You know where's wally?

Here is Caidens version.... where's my sausage?

I nearly wet myself laughing at this... he often has mashed potato or gravy in his hair but not chunks of sausage!! ROTFLMAO

Bless him!

Could also be a case of "where's the card" but I am sorry ladies, I haven't managed one today. My next door neighbour but one asked me to look after her 4 year old daughter from 8:30 to 4:30 so I had 3 of them to deal with.

I am hoping to make a few tomorrow and I will be back with some photos. I am stamping and cuttlebugging in Chichester at Eternal Maker.

Here is a fab RAK that I received today from a kind lady called Sarah from the Cricut forum. These stamp arent currently available in the UK, they are a stampendous release but not coming for a few more weeks. I cant wait to use them and no guessing who I will be making a "thank you" card with these for. Thanks Sarah, you are a star. I love them! especially the hanging one and the vines and so pleased to have a little banana too for backgrounds.

Hero Arts Update

here are some here arts I am selling

http://family.webshots.com/album/554955885FTxsVz

Paypal preferred.

Prices do not include postage

Thanks for looking

Zippity Doo dah, Zippity Day... My oh my

What a wonderful day!

Doing my usual blog crawl this morning and I found to my excitement I am one of the winners from Krafty Kimmies blog giveaway!! Whoo Hoo free stamps!! Her Kontest was sponsored by High Hopes Stamps and I will be getting something from their new releases! I love the cutie pie boys with their doggie friends so I am hoping I might get one of these.... but I do love all their new designs so I am sure I will be thrilled with whatever I get. I have been hovvering on their site numerous times, adding to cart but never gone with the order as I have other things I need to pay for first.... but they are on my shopping list.

Cant wait to see what I have coming and sharing with you.

Hero Arts sets sale!

Whilst looking for something last week I opened my Hero Arts sets drawer and it is full to bursting. I really dont use them, so I thought I would have a sale with them. I think I will put them on ebay and when I do I will let you know. I have a Stampin Up! order and some other stuff to pay for so I thought I had better thin out my stash again! So keep your eyes peeled for some boxed set bargains.

Hot Thursday

101.9 wow thats hot! I wish I could say it was the tempreture here, but alas its my little tiger boy Harvey! I am keeping him dosed up with Calpol and Ibrupfen to get and keep that temp down. He has just had a bowl of soup (not chicken, but his fav leek and potato)

He is just vegging out on the sofa today, watching Cbeebies and Caiden is napping so I shot upstairs to make another card using the First Class Crafts Pink Cat Studio set. These little cats were just calling me and this christmas kitty was no exception. I love her, I love her eyes and I love all the sparkle that you can put on her pom poms and the pom poms on the wording, how fun is that?!

Here's another one of the "caz thinks shes getting all arty farty shots" Just coz its fun! Also you see how I coloured her to add some cute little stripes.

No cards today :( but some stamps! :)

I haven't stamped or made a card today (boo) but I did get a few new stamps in the post (horray) Just haven't had the time to get anything crafty done apart from fit my anglepoise lamp onto my work table. A fantastic "win" off Freecycle. I could not believe it when this come up. Just the other evening I was working in my room and the only light in the room is a central light which is behind me and I was thinking "I need one of those bendy lights".... so off I trotted onto ebay and this was only Sunday or Monday to see if I could find one to buy. There were a few but they were all expensive to post... I did ponder a "wanted" add on freecycle but I thought that it probably wouldnt work... then yesterday morning a post came through offering various bits from a lady. One of which was an anglepoise lamp!! I almost jumped out my skin and emailed the lady right away saying I would LOVE this Please!! I was so pleased when she said it was mine.... Whoo Hooo!! So now I am all lit up and could if I wanted stamp all night long. For now I have pinched the lightbulb from the frontroom lamp, but I hope to get a daylight bulb for it to give me better light and colours.

How do you like my little tiger? After picking up my lamp I went to town to get Harvey the rest of his school bits. Shoes, under pants and socks. Whilst there I saw the local shopping centre was doing free face painting and so this handsome tiger was born. Hes feeling a bit poorly. He is feeling hot, sleepy and said his brain hurt, I guess thats a headache, so I have given him some medicine. I hope its just one of those things.

Here is a picture also taken today of Caiden. Harvey thought it a good idea to get Caiden to get into the toy box round my parents and then once he was in it, stuff it full of toys again! Here is Caiden right before protesting loudly and getting out the box. Things these boys get into (literally)

And now moving on to my last picture of today.... My lovely stamps that came today. From left to right there is the fantastic fun "magenta horsey" fans of Krafty Kimmies site will recognise this one. Cant wait to colour him in. Next is a cute Halloween owl from Stampendous. Beautiful flowers from Stampendous, Happy Howloween stamp from Stampendous and another beautiful flower bloom, this time just the flower head, again from Stampendous.

So I now have nothing planned for tomorrow. A friend of mine now cant make our date so I am not sure what I will be doing. Harvey goes back to school next Wednesday, so I should just enjoy the last few days of not having to get up and dressed to go to school :)

I'm off to bed soon, might catch the second half of Big Brother, it finishes Friday, cant wait!

Go Dad!

Its my Dad's birthday tomorrow. I thought Pompomabella would be cute, cheering "GO DAD" and she is wearing red and blue, Crystal Palaces colours. I asked Darren if it were too girly... I know its of a girl, well a woman really so I thought my Dad wouldnt mind that! ha ha

I used a cuttlebug background and cuttlebug alphabet. Lots of light blue glitter glue as well.

Right I am off to bed, might take some colouring with me. Nite nite

Mondays must not miss it

This weeks Mondays Must not miss it is a fantastic card by a lady called Alex. Alex has used Cosmobella and adjusted her to make her own bella. She has dont this several times to previously make a GIJaneabella and a Cowgirlabella too. Her creations are truely inspiring!! Amazing work! Check out her other creations in her Splitcoast Album.

Click Here to see it

Oh yeah and I know its Tuesday!! LOL

Sometimes you like them, sometimes you dont...

And sometimes you LOVE them. This is one of those LOVE THEM moments. What am I talking about? Cards, card you make. Some are OK, some you really dont like too much but this one I just made I love. I love the image, I love how I coloured her, I love the patterned paper, I love the bellas baubles, I love the ribbon and I am chuffed to pieces that I made it :) I am someone that doesnt believe too much in myself. I agree I must be able to stamp some or otherwise I wouldnt be teaching and demoing, but I certainly dont think I am anything special. But every so often I make a card that makes me think "yeah, your alright Caz, you can do it and you did good this time". Just everything about this card makes me happy... LOL OK maybe not EVERYTHING..... but almost... I do love halloween and I am sad that we dont really celebrate it. Its a bit of fun, I love the colours of halloween, the pumpkins, the bats, cats and spiders eeekk! I like the feeling of fun with the neighbours, going out trick or treating, having a laugh, nothing horrible, just fun for the kids. I have fond memories of Halloween as a child, again just fun, nothing horrible. I would LOVE to take the kids to the USA one year for halloween.

So now I have "big upped" my card (which you will all probably think is pants) I had better share it. Oh and I also love all the "arty" shots that people do of cards, so I pretended I was that "arty" person and did a few. I wanted to show you the "Bellas Baubles" they are so scrumptious, like little droplets of sunshine. (no the kids havent driven me to drink) LOL

Here you can see the baubles in all their glory.

Lookie at this cute image. Stamp is by Penny Black Inc and from The Glitter Pot. Paper is doodlebug design and also from The Glitter Pot.

I used the 2" scalloped Woodware circle. Never guess where that was from? Yep Glitter Pot... of course.

Yaddy yaddy yadda... which means if you go there to buy the stuff "tell them I sent ya"..

That felt like forever!

I was only missing from blogging for one day but it felt like an age! I just couldnt get anything done yesterday, not sure why but I missed it! :) So today, Caiden has been fighting his nap for soooo long, some days it seems he is dropping his morning nap, others he is ready for sleep at about 10.30... he has also discovered something really gross.... but also quiet funny... he has just found his nostrils, and walks about with his finger firmly "up there". This wouldnt be quiet so bad, but for the fact he has a cold.... YUCK! He just walks about with finger up nose, just like he was wandering with his hands in his pockets..... kids eh? Love em.

So, after all the fighting Caiden finally gave in and I quickly dashed upstairs to finish off another FIRST CLASS CRAFTS design team card. This again is using their everso cute Pink Cat Design from the one set, some fab papers, brads and flowers all also from First Class Crafts. I just love this cat and her very glamorous or should I say "Glamourpuss" glasses. Of course I needed to glitter glue these.

If you do happen to be inspired by this card, tell Kitty from First Class this is where you saw the card :)

I hope to get some more stamping done tonight, maybe another kitty cat card...and maybe I will mount up my Penny Black halloween witchy poo as well.... will just have to see how things go with the boys.

Enjoy!

Caz

I had fun making this card.....

Although it was bittersweet. And I am sure lots of Mums can relate to the feelings they get when they may be making a card for the someone elses kids, when its the opposite sex from yours. I love my boys, you all know that! I would not change them for the world, but of course I would have loved to be making more pink and girly things like this. I think thats why I love the Bellas so much, I can be girly, glittery, flowery and pink for me and my friends and not just be girly, glittery, flowery and pink for little girls. :)

I used a cute Whippersnapper fairy for this card, coloured with watercolour pencils, added glitter glue and a pritty flower and doodlebug jewel. I got this clear one Saturday at the Glitter Pot and I think I almost have all the colours now. They are just perfect for the flowers and a really reasonable price. For the wording (which isnt spaced right) I used the "your not the boss of me" alphabet for the cuttlebug from Crafts U Love with just a touch of glitter glue on that too :)

Sundays ramblings

Hi there, I had a nice day yesterday at the Glitter Pot where I was teaching two classes. One was waterfall cards where we made a "tweet" card using the Hero Arts birt set and some Phoebe Basic Grey paper which was just made to go together.

One lady brought along her friends explosion box that she was inspired to make after seeing my article in Card Making and Papercraft. It was lovely to see it, she did a great job. She also brought in her Inspiration Jar, another thing I have made for CMPC and should be out this next issue. I actually made my first one years ago on Splitcoast stampers.

We were also playing with one of the new Woodware clear stamp sets and making some cute polar bear cards. Funny on a sunny day like yesterday we were making icy cool cards!

On this one I used the fab cuttlebug folders, snowflakes and devine swirls. Cut the scalloped edge with my wave scissors and finished off with glitter glue. These photos are really bad. I am bad at the best of times but I hate taking them in the evening with the flash as it just blacks out the background and is just horrible.

Today Harvey has a party to go to and I need to make a card for his friend. Can you believe my lazy husband is still in bed at 10:35am !!! I am luck if I ever get a lay in past 7:30am .... I think I am going to let the boys in on him, after all I have to make this card, cook the dinner ect ect and I cant do any of it looking after the boys. Men eh?

Also yesterday we had a fab time at my brothers where we were invited for a bar be cue. It was lovely to come home from work and know I didnt have to wash up. Boys loved it and the food was yummy.

Bundle of crafters workshop templates for sale

Only used one once. They sell for £4.75 each, I have a bundle of 10 that I want to sell for £20 (does not include postage)..as I said one used once, the others not used. I have paisley swirl, swirly q's, dot burst, circle circle dot dot, doohickeys, swirls & dots, circles n circles, dots & circles, arrows, swirls and flowers. If you do a search you should be able to find these. I only want to sell them all together, 8 of them are 12 x 12 size and I havent got another envelope to send them. If you want to break it apart and sell it then that is fine, but I want to sell them as one package. Less than half price! These are fab templates, just havent had a chance to use them, they have remainede in their package since I got them in April!! Paypal preferred. Thanks

Sometimes I am soooooo slow!

Usually I am on the ball, I am a walking brain of all things rubber stamp related, very sad! (YAWN) LOL BUT some things, such as my very late paper stack addiction and now this. EZ mount.... Just leave me behind.

Samm sent me a stamp a while back, it was on a foam mount, but when I took the cover off it wasnt sticky, I thought it were a duff piece of sticky foam! Since then Kitty from First Class Crafts sent me those faby Pink Cat stamps and said "Oh I only have them on ez mount" OK, thats fine..... DUH!! Thats what that stuff was..... anyway I stamped with those kittys the other night and I thought WOW, these stamp fab, cushioned but firm... So off I trotted to ebay and brought myself 3 sheets of ez mount and now all my Bellas, Fellas and words are EZ mounted..... Its a messy process and you need good scissors but worth it. Only trouble is my bellas wont fit in their bella box as it more than doubles the size of them... about 40 bellas, 6 fellas and a number of words I got them all done.

I know I didnt HAVE to, the Bellas do stamp beautifully, especially I find with a sheet of funky foam underneath the card...but it just felt so nice to use them like that and meant 1/ I didnt have to take my sheet of funky foam about with me and 2/ I didnt have to take my glue stick with me.... I always went to get it, either Harvey had pinched it and it was missing or it was there with 3" sticking out and the lid popped on the last inch!! Needless to say all shriveled up! (HARVEY!)

So, what else have I been left behind on? Soon I will be telling you I have just found glitter glue! Just kidding!

I think with all the recent bumps..

This would actually be a good look for him! Here is Harvey in his amour cut with my Charlie Bug at 11 1/2" I have included 2 photos, one on a chair, you can see the rub ons shimmer more on this one and one with Harvey so you can "get" the feel of the size. I am going to make a Wizard of Caiden soon ;) Mind you with our bedroom arrangements I wouldnt know who's door to stick it onto!

One of the main reason I got the dolls cart was to be able to do fun things like this for their rooms but after my first try it become apparent I needed the big bug to make big things for them, also was thinking the school would love things like this too. They had a room between the nursery and reception room which is themed ie seaside, doctors, supermarket ect it is changed each term and I thought I would offer to make them stuff. I would love to help out in the class, but having Caiden means I cant, but this could be my way of helping out.

Also of course the reasons for the big bug purchase as explained before for the fantastic features it offers you, fit to page, fill page, flip ect ect ect.... which reminds me I must have a go at chipboard soon! Get yours ordered from http://www.craftsulove.co.uk/ they have a fab shop, great service and knowledgeable staff. And in true parrot fashion repeat after me "dont forget to tell them Caz sent ya" BTW I am NOT on comission with anyone that I mention, but they help me out with stuff for magazines ect so I like to repay their kindness :)

Little boxes on the hillside...

Little boxes made of ticky tacky... OK I have lost the plot!! ha ha Not sure if you know the song in the USA?? But today when I went to morrisons (supermarket) I saw this little net bag with tiny little boxes in all bright colours. 12 boxes for just 99p! bargain.... now I wish I had brought more as I can think of so many little things I could put in these.... so here is a piccy and I am showing you some of my beautimus "Bellas Baubles". So now I need 8 more colours to fill them all up :)

Next is a picture of my new bella, fella and wording that I got today.

Now there is a picture of my new SU bits today. I sorted out my sets today, I dont have loads, maybe 50, but how sad, I only had 7 that are current!!

I got pencils, 2 sets and the lovely bold brights watercolour crayons, these look LOVELY and I cant wait to get all the sets of these. With only 24 pencils I can see myself demoing these a whole lot more as there are 4 sets of 12 and also a set of nutrual colours.

And lastly for my show and tell is a picture that I coloured in last night, it is one of the new Penny Black halloween stamps. I couldnt wait to show you this as it is just toooooo cute! You can pick up this cute stamp from the Glitter Pot.

Three Craft shops, two days and....

Two injurys! Harvey is BANNED from coming with me. Yesterday in Crafts U Love he fell over whilst trying to stop Caiden grabbing something, landed on a spinner display unit, broke two perspex shelves and has two scratches on his chest. Today at Creative Pastimes he was playing about with Sarah one of the ladies that works there and he ran into a display stand (nearly knocking it on the floor) He was on the floor crying, I finally managed to pull his hand away to see this almighty egg on his head. So we rushed him into the kitchen and got a cold compress on it. It has come down loads, but he still has an impressive bump and bruise. Poor thing! So he is banned! He said he didnt want to come to anymore craft shops. I said well you shouldnt be messing about, he said it was that its coz there was "too much stuff" in them! LOL Bless his heart, he milked it for all it was worth, got a free drink from CP, I brought him some melon and a magazine at morrisons, so not all bad. CP loved all the cards and brought all 7 of them. 1 Bella, 1 fella and 2 word fell into my hand and had to be brought, so now I own the golfing man, the minivanabella and CHEERS and BIG Birthday Wishes.... :) well after all that hard work making those cards I had to didnt I?

Two more Bellas

OK here are two more Bellas for Creative Pastimes who have these lovely jubbly stamps in stock and ready for you to go in and buy. They asked me for 6 cards and I have made 7 so they will just have to choose their favourite 6. My battery on my camera is dying, its at a stage where it will turn on and take maybe one photo and then you press the button again to take another and it dies. So I was leaving it, turning it on seeing if it would take just one last photo, I managed to catch the car one although the colours are terrible as its under the lamp light, the other one I managed to catch one last dying shot by the door but even then I needed to adjust within the software as it is dark, damp and dismal here!

The top card was done with cruisabella, a hero arts flower stamp and some pritty ribbon. And the card below is made using jammybella, a cuttlebug folder and some embellishments. So check out the Creative Pastimes store and tell them you were inspired by Caz! (of course only if I did inspire ya! LOL)

Bella lovers, check out Em's blog, she has added another bella today, very fitting for most of us bloghoppers. http://www.stampingbella.com/popup_image.php?pID=715 Looks like another order for this and more baubles might be in order. :)

My First Design Team card

Kitty from First class crafts sent me a huge packet of goodies, papers, ribbons, flowers and a few stamps. This is the first chance I have had to make anything I boy did I had fun. Its a simple card, what else do I do?! LOL But I am in love with these beautiful cat stamps from Pink Cat Studios and available from First Class Crafts. I coloured her with watercolour pencils and really went to town on the cushion she is sitting on. Wild and crazy colours and glitter, only a cushion like this would be suitable for this cat! I have to be honest here, I wasnt sure about these cats when I first saw them, then the more I saw the more I liked and then when I used them they stamp beautifully and to colour them in is such fun.

Materials Used all from First Class Crafts apart from the ribbon.

Meet Charlie

Named by Zoe at Crafts U Love meet Charlie.... he is big, clever and all mine!!

All I can say is what a difference 6 inches makes! My paper dolls are huge and I can only imagine that Mickey and Friends will be fab, not to mention the envelopes and boxes I can now make.

Zoe asked me, so what exactly are you wanting to do on this one that you can not do with the lil cricut. Well.... Cut thin chipboard with the MULTICUT function.... Flip images to have them looking the other way. Choose landscape or portrait for the cut to change the orientation, cut 12" borders, make 11 1/2 paper dolls, fill page so you can just fill a page with multiple images at a touch of a button, as well as a fit to page button that will calculate just how big you can cut to the size of paper that you have loaded and more more more!! Visit their store at http://www.craftsulove.co.uk/ to order yours, they are FAB and PLEASE if you do, tell them Caz sent ya!

OK, so my kids are brainwashed, they love what I love and it is apparent. Harvey all on his own accord hugged Charlie as he did my last cricut, he knows what Charlie can do and he loves it. Caiden however was standing near and I said "ahhhh cricut" and with that he put his head to it :) Just like he does when we hold a blanket or teddy near him and go "ahhh" Of course they had to repeat it for the camera!! ha ha

I have had a little play with Charlie to see he works and he does. I have made a 11 1/2" knight from Paper Dolls which I will finish later put on Harveys door. I have made an envelope which has come out slightly bigger than C6 so I need to play a

little to see how this works and how close I can get to C6 size. I have also made a flower border from one of the two cartridges that come with this machine.



Pictures to come later. I do not think me and Charlie will have any more time today. I have to prep for two classes Saturday. Waterfall card and fun with a mega fun and cute Woodware polar bear set.









Here is some MORE stash I got today. Fun Halloween Stamps by Penny Black from http://www.theglitterpot.co.uk/ . My word, I havent seen a craft shop as busy as they were today and I think the new penny black might have had something to do with it. Hardly got to speak to Bryan and Carolyn as it was soooo busy!

Also a great cuttlebug folder and mat for embossing your metal stencils, now to find my stencils!! I got those from http://www.craftsulove.co.uk/ Oh if I had the time to use all this! I wish I didnt have to prep tonight, but if I get it done tonight maybe I have time to play tomorrow night :) Harvey and Caiden wrecked the CUL shop, Harvey was trying to stop Caiden do something, Harvey fell over onto a spinner, broke 2 plastic shelving things and got two lovely scratches on his chest to proove it. He was very upset as mummy was cross. Zoe and Co were saying its OK ect but I was very cross with Harvey for doing it, of course then when we were in the car and he showed me his scratches I felt bad for going on so much. Kids eh!

Fun, wet day :)

We had a fun and wet time today with my Mum who treated us to a trip out to Godstone Farm. Its very close to us and is a fab farm for the kids. There we fed goats and sheep, went in with rabbits to pet them, looked at pigs, chickens, lamas, horses, cows and more. They have a huge amount of play areas for kids, HUGE sandpits with buckets and spades galore, slides, climbing frames, indoor play, outdoor play, gift shop, coffee shop. It really is a fab place for a fun day out. The boys loved it, got throughly dirty and wet, especially harvey who was sliding down the ski slope which happened to have a sprinkler over the top of it to keep it wet, of course the kids kept turning the water on, despite the fact that it was actually raining anyway! Caiden probably has never walked about so much. He loved it too. He played in a big wooden car, which we all want to ask Daddy to build one in our garden :) No guesses what that answer would be. He too got wet from tumbling over in the grass. Sadly both myself and mum forgot our cameras so no photos, only memories.

I also wanted to tell you today about the fab packet I got in the post, not another spend up, but a VERY generous RAK from a lady called Andrea Asher from the States who offered it to me as a RAK. I said it was too much, but we agreed that I would send her a "pink parcel" as her favorite parcel is pink... so it looks like pink papers, ribbons ect ect will be winging their way back to this very kind and thoughtful lady. Also enclosed was a beautiful card. Picture below.

I have this really strong urge to say...

I think I know what Julie, my friend is doing.... Hmmmm its like a vision..... I would say sitting on the sofa, maybe with a wine or cup of tea.... there is a book... blue cover, lots of pictures inside... lots of oohhing and ahhing and inspiration! will she be able to sleep? yep! Julie came round today to pick up her Stampin Up! catalogue. I have for years been buying this for her for her Birthday pressie, today it came and I called her and she popped round to "the mad house" to collect it.... Harvey and Caiden were on top form, Well Harvey was ok but Caiden was having a mega winge! So both Julie and I will be taking a certain blue book to bed tonight :)

Enjoy it Jules :) Sorry it was soooo late this year xxx Caz

Happy Birthday to me.. Happy Birthday to me....

OK its not my birthday but it ought to be as I have had three wonderful packets today! Firstly and not photographed is the Stampin up! catalogue. Taken me ages to finally sort out ordering these but they came today. Still have a little SU order coming but its not here yet. In eagerness for SU coming to Europe and England I am ordering a few essential tools that I will need so it wont be as expensive to start off. I dont know if you realise (This is for the UK readers) that you are under SU rules not allowed to demo another persons product IF SU sells it in their catalogue, for instance, the Stampin UP! watercolour pencils, you all know I love to colour, but I would not be allowed (officially) to demo my regular pencils as SU have their own pencils. So even though I do have a zillion other pencils I did need to get the SU ones. You all know how I love to colour so I needed to get these, also one set of the watercolour crayons, which are beautiful and come in the same coloured SU families that we have become to love. I am going to go to bed with this catalogue and make lists of stuff I want, I need ect :) and also the sets that I have already got that are still current. I have a feel I have a LOT more discontinued than current.

OK the next was a fantastic and very generous NEVERENDING RAK from Kimabella :) LOL shes been calling me cazzabella so I thought I would return the compliment.

She sent me a beautiful Bella card, I LOVE it! A fantastic Magnolia stamp, WOW I now have two, one from Samm and one from Kimabella and loads of scrummy Magnolia images :)

How lucky am I?

Thank you Kim!

Next and lastly I got a small order from www.stampingbella.com Pompomabella, the cute one with a new mummy and daddy and a funny phrase to go with my Knitabella stamp (which a friend has brought for me) AND the reason I ordered, Em was raving about these scrummy, beautimous thingies she got, so I had to see them myself. I ordered 4 colours and YES I can confirm these are great.

A good price and you get quiet a few, not like buying something where you get may 12 or 20 things and you dont want to use them! There and plenty here to use and the rest you can stroke :) What fabo colours and I must find something to put them in so I can see them still :)

A card for today its...

Not a bella!

Thought you might all be getting bored of them and last night when I went to bed I stamped a little hedgie and took him with me. I used a Penny Black design and it can be purchased here. I just love Penny Black and I love the hedgehogs, they are probably my favourite designs. I used some woodware orange ribbon, a flower and a doodlebug jewel. Also some of the funky paper I got from Creative Pastimes.


Nice and simple... The colouring looks nicer in real life. I hate taking photos with the flash but its so grey and miserable out its hardly daylight!

Mondays Must not miss it..

Today I am highlighting a blog that I found on the bella yahoo group and the fantastic idea Heidi had to preserve those special stamped candles. www.heartfeltblessings.blogspot.com For those of you who have not tried this yet I urge you to try it. I have seen this stamping on candles many years ago but for some reason didn't try it. So when I went to the stationery shop last week I picked up some Tissue paper (the type you wrap with not blow ya nose - Kim) and set about following Heidi's simple tutorial. I was a little puzzled about what the parchement paper was she used, I am not a baker and dont know whats down that isle in the supermarket, it may well be that we do have it in our stores, but I did have some greaseproof paper in the cupboard and that worked just fine!

You will have seen my first candle attempt below, unfortunately the top part will have to wait for now until I can get to a DIY store to see if I can get the boring bit.

Also I didnt have markers and used my watercolour pencils and aquabrush, yes it did make the tissue very wet but I did it all quickly and without touching it too much and viola! my first of many candles I am sure :)

Go check out Heidis blog now!

nuva Bella

Here is another bella card, this one was made using the ultra adorable HUGGYBELLAS this is one of my favourite ones. I have made this for a friend, who should be getting it in a day or two.... I have been struggling all day trying to make the last Bella card for Creative Pastimes but I just cant get it right... trying too hard I think.

Update on my Dad is that he appears to be OK for now but it does knock him for six and now he is waiting for it to come along again and this time not go back on it own :( They said he would need a pacemaker if it does go off again. It must be a horrible feeling of waiting. Of course my Dad being my Dad called me up and said "you dont need to be buying flowers just yet" ha ha Dad, yeah I needed a joke like that NOT!! LOL Anyway I told him he just did it so he didnt have to share the trifle with Darren. Its a long on going thing between my Dad and Darren with the trifle. For some reason my Mum always makes a trifle when we go for dinner which is only a few times a year really. So Darren and my Dad both love it and they both glare at each other as each of them takes more and more... My Dad always tells Darren not to come again! And so I think trifle was on the cards today and I told him he pulled this stunt to get out of sharing :)) All joking aside I am pleased he is in a joking mood and for now is feeling normal.

More Bella fun and bit of a worry...

Today whilst Caiden napped I went up and made some more Bella cards for Creative Pastimes who have had a delivery of these fun and pritty stamps, if you live near to them or fancy a drive down to Limpsfield in Surrey then pop on in and pick up a few. Anyway, I dont think I did that great with these as my mind was else where.

We were supposed to be going to my parents today for lunch, Darren was very much looking forward to something other than roast chicken for his sunday roast! My Mum called this morning to say she was going to hospital with Dad as his heart had gone back out of of rythme. It has happened twice before and twice before he has had to have his heart stopped and re started, so I was worried and upset that this has happened again. Luckily now it has gone back into rythme itself and he is back home.

Here are the cards, they arent as good (I dont think) as my last ones, but the best I could do today.... The mens ones is lacking something.... but I cant think what to add and the other one just seems, I dont know, just not entirely happy. I also had a go at decorating a candle as per Heidis blog. I havent managed to bore out the top for the tea light, but I will one day :)

I used the fun Cosmobella here, was dying to add my own funny message using my snap stamps but since these cards are for a store I can't.

Here I used fishafella and an additional fish stamp from Elzybells and the wording is from Hero arts. I think its cute, just missing something and I didnt think a flower would be right for this.

Here is my first stamped candle. Do you likey?? I used Flowahbella and a cute Penny Black flower stamp. Not bad for my first attempt. I will keep this one all for me. Thats why I did it in red so it would go in my living room :)

Bellas, ribbon, flowers and jewels

What more can a woman want!?




I have had fun today making three bella cards for Creative Pastimes who have these fantastic bellas in stock! Pop down today, ok, they are closed today, pop down Tuesday to check them out :) So whilst I was making the last I decided to join in with Beates Weekend sketch challenge and it made the cardmaking so easy! I had stamped and coloured the image this morning when I popped into Chicken Shack. (Hello ladies).... so today I just needed to pick the papers, which was easy as I just brought these from Creative Pastimes earlier in the week so. The whole card just took me about 10 minutes to assemble, I will definately join in these sketches more often.

The first card (above/left) was made using the Winobella stamp, some beautiful basic grey papers and some cuttlebugged flowers. I shaped the flowers slightly and used liquid pearls for the centres.

This second card was made using this adorable doggie in a bag stamp from Stampingbella and I can not for the life remember what it is called :) Also again, used basic grey papers, some ribbon, flower and doodlebug jewel.




















This third card was made, again using a beautiful bella design and based on Beates sketch challenge #15

Cant you believe no ribbon on this one! Some flowers, three different coloured doodlebug jewels and some fabo paper I picked up from Creative Pastimes. This stamp is called Javabella. Can you see the cobbled floor?? I have seen this one teamed up with a stamped image of the eifel tower, but I dont own that one and wasnt about to attempt to draw it!

Somewhere over the rainbow....

After a lovely sunny day, maybe not as hot as it could have been the heavens opened at about 5pm. Then I saw the sun come out and I grabbed Harvey to go and see if there was a rainbow and there infront of our house was a beautiful full sized rainbow and it stayed long enough to catch a photo. :) Nature at its best.

This has reminded me of a photo montage that I made of the boys, when Caiden was little. And my favourite version of this song here it is.. http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=aafe2612d2616df511723&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Its my brothers birthday tomorrow. He will be 41. Here is a card I made him using non other than the fellas! from stampingbella.com I wasnt sure wether to do a beerafella or the grillafella as next weekend we will be going to his for his birthday bar be cue... so here is beerafella. I am not entirely happy with this. Too much white, I wish I had mounted the bella image onto some card before sticking it down. Oh well, live and learn and my bruv wont notice!!

Sunny Thursday

After two days of rain today looks like a better day. I am going to see my friend Corinne and her son Ben who is the same age as Harvey. So thats going to be fun. Corinne is also a crafter so I always take a few things to show her what I have been up to! I will be there a few hours, will have to get back here at some stage for Caidens nap.

So here are a few more cards from yesterday photo session. They are both fabo designs from

Elzybells. I miss dealing with her and seeing her fabby designs but I think she is working on her website and I am sure it will be worth the wait. These girlies have been teamed up with fun doodlebug papers.

These two are also elzybells. I thought we would have an elzybells day today. So dust off those images and get making a card with them...

The bellas have landed

Stamping Bella is about.... I took a trip to Creative Pastimes to pick up my paper trimmer that I left there after Saturdays class and what should greet me? a spinner full of Bellas! So if you are down this way (Limpsfield in Surrey) be sure to check them out! I manged to find a few that I didnt have and brought some pritty papers. Just waiting to hear from them if they want some samples made. I will be sure to post what I make here before dropping them off.



Now a couple of cards, totally un bella related. A few more from this mornings photo shoot. The bear is a cute one from Penny black and the rabbit is an adorable rabbit from Elyzbells.

Both coloured with pencils. As you can see, the bear was made before my ribbon fetish started! But even back then I had a circle thing going on!

What are you doing in October? 12-14th

I will be teaching at a Crafty Connexions weekend in The Thurrock HotelAveley , Purfleet, Essex. Come and join in a weekend of fun. More details can be found on their website www.craftyconnexions.co.uk I will be teaching two different classes one will be learning a few different cards ( 3 to be exact) so if you are getting tired of the same old layouts this could be right up your street and the other class will be decorating an unusual container which would be perfect to hold a little gift for a friend or loved one. Looking forward to the classes, 2 full nights of sleep BLISS, but not leaving my little boys, especially Caiden who I havent left yet! So check out the website for more information and I hope to see you there!

More Crayon Resist and some others..

The dragonfly card here is another crayon resist card, again I was really pleased with these but they werent used. The bug wording is from Elzybells and the Dragonfly is from Penny Black. The Hedgehog card is made using Penny Black stamp and wording. I love this stamp as it can be used for Christmas or any other occasion, just colour the stars in different colours.

Here is the last of the Crayon resist cards. The wording again is by Elzybells (a stamping Caz designed stamp) and the beautiful butterfly is from Penny Black. Ask the Glitter Pot if they have these stamps in stock (the Penny Black ones) if they do not stock them they certainly should be able to order for you. The little bear card on the right is a simple one colour card and I made it using the cute Snowbeas from Stampendous, I believe the snowflake is a hero arts design and the Merry Christmas that is hiding is a Penny black one!

Some Crayon resist cards

I was looking upstairs and found a big bag of cards. Most of which have been returned from the magazines, but I was thinking a lot of people wouldnt have seen them so I would take a few photos and share them with you.

I made these cards for Quick Cards Made Easy using the Crayon Resist technique. I was really pleased with them and they didnt publish them! Bit annoying after making them sending them and not getting a bean for them and getting them sent back! I used Elyzbells flowers and leaves for these two cards and the wording is Penny Black. This technique is really easy and creates stunning results for some quick cards.

Here are two more from the same project comission. Again, they werent used :( Elzybells flowers used on the purple card and Penny Black butterflys used for the green card.