For a special 21st Birthday

Hello all and hope that your week has started well? The weekends seem to fly by so quickly sometimes, and yesterday was yet another 'glamorous' day in the garden - NOT! Even my daughter pointed out to me "Mum, you've even got mud on your face!" as I was struggling to clear some irises out of the pond so that we could actually see some of the pond. Definitely not a job for nice clothes or manicured hands.... Sigh. At least it looks a bit tidier but we're blessed with warm weather at the moment so I'm sure the weeds will soon be bounding back.

Thank you for all your lovely comments about the crocheting and about my daughter - which I passed on to her! We're now busy planning for the weekend as on Sunday 6th July it will be her 21st birthday and we're having a 'little gathering' to help celebrate (which up to now means about 25 people!).  More catering duties beckon.

But I was also asked if I could make a 21st birthday card for a friend's daughter - and I really enjoyed making a girly one!

I've used a Wee Stamps digi 'Amy' and coloured her with copics, promarkers and pencils - and I've added some glossy accents with a touch of glitter to the balloon but it's not showing up very well on the pic!

The backing papers are from LOTV, with flowers from WOC. The die cut lettering and numbers are using 'All Occasion' dies and the leaves are Poppystamps dies.  I've added some stitching, the heart banner die cut from LaLaLand and a key charm from stash.

Hope you like it! Thankfully her mum was very pleased with it and hopefully Chloe will be too! 

Back soon, 

Kim x 

A little bit more crochet...

The weekend has arrived - Hurray! I always enjoy Friday evenings and it's so nice to think of a couple of days ahead without the time pressures of the week - no set times to be up (and especially trying to get a teenage boy out of his pit), times to be out, times to be at work, etc. Not that I'm short of a job at weekends - the never-ending laundry, and the garden needs tackling once more.  I do so wish the flowers would grow as fast (or faster) than the weeds....

But please bear with me while I just share a bit of a 'proud mummy' moment - yesterday my daughter Lauren got her finals results from university and discovered she will be graduating with a First Class Honours! To say that both she and her parents are thrilled is an understatement. She's worked so hard for 3 years studying Criminology and Sociology - and it's so lovely to see her hard work rewarded.  She'll be heading off in a few weeks to Brighton to start a PGCE in September to do primary teaching, and we'll miss her so much. But we're so pleased for her - and delighted for her to achieve such success in her degree. Sorry to waffle on and I hope you'll forgive me for the non-crafting news!

Anyway, no card to share with you today (although I've been busy making a couple of orders - I'll share them after the key dates have passed lol!) but I've been playing with some lovely pastel shades of wool and a different sort of pattern

The wool is from Stylecraft - lovely reasonable wool that is so nice to work with - and a pattern for an African Flower Hexagon (that I found on a great tutorial HERE)

I haven't quite decided what I'm going to do with them yet lol! But I've seen a very nice bag pattern using them, so may decide to do that.  But they would also make such a lovely snuggly throw.... Decisions, decisions.... :)

There's something so nice though about relaxing in an evening with soft wools in lovely colours - and I'm getting quite addicted.  My daughter has been learning to knit - and I've told her that apart from the fact that knitting is now very fashionable(!) it's also so good to find something to help you relax and unwind. I love my crafts and can't imagine what I'd do without them. My main problems are finding enough time to indulge them all! 

I think I'll make a few more and then decide what to make with them! 

I'll be back soon - hope you all have a lovely relaxing weekend whatever you're doing (and that you find some crafting time!).  Thank you all so much for your lovely comments - and for those of you that have found my Facebook page and 'liked' it. I'm still learning what to do - but I've a feeling it might be as addictive as blogging. Oh dear. Where do I find the extra hours....?

Kim x

Just so cute!

Hello all and I hope that your week is going well? After days of warm weather and sunshine (or warm weather and cloud lol!) - this evening it has just started to rain. I can almost hear all the plants in the garden cheering as they soak it up! Grumpy Poppy the cat seems to have taken it all as a personal insult though as she has had to come in from sitting on her cushion in the garden like the Queen of Sheba. I'm sure she would have preferred me to just stand with an umbrella over her until it stopped or until she felt SHE wanted to come in! So she's now sat sulking and glaring at the back door.

A very warm welcome to my new followers - and I hope you're prepared for all the waffle as well as the crafts! And thank you to everyone who has supported my new venture into the scary world of Facebook lol. I'm gradually getting the hang of what I'm supposed to do - I think. I'm not the most computer-literate person (my son just rolls his eyes in despair when I ask some questions), but it's also quite good fun to see what other people are doing and share crafting ideas. And as I make quite a few cards for friends and colleagues, a few people had convinced me that it would be good to see if anyone else wanted things made! Since having a blog I've enjoyed seeing what other people are doing, how trends change, and especially seeing how my own efforts have progressed (hopefully!).... Anyway, if you fancy taking a look at the Facebook page in it's infancy, please follow the link on the sidebar.

Phew! Apologies for all that waffle, and just sharing another of the baby cards that I had been making for last week's baby & toddler fair, using a sweet little Crafters Companion stamp of Beatrix Potter's Mrs Tittlemouse

The image has been coloured with copics and pencils

The backing papers are from LOTV and NitWit, with some added stitching, and the sentiment is from LOTV. I've used a Tonic border punch for the edges and the Memory Box precious hearts die. The ribbon and pearls are from stash.

Hope you like it! 

Back soon,

Kim x 

Baby Blue

Hello all and I hope that you've been enjoying some sunshine. We've been so lucky for the last week or so with the great weather we've been having - although I confess that I'm doped up with antihistamines as the pollen count is SO high (and much as I love the sun and flowers, the sneezing is not so attractive!).

Thank you for all your good wishes about the baby fair. I met some lovely people and had a nice day, but sadly the down side of having a fair on a lovely warm sunny day is that most people prefer to be outdoors somewhere - especially as we were just off the promenade at Blackpool!  So it was much quieter than everyone was expecting - but I would imagine that most people were enjoying a stroll along the prom or an ice-cream on the beach lol!  Hey ho.

Anyway, I thought I'd share one of the baby cards I'd made

The sweet image is from LOTV and coloured with copics and pencils

The spotty backing paper was printed from a Polkadoodles cd and the other paper is from LOTV. I've added some stitching, flowers and pearly heart from WOC, spotty ribbon from stash, and a punched border using a Tonic punch. The sentiment is also from LOTV.  And the inside decorated to match! 

And this is one of the crocheted baby blankets made to order, with lovely soft blues and lemons with white

They are so nice to make - and so soft and snuggly too! 

I've also been trying to catch up with the 21st century and have made a facebook page for advertising and selling the crafty makes, but am still learning what to do lol! I've got endless patience for crafts - but it's in short supply when it comes to computers. So if anyone knows how I link my blog posts to come up on the fb page please can they tell me in simple-to-understand terms (i.e. an idiot's guide!). But if anyone's interested in looking, the link to the fb page is HERE!

Hope we enjoy this sunshine a bit longer - and for tennis fans that Wimbledon is a good one (or at least more successful for the UK than the football world cup!).

Back soon,

Kim x 

Yet another busy week...

Hello all - are your weeks as busy as mine seem to be at the moment? I feel as though I'm continually on the go - but not quite sure I'm getting anywhere!  We have so many things coming up at home and I am also having a stall at a fair next Sunday at a special event for mums-to-be, babies and toddlers called 'Bump and Beyond' being held at Blackpool Football Club (a bit further down the coast from me!). I'm really looking forward to it as it's been a while since I did a fair, but I'm now surrounded by all things baby! I'm doing all types of baby cards and crocheted cot blankets to order - and there aren't enough hours in the day to get it all ready (never mind all the usual h****work, job, etc.!).  But I'll start taking some pics of all the bits and pieces that I'm busy making and share them with you asap.

In the meantime, I just thought I'd share a card I'd made to order for a friend - she wanted one with the scooter on as she thought it would be perfect for a friend's birthday!

The stamped image is from LOTV coloured with copics and pencils

The papers are from LOTV, with quite a simple layout, some hessian thread and a big button from stash! The birthday sentiment is from LOTV and the ticket die and stamp are from Whimsy.

And I wonder if any of you uber-keen gardeners out there can identify the variety of clematis that I've had flowering in the garden. It's been growing quite well for a couple of years, but this year the flowers have been stunning and so big - like the size of side plates! 

And that's my husband's hand lol! 

Anyway, I'll be back soon to share some pics of baby goodies.

Thank you for all your lovely comments and support - they are all read and appreciated so much! 

Kim x 

A very Girly birthday card!

Hello all in Blogland - and apologies for being AWOL but life sometimes just gets in the way lol! I seem to have been so busy and I just realised that I haven't blogged for well over a week (which is quite a long time for me!). A very warm welcome to my new followers and I'm so pleased that you want to follow my blog - complete with it's waffle! I can't believe that June is speeding by so fast. My daughter has just finished her finals exams at Uni and is now waiting to see how she's done. It's her 21st birthday in a few weeks, then graduation, then she'll be heading South to Brighton to start her teacher training - and it's going to feel so strange when she leaves home!  I'm so thrilled for her starting a new phase in her life, but will miss her like mad. I suppose it's all part of the joy (& pain!) of having children. But I'll still have my 'little soldier' at home - although his face is a picture when I call him that lol! Teenagers are so easy to wind up, it should be a national sport! He'll be 16 in September, now 6' tall and with a deep voice - where did my little boy go?

Anyway, I got to thinking about ages and how fast they grow when I was asked to make a birthday card for a friend's daughter's 8th birthday and was given the 'brief' of "as pink and girly as you like" and she'd be thrilled to have her name on!  So I came up with this

I've used one of the new fairy stamps from LOTV, coloured with copics and pencil with some added glitter. 

The papers are from LOTV, and I've added so many other bits too lol!  The starburst die is from Joanna Sheen, with a Memory Box 'precious star', the lace, ribbon and pearls are from stash, and the lettering, sentiment and number dies are All Occasion Dies. 

The silvery paper insert was edge punched with a Tonic punch. 

Hope you like it - but I'm hoping that the little girl in question liked it which is the most important thing! 

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments about the crocheting. And I apologise that I haven't been around visiting Blogs over the last week or so and will try and get my act together a bit this week! 

Back soon,

Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

CraftyBloggersNetwork - bingo (dies/image/patt. paper)

DragonflyDreams - things with wings

Pile it on - use patterned paper

The Ribbon Girls - girlie + LOTV

Crafting Musketeers - stamped image