After a long time of not being around, I'm back, blogging once more but I've set up a new blog which you can find here.  Look forward to catching up with everyone and hope you'll join me once more

Little Owls

I fell in love with this owl stamp, which came in one of the free Sale-a-Bration sets and so it was used as the basis for both cards for my February class. There's going to be a matching punch coming out in the new mini catalogue next month (at least that's the rumour) but even without the punch it's a fab stamp to use and easy to cut out by hand.

I also got my first clear SU set - "Confetti" which we used for backgrounds, a really versatile set of little stamps, that I know are going to come out time & time again.

So here's the details:

Card 1 -

Cardstock & Ink - Soft Suede; Melon Mambo

Stamps - Punch Bunch; Confetti

Punches - Scallop Edge; Two Step Bird (branch)

Card 2 -

Cardstock & Ink - Soft Suede; Crumb Cake

Stamps - Punch Bunch; So Happy For You; Confetti

Other - Circle & scallop circle dies; button & leaf from stash

I also made a sweet baby card using the label stamp from Punch Bunch so I'll try & get that up here in the week too - gosh two blog entries in one month - that'd be a bit of a record for me!

January's Class Cards

Well hello there, here's a shocker me finally posting on my blog again after months of absence. Life sort of got in the way for a while there, including work and I just got out of the habit of crafting never mind blogging and it's still pretty much that way, but thank goodness for my classes which make me get in my craft room and crafting, otherwise I don't think I'd be making any cards at the moment.

So this month at class was very exciting because we moved into my newly renovated craft room; for the last 18 months classes have been held around my dining table, but now I'm no longer working from home as a Cambridge Diet Consultant I've been able to turn my office/craftroom into a dedicated craftroom with room for a table in the middle for classes.

The above picture shows my Friday evening class around the table - getting this lovely lot to stop talking for a minute to take a photo is quite a feat I can assure you! We always have refreshments and my lovely friend Sue spoilt me rotten as my birthday is coming up in a few weeks and she brought a box of cupcakes from Queenies of Ironbridge. If you live in the Telford area and haven't been to Queenies, go - go now! The cupcakes are scrumptious and we all really enjoyed them, so thanks Sue - they were yummy!

So onto the cards we made this month, both are using the set Ornate Flowers and we did a bit of embossing. I've really been struggling with ideas lately, due to not crafting and not blogging I guess, so I had a look at the gallery of ILWS and took some ideas for both these cards from there, it's a great source of inspiration.

Details:

Stamps - Ornate Flowers; Tiny Tags

Colours - Early Espresso; Melon Mambo; Whisper White

Other - Stampin' Embossing Powder in clear, Tiny Tag punch

Details:

Stamps - Ornate Flowers; Trendy Trees

Colours - Daffodil Delight; Real Red; Whisper White

Other - Stampin' Embossing Powder in clear

And finally I just want to say thanks to all my followers who are still with me and not got bored and wandered off - I wouldn't have blamed you! Also a big hello to Avril who hasn't been able to come to class due to ill health and always looks on my blog to see what we've been making. Sorry for the delay Avril, but here's January's cards and hopefully you'll be with us again in February.

Happy (Belated) New Year to you all too!

This month's class makes

I decided it was time to think about Christmas - gulp - as there are only really two classes, Oct & Nov for making Christmas cards, as by December it's too late. So I ordered one of the new SU Christmas stamps sets, along with a very handy matching punch (I love how SU have matching punches for some of their stamps)

The idea for the first card (the turquoise & brown) came from a card I saw on ILWS by Carol Houghton, she'd used the branches from the Bird Punch and I though that was a great idea and have cased it - thanks Carol

Here's the details:

Stamps - Delightful Decorations; Best Yet - sentiment(retired)

Cardstock - Tempting Turquoise (retired) Green Galore; Chocolate Chip & Whisper White

Ink - Tempting Turquoise; Chocolate Chip

Punches - Two Step Bird; Ornament Extra Large

The second card is all my own, I was going to use one of the new red colours, but I just love Real Red for Christmas especially combined with Old Olive - here's the details:

Stamps - Delightful Decorations

Cardstock - Real Red; Old Olive; Very Vanilla

Ink - Real Red

DSP - Merry Moments (retired)

Both cards are quite simple and quick to make, the idea being they'd be suitable for a bit of mass producing for Christmas - I know I'll be doing a few of these this year - so easy with the punch!

TFL x

A Little Thanks

It's time for another challenge over at Craftalicious and our theme this week is an open one as Anything Goes! How easy!

I had to make a couple of thank you cards and used a new, but sadly no longer available SU stamp set that I've wanted for ages and took advantage of it being half price in the last chance sale.

SU! used:

Stamps - Good Friend; Tiny Tags

Ink & Cardstock - Pumpkin Pie; Pink Passion; Old Olive; Close to Cocoa; Versamark

Paper - Summer Picnic

Felt Flowers

Brads from stash

Once again I've not managed much blogging or crafting lately, just very busy and not enough time to go around at the moment! But I'm still here, albeit very quietly!

TFL xx

Second Week done

Got my last run of the week in today, I've been a bit behind this week as I was too tired on Tuesday to do run 2 and the same on Friday, but the good news is that I didn't give up and today went ok. I'm not sure that I'm making a lot of progress just yet as the increments are really slow but I think I'm feeling a bit fitter and still enjoying it (in a very bizarre way!) so that's all to the good. My diet at the moment is just rubbish, every day I start with good intentions but rarely get through the diet, but if I keep up my running then I don't need to be quite so concerned about the number of calories going in, at the moment I'm more or less staying the same, which will do for now! Although in the long run (no pun intended ha, ha) I do want to lose.

Onwards & upwards!

This month's classes

Hello quick post from me to share this month's class makes - we did a box with four cards using the lovely SU set Trendy Trees & matching wheel Funky Forest, the idea being they can be given as a (dare I say it Christmas) gift as I didn't want to make actual Christmas cards just yet, will probably start that next month!

Still busy as ever, although from next week I'm only working 3 days a week for the next few weeks so it'll be good to have a couple of days off during the week to help keep on top of things - so looking forward to that.

Here's the details:

Stamps - Trendy Trees; Funky Forest;

Cardstock & ink - Chocolate Chip; Pumpkin Pie; Old Olive; Ruby Red; Certainly Celery; Really Rust

TFL x

Hello - remember me?

Another fortnight has gone by without a whisper from me once again, I was so determined to get back into my blogging, but it's been a blur of working, rehearsing & Jamie Oliver and no crafting :-(

I finally got some crafting at the end of this week with my classes however and I made a couple of cards for this week's challenge for Craftalicious, which I've set and it's Harvest Festival/Autumn, my favourite range of colours and I've used the lovely Trendy Trees set from Stampin' Up!

Here's the rest of the details - all Stampin' Up!:

Stamps - Trendy Trees; Funky Forest (wheel); Stem Sayings

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip; Pumpkin Pie; More Mustard; Really Rust; Ruby Red; Whisper White

Right, will once again make a big effort to be a better blogger (but don't hold your breath LOL)

Friend's 50th Birthday Card

This is a card I made for a friend who was 50 on the weekend, her boyfriend surprised her with a party, which she knew nothing about, but she was so pleased and we had a fabulous evening.

I made this easel card, which in real life is a bit softer, the pink isn't quite so bright, but the sun was actually shining when I took the pic and it's slightly overexposed.

Here's the details (all SU!):

Stamps - Vintage Vogue and Fun & Fast Notes (sentiment)

Cardstock - Rose Red; Whisper White

DSPs - Sweet Pea

Buttons from stash

"50" cut out on Cricut

I'm glad to say she was thrilled with the card too!

TFL

Finally a card!

Where have the last two weeks gone? It's just whizzed by and all my promises of keeping up with my blog (and everyone elses) have just not happened!!

But here I am, a day late, with my DT card for Craftalicious, our theme this week is Purple & Green, which is a great combo, chosen by Tasha.

I've used a Mo Manning stamp on my card, as once again, my printer is still playing up & so I couldn't use one of the digi's that our sponsor "Some Odd Girl" gave us. I've coloured my image with ProMarkers & SU! markers and the rest is all SU! as follows:

Cardstock - Perfect Plum; Old Olive; Whisper White

Stamps - Very Vintage wheel; Fun & Fast notes (sentiment)

DSP - Sweet Pea

Other - Martha Steward punch

Hope you can join us again at Craftalicious & a big effort will be made on the blogging front!!

One Card for 2 DTs

Bit of a cheat this week as I just ran out of time, I've started working again and I need to get myself back into a routine as I don't seem to have time for anything at the moment!

So I thought my one card make this week would do for both DTs, our challenge at Craftalicious this week is "Swirls and Pearls" and over at Charisma the challenge is to make an easel card.

I used one of the decoupage sheets from "The Crafty Purple Frog" who are sponsoring us at Craftalicious but I've just used the base layer rather than decoupaging as being short on time this was the quickest option.

I've used the lovely Summer Sun cardstock from SU to go with the sunflowers on the image and my favourite Chocolate Chip as well.

The swirls I've stamped with an odd stamp I found in my stash as were as the two pearl hearts, the flowers have been stamped and punched out.

Here's the SU details:

Stamps - One of a Kind (flower) and Oval All (sentiment)

Punches - Oval; Scalloped Oval; Boho Blossoms

Cardstock - Summer Sun; Chocolate Chip; Whisper White

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Hope you can join in with either or both challenges this week & TFL!

Teddy Bear

This is my DT card for Charisma this week, which is all about teddy bears.

I couldn't use the lovely digi we were given as my printer still wasn't working (finally fixed today - hooray) and I discovered I had a distinct lack of teddy bears in my crafting stash! But I did manage to find some Forever Friends stickers and they're definitely teddy bears!

Stampin' Up! used:

Sentiment - Best Yet in Chocolate Chip ink

Cardstock - Whisper White; Chocolate Chip

Punches - 1 3/8" circle, scalloped circle

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Other - DSP - Forever Friends, card candy from stash

Hope you can join us this week & thanks for looking!

Craftalicious - Challenge No. 5

This is my DT card for our challenge over at Craftalicious, which this week has been set by Gina and the theme is "Make Your Own Flowers"

I was planning to use a digi from Stitchy who are sponsoring our challenge, but still having printer problems so couldn't print out my digi to use.

Instead I've used one of the new "Born to Shop" stamps, which are great fun and I've coloured my image with ProMarkers.

I've made the flowers by cutting out a circle with my SU! 1 3/8" punch, cutting around in a spiral and then rolling back up to make the roses - easy to do and thanks to Loraine who told me how to make them

I've also used SU! cardstock in Pumpkin Pie and Sweet Always DSP

Hope you can join us again & TFL!

A Bit of Digital Scrapping

Now here's a little something I don't do very often - digital scrapbooking! Circumstances forced my hand however as this week at Charisma our challenge is "Something with a Tail" and we were given digi's from Digistamp Boutique who are sponsoring us. Yesterday I went to print out my digi to make a card with and my printer is completely Ka-putt, it's not playing at all and even hubby (who is a real Mr Fix-it) couldn't mend it last night. The challenge went live this morning and I still didn't have a card made so I thought I'd give a digital scrap-page a go. Now this is a huge challenge for me as me & Photoshop are not the best of friends - to be honest I don't really know what I'm doing and so I just fiddle about and very often get frustrated, but I did manage to get this put together and I'm very pleased with myself for doing so.

The pictures are of my gorgeous little doggie Skye, plus the digi and a ready to go Quick Page (I'm not that good in Photoshop!)

Hope you can join us for our challenge again this week & TFL xx

Look who I'm going to be working for!!

Only the blooming gorgeous Jamie Oliver!!!

Well not directly, but I'm signing up to be a Jamie At Home Consultant selling his gorgeous range of home & garden products.

I'm holding my launch party on 11 August and then I'll be up & running, but if anyone wants any info in the meantime, is interested in holding a party (and getting some gorgeous freebies!) or would like to know about becoming a consultant, then please give me a shout - email on the sidebar and the website is here. Plus you can buy products directly from me if you're not in my area or don't want to hold a party - again, just give me a shout!

I'm also in the process of closing down my Cambridge Diet Consultancy, I've been a Consultant for 3½ years, but business has become so quiet as there are now so many consultants in my area, and I just can't make a business of it anymore. I'm sad to finish as I've loved doing it and have met so many fabulous people over the last few years and made some new friends along the way too, but I do feel it's time to move on.

I'm still an SU! Demo though of course and although I'm not blogging as much as I used to or making as many cards, I'm still running my classes and Stampin' Up! as much as possible.

Thanks Heather for checking I was ok as I've been very quiet in Blogland - mwah, mwah to you

So that's my news for now!

One of the quickest cards I've ever made!

This is my DT card for this week's challenge at Charisma, which this week is "Anything but square". We upload our cards onto the DT blog by Wednesday early evening, ready for whoever is doing the post on Thursday and for some reason, and I don't know why, I completely and utterly forgot to make my DT card this week. Aargh!!! So I had to make this Thursday morning, before my Stampin' Up! class and I did it in about 10 minutes - I kid you not! So not the most detailed card, but it fits the bill, and considering the rush, isn't too bad.

All Stampin' Up! - here's the details

Stamps - Vintage Vogue (in Chocolate Chip Ink)

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip; Regal Rose

Two Step Bird Punch

Sweet Pea stitched felt flowers

Other - Nesties and diamante's from stash

Hope you can join us this week & TFL

Clean & Simple (and rather bright)

I was playing about with my newest SU stamp set "Say it with Scallops" and came up with this very simple, but clean looking card. It's rather bright as I've used the lovely Only Orange but I think it'd stand out in a crowd!

All Stampin' Up!

Stamp - Say it with Scallops

Cardstock - Whisper White; Only Orange

Punches - Scallop Border; Scallop Square

TFL x

Craftalicious Challenge 4

It's time for a new challenge at Craftalicious, we had over 300 entries to our last challenge, which was brilliant and we're anticipating another high number this fortnight as our theme, set by Carly, is Birthdays - a nice easy one for you.

Karen's Doodles are sponsoring us and gave the DT an image to use, I choose this fab image called "Workout Buddy" I've used a variety of medium to colour in the image, ProMarkers for the main characters, Koh-i-noor's for the sea and SU chalks for the sky.

Here's the Stampin' Up! used:

DSPs - Rainbow Sherbert (retired)

Cardstock - Whisper White; Tempting Turquoise

Sentiment - Stem Sayings

Scallop Edge Border punch

Hope you can join us again this time around

TFL x

Think Pink!!

Hello there, time for another challenge over at Charisma and this week Carly has set the theme and gone for her favourite - pink!

So it's time to get all girly and show us your pink creations!

We've been sponsored by Pink Cat this week, who gave us all a digi to use (we've got another sponsor this week too - Cupcake Cards and Crafts)

Sorry the pic is a bit wishy-washy, don't know why it's come out like that! I coloured my image with ProMarkers and the rest is Stampin' Up! as follows:

Sentiment - Birthday Best

DSPs - Sweet Always (retired)

Cardstock - Regal Rose

Other - Nesties for circles and ribbon from stash

Hope you can play along with us again this week & TFL

Watch the Birdie

Hello, it's time for another challenge over at Charisma, and this week it was my turn to set the challenge and I've gone for "Watch the Birdie" as I love birds on cards (have a soft spot for owls although didn't use one on this card).

My card was one of those ones that develop & evolve as you make it, I started off with one idea using a digi from Softpencil (one of our sponsors this week) with cats & a kite on it, plus a couple of little birds, but whilst looking for backing papers to use I came across this fab sheet from the SU! set SweetPea (of course, am I using anything else these days? LOL) and I couldn't fit the digi on the card without covering the birds - so after a bit of playing around I came up with this card instead and I have to say I'm really pleased with it. I still used the kite part of the digi, and paper pieced it with some more SweetPea papers and the rest of the card came together really quickly. I very bravely stamped directly onto the card for my sentiment and even though I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up, is there anything more scary than stamping your sentiment on directly??

Here's the details:

SU! used -

DSP - SweetPea

Sentiment - Trendy Trees in Chocolate Chip ink

Cardstock - Tempting Turquoise

Ribbon - Chocolate Chip

Pen - Chocolate Chip (for the drawn on string)

Other -

Brads, small ribbon & bow from stash

Hope you can join us again this week as we've got two sponsors again so two chances to win

TFL x