Hello everyone :)

I'll hopefully be back before too long with a proper post... you know, one with actual pictures of crafty-ness in it!! ;) ...but, for now, I just wanted to pop in and wish anybody who's still reading my little blog a Happy Christmas... I hope you all have a wonderful time however you're spending it!! :)

xxx

Spotty, dotty CBS Love Hearts... :)

Hello there folks!! :)

How are you all doing? Hope everyone's well and enjoying the lovely weather we've been having?! I have very much enjoyed it but the heat does ramp up the M.E. symptoms a bit so my body's been on even more of a go-slow lately and I have just had to take it easy... hence my lack of posts!!lol But... I'm here at last with a quick last-minute card for the second Clearly Besotted challenge, which is 'Seeing Spots'...

I played with the fab Love Hearts set and matching dies for this one and made another coloured blank with my Papermill cardstock :) I've never been the world's biggest fan of red in any area of life/aesthetics but I am definitely coming around to it in crafting and think a pop of red with black & white is a fairly firm favourite colour-combo for me these days :)

I die cut the negatives first then fixed the two separately stamped hearts behind the panel with foam pads, then added a bit of Xmas Red Stickles for a bit of interest and sparkle!! :)

{The List}

A6 top-fold card blank and white card - Black Smooth and White Linen from Papermill Direct

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Love Hearts and matching dies

Inks - Memento - Tuxedo Black, London Fog, Ladybug

Twine form The Ribbon Girl

Xmas Red Stickles

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: Clearly Besotted Challenge #2 - Seeing Spots :) ; ATSM - Addicted to CAS :) ; Addicted to CAS - Glitter :)

Well, I did say it would be a quick post and I'm in need of a rest as I've been as busy as the heat's allowed the last few days with a wedding card order- which I have had on my to-do list for what feels like forever but have been totally creatively-blocked on as the colours were so far out of my comfort zone (bright pink, yellow and orange!!lol)- and I finally finished it last night (Yay!!) but it has worn me out so I'm off to my bed!! Would've been there already but I have been attempting to show my mum how to use her new mobile- which is actually my old one as she dropped hers and broke it last week and I was ready for an upgrade... this way we're both getting 'New' phones- though mum's done better out of the deal on the price front having the hand-me-down!!lol So... thanks for stopping by and I'll hopefully be back before too long!! :)

Life after Google Reader... :( :(

Hello everyone!! :)

Just a quick little post to point out the options for following my lil' blog if , like me, you are a Google Reader user and will be being left bereft (and more than a tad annoyed- why oh, why, Google!!?!!) when Reader disappears very soon...

I have added buttons on my sidebar to follow My Crafty Life with Feedly (my tool of choice for the moment- the best of the bunch for me, though still not up to par with Google Reader :/ ) and Bloglovin'. There is also the option to subscribe by email and I have created a Facebook page which my blog posts to so you can follow on there if you like, too (button also on my sidebar by my Pinterest link) :) Phew... so many options... !! ;)

I envy those of you who just use your Blogger Dashboard to keep up with the blogs you follow... as far as I can tell, that won't be affected at all and so all will stay nice and simple!! I had to switch to Google Reader when I started reading blogs on my phone and found it so much better that I never went back to the Dashboard... ah, well... we'll all make do, I guess!! :S

If you've read to the end of this then 'Thank you!!' for liking my little blog enough to care!! :) Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!! :)

More butterflies... more CBS... obsessed?! Me?! Never!! ;D

Hi again folks!! :)

I'm back again with another quick card for the Clearly Besotted challenge..

This one's very simple with a layout I had seen a lot around blogland and just had to try- I am loving negative die cuts atm and the asymmetry of this really appeals to me, too!! :)

I chose a lovely piece of First Edition paper which was pretty enough without needing any extra help from me beyond a little edging in the same blue ink as the butterfly to tone it in, and a couple of my fav CBS Butterflies for the focal point... as I said, very simple... but I like it!! :)

{The List}

A6 top-fold cream card 

Clearly Besoted Stamps - Butterfy Wishes stamp set and matching dies

Inks - VersaMagic - Aspen Mist, Malted Mauve

Paper - First Edition Spring Feast

MFT Die-namics Fish Tail Flags Stax banner die

Woodware Clear Magic Jane's Script sentiment

Gems - 2mm and 3mm from DoCrafts/Anita's

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: Clearly Besotted Challenge #1 - Anything Goes :) ; Cas-ual Fridays - Over the Edge :)

Wow- another uber-short post... helps (not the right word, but you know what I mean!) that I'm crashing a bit atm M.E.-wise and feel like my arms are going to fall off if I type more!! :S lol Basically, I am desperate to craft but not up to it and so seeking distraction in blogging and stash buying... when I should probably be resting!! Oooops!! :S lol Anyway, have a lovely weekend, everyone, and I hope you're all well!! :)

You Passed!!

Hello again folks!! :)

I'm back again (so soon- what's going on!?!lol) with another quick card for the Clearly Besotted challenge..

This one is, fairly obviously, a well done kind of card and I used a few different CBS sets and another great coloured card blank made from the card I got from Papermill Direct a little while ago... I just love how different a look a coloured blank can give!! :)

I had fun stamping this panel... I'd seen a lot of this type of design around and had been dying to have a go... the CBS stamps are perfect for it!! :) And also got to play with my MFT Notebook edge die which I'm loving and a few fab Star die-cuts a friend sent me... these have really been soooo useful!! :)

{The List}

A6 top-fold card blank  and white card - Midnight Blue Smooth and White Linen from Papermill Direct

Stamps - Clearly Besoted Stamps - Just a Note,  Many Thanks and Framed Sentiments

Inks - Memento - London Fog, Ladybug, Danube Blue, Summer Sky, Angel Pink

Dies - MFT Die-namics Notebook Edge border die

Star die-cuts from a friend - from Simon Says Stamp, I think, and I love them!! :)

Gems - 2mm and 3mm from DoCrafts/Anita's

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: Clearly Besotted Challenge #1 - Anything Goes :) ; ATSM - Addicted to CAS :) ; MMCS - Dies, Dies, Dies :)

Right, that's me done again... d'you think I'm getting the hang of this shorter posts thing a little!?!lol Hmmm... not sure it'll last knowing me, though!!lol Hope you are all okay and have a lovely weekend despite the weather!! :)

Happy Sepia Everything...

Hi everyone!! :)

I am finally back with a post I have been wanting to write since Monday when the first Clearly Besotted Stamps Challenge launched... my body has been letting me know in no uncertain terms that a haircut and two trips out into the sunshine in the space of five days is a pace it does not like, however, so rest has been mandatory :S I am very happy to be able to join in with the challenge now though and these cards are my first (yes, there will- hopefully!!- be more before it closes!! :)) entries...

As regular readers of my lil' blog can probably guess, I made these just after the sepia FlexMarker experiments in this post... I had both the pens and the stamps still on my desk and just thought that the combination could be a good 'un... and I think I was right... room for improvement with the colouring, but I do very much like the results!! :)

A bit of a closer view below... I do like this Sunkissed Pink tone of FM with the sepia look... and  added a little green underneath the beiges on the stem for the 'Just for You' card which I think made a nice difference :)

{The List}

A6 top-fold cream card blanks plus extra card for image panels

Stamps - Clearly Besoted Stamps - Happy Everything and Spring Blooms (for 'HB' sentiment)

Woodware Clear Magic - Salutations (for 'JfY' sentiment)

Inks - VersaMagic Jumbo Java

WOW! Clear Semi-dull Embossing Powder

FlexMarkers -  Sandstone, Champagne, Linen, Antique White, Sunkissed Pink, Meadow Green and Blender (I think- apparently I didn't write a seperate list so having to make an educated guess from my Gorjuss cards list!)

Papers - scraps from First Edition's Spring Feast pad

X-cut Scalloped Border punch (including 'waste' piece for inverted scallops)

Cosmic Shimmer Pearl Glue - Milk Chocolate

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: Clearly Besotted Challenge #1 - Anything Goes :) ; ATSM - Addicted to CAS :)

Okay, I'm off to link up... and I'll hopefully be back fairly soon... I have many more CBS cards to share- discovering Steph's fab company has been very good for my creativity... maybe a little less good for my bank balance (new dies, anyone... OMG!!!) but hey-ho, we won't talk about that!!lol Thank you for all your comments on my last posts and I hope you are all well... and not too cold and damp... blummin' British weather... still, at least the garden's getting a good drink the easy way!! ;)

Grunge Me...

Hello!! :)

I have a quick little card from my stash of newly edited pics to share with you today... 

I made this quite a few weeks back with the fab Papertrey Grunge Me set- which I have loved since first seeing it over on Susan's Simplicity blog a long while ago and finally got my hands on when my lovely friend Rach added it (and a few other bits!!lol) to her order for me earlier this year-thank you hon!! :)

I whipped this up *very* quickly when I was in need of a creativity fix and dying to play with my new stamps but feeling pretty ill- just a card blank and some inks, nice and simple- and I wasn't too sure about it to start with... I still don't think I did the fabulous stamps, Susan's inspiration or even myself much justice with it but it has grown on me a little in the intervening weeks so I thought I would share it anyway!lol

{The List}

A6 top-fold white card blank

Papertrey Ink Grunge Me stamp set

Memento ink pads - Summer Sky, Paris Dusk & London Fog

Cat's Life Press sentiment

VersaFine ink pad in Onyx Black and WOW! Clear Semi-dull EP

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: A Passion for Papeprtrey - Going 'Round in Circles :) ; Simon Says Stamp - Masculine/Father's Day :) ; The Hobby House - Anything Goes :) ; Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes :)

Well that's it for today- remarkably short and sweet for me but there's a lot to catch up on here as I have got very little done this week due to *finally* managing to feel well enough/ache-free (relative term :S) enough to get my hair cut then needing to recover plus a trip or two down into the garden to enjoy the lovely sunshine... want to go and sit out in it again today really but the aforementioned 'To Do list' and the general exhaustion of all that activity last week is telling me I really shouldn't :S Ah well!!lol Hope you are all well and enjoying the lovely weather too!! See you soon, I hope!! :)

Butterfly Wishes...

Hello folks!! :)

Well, with the aid of my new and much, much zippier netbook/notebook, I have been catching up with editing the huge stash of card pics that have been building up recently... the snail-like pace of my old netbook made editing photos sooo difficult that I could hardly bare to try as I could only get through just a couple before my energy levels/eye/head pain made me have to stop :S ... and that's not even mentioning all the unmentionable things I've uttered (or screeched?!) in sheer frustration at it over the last year!! ;D Anyway, much better now and, as I now have quite a queue of cards to share, I thought I should get on with it!! So here is one I made a month or so ago for my lovely friend Elaine's birthday...

 This is a very different looking card for me... the deep coloured card base, busy patterned papers etc., but I was so pleased with how it turned out!! :) And as any of you who know Elaine will know- butterflies were, of course, obligatory!! :)

I used a whole host of new stash on this card- MFT flag dies, papers, gorgeous purple cardstock for the base card and the fab CBS Framed Sentiments stamp set I had been dying to get my hands on... and which fits pefectly in my fav Nesties- yay!! :) - along with my fav CBS Butterfly dies... 

I used my new Fishtail Flag die for the sentiment, running it through my 'bug twice to get the shaping at both ends... love this soo much and have done it many times since!!lol

{The List}

A6 Top-fold card blank- Purple Grape from Papermill Direct

Papers- Teresa Collins Fabrications (free gift with Cardmaking & Papercraft mag last month)

Dies - Clearly Besotted Stamps Butterfly Wishes, Nesties Labels 18, MFT Die-namics Fishtail Flags Stax

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Framed Sentiments and Spring Blooms (sentiment)

VersaMagic Inkpads - Wheat, Tea Leaves and Purple Hydrangea & Perfect Plumeria mixed on stamp to get colourmatch with papers

2mm gems from Anita's/Docrafts

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes (so long as multiple entries are allowed?) :) ; The Ribbon Girl - Use A Die-cut :) ; The Hobby House - Anything Goes :)

Thank you for stopping by today and for any comments... I so miss blogland when I have to take a break... but hopefully I'll be back again before too long this time!! :) Hope you're all well and get to enjoy our lovely taste of summer this week!! I have my hairdresser coming tomorrow afternoon so can't afford the energy to go outside today and may not make it before the weather turns depending on how much it takes out of me and how long it takes to recover but it's so nice just to be warm and have the lovely sunlight through the windows anyway!! :)

Clean & Simple Characters - Clean & Simply Gorjuss...

Hello there!! :)

Well, I'm finally back after another unintended hiatus from blogging... have still been crafting though, so plenty to share with you!! :) Starting with the first post in my new little personal challenge series inspired by the lovely Jen :) I mentioned here that around the same time as Jen started her fab CAS Mondays with LOTV, I had also been having a craft-space sort out and realised anew just how many character stamps I had and how little use they were getting recently within my recent CAS stamps/inks/dies phase... and so, following Jen's lead, I decided I would set myself a little challenge too... and to keep me motivated, I thought I'd make it a series on my lil' blog...

... I am calling it Clean & Simple Characters and the idea is to still make CAS cards which are relatively quick and easy to put together but which also include all my lovely character images and give my ProMarkers and FlexMarkers a bit of use... until I started this they had barely been out of the box all year!! :S

I have been wanting to give sepia colouring with my PMs/FMs a go for a while since I saw my lovely friend, Elaine, making some fab cards this way and I decided to restrict myself to just the colours I have in my FlexMarkers to keep it all as simple as possible... I started with this lovely Gorjuss Girl stamp I got a little while ago, from the new DoCrafts GG range, and hadn't used yet (as the size of it threw me a tad to be honest- it's huge!!lol) and, until I had the CAS idea, I hadn't been able to work out what I could do with it...

... and I had so much fun that I went on, over the next few days, to colour my other three Gorjusses and a Simply Sassy in the same way, too, (along with a couple of flowers which I'll share soon but don't fit the series)!! :)

 This one was the first GG I got from Sugar Nellie years ago and is still my favourite... I just think she is so pretty with her little flowers :)

I embossed all the images with WOW! semi-dull powder before colouring and added a little Antique Linen Distress Stickles to them at the end :)

The frames on these two were leftovers/waste from some kraft squares I cut ages ago but saved as I thought they'd make great frames... nearly chucked them a few times as they were getting on my nerves on my desk but glad I didn't now!!lol

And for this last one, I pulled out a fab Simply Sassy stamp which I've had for ages and really love but, for some strange reason, hasn't been used that much... like the GGs, she was a dream to colour in this way and I had fun- and possibly got a tad carried away!!lol- playing with some teeny hearts and stars from CBS to make a bokeh-ish background for her :)

{ The List }

Cream card blanks (top- fold A6 and 5" Square) and more cream card from stamping on

Stamps - Simply Gorjuss - New Heights from Do Crafts

Gorjuss Girls - Poppy Fields, Little Goth Girl and Sitting from Sugar Nellie

Simply Sassy - Luv a Latte by Krista Smith from Sugar Nellie

VersaMagic Ink pad in Jumbo Java

Wow! Clear Matte Semi-dull embossing powder and heat tool

FlexMarkers - Rosewood, Auburn, Saddle Brown, Nutmeg, Cappuccino, Sandstone, Light Fawn, Champagne, Linen, Antique White, Sunkissed Pink

Button Twine and Seam Binding - Brown and Rose Petal from The Ribbon Girl

Clearly Besotted Many Thanks stamp set and VersaMagic inks in Wheat and Sahara Sand for hearts and stars background on Luv a Latte card

Sentiments - Poppy Fields card- Woodware Clear Magic Salutations

Sitting card- Papermania Honey and Hugs set

Little Goth Girl and Luv a Latte cards- LOTV Tags stamp sheets

Antique Linen Distress Stickles

Sakura Clear Stardust pen

I'd like to enter all but the first of these into the Sugar Bowl - Anything Goes challenge :) and the rest into: Passion for ProMarkers - Ribbon, Lace or Twine :) ; Addicted to Stamps - Make Your Mark :) ; Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes :)

Well, that's the first post- and the first *five* cards- in my little Clean and Simple Characters series... I love the sepia look and limiting my colour palette definitely helped the process go more quickly and feel much more relaxed... I have a lot more images I think would look great in sepia but I'd also like to try some other restricted palettes... and it was so much fun to play with my images and pens again!! :) Thank you again Jen for the inspiration!! :) My challenge is just for me- no linky or anything like Jen's) and it will be an 'as and when' kind of thing but I hope that it might be fun to read and maybe even inspire a few people to have a go and mix those character with CAS!! :)

Thanks for stopping by today and for reading this v long post (I was going to post all the cards seperately but it seemed daft to spend energy on several different posts when they'd all be so similar!!lol)... hope you enjoyed it anyway!! :) I'm not sure when I'll make it back but I hope it won't be too long :) Hope everyone's okay and had a lovely long weekend... I got to meet Jen who came to visit and we chatted like we'd known each other forever so I had a fab weekend- thanks hon!! :D :D