Like Father Like Son..........

As much as I hate to admit it, my two year old son, is the image of his father in every which way (mostly good things, but he does of course have a few of his bad points too), so when I took this photo of my husband and my son, I just had to do a scrapbook page. They are so much alike. I love them both dearly and I have been told that my son does have a few of my habits!!!!!! But that unfortunately is it! (I think that he is much more like me, but am over-ruled by everyone else!) I love this page and had to blog it, as i have not done a page for ages as I have been concentrating on my cards and 3d projects.
So here's till tomorrow - I hope to put another picture on tomorrow of some of the stuff I make with my stampin up box of goodies - when it gets here!!!
Till then x x x x
Bye x x x x

Manic treat week

I have posted today with no picture, and the reason for this is that I have had a bit of a shock week. I have been having a clear out of items (the nearest I will ever get to a spring clean) and listing them on ebay to raise some Craft funds hehe, and I have put in a nice little order with our friendly local stampin up demonstrator and managed to finally get the most wanted item - my crop a dile. I can't wait for my new order to come now, then I can make some beautiful cards and things, so this was just a quick update to let people know I am still here just busy getting organised x x
Till next time xx
viks

Forest Friends are adorable

I have decided that I am only goin to add one picture at a time to this blog from now on, as sometimes it uploads them ok, other times it doesn't.

Well, sorry for rabbiting on (no pun intended hehe). I recently went to my friend Maria's open day, in celebration of the new Stampin Up mini catalogue and absolutely loved every minute of it. Maria and Gene (her sister) actually decided on the day to treat me to a set from the catalogue, and the forest friends was definately the perfect choice (thank you girlys). I was so excited. I decided to make this card last night, as I've been a little bit busy with other things this week, and Maria will be so happy when she see's it as I have tied a perfect bow for a change!!!! I cannot wait to make more this evening (once my little son has gone to bed!!!). Any way till next time (and no doubt more forest friend cards) bye x x x x

Easter is the busiest time of the year!!!! Up until now!!

Well what can I say - we have made a few revelations this week, one being I have realised that I could never work in a factory (the production line myself and Maria had going last week was a lot better than a factory), and the fact that carding can totally take over your life. My craft space (which is currently the dining table) has not moved for two days - which is unheard of in my house as my son has very sneaky fingers that tend to touch everything!! And I have made so many little things for easter this time

Our first cards are the "easter" lot that Maria and myself sat up till 4am to complete!!!!

And if that wasn't enough - I have made 8 cards, 8 small baskets, 3 large baskets, 10 sour cream boxes and a another 9 small box bags! I've blogged just a few here (obviously not them all) - and Maria has kindly lent me some of her fantastic SU products, which of course I have come to realise I cannot do without now, so I will have to buy my own! The pictures are slightly messed up on here, so I have left them as they are as it is too late for messing hehe.

So till later

bye xx

A Really fantastic Blog candy

I have just been blog hopping and have found a fantastic blog candy offer here.
I couldn't beleive the candy on offer on this blog. I think this is truely amazing and that this site will be fantastic when actually live. Go on over and enter.

Apologies for delays

Well I thought I would add a post today as it has been a wee while since I last blogged. I have, as many people know, had my operation on my back now, and today is the first day I have really felt human!! I have been unable to card, or blog, or ever sit up to the computer (I am actually laid in bed on my sister in laws laptop that she has quite kindly donated to me), so as you can imagine I have been feeling rather sorry for myself. i knew I was getting better, when I was actually wanting to card!! So tonight I have made two (unfortunately I can't put them on here due to them being for the person who reads my blog more than anyone else), but I will be able to put more on before long. Just letting everyone know I am ok, and will be back with vengeance soon!!!
Till later x x x x x

Birthdays galore

Well first and foremost, although I am going into hospital in 4 days, I figured that I need to make a start on my ideas for easter!!!!! (I know, christmas has only just been)I found a template on Amys blog, and although they are nowhere near as ornate as her's, I had very limited creativity that day, so came up with the bumble bee theme and the purple and yellow (I love the combination of those two colours). I will work on the design more at a later date, and maria has also suggested using the scallop nestabilities oval shape to gice the egg basket more detail. I will post more when I have done them.





For the next one, I have my friend Kelly's birthday on March the 12th and designed the card and gift box for her. I got inspiration from the colours that she is going to be decorating her front room in (she has just bought the house and is renovating it at present) Red, gold and cream, and although this started life as a square in the top left corner with a band of gold and ribbon accross the bottom, when I layered it up, I decided that it looked better this way, without the ribbon. I have used peel offs for the black flowers on the gold layer, as the card does not take stamped images very well even with staz-on ink!!!!!















This next one is for fun. I love this dotty background that I have used here, in the aubergine colour. I stamped two images of the flower from the SU set "Happy Harmony" using the stamp a second time without re inking, to get the paler image. I also used the phrase out of the same SU set on white card and placed at the bottom right hand corner with a white ribbon across the bottom using a "stay put bow"















I also love using the "simply said" set from SU. On the card below I stamped the flower bunch from the set, twice, the scond time re-inking before stamping and slightly offsetting this, so that it looks like one long row of flowers, and then stamped the ssying "simply said from the heart....... thank you" on the top of the same peice of card, layering this on a thin border of red, a large border of embossed cream and another layer of red. I was very impressed with the outcome of this card. Very simple and yet lovely with it.















The next card, was a blast of inspiration from a card that I saw on the docrafts website. It is actually totally different from the one i saw, but the flowers making a border, is pretty much the same. I used the Su set "Happy Harmony" again for the saying and layed this on white and red card, on the red panel in the centre of the card, with red and white flowers, that were cut out from some patterned paper I had, and placed and different intervals along the border. I used silicon to stick these, to give vaying degrees of depth (although this is not very evident ont he photo) I have done this card for my friend, Marianne's birthday as she is, at the moment, the happiest she has been in her life.














And the last card I did was for my sister in law, Kelly's, birthday. She loves purple and I thought that this would be perfect. Again I used the "Happy Harmony" stamp set (can't you see I really like this set) and also used a tag stamp from another set that is not SU (Dream Big). I used some card that Maria had given me (Not sure how she has got the desired effect of mottles on this, I will have to ask) with an embossed layer on top to show off the saying (again layered on the purple mottled card) and a blue flower from the SU set (using a corner punch to round the edges on each layer). I then used a stay put bow for the top of the card and attached the dream big tag to this. I loved the layout of the card when I started but once it was all together, I was a little unsure of the result. I made the box to match but used an extra layer of purple ribbon across the top and bottom as it looked a little untidy.

Thanks for reading and I will post more before I go for the dreaded op!!!!!

Vikki x x x x x

Garden Whimsey Class last evening

Well sorry I've not posted for a few days, had a lot on with my Pre-op assesment for my op, and what have you, however, thursday night I got a creativity rush again, in time I think for the garden Whimsy class I went to at Maria's last evening. I was extremely excited about making this, as I love the set. We made a card wallet with 4 cards on the inside, protected by cellophane - it will make a wonderful gift!

I chose to stamp the outside and the outside of the wallet with a snail random print and then the tops of the card holders in the two little bugs in red, on blue cardstock, layered onto the yellow.

The 4 cards that go into the cellophane are shown below.

Although the wallets were the same for each of the class members made totally different cards, using different stamps for each. I was very, very pleased with the outcome, and learnt some valuable things whilst carding with them. Maria is an excellent teacher, and is very talented, as you can see from her blog. I feel extremely honoured to be attending classes at hers, even though orders are thin on the ground for me, with me being off work at the moment. I have only ever been a sole crafter and therefore am picking up loads of hints and tips from the classes.

The next three cards (and one small origami box) were made on Thursday night, after I had been for my pre-op - needed to escape from reality for a while, and carding is the perfect answer for that.

I treated myself to a corner punch, and as you can see, I have been making use of it.

Well, we have my step children staying over today, and we are going to be making some cards for their dads birthday on Tuesday (needless to say I haven't made one yet and it's Saturday!!!!) I will probably also make mine later on today, when the little ones are all in bed!

So bye for the moment and I will post the creations for Phil's birthday later.

Bye x x x x

Another creativity rush!!!

Well beleive it or not I have spent the last Three nights carding, no break!!!! I blame all this on Maria. My mind seems to be buzzing with ideas (I think it is currently my escape so I don't have to think about my operation)

Anyway here's the first of my creations:

Very simple easy design that I have done, using an embossed card at the bottom and plain card at the top.

The next one is a little bit more detailed (not much):

I saw the 'magnifying glass' type idea on a blog and love it - so here I adapted it to fit my card idea.

The third one is very very simple and very very easy - I really liked the patterned paper on this - and it is so far from what I normally use, I couldn't quite belive i had done it. However my husband did quite happily point out that at the moment every card I have done has Pink in it somewhere - maybe I'm going through a PINK stage, not sure really. But I do quite like pink and purple in a funny sort of way anyhow.

The stamp in the bottom right hand corner says "a friend is someone who makes things easy", and the saying is so true.

So this brings me to my last card for today, a card, which in fact has no pink in it whatsoever. It is my step-sons birthday on the day I go into hospital, so I have done this card for him, to make a little special. I am also going to make him a gift box of some description, to go with it but that will be in the not so distant future.

Creativity rush!!!!

Well following my card class with Maria, I have had a mad rush of creativity, and last night managed to make 3 cards and a little gift type box (that I have found the design on In Love with Stamping - and I loved it!). I couldn't beleive it - mind you I do find it very therapeutic as I have been in an awful lot of pain this week, and it helps me relax and forget about it for a while!!!


Well here we go, the first one I made was to match my Heart Box,

I was quite impressed with this, I think it has turned out really well.


This next one was just so different to what I have done previously - I was quite impressed with the outcome of this too, I have just left this as a "happiness always" card so it can be used for many occassions.

I then did the matching card for my "dreams come a size too big so we can grow into them" box.

I used a buckle on the card, but didn't on the box, thought I would give it it's own identity.

It is also my sister in laws birthday at the beginning of March, so I have done a card for her.

And last but not least - this is my little box. I am sooooooooo impressed with this idea, these will go down well with little chocolates in I think, although it is certainly not just limited to chocolates.

Well thats in for this post, but the way my creative fire is burning - no doubt there will be a load more done tonight. Till the next time x x x x