Snow in Surrey...

Finally had time to upload my snowy pictures. We have probably had about 4" althogether, and is wasn't until yesterday that my boys went out to play in the garden, since both their schools were shut.

This is what it looked like 'pre-kids', soft, white and snowy. Really picturesque, with only our cat's footprints in the snow:

and this is what it looks like now it has been 'kiddified'!

They had a great time playing out, and really enjoyed being 'snow angels'!

My Allsorts Challenge card for this week

Here is my entry into the Allsorts Challenge in which you either have to use old stash or new bits and piece, by following their sketch.

For this challenge I have used 'old' bits and pieces. The backing paper is from the very first pad I ever bought about 2/12 years ago, and the Thank You peel offs are from when I got married almost 3 years ago and had to make and write my thank you cards. The image is just something that I have had on the computer for a while, and the card used is pretty old too.

I've loved doing sketch cards lately, as it gives me inspiration, which recently has been severely lacking.

A card that I absolutely love...

I'm always looking for inspirations for new card designs and whilst 'blog hopping' last night came across a fab layout on MrsBsBlog which I felt inspired to try. This is my creation, and although it took me ages to decide which of my papers to use to go with the image, and to cut out all the matted layers I am really pleased with the result, and my next 10 cards will probably look very similar!

The image is the same one I used on the MSE challenge the other day, and I think the paper is Basic Grey - Sultry. I have used verious 'nesties' to cut the squares, circle and scalloped circle, and then just added some glittery ribbon and gems from my stash.

My Husband has made his first card using the Craft Robo

My OH's brother is moving house on Wednesday, so tonight my OH has been playing with the software for the Craft Robo and designed and made his first card with it. I had to give him advice as to the wording as he was going to just put 'Congratulations' on it, and told him to mat the house and put a backing paper on so the card wasn't too plain just being blue and white. This is the result and he is pretty chuffed with it:

With all the bits and pieces he bought at Hobbycraft at the weekend, it looks as though our house will have a his 'n' hers crafty corner!

MSE SKETCH CHALLENGE CARD

Rainmac posted a great sketch card to create a few days ago, and this is my creation for the challenge:
I have used an digital image that I have had for a while, which has been coloured in using Paintshop Pro. This has been cut out using the 'bug' and deckled rectangles. You can't really tell from the photo but the scalloped circle has been cut out on some self adhesive glitter film, which I managed to pick up at the weekend from Hobbycraft for 62p for 3 A4 sheets. I couldn't resist this bargain and ended up getting it in 3 different colours. I love it as I don't have to fiddle with DST/glue to stick it down!

The image and scalloped circle was backed onto some purple card run through the bug with swiss dots, and to finish it off I used a bit of glitter ribbon on the left hand side, and cut out a label on the glitter film and added a peel off. Really happy with this card, and love the sketch used. Thanks Rainmac on setting a great challenge.

My first cards, using my Craft Robo

Well, after my OH gave me a Craft Robo for Christmas, we have had a play, and have managed to make this card with it, from a template I bought from here.

From what I have seen of the machine and softwear, it will be able to produce some amazing things, and I certainly have a lot of learning to do. Whether I master it, I don't know, and I know how lucky I am to have been given it, but for the time being I have to admit that I still like my DST/scissors/cards and papers.

For my second attempt I made some thank you cards, which didn't exactly turn out how I wanted them to look, but are a bit different even if a little bit too plain:

My Christmas swap presents from Choccy

I'm on a roll tonight with posts on my blog, but just wanted to say a huge thank you to Choccy over on MSE for the fantastic Christmas swap presents that she sent me. She has chosen the presents well, and I love all the fab papers she sent as well as the brads and embellishments. The new cuttlebug 'B' plates will be well used too, and will shortly replace my 'manky' ones that really have seen better days. Thank you so much Choccy xx

I have a crafting buddy (well for a few more days anyway)

My niece has been staying with us for almost a month now, and being quite arty, she has spent some evenings making some last minute cards with me, late into the evening in the few days leading up to Christmas. It has been great to have a crafting buddy, and I will miss here when she goes home on Sunday. We were too busy talking, making and writing cards to remember to take photos of all of her creations, but here are a couple. This one she made for my mum:

And this one for her Grandad, using scalloped and plain circles.

A bit late, but my last minute Christmas cards ... part 1

Here are a couple of cards I made before Christmas for my mum and niece. I wanted the cards to look elegant and came up with these two, which both used a freebie image, that I downloaded a while ago, which I just coloured in different colours using paintshop pro, on the PC. Both looked very different, but I was really happy with the way they turned out:

Both cards had been 'swiss dotted' through the cuttlebug, and for the green one (my mums favourite colour, I used Papermania 'Naughty and Nice' Christmas paper. Then just added some christmassy ribbon and silver backing card to both images.

A bit late, but my last minute Christmas cards ... part 2

I've had a busy few weeks, what with one thing and another, so haven't been able to update my blog lately. In between present wrapping, shopping and cooking I did manage to find a bit of time for some last minute Christmas cards that were needed, as was really pleased with the results. All of the cards were made using gift tags that I picked up in a local shop - 12 for £1.00, which I thought looked really cute: