FAB DISCOUNT FROM CRAFTWORK CARDS....enjoy!

Hobbycrafts Show, SECC, Glasgow

Are you going to the Hobbycrafts Show at the SECC, Glasgow?

Craftwork Cards have a special discount voucher for you to use on their stand D28 during the show

Simply right click the image and print it out, bring it with you to the show and present it at Craftwork Cards till when paying for your crafty goodies and you will receive 10% off all products purchased!

Enjoy your shopping anad as I can't go be sure to buy my quota too - have fun!!!

where does time go?..........

Not sure where time goes, but there is someone out there stealing it!  The week has gone so quickly and once again lots to do that didn't get done, just means next week will be twice as busy now.

Have done some crafting this week with my lovely sister, Una, who is here on hols from Ireland.  Spent 4 hours yesterday making up packs for workshop I'll be holding at Poppy Craft in Sheerness on 11th August and had just finished when I got a call to say that workshop was sold out and another one booked and that was sold out too, another 10 packs to make up for next week - joy of joys!!

Una spent some time making cards and she excelled herself in my eyes, she doesn't craft very ofter to it means her makes are even more special, a few of her pics below, she's got the flower bug too and has had fun with Craftwork Cards templates, even making a special mug card for Frank's upcoming birthday...

a lovely corner book mark

and a few of mine below

will post some more next week, running out of time as are off to Kent for a few days and have to make the Blackwall Tunnel before the Olympic traffic.  Couldn't resist the next pic though, out little Molly who slept beside me last night as v dodgy leg could only cope with sleeping in the chair!

hugs xxx

First post on new blog......x

Well, here I am again.  Hope now that my blog is nice and tidy and looking all new and sparkly I will get to blog more often. This will be a long one as I have lots of catching up to do!!

The past few weeks have been a bit chaotic, nothing new in my life - eh!!  Crafting wise I have been busy, have submitted my first assignment as a designer for Craftwork Cards and also spent quite some time making tons and tons of flowers and some jewellery for CWC stand at CHA in the US, did lots of sample cards and their recipes and lots of candi flowers, jewellery and bits and pieces for Julies show on QVC a couple of weeks ago and in the middle of all of it have had our dining room revamped totally and made into my new office/craft room.

a little of the QVC makes, alas forgot to take pics before sending to Julie

flowers for CHA

I've clear embossed some flowers and added lots of denim die cut flowers to make a brooch (don't ditch your old jeans!!), the two rings are made in the same way with some ring mounts added and centres with a pearl and glass and diamante flower - now in US at CHA.......



The dining room makeover was v v stressful as it happened very fast.  On Sunday Frank and I sat in the sunshine (about the only hot Sunday we have had! - lol!) with out builder friend Andrew while I told him about my dream of one day having a 'real' craft room - Andrew said he might have some time between jobs and that he would come and get started.  Being disabled I wasn't too keen on a job started and left, its too difficult for me to get around,  so said we would wait.  However, 2 days later Andrew called to say he was on his way to start and start he did! 

For 4 long days the chaos ensued, everything from the dining room and all my craft stuff (there's a lot!) was in the hall and guest bedroom as as Frank was working and I can't lift or move anything, Andrew did the lot but without any order.  It was all worth it though and it is starting to look soooo lovely, hopefully by next week I will be able to post some pics of the finished project.  My lovely sister, Una, has come over from Ireland for a couple of weeks and she has promised that next week I can direct her from my chair and she will fill up all the lovely new shelves, one whole wall of them, and it will hopefully then be ready for a couple of photos.  Here's one of the chaos......

and that's not the worst!!

All this chaos is now a thing of the past and the stress is ebbing very slowly!! 

We also had a friends 80th birthday party which was a lovely garden party,  the sun did shine and Pam (the birthday girl) had a great day. I was charged with making the cake and about 4 doz scones with jam and clotted cream, and then at the last minute a request for cheese straws!!  It was all a labour of love and a great day was had by all including myself, I don't do parties much any more as I hate being parked in a wheelchair and not being able to circulate like one normally does at a party but I really enjoyed myself and we were still sitting out at 9.30 that night!
little pic of cake and card.....

and a scone or 2....

We have been spending lots of time at out little holiday home in Kent and taking full advantage of every time the sun has deigned to creep out from behind the clouds, we have had it made disabled friendly last year so its a bit like having a new house with everything bright and new and lovely, I just love it cause I have a lovely big table in the garden where I can sit and craft.  I also discovered a lovely craft shop in the local town, Poppy Crafts, and am going to be teaching two workshops there in early August using lovely goodies from Craftwork Cards Sweet Pea range, everyone will be making 2 gift bags and some little cards.......

 our new lounge & my darling Frank!!

Poppy Crafts demo area...

I know I've been rambling on a bit here but just trying to cover a bit of what I've been doing in between hospital appts, pain management sessions and LIFE in general.  Have also had blog makeover, new business card and banner for Folksy shop,  still to change name on Folksy shop, apply new banner and load some more cards, this is work in progress as we are off to Kent for a couple of weeks over Olympics as we are in the thick of it and won't be able to do much so its better to be away from London.

I'm sure I' e left out lots but thats all I'm fit for tonight!!  Teaching my lovely sis to make a cross over card tomorrow for her friends special birthday so another day in the craft room planned, also making a card for our darling Dad who has been suffering badly with his shoulder so we think a card might cheer him up, especially if we have made it for him.

Night, night for now--- be back soon, promise!



Less is More Week 67 - One layer card

ONE LAYER CARD

This time we have the stipulation to

USE THREE STAMPS

not four, not two... but 3!

Kanban stamp - tree

Craftwork Cards bird stamp

sentiment stamp - old!

Wow silver embossing

pale blue pearl paint

Martha Stewart silver glitter glue

letraset metallic pen - blue

not the best effort with photography, have a couple of spots on lens which must be internal!

Mars xx

Design Team Projects

today is the day! The projects I entered for the design team membership on Craftwork Cards are featured on their blog, http://craftworkcards.co.uk.

I made a card, in hot pinks and lime green and also a 'happy book' my version of a Smash Book. The book also had a box which I made and decorated so that it could be given as a gift.
Will post full details of both projects over the next few day for anyone who is interested, hand not up to too much typing today!

here are some pics............

card - cross over card with a label that slides inside for message, easel on back so it can stand.

stamped 'box' envelope in colours to match

lots of punched retro and candi flowers!

all pages are stamped with Craftwork Cards stamps

                                                               gift box for 'happy book'

Thanks for looking, promise to post details of all soon........

Mars xxx



C.Rose and A.Daisy come for a visit to London

Another fab weekend with lots of relaxing and enjoying time with one of our very loveliest friends and her beautiful little girls.  No grown up crafting but the girls made some cards, about 6 each and learnt to stamp.  They were both surprisingly good at stamping and by the time they had finished their cards, were both real pros.  Being twins they have this fab little 'only us 2' conversation going on between themselves and at 7.30 this am, in the craft room with me with matching pink jamies and lots of bed head going on!, were discussing the merits of drier as opposed to too juicy stamps, the drier ones being better for inking around the edges!! and one telling the other that you must always wash your stamps before you put them away, advice passed on by myself who doesn't always practise what she preaches!!

Finished cards could definitely not be described as 'less is more' but I was really pleased that they picked up so much, stamping, sticking on a couple of paper layers, sticking half the contents of my scraps flowers and butterflies tin on the front but also inking around the edges, using foam pads and candi, stickles, pro markers and more......... watch out all you pro crfters out there, our  little Rosie Posie and Daisy Do (our little names for them) defo have the crafting flair,  here's the fruits of yesterday afternoon and dawn today!!

After baths and a very lazy breakfast today it was time for hair and nails, the 6 year olds that is!! Out came the nail polishes and crafting embellishments, you can't have your toenails done without a diamond or flower, you know.  Rosie Posie opted for a lovely sparkly lilac with daisy embellishment and Daisy Do went for fire engine red with green daisies, luckily they had bought their new and very trendy beaded sandals so they could show off the toes!

Twenty tiny toes!

All too soon it was time for mummy and girls to head for home, so our girls, their babies - Hannah and Billie the very trendily dressed 'build a bears' who get to travel extensively with their little mums, packed up Herbie (that's the car, everything has a name) and off they headed to stop off and buy new school shoes on the way home. 

We sat down for a little paper reading and a film, strangely neither happened as we both fell asleep.... A lovely time was had by all, lots of relaxing and Bec cooked us a beautiful Moroccan lamb tagine with honey, almonds and sultanas, one I will be replicating.  Tomorrow another week will happen, who knows what it will bring but we know on Saturday next its the grandchildren coming with mummy and daddy and a celebration of the eldest's 5th birthday.  Boys of 5 and 2, so me thinks all energies must be reserved for the making of a cake on Friday and an action packed Saturday.

How lucky we are ......

Mars xx

A quick gift bag for Bec's Birthday goodies

Have just quickly put this together for my lovely friend Bec who is coming for the weekend with her little girls (gorgeous 6 yr old twins) who we call our 'angels', and they are!  There will be lots of nail painting and pampering - of the 6 year olds that is!!

Anyway, had another quick look at Julie Hickey's gift bag video on Craftwork Cards web site, you have to have joined the Privilege Club to see but for £15 with lots of hints, tips, freebies and special offers it is so well worth it for 6 months membership.  I haven't followed exactly but have done my own very quick version, the old leg has been playing up very badly for the past few days so can't sit in the craft room for long, have also used a smaller card than 8 x 8" and some paper and flowers from Sweet Pea collection with a few punches flowers, Sweet Pea Candi, stickles, a ribbon and a little star charm for the star she is.  The bag is going to be filled with some nice OPI and nail goodies from beauty day on QVC recently, a fav of Bec's so hope she will be happy.  Here goes..............

Stamped the sides so they didn't look too white..

battery died in camera before I could take pic of back!

Have a go, worth it and joining Privilege Club with Craftwork Cards fantastic value for £15 for 6 mths along with all the online help there are also freebies or special offers every month.

Mars xxx

LIM Challenge 66 - theme yellow entry 2

Recipe

Craftwork Cards card stock

Marion emberson Stamps

yellow Wow embossing powder

stickles

dotty ribbon

simples!!

Mars xx

Marion Emberson Stamps

Had a little trip on Sunday morning to the most fab craft shop owned by the lovely Marion Emberson, one of the crafting specialists on QVC.  Her shop is so fab and showcases some of the best craft products on the market including Craftwork Cards, Wow embossing powders, Marion's own stamps and a huge array of beautiful embelishments and ribbons as well as the most gorgeous papers from the US.

I couldn't visit and not buy, could I!! Among my purchases were some more of Marion's stamps, very elegant and simple styles that can be used in so many ways.  Here's a couple of cards made using one of the stamps and sentiments...........

Have cut a strip from front of card and inked a stripe to add a little interest, stamped in same colour, distress ink pad - shabby shutters, made paper bow and inked, added a few gems, a little stickles and a plain white border cut with Martha Stewart border punch.

and a yellow one using a new Wow embossing powder...

Mars xxx

Clear embossing with glitter

Hi folks

Have had a couple of requests for 'recipe' for glittered embossed flowers from yellow card I posted for Less is More Challenge

I very rarely emboss but had bought the clear, deep embossing powder on QVC recently so thought I'd use it for the challenge card.

Its easy to do and works, it was just a trial for me! I used white card to punch flower, coloured with ink pad and dipped in embossing pdr whilst still wet, heated and then dipped in glitter while still hot. When you heat it again the embossing melts and the glitter sinks in, I repeated a couple of times to get the overall effect. I used clear deep embossing pdr from QVC and Martha Stewart fine iridescent glitter. Even with all the glitter they are glass like & smooth to touch.  Have a go, might get a chance to do some more experimenting tomorrow, will post if I do!

Have fun!

Mars xxx

LIM - Week 66 Colour Challenge - Yellow

Here's to the first of many challenges I hope, if I can manage to link it!  I punched a few retro flowers (EK Success punch), coloured with a dewdrop ink pad, yellow sunglower, and gave a few coats of clear embossing powder and glittered when still hot so glitter set into the gloss (a more subtle effect).  Also coloured 1st layer mat and ribbon to match with yellow sunflower, dried off with heat gun and also curled ribbon with heat gun.  2nd mat embossed with tiny dots and top mat plain.  Sentiment in matching yellow and embossed with clear powder, a little 'diamond' in flower centre to finish.
Card stock and sentiment stamp from Craftwork Cards.

Mars xxx

What a lovely Saturday!

Its been one of those lovely Saturdays where everything just glides along nicely and even the cat seems extra happy!  I watched my boy this am, the lovely James Martin on Saturday Kitchen, anyone who knows me knows he's 'MINE'!! even my darling Frank, I'm still grinning from the great news from Craftwork Cards yesterday and hopefully if my dodgy leg allows I'm taking a little trip out tomorrow.  Haven't been out of the house since early March as back and leg have been v bad and Frank has had an op on his foot so both of are click clacking around with waking sticks,  Molly cat is the only able bodied member of our little family at the moment!  Joking apart, I'm so looking forward to going out and we are hopefully going to spend the day at our holiday home, Holly Cottage.  We had lots of work done and it was only finished last month, to make it more disabled friendly for me, we haven't been there since February so it will be good to see everything finished, fingers crossed for a nice day and a gentle breeze off the sea. 

I've been in and out of the craft room all day, I'm doing a bit of spring cleaning of all my stash and at the same time making some cards and doing some Candi crafting, basically having a lovely crafty time.  I'm making lots of cards for a local community organisation, making cards and Candi bits and pieces for Julie for QVC show in a few weeks and making a few cards I can put on here as I can't show any of the CWC bits before the show airs and Julie has used them. I'm even considering entering a challenge if I can discover how to link back to the blog! Lol, I can use planning and analysis programmes and I find it hard to navigate around a blog!! Anyway I made a yellow flower card for less is more blog challenge so will try and give it a go.

have started to label ink pads!!

I didn't watch the football but could hear Frank's very loud whoops from the lounge when his beloved Chelsea scored, they won too so he made 'dinner', said it was too late to cook by the time all the postmortem commentary was over so we had smoked salmon on sourdough which was yummy and even better that it was made for me.  Now sitting with feet up and laptop, penning a line or two here before I tackle Mr Linky and the challenge!

Ok, signing off, hope tomorrow is just as nice (just noticed it's already tomorrow!).  Oh, one of the loveliest things about today was all the lovely messages from other new DT members, I hope its the start of a llovely 'crafty' future for us all.

Mars xx

It's official - I'm a Design Team Member for Craftwork Cards

Oh happy Friday, what a wonderful way to start a holiday weekend – a very big thanks to the fabulous team at Craftwork Cards who liked my work enough to give me a place on their Design Team.  From today I have the great privilege of becoming one of their new Design Team members, I’m still pinching myself!! 

I have been using their products since they first appeared on QVC and love working with them, many of my cards have appeared on their blog and QVC shows and I have made lots of crafted items using Candi for QVC, their stand displays at the NEC and CHA in USA earlier this year.  With Craftwork Cards it’s all about designs, fab colours and always amazing quality and price points and then there’s Candi, who doesn’t love Candi?!  I love it  so much, and don’t just use it when crafting, I’ve used it in my blog address (http://cardscandiandcupcakes.blogspot.co.uk)! 

My lovely Frank (hubby) keeps laughing at me for sitting here typing away with a big grin on my face, I can’t help it, I’m so excited and so looking forward to putting my all into making cards and crafts that will make the CWC team feel they have made a good choice.  Thanks again CWC, here’s to the start of a Candi filled future and  I love Candi!  Mars xxx

A couple of Candi creations ........

Blogtastic thanks to Shellie!!

Hello, hello, hello!  yes I know I've been in hiding but life has a habit of throwing the odd curved ball in our direction and its happened again.  You get over one hiccough in life (believe me I've had a whole life's worth in the last 3 years!!) when the next one comes along and takes the wind right out of your sails - again.  Well the hiccough erupted on 8th March when my darling hubby was rushed into hospital, ambulance the lot, and had to have emergency surgery on his foot. 

The awful thing was that I couldn't get to see him for 2 days as me being of dodgy leg, sticks/wheelchair and all that, can't get out of  the house on my own so was devastated not to be able to be with him, he is also my main carer so things were rather 'dodgy' trying to do things myself, the joys of no family in this country, and being too proud to ask for help until I was desperate for a shower and hair wash! Anyway, to cut a long story short, the outcome was good, we were expecting the worst, he is laid up still but the long term prognosis is good and no major damage has been done.  Life is strange with two of us clicking around on sticks, housebound and hating it but after over 8 weeks of being together 24/7 we haven't had a cross word so life is sweet and things are getting back to some kind of normal!!  I have to start planning nice things for all our fab friends who were so kind and helped out so much, handmade cards and lots of cakes and brownies on the way me thinks!

using new stamps from CWC

Card making has taken a bit of a back seat but have been stamping like a mad woman, new techniques learned from the lovely Amy Shaw and sooooo enjoying experimenting with the fab new stamp range from Craftwork Cards.  They are so lovely, flowers and butterflies, tiny birds with lovely cages and super sentiment stamps to suit so many occasions.  I'm using them at the moment to make loads of little cards, these are going to be boxed in groups of 8 (I'm making the boxes) for auction at my local catholic church to raise funds for a new mini bus.  While Frank was in hospital Sr Christine heard I was on my own and was on the phone instantly and visiting the next, so its just a little way of saying thanks. 

I have also just received the latest CWC recipe updates and the free book of flowers is absolutely beautiful, it was a fab surprise to find, also that the last few pages were lovely co-ordinating papers.  The flowers are so lovely, all of them, and the colour combinations are great too.  I can't show what I've done with them yet as I may use for a design team submission I'm making (if I pluck up the courage to apply).  Will post them here in a week or two. 

As part of the design team entry I need to have a blog, well I've had a blog for a little while but as you can see I don't get on here often enough.  With that in mind I did a little housekeeping on it but there were some techie bits and pieces I couldn't master.  Yet another lovely friend to the rescue, Shellie, who lives many miles away in the sunny Canaries has been beavering away making everything work, thanks so much Shellie, another special card to make!

CWC card with some fab new Giraffe candi



Mars xx