Kanban is back!

I, along with thousands of other fans will be absolutely elated at the news Karen and Keith have posted on the Aspire  Crafts web site today.

If you like Kanban and you want to keep up with all the latest news etc then why not join the OFFICIAL Kanban Facebook group.

Here's to a brilliant future. x

Happy Birthday Dad

Two quick birthday cards for my Dad whose birthday is on Boxing Day! As with every year, they aere made on Boxing Day morning just before we went to meet all the family for lunch at a local hotel. Every year I say that I'm going to make them early along with family Christmas cards. Knowing my luck I will put them somewhere and won't be able to find them. lol 

 The Granddad card above was made using the Nostalgia stamps from yesterday and the sentiment was done on the lap top.

I made this card using the sketch from Kathy's Waffle Sketch File for December. There is still time to enter the challenge as we are using the same sketch through till the end of January. All of the bits and pieces on this card were cut by hand and the sentiment is a stamp from the It's Your Birthday set from Clearly Besotted Stamps, love those stamps!

Thanks for dropping in :)

Kanban Baby

I managed to get together quite a few of the Kanban kits and sheets etc before the company closed down and they are still doing me proud almost one year on :)

The daughter of a friend of mine had a baby girl just before Christmas and she ordered her cards from me and yet again, Kanban came to the rescue.

All of the cards measure 6 x 6 inches and are made using pink pearlescent card from my stock, Birth & Celebration paper pad 901558 and Baby Girl toppers 901541, both by Kanban. Ive added ribbon, brads and other bits and bobs from my stash.

Thanks for looking.

Happy birthday Brother in Law

As you probably guessed today's card was made for my brother in law's birthday which is tomorrow. He is a golf nut so I always try to make him a card with something to do with golf on it but I think after 10 years I might just have exhausted my golfing bits! I bought this Docrafts set of stamps last year so I knew I hadn't used these :)

As I said before, the stamps are designed by John Byars for Papermania (Docrafts), I think the papers are Trimcraft (I'm not sure as they were from my scrap box), the sentiment is a Clearly Besotted stamp from the set 'Many Messages', the ribbon is an off cut as is the brown card and the Card Candy is from Craftwork Cards.

Thanks for dropping by, see you tomorrow :)

November wedding

At the beginning of November I had an order for a wedding for a lovely couple who were getting married in a stately hall and wanted a vintagey feel to the wedding. The bride's dress was champagne lace so everything was based around that.

These invitations and matching RSVP cards have been a big hit, in fact I did 3 orders in a row with them last summer.

 Other items for the first wedding above are as follows

and

 

I also made the Bride's head piece and the place cards :) They are a really lovely couple. I've known Judith (the Bride) for a long time as her sister is a dear friend of mine, and I wish them and all my lovely couples from last year a long and happy life together. 

I look forward to meeting a lot more couples this year talking of which we have our first Open Evening of the year at the Holiday Inn, J36 A1M Doncaster on 30th January this year. If you are thinking of getting married in Doncaster this year, or next, then come along and talk to us. It's a lovely informal evening where not only do you get the chance to see both venues, The Manor Complex and Warmsworth Hall, laid out for a wedding, you get the chance to speak to the recommended suppliers without being jostled and having leaflets shoved in your face lol. If you do come along, please come and say hello :) xx

Christmas card wallet

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all safe from the horrific gales and flooding that the south/west of the UK is experiencing at the moment. We have been so lucky inn Scruff's Corner as we have had wind and rain but there hasn't been any damage in our area.

I'm cheating a bit here as I'm using some of my Christmas makes to catch up on the old blog then I can get ahead of myself as I can schedule a couple of posts with 2014 makes :)

So, I made the following wallet for a lovely lady who orders all of her Christmas cards from me. The wallet was made using papers from Glad Tidings and Deer Friends, both are available as downloads from Nitwit Collections. They are just fab and there are loads of bits and pieces including papers, images, ribbons etc

There were 20 cards and envelopes in the wallet and I made four each of the above designs. I stamped the images onto smooth white card and backed them onto assorted coloured cards before I stuck them onto the blank cards. All of the images are from sets of clear stamps from the Christmas range from Clearly Besotted. I used the stamps again this year for most of my own Christmas cards.

Thanks for dropping by xx

Kathy's Waffle

Sketch File has an ongoing sketch challenge which is carrying on from December. The sketch as always is a good one  and can be used any way round just as long as we can still make it out on your project.

 and the card I made

The card was made with letters from one of the Kanban baby sheets but I can't get to my box to find out which one!

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Grunge

I love that word :) G R U N G E, it make me feel a bit Miranda Hart'ish when I say it like that 
ha ha.  I can't do grunge or shabby chic or anything that is supposed to look a tad untidy (if you saw my craft room you wouldn't believe a word of that lol)! However, that is the new challenge over on the Crafting Muskateers blog this month. Can you believe that it's challenge #9 already? It doesn't seem two minutes since we started!

Anyway, this month we are sponsored by the fabulous Visible Image:

" Visible Image is a clear stamp designer and manufacturer based in South Wales, UK, and is run by Mark & Helen. Our stamps are hand poured and hand cut using high quality photopolymer. Every stamp is very deeply etched, 4mm thick, to ensure crisp perfectly stamped images. Our designs include unique characters, brilliant backgrounds that match up perfectly for repeat stamping, original sentiments and verses written by Helen, stunning stamp sets and much more! Mark is a complete perfectionist and puts so much passion and love into every single stamp he designs! We are known and loved for the quality of our stamps, the efficient customer service we provide, and for doing something that’s a little bit different! ".

                                                     

And here is the fantastic prize, worth £16, that you could be winning.

                                    

How cool is that? Don't worry if you don't have a blog of your own as we have a Facebook page too, just pop on over and add your card. Please don't forget to read the rules and if you want to add our Blinkie to your blog then feel free to grab it off our blog.

This is my sorry attempt at "Grunge", I told you I couldn't do it!!

All of the papers, image, Dekromount frame and words are from the Vintage Bloom collection from Aspire Crafts and are all available from the shop, either in person or on line.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you join us in our challenge.

Happy new year

Good morning everyone, I hope everything is ok on this very miserable (the weather in Scruff's Corner!) last day of December 2013. Will you be making any resolutions this year? I haven't made any for years except for a couple which I kept to myself in case I broke them lol....do they count or do you have to tell people what they are? One thing I would like more than anything (except for the obvious one's like no more rain on the poor flooded people, jobs for all etc) I would really like it if someone could make the year go a little slower than this year, I can't believe how fast 2013 disappeared!

y

Happy

New Year

2014

 t 

Before I disappear again to make a seating plan for the Holiday Inn's Gala Night tonight I would just like to let you know that the winners have been chosen over on the Crafting Muskateers blog....why not hop over, it might be you :)

I hope you have a lovely safe and warm night tonight and that 2014 is your year to make your wishes come true. xx

  

Handmade wedding invitations

This is the reason I love my job so much  (as well as having a warm and cosy craft room at home so not having to venture outside when the weather is lousy) but I get to play weddings and meet the nicest couples/brides and bridesmaids/families and they like my work enough to let me have one of the main roles in their weddings. I feel completely honoured to be lucky enough to make the stationery for them :) 

I would like to add at this stage that we, Party Nights Creations have a sale on at the moment. If you order your day and/or evening invitations during the month of December you will receive a discount of 10% as seen in Wedding Ideas.

I had another invitation order collected on Wednesday morning and another happy bride, thank you Catherine.

I made a seating plan, guest book and favours with name tags for the wedding on Saturday for Sue and Paul

and some more Thank You cards for Judith and Howard

and I also made some cards for the new Kathy's Waffle challenge which goes live tomorrow.
Thanks for dropping by and I'll see you later.

Crafting Muskateers

Good morning all :) I would like to say a great big thank you from all of us on the DT for your wonderful support in taking part in our Crafting Muskateers challenges.

Before I reveal the new challenge I'd like to let you know who the winners are. The over all winner was 

No 8.....Starcyl

and the top three, who were this month chosen by Avril, were

No 18 Linda Simpson

No 37 Anna Marie and

No 78 Rina M

Congratulations all!

So onto this month's challenge.....the theme is

Layer It Up

and we very lucky to be sponsored by Hunky Dory who have donated a lovely prize

I would like to wish you all the best for the busiest month of the year, I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with and this is my contribution (I hope you like it!)

It's from a kit I bought about 3 years ago (maybe even longer) and I've really struggled with it. Now I've had a jolt I may be able to use it a bit more :) 

Thanks for dropping by.

Aspire Crafts

Just a quick note

Today's Aspire Crafts on Create and Craft times have changed to 12pm and now 4pm so

one hour earlier than scheduled....

. 

Don't forget to get those emails in .......

Bits and pieces

There is still time to enter the challenge over on Kathy's Waffle Sketch File using another one of Kathy's brilliant sketches. Just a pointer to something you may or may not know, if you get stuck for some inspiration, all of the sketches will still be on the Sketch file and you should be able to access them by clicking on the names in the right hand column of the blog.

First the sketch

 

and now, my cards

The sketches are free to use, and but please, when you use them remember to give the Sketch File the credit and add a link back to it.

Thanks again xx

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday

Good morning everyone, writing this post this morning is very distracting as I have five burley men erecting scaffolding so they can do some work for us! (and breathe ;))

So my photo today is for the lovely lady Julia who runs the Stamping Ground blog and WOYWW. She made a comment about my desk... 

"I don't get it - I publish my mess weekly and yet you say it's too embarrassing for you - now is that you have higher standards or I've no pride?!!"

...so this week I'm going to show her what mess really is lol 

and yes, a good proportion of that lot was on my desk, probably some of it for months so now you see why I couldn't bring myself to show it :) It might, however get that way again as I really don't have the time to spend tidying up at the mo ;) 

Yes Julia, that was my daughter's IPad mini in the pink case. it can be bought from ebay. It's actually cut out and foiled rather than sparkly but it's very pretty and it reflects the light beautifully.

This is my desk just now, eek lol

Thanks for dropping by :)

Aspire Crafts

Good morning everyone

Just had the brilliant news that we are back on Create and craft.tv today 27th at 12 

noon and 5pm with our Vintage Bloom Collection

. 

Hope you will be able to join Cheremane for lots of demos and inspiration.

Another one of the DT cards I made from the Vintage Bloom kit.

Aspire Crafts

Well today in Scruff's Corner we have the perfect weather for staying in, in front of the tv, and watching the new shows on Create and Craft (Channel 675 on Sky) by Aspire Crafts. There are two further shows on Ideal World (Ideal World sky 644 freeview 22) at 3pm and 5pm. There are some fab demos and some wonderful samples....the DT have been so busy!

I'm so excited seeing my work on TV again.
Back later, need to watch the show :) x

What's on your work desk Wednesday?

Good morning from our very soggy corner of the world, I hope you are all ok.

I can't believe it's so long since I took part in this..it has probably been because my desk has just been such a tip I was too embarrassed to show it, yes, this has been tidied  :)

The cards you can see are to be finished and packed for Friday and the seating plan is the next thing on my list.

Pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and see some more desks from around the world :)

Thanks for dropping by xx

Free p and p

If you fancy investing in the gorgeous goodies I used for my Aspire Crafts design team cards then you can order any time this month and get free p and p on all orders to the UK mainland and Scotland. This usually only applies to orders of £20.00 and over, any orders below this are usually subject to a carriage charge of £4.99.

The Vintage Bloom goodies are worth getting your hands on as are the DekroMounts, in fact I'm doing my order as I write this post :)

If you hop over to the Aspiring Crafters' blog and the Aspiring Crafters' Facebook page, Fran is introducing the design team this week.

Thanks for dropping by. xx

The winner, top three and a new challenge

in the Crafting Muskateers challenge Christmas in October are as follows

No 32.....Marlene who was chosen by Random.org and wins the fab set of Promarkers

and the top three were chosen by poor Nicola (it gets harder to choose every month as there are so many amazing entries.

No 10.........Elena
No 24 ........Alexandra
no 150........Joyce

So onto the new challenge for November. This month the challenge is being sponsored by Little Claire and theme is Pretty Pastels and here is the very generous prize which is up for grabs!

And now onto my card

I've used an image from the Little Claire web site and the papers are really old ones from when I was on Debbi Moore's DT years ago. I coloured the image with Promarkers and added lots of iridescent glitter and a piece of blue ribbon and Bobs your uncle!

Thanks for dropping by and good luck with your entry to our challenge, I can't wait to see what you make :) 

Aspire Crafts

I am absolutely chuffed to little mint balls to be asked to be on the Design Team for the very new Aspire Crafts.

A rather large parcel arrived on my doorstep on Monday morning and this is what I found when I opened it.....

This is the Vintage Bloom collection and it is absolutely beautiful and the quality is excellent. I had to have a play with it straight away and have been dipping into it all week in between other work! Here are my 'makes' so far

I have added a few flowers and feathers and a couple of bits of ribbon but everything else is what was in my parcel. You really need to take a look at the web site because you will be amazed at some of the stash on there.

We have a Facebook page called Aspiring Crafters and there is also an Aspire Crafts  blog where you can keep up with all the goings on and up to date news from Aspire.

Well that's it for tonight folks, see you tomorrow and thanks for dropping by.