Sketchy Scrappers: We love Wales

Woohoo my first Sketchy Scrappers post of 2014! As December is understandably a busy month for everyone, Decembers sketch is carried over to January to give us all time to enjoy the festive season and to scrap. This months sketch was chosen by Julia who chose this sketch from Shimelle Laine 

I rummaged through my photo box and came across some old holiday photos from 4 years ago. One photo which stood out as I looked through them was one we took on Snowdon of a heart shaped pebble we found. It has become a tradition or habit that we have to look out for heart shaped stones to bring home, something Ian's mum got us into as she always finds them on beaches and has a basket of them at home. I thought this photo would be good to use as a title page for my holiday scrapbook especially as practically all our holidays are in Wales. So I sat down and made this layout

I went for a neutral, earthy colour scheme to match the photo. The background paper is from Glitz Designs Dapper Dan, I love Chevrons! The other papers are Kesi Art, K & Company (a scrap I have had for ages!), Alison Kreft & Lilybee Designs. The paper bag came in a Kit ages ago and I had been hoarding it for holding small embellishments. The kraft doily has been in my stash for ages, again I had been hoarding it! The frame is from an old kit, the wood veneer is Studio Calico, the sticker is MME. The title is made from Amy Tan Thickers and some with a wood grain effect on them. 

Birdy birthday card

I said to myself at the end of last year that I wanted to make more cards with the hope of making a dent in my stash, and so far so good as I have another card to share with you! After making my thank you cards last weekend I sat down and made a card for a certain birthday girl whose birthday is today. 

I was having a kraft and doily day last weekend lol! The papers are American Crafts Mayberry from one of the 6x6 paper pads I've collected lately. The birdy was punched using a Stampin Up punch, one I love but is sadly under used! 

I'm certainly on a roll making cards, here's hoping it lasts! 

52 Cards: Wk2 bright colour combo

This weeks prompt for the 52 cards challenge is this vibrant colour combo

I decided to have a go at the monthly card sketch Sandra had set my team the Tag-a-longs on UKS to help get me started. 

I started by going through my scraps and pulling out any papers which matched the colour scheme and then made this card

I have got lots of lovely embossing folders which I admit I have never used so I'm making an effort to use these more. For this card I used a wood grain folder from Stampin Up to emboss some Papermania cardstock. The stripe and heart paper are the same sheet of Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm paper, the spotty paper is Lilybee Designs. I added two different American Crafts ribbons across the centre to cover the join. I needed a little embellishment for the scallop circle so added a cute flair badge

52 Cards: Thank you cards

After a break over Christmas I finally managed to get some crafting done today and boy did it feel good! As a crafty New Years resolution I am having a go at the 52 card challenge this year in an attempt to actually use my stash and to get better at card making. The first prompt of the year asked use to use new stash we received as Christmas presents, the perfect prompt for me as I could use the papers Ian brought me for Christmas. I needed to make some thank you cards so on a wet and miserable morning I sat down and made these using papers from Glitz Designs. 

I brought the tags back in the summer when mum & I went to an antiques fair, trust us to find a stall selling something crafty lol! The doilies are from Dovecraft and the alphas are October Afternoon. 

Crafty Christmas Presents

And in a blink of an eye Christmas has been and gone. Did you all have a lovely Christmas? 

Mine was the usual family affair, over to my folks for Christmas morning opening our stocking (well Christmas gift bag) presents and presents from other family members and friends and for Christmas dinner before heading to the inlaws in the afternoon for presents and tea. Then on Boxing Day it was Christmas Day take two where we exchange presents with mum & dad and my brother and sister in law and have a general family day laughing at poor mum trying to work out dad's quiz for opening her presents. This years quiz was Christmas number 1's, on the label was a year and she needed to name the Christmas number 1 for that year, cue mum sitting there perplexed while my brother and I looked them up on his phone and tried to give her clues. 

After opening our presents we now have chocolates, wine & toiletries coming out of our ears! I was lucky enough to receive some crafty presents from Ian though. Presents I chose and added to online carts and left him to pay for lol! For my stocking presents (we buy each other our main presents after Christmas in the sales) he brought me some lovely goodies from Angel Crafts

Two more 6x6 paper pads from Alison Kreft Recorded collection & Glitz Love you Madly collection which were both reduced. I love the Alison Kreft collection and had my eye on it for a while but I had not seen the Glitz collection before but the muted pink, aqua and grey colours are lovely. Of course I had to have some more Washi tape too! The ribbons were a freebie. 

I have been looking for a new paper trimmer for a while as ever since I changed the rubber track on my Woodware trimmer it has not been cutting straight. At first I thought it was just me being a bit dim but after chatting to the girls at Meadow Barn in March I realised it wasn't lol! So for my main present Ian said he would buy me a new trimmer and after lots of YouTube watching I decided to try a Fiskars one. I placed a thread on UKS asking if anyone stocked it and The Mad Scrapper responded and even better it had 20% off. Naturally more things fell into my basket as it was sale and my parcel arrived today

As you know I'm a sucker for stars and I thought the Martha Stewart punch would be great for birthday cards, something I really want to try and make more of. I also received the Picked Raspberry (not pickled as I keep calling it) and Peacock feathers distress ink pads which are both lovely vibrant, bold colours. 

Just to leave you with a cute snap of Boo from Boxing Day 

Happy New Year xx

'Twas the weekend before Christmas

And it flew by! Here we are in the final two days before Christmas and boy am I on countdown mode! I had a busy weekend dashing over to deliver the girls pressies in Kings Cliffe and then working. I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I got to Kelly's though, this

A Christmas hamper! I had brought some raffle tickets for the school Christmas fair and I won a prize for the first time ever! I'm very chuffed as it's full of wine, biscuits, chocolates, a cake, jam, etc. Apparently people were not as generous as previous years as they have been fuller but I'm not complaining lol! 

Finally to leave you with a funny sign spotted on the market! 

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!! Xx

At least I made one card for Christmas!

Can you believe it's only 10 days until Christmas! I hope everyone's preparations are going to plan, I've got a handful of presents left to wrap and then I'm ready! As I think I've said in a previous post I had intended to make my Christmas cards but the idea I had in mind did not go to plan. But all was not lost as I did manage to make at least one card, a birthday card for my sister inlaw Jojo. 

Lately I've been buying 6x6 paper pads with the intention of using them to make cards as the patterns are smaller and wouldn't over power a card too much. The spotty paper is from the Mayberry collection from American Crafts, not a collection I would have used for scrapping but when I saw the paper pad on sale I thought it great for cards. The Polaroid frame is also cut with some Mayberry paper using my MFT frame die. The cupcake and ribbon flower were readymade embellishments I'd had in my stash for ages so I was pleased to finally use them. I stamped a Stampin Up greeting to an Elle's Studio banner and that's the card! Not a Christmas card but a Christmas birthday card!