A little bit of cross stitch!

Good evening all and I hope that you've been having a good weekend? I have to confess that we haven't really done very much - packed christmas trees back in the loft, spent time cleaning bird feeders out in the garden (for which the birds - I'm assuming - were grateful, but as they empty them all so quickly I'm not sure they notice lol!) - and all the usual humdrum weekend jobs! But I did have a little visit to my local craft shop yesterday to inspire the mojo for the new year!
My youngest is back at school on Tuesday and oh boy is it going to be a shock to his system.  He's been the typical 14 year old boy over the holidays, finally emerging from his pit around lunchtime (despite me hoovering, playing the radio, etc.!), grazing on all manner of foods for the day (in addition to meals) and then playing on his computer & xbox all evening! So sociable! At least I'm hoping that's typical teenage boy behaviour and it's not just my son!  I can't believe how different boys are to girls - my daughter will happily sit with me with a cup of tea and chat, or go shopping. But Jack would be traumatised if I made him go to the supermarket with me! Hey ho.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share a little bit of cross stitch with you today. I made these little items just as a small gift for someone I work with

I used a variety of patterns from books to design the coaster pattern, and then drafted out the lettering on graph paper! Not very technical!  And then as I had some blank key rings, decided to make a matching keyring. She's a big tea drinker - and I think they were both much appreciated!
So hope you like them too!
Back soon,
Kim x 

Time for something new!

It's a new year and time for a new challenge over at Totally Papercrafts!  After a short break over Christmas, the challenge blog is back with lots of new challenges and sponsors!  And this week our lovely Cathy has started us off in the new year with the theme of 'Something New' - new home, new baby, new job, etc.!  And there are two sponsors this week

   and  

So do pop over to the Totally Papercrafts Challenge blog and join in with us on this first challenge for 2013!

I've made a 'new baby' card using one of my favourite baby stamps from LOTV

and I've coloured the stamp with promarkers

Ingredients for this card are:-

Image - LOTV stamp 'All our dreams'

Backing papers - coredinations card and Nitwit 'In the meadow - hearts blue'

Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts

with lace, buttons and pearly heart from stash

Hope you like it! 

Back soon,

Kim x 

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

PaperShelter - anything goes

SimonSaysStamp - new something

AlotaRubberStamps - new born

CraftySentiments - new

PapertakeWeekly - anything goes

New Challenge at CraftyCatz!

Good morning all - and Friday already! I'm still not clear on what day it is, never mind what date!  That's the problem with having bank holidays and time off work and school - I just lose the plot even more than usual!
I hope that you have all recovered from the Christmas and New Year festivities, and that 2013 has started off on a positive note for you!  And thank you all for the lovely birthday wishes that you sent me!  I had a lovely birthday on New Year's Eve - out with friends for a couple of hours and then home with family!

Anyway, as it's Friday it's time for a new challenge over at CraftyCatz after the challenge blog having a little break over Christmas - and it's everybody's favourite challenge 'Anything Goes' chosen by our lovely Carol! And there are two prizes on offer this week - a lovely bag of crafting goodies from Carol herself and


So do pop over to the CraftyCatz challenge blog and join in!

I've used a gorgeous Sarah Kay stamp 'Spring Flowers'

And it's so nice to do other things than make Christmas cards lol! (Even though I've promised myself that I will try to make some Christmas cards through the year this year!). 

I've coloured the image with promarkers. 

The ingredients for this card are:-

Stamp - Sarah Kay 'Spring Flowers'

Papers - Teresa Collins & LOTV Nitwit papers

Sentiment stamps - LOTV

Spellbinders dies

Border & flowers - Tonic punches 

with added ribbon, button, bling and pearl dots from stash.

Hope you like it! 

Back soon, 

Kim x 

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

LadyAnnesStampChallenge - anything goes

CraftyCreations - anything goes

DivasByDesign - anything goes

FreshlyBrewed - anything goes

InkyImpressions - anything goes

Whimsy New Releases!

Good afternoon and I hope that your new year has started well? We had a great new year's eve, and a quiet relaxing new year's day! But not really looking forward to heading back to work at the end of this week!

But before that, it's time for some new releases from Whimsy Digital Stamps and there are some wonderful designs for January so - Welcome to the January digital release blog hop!!!!

We have lots of new images to share with you today created by

Marika Collins Collection

Moon Cookie Gallery Crissy's Digi's

Stamp Art Design

Lia Stampz

Dana's Digi's

All Whimsy Stamps digital images are 300dpi for high print quality.You can re-size, flip, or rotate to fit your own project.  To find all of today's new releases please visit the Whimsy Stamps Store.  Don't forget to leave comments along the way as there will be 2 mystery DT Members who will each be choosing a winner from the comments left on their hop posts!  These winners will each win a Whimsy digital image of their choice. The Grand Prize winner of the hop will be chosen from the very last stop, which is Laura’s Blog
This winner will receive 5 digital stamps of their choice from the Whimsy Stamps Store.
The hop will run for 1 week and end on Tuesday 8th January at 12 Noon EST, when the lucky winners will be announced right here.
Below is a complete list of the hop in case you get lost along the way

Tammy Ortiz 

Anne Cullen

Charlene Brown 

Debbie Dunn 

Judith Hall 

Kelly Mannix 

Kim Taylor (Me!)

Lisa West 

Sarah McLaughlin 

Laura Palmer

For today's release I've used a gorgeous digi stamp from Dana's Digis called 'Chickadee'

I've coloured the image with promarkers and pencils

I've added some glaze to the berries but sadly this doesn't show up on my pics!

The backing papers are from First Edition, with some added twine. The die cut evergreens are from Spellbinders 'Fall Foliage' with some added 'berries'! 

So do hope that you'll join us on the blog hop for the new releases - and then check out all the gorgeous new designs over at Whimsy! 

Back soon,

Kim x 

The ending of another year!

Good morning all and hope that you've now recovered a little from the excesses of Christmas and are ready to face the excesses of New Year!  We haven't got a big new year party planned for tonight, but as it's also my birthday we're all joining up with some friends at the local pub for an hour or so then heading home for meal from our nearby (and excellent!) Chinese take-away! Not very glamorous I know! But for me that is a lovely way to spend my birthday and a New Year's Eve - having a laugh with good friends and family (and no cooking lol!).

So I just thought I'd share a quick card with you for the close of 2012 - and I hope that 2013 is a fantastic one for everyone. As I mentioned in a post at Christmas, I've had great fun with my blog and on Design Teams since starting in March this year. It's made me try new crafting things, I've enjoyed browsing around some of the truly inspirational crafting that you all produce - and probably spent a good deal more than I should have done on crafting goodies! But I'm looking forward to carrying on with it all in 2013 and hopefully improving my crafting as I go!

This card was made using one of my favourite digi stamps from MoManning - 'Tom & Tilly'. Aren't they just the sweetest pair?  I've coloured them with my faithful promarkers and pencils - although I think I need to practice my grey hair technique and curly hair technique a bit more! 

The backing paper is from First Edition 'Birdsong', with a Marianne die cut swirl and Tonic punched flowers. The sentiment is from Whimsy stamps, with the Whimsy ticket die, and a little sheer ribbon from Joanna Sheen.  I do hope you like it! 

So have a great New Year - whatever you have planned!  And wishing you all health and happiness in 2013! 

Take care,

Back soon

Kim x 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-
Eclectic Ellapu - anything goes
OneStitchAt A Time - use a digi
Challenges4Everybody - anything goes

Recovering from excesses?

Good morning all and I hope that I find you well and that you've had a good Christmas? We had a mix of busy days and quieter ones, just 5 of us here for Christmas dinner (although visitors on the day!) but then a bit of a family party yesterday for nearly a dozen!  Over the last few days we seem to have done a huge amount of eating, and I'm starting to feel as though I've been constantly preparing food, cooking or washing up! But I'm planning a quieter day today and determined to get some crafting done as I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms!  I'll let you know if I manage it!

But in the meantime I thought I'd share a card made for a young couple's wedding

I've used a LOTV stamp coloured with promarkers

and decorated the inside to match

Ingredients for this card:-

Stamp - LOTV 'Together Forever'

Promarkers & Pencils & Distress Ink 'spun sugar'

Spellbinders - oval and floral oval dies

Marianne - swirl die

Wild Orchid Crafts - flowers, leaves & heart charm

Papers - coredinations card, LOTV Nitwit papers

Hope you like it! 

Back soon, Kim x 

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

CharismaCardz - anything goes

DelightfulChallenges - anything goes

DutchDareChallenges - celebration

InThePink - pink and pearly

PaperCraftingJourney - anything goes

TuesdayAlchemy - anything goes

VickiesChallenges - anything goes

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!

Just a quick posting from me today - as you can imagine, there's plenty to do when there's a family about! But we're nearly all ready now for tomorrow - and what we haven't got or forgotten about then we'll do without!  I just feel so sorry for those who've been flooded out in different areas of the UK - thankfully, we've just had lots of rain but we're not flooded! So as long as we've got food & heating, and each other! - that's what Christmas is about!

So, on that thought, I'll just share one last Christmas card with you

a quick card made with a LOTV stamp, coloured with promarkers and lots of added stickles and flowersoft snow

The backing papers are from Dovecraft and a couple of Marianne die cut poinsettias. The sentiment stamp is from LOTV too. 

I've had such great fun with this blog since starting it in March this year, and that's purely and simply because of all you wonderful people that take the time to call by and leave such positive comments. So a very big thank you to you all - 

and a parting Christmas pic from Tilly herself (my gorgeous, silly, loveable, infuriating and irreplaceable doggy who this blog is named after!)

She's desperately waiting to open all the treats in her stocking! 

So have a fantastic Christmas whatever you're doing! 

Back soon,

Kim x    (& Tilly!) xx