Penny Black Birthday

My Brother~in~Law should've received his card by now as his birthday was yesterday, so it's safe to show.
The image is Penny Black Lazy Days which was sent to me in a RAK and I actually coloured and mounted it onto an embossed card panel back in June when I used the same image for a Father's Day card.
The background paper is from a paper stack by Papermania and I added chipboard letters for personalisation.
This will be an alternative entry into Bubbly Scrumptious August Challenge.

Tropical Bird & Christmas

Don't worry folks ...
... not on the same card!
This cute little image was a free download from PolkaDoodles but unfortunately I'm too late to enter their challenge despite the extended deadline ... the week just ran away with me I'm afraid.
I used my trusty Whispers Brush Markers to colour the image and added a touch of narrow lilac ribbon and some 'faux stitching'. Click the photo to see the detail.
The pretty papers and the epoxy sticker were from a scrapbook pack bought at our local Poundland ... a great bargain as there was loads of goodies crammed in the pack and decent quality too.

The Christmas cards are following Fab's Christmas Challenges from the beginning of the year in an effort to catch up, (with the intention of having a tidy wee pile ready and waiting before December).
I may not do them all in order but these are the first 2 from January.

Fab's Challenge #1 ~ Ice Blue & Sparkle
The papers were included in a RAK from my mega-talented friend Tiggertastic, (if you visit her blog you will see what I mean!), and the snow scene image was recycled from one of last year's cards and matted onto silver mirri card.

The extra sparkle was added using a Quickie Glue Pen and glitter.

Fab's Challenge #2 ~ 3D Embellishments
The HoHoHo paper was included in a free download from Funky Fairy's Inspirations and the blue glitter paper was included in the Pick'n'Mix selection from The Works.
The embossing was created using the Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder and the Santa embellishments were from a very old QVC kit, simply mounted with foam pads onto mirri card circles.
Like the majority of crafters everywhere, I'm having to tighten the belt quite a lot, so will probably be using up loads of old shopping channel kits between now and Christmas ... (much of which, to my shame, is still in boxes untouched) ... and I will be being much less impulsive about new purchases ... for a while anyway.

RAK ... Random Act of Kindness

Today's post brightened up what had started as a bit of a grey day for me.
Isn't it strange how when you're feeling a bit low, for no reason in particular, something happens to let you know that others are thinking about you ... and that immediately makes you feel better?
Humungous thanks to TwiggyPeaSticks and Susie Little (who are fellow crafty buddies from the Crafts Beautiful forum), because you brought some well needed sunshine into my day, just when I needed it.
PS: My button delivery arrived too so now I have a gazillion buttons to play with.

RAK ... Random Act of Kindness

Some super surprises dropped through my letterbox this morning in the form of RAKs from my friends at Crafts Beautiful forum.

The first was all the way from down under ... sent by Lollies at Cards and Other Crafty Stuff. She is one of our youngest members and an absolute sweetheart.
Please pop over to her blog and say 'Hi' and check out her creations ... they are amazing for one so young.

She'll really appreciate the visit and would love to hear your comments.

The envelope was filled to bursting with loads of lovely papers, stick ons, buttons and .... well just look what she sent!

The second envelope contained the most beautiful tag made for me by Susie at White Ribbon Cards and, coincidently, I had been admiring this tag on her blog just the other day.

She is one very talented lady and if you get a chance then pop over to see some of the other stunning projects she has made.

Thank You both very much for your kindness.

Friday Already??

Where has this week gone ?? Did someone steal it ???

Seems like it ... and the weekend is going to be busy too so if I blink I'll miss that too!
Had really slow internet today, so decided to have a little play and make a birthday card.

Started with a black deckle~edged card which was folded in half and then added paper from the DCWV All Dressed Up Paper Stack. The front panel was then scored and folded back before adding the circle tag with the peel off greeting. The chipboard letters were coloured with a blue permanent pen and then glittered in silver. A self adhesive sparkly gem was used for the dot over the 'i' ... just a little bit of bling.

Inside is more of the lovely turquoise swirl paper and the message panel (cut from an envelope), was randomly silver embossed round the edge before adding a small ribbon bow and greeting.







Yesterday I came home from work to find the Magnolia stamps I'd ordered the other day from SassyCrafts had arrived. Can't wait to have a play with them but goodness only knows when that will be. Until then I will just gaze at them and look forward to opening the packets.

Today ... the postman delivered me more delights which made me smile in the form of a RAK from my fellow CB friend Copse aka Karen.
There are some lovely papers and a fab ATC ... and as a super thoughtful bonus, some 1st class stamps.

So even though I haven't been around CB or blogland much this week, I haven't been forgotten which is very reassuring.
I did try to get onto the CB forum to say 'Thank You' but without success so will post here for now.

"Thank You Very Much Karen!"

RAKs ... and so much more!

Once again, I have been the lucky recipient of some super RAKs from my CB friends since I last posted here.

As you will see the generosity of the members is just overwhelming at times and I feel so lucky to have such wonderful crafty friends.




Thank you so much Sequin, Maggie50 and Tiggertastic for your beautiful gifts of scrummy papers, ATCs, notebooks and fabulous jewellery ... not only for me but for my precious daughter too who loves her chunky T~bar necklace, her super charm and her horsey notebook made especially for her by Tiggertasic.

Thank You is just not enough ... nor will it ever be.

More RAKs!

After feeling pretty yukky for the last few days with a tummy bug, it was nice to wake up this morning feeling more like my usual self and although the weather is rather grey and dull outside, I was happy.
This was only to improve further when the postie arrived because he brought with him more lovely RAKs from my CB friends and a delivery of some fabby ribbons I had ordered to cheer myself up. What can I say? They were a bargain buy!!

The first RAK was a lovely butterfly card and message from Dee which made me laugh.
You are such a sweetheart ... thank you.



The 2nd RAK came from Pinkpuppy who kindly sent me some lovely papers, a beautiful ATC (with another butterfly) and a personalised Get Well Card (even more butterflies!!) Thanks Louise ... you are very kind and have helped get my weekend off to a good start.

Whoops ... I forgot to photograph the ribbons ... you'll just have to check back later!

RAK ... Random Act of Kindness

After a virtually sleepless night ... most of which was spent in the bathroom ... (say no more!) ... I was feeling rather tired and listless to say the least.

However ... I was soon to be cheered up this afternoon when a super RAK from Martine dropped through the letterbox.

It was absolutely packed full of lovely papers, pearlised cards, peel offs, ribbons, and so many other luvverly goodies too many to list but suffice to say ... it made my day and I am going to bed tonight much happier than when I got out of it this morning!

Thanks Martine!

Hello Peeplings!

Hello Peeplings!
It's been a while since I blogged hasn't it ? ... I'm not the best nor the most reliable of bloggers ... but I never said I would be either of those things.

Anyway ... I have some things to show you if you care to take a look.

Firstly ... I made an ATC Accordian style wallet this week, following directions taken from a crafting magazine. (I think it may have been Papercraft Inspirations but am not entirely sure).

The papers are K & Co (which I love) and the ribbon is some lovely gold organza from my stash.



The Friends tag was a clear stamp from a HOTP kit, which I gold embossed before adhering it to gold mirri card and then mounting it with 3D foam tape.

I can't take any credit for the rest of what I'm showing because they were lovely RAKs sent to me recently by my online friends. Thank you Queenie, Copse and Jude. You really know how to make people feel special.

RAK ... Random Act of Kindness

Yesterday, I was the very lucky recipient of the most wonderful RAK from 2belle ... one of my CB forum friends.

The amount of goodies that she has sent were enough for several RAKs and the variety of fabbylicious background papers and vellums just blew me away.

I know that other CB members have received similar fabby parcels from her over the last few days and can only say a huge thank you to 2belle for being so generous. I can only hope she has kept some of this gorgeous stash for herself.

More RAKs!

Hmmmmm ... I wonder what our postman is thinking about the sudden surge of mail being delivered to me over recent weeks. Yep you guessed it ... I have had more surprises dropping through my door from my Crafts Beautiful friends.

Yesterday afternoon, I had a lovely selection of goodies arrive from Copse.
A pretty little Thank You card was included with several lovely papers, embossed 'Happy Birthday' paper and some really pretty feathers, as well as funky foam animals which are so cute.

This morning ... I received a lovely little ATC from Taavjax which made me smile. It is #1 of 3 so no doubt 2 other CB friends will have one dropping through their letterbox too.

There was a larger envelope too and that had travelled many miles across the water.
It contained the Pay It Forward blog candy I won on SewDelish's blog on 17th March. The rules were that I was in turn to offer PIF blog candy to 3 visitors to my blog, hence continuing the Pay It Forward process, and those winners should have received their blog candy by now. So I hope I'm up to date with everything and can relax for a while LOL.

Here is what I received from SewDelish this morning ... some fabby flowers, several embellishments & toppers, some stamped file tabs, ribbed card and some scrummy funky fibres.


I once again have to say a huge Thank You to everyone for their generosity ... you are all so very kind and I consider myself to be a very lucky lady.

Exciting Week!

Regular visitors and my friends at the Crafts Beautiful forum will already know that I have had the most amazingly exciting week with lots of luvverly goodies falling through my door. Just look for my RAK posts to see what I mean.

So you can imagine how delighted I was to discover that I have been awarded the MOTM (Member of the Month) at Crafts Beautiful too! What a week this has been!! There are so many wonderful members over there who are all equally worthy of being selected so I don't need to tell you how good I feel right now. Thanks to everyone at CB for your lovely messages of congratulations ... you are all such treasures and I'm so lucky to have found you.

So more gorgeous stash is heading my way and I'll post piccies as soon as it arrives ... can't wait LOL!

3 RAK's Today

I have got to be having the most amazing week of all time. The postie arrived this morning bearing yet more RAK gifts from my CB friends. And when they were opened they revealed so many beautiful things I'm afraid I had a 'Niagara Moment' ... quite a long one too!

Glitzzy had sent a bumper bundle of oriental goodies, far too many to mention individually but one item in particular was a gorgeous keyring which has a quartz stone encased in a metal spiral globe. Needless to say it is hanging from my car keys already. Thank you Glitzzy ... I will enjoy playing with them all and you may find you and Zheena are responsible for another addiction LOL.

The 2nd RAK was from a very special lady Jules, from Creative Makes. She sent my daughter and I a pony card ... knowing how horse mad my little girl is ... but, more than that, she also included the actual Cuddly Buddly stamp for us to play with! Isn't that a wonderfully kind thing to do? Thank you so much Jules ... we'll have to have a rota for using it I think.

That was when my eyes started to leak.

So by the time I came to open the 3rd RAK, which was from Queenie ... well that was when Niagara started flowing with a vengeance. The envelope revealed a box ... beautifully decorated in friendship papers and a little twiggy heart.

Inside the box was an accordian Friendship Book ... and I can't tell you how gorgeous it is in real life but take a look at the photo ... isn't it amazing?

I have got to be the luckiest lady ever to have such wonderful, kind and generous friends. Thank you all so very, very much.

RAK ... Random Act of Kindness

Several members of the Crafts Beautiful forum have got together and exchanged names and addresses for a variety of different reasons. There are ATC swaps, a Birthday Club, A scrapbook Journal Circle and others too ... I'm sure you get the picture.

Anyway, one of the lists is compiled of members who wanted to join a RAK list and for those who don't know, I shall explain how it works.

The objective is purely and simply to bring a smile to someone else's face, by sending them something through the post. There doesn't have to be a reason (other than you simply want to), there are no deadlines to stick to and no pressure because you just send whatever you like ... to whomever you like ... whenever you feel like doing so ... by it's very definition it is a Random Act of Kindness.

There has been a bit of RAK fever over the last few weeks ... especially as it is a newish thing ... so we are all sending goodies to each other like mad LOL. There have been some lovely gifts being sent and this week I have received more than my fair share in the post. It's a fabby idea and it really does get your day off to a good start. Try it ... you'll enjoy the feeling I promise.

So here are the RAK's I have received this week ... thanks Maggie50, Zheena, Silvercustard and Emily13 ... you have brightened my week already and it's only halfway.