Major Catch Up & Why I Haven't Posted in a While {Sad Story}

Hi everyone, it's been almost 8 months since I last posted!
Gosh, it's a wonder I still have any followers left!

When I last posted in August, I knew that the next time I post would be in September, as I had a lot of birthdays that month, I guess I just never got around to it, and figured, 'oh I will post the pics at Christmas when I so my Christmas cards', however, my Christmas cards didn't photograph very well at all! So I though, 'ahhh screw it, not posting these pics'. On a better note, I got an awesome camera for Christmas!

Then in January, I got some news that would change my life forever.
At the time, I had taken up cross stitching again, which is another reason why I hadn't posted here, but I digress, (I will keep the story short and skip out a lot of details)...

In the early hours of 16th January, my younger brother went missing after a night out in the town with a friend.

At around 00:30, he became seperated from his friend, at this point he must have decided to make his way home. He was last seen about an hour later by a policeman, but because he wasn't aggressive he wasn't taken in, and because he wasn't paralytic no ambulance was called.
Yes, Steven had had a drink or two, but he wasn't a big drinker, so alcohol probably affected him quicker than some people.

The next two days there was an extensive police search including the force helicopter, dogs, police divers and boat, policemen on foot and horses. And of course all his friends and other people who knew Steven, and even people who didn't.

Sadly, on the 19th January Steven was found by a member of the public walking their dog, floating in the river.
When the ambulance arrived he was pronounced dead.

He had accidentally drowned.

Just one night and my baby brother was gone.

We had his funeral on the 2nd February, and we are trying to get back to normal now, though life without Steven will never be normal.

Steven, 08/03/88 - 19/01/11 - Aged 22

And this is why I am back. Steven always liked getting my handmade cards, (probably mostly for the money included in them though lol), and he wouldn't want me to stop doing something that I love, plus I have decided to start selling my cards for charity, one of which will be RASS riverandseasense.com which I have recently become involved in.

Anyways over the next few days you might see some changes to my blog, I thought it was time for a new layout. I am happy with this one, but I want to change this white part to a pink colour, but I can't see in the code where it is, so I will have to have a play with that.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, I got an awesome camera for Christmas (I also got a Robo Lite!!!), so I have re-taken pictures of cards that I still had in my possession, so I will re-post those over the next few days.

Anyways, first up is a card I made for my Mum for Mother's Day. Which came as a complete card kit in a magazine, though I chose to omit the card it came with, and used my own.

Remember you can click on the image to view in full detail, and now that I have a new camera, the full versions won't be all crappy and blurry lol

I made a bit of a mistake in the top left corner, so I covered it over with a prima flower lol

I would like to enter this card in to the following challenges:

• One Stitch at a time: Mother's Day/Babies
• Creative Inspirations: Mother's Day/Mum
• Alota Rubber Stamps: Use Green on card (Only just about managed this I think!}
• The Crafty Pad: Mother's Day
• Ooh La La Creations: Mother's Day/Special Friend
• Craft Your Days Away: For Mum or Special Lady
• Aly's: Spring {Nice Spring flowers! And Mother's Day is in Spring!}

And that is all for now.
I will be back with more posts later!

PS. I am having a hard time trying to follow blogs at the moment, but I will keep trying!

Major BIG Catch Up Part II {incl. WOYWDW}

Part 2 of my major big update lol

Here's the card I made for my Mum for Mother's day. I decoupaged Tilda on to the background, she and the grass and flowers were coloured with promarkers, the cloud was dusted with chalks and the grass also had a light dusting of chalks to make the grass and cloud appear softer blended together. Adhered prima flower and stickers. I forget which designer paper I used, will look it up later, I think it is basic grey??

A flower soft card I made a while back, it has since been sent to one of my Aunt's for her birthday in April.

Cheque Holder made with a Forever Friends Bear, which I slightly over-coloured lol

Inside.

With the cheque attached.

Now, this is a kinda holder-thingie-me-jig lol that I made to put some used stamps in to send to an animal charity that I collect for. I think I manged to get about 160 stamps in this one. If you want to know more about the charity or how to send me your used stamps {UK and foreign} just leave a message on this post with your e-mail addy and I will be more than happy to e-mail you.

The main image is dufex, so it doesn't photograph very well, but this pic came out pretty okies!

And this is what was on my workdesk last Wednesday LOL
I like to sit in front of the TV to craft, esp. now all my favourite shows are back on air, so I have this little table that I use, but the majority of my 'workspace' is either in a box on the floor or/and on the sofa next to me lol
So here we have a dovecraft scoringboard with scorer, scissors, tweezers, magnetic tape roll, pencil and all the bookmarks that I made that day and the day before!

I kinda altered the dalek bookmark, by putting it on to a piece of blue double sided card and made it in to a magnetic bookmark.

The back of the bookmark with a dalek and some star glow in the dark stickers!

I have LOADS more magnetic bookmarks, which I will post later.

It's Been a While........

Well, it's certainly been a while since I last posted anything!
And I feel so guilty about it as my new obsession is only FACEBOOK!
So yes, I broke one of my new year's resolutions, which was to blog every day!
I'm bad I know, but this time I promise to blog more often!

Anyways with a bunch of birthdays and Christmas just around the corner, what better time to pick up my blog to showcase my makings!

And as I haven't posted in a while, and some birthdays have been and gone, I best post them here to get up to date!

As always, click the images to enlarge :)

Firstly, it was my brother's 21st birthday in March, and my first attempt at using stamps only to create a card. I stamped 'BROTHER' using letters from a See D's collection. I then embossed it using 'Midnight' from create n craft. I then gentle inked my black inkpad all over the front and around the edge. I glued some blue stock paper to the card before attaching 'BROTHER' ata slight angle and roughly drawing the black border. I then attached a 2 and 1 foam shape along with 10 gem embellishments. Using a craft knife I created two slits for the ribbon to pass by. Finally I used Stickles to create another border, let it dry then wrote ' To a Special' and 'Happy Birthday'.
For the back, I used a foam shape to create the flower on to some card, inked and embossed it, and inked around the edge. Then I stamped 'Hand Stamped By', which unintentionally left a funky-rough edge around it, so I decided to keep that, then I embossed that too. Finally I inked a foam smaller 3 flower stamp, inked the edge and embossed that too before signing my name.

This card was made by my son, for my brother's 21st.
He used some card stock for the main card, with some 'Happy Birthday' backing paper.
He then used a balloon template to create the errr balloon with some red stock paper then inked the edge. He attached some scrap ribbon to create the whole balloon effect. He used a multi 'Happy Birthday' stamp from a See D's collection and used some funky scissors to cut it out before inking the edge. The same applies to the Birthday Cake. He coloured it in with Whispers Brush Pens. He also attached foam numbers then using the Impress Machine and dies he cut out 'STEVEN' before spreading glitter all over the place lol.
He created the inside tag the same way as the two on the front, and the same goes for the tags on the back.

For his birthday I got him an experience day, to go visit a football ground, as I was sending it early and was kinda rushing it, I did not have any wrapping paper in the house, so I dug out an AIRMAIL kit I bought years ago, as I knew it had some plain brown paper in there, plus it was nice and thick and looked good. I jazzed it up a bit with a handmade tag, from said brown paper. I inked the edge with brown ink, cut out STEVEN with my Impress Machine and dies and used a pen to outline the letters, I attached some ribbon top the tag, and used some (christmas) gold curling ribbon to tie it all together as I used flimsy tape on it so the paper could be re-used again!

This mini project was a pain in my backside!
I thought it would be nice for my brother to have as I had sent his birthda pressie early.
I started making it long before his birthday, as I knew it would take forever to make!
The first image shows 'BRO' stamped with stamps from a See D's collection. Image is inked slightly, with a couple of star embellishments and Stickles to highlight some of the lines on the backing paper. Sticky Ribbon attched to the top.
The second image shows a photo of my 'baby' brother, and you can just about see my arm, as I was holding him. This was attached to card, with Stickles used to fill in the white gap, and an inked edge. 4 gem embellishments were added. Sticky Ribbon attached to the top.

The 3rd image shows a plastic 'U R 21' plate embellishment along with some star embellishments and some Stickles applied to several of the dots on the backing paper. Sticky Ribbon attached to the top.
The 4th image shows a cheque holder that I made. 'Happy Birthday' is stamped on to card using a stamp from a See D's Collection. Edge is then inked and bottom is glued on to the inside of the box then using a metal paperclip the cheque is attached. 'Pull Out' is written on to a sticker. Sticky Ribbon is attached at the top.

The 5th image shows an overview where you can see the football shirt that I made from 2 pieces of foam and 2 pieces of card. I drew out the shape on some scrap card, then drew it on to 2 pieces of red foam, cut them out and stuck together (to make it more bulky), then I did the same for the card pieces, but slightly larger. I coloured the card in our team colour. Then added xxx as stitches around the edges, then I wrote his surname, and '21 today'. Added Stickle squiggles.
The 6th image shows the lid and the outer box. I applied the same backing paper to the box. I then inked the top and sides of the card and embossed it with 'Midnight' from create n craft and applied the Sticky ribbon around the top. I drew an 'S' on to some card and embossed that also, before applying it to another embossed circle card.

The 7th image shows the bottom of the box with a small 'Handmade by...' tag, along with the ribbon. I forgot to take a pic of the inside of the lid, but I used black stock paper in it, with a stamped 'Happy Birthday' then I drew tiny stars in gold pen around it.
The 8th image shows the final product with the ribbon and tag. I can't remember if I made the tag or if it's a pre-cut one. I THINK it might be a pre-cut one.
It's a good job I started making it early too, so it had time to be played with, as the lid fit was VERY tight!

My Mother's Day card for this year, and as it is very close to my brother's birthday, I didn't have time to make a new card, so I delved in to my 'previous makes box' and added a few stickers to it, so that I could post it along with my brother's cards.
I have quite a few of these cards, so if anyone wants to buy one, please contact me by leaving me your e-mail address in a comment. (Cards are £3 each, includes P&P) I will e-mail you back details on how to pay. I will post dimensions later.

Goodiesssssssss. I adore getting new goodies! I did get these a while back though when there was a HUGE sale on, and quite a lot of the stuff was only 50p each! Plus I got a buncha Smirk stuff too as I have been dying to get my hands on some since they came out!
Here you can see; two doCrafts magazines with free stickers (25p each!!!!), 3 12x12 funky card -not shown, a pack of 40 mini christmas stamps (for just £5!), Anita's Tacky Glue, 4 pairs of funky scissors (50p each!), 4 packs of Dovecraft Christmas Rose Tinted Shaker embellishments, 5 packs of Christmas backing paper, a wonderful fairy stamp, 2 packs of glue-gun glue, pack of forever friends decoupage card kits, darts and football decoupage card kits, 2x Smirk Ribbon Stickers, 2 Smirk Stamps, 2 Smirk packs of ribbon, Smirk Glitter tags, Smirk embellishment tote and a pack of 12x12 Smirk papers.
Oops almost forgot to mention, all from www.madaboutcards.co.uk and their sister site, craftpoundshop which can be accessed from MAC, you can also purchase items from both places with the same shopping cart.

Finally, a card made by my son for my Uncle, who was in hospital at the time.
He used a green pre-folded card. First he cut a strip of dark green stock paper and glued it in to place then he cut out four petal shapes from different paper stocks, using my hand drawn template. He then attached a dot in the centre of the petals.
Then he used my Impress machine and dies to cut out 'GET WELL SOON' then glued them in to place. Finally he cut out a 'pot' from some stock paper and applied some stickles to give it more definition, then I applied some swirly stickles to the card so it wasn't so plain (he is only 10, he couldn't do that part himself! On the inside, he attached a wallet sized (very recent) school photograph using some easy on, easy off tack, so my Uncle could take it off and put in his wallet later!
My uncle loved the card, and is now recovering well and back at home after 6 weeks in hospital!

I will post recipes for all the projects later, as I will need to rumage in my boxes for some of the items.



*insert siggy here later as it is not working at the moment!*

Old Cards Part III

Here we go again with some more old cards, I did say I was on a blogging spree afterall!
You can, as per usual, click on the images to view them at full size!

I made two of these cards in the same style. One was for my brother (I think), the other for my uncle. Both for their birthdays in 2008.

I think I made this one for my Sister-in-Law's birthday in 2008.

Another one that I made for my friend Lizzy in the states. 2008.

Another one that I made for my Aunt's birthday in 2008.

And finally, another one for Mother's Day, for my Mum, obviously! 2008.


Recipes:


Card One:

• Blank Card, pack of 50 from a local craft store. Similar can be found at madaboutcards.co.uk
• Cupcake Topper from madaboutcards.co.uk (5 for £1 megadeal!)
• Backing Paper from an 8x8 Flowery Papermania pad (though I don't know why it is called Flowery, cus they ain't all flowery, and not very girlie at all). From madaboutcards.co.uk though they do not stock it anymore. You can get it from ecreations.co.uk
• Corrugated card from madaboutcards.co.uk
• 5mm Round Coloured Gems from madaboutcards.co.uk (Often out of stock, gotta be quick to get these!)
• Happy Birthday Sticker from a sheet that I bought from a local craft store. You can pick them up from anywhere.
• Other Stickers were on a sheet that I bought from my local Woolworths (RIP).
• Anita's Tacky Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk though they only seem to stock the smaller bottle these days.

Card Two:

• Blank Card, pack of 50 from a local craft store. Similar can be found at madaboutcards.co.uk
• Die Cut Fuchsia's Decoupage sheet from madaboutcards.co.uk (though you can no longer buy the twin pack sheet, you can get the same flowers in a book pack with 19 other flowers and a few bits and pieces, all for £9.99 - great value!) Just click the link.
• Happy Birthday Sticker from a sheet that I bought from a local craft store. You can pick them up from anywhere.
• Two Tone Butterfly and Flower Stickers from a sheet of Anita's Mothers Day Butterflies Stickers, from madaboutcards.co.uk though they no longer stock it. You can get it from firststopstationers.co.uk
• Ribbon from the Mother's Day pack by Papermania. I got it from madaboutcards.co.uk but they no longer stock it. You can get it from firststopstationers.co.uk
• Anita's Tacky Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk though they only seem to stock the smaller bottle these days.
• Foam pads from local craft store.

Card Three:

• Blank Card, pack of 50 from a local craft store. Similar can be found at madaboutcards.co.uk
• 3D stickers - Dress Up (dress, shoes, bag and the 8 smaller gems) from madaboutcards.co.uk though they no longer stock it, and I searched the web for an alternate place to buy form but it must have been discontinued or something because I cannot find it. You can buy/make similar products.
• Backing Paper that the shoes are on are from an 8x8 Flowery Papermania pad (though I don't know why it is called Flowery, cus they ain't all flowery, and not very girlie at all). From madaboutcards.co.uk though they do not stock it anymore. You can get it from ecreations.co.uk
• 'Lizzy' letters from the Papermania Glitter Embossed Stickers - Chintz Rose Alphabet sheet from madaboutcards.co.uk though they no longer stock it, you can get it from firststopstationers.co.uk
• (Three Pink) 5mm Round Coloured Gems from madaboutcards.co.uk (Often out of stock, gotta be quick to get these!)
• Ribbon at bottom of card from the Hearts and Swirls pack by Papermania from madaboutcards.co.uk though they no longer stock it, you can get it from firststopstationers.co.uk
• Ribbon around 'Lizzy' from a pack of Anita's plain sticky ribbon from madaboutcards.co.uk though they no longer stock it. You can get it from firststopstationers.co.uk
• Peel-off Stickers Borders, Straight, from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Anita's Tacky Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk though they only seem to stock the smaller bottle these days.
• Foam pads from local craft store.

Card Four:

• Blank Card, pack of 50 from a local craft store. Similar can be found at madaboutcards.co.uk
• Die Cut Viola from a tri-pack (with two other different flowers) decoupage Sheet, of the same name from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Ribbon from the Funky Flowers pack by Papermania from madaboutcards.co.uk though they no longer stock it. You can get it from firststopstationers.co.uk
• Two Tone Butterfly and Flowers stickers from a sheet of Anita's Contemporary Mothers Day stickers from madaboutcards but they no longer stock it, so you can get it from firststopstationers.co.uk
• Butterfly embellishment from a pack that I got from a local craft store.
• Anita's Tacky Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk though they only seem to stock the smaller bottle these days.
• Foam pads from local craft store.

Card Five:

• Blank Card, pack of 50 from a local craft store. Similar can be found at madaboutcards.co.uk
• Die Cut Japanese Anemones from a tri-pack (with two other different flowers) decoupage Sheet, from the 'Viola' sheet from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Ribbon from the Mother's Day pack by Papermania, which I got from madaboutcards.co.uk but they no longer stock, so you can get it from firststopstationers.co.uk
• Two Tone MUM, Butterfly and Flower Stickers from a sheet of Anita's Mothers Day Butterflies Stickers, from madaboutcards.co.uk though they no longer stock it. You can get it from firststopstationers.co.uk
• Anita's Tacky Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk though they only seem to stock the smaller bottle these days.
• Foam pads from local craft store.

More posts to follow later.

*All links take you either to the page the product is on, or to the singular product, if the site allows clickables for more information.

Old Cards Part I

Ok, so I thought I should at least post pics of some old cards I made.

Be warned though, the early cards are pretty dire and the quality of the pictures on the older cards isn't all that great either, I have since got a better camera though so you should notice the quality improve as the picture progress lol

I will also post some Cross-Stitching stuff soon too.

This is a Mother's Day card, obviously, that I made for my Mum, in 2007

I made this for one of my Aunt's birthday. 2007

This one was made for ? (sorry I forgot who, I thought it was my brother, Steven but that would conflict with another card lol) in 2007.

This one was made for my friend Liz, in the states. 2007

One for my brother, for his 19th birthday in 2007.


Recipes:


Card 1:

• Pre-Stamped card from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk with envelope.
• Small Pink Deckled Panel from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk
• Pink Flower Topper from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk (cannot find the page it is on, sorry!)
• Sheer Bow with Red Rose from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk
• Butterfly Embellishments from a local craft store.
• Red Ribbon is from a pack of Anita's Sticky Ribbon from ArtyMiss.co.uk
• White Eyelet from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk (no longer available).
• I cannot remember what glue I used, probably just some cheap crap.
• Double sided sticky tape.
• Foam pads from local craft store.

Card 2:

• Blank Card, pack of 50 from a local craft store. Similar can be found at madaboutcards.co.uk
• Backing paper from a 12x12 Rich Red Papermania pad. I bought from a local craft store, but you can find it from many places, including themarketgallery.com though you can find it cheaper elsewhere I am sure.
• Happy Birthday Panel was a little left over wrapping paper that I had and thought would make a good crafting paper!
• Stickers were on a sheet that I bought from my local Woolworths (RIP).
• Peel-off Stickers Borders, Straight, from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Pink Ribbon is from a pack of Anita's Sticky Ribbons from madaboutcards.co.uk
• I cannot remember what glue I used, probably just some cheap crap.
  

Card Three:

• Luxury Felt 7x5 blank card from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk
• Backing Paper is a sheet from a 12x12 Rich Blue Papermania pad. I bought it from a local craft store, but you can buy it from many places, including firststopstationers.co.uk
• Football Topper from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk, though I cannot find it on the site anymore.
• Happy Birthday Sticker from a sheet that I bought from a local craft store. You can pick them up from anywhere.
• Blue Ribbon is from a pack of Anita's Sticky Ribbon from ArtyMiss.co.uk (the same pack as the red ribbon on Card One).
• I cannot remember what glue I used, probably just some cheap crap.
• Double sided sticky tape.
  

Card Four:

• Pre-Stamped card from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk with envelope.
• Large Pink Deckled Panel from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk
• Red Mini Roses (pack of 25) from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk
• Wire Embellishment # Stars from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk (5th item listed)
• Sheer Bow with Red Rose from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk
• Butterfly Embellishments from a local craft store.
• Red and Green Ribbon is from a pack of Anita's Sticky Ribbon from ArtyMiss.co.uk (the same pack as the ribbons on Cards One and Three).
• I cannot remember what glue I used, probably just some cheap crap.
• Double sided sticky tape.
• Foam pads from local craft store.

Card Five:

• Blank Card, pack of 50 from a local craft store. Similar can be found at madaboutcards.co.uk
• Panel made from a 12x12 Rich Blue Papermania pad. I bought it from a local craft store, but you can buy it from many places, including firststopstationers.co.uk
• Beer Monster Topper from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Stickers were on a sheet that I bought from my local Woolworths (RIP).
• Brother Sticker (at top) is from a Papermania pack (I think).
• Pastel eyelets from cardmakingcrafts.co.uk (5th item from the bottom).
• Peel-off Stickers Borders, Straight, from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Baby Blue Ribbon is from a pack of Anita's Sticky Ribbon from ArtyMiss.co.uk (the same pack as the ribbons on Cards One, Three and Four).
• I cannot remember what glue I used, probably just some cheap crap.
• Double sided sticky tape.
• Foam pads from local craft store.

I will post some more shortly. It takes a while to type up the recipes, especially if the card/s in question were made 2 years ago lol and I have a pretty bad memory. Thankfully I tend to buy all my crafting goodies from madaboutcards.co.uk so it does make it a little easier lol.

I might post a few of my cross-stitching in between my card makes :)

*All links take you either to the page the product is on, or to the singular product, if the site allows clickables for more information.