I Used My New Nellies!!

This is not only the first Christmas card I have made so far, but also the first time I have used my new Nellies (well, Luca!)

THESE STAMPS ARE FAB!!! I would love all of them, but it will have to be between now and New Year as I'm going on a major - and strict - stash diet (sob!). I've just got too much stuff and I keep buying more... particularly as I said a couple of months ago that I was going to lay off the card making and do more altered stuff. It was harder than I thought it would be, and I keep getting orders, so I started stamping more. The only thing I will buy early next year are some stamps from Gina K - her stamps are great! I'll call it an early Birthday pressie.

So, the card:



The colours are actually much nicer in 'real life' but I just couldn't get a decent picture. Luca was watercoloured - it's the first time I've stamped onto watercolour paper and I think it turned out well. I layered it up on DCWV papers and finished with some ribbon and a 'Merry Christmas' peel off (I haven't got any decent Christmas stamps)

Anyway, I'm off to play with Luca and Nellie!

More Christmas Decorations

I finally got round to finishing the blocks I started! I started off with a short word, just to see how I got on: JOY. I really enjoyed doing them, so will definitely do some more, including a set each for the boys with their names.


Here they are, the finished article:





I used 2" blocks from Opitec - bargain, £2.20 for 10! - and lightly sanded them, then painted them with ivory acrylic paint. I used papers from a Craft Creations scrapbook pack, and black versamark ink with See D's Ancient Alphabet stamps. Finally, I sanded the edges lightly to finish them off.

Getting nothing done...

... but a fun day had by all. Got up this morning to wind, rain and a generally murky day, and anyone with young kids knows that bad weather and little ones don't mix. So we decided to try an indoor play area that we haven't used before - Coral Cove in Devizes - and the boys really enjoyed themselves. Cory's been to similar places before and always has fun, but it was Jack's first time and he loved it! Now I argue that we should always go to this one, because under 5s have to be supervised at all times!!!!! I swear there were more adults than kids, and that they were having more fun!

Of course, according to Cory, at least, no trip out is complete without shopping... he could shop for his country, that boy! So we did the shopping, and then went to Avebury to look at the stones (and of course the gift shops!). Pity the weather was so crummy, but we'll go back again in the spring.

Christmas presents

I've been pretty busy today, after I decided that all Christmas presents this year (apart from the kids') are going to be handmade. These are a couple of the things I came up with - there will be more, but they'll be done another day!





So, the first two started life as beer mats! I was having trouble finding the coasters that a lot of the US craft sites sell; I had chipboard squares, but they weren't thick enough and they were way too big, so I bought about 100 beer mats for about £2 on eBay and this is the result. Pretty cute IMO!



This was a plain untreated photo frame from Wilkinsons - you get 3 for £1 so a pretty good deal. They're not as wide as I would've liked though. Anyway, I painted it - I mixed the colour to match some of the text on the paper - then used 2 matching DCWV papers to cover it. I left a couple of millimeters so that you could still see the pink around the edge of the frame, and finished it off with some ribbon.

I'm off to paint some blocks for yet more presents!

Thank-you cards

Well, I've finally got some cards made! Cory's been to stay with Nanny and Grandad overnight, so I made the most of the spare time.... I should really have been ironing, but I had to do thank you cards from Jack. His birthday was a week ago and I haven't sent them out yet... oops!

Here they are:


DCWV dotty, cream and blue papers, Dovecraft ribbon, 3" scallop punch, quilled butterfly


DCWV pink, brown and striped papers, American Crafts ELEMENTS ribbon, 'thank you' peel offs


Sandylion 'Butterflies' paper, Dovecraft ribbon, 3"scallop punch

I'm really into paper and ribbons at the moment, so thought I would give the stamping a rest for while. Although I am just about to put in an order for some Gina K sets, so watch this space! And I like the scallop punches so I'm on the lookout for some of those in different shapes and sizes, too.

Right, I'm off to make some picture frames out of some beer mats (pics to follow...)