Chipboard Mini Album

Hello and Happy New Year! 

Just before Christmas I treated myself to the Hey Crafty Girl collection by Simple Stories. Great service and very fast delivery from Paper, Pen and Plan. So over the festive period, when I had a few spare minutes, this was a fun, easy project to pick up and do a little at a time.

As the whole collection is craft themed I thought I would use the album to keep a record of my pens and paints. The black alphas I used here are Thickers and not included in the Hey Crafty Girl collection, I wanted to have a nice bold heading! 

I am keeping the album handy on my craft desk and I will see at a glance what colours I have in which make. 

On this page is a record of the fine liners that I use in my daily journal.

 For paints I made a little 'envelope' to keep the sample cards in. I painted a block of each colour onto watercolour card and once dry drew a black outline.

And finally the back page. Crafty Girls Rock!

January Sweet Treat Box 'Do What You Love'

Hello, my January Sweet Treat Box from Paper, Pen and Plan popped through the letter box early this month - one of the perks of being on the design team! My usual unboxing video is here.

So, a fresh new year and a journal (or ten) with many blank pages to fill. I will be continuing my nature, coffee and 111 places journals and I will be starting a couple of new ones but more about that later.

I am also continuing my long term project of documenting older holidays and family photographs as well as keeping new holidays and days out up to date! For this I am using Simple Stories Sn@p albums with pocket pages.

And, of course, there will be cards made along the way!

This will be my last blog post in 2019 and I would like to wish my readers and followers a very Happy Christmas and all the best in 2020. Thank you for all your lovely comments and continued support of my little blog.

Warm Wishes

Hello, it's Tuesday so time for me to share my Seven Hills Crafts project and I have a card to share that would be perfect for a winter birthday. I used my Winter Sparrow stamp set by Wplus9 to stamp the sparrow and foliage (matching dies are here).

I love that the stamps are all individual parts of the image meaning you can totally change things up. I decided on a sparrow this time but you could do a robin, a bluetit, a chaffinch or a brightly coloured bird from your imagination!

I made a circle frame using two dies from the Stitched Circle Stax set by My Favourite Things to mount the stamped images on to. Everything was attached to the base card using foam squares.

Trio of Thank You Cards

Hello, it's Tuesday so time for me to share my Seven Hills Crafts project. Call me old fashioned but I still send 'thank you' cards. I know that these days a text or an email is more likely but what could be nicer than a handmade card popping through the letter box to say thank you for a lovely present or dinner or just for being there when you needed them.

The background papers are from the 6x6 pad 'Home Again' by Carta Bella, I love all the shades of teal in this pad. The flowers, sentiments and the double outlines round the sentiments are all from the 'Annuals' stamp set by Concord & 9th.

The double outline and sentiment was stamped directly onto the white cardstock panel. I then stamped the flowers onto watercolour card using Versafine Onyx Black, coloured with my Altenew watercolour paints and trimmed around (the matching dies are available here). I drew a freehand line around the edge of the white panel to match the style of the stamped lines. As a finishing touch I added enamel shapes, there's a huge choice in the store here.

Thanks for stopping by today, happy crafting!

Coffee Journal - part 4

Hello. I've not made an entry in my coffee journal in a while. That's not to say we've not been out for coffee (and cake) I'm just a little bit behind with my journalling!

So, this is a little gem of a place. Tucked away down a side street off Great Western Rd in the west end of Glasgow. It's called the Broken Clock, and yes, they do have a broken clock! They also have, as hubby says in his review, 'the best cakes ever'.

You may wonder why toilets get a mention. Some of these little coffee shops have no facilities, apparently you only need to have them if there are more than six tables, so now you know!

Coffee Journal - part 1 is here.
Coffee Journal - part 2 is here.
Coffee Journal - part 3 is here.

December Sweet Treat Box 'Love Your Selfie'

Hello, how did this happen? The December Sweet Treat Box already! This one is all geared up for memory keeping and I love the colour scheme of soft yellow, grey and pops of black.

Each month I put all the items from the box in a tray from some old packaging. I like to keep it out on the side of my desk and challenge myself to use it all up by the time the next months box pops through the letter box! As usual I have filmed an unboxing. And you can find out all about getting your own box here.

And while I'm here ....the Paper, Pen and Plan Etsy shop is having a sale, loads of gorgeous stash at 30% off!

Oh So Jolly Gift Bag

Hello, it's Tuesday so time for me to share my Seven Hills Crafts project and it features an upcycled plain white gift bag. First of all I stamped, coloured and cut out the two figures (twice) from the Stamping Bella set 'Little Bits Winter Collection Figure Skaters' (matching dies are here). Then I used three of the figures to decorate the bag popping them onto green and blue cardstock which had been die cut into dome shapes using 'Stitched Dome Stax Die-namics'. Before adhering the domes to the bag I wrapped some twine around and tied a bow. 

For the tag I wanted to stamp the sentiment from the 'Oh So Jolly' set by Sugar Pea Designs onto white cardstock but it just wasn't having much impact so I cut out a further two tag shapes from the green and blue cardstock and layered them together at a slight angle. Then I attached my fourth little figure to the tag using foam pads. I'm pretty pleased with how my little bit of upcycling turned out!

Thanks for stopping by today, happy crafting!

Two quick cards

Hello. These cute, quirky stamps were free gifts with a magazine. 

Two cards made for two cat loving friends!

happiest of holidays

Hello, it's Tuesday so time for me to share my Seven Hills Crafts project and I have the happiest of cards to share! How are your Christmas makes coming along? It's only 43 days to go! I have watched one Christmas movie - Love Actually, I have listened to my Christmas playlist twice and I have made ten Christmas cards! I'll need to get a wiggle on!

My card features the three elves from the Santa's Elves set by My Favourite Things. I added the stitched detail to the background using my Quilted Stitched Spirals die by Lil' Inker Designs, I love all these background type dies, so useful. Before attaching the backgound panel to the card base I wrapped some red and white twine around and tied a bow. As a finishing touch, and to add some festive sparkle, I added some stickles to their hats and cuffs.

Thanks for stopping by today, happy crafting!

Sweet Treat Box Journals

Hello. Today I'm sharing four little hand stitched journals, I think this will be my new obsession since I bought the We Are Memory Keepers bookbinding tool! Everything, apart from the thread and the plain paper inside the journals, was in my October Sweet Treat box from Paper, Pen and Plan. Every month when I get my box I keep all the contents on a tray on my desk. Then I challenge myself to use it up by the end of the month! I pretty much succeed but that's because eveything is always so gorgeous.

These little books are the perfect size for my popping into my handbag to keep quick notes when I'm out and about. Maybe little reminders of potential Christmas gifts or a note of a new coffee shop I will need to try out!

And here is a peak of a few bits from my November box, yes, it's already all sorted on my tray and good to go for a few Christmas projects. The full unboxing video is here and you can find out about ordering your own box here.

111 places - part 11

Hello. We've been out and about again, ticking off two more places listed in my

'111 Places In Glasgow You Shouldn't Miss' book.

 

Number 101 - Tam Shepherd's Trick Shop

Amongst the bestsellers are whoopee cushions, foam bricks, fake plastic vomit 

and vanishing coins!

 

Number 57 - Hutcheson's Hall

Originally Hutcheson's Hospital (1802-1805) it has been a library, a bank and is now 

an elegant restaurant.

 

My previous blog posts about this project are here -  

 

111 Places - part 1

111 Places - part 2

111 Places - part 3

111 Places - part 4

111 Places - part 5

111Places - part 6  

111 Places - part 7 

111 Places - part 8  

111 Places - part 9 

111 Places - part 10

dashing through the snow

Hello, it's Tuesday so time for me to share my Seven Hills Crafts project and I have a super quick, easy and fun card to share. One that could be 'dashed' off during a bulk cardmaking session. The white piece of cardstock was run through my die cutting machine using My Favorite Things Stitched Strip Dienamics.

Then I stamped, coloured and trimmed around the Avery Elle Dashing stamp. I stamped both sentiments above the stitched lines, I love how they follow the shape of the tree and the car.

Then all the elements were fixed to the card using foam pads for dimension. I added sequins from the Full of Love Sequin Mix to represent the snow (and I thought that top corner was looking a bit bare!)

Thanks for stopping by today, happy crafting!