Where does all the time go?

I seem to spend most of my time apologising for my absence on here - I spend quite a lot of time blog hopping & not an awful lot of time making things - occasionally I have to force myself to turn off the computer and actually make some cards! & then I realise how many more talented people there are out there than me & can't think of a thing to do.

Having said this though, I did make 3 cards recently for a fall card swap with my SBS12 sisters, but I won't post those until I know they've got them - all I'll say is that I was really pleased with the results, even if I did leave it until the last minute and put myself under loads of pressure to get it done.

The one card I can post is for the October friendship card swap on Docrafts - as you will see the theme was halloween, and I didn't think I had that much stuff for halloween (other than a CBug folder with a spiders web that I bought at Exeter last month). But then I got out my paper dolls Cricut cartridge and cut out most of the Frankenstein stuff - I really do not use my cricut enough, there is such wonderful stuff on there! It still took me ages to put the card together as I really wasn't sure how to arrange everything. In the end I used some of the bits on the inside & thought it would make a nice surprise when the recipient opens it. I also remembered one stamp I bought many years ago (probably 15 if I'm honest) and have never used on a card, it seemed to fit perfectly as a border at the bottom, especially with the white embossing powder, it really pops off the page.

Anyway hope you like - I'm off to try and get some more inspiration from Create and Craft who've got a whole weekend of craft - have already got a few ideas for some unusual cards.

Bye for now

Thanks

Well, it's been ages since I posted (again!) - sorry, spend so much time blog hopping that I don't get time to update my own - haven't been making as many cards recently either.

I did find time to go to the Craft Fair at Westpoint last weekend & managed to spend all of my birthday money (& then some!). It was a really good day out, but my feet were soo tired at the end of it & I was suffering from severe caffeine withdrawals, it was several days before I played with any of my goodies. I managed to increase my Magnolia collection by 6, and although I promised myself no more christmas stuff I could not resist a Penny Black clear christmas critter set.

Anyway, this week a friend of hubbys was moving and had a clear out, and gave me a whole load of crafting stuff - I've never met this girl & thought this was really sweet, so I made her this card to say thank you (& at the same time got to play with one of my new magnolia stamps and one of my new cuttlebug embossing folders).

Hope you like - no promises on when I will next find time in my hectic schedule to post.

Sorry for going AWOL

Okay, sorry about being absent for so long, loads to do & so little time to put it all on my blog. I have a friend who's going through a rough time at the moment so I've been trying to help there & this has cut my time down a bit. I've still been making things & taking pictures, just no time to post, so here they all are in one big hit!

More Playtime

Yay! I have had soo much time to make cards this week - think the weather has been conspiring in my favour (although we did spend an entire afternoon at the cinema on Thursday).

I finally got my card made for the docraft friendship swap for August (may just manage to get it in the post for the end of the month). Its the first time I've used this fancy fold on a card before, but I really like it and may well use it again. The flower image is one of my favourite stamps that gets used quite a lot (not recently though) and surprisingly enough, its a Dawn Bibby stamp. I don't possess many of hers but I have to say that they are very versatile.

The other card is another one for Christmas, I really am enjoying using my old stamps, once you get into it the imagination tends to do all the hard work & before you know it another card is made!

I got brave the other day and put out an ad on the Docrafts website for someone who might like to come and craft with me on a weekend afternoon, well, a lovely lady called Sharon answered the call & we met up today - just to talk and sort out some kind of plan. It's going to be so much more fun having someone else to craft with, and hopefully she will be able to bring along another crafting nut! It's never the same when you show your cards to a non crafter, bless them, they try and seem enthusiastic but it just does not work.

Anyway, hope you like the cards & thanks for looking

More old stamps

Well, I've been at it again - I found another old stamp and made a card with it, the backing paper is brand new though & I was quite extravagant and used nearly a whole 8x8 sheet!

I love the way the embossed background turned out - I inked with bashful blue onto the cuttlebug embossing folder before putting the paper in and embossing, I actually really like the mottled effect where the ink didn't quite cover the whole folder.

I've had the snowman stamp for years (an old Anita's one) and don't use him much because he's not quite as cute as some other images.

Anyway, happy stamping & I'll no doubt be back soon with some more stuff - I've got a week off work at the moment and as the weather isn't playing ball, we are only doing short trips with DD.

Just Playing

Its great - I've started to just play again, trying things out to see what happens, not everything is going to go right, but I'm sure there will be some happy accidents along the way and I need to get away from the formulaic cards that I sometimes produce.

Anyway, I've dug out my Christmas stamps & boy have I got loads of them! Well I split them into ones I use alot and ones I've hardly ever/never used. I'm now forcing myself to make at least one card with the ones I've not used & actually I'm quite enjoying it - this is one of the cards I've made, maybe not the best, but then they can't all be, right?


This next one was made using a new template I got from HOTP - Swirly Doodles, I wanted to see what I could do with some swirls, so I used it to decorate the top of the card, and then on a separate piece of paper and using the same colour I had a go at a simple Christmas Tree, I then embossed the tree, which completely changed the colour of the ink, cut it out, chalked the tree and the card, embossed some snowflakes on the card and put the tree onto the card using some foam pads. I've decided, I love white embossing powder!

More Birthday Cards

Crikey, where does all the time go - can't believe it's a week since I last posted. Well as promised, these are more cards I made to take into work. They have decided they are not going to buy my cards as they are too nice and may get damaged being passed around so many people, suppose I'm flattered but it would have been nice to make a little money back to fund my hobby!

I have finally started on my Christmas cards, and I'm also trying to force myself to use stamps that I have either not used before (bad stamper!!) or have not used for a long time & have trouble thinking of a layout for - it's quite a challenge & I've had to sort out a pile of stamps to work on.

The other thing I've realised is that I have soo much Christmas paper, I keep buying more every year, but haven't used up last years, or the year befores, or the year before that!

note to self DO NOT BUY ANY MORE CHRISTMAS PAPER!!!!

Over on Tracy and Anna's blogs, I found this "which of the five senses are you?", quite interesting, and apparently I am this one:

You are the Sense of Sight

You are a very observant, detail oriented person. You are able to take in a lot of information at once. You often see things that other people never notice. You have a good eye for design and aesthetics. You love to be surrounded by beauty - natural or not. When you imagine how something should look, you see it clearly in your mind.

Which of the Five Senses Are You?