Merry Christmas to you all

At last I have finished making and delivering my Christmas cards for this year.  Here's a pic of the last card that I have made for this Christmas.  I really like the style of this card - made by sticking together 2 square cards to create a square tri-fold card, then I trimed about an inch off the base edge so that it didn't stick out too far - so simple to do but it creates a different look (and also solves the problem of top folded cards not standing up properly).  I think that I'll be making a few more of this style in the New Year. 

Merry Christmas to you all - have a great time!!!

Ruby bear

Here's Ruby - I finished her a few weeks ago but only just realised that I haven't put a photo of her on my blog.  She is made from some very soft and velvety fabric, recycled from an old table cloth.  Ruby was made as a little momento for my parent's Ruby Wedding Anniversary and she is now happily living in my mother's dolls house!

Anyway, Secret Santa teddy (see below post).  My parcel was chosen by one of the best teddy makers in our group - her work is stunning.  I hope that she likes the new addition to her bear hug.  I have my Sectret Santa parcel under the tree, eagerly awaiting to open it on Christmas day.  Had an obligatory squeeze of the parcel but I can't guess - feels like a small box with something squidgy on top - I'm still a small child at heart!

Secret Santa

Hi Bloggers, here's a couple of photos of my latest Crafty Creation.  It is a miniature teddy bear that I finished sewing this morning.  He is for a Secret Santa gift for one of the lovely ladies at the teddy making group that I go to every week.  As it is a teddy class, the Secret Santa gift has to be teddy bear related.  I have bought a teddy bear mug and I am going to pop him inside as an extra surprise.  He is made from a pale grey cashmere fabric and he is from a pattern that I got from a teddy making magazine.  I had a bag of steel shot delivered this morning, so his tummy is stuffed with a little bag of shot, making him a nice, weighty bear to hold.

Here he is in my hand - I think that this photo gives a better perspective of his size.  I haven't named him, I'll leave that job up to his new owner.  Hope they will like him!

Mom's birthday card

Here is the card that I made for my mom's birthday - which was on Sunday (the day after my birthday).  December is always a very expensive month in my family! 

I've used the Crafter's Companion Popcorn bear stamp again, and watercoloured it with Whispers craft pens.  I am enjoying watercolouring again recently - haven't stamped and watercoloured for a number of years.  New techniques are great, but I sometimes think that it's good to go back and revisit some old favourites.  All of the other bits and bobs are by Papermania and the border punch is by Woodware. 

I add extra glitter to the flower since taking the photo - which gave it extra sparkle. 

My mom loved the card but she loved the purple leather jacket that I bought for her present even more!

My birthday

Yesterday was my **th birthday and I had a fab day.  I had some great presents and some beautiful cards.  The card shown above was made by my lovely son - he is 9 years old and really enjoys card making with me.  I wasn't allowed to stay in the room when he was making this card though.

This card was made by my crafty friend MissyB - she's used a Pollycraft image, don't know what paper she used but it is brown, pink and very sparkly.  It is always nice to receive a hand made card because I know the love and hard work that goes into each and every one.  Big thanks MissyB!

My family spent the day at Birmingham Christmas market and craft fair.  I have never seen sooo many people!  The stalls were full of wooden toys, jewellry, bags, hats and scarfs. 

I wanted everything but came home with a Swarovski crystal bracelet, purchased with some of my birthday money. 

There were a huge selection of food stalls.  The boys had frankfurters and I had a box of yummy Chinese noodles - they sampled the noodles and had to have a box of those too!!! 

I shall definitely go back to the fair next year, but I'll try and choose a less busy time, next time.

Just admiring the sparkle of the Swarovski's as I type!!!

Cracking on with Christmas cards

Slow and steady is my motto for making my Christmas cards this year.  I have been making a handful each week, since about mid October.  I should have enough made by the big day.  Very unlike last year, when I kept putting it off, and I was still frantically cutting, sticking and glittering on Christmas Eve.  I vowed never to be so lazy again!!!

I have had to say no to making cards for other people this year.  I did feel really guilty about doing that but have enjoyed the opportunity of making my own at a leisurely pace.  I'm sure you crafters can sympathise with that - usually we are too busy making cards for everyone else and our own creations are made in a last minute mad panic.

Anyway, enough rambling on from me and I hope that you last last night's creation.

Recipe:
Image - Pollycraft (see box on sidebar) coloured with Promarkers and glittered
Ho Ho Ho Paper - DCWV Christmas Stack
Small flower punch - Papermania
Other bits 'n' bobs from my stash

60th Birthday Card

Here's a card that I have made this week for my mom's friend.  She will be 60 next week - she likes dogs, glitter and bling, so hopefully this card should fit the bill perfectly!

Here's what I used:

Image - Papermania - Daisy and Dandelion
Greeting & bling - Papermania
Glitter card & paper - DCWV
Nestablilities circle dies

Daisy and Dandelion card

Had a go at making a few cards with my Daisy and Dandelion Papermania kit from QVC. I know that mustard yellow is not really a conventional Christmas colour, but I think it work well with the backing papers. Who wants to follow the crowds anyway? Be different ...

Pollycraft Digi Stamps

While browsing through loads of crafty blogs, I came across Pollycraft. I loved the quirky designs and bought some great rubber stamps from their craft site. I also discovered digi stamps for the very first time, and WOW, I am totally hooked. The designs print out fantastically and I just love them. Cherry Kisses is my favourite at the moment and I have made a couple of cards today - hope you like them!

Here's a card that I've made with my Crafter's Companion Popcorn the Bear stamp, which I've fallen in love with. I used my Whispers pens to watercolour the image - I haven't water coloured for ages, think I need a bit more practise. Will have to get cracking making a few more water-coloured cards. The papers are from my DCWV stash.

The bears are getting ready for Christmas

My two recently made bears have started to get ready for Christmas. My Santa hats were a bargain find from Poundland (4 in a pack) and they are designed for dressing wine bottles, but with a bit of adjustment, make perfect Christmas hats for my bears. Both bears are made from the same pattern and are about 4 inches tall.

The little girl is, as yet, unnamed. She's made from a new mini bear fabric and I've used soft sculpting to make her nose and shape of her face more defined than the green one.

Here's a photo of Mushy Pea - so called because of his wierd green colour. He has been made from a vintage short pile. I haven't used any stitching to shape his face, I wanted him to have a more wider masculine face. I hope you like them as much as I do!

Teddy trio

Here's my trio of miniature bears which I completed in the Summer. After neglecting my blog for so long I have loads of my crafty creations to upload. They were made from vintage upholstery fabric - the smallest one is the smallest bear I've made so far and I've put him by the cotton reel to show his size. The largest, in the middle, is about 4 inches tall.

Funky Christmas

I can't take credit for this design - I adapted it from a design that I found on Jo Kill's blog (We don't do duvets) and I liked it so much that I had to make my own version of it! Different but I love it!

I'm back and still crafting!

I haven't actually been anywhere, just been trying to fit 48 hours of things to do in every 24 hours. Now that the darker nights are here, I can't get out into my garden so I plan to get more crafting done - and keeping my blog more up to date.

This is a card which I have made for an 18th birthday - using a Kanban sheet and DCWV papers, enbellished with my favourite jewels.

New home

I made this card a couple of nights ago using the Paper Nation decoupage sheets - matching it with my new DCWV papers. Hope it inspires you a little!

Men cards

I know I'm not the only one who find inspiration for "Men Cards" difficult. When I was asked to make a special 70th birthday card for a favourite uncle who likes cars and dominoes I was almost FROZEN WITH FEAR! Searched through my stash - couldn't find anything suitable; hunted around Hobbycraft - nothing there I liked; went to my local craft shop (MSA Crafts) and found the vintage La Pashe decoupage kits - what a relief - I don't like letting people down when I've promised to make a card.

Anyway, the customer was very pleased with the card and so was the recipient ... and I breathed a sigh of relief!

Keep saying I'm going to just do WYSIWYG cards but I always cave in!

(WYSIWYG = what you see is what you get!)

Paper Nation kimono lady

I've been neglecting my blog over the last few weeks but I've still managed to get some card making done.
This is the kimono lady card which I made for a friend at work - it was her 40th birthday - but I kept the 40 nice and small (I didn't want to rub it in too much!).

This evening I have finally finished sewing my latest mohair bear creation. She is a cute little panda bear - that I have made for a gift and as yet, she is unnamed. I've made her as a gift for a friend's birthday.

Ten minute card

Here's a very quick, 10 minute make, which I had to make in a hurry for an engagement card. It was well received and I was happy with the finished result, considering that sometime I can spend hours on a card which only ends up in the bin before being sent by me!

Dabble with die cuts

Here's a card which I recently made. The teddy with the pink bow was for a fellow crafting buddy - using my favourite teddy bear die cut. (Well, it's my favourite for today - my crafting likes and dislikes seem to change on a daily basis as wel as the type of crafting that I want to do!) I like the simplicity of black and white theme.

I am in a sewing mood today so my card making is taking a back seat. I have spent this morning hand sewing together a pink mohair teddy bear and I am just giving my aching fingers a bit of a rest!

My very first blog

Please bear with me while I get my blog up and running - I am a complete blogging novice but have decided to join the 21st century and join the world of on line crafty bloggers!