Painted Dreams

Wedding Album

2010-04-22T07:30:00.001+01:00

Hello again! My friend Bec got married in October 2008 and my boyfriend took lots of photo's on the day, alongside their official photographer. My intention was to work quickly and make them a scrapbook album for their photo's - as you can probably guess as I'm blogging about it now things didn't turn out that way! I have only just finished the album, I'm not going to count how many months late I am with it! Hehe! Here a some of the pages:

This is the front of the album - it was just a plan kraft album that I bought from the crafts section of a garden centre.

Bec was really pleased with the album and was happy to finally see the photos from the day - I've had to keep making excuses as to why she could never have copies of them! Hehe! Ooops!

I hope you are all well in blog land and I'll look forward to speaking with you soon! Until next time......

Sewing Solo

2010-04-18T18:50:00.005+01:00

Hello! After the sewing day with my Mum and Katrina I went on a sewing binge and kept working with my little sewing machine! I think I have fallen in love! Hehe! After a trip to ikea, dunelm and hobbycraft to stock up on sewing supplies I first decided to try making a bag - just fairly simple, well that's what I thought until about 5 hours later when I was finally finished! If you were a fly on the wall whilst I was making it you would laugh so much, I went about some things in a very odd way, my brain new what I needed to do but I had trouble getting that into the fabric!

The photo is a little dodgy, sorry, I took this late at night!

The next day I decided to carry on sewing and after chatting with my mum I went onto bag number 2 - only this time with a bottom! I was making this with my boyfriend's mum in mind as a little get well gift. I felt a lot more confident with this bag after my lovely mum pointed me in the right direction. I also made a cushion with the same fabric and some ribbon embellishments and buttons. I would like to enter the bag into the 'Passion for Papertrey' Challenge - Material Girl

This shows the bag with the little gifts for my boyfriends mum

This shows the bag and the cushion together, for some reason I didn't take a photo of the cushion on its own!

I've had so much fun working with fabric and its most definitely something I will carry on! I have lots of ideas in my head of things that I want to make. A recent trip with Katrina to Liberty Bell in Chester has confirmed my love for fabric - I think I bought about 18 fat quarters! Hehe!

I'll be back soon to share some more creations. If you have time pop by Katrina's blog (link above) as she has some lovely candy up for grabs. Thanks for visiting and for any comments you may leave, until next time....

Sewing Bug

2010-04-08T19:21:00.004+01:00

On Good Friday Katrina and my Mum came to my house for a sewing day. My Mum is an amazing sewer and was kind enough to offer giving up her day to teach me and Katrina just how to sew! She set 2 projects - a door stop and a cushion.

We had to have a lot of help with the doorstop as it was very fiddly! But great fun all the same! I can't bring myself to put it on the floor permanently, so its going to live on a shelf in my kitchen! Hehe!

On a different note I forgot to share a picture of the Easter gifts I made this year - these were for my 2 best friends and my boyfriend. They all love Reese's cups and I had a bag left over from my trip to New York in December, so I thought I'd make good use of them!

I also made some gifts for Matt's family and the ladies at work, but I forgot to take a photo on my camera of them and now I can't share what they looked like! Hehe!

I hope many of you got to see some sun like we did in Coventry today, it was hard to get motivated in the office at work when outside all you can see if a lovely blue sky! (I also sit by a huge window so I easily get lost just staring at the trees around me!)

I'll be back soon to share with you the sewing projects I made whilst sewing solo - good fun but scary! I need a lot more practice! Until next time..........

Blog Candy Winner

2010-04-05T21:00:00.003+01:00

As promised I'm here to announce the winner of my blog candy - I used random.org to generate the winner:

True Random Number Generator : Result: 6

So commenter number 6 was GRACIE, congratulations! Grace can you email me on g.v.knight@hotmail.co.uk and I can sort out getting the goodies to you! (I think via your Mum's shop might be best Grace!)

I'll be back later in the week to share with you my bank holiday creations - and they mainly feature fabric! Hehe!

Until next time............

The long awaited BLOG CANDY!

2010-03-26T17:40:00.003Z

Here it is - after many promises that I would be offering some candy, I'm pleased to finally say that it's now up for grabs! Here are the goodies

The candy includes:
- Selection of Doodlebug and Papermania papers
- Pack of paper, card, embellishments and stamped images that we gave out at the February Paper Scissors Craft Group - Katrina has the only other remaining pack and she may be giving it away too!
- (Decoupage) Scissors
- Roll of adhesive tape
- Chipboard buttons in various shapes
- Paper flowers
- Ribbon
- Happy Birthday heart tag
- Whopping bar of Dairy Milk!
- Mini jar of vintage buttons - the buttons are from my nan's stash so range from the 1950's - 1980's, they really are vintage!
- Shopper bag (this is the blue and white spots you can see in the background)

Here is a shot of the shopper bag on it's own

So, what do you have to do win this I hear you say?! (Haha, ignore me I'm in a crazy mood - must be because it's Friday!) Just leave a comment on this here post and put a link to my candy on your own blog (if you don't have a blog you can still enter). You have until Easter Sunday (4 April) to enter and I'll select a winner at random on Easter Monday. The candy is open worldwide.

As this candy is to celebrate my first year of blogging, I'd just like to say thanks y'all for visiting my crazy little world and for all the comments that have been left which have been so sweet. I'm looking forward to see how my crafting develops over the next year! I have a feeling it will involve a lot more fabric and my little sewing machine!

Hope you all have a great week and I'll see you back on Easter Monday to announce the winner......

Birthday Cupcakes

2010-03-22T17:32:00.005Z

Happy Monday everyone! Does anybody else get that start of the week bleurgh!? I wish weekends would last longer! Anyway, on to craft talk! Here are some birthday cards I made recently, I kept the cards simple so they were easy to duplicate.

The cards use a stamp set from PTI called cupcake collection. I love this stamp set! I also used promarkers to colour in the icing on the cakes, layering up the same colour to get a definition between each layer. The ink is from Stampin Up or PTI and the paper is from my stash.

I promise I'll be back soon with some blog candy, I keep adding little bits to it when I see things out and about to buy but I still want to get a few more things to give away!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave. Until next time......

EDIT TO POST: My good friend Katrina is having a little clear out of some of her crafty items and has them up for sale over on ebay - if you have a few pennies to spare take a look here!

Flowers for Mum's

2010-03-17T10:00:00.000Z

As I mentioned in my last post for Mother's Day I made my Mum and Matt's mum a flower arrangement each. I bought a couple of bunches of flowers from Asda, some greenery from the local florist, a basket from hobby craft and recycled the other from a previous plant I was given. (and used some oasis to put the arrangements in to!)

I loaded up my iphone with a picture for inspiration and set to it. Here are my creations:

My Mum's

Matt's Mum's

Both Mum's really loved the arrangements - my mum was really pleased that I had made it myself!

I also made some lemon drizzle cakes - from the recipe that Debbie posted on her blog a few weeks back. The cakes make perfectly each time and they are just so easy to make too! Oh and they taste great! I make them quite a lot around here! I even made a batch on Saturday and another on Sunday! Hehe!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave. Until next time......

Crafty weekend

2010-03-15T19:50:00.006Z

This weekend has been quite a crafty one for me! I went to a craft show at the Malvern Show ground with my Mum and some of her friends on Friday. Although the show wasn't quite as good as I hoped it would be, I did still manage to spend a few pennies! Here is my stash of goodies

I decided Saturday was to be a crafty day - I set to work on Mother's Day cards and presents and few birthday cards to add to my card collection (which does not have many cards in it! Hehe!)

These are the cards I made for Mother's Day - this was for Matt's mum

This was for my mum, and is cased from a card in CARDS magazine, but I cant give credit as I only took a photo of the card from my friend's magazine. But wherever you are in the world clever lady, thank you for the inspiration!

I'll share over the next few days the presents I made for both Mum's - flower arrangements! I was so excited that they worked out, I've never done it before! Happy belated Mother's day to all you mummy's out there - I hope you got chance to have a lovely day.

Thanks for looking at my little blog and for any comments you may leave. Until next time.....

P.S Sorry for the dodgy formatting of my posts - I can't get blogger to play ball and make my posts look nice!!

Where did the last month go?!

2010-03-07T21:36:00.002Z

Ok, so it's been a while since I last posted! I'm not really sure what happened! The last month has just flown by and I just ran out of time to check in. But, I have been checking in on other blogs and keeping up to date with everybody else's goings on! (I love my new iphone for that!)

I haven't created many things in the past month, but it was my sister's birthday on 13 February and although I was recovering from a little operation I was determined she was going to have a hand made card - here it is

It's a total case of a card Nicole Heady (over at PTI) made, I saw her card and thought it was lovely. I don't have the link to hand now, but I think it was during the anniversary countdown/new releases and she was showing off Dawn McVey's new colour couture kit. I used all PTI items on this card, and stamped the background to make my own patterned card - using the Turning a New Leaf stamp set.

Whilst I've been away I missed my first anniversary of being here in blog land, so to celebrate I'll be posting some candy in the next week or so. I'll probably waffle on more for that post, but I'd just like to say thank you so much for checking in on me over this past year!

I must dash now, I have a couple more things to get finished before bed time!

Thank you for popping by and for any comments you may leave, until next time (and it won't be long I promise!).......

Flying by to say hi!

2010-02-07T17:39:00.003Z

This is just what I'm doing today - flying by to say hi!

I made this card during my Christmas break from work - in between being laid up with flu! I had a mini sewing machine from Santa so this was my first (and so far only!) play with using sewing and material on a card. It was also the first time for me to ink up one of my new PTI sets - Bird Watching. Love this set, well I just love PTI! (BTW have you seen all of the anniversary posts from Nichole - I cant wait to get my hands on all the new products, oh to live in America!)

This is another creation that I'm actually fond of - will use kraft and white again!

Well that's it from me, I'm recovering from a little operation at the moment so need to go and get some rest.

EDIT: Thanks to Katrina pointing this out, I would like to enter this card into the passion for papertrey challenge - Nature. The first challenge I have entered!

Thanks for popping by and any comments you may leave. Until next time....

Homemade House

2010-01-23T21:14:00.005Z

Hello blog world!! I hope everybody is enjoying their weekend. I have spent the day buying new bits and bobs for our house and then cleaning, sorting and organising! I'm shattered now but it was well worth it.

In my last post I said I would share with you a PTI project I recently made. Well, here it is! My sister and her boyfriend moved into a new flat and I wanted to send them a house warming gift. I knew I had the perfect PTI stamp set and download. I have seen lots of examples of these by other people and couldn't wait to get started on my own. After a fiddle with printers (mine won't work properly, so a trip to my parents was called for - which then wouldn't take PTI cardstock) I finally set to work!

Here is my completed house and a little card to match

View from the back

View from the side

I'm really pleased how this turned out. I kept it quite simple but I can think of so many other ways to use this template and stamp set - I'm sure I'll be sharing more creations eventually! My sister was really surprised by the house - she is under instructions never to throw it away (if she gets bored of it I want it back)!

Well, I'm off now to snuggle up with my man and watch a DVD - Madagascar 2!! Ha! We love kids films! And Madagascar started off my obsession for Giraffes - looking forward to seeing Melman in action again!

Thanks for popping by and for any comments you may leave. Until next time....

Back to Blogging!

2010-01-17T10:32:00.009Z

LONG POST ALERT!

Well hello all my bloggy friends! After a 2 month break from blogging I thought it was about time I came back! I'm pleased to say my Grandad is on the mend, and he may even be going home to his brand new flat on Wednesday! He's had quite a long recovery from his stroke, but he's starting to look like my Grandad again which is just lovely. I thought I'd share with you a photo from Christmas Day - we had a little family gathering at the hospital, we took him down to the cafe to celebrate. This is me and my sister with him.

I also made it safely to New York at the start of December. The trip was just amazing and I really, really want to go back! I can see why so many people fall in love with the place. Not only was New York amazing but I got to pick up my Papertey Ink order, which too was amazing! Hehe! The parcel arrived at the hotel the day before we did and I was so excited when we checked in when the man said 'we have a UPS waiting for you, we'll have it sent to you your room'. I could have burst with excitement - a little crazy I know!! I danced around the hotel room when it arrived and immediately opened it up:

I was a lucky girl and a had a lot of sets as Christmas presents. I think every day at the hotel I got the items back out of the box to look at all the stuff! I have a project to share soon using a PTI template and stamp set.

Here are a few more photo's from New York

View from the top of the Empire State Building

Me and my 3 friends at the top of the Empire State Building (love this photo!)

Although we're well into January I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year, and got to spend some time with your loved ones.

Just before Christmas I got some time to craft and I decorated a gift for my boss at work. She is so kind to me, as a boss and a friend, so I wanted to treat her. I settled on buying her some things that she could use to spend a relaxing night in - a bottle of wine, a dvd and popcorn sachet, chocolate and smellies (in the gift bag).

The gift bag is one that Katrina showed us how to make during a paper scissors craft meeting. The link is on the right of my blog, which then has the link to the bag.

I think I should stop there for today as this post is long! I'll be back soon to share with you the PTI project and also a card I made using my new mini sewing machine - I have a lot to learn with the sewing machine - sewing in a straight line is difficult for me!

Thank you for popping by, until next time.....

Time away

2009-11-16T08:57:00.002Z

I've decided I need to take some time away from posting on my blog. My Grandad had a stroke on Friday (13 November - not a good day for me), he has not suffered too badly from it, but he is in hospital and will be for a good few days yet.

With Christmas fast approaching and a trip to New York only 17 days away, unfortunately something has to give and I think this is the place it has to go. I'll still be trying to create where I can, but I feel I need to focus on family (and friends) at the moment and not worry about posting on here.

I'll still be visiting blogs regularly, it keeps me sane and gives a welcome distraction.

Thanks for all the visits over the last few months and I'll be back next month or in the new year with some things to share!

Love to all my bloggy friends xxxx

Her name was Lola...

2009-11-08T15:43:00.004Z

My friend Sara gave birth to little Lola nearly 4 weeks ago now. When one of our friends has a baby we club together and buy lots of treats for Mum - this time we were a little delayed as we have only just given Sara her presents! One of the presents was a photo frame, we put 2 photos in and then I made a middle section with Lola's name on...

I've put the photo on twice, as you can see more in one than the other! It was yesterday evening when I took the photos, so the light wasn't great.

That's all from me for now. Until next time....

Post of shame!

2009-10-29T20:37:00.006Z

I thought I'd share with you all the reason why I have not had many creations of late...

...yep, that is the state of my desk! I am ashamed to say! (Sorry about the lighting in the pic but I'm sure you get the idea) I thought this post might scare me into realising how bad it is and to make me tidy it up! I've just ran out of time with being poorly, then being in London and last weekend we were away in Edinburgh (which was lovely, and great to spend some time with my other half). That was pretty much October for me - oh and going to work full time too! Hehe.

We are off to a wedding on Saturday, my other half is DJ-ing for the happy couple so that is their wedding present from us but I wanted to take a little something for them on the day. So after a trip to Ikea and much debating (I was literally playing with vases, candles and pot-pouri in the store) I settled on a fairly plain vase and candle. But, I decorated the candle, put it in the vase and wrapped it all in cellophane and decorated. As my desk is full of rubbish I took to the living room floor - more tidying up for me! I'm annoyed at myself for not taking a close up of the candle before I wrapped it all in cellophane, ah well! Hopefully they will like it.

Here is the card we're giving to them too (I made this for the CRY Sale but it had no takers, luckily it's saved me this weekend)

That's all from me today - I think I've rambled on for long enough!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave, they make me smile. Until next time...

Congratulations!

2009-10-21T17:58:00.002+01:00

A little bit of eye candy from me today :D

I made this card for my sister as she has herself a new job, starting in the new year. I went to stop with her in London at the weekend and we had a lovely time. Was great to spend some time with her and to explore a little more of London. Love ya sis!

Just a quick post from me today as I have lots to get on with and I'm off to visit my friend later to celebrate her birthday. Happy Birthday Sara!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave, they make me smile! Until next time....

Look what I have!

2009-10-14T18:50:00.004+01:00

(Sorry the photo is a big dodgy!)

Woooo! Yep, I own my first stamp set from Papertrey Ink! A friend of mine went on holiday to America and he very kindly bought me this back - and a couple of sets for my Mum that she had for her birthday. I haven't got round to inking it up yet, but I almost don't want to open up the packaging - it looks so good!

Along with the stamp set I ordered their tote bag too - I think they are left from the CHA show they did, but I didn't mind paying $2 I thought it was quite cute!

On another exciting note my other friend who was pregnant has finally had her baby - a little girl called Lola Grace Murphy! She was born on 12/10/09 at 8.13pm and weighed 8lb. She looks so cute in the photo her mummy sent me. Can't wait to meet her. Will have to get her baby announcements out now.

That's all from me, I'm off out for a meal with my girlies tonight!

Until next time.....

Second time lucky?!

2009-10-11T13:46:00.002+01:00

Well I'm hoping that this post will work - blogger seems to be doing funny things to photo's when I'm typing my post so I can only hope this works when I click 'publish post'!!

This card is one I made last weekend for a colleague's birthday. I made a batch of 3 cards in quick succession using mainly chocolate chip card stock, paper and ribbon. I'll share the other 2 cards in the next few days.

Unfortunately Matt has passed his bugs onto me and I have got a yacky head cold. Typically as I had plans to craft this weekend - and we have our first craft group meeting tomorrow. But I'll be there in some shape or form!

I'm off to rest back up on the sofa - although Matt has taken control of the TV and he is watching a programme from his childhood called the Interceptor - it's a bit random!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave - they make me smile! Until next time....

I am here...

2009-10-06T13:47:00.003+01:00

...just wanted to make a little post to say I'm still here! I tried to post on Sunday but blogger was not happy and it wouldn't play. I'm a bit busy this week and have a poorly man at home to look after so I will be back soon with some new creations to show you!

Also, sending love to Katrina and Adrian after their scary road trip on Sunday night. Glad you are both safe.

Until next time....

Exciting News!

2009-09-26T17:03:00.000+01:00

My friend Katrina and I have decided to start a craft group here in Coventry! We have been thinking about this for a while and have now found a venue to hold our event.

It will be the 2nd Monday of each month, starting 12 October from 7 - 9pm at Hearsall Baptist Church (on the corner of Hearsall Lane and Queensland Ave, Chapelfields, CV5)

This is an opportunity to meet other crafters and share ideas and inspiration. There will be refreshments provided, all levels of crafters welcome!

There will also be occasional workshops/make and takes etc. For more information please visit the blog

Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. If you live locally we would love to see you there. Please email us at paperscissorscraft@hotmail.co.uk if you want to come so we can keep a count of numbers etc.

Cost is £3 to cover room hire. Workshops will cost more but will be advertised in advance. Bring your own craft supplies and project to work on for the first meeting.

Hope to see you there!

Forever Friends Girl and Boy

2009-09-21T18:32:00.001+01:00

Here are 2 more cards I made for the CRY sale - for the birth of a baby girl or boy. The cards are identical in layout but obviously just pink or blue!! I picked up the forever friends stamps a while ago and these are the first time I got round to putting some ink on them!

Recipe for both cards:
Paper/Cardstock - mainly Papermania, Forever Friends or from my stash
Images - Forever Friends
Sentitment - SU
Others - Ribbon and safety pins from stash

Only a quick post from me - hopefully I'll have some more creations to share soon, if I get round to making any!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave, until next time....

Back to creations!

2009-09-16T18:10:00.001+01:00

So I think I may have bored you all with baby talk so back to creations now! The first pic shows my craft sale for charity that I held at work - not very exciting but I think the cards looks cute on my little rack - quite a few people mentioned how nice is was, I could have sold that 10 times over itself!

The next pic shows some of the shopping list size notepads I made - these flew out like hot cakes! They have been covered using a variety of stuff from different companies, mainly SU!, doodlebug and bazzill.

These are a selection of the small notepads I made too - I left these simple as they were so small.

I need to get crafting to build my stock back up and to make some cards for a few people. However I've slightly lost my mojo after making so much for the sale!

Before I go I must say Happy Birthday to my parents - my Mum's birthday is today and my Dad's was on Monday. Happy Birthday mummy and daddy - love you both lots!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave. Until next time....

Baby Ollie

2009-09-12T10:19:00.000+01:00

A quick post from me today, to share a photo of baby Ollie! (I have his mummy's approval for this!) I went to see them last night in the hospital and he is just gorgeous!

Congratulations Bec, Scott and Grace.

The baby (and me!) is here!

2009-09-09T18:04:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, I've been mega busy. But on to more exciting news first!

Today my friend Bec (finally) gave birth to baby Ollie Jake Curtis! Hurrah, the little stinker took his time to come out as he was due on 31 August! May be he wanted to wait and have an extra special birthday 09/09/09! He was born at 10.08 this morning by C-Section and weighed in at 9lb 6oz!

As soon as I get a photo of him I'll be sending out her baby announcement cards. I can't wait to get to have a munch, although it will probably be in a few days as she's got to stay in hospital to recover from the surgery. Here is a little gift I got for her when I first found out she was pregnant - see the theme of giraffe's continues on!! I just love this little suit, I hope he can get into it for a few wears! (The photo also shows the card I made for them.)

So, why have I been busy? Well I decided to set a date for my CRY sale - it was today! I made £43 from today's sale, added to my previous sale that gives me a total of £84 for the charity. I took 32 cards and 10 notepads in to work, and I'm pleased to say I sold all the notepads and have only 9 cards left!

I'll share photos of my sale and more of my cards over the next week. Must crack on with an SU! order now!

Thanks for stopping by and for any comments you may leave, until next time.....

Last Chance List!

2009-09-02T17:35:00.001+01:00

Stampin Up! has released the last chance list, as we are fast approaching the new catalogue on 1 October. (Yippee!) Some items are available at 25% and 50% off the normal place so make sure you don't miss out on these great offers, as once they are gone, they are gone!

You can view the last chance list here.

Contact me at g.v.knight@hotmail.co.uk if you want to place an order. I'm actually ordering myself some stuff over this weekend so if any of your bloggers out there want to tag on to my order and share postage just let me know!

Until next time....

Crafting Bank Holiday

2009-08-31T20:35:00.000+01:00

I hope everybody has had a lovely bank holiday. I booked Friday off work so I had an extra long break, 4 days off! Whoop! I spent Friday afternoon with Katrina, Saturday with my parents and yesterday and today making cards (in amongst cleaning, tidying and cooking!). I'm hoping to make enough to hold a second sale for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) - I held my first sale in April and haven't got round to the second sale yet! I've managed to get about 15 cards done, but still need to make more and I also want to cover some notepads and make some post-it note holders to sell.

Here are some photo's of my bank holiday creations (some layouts are taken from blog's I visit, but I didn't note which ones so thanks to all for the inspiration and sorry I cannot name you individually!):

Card Recipe:
Paper/Cardstock: SU!, Bazzill and unknown (didn't check before cutting it up!)
Image: SU! Hostess Set - A Little Bit of Happiness
Embellishments - SU Chocolate Chip Ribbon and Papermania flower
Tools - SU! Scallop Punch

Card Recipe (same products used for each card just swapped around!):
Card/Paper: SU!, Imaginisce and stock from stash
Image: From Woodware Stamp Set
Sentiment: SU!
Other: Ribbon from stash (tied to make bow), SU! Scallop Punch, Glitter and Glue Pen

I quite like these cards, the first time I've added so many layers and embellishments to a card I think!

Card Recipe:
Card/Paper: Imaginisce and pieces from stash
Image: From Stampeezee, I don't know the company I threw the packaging away!
Sentiment: SU! Starring You
Other: Ribbon from Stash, Corner Punch, Glitter and Glue Pen

I may have shared this card before as I made it for my god-daughters birthday back in June. Sorry if I have!

I hope you like my creations! I'll share more soon. I'm off to have a shower and to get an early night for the week ahead - tomorrow will be a long day at work, I'll be out of my office from 11.45am until 6pm when I go home!!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave. Until next time....

They're all made!

2009-08-25T18:39:00.000+01:00

Just a quick note from me to share all of the post-it note holders and sweet bags I made for my colleagues at work. I gave 3 of them out today (a lot of the ladies work part-time and some are on leave) and the rest will have theirs by the end of the week. They were all really pleased, so I'm glad I sat down to finish them last night now.

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave - until next time....

What a week!

2009-08-22T15:45:00.000+01:00

What a week indeed! Work has kind of taken over this week - we had to move offices and boy was it hard work! Way harder than I thought it would be - both physically and mentally. I'm just glad we had fantastic removal men to help us out for 2 days! So, here is my new desk - I now share an office with 4 ladies, I used to share with 1 other lady who only worked part-time so it will seem odd to me being back in an office that will always have somebody else in it other than me! (Neat freak is already viewable - I've only been in the new office for 2 days!)

So needless to say not much crafting has taken place this week - I've come home each night from work exhausted. I managed to craft for an hour or so earlier, but I have lost my energy again! I've decided to make a little something for all of my work colleagues who have moved to my new building with me - 6 (lovely) ladies in total. I've made a start on 1 gift and will make the rest tomorrow hopefully.

They are little post-it note holders and a little bag of sweeties. The scalloped circle on the sweets will have a little message from me on them. This set is for my manager, Sally.

Post-it note holder recipe:
Card stock and paper - SU!
Ribbon - From my stash, probably hobbycraft
Other - 1 3/8" circle and scallop circle punches

Sweet bag recipe:
Clear Bag - SU!
Peg - From a £1 store or somewhere like that!
Paper (to cover peg) - SU!
Button - Doodlebug (linen thread - SU!)

Well I'm off for an afternoon nap now, then over to my friends for an xfactor gathering!! Hopefully next week will be a bit more settled at work so I can crack on with the 15 baby announcements and all of the other ideas I have in my head!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave. Until next time.....

Baby Announcement Number 2!

2009-08-15T18:26:00.001+01:00

Here it is! I finally sat down and put together the layout for the 2nd lot of baby announcements - this time for Sara and Barry, their baby is due in about 6 weeks. (Yippee!) I've just had the ok from Sara so I'll be making another 15 of these over the next few days.

Card Recipe:
Image and Sentiment - SU! Bundle of Joy stamp set
Card/Paper - Papermania spotty paper, bazzill and SU! cardstock and card base from stash
Other - SU! Oval and Oval Scallop Punch, SU! Ink and Ribbon from stash

I made a trip to Stampezzee this morning and picked up some stuff Debbie put on reserve for me - she's just got some Imaginisce christmas goodies in and I wanted them! I love the stamps from this company - they are 99p each the images are just lovely! I'm now in the process of putting all my individual clear stamps into CD cases to make them easier to store.

I also decided to buy 2 promarkers from Stampeezzee. I have never used them before but I've seen other people use them on their own creations and I like the results. I just bought 2 to start off with - a brown and gold - to colour in my giraffe images! Hehe!

Here's a pic of my goodies:

So now I'm all pooped out! I've been busy all day so I think I might have to have a little snooze before my other half gets back from the football - I'm back to loosing him on Saturday now that the season has started again.

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave, until next time.............

SU! 3-D Projects

2009-08-10T21:22:00.000+01:00

When Katrina held her Open House a few weeks ago I said I'd put together some samples for her to use on the day. I decided to have a play around with some 3-D projects - I think I actually like to make these more than cards now!

I had some clear paint cans from an internet purchase ages ago, but I've never got round to using them. I played with my 'Wild About You' set and came up with this. I'm really pleased with it and think it will look great filled with baby grows or baby gifts (let's hope one of my friends has a baby boy - there's 2 chances over the next 6 weeks so fingers crossed!)

Sorry the photo isn't great, my other half has just played around with the photo tent for me - but it's late and the light died half way through taking photos!

My other 3-D project is a box - I got the instructions on how to make it from Monica Gale, a fellow stampin up! demonstrator. I can't link to her blog as I can't remember the name of it and the bookmark is on my computer at work! Sorry Monica for not giving you proper credit!

Sorry, the photo isn't great again - you're probably best to click on them to get a better view. All of the supplies used to make this box are SU!

Card/Paper - Selection from Earth Elements and Wasington Apple paper
Sentiment - Oval All Stamp Set
Ribbon - Whisper White Grosgrain
Tools - Oval and Scallop Oval punches

I hope you like my creations today. I must get on soon with making another set of baby announcements for my friend who's baby is due at the end of September!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave - they make me smile! Until next time....

Yippee yippee!

2009-08-06T18:21:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to share my excitement! I'm off to New York in December and I've been in contact with the hotel we're staying in and they are happy for me to have a parcel delivered during our stay. So, this means I can order a stack of Papertrey Ink goodies and bring them home with me on the plane - saving on the expensive shipping costs! Yippee!! Guess what most of my Christmas presents will be!?!

Also, my sister and her boyfriend are home safely from their 4 week trip to Central America, another yippee moment! Hehe!

Ok, so now you all think I'm officially mad I'll be off - until next time....

Mr Giraffe!

2009-08-04T17:44:00.000+01:00

I put this card together in a speedy fashion at the weekend - for my friends daughter who turns 3 on 7 August! I got the giraffe image from a stamp set that my parents got me for my birthday, I just love the giraffe - as I mentioned in my last post I have a thing about giraffes! The layout came about by accident really, but I was inspired by the angles Katrina used in one of her recent cards. I coloured the giraffe in with crayola crayons - I don't have any copics or pro-markers and didn't want to use watercolour so I reached for my trusty crayons!!

Card Recipe:
Image - from a Woodware Stamp Set
Card/PAper - from a selection in my stash, again not sure of the company - sorry!
Sentiment - SU!

So I've managed a few posts in the last few days - unusual for me! I still have more things to share so hopefully I can keep up with some regular posts!

Thanks for looking, until next time.....

Blog Awards

2009-08-02T09:04:00.000+01:00

So I'm wide awake stupidly early on a Sunday morning (again) and I realised I haven't shared 2 blog awards I've been given - so time to catch up!

The first came from the lovely Katrina, thanks chick!

The conditions of the award are:

I must thank the person who gave me the award
List their blog and link to it.
I must list 10 honest things about myself.
I must put a copy of The Honest Scrap Logo on my blog.
I must select at least seven other worthy bloggers & list their links.
I must notify the bloggers of the award.

So, 10 things about myself:

1. I'm a Brummie! But now I live in Coventry
2. I'm a clean freak and like organisation (seems to have happened since I moved out of home!)
3. I work for Warwick University in the Centre for Lifelong Learning and I have to say I'm a happy bunny there
4. I have great family and friends surrounding me
5. I'm not an outdoors kind of girl - ask my other half, I moan all the time when he makes me walk places!
6. I'm looking forward to the day when I have a craft room all of my own (I don't think that will happen for a good few years yet but I can wish!)
7. I'm going to Edinburgh in October and New York in December, both for first time and cannot wait.
8. My sister has spent the last 4 weeks travelling around Central America - I can't wait to have her home and to catch up. (She lives in London and I don't see her all that often, but being half way round the world seems so far away - probably because it is Gemma!)
9. I love giraffes - seriously I have an obsession - my house is covered, from stuffed toys to pillows, I have all things giraffe like - oh and craft stuff too!
10. I'm looking forward to buying a house so I can decorate it - my rented house is all cream and it's boring!!

I have to pass this award on to 7 fellow bloggers, but I think all the people I want to pass it on to at the moment have already had it, so if I come across some great new blogs I'll send it on then.

The second award is a Circle of Friends award from Clare, again thank you for this - so sweet!

I'm going to be slightly naughty with this award as it's only supposed to go to 5 people, but I'd like to pass it on to my followers - all 8 of you. (Although one is my Dad so I guess we can count him out! Hehe!) I'm really pleased to have followers of my blog - feels a little bit special to have people that want to look at what you create and write, so this is for all of you. Thank you.

I think that covers my catching up of all things blog-like. I had a great cleaning session yesterday and have a little more to do today, then the crafting can begin!

Thanks for looking, until next time.....

Just For You

2009-08-01T09:12:00.000+01:00

Here's another card I made during my crafting session a few weekends ago! I wanted to make a card using a stamp from the SU! Oval All stamp set and this was my result! It's quite a plain card but I think it's quite effective!

Card Recipe:
Paper - Doodlebug
Cardstock - From my stash, sorry no idea which company!
Ribbon - SU! Whisper White Grosgrain
Stamp Set - Oval All (from mini catalogue)
Other - Large Oval and Scallop Oval Punches

From today Stampin Up are running a free gift promotion, spend over £45 on Stampin Up! Products and you'll get a ribbon bundle for free! What could be better? Here's the info (it will remain on my side bar too for the month) :

If you're interested in ordering Stampin Up! or want to ask some questions just let me know - g.v.knight@hotmail.co.uk.

I'm off now as I'm feeling the need to clean and sort today! The rain is coming down outside so I don't fancy venturing out. Once the cleaning is done then hopefully I'll move on to some crafting!

One last thing (I promise!) hop on over to my upline Katrina's blog as she has some great blog candy up for grabs.

Until next time....

Blog Candy Winner

2009-07-27T20:37:00.000+01:00

So it's time to announce the winner of my blog candy! I used Random.org to generate the winner ---- comment number 11!

Congratulations to Nikki from Canada! Nikki, please send me an email to g.v.knight@hotmail.co.uk and let me know your address and I'll get it in the post to you. (If you don't contact me by Friday 31 August I'll draw again and the candy will go to the next winner.)

I'll be back soon to share some more creations.

Until next time....

Spotty Birthday Card

2009-07-26T19:33:00.001+01:00

Today I wanted to share with you a card I made for my boyfriend's Mum, her birthday was on 16 July. I saw the layout on A Passion for Papertey blog - not quite sure if it was Steph or Kate that made the card though. Anyway, I really liked the layout and I'm liking all things spotty at the moment!

Card Recipe:
Paper/Card - Doodlebug, Bazzill and Co'ordinations
Images - SU! Stamps
Ribbon - SU!

Yesterday Katrina held her open house - Clare from Little Bear Crafts and I attended, it was a great chance to catch up with Katrina and meet Clare and chat about all things crafty! In fact we ended up chatting for 4 hours before we realised the time! It was a great afternoon, thanks again Katrina!

Don't forget it's the last chance to enter my blog candy, a few posts below, as I'll be drawing the winner tomorrow! Good luck!

Until next time....

A new creation!

2009-07-19T09:23:00.000+01:00

2 weeks on the trot and I've been creating! Whoop! That means I have a lot to share over the coming weeks. Here is a card I made for my god-daughter who will turn 8 on 23 July.

This little panda stamp came from Stampezee and I've been wanting to use it ever since I bought it a while ago but wasn't quite sure what to do with it - I like the colour and pattern combinations on this card.

Don't forget to enter my blog candy in the post below. Also check out my upline Katrina's blog - Whimsical Wishes - as she has details about an open house she is holding.

Hope everybody has a lovely Sunday!

Until next time....

New display rack and BLOG CANDY!

2009-07-12T17:30:00.000+01:00

*****BLOG CANDY IS NOW CLOSED*****

Before I share the details of my first ever blog candy I had to show you all my new display rack! I'm totally in love! We went for a quick wonder to our local high street yesterday and I came across this rack in a lovely little shop. I had to have it there and then! I love all things like this and I knew it would be great for displaying my creations. I can't wait to have a sale and to make the table look appealing with the help of this rack! (I'm hoping to do a sale for charity soon so I think it will come in useful for that - and it will look pretty by my craft desk!) Any way enough of my waffle, on to the candy.....

So here it is! The first ever candy I have put on offer on my blog. I decided to take the photo outside as this is where my camera performs best, I hope you can all see the goodies clear enough! (The display rack is not part of the candy!)

*****BLOG CANDY IS NOW CLOSED*****

To enter to win my candy simply leave a comment after this post and link my candy to your blog (if you don't have a blog of your own you can still enter). I'll post worldwide. The candy contains a selection of papers (bazzill and imaginisce), 2 imaginisce stamps, a covered notepad, 3 metres of ribbon (doodlebug, stampin up! and hobby craft) selection of buttons (doodlebug and stampin up!), linen thread, 3 felt hearts, heart shaped gems, 4 pins, a selection of brads and 2 metal tags. I think that covers it all! I'll use random.org to select a winner on Monday 27 July.

I managed to get some cards made today for lots of upcoming birthdays so I'll share those over the next few weeks too.

Until next time (good luck with the candy!)....

15 Cards Made!

2009-07-05T20:53:00.001+01:00

Today I had some time to craft - I decided to get making the 15 baby announcement cards for my friend, who's baby is due at the end of August. Her first baby was early so I thought I best be prepared should this one make a surprise entry into the world too! I decided to make a little production line of all the elements and then put the cards together. This photo shows all of my bits ready to be assembled.

And here they all are! A couple of hours work and they were all done. I just have to get a layout ready for the inside now, so as soon as the baby is born I can print it off and stick them in - oh and get a photo of the little one of course! She doesn't know what she's having which is why we went with the yellow/lemon theme.

Hopefully I can get crafting again soon. I need to make more cards to sell at work for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) - I did one sale earlier in the year but need to do another one in the other half of my department who work in a different building to me.

On other news I'll be posting some blog candy soon and will also start a special offer for Stampin Up!

Thanks for looking. Until next time....

Get Well Soon

2009-06-28T17:32:00.000+01:00

I made a card! It took a long time to get to it but I made one! A family friend had an operation this week so I made a card to send to her from our family. Although she is on the road to recovery we hope this card will cheer her up! On a plus side for me, the card is made from all stampin up! product! Love it!

(Click on the photo to make it larger - you'll see it better, I was lazy and didn't get the photo tent out!)

Card Recipe:
Image - Stamp from Fun and Fast Notes
Paper - Tea Party designer paper
Cardstock- from earth elements pack (can't remember exact colour!)
Others - White Grosgrain ribbon, button from mini catalogue, linen thread

I'm off to relax for the rest of my Sunday - the ironing might not get done! Hehe!

Until next time.....

Baby Announcement

2009-06-20T19:39:00.001+01:00

I finally made a card! This is a design I have put together for my friend who is expecting a baby in late August - I have decided to make baby announcements for her. I also have another friend who is pregnant and due in late September, so I have to make more designs so she can have announcement cards too!

I played around with this card a lot but I'm really pleased with the outcome (I cased it from Papertrey Ink - I think from Nichole's blog)

Card Recipe:
Card - from a pack bought at Pear Tree Yard in Nottinghamshire (excellent craft shop - very cheap!) and Bazzil Cardstock
Paper - Papermania
Stamps (bear and sentiment)- Stampin Up!
Ribbon - Stampin Up! (from the mini catalogue)

I'm not sure when I'll next get to make a card as it's a busy few weeks at work and I'm still not feeling great so craft time will be at a minimum - not happy about that!

Happy Fathers day to my lovely daddy for tomorrow and for all other daddy's out there!

Until next time....

No creations for a while :(

2009-06-14T11:21:00.000+01:00

Today I do not have any creations to share with you - because I haven't made any! Unless you count a dodgy card that I do not like - so I'm not sharing that! Hehe!

I've had a busy week and one of my best friends turned 23 this week too, so we've been busy celebrating! We went to Weston Super Mare for the day on Friday and had great fun! Here are my 3 friends heading for a paddle in the sea, although the sea was so far out that it ended up being a paddle in the mud!

Hopefully I'll be back soon with some creations! I also have a blog award from Katrina that I need to post and to follow the instructions that it comes with!

Until next time....

Lovin Stampin Up!

2009-06-04T17:58:00.001+01:00

My first order as a Stampin Up! demonstrator arrived today! Woo hoo! I placed the order late Monday evening and it was delivered by DHL at 9.30 this morning, now how efficient is that?!

My order was huge thanks to the extra offer they run for new demo's when they place their first order. If you want more information about that let me know.

Here is a picture of all my goodies, I had fun just looking at all the stuff and stroking it! One day I'll get round to inking it and making some creations! I've ordered some stamp sets that I just can't wait to play with.

When my back was turned and the box was empty my cat made a run for it.....

.... he just loves to get in boxes!

There's no new creations to show today, but I wanted to share my excitement of my order! Now I have to find places for it all - I have some new boxes that it will fit into with the rest of the Stampin Up! stuff that I have already purchased!

Until next time....

From the desk of..with a twist

2009-05-28T20:29:00.001+01:00

So this is my newest creation - and I am quite proud of it if I say so myself! Hehe! It was the present I made over the bank holiday weekend for my boss Sally. I'm pleased to say she liked it too!

I bought a template from Papertrey Ink designed by Lauren Meader called 'from the desk of', I've mentioned before how much I love Lauren's work and the templates are no different. This is the first template I've bought and I will definitely be buying more in the future. Although my poor boyfriend had a bit of a lengthy process with paypal (down to having a new bank card to register) and our printer is not well so it took him quite a while to get the file downloaded for me and the template printed! Oops! Sorry Matt, thank you very much though for sorting it :D The idea of the creation came from Lauren's blog - I can't take credit I'm afraid!

I took the photo's using my lovely new photo tent again. I still need to get used to using it but if you click on the pictures to make them bigger hopefully you'll see that they are quite clear.

This photo shows the whole creation. It is a kitchen tidy, with various things in each divider.

This photo is a close up of the one side, which holds a co-ordinating notepad, pencils and spice jars. (The 3 jars fit perfectly in the space - I was amazed! The jars are from Ikea.)

The final photo shows the other side which holds 2 recipe books (bought from local bookshops) and a recipe card storage holder. I made dividers to split the cards into Starters, Main Courses and Desserts. Papertrey Ink sell recipe cards but I don't have them so I simply bought index cards from Tesco instead - it works the same! I also decorated 2 pegs with matching paper and buttons.

The paper used is from doodlebug, the tree stamp is by imaginisce and the senitment is from SU. The card used to make the holder is from hobbycraft - no idea which company it's from. Other bits are from my stash.

I'm off to rest for the remainder of the evening. I've not been feeling too well of late and I've been prodded and poked by the doctor today, so I need to put my feet up (and watch Britain's Got Talent! Hehe!)

Until next time....

Happy Birthday Sally

2009-05-24T09:01:00.000+01:00

Here is a card I made for my boss, it was her birthday yesterday. I still have her present to make - I decided I'd have time when we got back from holiday, but I didn't! So I'll be spending the remainder of the bank holiday crafting.

The photo of the card was taken with my new photo tent that my parents bought me for my birthday. I love it! I only had a quick play with it as the battery on my camera and the light were dying - but I think it's the best picture of a card I have yet.

Along with crafting I also have to unpack my starter kit from SU. The box was so heavy that I couldn't lift it! My desk is in the corner of the dining room, I'm having to turf Matt's stuff out of the shelving unit that's next to my desk so I can have some where to store it all! Hehe! Love it! Wait till I put my first order in!

So, I'll be back in the week with some more creations and hopefully information about ordering stampin up through me.

Until next time....

I'm still here!

2009-05-15T11:27:00.000+01:00

Sorry for not blogging! We went off to a sunny-ish Portugal for a weeks lovely holiday. We did not a lot which was our intention but it was lovely all the same. However the sun could have shined just a little bit stronger for us - being up in the moutains meant we had too much shade for my liking! I'll post a few pics when we have them sorted.

Anyway, onto some fun news! I am now officially an independent Stampin Up demonstrator! Whoop! I'm just waiting for my starter to kit to arrive and I need to get my head around the demonstrator website and how it all works, but it's official all the same!

I'm off to celebrate my 23rd birthday this weekend so I'll be back next week with some creations and updates on how to order stampin up through me!

Until next time...

Another Stationery Box

2009-05-03T09:39:00.001+01:00

So here is the stationery box I completed at break neck speed for my sister - her friends birthday is next Thursday, but she wanted it ready in time for this weekend - when she visits her. With everything that's been going on here it was a tight squeeze to get it done, but it went in the post on time!

This is the outside of the box - the images are tiny thanks to me not being able to find my camera memory card so I've had to pull them off facebook!

This is the box all opened up - there are 6 normal size cards, 3 3x3 cards, a post-it note pad, stamps, pen and a bar of dairy milk!

This picture shows the normal size cards - I made 2 of each design for ease!

I hope every body is having a lovely bank holiday weekend. I'm now on holiday from work for 2 weeks! And I'm off to see the sun in Portugal in a few days time! I can't wait!

Until next time....

More cards for CRY

2009-04-25T19:52:00.000+01:00

I'm still here! I'm just a bad blogger! Hehe! I've had a really busy week at work this week and have had busy evenings after too. On Monday evening I was working until 1opm on more cards to sell for CRY after my mojo was gone last weekend! I finally managed to get 30 cards and 7 notepads into work on Tuesday and they sold like hot-cakes! (Which I'm very relieved about.) We have a split site department, and I sold that many that I need to make more to send over to the other site! That will have to happen next month though!

Anyway, so far I have made £35 for CRY - I'm really pleased. Like I said in my post before, it's not a massive amount of money but still I'm sure CRY will appreciate it.

So here are 2 more designs I made - bad photo's again as I took these after I finished creating on Monday night. I'll share more of the designs over the next week.

Here's a little crocodile using the Stampin Up Wild About You set.

Here is another one of my favourite cards - as it has a giraffe! Hehe! My boss snaffled this one up fast - typcially I only made 1 of these (I tried to duplicate most designs).

I have to get to work on a commision from my sister - she wants a stationery box, like what I made for her birthday, for her friend. I have a time limit to get it in the post before the bank holiday! Argh! I best got on! (Falling asleep this afternoon did not help me!)

Until next time....

Where's it gone?!

2009-04-18T14:57:00.000+01:00

My crafting mojo that is?! I'm sitting here trying to make more cards to sell for CRY (see post below) and I'm not being inspired by anything! So far I've made 6 cards (but they only have 2 different designs so it hasn't been that exciting!) but I just can't seem to make any more.

I have the stampin up catalogues in front of me - this years and last year - and still no luck!

I'm hoping some blog viewing will help me out!

Until next time (which may be a long time if this carries on!)....

Cards for CRY

2009-04-13T20:02:00.000+01:00

I've been busy crafting today, I managed to make 13 cards - for charity.

On 14 March 09 Matt's friend, Nick, died days away from his 27th birthday from Sudden Cardiac Disease. Nick was a healthy and fit man who was 6 months into a photography degree. We have both been affected by his death and feel we want to raise the awareness of the condition that is killing 12 healthy adults a week. A simple ECG screening test could have highlighted a problem and enabled these young people to get preventative medical help.

CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) is a charity that runs screening programmes and aims to raise awareness of the condition amongst other things. Matt and I want to get involved in raising awareness. I'm going to sell my cards at work and give all the proceeds to CRY so they can have a little more funding to continue their important work. (Granted I probably won't make a lot but I'm sure it will be worth it!)

Here are the cards I've made so far:

This picture shows all 13 cards

This is probably my favourite card - as it has a giraffe!

I like this card too - I played around with an aqua painter for the first time today to colour the flower

This card is cased from Chic n Scratch - I liked it so wanted to make one!

All of the cards feature some Stampin Up! products somewhere along the way - a first for me!!

Until next time....

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T17:09:00.001+01:00

***Pictures now added!!

Happy Easter to everyone! Matt and I now have a mass of chocolate to get through - I'm not complaining though! I also had some crafting goodies from my parents instead of chocolate - always a good alternative!

I made some Easter boxes for my parents and 2 best friends, Kate and Charlotte. I filled them with Easter chocolates and for my mum some buttons and brads!

I can't seem to get blogger to upload the photos at the moment, so I'll try and pop back later and get them on.

I have a list of things as long as my arm that I need to make, so hopefully I can get to it with the remainder of the bank holiday weekend!

Until next time....

Belated Birthday Present

2009-04-04T18:24:00.000+01:00

So there are quite a lot of photo's in this post! My sister celebrated her birthday back in February and I promised I would make one of her presents, only I took quite a long time to make it - and she only got it from me yesterday! I saw on Dannie's blog the tutorial of how to make a stationery box and I immediately fell in love! You can view the tutorial here.

My sister loves Art Deco things so I decided to buy some paper and a pen from Clinton's and go with that theme.

So here is the box all closed up - I love my new scallop and round punches from Stampin Up!

Next is a photo of all of the elements - 3 x A6 cards (the envelopes don't fit in the box as it's made to american sizes!), 3 x 3x3 cards and envelopes, notepad, pen and stamps.

This photo shows all of the elements in their little places. I decided not to make tags and to put a bar of chocolate in the place instead! Beckie appreciated it!

So I hope others like my creation as I am very pleased with it! Hehe!

I have been crafting today but only made one little thing - but again I can't show that as I made it for somebody who may see it on here! I can share next weekend.

What a lovely day it was today - I hope the sun shines again tomorrow :D

Until next time....

Thank you card

2009-04-02T18:13:00.000+01:00

Here is another one of my creations - and if finally uses one of my Stampin Up! stamps! I used the elephant from the Wild About You set, my favourite part of that set has to be the giraffe, but the elephant got picked for this card!

Sorry the photo is so dodgy again, I think I need a better camera! I tried to photograph it at work in the sun light, but it still didn't help :(

I have an exciting creation to share with you in the next few days - I just have to wait for my sister to get her parcel as the creation is inside it! I don't want to ruin the surprise for her by posting it on here!

Card Recipe:
Elephant Stamp - Stampin Up! Wild About You
Gems - papermania
Sentiment - from a set by SeeD's - not sure on it's name
All other paper/card/ribbon - part of my stash, not sure where they came from!

Until next time....

Giraffe Card

2009-03-31T18:10:00.001+01:00

Here is a little giraffe card I made last weekend. I wanted to use my new giraffe stamp but didn't have a reason to make the card, which was quite nice just to see what happened!

Sorry the photo is dodgy, it was late when I got round to the photo bit!

I'd just like to take the opportunity to say thanks again to Katrina over at Whimsical Wishes for picking me to receive some SU! goodies :D

I'll be back soon with some more creations, hopefully!

Card Recipe:
Giraffe Stamp - Imaginisce Snag'em Giraffe
Sentiments - Stampin Up!
Card - Papermania
All other paper - part of my stash, not sure where they are from!

Until next time....

Fudge Update

2009-03-26T18:15:00.000Z

I just thought I'd add a quick post to say that we went to the vets with Fudge this evening and all is well! He was really good and let the vet take out all 7 stitches with no bother.

The vet has said his foot has healed really well - better than he expected - as it looks like he's not been licking it too much. So yay to Fudge! He can head out to play tonight, so hopefully Matt and I can get some good sleep!

Hopefully I'll be back at the weekend with some creations.

Until next time...

Happy Birthday Auntie Sally!

2009-03-25T18:30:00.000Z

My card today is for my Auntie Sally, it's her birthday today - I'm off to see her later. I made her card using a new stamp I got from Stampeezee on Sunday - Snag'em stamp by Imaginisce called flower!

I just inked the stamp up in 2 different colours to make a bit of a pattern. Then I used some shimmery pastels to shade the white cardstock. I then mounted this onto some coloured paper and added some ribbon!

Hopefully I'll get time to craft some more at the weekend, I have loads to make!

Fudge is back to the vets tomorrow to get his stitches out - fingers crossed that he will then be able to go out and play! Then I can get some good sleep in the night without getting a paw in my face!

Until next time....

Happy Mothers Day!

2009-03-22T18:32:00.000Z

Happy Mothers day to my mummy and all other mummy's out there! I spent a lovely afternoon with my mum (and dad), we had a lovely roast dinner - cooked by my own fair hands! Hehe!

Here are the cards I made for my Mum and Matt's mum

For those of you that read my blog regularly you'll also see that it looks a little different! I decided to change the layout. The photo on the heading is a mural I painted for a friends daughters' bedroom a few years ago - which is why my crafty creations and blog all go under the name 'painted dreams'. My plan was to paint lots of murals for people and hand paint furniture, however that hasn't quite worked, but may be one day I can get round to doing that again!

Brown Card Recipe:
Spotty paper - doodle bug
Other paper - not sure, in my stash!
Flower Stamp - Anita's - scribbly flower
Ribbon - Stampin Up (thanks Katrina for that!)

Beige/Blue Card Recipe:
Butterfly and background paper - taken from one sheet of paper from Hobbycraft
All other items - part of my stash, don't know where they came from!

Until next time.......

Finally some cards have been made...

2009-03-21T17:45:00.001Z

....and here is one of them.

Matt's aunt and uncle sent Fudge a get well soon card - very sweet! So I decided to make them a thank you card so we could update them on his progress, as they asked. I've also printed a photo of him with his bandage on so they can see what he looked like!

I also made a couple of other cards today (hurrah!) and will share them later in the week. I popped into Stampeezee today and bought some new crafty bits, so my cards feature my new purchases!

Card Recipe:
Cat paper and paws paper - doodlebug
Thank you sentiment - taken from stamp set by Woodware - Friendly Bug Garden
All other bits - I'm not sure, they have been in my stash for too long!!

Until next time....

Poorly pussy cat

2009-03-16T17:39:00.000Z

Today I hoped to be able to share with you some my creations from yesterday. Instead my cat had other ideas! Yesterday lunch time I noticed a chunk of skin missing from his back foot, which was quite deep. So off to the emergency vets we went! The poor thing had to be kept in and sedated and stitched up. I got the call to pick him up at about 4.15pm. He came home with a great big bandage on his foot and I had a £225 dent in my bank account, thanks to out of hours fees!

So, here is a couple of photo's of my lovely cat feeling rather sorry for himself!

I also have some photo's of my calligraphy work to show you from my day school on Saturday - see previous post.

That's all from me for today, except to say Katrina has some more lovely blog candy up for grabs, so hop on over to Whimsical Wishes for a chance to win!

Until next time...

Calligraphy

2009-03-14T17:24:00.000Z

Today I went to a day school to learn how to do some calligraphy. It was through Warwick University and the Centre for Lifelong Learning (CLL) and their Open Studies courses. I work for CLL so here is a shameless plug for the summer brochure - click here!

I had a great day although have to admit that as I'm a lefty I found it hard, as the angle the pen needs to be held is quite awkward. So much easier for right-handers! So, next on my shopping list is an oblique nib so that I can write better - but at least I learnt some of the basics for italic letters.

In the next few days I'll upload some pictures of what I achieved, Matt has borrowed my camera so I can't show you today.

I'm hoping to get some more paper crafting done tomorrow so I'll upload my creations (if anything works) too!

Until next time...

I'm back!

2009-03-08T19:09:00.000Z

So it's been a while since I last posted! I've not managed to make much recently although I did manage to get a few things made today - but I can't share these yet as they need to be given to people in a few weeks time!

So I have something to show you that I made for a colleagues birthday a few weeks ago - I followed the instructions from Lauren Meader's blog - I think Lauren is ace and check her blog daily - oh to have her creative brain! You can view Lauren's idea here.

That's all for today - short and sweet! Just before I do go though I must mention Katrina's first blog candy - hop over to Whimsical Wishes to get a chance to win!

Until next time.....

Presents....

2009-02-26T18:09:00.000Z

Ok, so it's been a week since my last post so I'm finally back with another one!

I had a lovely Sunday with my Mum last weekend as we spent all day crafting - we made 6 more note pads - like the ones in my first picture (below). I also made a collage for a friends birthday, using pictures of her adorable puppy Poppy (who came to play on Monday, she is just so gorgeous - and tiny!)

I'm pleased to say she loved her birthday present! Happy birthday for Wednesday Jen!

Another thing I worked on over the last few weeks is a very belated christmas present for another friend of mine. She got married last October and I made her wedding invites and order of services. After the wedding I took the bridesmaid flowers and a flower from her bouquet and dried them - I promised to turn them into something. Here is my creation...

I'm pleased to say she liked this too! I have another frame to fill in a similar way to this for Matt's friends who also got married in October last year - I'll post that when I get round to making it!

I must go now, as I need to get ready to go out. I'm off to Zizzi's for a meal with my other half.

Until next time.......

Welcome to my blog!

2009-02-19T18:18:00.000Z

Welcome to my blog - the very first I have had! I decided to set this up after spending hours of looking at other peoples and being wowed by their creations. I'm not sure people will be wowed by my creations, but still I'm willing to share!

I think I have to start off by saying a big thanks to Katrina, she opened me up to Stampin Up! and to the world of blogs - so thank you! I love reading her blog, so I hope she likes mine.

So, my first picture is of a note pad I covered for my mum. She's into brown tones at the moment and requested it was brown, so this is what I came up with!

Until next time......

xxxx