Ali's card making blog

Hello all, a quick post to say Merry Christmas and to share a picture of my Christmas Tree and my strings of cards(a few handmade ones courtesy of my Craftrak friends, thank you guys!) Absolutely nothing going on with my desk this week so I haven't even taken a photo sorry (you get the tree instead!) It's way too cold to even go in the conservatory really, although I am going to have to brave it soon as a) Need to tidy it up and sweep all the paper and glitter off the floor in time for Christmas day as it is visible from the dining room! b) Need to make a 30th Birthday card Maybe if it warms up a bit in the next couple of days! Just remains for me to say I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Thank you for your visits to my blog this year and for the friendships I have made along the way :-)

I'm typing this on Tuesday night and the photos are actually from last Friday and Saturday, so hope you don't mind?! I won't have much time in the morning but have plenty of time tonight as am home alone as hubby currently stranded at work due to the snow :-( He thinks he may have to stay there all night as all the roads are closed but I am hoping not! Anyway, as you can see from the photo of my crafty corner in the conservatory, it's not really possible to stay in there for long at the moment. It hadn't been too bad with the heater on up until Friday morning and then this was the scene which greeted me - ice on the INSIDE of the windows, eek! Anyhow, I have moved back inside onto the dining room table and did manage to make a couple of cards last night (one of them in the previous post). This shot is of all my Christmas cards, just need to get on with writing them all now! If you fancy joining in the weekly snoop around other crafters' desks, pop over to J...

I've been putting the glitter away this week and getting back to stocking up on cards for other occasions, hurrah! Here is a quick one I made last night for a colleague at work, last minute card for her mother in law. I'm rather pleased with the flowers which I got from Create and Craft (don't usually do telly shopping, but couldn't resist these). They are plastic and you heat them with a heat gun and they go all curly. The only thing I'm struggling with a bit is moulding them before they go hard again, but not bad for a first attempt?! I'm going to enter this card into the following challenges: Totally Gorjuss - sketch Patties - Ribbon plus 3 embellishments (paper ribbon plus glitter, gem and ribbon bow) Off to brave the snow and ice on the way to work again now!

Yes, that's right, I have actually made a couple of cards this year without Christmas trees on! This one was made with a cute penny black stamp I got with a magazine subscription. I'm rather pleased with the result, think the gold goes well with the red :-) Loads of snow here today, not sure I will get the car out to get to work tomorrow! I was going to take a photo to show you but was too disorganised and it's gone dark now...oh well. Believe me when I say it is deep though! Just a quick post today as I have a yummy casserole cooking for tea and need to got and see to it. I am going to enter this card into the following challenges: Paper sundaes - adorn those corners Crafty Sentiments - Christmas Crafty Creations - Christmas is coming

Here we are again on a dark and cold Wednesday morning! Had to wrap up warm to pop into the conservatory earlier to take the photo! It is still ok at the moment for crafting with the heater on, in fact it gets quite cosy, but not sure what it is going to be like when the temperatures tumble further over the next few days. Well, it's all a bit of a tip this week really! I'm thinking of getting rid of the sofa and getting a table instead seeing this is what it tends to get used for nowadays. You can see more of my glittery christmas trees in the foreground, I have had such fun making those. The card on the desk is a quickie card I made last night for a bereaved colleague (made with a lovely Penny Black Stamp). Really need a good tidy up now, but think I will finish off the Christmas cards (it will be nice to make something other than Christmas cards again!) and then have a good blitz. Bit of a quick post today as have to dash off to work. Pop over to see Julia at the Stamp...

Apologies for my absences the last couple of weeks, these were due to hectic.com and then ill.com (don't worry, nothing life threatening, just one of these horrible bugs that is going around). All better now though and hopefully will get back to crafting in earnest as I really need to bottom out the Christmas cards and get back to making something different! Not that I am fed up of all the glitter and christmas trees just yet, but I think it will be getting that way soon... So, on my desk today are...drum roll...some glittery christmas trees! I am enjoying making these actually and tipping glitter all over the floor :-) (We were sitting at the dinner table the other night and I spotted glitter on hubby's cheek, oops!) The other card on my desk is a bit of a disaster, the one with the gingerbread men. I recently bought some Rangers Glossy Accents and haven't really got to grips with what I am supposed to do with it as yet (any tips would be gratefully received!) So I d...

I do seem to be having a bit of a Christmas tree theme this year (although haven't posted many of the results here so far, will have to rectify that, lol!) This card was made using a Penny Black stamp I have been using a lot and my other favourite items of the moment - card candy (can't stop sticking it all over) and my gold leaf (well silver in this case) from which I have been making sparkly, glittery 'ribbons' for many of my Christmas cards. I am going to enter this card into the following challenges: Pollycraft Monday Challenge - glittery Christmas The Crafty Pad - Christmas sparkle 2 Sisters - Christmas Ellephantastic - Xmas Penny Black Saturday Challenge - my favourite things Totally Gorjuss - traditional christmas colours Secret crafter Saturday challenge - sparkle and shine

Here is my latest Christmas Card creation, embossed baubles. I'm doing pretty well with the target of 30 Christmas cards and so far have managed 15, so half way there, hurrah! They are all different as well, despite me initially saying that I would make 4 or 5 different ones and then copy them! Today's card is made with an embossing folder from do crafts, stamped greeting, buttons which I won in a challenge, 'ribbon' made from gold leaf (I'm really enjoying playing with that :-), spotty paper left over from last year and a ribbon bow. I am going to enter it into the following challenges: A Spoonfull of Sugar - a relish to embellish Top Tip Tuesday - Christmas inspired The Crafty Pad - Challenge 96 (2 ribbons and a circle) Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge - red and gold The Stamp Man - Christmas Think that's it for now, lol!

Ok so the pic wasn't taken on Wednesday at all as you might be able to tell from the darkness outside! It was actually taken on Tuesday night and I am having to put this post on schedule as I have to be at work early in the morning, boo. Upside is I am off tomorrow afternoon, yeah! The conservatory is, I think, going to be an ok venue for crafting over the winter. I've set up my little heater and light and it is very cosy :-) The card in progress is a Birthday card for my cousin who I am seeing on Saturday. This isn't just any old meeting of a cousin you see, she has lived in Australia for years and has been living back in the UK for the last few months. I thought I had met her once when I was about 12 but she thinks we have never actually met! So I'm meeting her for the first (or second) time on Saturday. Her Birthday is on Sunday so I thought I would surprise her with one of my cards. Will upload a pic of the finished result when it is done (not quite there ...

Yes, I got busy during my week off last week and made a few more C word cards! I've still only done about a third of what I need to do though and really need to get cracking and do some more. I was rather pleased with these as they were simple to make and I think look rather effective. (I make cards for a colleague at work from time to time who likes these simple type cards, she is very easy to make for lol!) They are made using some snowflake stickers from The Range and some die cut squares using the freebie die that came with my Cuttlebug. The sentiment is from a freebie sheet I got with a magazine. I am going to enter the card into the following challenges: Sarah Hurley - Anything but red and green Top tip Tuesday 'Anything Goes' challenge Crafty Cardmakers - use a freebie I made a second, similar card with some more of the stickers, here are the pair together.

Normal service has been resumed and I am back in blog land, hurrah! It has been a very strange few weeks, we had to all reapply for our jobs at work and be assessed and interviewed and it has all been very stressful. Hence my life just really went on hold for 3 weeks and I haven't done anything else very much. You will be glad to hear that I have kept my job but I didn't get the promotion that I could have got. Still, it could have been so much worse and I really am grateful to still have a job at all in the current climate. Anyway, this week I am having a week off work to recuperate! I managed to get a a bit of card making done yesterday and my room is a tip already! I really love this Beer Monster digi stamp and have made quite a few with it. The other card is my first attempt at an easel card, not bad I don't think. Hope to get round a few more desks this week, as I'm off work I don't have any excuse not to really! Wondering what this is all about? Check out Jul...

Ooops, I've been absent for a little while, more about the reasons why later... Thankfully I have a week off work now so can get on with doing some Christmas cards as well as some more cards to top up my 'for sale' box in the office :-) This card was made with my recently purchased stencil, glitter and embossing glue. I'm pretty pleased with the results and have made a few now, some in purple and some in turquoise. Here is one of the purple ones which I am going to enter into the following challenges: A Spoon full of Sugar - Winter wonderland Craftalicious - Anything Goes Allsorts - song title (Rocking around the Christmas tree) Ellephantastic - anything goes Have a good evening people!

Have been busy with the Christmas cards, done about 10 now and as I need to do in the region of 30-35 then I think I am on track! Hubby very kindly brought me a present of several rubber stamps from the car boot sale the other weekend. This is one of them, he chose rather well didn't he?! The background is my first attempt with Cosmic Shimmer, am rather pleased with the result. I stamped the image and embossed with black embossing powder. The purple panel is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and the wire has been in my stash for yonks and haven't really used it very much! The gold stars were made with some gold leaf I got recently, am having fun playing with it. I am going to enter this card into the following challenges: The Corrosive Challenge blog - clean up the dust (on account of the wire) and The Crafty Pad - embossing Off to Barcelona tomorrow till Tuesday, yippee :-)

This is a great idea over at the Cowgirls Sunday Stamp'en challenge blog this week. Basically you make a Christmas card for a soldier to send to a loved one (no glitter as could cause safety problems - felt a bit weird making a Chrimbo card with no glitter, but I am pleased with the result!) So here is my card for the challenge which I am going to send off to the soldiers. It seems to be (I think) a US address to send it to so will check the postage at the post office (well, will get hubby to when he is sending off parcels from his ebay empire!) The card was made with a cute Penny Black stamp (coloured with promarkers) which I got as part of a set with a magazine subscription recently and some cuttlebug embossed paper. I am also going to enter the card into the following challenges: Totally Gorjuss - Wild thing (the hedgehog) Cupcake sketch challenge 2 Sisters - Christmas (also collecting cards for the soldiers, contains full explanation of the no glitter rule also!) Sarah Hu...

Hello fellow WOYWWER's! (Pop over to Julia's blog at the Stamping Ground if you have no idea what I am on about! Click on the WOYWW badge in my sidebar and it will take you there). Apols for my absence last week, it is all a bit hectic here at the moment...I am currently busy applying for jobs where I work as we are being restructured so my job as it is now won't exist anymore. Thankfully the process will be completed in a couple of weeks so that particular stress will be over. I've managed to get a bit of crafting done though, mainly spurred on by my mammoth haul from the Great Northern Papercraft Extravaganza at the weekend! I just had to get playing with all the glittery sparkly stuff I had bought so I've made a start on my Christmas cards. I'm thinking the purple glitter on the black background is perhaps a little bit dark though?! Will have to brighten this one with some gems I think and maybe just use the lighter glitter for the next one. There is b...

And here is a very cute digi image, again unfortunately can't recall where I got it from, I really am going to have to start cataloguing them properly ha ha! I had originally started with a sketch (from spoonfull of sugar) but it kind of went a bit awry! Also, the colour scheme was originally going to be purple, brown and cream for another challenge, until I realised this was the for the penny black challenge and this definitely wasn't a penny black image, oops! Anyway, thanks to those two blogs for the initial inspiration, I am now going to enter this into the following challenges: Something cute at stamp something and Anything goes at Cowgirl's sunday stamp challenge

I came across the Postpals website via Daring Craftmakers blog and thought it was a fab idea! You basically make a card (or send a letter, or even a gift, whatever you want really) to a poorly child on the website. So here is my first stab at making a card to send via the website. I decided I preferred my 'For you' stamp as opposed to thinking of you. Daring Craftmakers are also offering a prize from the Ribbon Girl for this little bit of giving challenge. I hope this post inspires others to make and send a card also, there are some truly inspirational stories on the postpals site.

Yes, I know, we say it every week!! And it's 1st September (and looks like summer is finally starting, ha ha). I've just had a lovely weekend off with hubby and managed to get a fair bit of card making in too. And, drum roll... I found my Christmas rubber stamps from last year!! They were in the cupboard under the stairs (see the photo of what I had to rummage through to find them!) obvious place for them really! I know they don't look like very much (it was only my first Christmas as a cardmaker last year) but it was the sentiment ones I wanted to find mainly. So my room looks a total tip today (well yesterday afternoon) after the cardmaking marathon (OK I only made about 8 or 9 but that is a marathon for me!) I've been doing cards for the hubby's anniversary and grannies birthdays (see my previous post) but have also managed to find time to do some for the for sale box at work and also a couple of christmas cards. (And I didn't even use the stamps, so m...

Here is a card I have made for my Gran (in law - I was allowed to adopt her as my granny as had mine still been alive they would both be 110!!) She will be 80 on 15th September. I've also made one for my other Gran in law who shares the same Birthday, how spooky is that! (She is a bit older than 80, about 84 or 5 I think now). Hubby's Birthday is the 16th and then our wedding anniversary is the 18th so I've been a bit busy with the cards, lol! This one is made with one of my floral stamps, stamped with purple ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. The dragonfly stamp is a Penny Black one. Cuttlebug embossing going on in the background and the paper buttons were a freebie with a magazine. I'm entering this card into the following challenges (shame there wasn't one for embossing a lot lol!): Craftalicious - purple and green Pollycraft-add a little nature Craft your days away - wings (the dragonfly) I was going to enter it for a sketch challenge too but...

I've had a very busy weekend crafting and another day to go today, woo hoo! No work till tomorrow :-) We are off for a walk in the beautiful countryside of North Yorkshire this morning (better wrap up warm, it's freezing!) and then it will be time for more card making this afternoon, might even do some Christmas cards! So what have I been busy making? You might have spotted this new stamp on my desk last week if you are a follower of the WOYWW posts. It is one of the new ones from S.W.A.L.K and I thought it would be perfect for hubby for our 11th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks time. I've been having a good play with the CD rom that I got with the stamps too, I love the papers and the verses (as I am rubbish at writing my own!) I'm entering the card into the following challenges: Just inspirational - Sketch and C.R.A.F.T - Anything goes (the celebration being the anniversary) Better go and dust off my trusty trainers ready for the walk, more cards later!

Here is the card I have made for hubby's birthday in a few weeks time (shhh...) I have used a digi stamp (can't recall where from sorry!, coloured with promarkers and backed with paper of my Funky Hand Dreams Come True CD. Finished off with a few gems and a sentiment. Hubby really is a beer monster in real life so hopefully he will like it ;-) I am entering this card into the following challenges: August digi day at Stamp Something Challenge 8 at Just Inspirational (going to the pub being the hobby/activity/entertainment) and Cupcake's blue and green challenge

Will have to be a short post today as it has taken the grand total of 20 minutes to actually manage to get on the internet, grrr! I have exactly 5 minutes left now before I have to get ready to go to work :-( So what's going on today? (Well, last night, the photos were taken about 7pm and how flipping dark and dreary was it outside?!) New stamps from S.W.A.L.K, that's what! The only thing is they are larger than I thought they were going to be and I only have one acrylic block currently (yes people, just one!) which unfortunately was too small. Therefore, I've improvised a bit and used an old CD box (Depeche Mode, showing my age!) The result wasn't too bad, but I think I will have to go and get a bigger block at the weekend, more shopping, hurrah! If you are wondering what WOYWW is all about, check out Julia's blog at the Stamping Ground for all the info - just click on the badge on my side bar. Have a great week and enjoy the crafting opportunities over the B...

I've made this card for yet another person leaving from where I work! Seems there won't be many of us left if this carries on ;-0 I've used my buttefly stamp as the main element of the card and had another go at paper piecing. I'm very pleased with the result. The butterfly paper is from a book of papers I got from the 'book man' at work. There are some quite unusual papers in it, so watch this space for more cards made from it. The scalloped circles at the back of the card were done using my nesties dies. I'm entering this card into the following challenges: Charisma - die cuts Sweet Something - sketch Have a good rest of Sunday!

Here is another card I made for a male relative - well it was made for the male relative but from hubby's gran rather than from us, I'm not quite old enough to have a grandson myself lol! The card is as simple design and is made from some glitzy peel offs I had in my stash. I am going to enter this into the Ellephantastic Challenge 8: Male Project . Off up to Durham now for a night out with my bestest friend, hopefully won't be too hungover tomorrow, lol!

Here is a cute little card I have made for my friend to give to her mum who has recently been promoted to being a senior usher (not sure if that is the correct term!) at Durham Cathedral. The card is made with a Lily of the Valley printed image, funky hand papers which I got free with a magazine, two different ribbons and two flowers which I got in the pile of stash from the car boot sale the other week! I'm going to enter this card into the Cupcake Craft Challenge - two papers, two ribbons and two flowers.

Wednesday again! If you don't know what WOYWW is all about by now then check out Julia's blog at the Stamping Ground - click on the WOYWW badge on the sidebar of my blog. Well, Dad loved the mini book I'm glad to say. We had a lovely day over in the Lakes with my Mum and Dad and some old friends who came along for the party. Here is a picture of my Dad with his cake (not made by me I'm sorry to say). He enjoys cycling, hence the cyclist coming down the hill on the cake! So, what's going on with my desk this week? These photos were actually taken last night. I was making a card for a friend and then when I finished that I was having a bit of an experiment with my Promarkers having looked up some of the tutorials kindly recommended to me by fellow WOYWWers. My first attempt at skin colouring makes her look like she has had an accident with fake tan! So I gave up with that one and started a second with lighter colours. I'm rather pleased with the result. ...

Cards for men are always so difficult aren't they? I've made a few lately so thought I would share my ideas. This was one that I made for hubby's uncle's birthday. He is a bit of a wine buff so I used this wine bucket decoupage which I have had in my stash for some time. The stringy ribbon stuff was off a parcel my mum gave me! I'm getting very good at recycling such things now. I am going to enter this into the Cards for Men challenge 17 . I'll post a few more later

Wednesday again, how quickly it comes round! This week I have been mainly colouring as I have been stocking up on Promarkers. (Cowling and Wilcox are selling the packs of 5 half price till 22nd August, I've just ordered another 3 packs on top of the 2 they have already sent me!) I really need to have a lesson on using them though as I was never an artist and am tending to just colour in more or less solid blocks, so could do with a lesson on light and shading! Yes, that is also a Christmas card you can see on my desk! There were so many very organised bloggers I had seen that I was shamed into making a start! There were quite a few Christmassy bits in the haul of stash I got from the car boot sale the other week, so I emptied them all out and had a play. I'll show you the snowman card again when it is finished! The only slight problem is I can't find where I have hidden all my Christmas stamps from last year, any ideas?! There was a Professor of Findology on BBC bre...

I can't believe my Dad will be 70 on Saturday! Doesn't seem five minutes since his 60th (or his 50th come to that!) My parents live over in Kendal in the Lakes and we are zooming over there on Saturday morning (complete with cake) for a bit of a party with some friends my Mum has invited who I haven't seen for a long time, so really looking forward to it. So here is the long awaited birthday minibook for my Dad. It's my first attempt at a project like this so I'm not sure how good it is really but hopefully he will like it! I had really wanted to do a kind of 'This is your life' but my Mum has most of the photos over in Kendal and I wasn't organised enough to get her to send me some! So I've used what I had available. I'm pretty pleased with the results, especially the page with the pictures of me on as well! Sorry the pictures are a little bit blurry, I'm rushing a bit this morning (and I'm a bit blurry myself too)!