Ali's card making blog

I've finally got around to entering some challenges, hurrah!! I need there to be more hours in the day really, what with working full time and trying to find time for three hobbies (the card making of course, cycling and Spanish) my days (and nights) are full to say the least! Have to fit hubby in somewhere too, he he!! Anyway, back to the challenge, here is the card. Made with a cute Penny Black stickeroo (see the full sheets in my previous blog post) and lots of spotty bits and pieces! I've entered it into two challenges: 1. The Penny Black Saturday Challenge (lots of dots) 2. The my time to craft vivid greetings challenge And I've fathomed the linky thing, hurrah again!!

A couple of new things on my desk (table, still haven't got round to setting anything up in the conservatory) this week. I snaffled the stripy box from hubby, it had come from a car boot sale with playstation games in (for the ebay empire) and I thought it would be ideal storage for my stamps! I've chucked a few other bits and pieces in it too for good measure, I never seem to be able to keep to a proper system of having one kind of item in one place! The other new thing is my Penny Black stickeroos. I am using them to enter my first challenge at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge at www.pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com (sorry can't get the link thing to work!) and my time to craft http://mytimetocraftchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/05/challenge-93-vivid-greetings-cards.html Wish me luck! The other items strewn around include my ironing and once again the salt and pepper etc! I must get round to doing that ironing this Bank Holiday weekend and also sorting out the c...

I've made quite a few cards with this cute stamp which I bought at the Great Northern Papercraft Extravaganza last year but hadn't until recently realised that it would be a great image to use for a Christening card. I have to admit that it wasn't actually me that had this stroke of inspiration, it was someone at work who looking through my card box said 'do you think this would be ok for a Christening' (well I was hardly going to say no was I!!) Anyhoo, the idea grew on me and I made another card for with the elephants for the Christening of my friend's little boy. I've framed the elephants with my nesties, can't stop using my Cuttlebug ;-)

I have a confession to make about this week's photos - yes, you might have spotted that the Congratulations on passing your driving test card which is on the table was actually made on Sunday and not on Wednesday! I've been rumbled! I took the photo on Sunday this week knowing that my work desk would actually be completely empty this Wednesday as with one thing and another I haven't had any time to craft this week :-) Having had the opportunity to look (nosey) at all your desks over the last few weeks, I am keen to find somewhere in the house where I can have a permanent crafting area set up so I don't keep having to move everything! We have a four bedroom house and only the two of us, so you wouldn't think this would be too difficult?! Well, we sleep in one room, the other big room is full of clothes so no space in there, the smallest room my hubby uses for his ebay empire (he sells computer games) and this also takes up half of the final room! I also have my PC i...

I took this photo when we were at Centerparcs the other week. It isn't of real blue bells unfortunately but is of the very nice canvas which was hanging on the bedroom wall in the lodge. I love the colours and I am thinking I could print off the photograph and use it to make a card. I love it when inspiration strikes upon seeing a photo, a picture or something on my travels! I have been making quite a few floral cards recently, it must be because of all the lovely flowers which are finally coming into bloom after that long cold winter ;-) I didn't manage to fix my broken camera unfortunately, so I went to Argos at the weekend and bought a little Kodak number. Seems to work well, still experimenting with it at the moment. Here are a couple of photos of my newly renovated garden. The clematis is so happy it has room to stretch out now, it was completely choked before! The bed by the fence was completely overgrown so we had everything ripped out (with the exception of the clemati...

I was having a virtual chat with a fellow crafter yesterday about creativity. Now, I have never considered myself as a very creative person at all. At school I was always bottom of the art class and dropped it as soon as I could. I did, however always enjoy other ways of being creative, but had never really thought of them as being 'creative'. I suppose I always had the opinion that you had to be able to draw or paint to be truly creative. My school age self was however good at creative writing (seem to have lost that skill now however, or maybe not, maybe it will return as I add more blog posts lol..) knitting and cookery. The knitting has now gone as things seemed to get baggier as I got older for some reason, but I still love cooking and messing about with recipes and different ingredients in the kitchen. Last night I cooked dinner for some friends and was very proud of my pudding, tweaked from a recipe in the TV chef Jamie Oliver's book. It is meringue with peaches, cre...

Well after all the comments about my very tidy workspace last time I thought I would take a picture of it in full crafting flow this time! Still looks a bit tidy though! Basically I have to share my craft space with the dining room table so have to clear everything away whenever we want to eat which is a bit of a pain! Items you can see on the table therefore include vinegar bottle, brown sauce and salt and pepper, lol! So, one of my favourite items is on my table this week, my Sakura glaze pens, I love them they are so shiny and versatile. I've used them here on acetate with some glittery outline stickers which I had in my stash. Then I've cut them out and layered them up - here is the finished result. The card also incorporates the use of my Cuttlebug which you can see near the tv. Still a new item for me and I am loving it! I've just got some new nestabilities (labels) delivered and I was going to take a photo of them too but unfortunately I had a bit of a disaster with ...

A lovely time was had by all at Centerparcs this week, I just love it there it's so relaxing :-) We went to the Whinfell site, the one with the red squirrels, I adore them, they are so cute! Where we were staying we saw two or three each morning right outside the door so I was well chuffed! My Mum and Dad, who live in Kendal so only about half an hour away from Whinfell, came to visit us on the Wednesday. It was then it clicked that as they are going away to France for a month in their caravan (an annual thing now they are retired) on May 22nd I am going to have to crack on and make a Fathers Day card and also a birthday card for my Mum to send to them before they go. After spending some time planting things in my newly dug over garden yesterday morning, I finally got round to doing some crafting in the afternoon. I don't know about you but I find it really difficult to find ideas for male cards? Girls' cards are just so much easier to make. I had a good trawl through...

I just love daffodils, they are such a welcome sight in Spring I think. Here is a lovely vase full on my mantelpiece next to a Spring themed card which I received from my friend Kathleen on Craftrak. I love the sheep stamp, very cute :-)

Well I haven't had nearly as much time as I had hoped to get stuck into card making this weekend. We had the garden re-turfed and the overgrown shrubs dug out this week, so hubby and I set to pressure washing the patio yesterday morning. Just need to regravel the gravelled bit and plant some new plants now, photos to follow once it is finished! So, after that and also a 2 hour stint in the hairdressers yesterday there was no time left. Today I've been busy packing for our trip to Centerparcs and also took time to visit the local farmers market, yummy roast pork for tea as a result ;-) I did manage to do a couple of cards this afternoon - I've used the bunny stamp which was in my WOYWW last week to do a baby girl first birthday card for a colleague at work. I've also been playing with my nestibilities, they are great, I can't wait to own the whole set! I also saw some Spellbinders pendant dies on Create and Craft this morning, they look fabulous, but I refuse t...

Alizabethy @ http://alizabethy.blogspot.com is offering some girly candy. Do go along and have a look at her lovely blog. Open until 31st May.