Update 2016

You may have noticed that my number of posts have declined dramatically and the number of crafty makes that I share have also come to a complete stand still. With life and other commitments and my enthusiasm for most things disappearing, it has been extremely difficult. But I am back and wanted to share some of my Christmas gifts that I created for family and friends over the 2015 Christmas period and some Charity funding raising news and reaching out.

Last Makes of 2015

At Christmas I made some friends and relatives some compact mirrors, this was the first time doing something like this. I used a mix of half pearls, E6000 glue and some different shape compact mirrors.

 First was the green and cream, oval, rose mirror (I apologise for the bad photo, it was taken after the recipent had used it for a while.)

 Second I made the heart shaped pastel coloured mirror.

Lastly I made the deeper coloured, square mirror.

Charity Fundraising

I'm braving the Shave for a friend who sadly passed away at the beginning of 2015.

Macmillan offer fantastic support for patients, their families and anyone who has or is currently been affected by cancer, I would also like to donate my hair to the Little Princess Trust who send it off to be made into wigs for young people who have lost their hair to illness.

Please consider sharing this information and donate as little or as much as you can.
Thank you, all support and donations are very much appreciated.

You can donate HERE through the donation page and it will be updated with before and after photos.

 Photo from 1 month ago

Free Prize draws funded by advert revenue.

Free Postcode Lottery you can join HERE

Free Date of birth lottery you can join HERE 

The only catch is you have to check it regularly to know if your postcode or birth date comes up and claim it that day, other than that please enjoy your free cash.

Graduation Kitted Card

I absolutely adore Hunkydory and Kanban toppers, it isn't very often that I use a whole kit for a whole card without adding my own touch or something from my stash but this was purely using the kit at hand, apart from the personalisation and card base.

This is my creation using this particular card kit:

This card was created using:

1x A4 350gsm Pretty Printed Cardstock - Bright Spark

1x A4 300gsm Foiled & Die-Cut Topper Sheer - Bright Spark

1x Kanban 8x8 shaped white card

1x Scrap of gold foil card (James cut out of bigshot)

1x Scrap pale blue card.

Bright Spark cardstock kit shown above from the Making Memories Luxury Card Kit by Hunkydory.

I used the first two sheets, leaving the last sheet ready for another creation.

 (without personalisation)

Fruit Smoothies

After missing out on the free Blend Active on a local selling site, I saw another for sale. 

I hadn't heard of it before, only similar blenders which were ridiculously hard to clean or where I wouldn't think I would use it enough to warrant the price. 

Doing my online research I found a brand new one for a similar price. This blender particularly appealed to me because the bottle was attached to the blender and it was all blended in the bottle, ready to consume, easy. 

The offer I found was for the family pack, 2x 300ml bottle and 2x 600ml bottles. I thought it was worth a whirl, considering I wanted to try and have more smoothies, something easy I could eat/drink in the mornings to keep me going throughout the day.

Here are the first two recipes I tried out and throughly enjoyed, I weaned myself in easy with fruits and flavours I enjoy - raspberries and strawberries.

Berry Banana Smoothie
Ingredients:

8 raspberries (8cal) 

6 blackberries (12cal)
100g Greek non fat yoghurt (55cal)

1 large banana (154cal)

300ml Apple Juice (130cal) 

Total of 359 calories per 600ml bottle 
Half the recipe for 300ml bottle (178calories)

Strawberry Kiwi Breakfast Shake

Ingredients:

100g non fat Greek yogurt (55cal)
1 Morrison's wheat biscuit (64cal)
3 medium strawberries (12cal)
1 small banana (106cal)
1 kiwi (42cal)
A touch of water to help it blend

Total of 279cal for 300ml

I can't wait to try out some more.

I may have 'accidentally' bought a lot of things to try out - chia seeds, coconut water, almond milk, lots of greens...

Masking Technique Tutorial

Eek! My first video tutorial. 

Please be kind.

I was extremely nervous and HATE hearing my own voice.

Don't worry the boring bits have been sped up!

STAMP SET 

Princess Design

by Isobel Craft Collection

Stamps available from Sophy8 on Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/213523231/a5-set-of-photo-polymer-clear-stamps?ref=shop_home_active_8

Bookmark and Card

I finally think I'm getting over this horrible illness, that seems to keep reappearing, so many bugs and illnesses lurking this time of year and certainly in weather conditions like we've been having.
Today though the sun has been kind to us and is shinning bright, finally some warmth in the air.

I do love to colour, especially when I'm feeling under the weather, blanket, TV or Music and my beloved Promarkers - I bought some Kenny K Stamps to 'help' hehe.

I was asked to create a card for a young lady who was turning 13, who only wears, purples, reds and blacks, I was left to my own devices but of course, these would be the colour materials I lacked in.

Fortunately Kenny K's gorgeous Kitty Katastrophe and my pens were to the rescue. The only deep purple paper the store had was this beauty, so I worked with it and used my black and white card I had in my cupboard with an embossing folder to make it match the purple card stock.

The embellishment in the top left corner is a handmade bookmark which I made myself with some purple beads I had in my stash.
I do love a good card with a matching gift, for an extra special touch.

I hope those of you who have also been ill are recovering well and continue to do so and those who haven't managed to catch anything continue to stay healthy.
Have a good rest of your weekend.
Thanks for stopping by.
xx

Pair of Triple Layer Poppy Design cards

I have some exciting news! 

You may have seen me promoting the amazing The Isobel Craft Collection monthly sales (join their current event for great products at spectacular prices) Well they now have their very own fabulous range of goodies and I have been chosen to be part of the design team.

For my first card I've used the beautiful sentiment stamp 'If friends were flowers, I'd pick you.' from their sentiment pack and I've mixed them with Kanban's Poppy stamp set.
Sentiment stamps are an essential and The Isobel Craft Collection have captured many occasions in their one sentiment pack, which also includes some beautiful floral corners and a few images too, beautiful, easy to use and clean, great value for money.

This is my first time using the triple stamping layer technique.

R.I.P Paul

Unfortunately a friend of ours passed away last month,
 Taken too young, but it was a beautiful ceremony and I'm just glad his is no longer in pain.
He can rest now.

This is the card I created for his family.

Using a clear stamp, ink, embossing powder and a heat gun, I heat embossed the pattern around the outside of the biggest layer, which was created using the Glitter Girls, Bookatrix, embossing board.

I then cut out a layer of Silver card and matted it onto a piece of navy card which I ran through my die cutting machine and embossed it with a floral embossing folder.
Using a Creative Expressions border, from a their Lattice Bow die set, I added a central panel.

Attaching it to the rest of the card with foam pads and double sided tape to make the 'page' dimensional.

The Lilly image is from Crafts U Print, decoupage sheet, matted onto some silver mirror card, cut out from Spellbinders scalloped circles.

As well as the verse on the front of the card, I attached a personal note to the reverse.
I'm very glad that she love the card, I will always be thinking of her, no one should loose their child.

You will always be in my heart, Paul.
xxx

I created the base of my card from 2 A4 sheets of peach, pearlescent card stock and 1 A4 sheet of gold mirror card, embossed from the Glitter girls bookatrix embossing board and hand cut out.
I added gold border peel offs around the outside of the base sheet and embossed the centre sheet with a floral embossing folder, ran through my Bigshot.

 Foam Pads added on the reverse of the pages to attach and add the layers, extra strong double sided tape down the centre to make sure it is held in place.

Train stamped image was coloured with Promarkers, for a couple who loves trains, I added some heart peel offs to add to the golden anniversary theme.

I printed off a verse from my computer and added some peel offs and glittered stickers to match the overall effect.

I cut the AND and the TH for the 50th out of the Grandfather peel off. ;)

 Flowers were placed down the centre to finish off the golden anniversary card for the train and garden lovers.

♥ I hope Bill and Flossie had a wonderful 50th Anniversary and many more years together. ♥♥♥♥