Isobel

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! Yesterday I went to see my new niece Isobel - she is so gorgeous!!! Isobel slept through most of my visit apart from when she was being fed or having her nappy changed (my sister-in-law offered me that task but I graciously declined!) but I held her for what seems like hours while she slept. She really looks like her dad and has the longest fingers, I'm hoping it means she'll be creative like her dad and her Auntie Sarah - can you tell I'm smitten???

Isobel - isn't she a cutie?!?

The light levels in Sue's house are terrible so I'm afraid the quality of this picture isn't great, luckily I took a disposable camera with me and I'll be taking it in for development tomorrow - I just hope they come out ok as Bethany kept running off with the camera and took selfies of her top! Lol it was sweet but it meant that most of the film is useless and each picture she took meant one less of Isobel and the rest of the family. I'm hoping to make a mini album of Isobel as part of Sue's Christmas present which is why I wanted lots of photos of them all.

Everyone loved the cards I made though Steve (Isobel's dad) pointed out that I hadn't made one for Isobel herself so I've got another new baby card to make now.

Craftwise I'm suffering from crafter's block! I should have sent my entry to the Cardmaker of the Year Comp about a week ago, the deadline is Friday and I can't seem to find the inspiration needed to make the two card components needed for the entry. I really need to get myself in gear and make two cards so I can get it sent off tomorrow.

That's all my crafty news for now so until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Welcome little one....

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! A wonderful day today, my new niece Isobel was born at 2.08pm weighing 6lb 15oz. Her mum was booked in on Saturday to be induced but nothing happened until late this morning. We are all pleased that mum and daughter are both well.

To celebrate this special day I made three more cards, I've decided to give the original baby card I made to the dad as Sue and Steve don't live together. So I needed a new card to give to Sue.

I thought this Crafter's Companion S.W.A.L.K. 'New Mum' stamp set was perfect for Sue (not that you'd catch her wearing an apron!) I coloured her hair, eyes and skin tone in to match Sue's own and just gave the baby blue eyes - I haven't seen the new arrival yet so aren't sure what colour hair she has or indeed if she has any!

The second set of cards are stamped with another Crafter's Companion Stamp set called 'A Little Bird Told Me' and I've made these cards for Isobel's older sisters Millie and Bethany. Again I've personalised the images by colouring them in to match the recipients. Inside I printed ...you've got a new sister! I really enjoyed using these stamps even though I had to cut them out myself and use stick and spray to mount them to the acrylic block - unlike a lot of new stamps I didn't have to sand them before first use as they give a crisp stamped image from the outset.

Well that's all my crafty news for now, I'll post a photo of baby Isobel once I've seen her and with her mum's permission of course! Hopefully I'll be back with some crafty goodness to share with you soon - until then keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

another baby card...

Hello crafty peeps, welcome to my crafty nook!

In my last post I promised a second card using the Little Onesie stamp from Clearly Besotted Stamps and here it is!

My original idea was to have  the onesies pegged to the washing line but not only did I not have enough mini pegs to peg all five onesies but when I added them they turned out to be far too wide and looked odd.

To make this card I stamped the onesie five times and added a different motif to each one using different coloured inks. Once the ink was dry I went over the flower, heart and rubber duck using Dovecraft clear glitter glue and put them aside to dry. I folded a sheet of A4 300gsm cardstock in half length ways to create a long skinny card blank and rounded the bottom two corners. I added a length of blue polka dot washi tape to the top edge of the card blank and taped a length of black waxed cord beneath the washi tape to be the washing line. Once the onesies were all dry I fussy cut round them and mounted them of sticky fixers just under the washing line, unfortunately I didn't use enough sticky pads and a couple of the images are a bit buckled but I'm pretending that's part of the design and they are moving in the wind lol. The baby and It's A Girl sentiments are from an old card making kit I've had kicking around my crudy was years so I mounted them onto the right hand side using sticky fixers.

I had fun making this card but I'll probably never send it out because I don't have an envelope to fit!

Well that's all my crafty news and makes so until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,
Sarah xxx

An early birthday pressie...

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook.My lovely hubby let me place an order with Clearly Besotted stamps last Tuesday and it arrived Wednesday! I continue to be amazed by this company. It's got to have the quickest order to delivery times of any internet craft company ever. To take advantage of the free P & P if you spend £50 or more I placed an order of £52.60 for 8 stamp sets and 4 dies which are my birthday present from Chris. He very kindly allowed me to have it straight away instead of waiting until the 25th so I've been able to have a bit of a play with two of the stamp sets.  My order consisted of the Notebook Edge Die @ £3.00, Geometric Style II Die Collection @ £5.50, Apple Die @ £1.50 (fits the apple stamp set I got in my first order), Wave Edge Die @ £2.60 (sale item), You're A Hoot stamp set @ £4.00, You're A Hoot II stamp set @ £4.00, Scientifically Speaking stamp set @ £9.00, Key To My Heart stamp set @ £4.00, Little Onesie stamp set @ £4.00, Just A Note stamp set @ £4.00, Dandelion Dreams stamp set @ £9.00 and Build A Bug stamp set @ £2.00 (sale item). Included in my order was a mini banners stamp set as a thank you for loyal custom over the two years that Stephanie Wincott has owned Clearly Besotted Stamps www.clearlybesottedstamps.com. Felt a little guilty for receiving this freebie as this was only my second order but also extremely pleased to get it as it has some fantastic sentiments on it and fits the mini banner die I got in my last order.

Dandelion Dreams stamp set £9.00

Scientifically Speaking Stamp set £9.00

Little Onesie stamp set £4.00 and Key To My Heart stamp set £4.00

Just A Note stamp set £4.00 and Build a Bug stamp set £2.00

You're A Hoot stamp set £4.00 and You're A Hoot II stamp set £4.00

My free stamp set!

Notebook Edge Die £3.00

Geometric Style II Die Collection £5.50

Wave Edge Die £2.60

Apple Die £1.50

To show my appreciation for the free stamp set I made a thank you card using the free stamp set and the Dandelion Dreams stamp set - I love these stamps as they are very versatile even though the dandelions aren't exactly what I'd call a dandelion clock but are very attractive in their styling.

Thank You card using Dandelion Dream 

I kept things simple by stamping the images out using black ink and added a splash of colour with polka dot red washi tape. I think I went a bit OTT with stamping out the individual seeds but it was very rather relaxing and I couldn't stop lol. I continued the seed theme on the inside of the card and went over the black ends of both the flower heads and the seeds with a black wink of stella marker. Finally I added a single coloured gem to the centre of the main flower.








The other stamp set which demanded instant use was the Little Onesie stamp set - deceptive in it's simplicity I've actually used it to make two very different style cards. My sister-in-law is due to have her baby girl on my birthday but I've a feeling she'll have it sooner than that so I wanted to have a new baby card ready for her.

This very simple card was made by stamping the onesie using Memento Black ink onto white card with the flower stamped using a purple ink (not sure of brand). The centre was coloured in using a yellow Promarker and some Dovecraft glitter glue was added to the top to add some sparkle. Once the glue was dry I fussy cut the onesie out (really easy with such a simple image) and then a It's A Girl printed sentiment was added behind it (originally from a card kit) and the whole thing was popped up on sticky pads and stuck down to the centre of a scalloped edge card blank. Crocheted lace and pink velvet ribbon was added on the right side and BABY was spelt out using embossed letters from the same card kit as the it's a girl sentiment.

The second baby card isn't quite finished yet so I'll share it with you all the next time I post. Until then - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx