Happy New Years Eve...

and happy 46th wedding anniversary to Mum and Dad :-) I hope you have a lovely day, and many more happy years to come. lol!

Anyway are we all recovering from the Christmas festivities? just in time to see in the New Year? we will be eating and drinking round at Jude's tonight with some of the family to celebrate the parents wedding anniversary and see in the new year. What will you be up to? hope it's something nice.

I have a couple of sneak peaks for you today of some of the anniversary cards I've made, I can't show them all as they haven't got them yet lol!

I've also been thinking about my new year's resolutions after reading Jude's blogs the last couple of days. I must admit I'm not very good at making and keeping them, but seen as how I've already made a really good start to one of them I think I can do it this year lol.

For the last few years it's been to try and stop smoking that year, but I never even attempted never mind succeeded, but this year I did try and I haven't had a cigarette for 12 weeks now! For anyone that knows me that is unbelievable, as I have been smoking for so many years and have never attempted to quit before, I don't think anyone thought I would. I'm not saying I'm there yet as there are some days..... but I'm doing well at the moment lol. As for any others, well I'm still thinking about those, what about you?

Thanks
See you all next year!
J
xx

Na na, na na, na na, na na..........

CRAFT CAVE! - lol

I've been working on a little sign for my craft room, affectionately know as the cave. It is hanging proudly on the secret entrance [OK the door :)] Would you like to see?

 
 It's not a Van Gogh, but I like it.






I've also done a couple of cards.  This one is for a friend's new grandson.  The others are for my parents anniversary so I won't show them until next week.

I really need to give the cave a good clean and sort out where I'm going to put all my lovely new toys.  I have quite a large room but it desperately needs some shelves.  Maybe then I'll get my stash sorted and put away.  I live in hope of one day being organised ;)

TTFN, Jude x

Sneak peek

New Year's Eve is our parents wedding anniversary - 46 years this year! We aren't doing anything special but we will all be together in the evening to eat chinese take away and see in 2013. By the way don't you think that's an ugly number? [or is that just me? :)]

Anyhoo, this evening I have put together the card I have had in my head for the last few days and I must say it has turned out rather well.  I can't show it all but here is a quick preview.

I've used some new papers I bought today in the Hobbycraft sale.  I only went in for some embossing powder and spent over £60!!  I do have some nice things to play with though and I will show them over the next few days.

I've also been thinking on the resolutions and I may have another but I'll share once I've decided. 

Have a super crafty Saturday, TTFN Jude x

My New Year's Resolutions (and a card)

I can't believe it is Friday already.  Where has the week gone?  All the stress and worry in the build up to Christmas and it's over in a flash!  It'll be back to work before I know it - blurgh!!

Anyway it has been pointed out (quite forcefully) that I don't blog often enough.  Therefore the first of my resolutions for 2013 is to commit to writing more than the occasional post when I'm nagged at.

My second is to try and simplify a little.  I'm about to enter a new phase in my life and I'm not quite sure what I want to do with it yet.  What I do know is that it needs to be much less stressful than the last 23 years have been!!

By Easter my youngest son will have moved in to his own home with a room mate from school and I will be able to be Mum again instead of his carer.  It's quite a daunting thought not being responsible for every minute of his life but it's also quite exciting.  It's like having a new book that hasn't been written in yet and I get to dictate the story.  Oooo now that's getting a bit heavy - I think I'll leave that thought there and come back to it some other time.

My third resolution is to be more organised with my card making and not always leave them to the last minute.  I have started well with this having made a card for my niece whose birthday isn't until the end of January.  Not sure how long this will last but it's the thought that counts lol.  Here's the card.
I followed a sketch I found on another blog (not sure which one so can't credit them - but thank you for the inspiration)

It's made mainly from my Hunkydory stash with some bits of paper and ribbon from my off cut box and a birthday stamp I bought on ebay.  I think it turned out quite well, even if the picture isn't very good.

I'll think about the rest of my resolutions over the next few days.  I would love to hear what ones you are going to make!

TTFN Jude x

Daisy card

Good morning all,

I hope you are all recovering after the festivities of the last couple of days. It's been a madhouse for us but we have enjoyed it soooo much.

I thought I would show you a different card today. This is one I made earlier this year for my dad to give to mum.

I really like this card, it's very simple but very pretty. The image is a download from the Craftsuprint website. All I did was print the image on to photo paper and cut out the decoupage pieces. I then mounted it all on to a piece of shiny black card which I embossed with a flower embossing folder.

I added the extra daisy's and pearls to make it really stand out, then just the simple sentiments to finish it off. I think it turned out lovely and I know mum loved it too.

See you all tomorrow.

Thanks
J
xx

It's Boxing Day already...

I can't believe it's all over. After all the build up the day is done and everyone has now gone to bed after a lovely day.

Well the magic reindeer food must have done the trick at our house :-) As the big man in the red suit had left lots of lovely gifts for us all, and when we got up this morning he had made short work of the mince pie and milk that my grandsons had put out for him, and even Rudolf must still have been hungry as the carrot  had been eaten too. lol.

He had left me some lovely crafty gifts, including this gorgeous stamp set that I can't wait to start playing with :-)

It's got 75 different stamps in and comes in a lovely wooden box, I've never seen one like it before.

We all got some lovely gifts and even Batman dropped in for a visit. The hall was a huge success, thankfully, but I forgot to take any pics lol. luckily my daughter did take a few after she had set up the table. This was before the addition of glasses and little gifts lol.

I am really glad we did it though as we have all had a lovely day even though we did nearly manage to lose one of our grand daughter's in all the wrapping paper lol :-)

Hope you have all had lovely days too.

Thanks
J
xx

Merry Christmas

Good morning all, and happy Christmas,

 

I hope Santa has been good to you this year and left you some nice surprises under the tree. Our house is in total chaos with presents for four grandchildren and their parents everywhere. But we wouldn't have it any other way :-) seeing their faces when they love something is what we do it all for, and it just wouldn't be the same without all of the family together at Christmas.

 

As we have quite a large family now, with children, grandchildren, partners etc. none of our houses are big enough to accommodate us all for Christmas lunch. So someone came up with the idea to hire a room this year, and as we had used the local church hall for a christening earlier this year and knew the facilities it had we decided to give it a go. So today 18 of us will be siting down together to Christmas lunch all at the same!

 

Hopefully I'll be able to share some pics with you soon, if I remember to take some lol and it all goes well! If not you may not hear any more about it lol.

 



So enjoy your day wherever you are, happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Thanks
J
xx

Happy Christmas Eve....

Good morning,

I hope you are all happy and starting to get into the Christmas spirit. It's finally starting to feel like Christmas in our house :-), the grand kids have arrived and the house is total bedlam lol.

I think I have at last finished all of my cards, well I better had as I have given them all out and I don't think I have missed anyone ;-) Just a few more little things to finish today and hopefully tonight we will be able to chill out and relax before the mayhem ensues tomorrow lol.

I do love Christmas, just not all the hassle that goes in to it beforehand, and that seems to get more and more each year! I sound like a right bah humbug don't I ? I'm not really, just a little stressed this week. Lol.

Anyway all I have to post today is the last of the Christmas cards. I'm sure you are all getting pretty fed up of these now lol, so no explanations, just the pics and I'll see you all tomorrow.

 

Have fun whatever you are up to today.

Thanks
J
xx

Last minute Christmas cards...

Good morning all,

 

Hope you are all well and keeping nice and dry and cosy warm. I know some places have had awful weather this week so I really hope no-one is badly affected. We are very lucky that living in a city built on hills the rain doesn't affect us as bad as some other areas.

 

Today I thought I'd show you some of the last minute cards I've been making.

They are all very simple, not a lot to any of them. Just some co-ordinating papers and some ready made sentiments. The little girl card is a digital stamp from a Christmas CD that I borrowed from my sis. I love this image of the carol singer. I've used it on a few cards but all coloured in different shades so all of the cards have a totally different feeling, but all really nice.

The rest are just printed toppers and and the die cut Christmas tree. I do keep managing to get a tree in there somewhere. I never realised until this Christmas that I have such a love for Christmas trees. lol

Anyway that's all from me for now, I'm off to try and get some sleep. See you all soon

Thanks
J
xx

Finally finished the wall hangers....

Well actually I didn't finish them! my daughter did :) I have just run out of time to do everything that I had planned so now I'm having to scale it all back a bit :( I don't like doing that, I know logically it will make no difference at all on Christmas day if we don't all have matching place cards with our names on them for dinner lol. But it's these extra little things that I like to do :)

Anyway, we decided to go all different colours with the kids name wall hangers.

The photo is rubbish (it was very late last night when I got round to taking it!) but they do look really nice, now I've just got to find somewhere to hang them before they all arrive for Christmas:)

See you all tomorrow
Thanks
J
xx

A few more Christmas cards...

Good morning, not many days left now. Oh just realised how bad that sounded! especially when according to some, today is supposed to be the last one ever isn't it?

I just meant not long now until Christmas lol.

These are nearly the last of the Christmas cards for this year, I promise:)

The first one was an experiment after seeing a card someone had sent to my mum. It looked so simple I thought I'd have a go at copying the look. I took a scalloped square and drew a thin branch on to it using a black fine liner pen. Then I added a few leafs and a couple of stocking toppers. I mounted it on to some Christmassy paper and on a 6x6 card blank, and finished it off with a ready made sentiment, some twine and a red button. I liked how it turned out so will definitely be making these again in the future.

 The second one is using the same boot stamp from the other day. But this time in a different colour scheme. I do really like this stamp, I've used it 3 times now and it looks good in three different colour ways.

 

The last card is a ready made topper mounted on to some co-ordinating card and paper with a large die cut snowflake added, from the Spellbinders snowflake 2012 set.

 

Three very different cards but I like them all lol, how about you?

 

See you all tomorrow, hopefully;)

Thanks

J

xx

Some little jewellery gifts...

Just for a break from the cards I thought I'd show you some of the little bits of jewellery I have been making. Today's are earrings:

 

 

I think they are really pretty, especially the butterfly ones, I think these may just find their way to my jewellery box instead of a gift bag lol.

What do you think?

Thanks
J
xx

       

Less than a week to go....

Good morning, are we all getting in to the festive mood yet? or are most of you like me and still running around like a headless chicken? lol

 

With only a few days now until the big man in the red suit comes to visit, I am still making Christmas cards! I don't think I have ever been so disorganised before, even last year when I was laid up after a major op six weeks before Christmas I was more organised than this!

 

So for the latest cards simplicity was the key.

 

 

 

They don't need any explanation really, just Kraft card DL blanks with some ready made toppers, a bit of ribbon, some fancy paper and of course the odd bit of bling lol, and they were all done and dusted.

 

See you all tomorrow

Thanks

J

xx

Christmas Stockings...

I thought I'd show a couple of cards today that I've made for my Mum's friends.

 

 

 

The first one is quite traditional. I've used a Kraft card 6x6 blank and added a piece of quite vintage looking paper to it. I then stamped a greeting all over the paper in random places that says 'Wishing you a Merry Christmas'. I used a metallic bronze ink for this as I think it's very subtle. Then I added the journalling card and coloured a cardboard bauble with promarkers to match the colour scheme. I attached a length of ribbon to the top and finished the card off with a fancy staple and some holly.

A close up of the staple and holly, aren't they pretty?


The next card is quite different. Much brighter and a bit more contemporary!



For this one I used a stamp from Crafter's Companion and coloured it using their Spectrum Noir pens and some metallic promarkers. I mounted this on to a piece of Christmas paper and cut a frame from a co-ordinating paper using a new die I have bought. This one is called the Romantic Song frame and is from the Die'sire range.

To finish it off I added some rolled flowers which I coloured to match and some flat backed gems. A few sprigs of holly and some glitter and all done.

Hope you like them

Thanks
J
xx

An Anniversary wish ...

 

Good morning all, I thought we'd have an anniversary card today. This one is made using the Humphrey's Corner decoupage pack again.

I love these images they are so cute and can be used for lots of different occasions. I thought this one was perfect for an anniversary card as at the very bottom of the picture, (which you can't see from my rubbish photo. lol) it says, 'Always and forever' ahhh.

 

I simply stuck the layers on using silicone glue, then added the image to a piece of fancy purple card. This card is part of the Hunky Dory range, and the card is so thick! Can you believe I couldn't find a piece of ribbon to match, and as I'm sure Jude will agree I have quite a lot of ribbon lol. Anyway in the end I went for a simple piece of lace. I think it worked quite well. What do you think?

 

Thanks

J

xx

 

 

Doggy Pile....

Good morning,

 

Happy Sunday to all :) I've used one of my favourite stamps for this simple birthday card. It's called Doggy Pile and is made by Whipper Snapper Designs. I picked it up on eBay a few months ago.

 

 

I like it because it can be used for so many different cards, male or female, and you can colour the dogs any colours you like.

I stamped this using a grey ink and coloured with promarkers. I wanted to keep it very neutral so I teamed it with some neutral card and ribbon and mounted it all on a 6x6 card blank. A simple ready made sentiment and bow finished it off nicely.

What do you think?

Thanks
J
xx

Quick and easy

Thought you might like to see the cards I've made my son for his class teachers and other students.
These are very simple stamps with fine liner borders and basic colouring with promarkers. Like I said "Quick and easy".
TTFN Jude x

Fairy Christmas....

Good morning, I thought I'd show you today the first Christmas card I made this year. It was way back in September when I started making them and I'm still at it lol.

 

 This was made using a fairy stamp but I thought if I coloured her in a red and white dress she'd look like a Christmas fairy. I stamped her with black ink and coloured with promarkers. Then cut her out using a circle die and mounted on to green card. I then mounted these on to an embossed A6 card blank, added a matching sentiment and some bling and she was all done and fairy dusted ;)

This is the second card I made :)

 

This time using some stamps that were free on a craft mag. Again I stamped with a black ink and coloured with promarkers. I matted and layered them with silver mirror card and blue card and added them to a 7x5 card blank. You can't see it on the photo but there is a layer of accetate over the top of the image with silver stars stamped and embossed on it. It does look really nice close up lol.

 

That's all today, can't remember what the third card I made was, lol.

 

See you tommorrow.

Thanks

J

xx

Happy Christmas Humphrey...

Good afternoon!, sorry for the post been so late today, I am up to my eyes with stuff at the moment so having to fit in the posts when I can Lol. I'm sure you all know what I mean, especially at this time of year!

Anyway a little Humphrey's Corner card today, I think this range is so sweet. I started with a 6x6 card blank and added a die cut scalloped square to the front in coredinations card. Then I used a fancy label set to cut out a co-ordinating paper and then the smaller labels to make a frame for Humphrey to sit in. I stuck 3 frames together and raised it with foam pads to give a bit of depth.

I finished it off with a small sentiment tag and a peel-off Happy Christmas, a few gold stars and a decorated band round the spine. What do you think?

Thanks
J
xx

Old London Town

Here I am in my cosy hotel room feeling sorry for myself as my sore throat is getting worse. At least I have a reasonable view if the Excel Centre and Royal Victoria Docks

Off to the smoke

On my way to London today for work and not back until Friday night! It is -7C and horribly icy this morning. Brrrrr!

I hate overnights especially when I'm feeling rough. I've got a rotten sore throat and cold and want to stay home. That way I could play in the craft cave lol xx
Oh well I'll just have to make up for it at the weekend x

Keep warm and enjoy your day j x

Baking day...

Well I spent a good part of yesterday baking for Christmas :) Along with my dad we managed to get flour just about everywhere in the kitchen lol.



 But we did manage to rustle up some tasty treats between us. They may not look all that great lol, but the smells coming from my kitchen were amazing and I am reliably informed that they taste good too :)

And seen as how I had an order from my mum for 2 fruit cakes for her friends! I thought I had better get these done too. I took this photo just after I took them out of the oven last night and I wish you could capture smells on camera! well sometimes anyway ;)

Thanks
J
xx