Visit to York - Day 1

Hi everyone hope you are all ok?

I have not been crafting this week as I am in York for a Christmas break with my partner.

The weather has been ok. Not that I was expecting snow or anything but there has been floods.

 
 

 

 

I really do love York, I try to come here every year for the summer. This is the first time we have come during the winter period and I love this place even more.






Tomorrow me and Dave will be taking a walk around town and have a look at the Christmas market. My friends who live in Leeds agreed that it's the best thing to do when in York is the St. Nicolas Fayre.

 
I am very excited about going, I have no plans of what I will be getting no doubt I will spending lots of money.

Also I will try to get better pictures.

See you soon.

Mel

Nearly there

Hi All 

This week I have been on a happy high, because I have the week off with hubby Dave.  

Monday      We had a new fridge delivered. John Lewis came in took the old one and the packaging from our new fridge. 

Tuesday      Family Christmas cards Check. 

That's right for the first time in a long while I have completed the important family Christmas cards and its November. I'm a very happy lady, All that they need is add an insert which I am working on now and then come December I can with confidence send them off to the right family members on time and not the day before we leave for there house for a change.

Salt & Good in Stevenage 

Wednesday Chill out 

Went to the cinema and watched Spectre and went out for dinner to a new street food restaurant. 

Movie was great.Not going to give too much away just in case. 

So dinner it was an all you can eat restaurant but they offered Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, and American food. It was really nice indeed. 

New Bond film

Thursday     Birthday cards and anniversary card



I am on a roll as I have also completed 2 birthday cards and anniversary cards ready for the people in December. 

I have always found it hard to do these as Once I get to the end of November to think deign I am not inspired and then always disappointed that its Christmas related when I do get to make these cards. However I am getting the Autumn feeling instead but I think I managed to get over it. 














Friday          Nearly forgot to do this one. 

So Friday morning I wake up thinking that its, I am carded out now. Then as I was tidying up the living room it hit me. 

Baby card for my friend and his wife.using my new Crafter's Companion Create a card accordion die. This is what I made is the main template and added loads of girly embellishments. I was very happy with the result.

Also Dave bought a guitar and is planing to learn how to play. He now knows how to tune it and watching loads of videos on how to play. This afternoon he suggested we both learn how to play Aubrey by bread. He plays the guitar and me on the violin. I feel sorry for my neighbors, I have not played the violin in years and pretty sure I am very rusty. 

All that needs to be done is the Christmas presents. This year I am going to make my friends children bracelets and homemade sweets. not sure what sweets I will make it will either be marshmallows or chocolate fudge.

I do hope you enjoyed the cards I have made this week. 

Mel 

Autumn Half Term

Hi all hope you are all well?

It's the autumn half term. I am so excited. I have 2 weeks of quite time and 1 week to get everything back to scratch (no pressure) I walked through the college building and it was so quite with most tutors in training. 

So just to recap crafting wise. Last week I made a bracelet for wear it pink. It had such great reviews that I plan to make Christmas bracelets and working on the next week. I can't wait to show you all. 

I also wanted to share a birthday card I made last week but forgot to share on my blog. 

Fairy birthday card

Oh I nearly forgot...

During my week off next week I am planning to make my Christmas cards for the family. I am really excited about this as I have everything I need just need to cut stick and put together. Then a bonus came through my door. My monthly craft magazine arrived and part of my free gift.

a free gift from Cardmaking & Papercraft

A free Partridge in a pear tree die cutting stencil. I am buzzing with ideas my scrapbook of thoughts is filled with sketches.

Wear It Pink

Evening all. 

Friday 23rd of October was wear it pink day for Brest Cancer Awareness.

I have never seen so much pink in one day in my life. I am not a girly girl and do not have feminine colour clothing for work. 

So off I went to ASDA Thursday night to get something pink and had no luck could not find anything suitable. Then I tried Tesco and bingo... I found a top for £7 had it in my size.

It was when I got home and talking to hubby about my mad rush to find something pink for today and it dawned on me. I'm a crafter and make jewellery pieces. 

Has anyone had those days when busy at work and you forget everything.

So I went on a hunt in my cupboard for everything pink. I was able to make a pink kumihimo bracelet and a pair of earrings to go with my top.

Hears the thing. I don't wear pink and as much as they are lovely pieces they are never going to be used by me. I am putting them on folksy and hope it goes to a good home.

2 shades of pink Kumihimo braid bracelet

its 8 inc long round 

Pink beads wrapped with red wire

Preparing for Christmas

Evening all

I know its been a while. (OK May 2015) since my last post. I have had a very disruptive summer. My die cutting machine broke and had to fixed it, trying to clear out my living room from wooden stamps. sorting out my craft space and clearing out my cupboard. (Horrid job absolutely horrid) Had to get rid of lots of papers, and kits I will never use to make space for new stuff coming in.

Now I am getting back to crafting and creating new ideas for my cards and Jewellery making. So I thought I share some projects I am planning to do over the net few months before Christmas. :-)

if you have been following my blog since the beginning you will be aware that my crafting space gets taken over by the Christmas tree during the Christmas period. Early this year we sold our dining room table and chairs to make space for our new 360 litre fish tank. It is stocked with tropical fish and they are enjoying there new home since March.



Family Fish tank: Yes there are 14 tropical fishes, but they love to hide when the camera comes out

But then in June me and Dave looked at our living room and then it dawned on us. How are we going to decorate the living room now that we have the tank? Where will I work once the tree comes in and we have no dining table for me to finish up with the cards?

Oh no...What will I do?

The solution is to start my cards in October. Have them all made for my family and friends and come December I can move the table out and tree comes in. Also I will not have access to the printer for one month in December, so really need to get started and have inserts printed soon. (Project 1)

This month I celebrated my 32nd Birthday and my family have spoilt me rotten with loads of crafting goodies. I have a new book on Kumihimo knotting and loads of cords and accessories. with the addition of other card stencils, (oh my its was 3 weeks ago I had so much I cant recall what I got. LOL)
        Back to new skills :-) I have been practicing the basic for a bit and its great fun especially now I can do this on the sofa and watching TV and get lost in to it. I cant wait to show you what I do in the next few weeks.

Once I have made a few I plan to make bracelets and give them away as gifts to friends for chrstinmas. (Project 2)

I have treated myself with a few CD roms from Crafters Companions and cant wait to have a play with them in the next few months and see what cards I come up with. From now till the end of the year I have 4 birthdays and 1 wedding anniversary cards to make but I know I will get them all do and done by November. (Project 3)

Over the summer these are the cards I have done but did not have time to share with you all. Hope you like them.

Roald Dahl

For fathers day this year I had a browse through my  CraftArtist 2 software and created this card for my dad.

Using the same programme I used a different designer and made this glittery anniversary card for my parents.

 

Quilling

I tried quilling over the summer. I tried the basic circles I think I did very well hope to do more shapes and get better. ooh I have an idea for a birthday card coming up.  

 

Half Term

Morning All

What a beautiful Saturday morning. The sun is out and I am just watching you tube videos and watching Tottenham V Sydney FC friendly on BT Sport 1.

I have had a lovely week. My work place was so quite because its half term and majority of our students should be studying and revising for there GCSE exams coming up next week. So I used my time wisely 4 days catching up with paperwork, emails and enquiries  for IT courses. 

I have to admit 4 day week was too short and wish I had more time of the quite and not being interrupted by the door. :-) 

I have been doing a bit of crafting this week. I made a Shambarla bracelet. was quite surprised how well it turned out as I have not done it before and they look complicated. but it was not. really enjoyed making it and have been showing it off at work all week. 

Later today I am going to a family friends 50th Birthday and I made this cupcake shaker card for her. I used the paper-mania cupcake range and stamped and coloured the toper using my pro markers. 

 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend I am going to finish off the friendly game then get ready to leave for a birthday party. 

Love Mel xx

Ebay Boot Sale

Evening all

A few months back myself and my mother in law had a clear out of our crafting rooms with all the tool's we just won't use. 

Whither it's been from modern technology, or we bought on impulse and we can't see where we will use it now. So we had a chat and agreed that we did not want to trow them away but sell it to people who wants it. 

I have been meaning to do this way before Christmas ok October but one thing lead to another and now here I am.

A corner filled with boxes of stamps. 

my living room filled with boxes and my procrastination can not go on any longer. (LOL)

Now I don't have a car so car boot sales wont be possible. However with the power of the internet I can have a car boot sale from my own home. (Ebay boot sale) 

My plan is to sell them in collections / small job lots and hope they go to a good home. All stamps have come from a Smoke and Pet free home. All the stamps have been cleaned to the best they can using alcohol & scent free baby wipes. 

Most of them are wooden stamps but over the weekend you will get to see what we have found in our rummage while I catalog them on ebay.

today is my first 2 set for auction. 

Home and Heart Wooden Stamp Collection

Mystical wooden Stamp Collection

                                  

I have made a promise to my husband that every Friday night I will list 2 new sets till I have an empty floor. Wish me luck guys. 

Oh wait I also need your help. If you know anyone or your self who are looking for more stamps for your / their collections at home please pass my blog around. I will be flooding all social networks but I do appreciate your assistance as well. 

Hope you have a lovely long weekend. 

Mel xx

So tired

I love birthday's making cards for girls/ladies they are so easy I have so much card & paper stock, embellishments and ribbons I can make a card in no time. However for men "WOW" that's hard. I just can't find the right mix that is manly enough, even if I have CD rom's to make a card. 

So when I found out that a member of staff at work's (Male) birthday is coming up my heart sank. There is no way I can make a card that will fit his personality and have bits to create a card. 

Luckily the idea hits me... Peter (The Birthday Boy) it a bit of a joker and love telling us jokes, so I made a very nice male card with a sail boat but the insert was filled with loads of jokes I found off the internet. His personal Joke book. So it was more like a card and present combined. He absolutely loved it that its on his desk and uses the joke to entertain us. 

Return from Bank Holiday...

Why is it when you come back from a bank holiday weekend all nice and refreshed the next 4 days becomes over worked, over tired and wonder to your self what just happened? This week I had to work over time for 3 day's doing 12 hour shifts since Tuesday - Thursday catching up with Reports, Calls and emails and supporting Adult Students with there course work. Yep have not had much sleep :-( 

By Friday it was time to get crafting. My friends baby girl turned 4 this week and we were invited to her birthday. I was so sick of making Frozen cards (Cant understand why this has not gone yet) I made this really lovely owl card for her. 

Saturday afternoon the card is ready and the birthday present is in my bag half way down the road I realize that I forgot to bring my phone so had no pictures. My Friend had hired Elas and Anna to come and wish happy birthday and play and dance with the kids. In all my life I have never met so many shy and quite children in the same room LOL. The one day I forget to bring my phone and the funnest moment happens. Oh well.  

Future projects...
I was talking to my husband this week and I was telling him I really want a new jacket to wear when I go out at weekend, friends house you know nothing special just to put over a top. But this year I want to make it myself with my own style. 

It all came about when I was trawling through crafting websites and saw that there are loads of projects that can be done with the sewing machine and I thought it would be fun. 

All the prep work has been done. Large roll of paper, pattern design and I think I know what fabric I want to have. I just need to put it all together and sew it. 

Oh and another project I want to do this month is clear my craft room as I have so many stamps stuff that I will never use. My plan is to set them on ebay and wish they go to a good home. So please keep your eyes on my blogs as I will share the link to you guys as well. 

Hope you all have a lovely week and have lots of crafting projects to work on. 

Happy Easter

Hope you all have a lovely Easter break.

Please put your answers in the comments :-) 

Melxx

Away for the weekend

Hi guys

I was meant to send this weeks ago but for got to hit publish. It was only for my checking it on the computer I saw it was sill in draft mode. 

Originally typed on 16th March 2015...

There are no cards this weekend but I did want to share my weekend of peace and quite. 

My friend Kristy had a surprise birthday trip with her close friends. We organised a lovely trip to a spa hotel with afternoon tea just before mothers day for her. 

She loved it as the photos can tell. 

We stayed at the Chesford Grange in Warwickshire. They have great rooms.

Our afternoon tea with sparkling wine. Wonderful 

Me and Kristy toasting to her birthday surprise.

Me, Kristy and Andrea

Me and Kristy for dinner

A Busy Weekend

Evening all 

Hope you are well?

I have been busy this weekend. My mission is to make 2 Birthday Cards, 2 Mothers Day Cards and 1 wedding card.

As you can imaging that will take a lot of planning. So I went with Mothers Day first. its only 1 week away and one of them I need to post out to my mum. I look for inspiration in Magazines and web forums. 

You might recall in my previous post, I am currently selling a set of "I love you Mum" Cards on folksy and I showed a draft version of what I was selling. here is the final product which I am sending to my mum this week. I do hope you all like it?

I have added a red backing card to take off the white edge and trimmed it down a little. I wont know till Monday if my mum loves it but I think she will.








For my mother -in-law It needed to be more pastel and soft. I bumped into an email from crating.co.uk loved the photos and downloaded the free paper pack and made something similar.

I created the sentiment using My Craft Studio and found some lace boarders in cupboard. 

I loved making the flowers it came with the pack and the shaped them to have the 3D effect and brushed a pink shimmer paint to make them shine a bit.

Mother's Day card down 3 more to make. 

Inspiration for Mothers Day Card

My friends birthday is coming up there personality's make my ideas easy to come up with. 

My friend Kristy is a girly girl and who better to get inspiration the our lovely beautiful Marylin Monroe. The best thing about CD Rom's is that my cupboard is not stacked up with paper stock that might not be used for ever so I printed off the sheets needed and made this card. I would be able to give her card and present till next week but I know she will love it. 

Another card I have made today is for My friend Ben. We recently watched The Guardians of the Galaxy and we all loved that movie that most of us have been either quoting lines or Signing the old songs that were in the film. 

So you can imagine my surprise when I found a "Music Mix Collection" from Do Craft download files and became very excited. 

I was tempted to add Mix Tape Vol. 1 on the cassette but I did find much fun making this card and cant wait to hand over in a few weeks time. 


2 more cards down 1 to go. 


My final card was the one that took the longest.

A friend at work is getting married in 6 week's. She is a Lovely lady and we work so well together even though I have been working in the department for 6 months. I used to think making a wedding card is easy as long as you have a design or template. But I found it hard as I really want her and her new husband to like it. 

So with much playing around here is the card I made for the newly weds. 

My weekend is done there is a few hours left in my Sunday, so I am going to watch Stargate SG1 with a cup of tea. Have a lovely week guys. 

Mel xx