31 December 2012

Thank You

I thought I best get started on all those thank you cards I have to make for all those gorgeous pressies I was given for Christmas. What better way is there than busting out my Clearly Besotted Stamps and having a play! For my card today I have used the following sets: Building Blocks, Full Of Surprise and Happy Everything. CBS have a new sets available in the shop now, I will have more on that later in the week.



SUPPLIES:
 

 
Thank you so much for visiting me today, I hope you all have a lovely last day of 2012!


30 December 2012

Favourite Products 2012

So I thought I would do a favourite products of 2012 review. To see all the products without the written chat please scroll down to the video.
 
First of all I have really got into making my own card bases this year. I have mainly used white Papertrey Ink CS or Kraft PTI CS. I fell in love with PTI white Stampers Select CS a few years back but since I found it less easy to get it from the USA I stopped uisng it, this year I fell in love with it all over again and it is now my go-to card for card bases and Copic colouring. Since I have been making my own card bases I have been having to score my card, I bought the Martha Stewart Mini Score board only a little while ago but think it is great, and a great size for cards.
 
2012 saw me use more PTI stamps too, I really like the style of them and really love the sentiment stamps where there are two different fonts, one such set is the Filliable Frames Sentiments set. For ink I always use my Memento Tuxedo black ink if I am colouring with Copics but for colour I have loved using the PTI inks (I have the cubes) and the Memento inks (I have the dew drops).
 
I have loved dies this year, most of my favourites being from either PTI or MFT. Two of my faves are the Die-Namics Sentiment Strips and the Fishtail Flags Stax. For adhesive this year I have loved using the Stick It Adhesive Squares which are are bargain at 99p a pack and also loved using my ATG, I used to use DST but now 99% of the time use my ATG and find it very easy and less messy to use.
 
Embellishments this year have mainly consisted of twine - my fave being Doodlebug Doodle Twine and Doodlebug Jewels although I have loved the teeny tiny 2mm rhinestones from The Hobby House as well. In 2011 I fell in love with MME patterned papers however with 2012 being more CAS I haven't used them as much although I LOVED that Doodlebug brought out 6x6" paper pads and one of my faves being Hello Spring.
 
Here's the video:

 

LINKS TO PRODUCTS:


So that was my fave products of 2012, what were yours?

29 December 2012

Favourite Cards 2012

Hi all, so since it's quite a tradition in the blogging world to look back over the year and show the favourite cards you have made I thought I would do it again this year. I think my style has got even more CAS this year experimenting with more ink colours and CAS stamps (mainly PTI) but I still like to bust out those pattern papers and of course I still love my Copics.
 
I really enjoyed my Copic colouring class this year and may look into doing a couple more online ones next year. I have branched out a little this year from making only square cards (like the year before) and have made quite  a few 'standard size' cards this year but with the fold at the top and I really like those too.

Ok so here are my favourite cards I made in 2012:












Thanks for visiting me today and I hope that you will play along with this tradition too, I would love to see all your favourite cards of 2012.

28 December 2012

Card Making Haul - December 2012

I didn't buy much this month at all but since I know there are a few of you out there who like watching these videos I thought I would still do my December haul for you.
 
 
 
PRODUCTS:
 

 
Sorry for the lighting again and also that it is so short, must buy more in January! LOL

26 December 2012

Christmas Wrap

I like to try and make my Christmas presents as pretty as possible and this year I decided to go with the CAS look! I have used brown kraft paper and wrapped them with plum bakers twine. I have made the tags using Krfat CS cut with the smallest die from the Go Kreate Concentric Tags # set. I have stamped the sentiment from the Clearly Besotted Stamps Signature Christmas Set using Memento Sweet plum CS. I have then added jingle bells for that festive touch.
 

 
SUPPLIES:
 

 
Hope you all had a lovely day yesterday, mine was quite a quiet one but today will be manic what with my brother, SIL and niece and nephew being here! :0) Hope you are enjoying the season.

24 December 2012

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hi all, sorry for lack of posts the last few days. I have unfortunately not been well and it looks like I will be spending Christmas not feeling great either sadly. Anyway, I just wanted to wish all my readers a very merry Christmas filled with love and smiles xx

19 December 2012

Winter Critters

Whwn I saw this Some Odd Girl Winter Critters set I knew I couldn't resit it! I have used one of the penguins from the set for this card for my mum.




SUPPLIES USED:
COPIC COLOURS: BV20, BV23, BV25, BV29, Y26, Y28, E40, E41.

+ A Muse sentiment stamp - retired.

Thanks so much for visiting me today, I am still behind with my Christmas stuff but getting a little closer to the finishing linbe now. Hope you are all well.

15 December 2012

Welcome Little One

My cousin gave birth to a new baby boy last week. Here is the card I made for her and her husband. I love that giraffe cut from felt! So cute!




SUPPLIES USED:


Thanks so much for visiting today, still really busy for me here at the moment. I hope to get to catch up with you all soon. Have a great weekend!

13 December 2012

New Home

My Cleary Besotted Stamps DT 'boss' Stephanie recently moved home and here is the card I made for her using Clearly Besotted Stamps. The sets I used are Building Blocks, Framed Sentiments and Leafy Accents.



SUPPLIES USED:


Thanks so much for visiting me today, I have been busy sending out Christmas parcels today :0) Hope you are all getting in the festive mood!

Christmas Candy Winner

Hi all, thank you to those who participated in my Christmas Candy Giveaway. Random/org has picked a winner and it is ...
 
 
 
 
Please could you email me as soon as possible Amanda and I will get it out to you as sson as possible!

10 December 2012

Thank You Bear

Here is a card I made last week for my beautiful friend Sarah. She sent me some gorgeous LOTV stamps (along with a gorgeous card!) and so I used one of the stamps on a card to say thank you to her. This stamp is from the Furry Festive Friends collection but I don't think the flower is overly Christmassy so I think it can be used throughout the year.
 


SUPPLIES:


Thanks so much for visiting me today, I apologise for the posts being sporodic. I hope you are all well though and getting ready for Chrsitmas!

9 December 2012

Christmas Candy

Hello there, to apologise for not being about as much as I would like, including commenting on your lovely creations, I thought I would give away some Christmas candy. Just a few little bits but I hope you like them:

 
 
Apologies for the poor photo but up for grabs is two Paula Pascual stamps sets - Large Chrsitmas & Joyful Bubbles, a Doodlebug Designs North Pole 6x6" Paper Pad, two packs of Christmas pearls and a selection of Christmas ribbons.
 
To be in with a chnace of winning it all you have to do is link up to the InLinkz before 12.00 no on the 13th December 2012 and I will draw a winner asap that afternoon. Only one link per person, open to UK only due to postage time (sorry). The winner will need to have contacted me by 16th December so that I have time to post to you.
 
Thank you and good luck!
 

8 December 2012

Aviary Special Friend

Hi all, remember me? Sorry I haven't been about lately. With my new job I am working five days a week whereas for the last (almost) seven years I have been working three-four days a week but longer hours. Not having the days off is really tiring me out and I seem to have no time to do anything. Anyway, enough of the moaning, on my day off last week I manged to make four cards in a day and I will be sharing them all with you soon.
 
Here is the first one, I made this card for my lovely friend Julia to say thank you for some crafting goodies she sent me; including the stamps used on the card. The stamps are (now sadly retired) Elzybells so I cannot link these below.
 


SUPPLIES:
+ Elzybells Art Stamps - The Birds & The Bee's Collection - retired



Thanks so much for visiitng me today, it really means a lot. I will hopefully be back soon. Have  a lovely weekend

5 December 2012

Card Making Haul - November 2012

Hi guys, how are you all doing? I thought I would share with you my card making haul for the month of November, where did that month go?! I didn't buy much in November so it is just a few bits, mainly Christmas related but here is the video ...

 
Hope you enjoyed watching, sorry for the lighting. It was filmed on Monday and it was a very gloomy day! Thanks so much for visiting me today, hope you are all well and hope to see you soon!

3 December 2012

Cleary Besotted Stamps Release 2

Hi there, so sorry I haven't been around lately. I started my new job two weeks ago and just haven't had the time to do anything :0( I wanted to pop in though to show you the new release from Cleary Besotted Stamps. This release is massive and brings togther some great new sets and some great elements and backgrounds that will match your exisiting stamps.

Here is the video, I hope you enjoy!

 
Thanks so much for visiting me today, I hope to be back soon with some creations using the new stamps. Have a great day!

22 November 2012

Build A Snowman - DTDF Challenge

Over at Dies to Die for this month we have a new Die-ing For A Challenge and the theme is Christmas. For my card I have used the new CC Designs Build A Snowman Set. It is so cute! I have stamped and cut out the snowman and then stamped the hat on to patterned paper and cut his out and added to the snowman.



SUPPLIES USED:



Thank you for visiting me today and I hope you can join in with the challenge.
Hope you have a great day!

17 November 2012

Updated Craft Room Tour

Hi all, so today I have an updated craft room tour to show you. If you follow my blog regularly you will probably know how much I love organisation and storage. I am continally trying to find new and more efficient ways to store my stash. Here is my room currently, apart from getting new white main desks, the bulk of it I am happy with.

This post is picture heavy but I also have a video at the end if you would rather just watch that!
 
Here are the main sides of my room:
 
 
This is the view from the door. The room is pretty small but I am very lucky to have it! The desk to the left is my computer desk (see photo below) and the desk next to it is my main desk that I create from. I have two Helmer desks from Ikea on either side of it and they fit perfectly underneath. I also have another Helmer unit at the end of the desk between the desk and the wall. The two under my desks hold adhesives, punches, PTI felt, stamping supplies and card bases. The one to the side holds card bases, flowers and tools.


Here is my computer desk, as you can see it is a corner desk and is massive! It takes up a lot of space but I love it! The actual desks are from MFI and they were bought about 15 years ago, they are a little bit scuffed but still going strong! I have another Helmer unit to the left of the desk before the door and that holds stamps in. The tin on the right of the desk holds my embossing folders. I have a close up view below.


Here is the other side of my room. The large shelving unit is from Ikea and sadly I don't think they sell it anymore. That unit holds A4 cardstock and paper, my unmounted stamps in DVD cases, my clear PTI stamps in baskets, my thin dies, Cuttlebug and sewing machine. In the drawer there is ink pads, chipboard, glitter and my Xyron machines. On the top of the unit is my 6x6" paper pads, they are in photo boxes by Cropper Hopper.

To the left of that unit is my Stackables units. I have two small ones and a cube stacked on top of each other. They hold all my 12x12" cardstock and paper and embellishments in the drawers. On top is two boxes from Papermania, one holds 8x8" cardstock and appers and the other holds paper/CS scraps.

Here are close ups of some of the storage I have (you can click the photo's to make them bigger)




These are some of the drawers from my Stackables unit. You can buy the plastic inserts for the drawers to organise your embellishments and I love them! These drawers hold my Doodlebug buttons and brads, my rhinestones and my PTI buttons.

 

Here are some of the shelves on my cabinet. I hold all my unmounted stamps in DVD cases (once I have mounted with EZ Mount foam) and then I have each DVD case labelled. My thin dies are stored in EZ Mount cases, I have a video showing how I do it here. I then have my PTI cardstock in my colour order in file folders. I keep the packs in their plastic wrapping and then put the scraps behind. I have changed the way I store my PTI inks stamps slightly. I still have them in the Tim Holtz Unmounted Stamp Binder Inserts which are shown here but instead of having them in the binders I have put the inserts in to baskets which as saved me a lot of space.


I haven't found a better way of storing my stamps than just stacking them in my Helmer unit yet. Since I can fit three layers of wood mounted stamps in a drawer and numerous clear sets I am happy with it at the moment.

 

I have my embossing folders in a Maya Road tin, which I don't think they sell any more but is the perfect size for them. I have them labelled on the folder themselves so I don't feel the need for dividers. My tool carousel is one of the best things I have ever bought. It is quite big and takes up a fair amount of space on my desk but it holds a ton and I love it! I have my Copic Markers in little cubbies from Studio 3 Solutions - they are great and definitely worth the investment.


I keep my PTI ribbon in reels and I have divided the drawer with cardstock. I keep my punches in drawers too and use slip-a-grip from Lakelend to stop the punches sliding in the drawers.

And here is the video with a further peek into all the other drawers:
 
Massive apologies for the quality of the camera work, it is a new camera and I haven't quite got used to it yet! It is shaky.

 
Congratulations if you have made it all the way to the end of this post! I hope you enjoyed seeing my craft room and that I may have given you  a few ideas for your own storage. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about anything I have shown.

LINKS TO STOARGE:


Thanks so much for visiting me today!
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