Happy New Year 2021

 Hello my lovely bloging friends,

It's New Year's Eve and time to reflect on the year that we're about to leave behind.  What a year it's been!  I don't think any of us could have anticipated what this year would have in store for us all.  I won't dwell on it for too long as I know that it's one that we'll not be too sorry to say goodbye to.  The hardest part of the year for me was losing my wonderful Sister-In-Law.  It came as such a shock to us all and then not even being able to attend her funeral due to the Corona restrictions just made it all even harder to accept.  There's not a day goes by where I don't think about her and my heart breaks for my brother, their two daughters and for their children who've lost their much loved Nanna.  I will always hug my loved ones that much tighter from now on as we never know what life has in store for us.  

The one thing that has kept me sane throughout this crazy year has been my crafting.  I'm so enjoying being a part of the lovely Design Team at Crafty Individuals and an added bonus is that two of my best blogging buddies, Sally from Crafty Salutaions and Lynne from Creative Lynks have also joined the team.  I was also given the opportunity this year to design some scenic stamps.  I really enjoyed the process and people seemed to love the stamps, which was great  I just need to get my thinking cap on again for a few more designs.  Jean and Malcolm from Crafty Individuals are such lovely people and I wish them both continued success with the business. 

Talking of my crafty friends, there are a group of us which includes Viv from Viv's Visuals and Joan from Night Time Stamping, Sally and Lynne and we chat to each other most days.  There's always one of us on hand if we need any crafting advice or just a shoulder to cry on.  More importantly, we have lots and lots of laughs....that's usually down to Viv who has a wicked sense of humour.  I feel incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends and if any of you are reading this, I love you all to bits xx

Finally onto my wonderful and loyal followers, I wouldn't be here without you, so thank you  Blogland is so much quieter than it used to be as Facebook and Instgram have taken over but blogging isn't just about pressing the 'Like' button, it's a place where you can get to know each other just that little bit better.  I love it whenever anyone leaves a comment and I love to visit other people too to see what they've been up to. It's also great to be in touch with so many like minded people as we all know that 'look' that we get from family when you start to talk about cards and they roll their eyes:)

Well it wasn't going to be such a long post but I've waffled on as usual, so I'll share some cards with you now before I go.  Here are my favourites from each month of the year:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

That's my year of cards! 

May I take this opportunity to wish you all the very best of everything in 2021.  I wish you peace and happiness and may you love and be loved always.

Take care, stay safe and I'll see you next year xxx

Merry Christmas 2020

 Merry Christmas 2020

Wishing all my wonderful crafty friends and followers a very 

'Peaceful and  Happy Christmas' 

x x x x x x x x x x x

Pablo The Penguin

 Hello my crafty friends,

How's it all going.....good I hope.

I'm here with a few more of my recent samples for Crafty Individuals and this one features their new Penguin stamp 'Pablo.'  Now I have to say that many people have fallen in love with Pablo and I'm no exception!  He's a little sweetie and the DT have made some amazing samples with him.  My friend Sally has made some shrink wrap earings and a beautiful bauble.  You can see what fabulous makes she's done with the new stamps here.  

My first card was a labour of love as there was lots of masking involved.  My idea was to create a choir with Pablo as the lead singer.  I masked Pablo to put the snowmen behind and then masked the snowmen to add the Christmas trees.  Judging by Pablo's face, he'd rather be at the back with the others!

A simple card with Pablo against a lovely Crafty Individuals background paper.

Finally, using one of my favourite techniques which is to use white embossing on Kraft card.

See what I mean, he is a cutie isn't he.

Right then, I'm hoping to get maybe one more post in before the big day.  Time to crack on now with another batch of mince pies.....well, it is nearly Christmas and we can always diet next year ;)

Take care and be happy xx

I'd like to add my first card into the following challenges:

Try It On Tuesday - Christmas Sparkle

Country View Crafts - Anything Christmas

The Artistic Stamper - Christmas

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes

Echinacea

 Hello my crafty friends

I'm here again today to share a few more samples that I made for the Crafty Individuals shows that were on Hochanda on the 5th of December.

Only a short post from me today but I hope to be back again with you all some time during the week.  Until then take care and stay safe everyone xx

Let's Go Sailing

 Hello there,

I just can't belive how quickly the weeks are rolling by and we're now only a couple of weeks off the big day itself.  We're used to noisy family Christmas' but this one will be a quiet one spent at home with just the two of us.  That's what 'Corona Virus' has dictated and so we will just have to make the best of it.  My heart goes out to anyone who'll be spending the festive period alone.  I always try to live by the motto of count your curses once and your blessings twice.  The events of this year and our sudden loss of a much loved family member has reminded me that we should never take anyone or anything for granted!

Okay, let's move onto the matter in hand which is to share with you a couple of the samples that I made for the Crafty Individuals shows on Hochanda last week.  There were four new stamps and the two cards that I've made here were made with the fabulous 'Boat' stamp.  They were all lovely to work with but this one is my favourite:

On this first card, I've used Brushos in the background and a CI text stamp.  The harlequin pattern was created by running some all purpose filler through a stencil, then rubbing it back when it was dry.  The sentiment stamp and seagull are also stamps by Crafty Individuals.

Again using the same stamp but this time using an aqua colour.  This shows the thing that I love most about stamping and that's that you can take one stamp and yet create so many different looks with it.  All the other stamps that I've used in the background are older stamps by CI.

The four new stamps are now on the CI website and there's a discount on them if you buy them in the next week or so, so well worth a visit I think.

That's all from me for today and I'll try to get back in the next few days to show you what I've made with some of the other new stamps.

Take care and stay safe xx

A Christmas Card and a Sneaky Peek

 Hello there my crafty friends,

I hope that you are all keeping well and happy.  The weather is definitely turning colder here and it looks like we might have a little bit of snow in the next week or so.  Brrrrrrr

I'm here today to share a Christmas card that I've made recently using some new stamps by Crafty Individuals.  Here it is:

The robin is an older CI stamp and the beautiful foliage stamps are new.  They were designed by my very talented teamie, Isa.  They are so versatile and as you can see here, I've stamped them up a few times and decoupaged them.  They are a joy to colour and can make your cards as simple or as complicated as you'd like them to be. 

Now while we are on the subject of Crafty Individuals, Our lovely Jean Hardy has two show on Hochanda this coming Saturday 5th of December.  The first one is on at 7am....yes, I know, it's very early, so if you can't watch it, then why not hit your record button and enjoy it later.  The second show is at the more reasonable time of 1am.  Unfortunately, Jean has to take the time slots that Hochanda dictate.

This time, the new stamps are by artist Sharron Bates.  I've had great fun as always making my samples and here's a sneaky peek at a three of them:

 

I'll be sharing these samples and more with you once the shows have aired.  Until then Take care and stay safe.....and warm! xx

I'd like to add my first card into the following challenges:

The Artistic Stamper - Christmas

Country View Challenges - Anything Christmas

The Holly And The Ivy Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes

Christmas

 Hello there,

Well, it's the 1st of December and Chrismas will soon be upon us, so let the festivities begin! :)

Back in October, I was lucky enough to be the Winner of a challenge that I'd entered at 'Country View Crafts.'  In addition to winning a fabulous £20 voucher to spend online in their store, I was also asked if I would like to be their Guest Designer for December, which I kindly accepted.   Their theme this month is 'Christmas' and here's the card that I've made:

I decided to use one of the stamps that I designed for Crafty Individuals back in August which features the beautiful robin.  I know that you can see them all year round but nothing says christmas to me more than seeing one in the snow.  I created some hills in the background and I made the background a little darker, so that with snow would stand out more.  The snow was created by splattering with a white Posca pen.  The stamps that I've used today are by Crafty Individulals and the sentiment is by Inkylicious. 

I really enjoy entering the challenges over at Country View Crafts.  The inspiration from their Design Team is always amazing, so why not pop along and take a look.  Better still, why not join in with this 'Christmas' challenge.

That's all from me for today but I hope to be back with you all again soon.  Wishing you all lots of fun throughout December xx