October calendar page and Lauren's birthday

Hi all, here this evening with Mum's calendar page (just a tad late!) I can hardly believe these calendars started as a one-off Christmas gift in 2015 and I'm still making them LOL

I've used a couple of oldies from Eat Cake Graphics and stencilled in some grass and clouds.  

I added some sparkle to the red part of his cape, shows better in this pic...

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - stencil fun

As You Like It - fairies or Halloween - I LOVE all the spooky Halloween images and always wondered why Halloween cards have never really been a thing here!

Daisy Chain Challenges #79 - Halloween 

And this card was a special request, similar to one I've done before, so just adding it for my own reference

Happy New Year!

 Hi all, and a very Happy New Year to you all!  Hard to believe Christmas is all over and done with after the months of run up to it!  Our tree and deccies have all been tidied away, normality resumed and the spring cleaning already started LOL 😂. And my only resolution is to give myself a good shake and get crafting more often!

So my first effort of the year is Mum's calendar page (and my only defence for it being not my best or most interesting effort is that it was a rush make!)

I'm not sure what make this die is, possibly Creative-Depot - the numbers and stars were cut from the central scrap and the silver ones were leftover from Christmas makes.

Snippets Playground #444 - use a snippet for anything but Christmas

Cut it Up #268 - Happy New Year 

Word Art Wednesday #575/576 - anything goes 

Miss Molly had a great time on Christmas morning and loved ripping open her own pressies and shredding all the rest of the wrapping paper LOL - the green thing under her paw is a squeaky pea pod from her Aunt and Uncle, still going strong unlike the indoor ball from Santa that went in the bin on Boxing Day! 

Happy Jubilee!

 Hi all!  Well I achieved my all time worst record of ONE card blogged last month!!! So I've given myself a double boot up the derrière and am aiming to do much better this month. So I'm kicking things off with June's calendar page for Mum in a Queen's Jubilee tea party theme!  I don't think I have any Queen stamps so this little Miss from Stamping Bella was the next best thing! 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - up in the air 

Card Concept #176 - red, white and blue 

Word Art Wednesday #545/546 - anything goes 

I've had a lovely couple of days off work for the Queen's Jubilee.  We were out last night for our beacon lighting event, complete with town councillors, Deputy Mayor and local photographers!  And a squillion midges too!   

And then today we were off to my sister's for a lovely Jubilee lunch, complete with Corgi biscuits and Royal cupcakes!  Oh and personalised Jubilee themed place settings from my niece too!

March calendar page

Hi all. I haven't shared one of my calendar pages for Mum for a while, so here's March.  We get St Patrick's Day off work so I've treated myself to the Friday too so that's a nice loooong weekend to look forward to.  

 I masked off this Anita Jeram stamp so the shamrocks could flow across the page - I didn't do a great job of it though so the sentiment came in handy to hide the duff edges ;)

Word Art Wednesday #533534 - anything goes

Addicted to Stamps #424 - any occasion 

August calendar

 Hi all! Happy Sunday, can't believe the weekend whizzes past so fast! Its just a quickie post from me this evening as there's a few programmes on telly I fancy - for a change, the TV is generally rubbish!

I haven't shared one of my calendar pages for Mum for a while, I actually made it on time this month 😉.  I've used this old but cute stamp from Eat Cake Graphics, it always makes me think of my niece and their big Labrador!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

Just Us Girls #595 - anything but a card

Word Art Wednesday 501/502 - anything goes

Addicted to Stamps #410 - dies and or stencils - I made my own cloud stencil with a die cut 

Floral birthday

I'm hoping my local craft shop has finally got their white cardstock in, I'm so not loving kraft card as my base!
This floral image was one of my recent purchases from Clearly Besotted.  I might get my watercolours out for the next attempt, I think they would work well with this one.   I might go over my leaves again, they're a wee bit pale looking here - though the days are so dark and my photos are rubbish so it's hard to tell really!

• Penny Black and More December - flowers
• Make My Monday #112 - female birthday
• As You Like It - favourite die - mine's definitely this set of square dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs  - I like how alternate sizes have a different edging

And a final outing for my favourite snowman - apologies I've probably overused him on my blog this season!  I've my Mum's calendar pages all made in advance this year, so thought I might make some for my own desk in work.  I'd a couple of wee snippets of white sparkly card that were just too small to go back into my stash and were destined for the bin, so used them up here for snowflakes.  I also added in some clear gloss dots + glitter for sparkly falling snow and I've inked in some snowdrifts but they're not really showing up in my pic.  Bye bye snowdude! 

• Pixie's Snippets Challenge #368  (Di has some AMAZING giveaways going if you join in with this callenge!)
• Crative Inspirations #December - festive fun
• Sparkles Forum Challenge #123 - glitter and sparkle

Here's to 2020!

Well that's Christmas done and dusted for another year.  We'd a great feast with the clan down in Mum's, and then back again today for round 2 of the turkey!  Elastic waistbands are definitely the way to go ;)

Anyway, as lots of you already know I usually make my Mum's calendar pages each month and 9 times out of 10 they're late!  So I got ahead of the game this year and made them all in advance as a wee Christmas gift.    I wrote out the little poem about the months of the year (in my awful scrawly writing) and stuck it to the bottom edge of each one.  I was going great guns but got a bit stuck on July (I'm not even sure what a gillyflower is!) and October was a bit iffy too as I only have 1 image of a nut in my stash and I couldn't think what to do with it.

• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Moving along with the Times #113 - anything but a card
• Allsorts #551/2 - anything goes
• Stamping Sensations #December - anything goes

December Calendar and a little elf

So here's December's calendar page for Mum, bonus points to me for actually being on time for a change!  I think this stamp is from Whipper Snapper, bought a looooong time ago and not inked for quite a few years!   I'd probably be totally skint if they had a UK supplier as I love their stamps.
My calendar stamp is a recent purchase from Amazon and I reckon they were a good buy, it's so much less of a faff than individually stamping all the letters of the month.  I haven't done anything in the background, other than ink in a snowdrift.

• Papercraft challenge #51 - use a number on your project
• Addicted to Stamps #369 - CAS
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

 I've still a few Christmas cards to make, I can hardly believe we're already at the end of November!
This one uses my trusty elf from MFT - coloured with polychromos and clear gloss / glitter added. My sentiment is cut from sparkly card, and I added a few die cut stars.  I think it kinda looked better in my head than the finished effort though!

• Layout flipped from Freshly Made Sketch #413
• Pinspirational challenge #252 - I went for the bauble theme
• Fab'n Funky #459 - Christmas

Pizza anyone?

Mmmmm I love a bit of pizza, and I know it's a bit controversial, but I love it with pineapple! ;)    When we went to Rome a few years back it took me quite a while before I could eat pizza at home, the stuff we had there was just so amazing - the frozen version bunged in the oven just was not on the same planet!!

Anyway, this is Mum's calendar page, late as per usual.  That could be my New Year's resolution, to get them done before the month actually has started!

I've used this High Hopes chef stamp which is years old and still gets inked on a regular basis - coloured with polychromos.  Bricks stencilled in background.

• Retro Rubber challenge #123 - anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps #366 - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #410/411 - anything goes
• Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

PS I was asked recently how I make my crafty budget ... I really just set myself a target of no more than £10 (£15 max) each month and try to stick to it - if I go over one month I'll try reign in my spending in the next.  The danger of course is when you go visiting your buddies' blogs as they always have fabulous stamps that I 'need' (you know who you are LOL!!)

October calendar and a pink wedding

We had a lovely bright sunny day today - a great day for getting my washing dried outside and ousting the dust bunnies from inside!  So as I was a good busy girl all day I'd no qualms about getting crafty all evening ;)  I had a serious loss of mojo recently (too busy in work combined with a stinker of a cold) so it was good to get colouring again.

 Here's Mum's calendar page, actually early for a change!  I've used my little bee again from Tracey Hey at Alpaca Pals - it's hard to remember sometimes what stamps I've used on her calendar pages so I usually use my most recent one!  Coloured with polychromos - glitter added to his wings and gloss to his nose and to the hearts.  Background chalked up with my hexagon stencil.

• Penny Black and More September - animals
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - stitch it
• Papercraft challenge #46 - no design paper

This one is a special request - and yes, I have checked that Alex is a girl LOL

I've used my good old Lily of the Valley stamp - coloured with polychromos and clear gloss added to her roses.

If I was making this again I would have moved the 'congratulations' down a wee hair, my spacing isn't quite right.  Silver hearts from stash.

• Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday Aug/Sept - celebrate
• Moving along with the Times #107 - wedding
• Word Art Wednesday #405-407 - anything goes

In a CAS mood

We've had the most glorious sunny summer's day today, and I was totally self indulgent and just chillaxed all day, read my book and did a wee bit of colouring :)  I'm still in search of my Mojo, so just kept it nice and simple.

I coloured my little bunny from Purple Onion Designs with my polychromos and popped him up on foam pads.  I scored a few lines in the background and added a few little silver stars.

• Papercraft Challenge #40 - stars
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - stars and/or stripes
• Tuesday Throwdown #435 - anything goes
• AAA cards #144 - maxi white space
  

And here's Mum's calendar page for the month, just a tad late! 

I've used this old Wild Rose Studio stamp that I bought a long time ago and I don't believe I've ever inked it up!  

I was happy with how the colouring on my skirt turned out with the folds, but I've no idea how I actually managed it, bit of a happy accident that!

• Time Out #139 - inspired by words - I chose the 'flowers' 
• Watercooler Wednesday WWC228 - feminine
• Penny's challenge #437 - anything goes

Christmas Elf and June calendar

I can hardly believe it's June already, how'd that happen!!  We've had a rubbish week of weather so it was lovely to get a dry day and get out to tackle some of the weeds!

So what else would I be making to celebrate the first day of summer but a Christmas card LOL.  I've been eyeballing these MFT elves for such a long time, so a wee sale was a good excuse for a purchase ;)
Coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads; gloss and glitter added to his hat; Paper Smooches snowflake dies.

• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Christmas Kickstart #11 - Christmas Kids

And this is Mum's calendar page for the month, actually on time for a change! I bought this little girl for my niece's birthday card last year but I don't think I've used it since.

• Crafty Catz #464 - anything goes
• Watercooler Wednesday #223 - anything goes

Bunches of Daffs and Tulips

There hasn't been much action about my blog recently - I've had a serious loss of mojo so I've been busy elsewhere, painting my bedroom and having a general spring clean and tidy up instead!  But my stash is seriously depleted so it's heads down and get stuck in time.

My old Lili of the Valley stamps are always easy to use, they're such a pleasure to colour in!  And I reckon I need to invest in some more MFT papers, this pack is almost all used up.

• Layout from Try Stampin on Tuesday #403
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - animal antics
• Word Art Wednesday #380-381 - anything goes
• As you like it - fave colouring medium - mine's definitely my polychromo pencils.  They're a lot slower to use than my watercolour pencils, but I love the shading and depth of colour you can get.  I still have plenty more practicing to do though! 

And here's Mum's calendar page which I must confess didn't quite make it to her on time for the 1st ;)  

I've used this oldie from High Hopes and stencilled in some pink swirly effects for the background but it doesn't really show up well in my photo.

• Creative Inspirations April - Easter animal
• Creatalicious #160 - not a card

Twin Boys and March Calendar page

I'd spotted this oldie Elzybell's stamp on a recent hunt, so when I was asked to make a card for twin boys I knew what one I wanted to use :)
I went for 2 different coloured parachutes, but the darker one has hints of the lighter one so they go together better.
Nice and simple, I just popped my images up on foam pads and added a few wee blue stars.

• Cards 4 Guys #124 - clean and simple
• Pinspiration #233 - baby boy
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• The Male Room #105 - no DPs

And here's Mum's calendar page.  All our daffs are in full bloom, so I had to use these ones from Clearly Besotted.

• Allsorts #509 - your favourite season - mine's most definitely Spring!  I love to see the garden springing into life, the evenings starting to stretch and all the baby animals in the fields
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• 
  

A card that didn't want to be made and Feb Calendar page

I'm starting to love my new polychromo pencils but they take an age to colour something, it's a good job that's my favourite part of card making!  I normally stamp my image using my stamp positioner, colour it in and then stamp it again so that my lines are nice and crisp.

This little dragon didn't want to play ball though, and when I was going for that final stamp it fell off a millisecond before it should have and wrecked a couple of hours of colouring.  GRRRR!
So I started again but I managed to add some dirty marks and had to add those un-planned green stars.
My image is an oldie from High Hopes, not sure of the make of sentiment, MFT stripy DP.  Sparkle added to the flame and clear gloss to the icing on the cake and the dragon's nails. (This is going to be my brothers birthday card)

• Dragon theme from the Library Challenge #25 - The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Fab'n'Funky #425 - fantasy figures
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

And here's Mum's calendar page for February.  Only 2 days late this time so I'm improving my score this year hahaha.

I've used an old TiddlyInks image and I'm not sure of the make of my stencil.

I added a little heart sequin to Valentine's Day.

• Inspired by - Kissing Booth - I went for the hearts and red colours
• Creatalicous #156 - anything goes, option hearts

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Christmas Card #1

It's been a horrible icky damp drizzly and dark old day today.  I think we've had the lights on all day, so other than housework and making soup for lunches I did very little else!

So I took the opportunity to join in my buddy Jo's new Christmas Kickstart Challenge - I'm definitely going to try to play along each fortnight.  I find that come Christmas I have a few nicely designed cards and then it's a mad rush for the others, so I'm hoping to avoid that this year!

 My little reindeer is from Hunkydory Crafts - coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.  Lots of clear gloss and sparkle added to his nose and antlers.  My stripy DP is a dark navy, not sure if it just looks black here.

• Christmas Kickstart Challenge #1 - Rudolph and friends
• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #369
• Tuesday Throwdown #422 - Winter Sparkle

And here's Mum's calendar page, oops, only 6 days late ;)

I used some black and red glitter card for lots of sparkle.  Not sure of the make of the fireworks.

• Penny Black and More January  - new beginnings
• Crafting by Design January - anything goes
• CRAFT #496 - 'new'