went from there. all in al i must say i am very pleased with this card, i almost didn't want to hand it over!!!

Thankfully i was not the only one pleased with my results the card has been very well received, so i am smugly relieved at the moment...until i have another crisis of confidence that is!

Party Time!...

Next month my two biggest boys will be celebrating their birthdays with a joint party (yes they are still young enough for me to get away with this!!)  so i have been busy making the invitations. Well to be honest its only a small party, and i actually took all the time deciding what products i was going to use (and buy!), coming up with the design and putting them together actually didn't take too long :)

Anyway in the end i bought some Bo Bunny space stamps (the partys in the space room) for the rocket which is the main feature for the invites.  For the inked background i used night of navy ink pad from stampin' up and textured white card stock from papermania. the base card is also from papermania, and the wording stamps are again, from stampin' up.

I was inspired to do the background in this way at christmas card club with vicky, my stampin' up demonstrator, i'll upload the card that inspired me as soon as i take a pic of it.

Stamp a stack with stampin up

On saturday was my monthly class with Vicky my stampin up demonstrator and, as the title of this post suggests we made a stack of cards, complete with box to store them in (which vicky had kindly already made up for us to save time - all we had to do was the fun part, the decorating) we made six cards using the springtime vintage suite, with enough materials to repeat them again once we got home. I have to say i was very surprised how versatile the collection is, as initially i thought it would just be quite girly but it works well for male cards and lends itself nicely to the distressed look. anyway here are all the cards....

Look what i've been up to...

I've not picked up a set of knitting needles for a while but, after getting Let's get crafting knit & crochet half price at doncaster racecourse i finally gave it a go again. i must say i am very pleased with the results =) i've just got the next issue and am going to give a pair of frog slippers a go, and i can't wait for the christmas issue next month, i'm going to try making socks!!

Then i put my jewellery starter kit to good use to make a little birthday gift for my niece, again i'm pretty happy with the results, especially as it didn't actually take me too long to put together (she only has a small wrist!) i think a few people may be getting jewellery for christmas this year!









finally i put together a little name book to be used as an example for the summer holiday kids club my husbands running in his pub. he asked me to put a few crafty projects together for a couple of the weeks to keep the kids busy and this is one of the projects i came up with.

I cheated and didn't use my full name (i was a bit pushed for time!)