Time for a giveaway.......

First of all, here's a little card for today made with this adorable stamp by Woodware. I stamped three times in versamark ink - once onto the white base, once onto the red check paper, and once onto the snowflake paper, then heat embossed with Rangers gold embossing powder. A quick bit of paper piecing and the image looked cute...I added some Wink of Stella glitter pen to the ornament and berries, but it's such a subtle sheen it doesn't show in the photo

The sentiment was cut with Tim Holtz dies, pressed into versamark ink and heat embossed with the same gold powder....

Now for a giveaway, it's been a while, but I have been on sick leave from the Letraset team for this month, to give my eyes a chance to heal. But I thought one of you would enjoy winning a set of twelve markers to put under your Christmas tree. All you have to do is leave your name under this post and I will pick a winner at the end of the week and let you know who won on Saturday. Good luck

Here's the set that's up for grabs this time...thanks Letraset...

 The colours are Poppy, Henna, Sandstone, Honeycomb, Saffron, Olive Green, Soft Green, Cool Aqua, Petrol Blue, Putty, Cool Grey 1, Cool Grey 2, Blender

*please note that I will be taking them out of the original packaging for mailing to keep costs down

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. See you tomorrow x

Another MFT 'Happy' Card....

 When I was making my card shown HERE, I had a scrap of rainbow coloured card left over, so I cut out this sentiment, and popped it onto a couple of the stitched rectangle dies as a backing....The you rock sentiment is from the MFT Blueprints 11 die set

I played around a bit with the background, I found this smattering of little stars on a Heidi Swapp stencil, I applied pigment inks directly through this onto the card base, then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I found a tiny circle stamp by Stampin Up to fill in the gaps - I wanted it to be an explosion of colour. Added a couple of punched and die cut stars which I popped up with foam pads, and I was done.....

There is something about working with bright primary colours that always makes me happy!

Talking of colours, I found this MDF holder for my distress ink pads and I am so pleased with it, I daresay I should do something fancy with it and paint it or something, but as my tiny space is definitely functional and not pretty, it will do just fine in it's naked state...

Well a lot of Christmas shopping has been done here from the comfort of my armchair, my list is coming along nicely, although as always I am totally stumped about what to get for a couple of people. I am one of these (probably irritating) people who buy gifts for Christmas throughout the year if I see something that is perfect for a particular friend. The problem is that I forget what I have bought, so this next couple of weeks will see me scrabbling around buying stuff, then when the great gift wrapping day arrives, I will discover that one person has four gifts, while another has none. Happens every year. 

It's been a while since I did a Letraset giveaway, so I'll be back tomorrow with one - see you then x

Tim Holtz Blueprint Snowman..

 Here's another blueprint card - I made a couple of these, quick and easy to do. 

I stamped the snowman twice, once direct onto the card base, then onto a scrap of white cardstock, which I cut out without the twiggy arms. The colouring was really simple to do, and I popped the cut out body over the stamped base. It just needed something down the side to finish it, so I used a dot border stamp by Papertrey Ink, those little dots and the snowman's hat and scarf have been coated with Wink of Stella clear glitter pen....

I guess it's almost time for me to start writing some of these cards I have been making - we are off to do a spot of baby sitting next week, well, child sitting to be more accurate, Max and Milo need looking after while their mum and dad do a spot of Christmas shopping in New York, so I think it would be a good idea to take the cards and my address book down with me, one job to score through on the check list.

How many of you are going to do a bit of retail therapy today? Black Friday seems to have mysteriously made it's way across the Atlantic, of course we don't have Thanksgiving here, but we do like an excuse to shop. The sales have a long way to go before they catch up with the USA of course - how I loved Black Friday. I even bought a couple of mysterious items in plain cardboard boxes in Macy's because they were 'door busters' and people were knocking each other over to get them, so even though I had no clue what I was buying, I had to have them. (In case you are wondering, the boxes contained very expensive saucepans and saute pans that I bought for some ridiculously low price. I didn't need them, but I loved them!) 

Thanks for all the get well wishes, I feel a lot better today, there is a hint of a spring in my step and I may even get dressed! See you tomorrow x 

Happy Thanksgiving..

Sorry I've been missing for a while, but I had to come here today to wish all my American friends a very happy Thanksgiving day - here's a card I made for you!

I used the lovely ears of corn stamp on the Inkadinkadoo meadow set for this card, stamped with scattered straw distress ink, and layered onto kraft cardstock....

the thanksgiving sentiment was cut three times using the Cricut explore, and I layered the cuts together then covered with glossy accents....

the main panel was sponged with tumbled glass and mowed lawn distress inks....

I have been taking it easy for a few days as I haven't felt so hot - the second eye has been done, I have a bit of an infection, and I generally have felt a bit off colour, so first things first, I need a bit of TLC and rest to get back into the swing.... so I did just that....

Have a lovely day in America, don't overdose on the turkey and save me some of that green bean casserole.... x

Christmas Party Invite...

 Here's a Christmas party invitation made for a commission for Papercraft Inspirations Magazine....

The gorgeous letterpressed snowflake is a Fiskars fuse die cut, and the kraft tag is liberally sprinkled with Frantage Shabby White embossing enamel to look like snow.... the music page was taken from a musical score book I picked up at a charity shop

What an exciting life I am leading at the moment - the highlight of my day yesterday was yet another eye test, this time to determine what lens I need in my 'other' eye on Monday, but I did take time to go for a pamper session at the hairdressers, so it's all still a bit self indulgent and slow going here. I keep wandering towards my craft table, and drifting away again to aimlessly do nothing very much - hopefully my missing mojo will return along with my new eyes!

Seasons Greetings...

 I love how this one turned out....

I used Memory Box snowflake corner, the Cricut Explore to cut the snowflakes and tag, Tim Holtz for the sentiment and the snow embossing folder, tumbled glass distress ink to add colour to the tag. The bow is silver sewing thread

This is probably my favourite Christmas card make this year....so far! I still have a way to go before I am done with them...

My check up went well, the surgeon was pleased with me, all set to get the other eye done next Monday now, so for the rest of this week I am going to enjoy driving, good hair days and wearing make up again. Time to face the world again! See you tomorrow x

Stitched rectangles...

 I used my new MFT stitched rectangle dies for this one.....

I stamped the images from Inkadinkadoo's Meadow clear stamp set in black versafine ink, then chopped the panel into four using the stitched rectangle dies....

I added a panel of peach coloured card to the front of a white card, then attached my stitched panels with foam pads, leaving a bit of a gap between each one. Some peach liquid pearls dotted around finished the card

A brief post from me = that's it for today, I have my follow up appointment, and I can wash my hair. Yeah!

MFT Blueprints 11 Dies...

Remember those MFT dies I showed you? I couldn't wait to use them!

Here's what I came up with. I coloured the sentiment and the area behind the circles with ProMarkers - I was aiming for a happy rainbow effect.....

I was pleased with it, a nice happy sort of card that would be great for a child or teenager.....

Thank you all so much for the good wishes. The cataract surgery went well and I am recovering nicely. I had a surprising number of emails from people who are waiting for this surgery and are scared stiff, a bit like I was on Monday morning, they asked me to reassure them, so this is for them. There is NO need to worry, the whole experience was totally painless I didn't feel a thing. I went in to hospital at 7.00 am and was home by 10.30 am. The bizarre thing was that when they were operating on the eye, all I saw was a kaleidoscope of the most gorgeous colours swirling around in front of me, I found it quite soothing - I felt as if I was on some strange acid trip (although I must add that I haven't a clue what the effects of recreational drugs are just in case you think I know what I am talking about.......)
The after effects are pretty much as I imagined, endless eye drops, and the unwashed-hair-and-no-make-up-look is starting to look a bit scary now, so I am hiding whenever the doorbell rings. I am still not up to crafting but I have a few things to show you over the next few days. Have a great weekend x 

Christmas Candles....

As promised, here is a little video, and as usual I messed up a little! But you get the idea.....

To watch on YouTube click HERE





Thank you all so much for the good wishes for my eye surgery, I appreciate each and every one of you x

Hobbycraft Show - and some news....

As promised, some photos taken at the NEC Hobbycraft show - although to be honest, it was so crowded that I didn't get close enough to the samples to take many photos. It's a retail show, so differs greatly from the trade shows, where the booths are gorgeous, this show is all about selling, but I snapped what I could to show you. I loved this paper sculpture as you went into the hall, to commemorate the centenary of WW1.....

Of course I spent time with my best craft buddy Kath, who was working her magic over on the Fiskars stand....

these next samples were on the Clarity Stamps stand....

and a lot of you asked to see what I bought. I went with a list, and was pretty determined to stick to it. I didn't put more stencils on the list, but, oops, these fell into my basket.....

and yet another trimmer. That takes my collection up to ten! But I do love this one, it doesn't take up a huge amount of space on my desk, and has that really useful wire guide so that you can see exactly where you are cutting, and of course the new Fiskars scissors are excellent too....

These were all on my list, lots of 'basics' and some of the mini distress ink pads that I hadn't got...

and some of those really cute tins to store them in....

just a couple of stamps.....

and I strayed from the path again and got these MFI dies, blueprints 11...

and the stitched horizontal rectangles...

Now for the news, not earth shattering exciting news I'm afraid, it's a bit of a bummer really. Regular readers will remember me waffling on a couple of weeks ago about having my eye test and being as blind as a bat for a couple of days after some drops. Well, it turns out I have cataracts. What? When did that happen? Isn't that what old people get? Oh wait.....

My mother had them, and my sister, so apparently it was almost inevitable. Now the only reason I am telling you this is that I am having my first eye operated on tomorrow (Monday), and the second one two weeks later so I really don't know how much crafting I am going to be able to do during November. However, I have been a busy little bee and made quite a few cards and a couple of videos to share with you, so I'll be able to  post them and no doubt there will be some funny experiences to share along the way as well - I can't imagine that there won't be some aspect of not being able to wash my hair or wear make up for a week that won't strike me as amusing. I just hope George Clooney doesn't decide to drop in for tea next week....

So I'll post a video for tomorrow, then I'll be back as soon as I can - I'll see you then with my new eye! x

Christmas Tree Blueprint....

Here's one I made with the Tim Holtz Christmas tree blueprint stamp. I heat embossed in Rangers queens gold directly onto the white panel, then again onto a scrap of white card and cut out just the tree which I popped on with foam tape. I wanted the base card to match the gold, so I swiped the edges with versamark and sprinkled that with the same embossing powder....

Here's a little tip, if you want to add a little something but don't feel a ribbon would be exactly right, cut a tiny snip in the base of your card, then start winding some metallic gold sewing thread around the card, fanning out the thread as you go - easy and effective, and it doesn't add bulk to your card

Thank you to all those who purchased stamps yesterday, I hope you enjoy them. They are all packed and on their way. There are still a few left for sale, if you missed them, scroll down to yesterday's post

It's going to be a creative sort of day today, I want to get a couple of videos in the pipeline and maybe a couple of cards because tomorrow I am off to the NEC (National Exhibition Center) for a big craft show, I'm not working there, just shopping and catching up with some friends, especially my best crafty buddy Kath who is flying down from Aberdeen. I've made a list of supplies I need, will I stick to the list? Not a chance.......I'll take lots of photos to show you the samples and the latest on the UK crafty scene

Used Stamp Sale

Here are the stamps I have for sale. I have labelled each one with a number. Please send an email to enfysc@yahoo.co.uk if you want any of them. Postage will be at cost - if you are in the USA/Canada, the lowest postage for a small package is around $4.50, but that package could hold quite a few stamps I think

 All stamps are £2.50 ($3.99) unless marked otherwise

I suggest that if you are unsure about currency, google currency exchange to see how much the stamps would cost in your country's currency . all the stamps listed are by uk manufacturers

I will answer emails as soon as I can as they come in, first come, first served!  if the stamps you want are available, I will let you know and send you a paypal invoice - I can only accept paypal I'm afraid, bank fees would be too high for personal cheques not in uk currency. you can pay with paypal even if you dont have a paypal account, you just use your card

2. LILY OF THE VALLEY CLING MOUNTED RUBBER WEDDING COUPLE $2.50

3. LILY OF THE VALLEY CLING RUBBER CHILDREN WITH SNOWMAN £2.50 SOLD

4. LILY OF THE VALLEY GIRLS HAVING TEA CLING MOUNTED RUBBER £2.50 SOLD

5. LILY OF THE VALLEY FAIRY UNMOUNTED RUBBER £2.50 SOLD

6. LILY OF THE VALLEY CUPCAKE FAIRY CLING MOUNTED RUBBER £2.50 SOLD

7. LILY OF THE VALLEY GIRL WITH CAKE CLING MOUNTED RUBBER £2.50 SOLD

8. LILY OF THE VALLEY NATIVITY PLAY  CLING MOUNTED RUBBER £2.50

9. LILY OF THE VALLEY CHRISTMAS GIFT TEDDY CLING MOUNTED RUBBER £2.50  SOLD

10.. LILY OF THE VALLEY CANDLE GIRL CLING MOUNTED RUBBER £2.50 SOLD

11. LILY OF THE VALLEY CHRISTMAS NATIVITY PLAY CLING MOUNTED RUBBER £2.50

12. LILY OF THE VALLEY DECORATING THE TREE CLING MOUNTED RUBBER £2.50
SOLD

14. LILY OF THE VALLEY ANGEL WITH DOVE UNMOUNTED RUBBER £2.50 SOLD 

15. LILY OF THE VALLEY TRIO OF ANGELS £2.50 SOLD 

16. LILY OF THE VALLEY NEVER TOO OLD FOR A HUG £2.50 SOLD

17. LILY OF THE VALLEY BUNNY CELEBRATION £2.50 SOLD

19.  LILY OF THE VALLEY GIRL DANCER £2.50 SOLD

20. LILY OF THE VALLEY UNDER THE MISTLETOE £2.50 SOLD

21. LILY OF THE VALLEY GIRL DANCER £2.50 SOLD

22. WOODWARE ROBIN IN BOOT CLEAR STAMP. THIS IS A BIG STAMP 4 1/2 X 5

FABULOUS FOR COLOURING SOLD

£2.00

23. FOREVER FRIENDS TEDDY WITH CHAMPAGNE £1.00 SOLD

24. WOODWARE COSY SWEATER SET PLUS BONUS OF 6 HOBBYCRAFT SWEATER STICKERS SOLD

£2.50

25. WOODWARE  SNOW CLEAR STAMP SET £3.00 SOLD

26. FOREVER FRIENDS BEAR HOLDING LETTER, WITH LOTS OF LITTLE SENTIMENTS TO PERSONALIZE YOUR CARD SOLD

£1.50

27. LITTLE CLAIRE TREE WITH DIFFERENT ICONS. CLEAR STAMP

£1.50 SOLD

28. INKY DOODLES CHRISTMAS ANGEL STAMP SET

£3.00

29. CLEAR STAMP HOT CHOCOLATE ELF (POOR PHOTO, SORRY!)

£1.50 SOLD

40. WOODWARE NEW HOME SET (MAKES GREAT BIRTHDAY CARD FOR CAT LOVERS TOO)

£2.50 SOLD

41. PAPERMANIA CAKE ON STAND (GOOD SIZE) AND MATCHING SENTIMENT STAMPS

£2.50 FOR BOTH

42. WOODWARE NEW HOME STAMP SET £2.50 SOLD

43. WOODWARE FISHING CLEAR STAMP SET SOLD

£3.00

44. LITTLE CLAIRE MOTHER AND BABY GIRAFFE

NO SENTIMENT

£1.50 SOLD

45. POPCORN THE BEAR FATHERS DAY UNMOUNTED RUBBER

£3.00

46. WOODWARE BLOOM AND SENTIMENT

£1.50 SOLD

47. WOODWARE ICE CREAM SUNDAE (GOOD SIZE)

£1.50

48.WOODWARE BLOOM AND SENTIMENT

£1.50 SOLD