Getting sorted...

I've tidied my desk up (with some help from Mam), had to really as there wasn't even an inch of space to work in, sorted out lots of little parcels for an advent swap I am taking part in and even sorted a few things out to take with me at the weekend.

I've even joined in with this weeks DCM challenge - too use a frame on a card - of course it's a Magnolia stamp and I used lots of prima flowers that I've had for a couple of years and some buttons that I've had even longer!

The new workshop is coming along nicely and now has radiator, floor, paint, cupboards and shelves and today has gone from having just one plug socket (and several adaptors) to having 12 plug sockets - perfect for all my tools and computer and radio etc.

ATCs

I haven't been up to much as I've got a cold and my head feels like it's full of cotton wool so my brain which struggles to work at the best of times is on go-slow.

I did manage to get around to photographing the ATCs that I made for a Halloween swap with some pals. You might have guessed that those Magnolia stamps would make another appearance! Heather and I swapped a few stamped images and she sent me this very cute witchy so of course I just had to use it and you can't tell on the photographs but I used the new mock twinkling H20 paints that I got this week on the orange background.

Have you seen what some of the girls over on It's A Creative World have been up to with some Bella Stamps? They have a prize draw on the go too, shame I can't enter :lol:

Perhaps I'll get around to some more craftyness tomorrow.

Over the hump...

It's Wednesday so we are over the 'hump' of the week, only 2 days to go to the weekend - hooray!!

It was our late night at school and somehow it is suddenly 8:30 without any craftyness happening in my world. Our office/workshop remodelling is coming along nicely. The walls are painted, new floor is down, half the new skirting boards are back on and my huge floor to ceiling storage unit is back in place. The benches are being ordered tomorrow and little brother is coming on Saturday to install a zillion new plug sockets. I am going to town on Saturday to buy new curtains and hopefully by the following weekend I shall have moved back in :)

I have one more Magnolia card to share that I made at the weekend, I love this stamp with her teddy bear because I am still a teddy bear type of girl!

I also wanted to say thank you to all of the people who have contacted me in the last couple of weeks, your wonderful comments, emails and PMs about my creations make me feel all gooey inside. You will never know how much they brighten my days.

Love Andrea

PS - the stamp for the back of my cards is made by Impression Obsession (I bought it at the Harrogate show I was at on Saturday but have no idea which stall it came from)

Quick card update

Another new Magnolia stamp, a very hippo-ish looking princess and I used the new cuttlebug embossing folder that I bought on Saturday
This is my new stamp I bought to create seals on the backs of my cards, totally inspired by all the Swedish cardmakers whose blogs I have been stalking who seem to put as much effort into the back of their cards as they do to the fronts - as you can see I didn't put quite so much effort into mine but I like it :)

Beginning to panic slightly now that I have realised that I'm going away on my crafty weekend with forum friends a week on Friday, I need to get sorted in my head exactly what I shall be making so that I can sort all the stash I will need to take with me - and chocolate of course!!

Pyjama Day...

A busy day today spent mainly in my pyjamas :)

Firstly the workshop update.

We now have a lovely new radiator that is wide instead of tall so that my desk can go straight back to the wall instead of having to have a hole cut out for the radiator. My toes will be lovely and warm this winter!

Today Little Brother has put down the underlay for my lovely wooden floor...

... and got the floor down. Tomorrow the new skirting boards and door frame will go on.

Whilst all this activity was going on I've been playing with paper, glue and ink all day :)

I used my lovely new Magnolia stamp to make this sweet little card and then got busy finishing tags to take with me when I go for a scrapping weekend in a few weeks time and then more tags for a swap on one of the forums I visit.

I spent a while this morning playing with my new Design Team kit from GoGoGreetings too, I was really pleased that I managed to make 4 items for the new gallery and still have oodles of bits and bobs left over.

It's the weekend...

Another week has flown by with the 'inconvenience' of having to go to work which gets in the way of being crafty!

It's been all systems go here as my brother has moved back out of my workshop and into his own rented flat and we've started to remodel our workshop room before I move all my craftyness back in. Last night was spent between IKEA and B&Q looking and measuring and planning and measuring some more and then making the plan on paper. It all seems to fit in and now we just need to get the work done. Luckily little brother has only moved to the other side of our estate as he is the handy one and he's coming this afternoon to fit a new radiator and then start ripping out the old carpet and laying my new wooden floor. Dad has already stripped the walls and we were really pleased to find that the walls are in quite a good condition so won't need plastering, just a touch of TLC.

So not a lot of craftyness going on here in my temporary workshop in the utility room. I've made a set of tags all about me for a swap with my ScrapPad friends when we go away in a couple of weeks and started another set of birthday tags for a swap with other friends. The only card I have to show you is one that was on It's A Creative World last week - I challenged myself to get out of my comfort zone and make a card for a teenage boy.

I used The Shabby Princess digi bits and bobs, Making Memories chipboard button, Pink Petticoat black and white stripes and my PSX alphabet stamps.

I'm off today to a craft exhibition at Harrogate today so hopefully I shall come back this afternoon loaded with new purchases to play with and tomorrow I have planned to get stuck into my new Design Team kit from GoGoGreetings and use the new Magnolia stamps that got delivered this week.

Love Andrea xx

Another message for Penny :)

Penny, leave me a comment with your email address. I have to moderate all comments and I won't publish it to the world - promise - and then we can chat!!

Message for Penny

Penny the snowflake is a punch by EKSuccess, I bought it last year so I'm sure it's still around in stores. I think EKSuccess made a couple of different snowflake punches and mine is the purple one.

Love Andrea xx

Sunday Cards ...

I took Mam out for a run in the car this morning to a local shop to buy ribbons - all I wanted was 2 rolls of ribbon so how come I came out £50 poorer?

Amongst my purchases was a lovely holly leaf punch so I've spent the afternoon playing.

The last card was an experiment to see if I could make a card without using any patterned paper, I did it but I'm not 100% sure of it. I think it needs something else so perhaps I'll have another play later on tonight.

Gosh - it's quiet in here...

First week back at school after the long summer holidays, most of my new class don't start until this week coming as they are only tiddlers, but we had a few in and they kept us on our toes. I've spent most nights sorting out the million things that need to be sorted when you get a new class, new classroom and new job all at the same time.

But today I have been playing, making cards :)

Lots of lovely Magnolia cards using digi papers from The Shabby Princess, Pink Petticoat and the Digi Shoppe and basic grey - get me I actually used some real life strokable papers for the Christmas card - scraps of ric rac, Kate Hadfield doodles, lovely lovely lovely chipboard buttons from Making Memories and bits and bobs of other things including glitter :)

I've also been busy doing work for It's A Creative World, I challenged myself to get out of my comfort zone, I thought I could share a sneakie-peek but sshhhhh, don't tell anyone.

And as I am being generous I thought I would show you a little sneakie-peek of the September GoGoGreetings kit.

The kit sold out almost as soon as it was released so good news for everyone who managed to get one before it was a sell out, for anyone who didn't get one you can subscribe for future months kits by visiting the GoGoGreetings site. I can't wait to show you what I made with this months kit and get my hands on next months!!

Last Day...

Last day of my holidays today. I've had 6 weeks at home (2 of them spent in Italy) and I've had a fab time but sadly it's come to an end. Back to work tomorrow so there won't be as much crafting going on - certainly no middle of the night nightowl card making sessions!!

So I thought I would spend my last day having 'yet another' pyjama day making cards :)

First are some made with Kate Hadfield's doodles:

Then I made some more Christmas cards using the new Magnolia stamps that arrived on Friday, the fourth one is a better photograph of Saturday mornings post

Finally two more cards made with the new Magnolia stamps, sepia type colours with lace - I really love these colours.

Enough for tonight, I'm off to celebrate the end of the holidays with a take away curry :)

PS - watch out over on It's A Creative World at the start of the week for a new designer joining us :)

Nearly the end of my holidays ...

I go back to school on Monday morning, a new year, new classroom, new age group, new responsibilities. I'm sure it will be just fine but I've got that 'back to school feeling' in my tummy. I've had a really great holiday, two weeks in Italy, adventures to Harrogate and Beamish as well as such a lot of lovely crafting. When I look back at what I've achieved in the last 4 weeks I am amazed at my 'industriousness', it will slow down though when I get back into school/teacher mode.

Today started off well when the postman delivered my latest Magnolia Stamps order. Some of my scrapping pals and I decided to do a big group order and share the postage so 29 stamps fell through my letterbox this morning.

I had a little play with them this afternoon and then tonight suddenly realised that I had very little white card - the basis of all my cards - so I had a quick dash down to the Metro centre (thank goodness for late night shopping) to the Papermill shop. Whilst I was there I found these cute little stamp sets, just like my Birthday set but for Christmas and at £1.49 each I couldn't pass them up.

Anyway, two cards to share with you. The first is a jolly Christmas Pudding card that I made yesterday, I think my holly leaves need working on.

Please forgive the very poor photograph of this card but it is after 1:00 am and I couldn't use my usual garden table as it is very very dark outside! This is one of the new Magnolia stamps that arrived this morning (I was very good and posted everyones orders and only kept mine, even though I wanted them all for myself!). It even fits in with the DCM challenge to use 3 die cuts (if I stretch the rules ever so slightly :lol:) Sizzix bookplate, robo cut snowflake (well it is a cutting machine) and a cuttlebug embossing die folder thingy.

Being Crafty...

...In between jobs. I've been a real housewife today - hoovered, cleaned and polished, washed, dried and hung all the clothes, shopped, cooked, tidied my workshop area as well as looking after my Mam (she's feeling quite well in herself but is still obviously quite sore) and taking her on her first walk outside - all this and I still managed to play with my GoGoGreetings September kit that arrived yesterday. The box is full of scrumptiousness and if you've ordered it you will love it :)

All that crafting I've done today is top secret so I can't share but I thought I would share some blogs that I'm frequenting.

Jen Hall

Jo Kill

Daring Cardmakers

Melissa Francis

Cards by Boop

Cindy G

Linda Aalbrecht

Taylor Vanbruggen

Just Dandy

Louly

Regina Easter

Danielle Flanders

If you have any blogs that you think I should visit and I obviously don't know about, then please leave me a comment

Love Andrea xx

Quiet day...

We've had a quiet day today, mooching in the house, a bit of crafting, eating chocolate etc. No pictures to share but I did have happy post this morning when I got a cheque from Canon for their £50 cashback promotion when I bought my new camera. So now I have the happy task of thinking of what to spend £50 on - that's roughly about $100 for all of you across the sea :) Hmmm - decisions, decisions......

A waiting kind of day....

Today my Mam has been in hospital having an operation so I've been waiting all day to get the call to go and collect her and bring her home. It has felt very odd not to have her here, knowing what was happening to her. Pleased to say though, that she's back home now, very sore but back where she belongs :)

So, what to do whilst waiting? Make cards of course!!

First up is a card made for this weeks CPS sketch challenge:

I turned the sketch on its end and then moved the stripes from the top to the bottom. The curve was too much like a hill not to make it green!

(The Shabby Princess papers, house and fence doodles by Kate Hadfield)

I cut the houses and picket fence on my robo and whilst it was chugging away I went blog browsing and came across Louly's blog - wouldn't you know she had a similar idea to me!

Next up is another card that uses Kate's doodles, I love that train! It was nice to make a card that had no reason other than because I wanted to make it!

(The Shabby Princess and Pink Petticoat papers, Doodles by Kate Hadfield, letters by the Shabby Princess)

As I was waiting and crafting and then waiting some more I visited some of my blog favourites and found this wonderful party set at Cindy's blog. So then I waited whilst buying up scrummy digi kits from Dani Mogstad Designs and making this super funky card and tag - you can't see from the photographs but the card is made of lots of layers but it was actually raining whilst I took these photographs so I wasn't going to hang around getting wet!

(Dani Mogstad and Pink Petticoat papers, Cuttlebug embossing folder, bookplate cut with sizzix die, CK Tailor Sloppy font, MAMBI alphabet stickers, Heidi Swapp chipboard star, tag cut with sizzix die)

A few people have asked where I got my Magnolia stamps from. I bought them direct from Magnolia Designs, I use Derwent watercolour pencils to colour them and Alex asked what the pink papers were that I've used. I use lots of pink Alex :) and most of the papers on my Magnolia cards are from The Shabby Princess