Hobbycrafts Show at NEC

I had a great day at the NEC last Friday and was lucky enough to meet up with two of the lovely ladies from MSE. I got everything on my shopping list (plus a few extras) and my fingers were ready to drop off by the end of the day from carrying all my goodies! I love seeing what other people have brought so thought i'd share some photos of my stash:







I also got a Metric Scorpal which has been confiscated by Martin as he's giving it to me for Christmas...

Digi Scrapbooking?

I've never been overly interested in scrapbooking until I recently saw Digital Scrapbook Artist 2 advertised on Create & Craft. It looked so easy to create fabulous pages and there's loads of cool features! I downloaded the Compact version to have a play with before buying the full version. This is the first page i've done and it only took 30 minutes - what do you think?

World of Warcraft Birthday Card

This is a card I made at the beginning of the month for a colleague at work. He's a gamer and likes World of Warcraft so i've used his character, a background map from the game, WoW font and greeting. I'm happy to say he loved it though I think a lot of people were a bit confused when I passed it round the office to be signed!

Shaped Anniversary Card

So Martin asked if i'd help him make his parents a 32nd anniversary card. Suprise suprise that involved me making the card and him taking the credit lol! To give him his due though he came up with the original idea for the layout, which I then designed and cut out on my Craft Robo. I love the idea of shaped cards but they're a bit hard to write in...

Congrats Random Font Card

When I got back from my holiday I found out my colleague had got engaged so I decided to make him a quick card. I've always wanted to do one using a random mix of fonts and thought it would be quite easy. How wrong was I lol! It actually ended up taking me forever to decide which font and paper to use for each letter, but I'm pleased with the finished effect.

Cute Geisha Girls Card

I've been following Helen over at It's All Fiddle Fart for a while now and find her cards really inspirational. I love her 9 patchwork squares card design, especially with the cute little foam stickers. Every time I see the stickers in Accessorize I buy them but up until now I hadn't actually used them, so decided to make this card for my aunt - it's based on Helen's layout with my own twist...

Meerkat Birthday Card

My gran absolutely loves meerkats so when I saw this image from Delicious Doodles I knew exactly what I wanted to do for her birthday card. I've coloured the image with my trusty old Crayola coloured pencils, as I really struggled to get the right shades. I went out of my comfort zone by using a coloured base card, which I stamped directly onto to tie in with the image.



I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Crazy Challenge - Forest Friends/Back to Nature


• Delightful Challenges - Animals & Insects, Dots & Stripes


• Crafty Catz Weekly, Challenge 45 - Animals

Piece Of Quiet Card

My Mum is a really awkward person to buy presents for and whenever we ask her what she wants her answer is always "just give me some peace and quiet". I spotted this Penny Black image used on someone else's blog and thought it would be perfect to use on a tongue-in-cheek birthday card for her. The card was well received and made her laugh...

Cards Received For My Birthday

I was inundated with lots of gorgeous cards on my birthday from my lovley friends over on MSE. I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of them and show off all their amazing creations...

Top row: Dragonllew, Rainmac, Hassy
Bottom row: TomsMum, Gemm



Top row: Marg, OAP, Jowri
Bottom row: Paddster, TiredMom, Bunbun



Top row: Flourgirl, Choccy, Mad-Frog
Bottom row: ArtyDoll, Wanna-b-rich, ScattyJan

Purple Engagement Card

My friend has just got home from Thailand where her boyfriend proposed to her. They're a lovely couple and i'm so pleased for them - plus she's asked me to be a bridesmaid and make all her invitations! I've made this card for them using a ring design and lettering cut out on my Robo. I stuck loads of tiny pearls everywhere as i'm a bit obsessed with them at the moment...



I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Alota Rubber Stamps - Challenge 39, Glitter and Pearls


• Alphabet Challenge Blog - L for Lace

Commissioned Wedding Card

I was asked to make this card by a lovely women at work for her nephew's wedding. The sweet image i've used is from the new Tilda Wedding collection and the stunning mulberry paper roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts. I spritzed almost everything with Glimmer Mist to create a gorgeous shimmery, pearlised finish and made a pretty matching box for it to be given in.


I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Wild Orchid Crafts - Challenge 1, Say It With Flowers


• Totally Papercrafts - Challenge 24, Swirls & Pearls


• Craftalicious - Challenge 3, Cute


• Creative Card Crew - Challenge 54, To Die For


• Your Next Stamp - Challenge 20, Flower Power


• Paper Sundaes - Challenge 26, Lots Of Layers


• Cowgirl's Sunday - Sherbet & Ice Cream Colours


• Allsorts - Challenge 60, July Love

Yay this card won Cowgirl's Sunday Challenge here.

Crafty Cardmakers GDT Card

I was really pleased to be asked to be a guest designer over at Crafty Cardmakers. The challenge I was given is to create something using a photo of Love Hearts as inspiration. Seeing as I've been given a Craft Robo as an early birthday present, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have a play! Here's what I came with (everything has been cut out on the Robo)...





Pop over to Crafty Cardmakers here to enter the challenge and be in for the chance of winning a £10 gift voucher for Joanna Sheen's online shop.

Black & Red Skater Card

I've been asked to make a card for someone's nephew who's turning 13. Apparently he's into skateboarding, BMX, X-Box, Green Day, iPod and Facebook. She also requested that the colour scheme is black and red to match his room. I had the perfect background in mind but it was in shades of blue so a bit of editing in PhotoShop and voila! The image is from Bird's Cards.


I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Digi Doodle - Challenge 13, Anything Goes


• I Did It Creations - Challenge 10, 3-D


• Crafty Caz - Challenge 38, Let's Go Digital


• Corrosive - Challenge 69, Black & White With 1 Colour


• Cowgirl's Sunday - Challenge 5, Anything Goes


• Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge 23, Cards For Men


• Charisma Cardz - Challenge 25, For The Boys


• Crafts And Me - Challenge 7, Birthdays


• Sew Many - Challenge 19, Anything Goes

Fuschia Wedding Invites

My hairdresser is getting married next year and wants to hand make her own invites. She knows exactly what she wants in her head but doesn't know how to go about actually making them so asked for my help. I offered to make her a couple of mock up invitations to use as a starting point and this is what i've come up with based on her sketch. The wording is from a template online!

Masculine Cake Day Card

It's my colleague's birthday soon and as i'm in charge of cards for our team I've made one! I've used male Dovecraft papers then stitched around the edge. I haven't used a sewing machine since doing Textiles at school but with help from my Mum it's turned out quite good. I want my own mini machine now though, so if anyone finds one that does zig zag stitch then let me know...

Orange Lizard Birthday Card

It's my boyfriend's birthday today but I've already brought him a gorgeous leopard gecko as an early birthday present. He's named her Dora (as in Dora the Explorer) so i've made him this lizard themed card to represent his present. The backing paper i've handmade using lizards dicuts with my ProMarker AirBrush system and the tags have personal messages on the back.

MSE Music Challenge Card

The challenge this fortnight on MSE is to make a card with a musical theme. This is my entry using my new Sugar Nellie Rock Idol stamp which is fab. The backing paper was perfect so all i've added is thread for the guitar strings and completed the greeting with peel offs. I've distressed all the edges as i'm really loving this effect at the moment and it's especially perfect for male cards.

Jackpot Bag Charm

The super talented CraftyJuJu has recently been producing lots of stunning handmade jewellery. Last week she put a gorgeous jackpot themed bag charm for sale but it sold before I got a look in! She kindly offered to make another one for me though and when I got home today it had arrived beautifully packaged. Thank you soo much Julie! Check out her Facebook Fan Page here.

Doodled Thinking of You Card

Now I know this card has been received by the lovely Rusty I can post it! She's been in a lot of pain recently and ended up in hospital last week, so I wanted to send her something to hopefully cheer her up a little bit. I've used a gorgeous Mo Manning stamp and Basic Grey paper but because it's quite busy couldn't decide what embellishments to use so went doodle crazy instead...

MSE 3 B's Challenge Card

The current challenge over on MSE is to make a card with three things beginning with "B" on. This is my entry, which is a birthday card using a cute black haired tilda dressed in blue from the new fairytale range. The backing paper is from Basic Grey and is matted on to pearlescent blue card. I've used black card candy and the sheer ribbon bow has been coloured black to match.