A Max Make ... or maybe 2 !

The CB forum was out of action last night as was the MSN group I belong to, so after struggling with them both for a while I gave up and decided that as no one wanted to be my friend I would just have some playtime instead.

What started as a simple idea 'morphed' into something a bit more the longer I played around ... and eventually I ended up not only with this Accordian Book ... (actually it's more of a folder) ... but an enormous mess which was the result of much digging through my stash for what I wanted. Funny how what you want is always at the bottom of the pile isn't it? LOL!
I will be personalising the front but couldn't show you or that would give the game away who it is for.

It will soon be winging it's way to the 'secret someone' I had originally intended to make a simple card for ... just hope it gets there safely and they like it when it lands. I have filled the envelopes with bits and bobs which I hope will be useful to the intended victim .... ermmmm I mean receiver LOL!
While I was waiting for the glue to dry on the folder thingy, I busied myself making a card using the Let's Make Cards kit ... just a simple one but quite pretty all the same.

Here are the instructions ...

Use a ready scored pink card blank from the kit and adhere the green floral paper to the lower part covering about 2/3rds.

*Optional*
Round the corners and also cut the outside edges of the card with decorative scissors / trimmer.
Cut out the paisley pattern flowers from another paper and glue them in a flower shape onto gold mirri card ... then cut around the shape leaving a narrow border.
Stick green pearl gems to the centre of each flower petal and add an epoxy greeting.
Gold mirri card provides the stem to which is added a small pink bow made from the ribbon in the kit.
2 small diecut butterflies, also in the kit, and a teeny bit of pink glitter, add the finishing touch.

Wonder if I've missed the closing date for the challenge. Will check that out later.

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!

Thank You Card

I was gutted the other day to discover that the Thank You card I'd made for The Crafts Beautiful team after being selected for MOTM never arrived ... especially as it was one of my better efforts and was an improved version of the 'Floral Flap Over' card I made HERE.

Thanks for nothing Royal Mail!

However, I decided to just make another one and hopefully it will arrive on Jenny and Kate's desk safe and sound.


This time I used fabric squares for the back and front and made a concertina type pop up for inside, which I covered in some scrummy floral papers from HOTP ... all held together with some bright, shiny turquoise ribbon.

Amazing Artwork!

Most of my online friends and forum buddies know that my 12 year old daughter is passionate about horses and sometimes prefers being around them to people.

Her other favourite hobby is drawing and, in my opinion, she has a definite talent for art. She often sits in the evenings sketching, doodling or colouring in pictures and finds it a good way to chill.

One of her friends asked her to do a picture of a horse and the other night I sat and watched Naomi draw this for her friend.

At the risk of being a braggy parent I decided I just had to show off her artistic talent ... isn't it amazing?

Here are another couple of drawings she has done ... she has always been fascinated with dinosaurs.

Birthday Cards

It's been a busy week between one thing and another and a combination of work, family happenings and the good weather has kept me away from crafting and I've been too tired for much PC time.

However I did manage to find a little time and a smidgeon of motivation to make a couple of cards for family members who have May birthdays ... so hip hooray for me LOL!

The first one is for my younger sister and the other one is for my brother in law.

Sorry about the reflection but as we all know mirri card is a devil to photograph.

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.

Blog Candy

My CB friend Susie is celebrating 10,000 hits and is kindly offering some fabby...licious Blog Candy on her White Ribbon Cards blog. Congratulations Susie.

If I were you I'd head over there and get your name down quick! Go on ... what'ya waiting for??? SCOOT!! Don't forget to tell her who sent you LOL!

Floral Slats

How many times have you found yourself left with lots of strips of gorgeous papers ... and no idea what to do with them?
Well instead of sticking them in a box, never to see the light of day again, why not try something like this?


I cut each strip to fit horizontally across a blank white card and before sticking them down, I inked all around the edge of them with a brown ink pad. Each strip was then butted up to the previous one to form a slat effect background.
Good effect huh?









I then gold embossed a floral stamp, a butterfly stamp and a greeting onto plain white card before using blending chalks to colour match it with the papers. This was then cut out with scalloped scissors and mounted onto gold mirri card. No more little scraps of paper cluttering up my boxes and a pretty card to boot. Job Done!!

Friends Meet

I really like how this card turned out.

The papers have a lovely aged look to them and combined with a little pastel blue ribbon with a smidgeon of gold mirri card for matting and layering ... well what more does it need?
I may be wrong but am almost certain the papers are by Brenda Walton from K. & Co.

The sentiment was actually a laser greeting which I stencilled with a brown mini ink dauber, which gives a much softer look than would have been achieved if I had simply mounted it directly onto the card .... which was my original intention. Yes I am happy with this one.

Floral Flap Card and More

Goodness Me ... it's Thursday already and I've no idea where the week is going, I just know it's going faster than I can keep up with. But maybe that's more something to do with me being on a 'Go Slow' LOL!

I have managed a few new cards again this week so take a look and hope you like them.

The first one is another Flap Card ...totally different from the Dilly Dolly one I made previously because it is more of an envelope style and uses a magnetic handbag clasp for the closure.















I then decided to get adventurous and try my hand at a Double Flap Card and this time I have used ribbon for the closure.
















I am actually quite pleased with the overall look of the finished card but really wish I'd been more patient and hadn't smudged the ink as it now looks dirty ... grrrrr ... hey ho!
Never mind ... at least you can get the gist of what I wanted to achieve.

Floral Simplicity

I was lucky enough to grab a little playtime yesterday afternoon and managed to produce 3 simple floral cards.

Now don't get excited ... they are the simplest of simple but my little craving for some craft time was satisfied and I feel better for having made something this week. Hurrah!!

This first one was made using some freebies from a magazine.



I dabbled with doodling my own swirls and fake stitching on this second one.

As you can see there is definitely room for improvement but it was quite therapeutic to do.
The chipboard retro flowers were from a kit I think.





This last offering is one of my early attempts at decoupage and although I like the image I know I should've curled the edges for a more professional finish.
Slap my fingers ... I will remember the next time.

My favourite part of this card is the material square ... the turquoise area feels like velvet and is very tactile. I took a close up to show what I mean.

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.

Training Completed

Today was the final day of training for my new job and tomorrow will be my first day 'flying solo' ... so wish me luck. Had a good day today and took impressions of 5 babies hands and feet so am getting the technique down to a fine art and can only improve (I hope).

Nothing much else to say for now and sorry but no crafty things to show, but I have a couple of unfinished projects which I hope to complete tonight or tomorrow so check back soon.

"Such A Star" Award

Just had to show you this fabby 'Such A Star' award that was given to me from my CB friend Silvercustard.

Isn't it pretty and such a nice quote too?

Thank you Claire ... your kind gesture is much appreciated.

My 1st BookaTrix

Now I know the BookaTrix boards have been on the go for a long time but I have never really been one for keeping up with latest 'trends' and as a result have only recently acquired one.

So this is my first ever bookatrix card with matching box.

The paper is from DCWV 'All Dressed Up' stack pad and the peel offs and silver ribbon are just what I had in my stash. I also added a couple of adhesive gems for additional glitz.

Dilly Dolly Flap Card

April's Challenge from the MSN group I belong to, is to make a 'Flap Card' ... a little card that has a flap closure ... so I had a go and came up wih this little Dolly Card.

The daisy paper is from a Papermania Collossal Stack and I combined it with dark purple handmade paper. The pretty little dolly was one of a pack I picked up in our local pound shop ... just because they were pretty. I knew they would come in handy one day LOL! She can be removed and saved as a keepsake.

Inside, I matted more of the daisy paper onto silver mirri board and tied a ribbon as decoration ... and the lower portion has a self adhesive birthday greeting on plain lilac paper mounted onto silver mirri board.

The flap closure is secured with velcro as I didn't have mini magnets to hand. Not decided if I will enter this one or try again and see if I can do something better. What do you think?

Anniversary Card

This morning I had a little time to myself and made an Anniversary card for my nephew and his wife who will celebrate their 2nd Anniversary on 8th April.
I wanted to try my hand at making a fold over card that you tuck in, and thought it would be good practice for cutting slits with a craft knife.
The 'Just For You' message is stamped and embossed with gold ... it didn't photograph well and looks smudgy but believe me when I say it looks clear enough in real life.

Not bad for a first attempt even if I say so myself!

Hardened crafters will recognise the mini book on the inside as being the smallest part of the tall Bookatrix board ... it was the perfect size.

I used gold embossed card and some handmade paper from my stash for the pages then added some feathers under the message which reads ...
'To a wonderful couple'.
Hope they like it as much as I do.

You Make My Day

I have received a 'You Make My Day' award from Jo over at Former Blonde.
Isn't it pretty?
I will accept it gratefully and thank you very much for the honour. I may wait a while before passing it on as there are several of these lovely awards doing the rounds right now, so will wait for a lull and then surprise someone with it. Hope that's ok.

Tagged Twice

I have been 'Tagged' by 2 of my CB friends, Former Blonde and Twiggypeasticks. Thanks ladies ... I think LOL!

Here are the Roolz which have to be posted:

1). Name and URL of person who tagged you.
2). Post the rules.
3). Write 7 things about yourself.
4). Name 7 fave blogs.
5). Send email to 7 blogs to say that they have been tagged.

Now as you can see, being 'tagged' means I have to tell 7 facts about myself ... EEEK!! Good job they don't have to be interesting LOL 'cos I'm quite boring really ... but here goes.

1. When I was at school, I wanted to join the police, but I discovered I was 'vertically challenged' being only 5' 3" ... and a bit.

2. My husband and I will celebrate our 21st Wedding Anniversary this year.

3. My family and friends are more precious to me than anything else in my life.

4. When I was 17, I broke my neck and back in a car accident.
(I was a passenger in the back and it was before seatbelts were compulsory).

5. I am the 3rd born of 6 children ... 3 brothers and 2 sisters and am the eldest daughter.

Ermmmmm struggling now .....

6. I lurrrrrve to wear dingly dangly earrings.

Now I'm really stumped ... what else could I tell you ?
Oh yes.

7. I am about to rejoin the workforce after 18 years as a 'Domestic Engineer'

See ... warned you I was boring!

Now the rules say I must nominate and e~mail 7 other bloggers but having browsed through my favourites over the last couple of days, I noticed that many of them have already been tagged ... and probably wouldn't thank me if I did it again. So I'm going to let it lie and just point you in the direction of the list on the right >>>>>>>>>>>> over there.

They are all super blogs and well worth a visit if you have the time.
Hope I haven't offended anyone or spoiled anything by not doing things properly.

Oriental Cards

I was having a little play today, (it was my reward to myself for cleaning the windows LOL!), and managed to make a few Oriental cards using items from the RAK's I received last week.

I confess I've never been particularly drawn towards the 'Oriental' style of card making and that's why I found it quite difficult to come up with anything inspiring.

That will also probably explain why I'm not very comfortable with the finished results.


However ... I had a try and here they are.
Thank you all for looking.

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.

MOTM Prize

A rather battered and sorry looking parcel arrived this morning ... poor thing looked like it had done 10 rounds with Frank Bruno. But if ever there was an example of the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" ... then this was it!
Because when I opened it ... what a wealth of crafty treasure it contained !

It was my MOTM price from Crafts Beautiful. Ooodles and oodles of luvverly stash ... some of which I have never seen before and will need to investigate what it is and what to do with it LOL!

Just looky here at the stamps ...
which one shall I play with first ??

Then there were the embellishments ...

ribbons and sequins ... brads and flowers ... punches and mini papers ... stickers and pens ... and so much more.

Finally ... at the bottom were the paper pads and a CD rom of Fairies, wizards and fantasy characters, cards and matching envelopes and fabric stickers.

So a huge 'Thank You' to the CB team .... I am very grateful and can't wait to start playing with it all.

Now Jimi will definitely need to build some more storage LOL!