Long time no see!

I know, I could give you a speel about very busy, no time .... which is very true but also, to be honest I've been lazy too. :D  I've had a quiet summer crafting wise having bought a static caravan and having fun in that.  Plus I've been actually crafting for me a little by slowly making a king sized patchwork quilt! But now it's coming round to Christmas season and the bookings for fairs are coming in thick and fast.  I've just scared myself with the number I had booked as I was filling in the section in the sidebar!

Wed 26th October ADLA Christmas Shopping Evening, Ayr Racecourse 6.30 to 9.30

Sat 5th November Ayrshire Arts & Crafts Fair, Troon Concert Hall 11 to 4.30.

Saturday 19th November Ayrshire Hospice Fair, Ayr Racecourse

Sunday 20th November Galston Christmas Market

Thursday 24th November Garden Rose Primary School Fair, Maybole 6 to 8pm

Sunday 27th November St Patrick's PS Christmas Fair, Walker Hall, Troon

Wed 30th November Queen Margaret Academy Christmas Fair 6 to 8pm

Thur 1st December Doonfoot Primary School Christmas Fair 6 to 8pm

Sat 3rd December Ayrshire Arts & Crafts Fair, Troon Concert Hall

Sunday 4th December Dean Castle Country Park Christmas Fair, Kilmarnock

Sat 10th December Christmas in Catrine.

 

 

See what I mean?!!

 

Now I need to find my camera which has photos on to upload and show you what I'm up to this year. :) - Soon - I promise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 21st!

 

 

The fantastic Ann Prescott who makes beautiful quilts, cushions and other fabric crafts to sell at Ayrshire Arts & Crafts ordered 21st birthday cards for her children.  James is fanatical about a computer game (can’t remember which one as it’s too old for my kids to play!) and so I based the card on that.

 

 

Anne found it very easy to choose one for Rachel as she’d seen the patchwork cards on my my website! Very apt as that’s Ann’s expertise! I personalised it by putting ‘Rachel is 21’ round the happy birthday in the corner.

 

I had an email from Ann the other day saying they were delighted with the cards – especially James.

Confirmation & Communion Congratulations

 

Along with the invites I was asked to make several special cards for the communicants.  One was for a lady being baptised and making her first communion.

Then the girl’s design was this one:

 

And the boy’s:

 

The stamp set used was again the special blessings and also, for the top one I broke out my old Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps.  I should use these more often as they’re fun to use and very difficult to get poor results from!  In fact I have some more ladies birthday cards to make for the stall so I know exactly what I’m going to use!!

Back again?!

This time just to let you know that I’ll be having my stall at Eaglesham Fair on Saturday, along with Mairi from Oscar Cat Creations (I bet she has some daleks and ferrets just waiting for you to adopt!!) and Sheila from Treasure Trails.  Come along and have a great day full of fun at the fair!

Calm is returning!

The last few weeks have been hectic – it was the first holy communion and confirmation for the children in DD’s class so I’ve had invitations and cards to make for that, medals to make for the boys, prayer cards etc not to mention my DD having a special blessing – wearing the full communion outfit and then the parties afterwards!  It’s lovely that the non-catholic children are included in every part of the service, and they just receive a blessing rather than communion itself.

So today I have a couple of the invitations that were ordered to show you.  The wording was done on the pc, the cross is part of the Special Blessings set by Stampin Up.

More birthdays!

Remember the other day I showed you Laura's card and I said I made it at midnight the night before the party? Well a couple of weeks earlier I was even closer to the deadline for no one but 2 birthdays! Why do I do this to myself!!

We had the Boden event at school and then an hour after that finished my daughter had a joint party to go to at the swimming pool. I promptly came home from Boden (where we raised over £300 I hear!!) and made these 2 cards. I hear the recipients and their mums liked them so that was worth the panic then! I really must get more organised. We have no more parties in the pipeline just yet though thank goodness!

Something a little different.

My neighbour was giving wine to a friend of hers as a gift so we made up these labels to put over the original ones to personalise them.

Armed with old and new photos, she made up some poems to put on the back. I Arlene likes them! We did some for the staff at her kids nursery at Christmas and some for her Mum & Dad's anniversary before now too.

These make a reasonable bottle of wine very special! What would you put on them?

Quick Birthday card

I recently got the Stampin up medallion stamp. I've wanted it for ages after having seen some stunning cards using it but of course as soon as I got it all inspiration dissapeared!

Eventually I managed to make this one and love it. I love the cream with teh crumbcake (kraft) colours and the red just pops out. I hope this one sells well as it's pretty without being too girly. What do you think?

Last minute card!

Last weekend while I was in the middle of watching Mama Mia I realised that my daughter had a party to go to the next day and I hadn't done the card yet! Worse than that was the fact that I was out of the house at 8am to go to a craft fair. So, shattered after a great night out and having to wait an hour in the carpark to get out, I made this card for Laura at midnight. I broke into the new gingham cardstock I bought - a purchase I blame fully on Ali Watson! I think I may be in love with the stuff just as much as you Ali!!

Luckily I had the image coloured beforehand as often when I go to fairs I take a sketchbook that I've stamped lots of the images in and the promarkers to keep myself busy in the quiet periods. So it was relatively easy to pull together. And at last, again inspired by Ali I used my Stampin up paper piercing kit. :)

Safe to show you these now!

It's past Mothering Sunday so I should be safe to show you these now. I hope you all had a great day and were thoroughly spoilt!

Is everyone ready for Mother's Day?

Sunday here in the UK is Mothers Day. The day we should be spoilt rotten with breakfast in bed, no cooking to do, and generally treated like a Queen for the day. Mmm won't be happening in my house although I admit, it's all my own doing. I've got a craft fair booked on Saturday and Sunday here at the new Scottish Art, Craft & Design Centre at Valley International Park, Lanarkshire. Come along and get the kids to treat you from the multitude of beautiful hand crafted gifts that will be available.

Then when I get back on Sunday night I will just have time to sit down, relax for 1/2 an hour before going out for a girlie night!! I can't wait as I've not been out (apart from kids clubs!) for ages. Although, does Friday count - me and my daughter are off to see Mama Mia!

I should be safe showing you these cards as the recipients are not computer users generally, and there's no chance my mum will see it as she's sunning herself on holiday!

Boden Sale!

If you're in Troon on Saturday then think about popping into our school for a fabulous 20% off orders for Boden - plus free delivery & returns and get the 4th item for £1!!

Who, What, Where?

Thought I'd add a list of fairs I've booked up for up to now - not only to let you know but also to keep me right!

Sat 5th March Ayrshire Arts & Crafts Fair, Troon Concert Hall 11am-4pm
Sat 19th March Troon District Guides & Brownies Coffee Morning, Walker Hall, 10-1

Sat 2nd & Sun 3rd April Scottish Arts Craft and Design Centre Fair, Crossford, Clyde Valley

Saturday 21st May Eaglesham Fair

Saturday 11th June Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Saturday 2nd July Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm
Saturday 17th July, Jaguar Enthusiasts Club, Eglinton Park, Kilwinning

Saurday 6th August Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Saturday 3rd September Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Saturday 1st October Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Saturday 5th November Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Saturday 3rd December Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Of course I'll be adding more as I have them confirmed or find more!

Congratulations Aunty!

Kirsteen's twin sister had a beautiful baby boy recently. So a Congratulations card for the very special aunty was called for! I played with my mum's new My Craft Studio CD for this one.

Thinking of you

There seems times when all I do is make card after card after card. Then I don't need any for ages and it's the 3d things for a long time. At the moment it's cards.

These are using Basic Grey paper, with a waltzing Mouse stamp and nesties. They look regal in real life.

Remember you can always contact me to order special (or ordinary come to that!) cards - names, funny requests etc!

Birthday Boy's Money Wallet

A friend turned 14 last week so I can now show you his card/money wallet. He's saving up for a 3DS so that makes giving him a present really easy - money! lol

This DL card opens up like my christmas ones to safely hold the notes. I used the Stampin Up circle circus stamps and punches. I don't think I could ever be bothered cutting the circles by hand - yey! for punches!

I've a lot more wallets started (well A4 card scored!) that I must get to finishing. Maybe that could be another job for Louise!

Twins!

Remember I was painting a little boy's room a few weeks ago? Well his mum had twins just before I started so they were all still in hospital as I painted away! I was asked to make a card for their arrival. This is it.

I was on a roll and had remembered I'd made a 'baby on board' card for someone going on maternity leave. I thought there may be someone else eventually wanting one so I made a girly version this time.

New Photo tent

When I bought my original pop up photo tent I did smaller A6 cards generally. As I've moved up to the A5 size, the tent is a fraction too small and ends up with white sides showing on the photos etc. Tents arn't too expensive so I thought I'd buy myself the next size up. Well, it arrived and what a laugh. I think I could fit a baby elephant in it!! See
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You'll have to excuse smiley in the bottom photo - he's forgotten how to smile naturally for a photo!

Now the next problem is getting the lighting sorted for it. The lights I had for the smaller tent arn't strong enough to light the bigger one!

Janie here's the proof!

Yesterday Louise came round to help me make some notebooks for the stall. It's surprising what you can get teenagers to do when they're really bored! We had a great time and she was so much help. We managed to decorate and complete 59 notebooks!! I now need to get another 40 inserts to fully complete them.

After all that hard work we started decorating Lippy Chic flap books that I had in. We didn't get them finished which is no surprise so we can do that next time. When I dropped her off home her mum didn't believe she'd worked so hard - so here's the proof!

Has love dissapeared into the clouds?

After having made the Valentines cards I was surprised to see that hardly anyone looked at them even though they were prominently displayed. The chocolate guys next to me didn't seem to do well with their yummy champagne chocolate hearts either. People were buying but not the lovey dovey stuff. A couple of us traders decided that maybe the people at the craft fair wern't the best target for such items - we were all far too old! Could it be that valentines is more for the kids, teens and those not yet married? It seems that after a few years of married life it's a case of 'I've caught him and I'm sure no-one else would have him so I'll not bother'! LOL

Oh well, never mind. I'll have the pick of the cards for one for my other half!

I'm back painting murals tomorrow so I thought I'd show you one or 2 more photos of the last one I did. Have you noticed I've added a tab at the top of my blog for you to see the mural pictures all in one place?

These are from what we now know as the Garden Room! There are a couple of free hand trees, flowers etc. The Manager was really excited when I said she could have a strawberry as her daughter loved them. :) So I gave it to the snail for his lunch!

Even before the room was finished the staff told me one of the girls using the house was fascinated with the bird house, trying to put her hand in the hole in the middle. Little things like that really make it worthwhile. Tomorrow there are rainbows, monkeys, balloons, helecopters, cars and horrid Henry on the list. Which reminds me, I shold have gone for more red paint today. Oops!

Love is in the air!

Yup, it's that time of year where we declare our love to our chosen one. Here's a couple of the cards I've made for the stall. If I get organised I hope to have an exploding box ready too.

This is a version of the Ruby Anniversary card I did here. This uses cuttlebug folders, sizzix folders, SU stamps, punches .... And anything else I could find! lol

It's great when you find images you've already stamped and coloured - it's half the job done before you've started!

Here I went to town with hearts of all sizes!

Saturday is the first of the year's Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair at Troon's Concert Hall. Many beautiful gifts (and cards!) for your loved ones will be available to purchase. Please pop in and say hello!

Anyone there?!

It's a bit echo-ey round here. Sorry. I've not been crafting much - my mojo was lost which isn't good when I had a long list of things I wanted to make for the stall! Then I was asked to go back to Ardfin to paint murals in the bedrooms.

I was introduced to them a few years ago by my neighbour who suggested me for a mural they wanted painting in the hallway. I'm afraid I went a little mad and painted Nemo, Dorey, Rainbow fish, great big octopi, little mermaids etc along with hundreds of little fish! If you go onto their virtual tour on the website you can see part of it! I've been back several times now to paint the fence outside (not the mural on their virtual tour I hasten to add!), living room, afterschool club and now the bedrooms. I'll show you the photos of the other rooms later.

For now these are the pictures from the 'in the air' bedroom. I really love how the dragon came out. I used Dustin Pike's Dragon and floating monkey - I couldn't help it as they were perfect for a kids' bedroom.

I'm back in the craft room. I have a month before my next fair at Ayrshire Arts & Crafts and a long list of things I want to replenish and create. Can you believe this will be Valentines time?!

I was looking for some of my older cards on the blog to see how I'd done the clouds and realised I've not actually posted them! So here's a couple. The planes are from a set of wall art diecut shapes from Poundland last year - along with the pirate ones I did show! They're A5 in size, although one or 2 of the images are too big for that so I'm having to make A4 cards!!

Happy New Year!

Just popping in to quickly wish everyone a very happy new year. I hope 2011 is infinatly better than 2010 for everyone!!

I'm having a well deserved break from crafting and fairs for Christmas and new year, but I've already done a stock take and anaylsed my sales for last year. So now I have a plan of what to make, what not to bother with and ideas for new stuff. Pity I haven't got my accounts up to date though!

I can hear the call of the craft room getting louder though so will start the creative cogs turning again very soon! Then I will have more pictures for you all!