Spring is here - pass the news on to the weather!

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you are all having a brilliant week, apparently today (20th) is the official first day of spring, unfortunately someone forgot to remind Mother Nature (she can't have been cc'd on the email! lol) and it still feels very wintery here on the Yorkshire coast.

There's going to be a bit of a delay in adding the cards for the March Blog Challenge because I think we're both having a bit of trouble getting our cards made. I'm afraid I have no real excuse apart from the card I originally had in mind as my Spring card has become a bit of a OCD (Obsessively Crafting Dilemma) and I can't stop making the same card - I've now made seven and they take a minimum of three hours per card to make! Each one is slightly different and very detailed, I don't want to hog the blog with loads of photos when it's a challenge so Michele and I both agree I should use it for a blog post on its own. Have I whet your appetite? Lol I'm such a card tease because I've actually got quite a few other cards which need showcasing so I'm not going to give anymore hints about it until I actually write the post! It's been quite a busy few weeks in terms of cards needed so I have lots to share with you today.

The first card I'd like to share is one that I made for my sister-in-law's partner's daughter, I actually missed her birthday (didn't know it and I've only met her once) by nearly a week by the time I got this card made and sent out and it was a real rush job. I knew she liked unicorns because one of her presents was a BaB unicorn (it has roller skates lol) and I had this pink one already stamped and fussy cut out so all I needed to do was make a suitable background out of rainbow distress inked clouds and a matching sentiment from the MFT stamp set (don't know if you recognise it but I won it in a FB giveaway many moons ago - I've not won anything in months *sobs quietly*)

My second card is a Mother's Day card for my mum-in-law, it was the first one I'd made using the gorgeous circle swing card dies that my lovely hubby treated me to for Valentine's Day #soblessed! I kept the design fairly simple as it was my first time using the dies and I wasn't sure how it would turn out.

My next card is a water-coloured Get Well card that I made for my best friend. He's not been very well and I wanted to send him a hug through the post, I thought this image was very cute but not too cute for a man especially teamed up with the striking black and white backing paper.

The final card that I'd like to share with you is another circle swing cards again made using the Crafter's Companion dies that my lovely husband got me for Valentine's Day. After making the plainer version for my mum-in-law, I decided to add the extra panels to make this stylish black and white Mother's Day card for my mum - she loves butterflies so I added a die cut butterfly on the flip side instead of a circle sentiment. I decorated the front and back with the flower design which looked great especially with the addition of some half backed pearls but it meant I didn't actually have anywhere to add my message so I ended up making a quick note card to write my message on instead.

I've still got quite a few cards to share but they can wait for another day as I've added lots of photos to this post already. I hope you've enjoyed looking at my latest (at least the ones done in the past month!) creations, I think I've been crafting too much to blog which is why it's been a while since my last post - I really need to blog more! If you have any comments or questions about these cards then please leave them in the usual places - I might not reply to every one but I love to read what you have to say and I appreciate you taking the time to both read this blog and comment on it. Hopefully I should have the challenge cards ready soon but if not I still have a shed load of cards to share *winks*. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

March Blog Challenge

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you've all had a good week and if you're affected by the bad weather, you are managing to keep warm and safe. I've only been out in it once on Monday when my husband and I went to babysit our nieces. The youngest two were fast asleep by the time we got there and didn't stir all evening. I enjoyed spending some quality time with my eldest niece on my husband's side of the family, admittedly she spent most of the time playing with her phone but she did give me a big hug when she went up to bed which was lovely. I did manage to catch a bit of a chill while we were out and my hubby did too so we are both feeling very sorry for ourselves at the moment lol.

Michele has set the challenge this month and it's a good one - we are challenged to make two cards this time using mostly magazine freebies and the theme is "seasonal". To reflect the weather here in the UK and the fact that it's still winter one should be a Christmas card (great for keeping on top of those Christmas cards that we'll need before you know it!) but she would like the other to be a lovely spring card - it's Mothering Sunday next weekend and Easter a few weeks after that so it would be great to see cards for those. We'd love it if you joined in, I'm afraid there's no prize for entering just the satisfaction of making two gorgeous cards using your existing supplies - I know a lot of us get almost as big a kick out of buying as we do creating crafty goodness so this is a chance to save some pennies by shopping our stash! Plus it's an opportunity to get some cards made that we might otherwise leave until the last minute like Christmas cards (I'm so guilty of that usually but I've already made 20 Christmas cards!) I'd really like to make Easter Cards for my family and friends who didn't get Christmas cards for the second or even third year running *hangs head in shame* so this challenge is perfect to inspire me to start making Easter cards. If you'd like to join in then email me your photos to craftynook@outlook.com and I can add them to the blog post once the closing date is reached - 16/03/18 which gives us two weeks to complete the challenge. Please include the supplies you used, your name and location (it's down to you how detailed that is, it could just be your country or you might like to say what town you live in) Please only include details that you are comfortable sharing online and feel free to use a nickname instead of your given name if that makes you feel more confident to share your creations. I'm happy to add links to blogs so you can increase traffic  but I will only link craft blogs as this is a craft challenge.

I hope you are all as excited as I am about the challenge Michele has set us - it's going to be a lot of fun making a frosty Christmas card and a lovely bright spring card - it's the perfect reminder that although there's snow on the ground and it's freezing cold, spring is just around the corner patiently waiting her turn.

If you have any comments or questions then please leave them in the usual places and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx