I've had a really lovely crafty week

Today is the last day of the October half term for my kids, and having taken the week off from work, we have done lots of lovely things. After baking and crafting on Monday we went to see Up at the cinema on Tuesday, and the boys loved it. We don't often go, because my youngest Jack (6) thinks it is too loud, but we have persevered and finally he will happily go. In fact if we had time yesterday we would have gone to see another film!

On Wednesday morning I drove up to Birmingham from here to take the kids to Cadbury World, and it was fab. As soon as we arrived and opened the windows so that we could have a picnic in the car, Harry said 'cor mum it smells just like chocolate buttons!' It really did, and when it was time to go around the factory the boys loved it and it was helped by getting 15 free full sized bars of chocolate whilst we went around, the kids were in heaven. We stayed over night as I found a hotel for £38 per night in the middle of Birmingham. I stayed for completely selfish reasons as living 'down south' we don't have any home bargain stores around here is found 6 within 10 miles of the hotel, so we visited 3 and got some bargains for xmas presents, and on the way to the fourth one, my satnav decided to die on me, so having no idea where I was really going we headed home. Got home about 4.30 yesterday afternoon, and spent a good couple of hours making some cards. This one is for my best friend who's birthday is on Tuesday:

I've used my nesties for the circle and scalloped circles with the cuttlebug, then run the purple backing paper through the 'bug with swiss dots' and added some ribbon, peel offs and flower embellishments from my stash to finish the card off. The image has been coloured in using the computer and paintshop pro, and I love the shading of the icing on the cake, although I achieved this completely by accident, and don't think that I would be able to do this again.

Cards for Alicia

These cards will be sent to Craftygranny (over on MSE) tomorrow for the appeal for Alicia:

I have really enjoyed doing them for such a worthy cause, and hope they can made a few pennies for the appeal.

And lastly...

This is a card that I have made using some of the bits and pieces I have in my stash. As you can see from all my cards lately I am addicted to using my nesties, although my 'B' plate on the cuttlebug doesn't look as prestine as it did now that I am doing lots of die cutting!

This card is for someone on MSE for her birthday next week. Hope she likes it, and it makes it despite the postal strike.

I've had a really crafty day...

Its the first day of the half term holidays and so having let my boys have a day on the wii, and now watching a dvd with popcorn I have spent most of the day crafting.

Firstly, I have made some Jingle Beans for Christmas, using some Ikea spice jars, and a huge box of jelly beans that I bought in Makro:

I've managed to make 4 out of the box using the white, red and green beans, and will just have to eat the other colours! The box of beans cost £3.44, and the jars were 4 for £1.99, so I reckon each jar has cost me about 93p. I've made the tag on the front on the computer printed out on photo paper cut with a circle nestability, and used the scallop nestability to cut out the red backing scalloped circle.

Then I with the boys I made some chocolate cookies, which are absolutely yummy!

And, finally, I have made a couple of baby cards for a friend who is expecting at the end of next month. She doesn't know what she is having, so I have made one of each:

The pink one has been made from circle and scallop circle nestabilities, which arrived at the weekend and I am already hooked using them! One of the scallop circle was then put through the cuttlebug with 'swiss dots'. When I went to buy some bits and pieces from one of our local shops I spotted the teddy and hearts ribbon and just had to have some. It is fab so I bought pink and cream. For the blue one I didn't want to use circles, so have just matted some different shades of blue card together, and rounded the edges with a corner punch. All the card,ribbon, gems and peel offs are from my stash.

My latest cards this week.....

Have had a really busy week with work lately, but have managed to make a couple of this week, the fist one being needed to post out before the post strike started.

This one is for my 17 year old neice who lives out in Greece. She is not really a 'girly' girl as she hates pink, and purple, so I have coloured the image in paintshop pro on the computer using greens and blues. The larger green card backed onto the white square card, has been cuttle bugged with swiss dots, and the smaller one is handmade paper which I found in a large pack in Poundland. The black ribbon running along the bottom is just from my stash.

This second card is for my Childminders daughter who turns 11 next week, and the image is the same as the one above, but has been coloured with pink and grey. Again the backing card has been put through the cuttlebug with swiss dots, and I have matted the image on silver card, and added some ribbon, and a flower with brad to finish it off. I'm really pleased with how these cards have turned out, and will definitely be doing some more like this.

It took me the best part of a night to cut out this decoupage castle for one of my best friends little girls birthday in December. Again really pleased with the result, and know her mum will appreciate the effort that I have put into making this card. The backing card and peel offs are from my stash. Again the castle was sent to me by Maria from MSE a while ago.

Finally I sent Rusty over at MSE my halloween card and sweets for her kids, and this is the card I made to go with the parcel. This is made completely from off-cuts that I had from other cards, and the butterfly was in my stash but was sent to me with a craft swap stash a little while ago. The backing card for the butterfly was run through the cuttle bug with swiss dots and matted onto silver card. The pink boarder at the bottom is an off cut that has again beein put through the 'bug' with a flower embossing border.

Will get on and make some cards over the weekend, and will post some more up soon.

This week's entry into the CCC Challenge..

This week's theme for the Creative Card Crew Challenge is Scallops, so here is my entry, and it also my entry for the MSE 'Halloween and Monster' Challenge.

The backing paper and which picture were free downloads of the net, and I have used paintshop pro to colour the witch in. Pretty pleased with how it has turned out.

Here's my challenge card for this months Autumn challenge over at Crafty Place:

I've made the card from 'hammered' cream card, and the patterned paper was sent to me from a stash swap so not sure what it is.

I've added an iridescence flower to the middle of the patterned paper, and another 4 on the bottom of the card. The patterned paper is backed onto some brown card, that I have run through my cuttlebug using swiss dots, and the brown border at the bottom is just an embossing board folder that I have also run through my 'bug'. The ribbon is from my stash.

Hope you like it and I have caught the essence of 'Autumn'.

Had a craft morning today

Have spent the morning, working out how many birthday cards I have to make between now and Christmas and it is 25 eeek. So I have this morning made a start and come up with these. Both are in the same style and I have used my swiss dots for the cuttlebug directly into the card:

I made the DL cards from A4 card stock, and mounted the images onto gold card, which I have picked up from a local fare at 5p for an A5 sheet. The butterfly is from basic grey Sultry and was one of the chipboard shapes. The pot of flowers and ribbon came as part of a CP stash swap a while ago. Everything else I have used has come from my stash.

This card is one for this months CP card swap entitled 'friendship'. The image is a Gorjuss Girl one, and since I don't have any promarkers, I have used paintshop pro to colour it in on the computer. I'm really pleased with how it has come out, and hope whoever receives it in the card swap likes it too.

More cards using my....cuttlebug!

After a really busy week at work, I have managed to spend this morning making some cards using my recent purchases of a cuttlebug, corner punch and square cards! I found a craft shop near me last weekend, so went and purchased some embossing folders for the cuttlebug, and was given a loyality card where when I get 30 stamps I get a £10 voucher. I wanted to get swirls but they had very limited stock, as they had been to the show at Sandown, so ended up buying a swiss dots folder. Have really enjoyed using the cuttlebug this morning and have made these cards. The first one is for my mum, to go with the swing card I made her for her birthday a couple of weeks ago, and is just a card to put some theatre tickets in. The paper is basic grey 'sultry' and everything else has come out of my stash.





This is the second card I have made for my Aunt's birthday next week. Here favourite colour is green and she loves anything spotty, so I have created the swiss dots backing paper using the cuttlebug and added some green spotty ribbon to the bottom, and thanks to flourgirl on MSE have backed an image from pinkpetty coat to some scalloped circles. The 'Happy Birthday' is a peel off from Anita's.







I have also had a go at making a coaster calendar for my desk at the office - thanks for the coasters 'Rusty'. I found this relatively easy to make. I really like it, even though it looks a bit plain. Would like to make sum more, and try the matching post-it pads.