Is it a bird?...

Is it a plane?

No it's a really cool pencil holder I picked up at 'The Works' for only £1.99 - what a bargain? I must admit it was about a month ago when I got mine, but I would think they will still have them in stock. It comes in a pack as two circles with supports that slot into both the top and bottom - very easy to put together and very sturdy once made.


I must admit I bought it for my Promarkers, but the spaces are not quite wide enough. What a shame as it's so nice to be able to see and pull out the colour you want so easily. Copics would probably be fine as they are a much slimmer pen.

Well celebrating Jame's birthday went well - hence no card and slight hangover plus I think I've had all my 'Slimming World' sins for the next month!! I daren't even look how many there are in naan bread - sheesh far too scary in my fragile condition!

Have a great weekend everyone and see you Monday for the Pink Elephant challenge.

Happy Birthday James...

Well James escaped the House Mouse in a blue tutu card. After Max's comment about him thinking I had got the wrong idea about his personality I decided that perhaps it was a bit much.

So out came the folded shirt that has saved my life so many times when making a quick card for a man. This time though instead of using patterned paper for the shirt I decided to use real money and combine the card with the gift so to speak.

I felt so extravagant folding up money - bit like those scenes where someone has won the lottery and lights their cigar with a note. I also had to remind myself to be really careful and not throw away the practice ones with the DST waste!

Due to this card my window cleaner has also joined the long line of people worried about my sanity. When he came today I grabbed one of my practice notes to pay him and you should have seen his face as I unfolded the shirt!!

As our paper money is such weird shades I decided to play safe and use acetate for the card and I must admit I'm rather chuffed with the way it's turned out. The photo is a bit iffy due to reflections - I did try all kinds of shots and this was the best one.

After deciding where to put the shirt on the card I made two holes in the bottom layer of the shirt and two holes in the acetate which enable me to sew a cotton loop which holds the shirt in place.

On the reverse of the shirt I've put a little instruction label. This not only hides the ends of the cotton, but also makes sure that James doesn't throw the card away. Last year I did him a card with a denim pocket with real money popping out of the top and it took him a few days to realise the note was real. Men!!!


Jame's card is also for the challenge at Rainbow Lady's challenge blog where the theme is/was acetate. I'm scheduling this post for really early in the morning before Cynthia changes the challenge. Is that cheating? Probably!

My card is also for the challenge at Allsorts where this week they want everyone to make a card using no stamps anywhere! Phew a tricky one there!

Rock on...

This is a card I've put together using the sketch at Cutie Sunday. It's a card for Grandma to give Laura's boyfriend James on his birthday tomorrow. He likes rock music so I'm hoping he likes the card. Gran will put some money inside I'm sure so he's sure to like that!

Still got my card for him to make - all those gorgeous House Mouse stamps that Laura got me for my birthday have not been used yet! Sigh - I really don't think I can get away with making a card with House mouse in a tutu on for him even if I made it a blue tutu!! Why are men so difficult? They've no taste have they (I'm totally excluding any male crafters in that statement or any male reading my blog cause they obviously have really good taste)?

I used a great stamp which I bought in the recent Docrafts sale for the image on this card and the papers are from the Rockstar pack by DCWV. That paper has been so useful for making cards for Laura and Shelley's friends.

New Home...

Here's a very quick card I made for my daughter and her boyfriend to give to his brother who has just moved into his own place. As I didn't get much warning I had to create something fast - this personalised door was pretty quick and easy to do.

I designed the door in Serif home office just using basic shapes. The panels were printed twice so that I could use my Scor-pal to add depth and also matt them onto gold mirri card for a bit of oomph. The letters (complete with real address) were also created in Serif Home Office. I love messing about creating little extras like these - so much fun.

Apparently Neil was over the moon with his card as was his mum who told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to throw the card away as she wanted to keep it. Isn't it lovely when people really appreciate the things we make?

As the challenge at Cute Card Thursday is new beginnings my card is perfect for their challenge and I do hope that Neil's new beginning continues to be a happy one for many years to come.

Pink Elephant Day...

Yeah it's Pink Elephant day and this week we are cooking with a recipe from Ella's kitchen using these ingredients...

two squares
one ribbon (mine is very subtle and has a heart shaped button stitched on to it)
and something sparkly (the star on teddy's T-shirt is a sparkly gemstone).

Fantastic set of ingredients - can't wait to see what the rest of the team have come up with!

To create my card I used the brill sketch at Papertake Weekly, which proved just perfect for combining with the Pink Elephant's ingredients. The image is one from a collection of number digis by Pollycraft. There is a set suitable for girls and one for boys - both really useful. Love them.

As my card is for a friend's little boy's first birthday it also fits the challenge at Stampin' for the Weekend where the challenge is baby themed including baby's first birthday.

Thanks for looking and don't forget to check out the Pink Elephant to see what my teamies have come up with. Hope you'll have chance to play along too.