Earth is the planet..

that I've been missing from... That was the funny subject in an email I got this week. It made me chuckle!

So yeah, I've been AWOL. I've been sooooooo unbelievably busy that most days I didn't even get to boot up my laptop. The tally thus far is:

16 x Christmas mini books
8 x mini books for personal use
3 x Baby Girl mini books
45 x Christmas Cards

I've been taking loads of pictures of each project so as soon as I get a minute I will show each and every one :)

Whiff of Joy Advent Calender Event!!!

Starting today, Katharina is launching the Whiff of Joy Advent Calender Event!!! Each day Katharina will be giving away a Whiff of Joy stamp to one lucky winner!!!


During the Whiff of Joy Advent Calendar event which is on Katharina's blog, each day a new window will open with a surprise gift for one lucky visitor, the new window will be posted at 00.01 GMT everyday, and the winner of the previous days gift will be posted at the same time.

Check out her blog now!!

Busy, busy, busy....

Last week I had so much to do that there really were not enough hours in the day for me.

Firstly I had the layouts for the MCC monthly crop:
I have added my journalling since the pic was taken. Doing a xmas layout made me realise just how bad my last 2 yrs xmas pictures are. We mostly took videos. This year will be better :)

Then I had a card to do for the Paperplay Challenge:

This card was fun to make and only being allowed to use pink and white was definately interesting.

Another card to accompany a Baby Boy book:

Pretty simple, but I like it :)

Anther couple of books for the Craft Fair on Sunday next:

I love the soft colours on this book.
This is the first time I've used my cuttlebug butterfly die

This one still needs a bookring (can't believe just how many I've gone through!!) and just a little something on the front to make it stand out.

I have some more books to finish off this week, so it will be another hectic one!!

Last but not least :)

I've been so sick this past week and just couldn't get enough motivation going to post here. Thankfully I am feeling much, much better now. Anyhooooo, this is the last book from the order of 4.

Front cover:
Some inside pages:
Hidden photo matt and journalling spot underneath:

I really enjoyed making them, and now I'm gonna bury myself in making more for the craft fair in Castleknock on Nov 30th! :)

Dreaming of a Pink Christmas??

It was with apprehension that I started this book using the Fancy Pants Happy Holidays papers. I'm not a fan of the "Pink+Christmas" combination and had never worked with it before now. I was VERY pleasantly surprised at how much I did like them once I got started. The colours are funky and a nice break from the traditional red/green/gold.


So that's #3 completed. Now it's time for me to take a break, clear up my craft supplies, pack my case and hop on a plane to Amsterdam for the weekend!!! I'll be back on Monday (probably as sick as a small hospital!!) to start on #4. And you know what... I'm missing my craft knife already ;)

Another one ...

This is #2 completed..... here are just a few pages :)

Christmas Album

I got the Wassail xmas album completed :) It's the first in an order for 4 I have to get out this week. #2 is also almost complete. TBH the Wassail is not the easiest of papers to work with, some are more 'vintage-y' than others and it's like they should be in 2 different packs... but I think they worked well together nonetheless....

The completed front cover ;)
Some of the inside pages

WASSAIL!!

My prize arrived yesterday! A wonderful 12 x12 pack of Wassail. I took it out last night and started a book with it...

This is the front cover
They're fantastic papers and I'm still over the moon about winning

.

WOOOHOOO!!

I WON!!! Can't believe it :)

I entered CAS's layout challenge and I won!! A 12x12 Wassail pack.. I'm over the moon about it. Can't wait to get my hands on it now!!! Here's the layout I submitted. The little beauty in the pic is my friend Dee Dee's daughter. The picture matched my papers perfectly :)

Forever Friends

I got another card made this weekend, this time using a stamp from the new Forever Friends range. They are sooooo cute :) I also gave Nestabilities a try and am very impressed with them, of course now I want all the shapes they come in, lol. The papers are BG's Eurphoria.
I would love to get a better pic but the card has already been given away ;)

My 1st Tilda

I recently bought some Magnolia stamps from Cork Art Supplies and this is my first attempt at a Tilda. The card is made to a sketch Helen posted on Craftsupplies forum.

The papers are from BG's Euphoria collection.

Saturday makes :)

After seeing the fantastic embossed card on Marlou's blog I said I'd give it a go. I used a brown/copper pearlised card, some American Craft ribbon and a chipboard sentiment I had lying around. Not half as elegant as Marlou's card but I really like the idea :) So here is my effort...

Love this embossing folder, the birds and swirls are so pretty:


While I had my craft area in a mess I decided to go for it and make a few more. I already had some images stamped and coloured so it was just a matter of matting and choosing papers.

This one I used the same technique, with the embossing but only did it on the top half of the card. 2 self adhesive white gems, some ribbon and a sentiment finished it off nicely. I really love this particular card.

House Mouse cards :)

The text on this card was from a challenge on Daring Card Makers. I didn't enter the challenge but I liked the text so I saved it and finally decided to use it. I'm not entirely sure this card is finished, it's just missing something.. imho :)


And finally just a couple of others I made from bits of paper I had and didn't think I'd use!

I used the DCWV Spring papers on this one:
Piggytales "Gretel" collection:
This was just some pale blue cardstock (should have embossed it!!) and some 7Gypsies paper I had left over from the MCC class layout this month.


So, all in all I had a very productive evening :)

Hallowhimsey :)

I recently bought these wonderful, wonderful Halloween papers!! Even though I bought them with the intention of making a book, having to cut them was painful!! LOL I didn't have any black flowers so I inked some white ones with Staz-On, it worked brilliantly (thank you Mandy). These have to be my favourite Halloween papers EVER!!


I found a wonderful blog candy giveaway today. Fabby embellishments, jounalling spots and stamped images! Go check it out HERE

Right now I am working on the layouts for the MCC's monthly class. I will be posting a little sneaky peek on the MCC Blog when I'm finished.

It's time...

Well you've had your warning,. .it's time for the 'C' word...

Yes, it's that time of year again.. the countdown to the big bearded guy's visit. Only 104 days you know!! So in anticipation I have started with the green and red crafting..

My CHRISTMAS album :)
So there you have it.. It's been said.. CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS!! I love it :)

DCM Sketch

Having found a few mins to myself I checked out Daring Card Makers and decided to give their sketch a go. Here's what I came up with. I just love Wild Saffron papers :)
I even got to finish off a layout today. Pics later....

Forever Friends

Here is my card based on CPS's new sketch, Sketch # 81 It was a quick card, as usual, because my DD was insisting on 'helping' me.
I used a mix of Daisy D's (Maybe Baby Collection) and Piggy Tails (Gretal Collection) papers.
The sentiment and ribbon came from my wonderful K&Co. box of embellies :)
White glitter brads from DoCrafts and eyelets are Provocraft Zision.

Being the domestic goddess that I am (teehee!!) I made the card while I was waiting for a batch of scones to bake. OK, so these are not craft related but they are handmade, so warrant their own 15mins of fame, LOL
NO cream on the side, I've never had cream with a scone and I've been advised never to try it... what I never had I won't miss and all that... and I guess my heart and waistline would probably agree ;)

Prepare Yourselves....

The 'C' word is coming.......... ;)

The one that drove me nuts!!!

As much as I loved these papers, and as much as I love doing mini albums.. THIS one was challenging to say the least. 20 pages to decorate!!! That's 20 layouts, in one book .. next time I get one of these books I'll be making 2 out of it!! I started this one a while ago, ran out of ideas and paper.. ordered more papers but the ideas went on a hike up the Slieve Bloom mountains!! Then finally, and believe me no one was more shocked than I, I needed to finish it. The will to finish it was there and I jumped at it. So here are some pages from the one that almost sent me over the edge of reason...



There are waaaaaaaaay too many pics to show! I am happy with how the album turned out and I still LOVE these papers :)

In between (and avoiding) this album I've also made a few others. Mostly paperbag albums. Pics at a later date though :)

Right now I'm working on an album just for me!! It's something I've been wanting to do for ages but never found the right time, and I always feared I'd mess it up :) You only get one shot with papers that are no longer in stock anywhere!! Wish me luck that I'll be happy with it :S