Ali's card making blog

Wow, doesn't time fly when you are having fun! Can't believe I haven't posted for 3 months! Haven't really been doing that much crafting either unfortunately :-( Life is just too busy at the moment! I did manage to make the card you can see on my desk recently though. I've been playing with alcohol inks after a crafting friend recommended them. I'm rather pleased with how this card has turned out :-) My jeans weren't too pleased though when I squirted purple alcohol ink all over them, oops! Still, it has given them a new look, ha ha! The other thing on my desk today is some digi stamps from a magazine. I was looking for something suitable for hubby - big Birthday coming up in a few weeks along with our Wedding Anniversary, so I need to get cracking! I rather like these digis as quite a few designs suitable for the men in our lives :-) So, if you fancy a nosey round some other desks, visit Julia at the Stamping Ground to see what WOYWW is ...

Morning fellow WOYWWers! Well I'm still struggling to balance work, new second home and card making, but I have managed to attend a couple of local classes recently and also managed to spend a couple of hours making cards on Sunday, hurrah! The results you can see on my desk. Feel like I've lost my mojo a bit though as because I haven't been at my desk for so long I can't remember where anything I need actually is, lol! A couple of photos of said house for you also now we have some furniture! The wood floor you can just about see in the photo of the living room is now sanded and is going to be varnished by my own (probably very sticky!) hands over the weekend! I'm also planning a bit of a revamp of the curtains in the same room although sewing really isn't my strong point. Will share the results if they aren't too bad ;-) So, if you have no idea what WOYWW is all about, pop over to Julia's blog at the Stamping Ground and check it out. PS APOLS TO ALL MY...

It's been a while! Have very busy with the house renovations as mentioned in my last post some time ago! Will take some photos this weekend now it actually has some furniture in it. It's not quite finished yet, still got living room floor to sand and varnish, curtains to alter and skirting boards to finish painting (boy am I sick of the smell of gloss!) but it's getting there! On to the desk, I've finally managed to get a bit of time to do a few cards. There is also a new addition to the room as the infamous sofa is now in the York house temporarily until new sofas arrive (then it is going to sofa heaven, sniff :-( So I've invested in a new table/desk thing from Ikea. It's great having my Cuttlebug in the same room as everything else instead of having to head off to the dining room constantly! The card I'm making is for a friend's Birthday. My mojo seems to have disappeared a bit, mainly because I can't find anything not having crafted for a w...

I thought I should explain my absence recently, you see we have been somewhat busy (no excuse really I know!) We have just purchased a second home (sounds extravagant but we had some money saved up and it wasn't doing very much just sitting in the bank!) and are now in the process of painting and decorating everything in sight! We completed on 4th Feb and it has just been one big whirlwind of painting, shopping (:-)) and fixing broken boilers (;-( - well, hubby fixed it, not me!) The house is about an hour from where we live (we live on Teesside) and the house is on the outskirts of the lovely city of York. Looking forward to lots of weekends down there as the spring arrives :-) So I haven't done any crafting whatsoever (unless you count glossing skirting boards?! Maybe I should stick some sequins on?!) but I am intending to do a little bit of crafty stuff in the house, although I'm not the world's best sewer! I'm definitely going to do something with the plain...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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. ...

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...

Wednedsday again and I haven't posted since last Wednesday, oh dear I'm slipping! Despite having two days off work Monday and Tuesday I still don't seem to have done all that much crafting. I have been concentrating mainly though on a mini book for my Dad for his 70th and have completed six pages of that so I suppose that counts as at least six cards! It's not quite finished yet but I promise to share it when it is. It's the first scrapbook type thing that I've ever made, so not as professional looking as some I have seen, but hopefully he will like it. My craft space is getting messier by the day, it really needs a tidy up I think! I've taken a picture of the conservatory from the outside as a few people last week weren't familiar with the English love of these constructions! Ours is not a posh UPVC one though which the majoirity are, it is basically a wooden shack with windows, ha ha! For those of you who were concerned about me overheating last ...

Not much going on this week really apart from some untidiness around the sofa area, I really need to have a tidy up! There are quite a few sequins everwhere (although you probably can't see them!) as I emptied out some that I got in my car boot sale haul last week. I didn't actually use any, just emptied them out all over! I've had to pull the blinds down on the windows as my desk was getting too hot, don't worry though I always open them to craft so I can see the garden. I still seem to be struggling to find time to do much crafting at the mo. Managed to finish the 30th Birthday card that was in progress last week (see below). I'm having Monday and Tuesday off work next week to have a bit of a rest so I have to get some crafting done then. It's my Dad's 70th birthday in a couple of weeks so I need to sort out a special card for that and also yet another card for someone at work (leavers card this time) I'm sharing the conservatory at the moment wi...

Can't believe it is Wednesday yet again! Lots going on on my somewhat messy desk this week! I've had a bit of a bargain haul from one of the local car boot sales, still going through it all and finding out what I've got! Hubby goes round the car boot sales on a regular basis to help feed the ebay empire. I was just relaxing on Sunday when he called to say there was a lady selling craft stuff for 20p per item so I thought I'd go and have a look. I got quite a few bits and pieces (mainly papers and ribbon, plus some rather funky sequins you can just about see in the top right of the photo) from her. I also had a wander about and found another lady selling a box crammed with craft stuff for £5! I managed to get her down to £4 and it was definitely worth it, it was crammed with card, paper, gems, ribbon, stamps, stickers, the lot! The box is in the second photo, I've taken the ribbon and gems out now but the papers and card are still all in there. Now I just nee...

Hello all, here I am back from my holidays in sunny (very sunny!) Norfolk. Actually I've already been back a week but with the heat last week I didn't really feel like doing much when I got in from work, hence no post from me for the last WOYWW. The holiday was lovely, we stayed in a little cottage in a country village and did lots of cycling. We also went to the beach quite a bit too. Oh, and we ate loads of food, some of it a bit strange...here is a photo of some 'Iffits' (apparently this is Norfolk's answer to tapas). The delicacy on the right of the picture is pigs ears! Much nicer than they sound, honest (you really aren't convinced are you?!) Anyway, back to my desk for this week. I've been having a bit of a penny black stickeroo fest this week. I've had them in my stash for a while and thought they would be perfect for 'Thank you teacher' cards to sell at work. I also made a cute good luck card with a colouful hedgehog and some br...

Well it's that time of the week again, comes around quick doesn't it?! I'm writing this very early on Wednesday morning (well, very early for me, 7.40am, others tell me this isn't very early at all!) as I have a bit more time this morning. Unfortunately the reason for having a bit more time is not that fantastic, I'm going to the dentist :-( Only for a check up but I hate going due to my overly sensitive stupid teeth! So, what's on my desk this week? Not that much has changed since last week really as what with hubby getting a new toy (Mazda MX5) and me going away to visit a friend at the weekend, I haven't had that much time for crafting. I managed to do an hour or so last night so took the photos then. On the desk you can see a couple of Craftrak cards, one is an 'England' themed card for the World Cup - better get it sent before we get knocked out (please don't lynch me, my theory is if I am very sceptical and negative then maybe I will b...

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 ...