New Me

This is not a crafty post at all, but as some of my crafty friends know, I am particularly proud of the fact that in 2009 I lost a smidge short of 2.5 stone. I still have roughly 2 stone to go (maybe more depending on how much I put on over Christmas) so will keep it up but thought I should show a before and after photo.

BEFORE (November 2008 at Kieran's Christening)

Size 20-22

AFTER (31st December 2009)

Size 16

Where'd I go, lmao!

Kathy's Birthday

I said that I had made 2 cards with the rose stamp and here is the second.

I was going to use the rose as the decoupaged piece on my mom's card but discovered that I hadn't stamped the whole rose. A very happy accident as it looks stunning as a corner. So I coloured it with Twinks and then stamped a swirl from another of Sheena's theme plates using Lightning Black (a Brilliance inkpad). The greeting is one from my stash, stamped and embossed using Versafine and clear EP like the rose.

After more than 3 years of playing with my Twinks I finally have it mastered. I have always struggled with shading, however, I painted a base layer of Rose Petal all over the petals and then went round the edge with Cherry Blossom (I think). I then used my slightly damp brush the blend the hard lines away and I am over the moon with the results. Yay me!

Blog Candy

There's some wonderful blog candy available at Quixotic Challenges. It's a mystery gift pack worth £40. Click on the following link http://quixoticpaperie.blogspot.com/2009/12/2009-round-up-and-some-new-year-candy.html and link back to your favourite creation of 2009 for your chance to win.

My Mom's Birthday

I have had a blast today in my loft. I bought a new stamp plate from Creative Expressions and I was so inspired that I made 2 cards with it. This one is for my mom off my boys. My only 'dislike' on the card is the greeting plaque. However, I tried to take it off and almost wrecked the card, so there it stays.

You can't see, but I spritzed the backing paper with Glitz Mist from Lindy's Stamp Gang. I then stamped and embossed both roses with black Versafine and clear embossing powder. I took some Cut 'n' Dry and a Walnut Stain Distressing ink pad and distressed the edge sprinkling a little gold embossing powder as I went. The roses are stamped and embossed again on some seperate paper and coloured using Twinks. I am really pleased with this card. It's my first proper attempt at distressing and I LOVE it!

Thank You Notes

I do hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and if you are out celebrating tomorrow night be careful and don't get too drunk. In any event, Happy New Year to you all.

As a child I was terrible at writing thank you noted after Christmas. Despite being bought numerous stationery sets the letters never actually made it to the post box. So, as a mother I always make sure that my boys send their thank you notes. As a crafter, I love to make them.

I made the following using the Jungle theme plates again, specifically Monkeying Around. Well, I have 2 monkeys of my own..........

I couldn't decide whether to colour them in Promarkers (left) or Twinks (right), so I did one of each and put it to the family vote. Here they are side by side. The boys decided that the Twinks looked better, so the rest were coloured that way.

Ju's Un-Birthday!

I've not been on for a while. Bad blogger, lol! I haven't really done much crafting over the last week and spent some quality family time.

However, my friend Ju has decided that she's old enough and is now going to start having un-birthdays. I made this card for her as a bit of fun.


Sorry about the lighting on this one. I used stamps from the Creative Expressions Jungle Friends plates and coloured them with Twinkling H20's. The background, which you can hardly see, lol, was using the Joseph's coat technique. I stamped the leaves with a Versamark pad and embossed with clear powder. I then took a Distressed Ink Pad in Walnut Stain and wiped it over, buffing when dry. The paper was such a dark patterned green, you can barely see it.

Christmas Presents

I wanted to give the children that Kieran goes to the childminder with a little something for Christmas. I got this idea from a demonstration on Create and Craft. I bought some inexpensive tree chocolates and repackaged a selection into A6 card bags. I then printed off some Christmas background paper and cut it into 4x4" pieces. I folded them in half and attached them to the tops of the bags and added a personal greeting. I'm really pleased with how they turned out.