May 13th 2009

What a busy time I am having lately. :) I am busy with the gardening and with new little Hedgehog visitors here. Besides all the normal stuff. I did find time to do a bit of crafting too. :)
My little grand daughter turned 2 on the 8th and here is the card I made her. I just love these teddies.


And I even had time to sew up an outfit for her. I just hope it fits. It is the first sewing project that I have done on my new sewing machine and I really enjoyed making it and using my new machine. :)



Brian and I finally met back up with Steve and Sarah who used to run the Two Brewer's pub we used to frequent. They now run the Odd Fellows Arms . :) Well they have a charity they sponsor and I offered to make them some cards to sell with all the money going to the charity. The Little Havens Children's Hospice . Below are some of the cards I have made for them. I also made a load for my friend in Cornwall for her animal sanctuary. :)

My recent crafting...

Okay I had a birthday.... and so I came across this sewing machine in a magazine that I thought a bargain for all that it does. I had a free arm machine before moving here, but with the move and all I left it behind, besides the electrics aren't the same. So finally after 12 or so years, I finally got a new sewing machine. I did buy an older used machine when I first moved here and it is still a good machine and now my back up machine, but it doesn't have a free arm or any fancy stitches other than straight and zig zag. But it is still a machine worth hanging onto. But this post is about my new machine.....

It is a Toyota. I know they make good cars. And after using this machine they make great sewing machines too!!!! I bought mine from this website. http://www.home-sewing.com/
And it was delivered in a few days time. It not only has the lovely free arm but has a preprogrammed button hole settings. And and and!!!! it does the over locking stitch!!! I was really really excited about this. I had looked at over locking machines and admired them and dreamed that maybe one day I might get one. But really couldn't see why I coveted a machine that only did one type of stitch. So put off getting one. Now my new sewing machine does it and alot more!!! There is one down fall to this machine that I have found, but really if all said and done, to me it isn't really, is that it has no way of changing stitch size. The stitches are preset to a dial. You have a straight stitch but there are three straight stitches. Only three nothing in between. I can live with that. There is also a great mending stitch and I have used that for several projects that have been patiently waiting attention. I now have jeans that are in fashion again, with mended patches and our bed throws from the pouncing cats to ward off the bed mice have all been mended. The one that was beyond mending has now been made into everyday napkins. A great way to save on using kitchen towels. And also made into two laundry bags as our old cat scratched laundry hamper has now seen it's last days.
I have plans for this new machine!!! Little outfits for my grand daughter, and back to sewing quilts and making bags and all sorts of useful things for the home. So watch this space.

On the card making side of things I have been busy with a contest again on my ebay group. We made cards for the Marie Curie Charity. And had a little contest between ourselves with the cards going to Marie Curie. This card is one of the extra cards I made to send along.

And these two are cards I made for the competition.

I didn't win this time. The ones that did were superb!!!! All the cards were very clever and cute and I know will make good money for the charity. Now to get back to making some cards for me to send out again and for my friend who looks after all the critters down there in Cornwall. :)

Valentines Day Cards

I got a few new stamps and I wanted to share the cards I have made recently. All the cards have gone down to my friend in Cornwall by the way to be sold for her critter rescue. I hope they sell well for her.

This first card is a stamp by designer Rachelle Anne Miller and is a Lily and Milo Clear Stamp of a lovely Hedgehog couple. If you check out my garden blog you can probably tell that at the moment I am totally enamored of hedgehogs lately. Our little friend is a big part of our life and I just think they are soooooo cute as I think this stamp is too. For more information about this stamp and lots of other cute stamps you can find it at http://www.stampavie.com/.

I think it makes a lovely valentine card and also plan to use it to make Anniversary cards too. Who knows I may even use it for a wedding card, if I knew of anyone getting married that is.

This one is a Housemouse stamp that I have had for ages. I recently bought some new water colouring pencils from WH Smiths for 1/2 off and wanted to try them out. They work beautifully.


Ohhhhhh another hedgehog..... This is a Penny black stamp. They have loads of hedgehog stamps and I am slowly getting a small collection of them. I enjoy using their clear stamps as I think they are such a great bargain. You get about 8 or so stamps for the price of what you would normally pay for one wood mounted rubber stamp. And there is a nice mix in the sets to cover alot of different occasions.

I used my Wizzard dies to cut out the scalloped and plain nested circles to layer my toppers.

This next stamp I thought was sooooooo cute and can not only be used for valentines day but for other occasions too, like birthdays and mothers day etc. I bought her along with a few other stamps that I will show at a later date from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/catalog/ . She is a Leanne Ellis design named Luvvie.

All the papers and cards I used are from my stash and I did purchase the valentine peel offs which are a gorgeous red edged with gold from the craft stall at our local market.

Spiral Whisper New Preview and Competition

Spiral Whisper have a new preview of some of the cutest little stamps I have seen lately. They are just adorable!!!!! So get over there and have a look...... Spiral Whisper blog.

December 19th 2008

I am still suffering from this flu bug here so not feeling much like working on cards lately. I am really itching to get back to them too once I can summon up the eneregy as I have several new stamps that I want to try out. And some new sketches to try also, let alone a few challenges I would like to give a try. I guess one sometimes just can't hurry getting better.

I did summon enough energy yesterday though to make a friend a card. She is going in for surgery today on a cancerous lump. So my thoughts are going out to her and I am sending them along in this card.

Whizzy's Card
I hope she has a speedy recovery and they get it all. Big hugs Whizz.

13th December 2008

A bit about me and my cards...

First off I have probably been making cards for over 20 years now. I first started out making my own recycled paper and card. Then I would decorate them with pressed dried flowers and leaves. I am now into rubber stamping in a big way and have an ever growing stamp collection like many who are addicted to card making.

I make my cards for my friends and family for their birthdays, anniversaries, etc. But I also make cards for various charities. This year I know I have made well over 100 cards for charity and hopefully next year the number will be even more. I always try to make some for the Marie Curie Cancercard drive and have been taking part for the last three years now in that. I also make cards for a friend down in Cornwall for a cat charity, that helps to rehome cats. Whose owners can either no longer take care of them or the owners have died and the cats have no where else to go.They are usually older cats that need a new home, but I think they have now joined up with another cat rescue and also rehome unwanted kittens too. They are the Rainbow Little Cat Rescue I am rather partial to cats and to dogs too for that matter and have in the past made some cards for another friend to take to a dog rescue centre.

Besides these very worthwhile causes another one I usually make cards around Christmas time for is for Mencap. Or rather a group that is associated with it called the Trailblazers of St. Helens. My friend's son has Cerebral Palsy, and what this group does is takes the kids out giving them something to look forward to and also giving the folks that care for them a bit of a break. I think my friend said they were planing on taking the kids to see a pantomine over the Christmas holidays. They go on camping trips and sometimes horseback riding and all sorts of fun activities. Another very worthwhile cause.

So if anyone has any cool and clever ideas I would love to hear from you or if you have any tips for making cards for charities I could always use the ideas.

Here are just a few of the cards I made recently for the Charities at Christmas.

Woodland Elves...OOAK Candy to be won!!!

Tales From Pollycraft has some really cool blog candy being given away over on their blog.
So if you are into Rubberstamps and enjoy Fairytales and elves I would advise you get over there and have a look.