Happy birthday Nicki

Today's card is the last birthday card of the year and it now belongs to my lovely friend Nicki

Nicki was the first person I met and became friends with when I started running my shop, and we have been firm friends since then, so, almost nine years ( which has flown by)

Our friendship started out with a shared love of scrapbooking (crafting is such a wonderful way to bring people together)

Nicki is a beautiful soul and is kind and generous to a fault

 I created this card in a DL size, I used a Prima tag for the main background

The larger flowers are Prima and the small roses are from Wild Orchid crafts, the stamped sentiment is by Stampin' Up, the leaf dies are 'cheap as chips from china' - thanks Jan and Ann xxx,  and all the other die cuts on this card are Nestability dies

Hope you have a lovely day Nicki and get spoiled rotten by Mark and the girls, hopefully see you in the summer - can't wait to give you and the girls squishy hugs xxx

Love and friendship

Tracey

xxx

The dark side of Disney

A little departure from the norm this evening with my card design

This next project was a commission for the guy who did some of our decorating to give to his partner for her birthday

Bart commissioned me to make one a couple of years ago, if your memory is good, you might recall me sharing a Tim Burton style card

His partner loves all the evil queens from the Disney movies and her favourite colour is green - et voila

I created lots of layering on this 8in x 8in card, with the images downloaded from the internet

 I had the sequin waste left over from a previous project and the gorgeous black net along the bottom was a gift from my lovely friend Carol many moons ago

I tied all the colours together with some die-cut foliage and a sprinkling of gems

Bart loved the card and was sure his partner Carla would too

It makes me so happy to know I have contributed a little way in helping someone give a personal and thoughtful card to a loved one

This was just a brief interruption to the avalanche of festive makes, a continuance of christmas crafting will resume tomorrow

Love and, dark disney kisses

Tracey

xxx

Magical creatures

There has been much happen since my last blog post

I have not quite got the hang of blogging everyday occurrences and tend to only think to blog if I have crafting to share. I must rid myself of this habit as my crafting is much less prolific now

We have been to a couple more gigs, we saw The Cadillac Three in Cardiff and then more recently The Temperance Movement in Plymouth

We have enjoyed lots of beach days with the dogs

And we made a much needed flying visit back up country to visit family and friends before christmas

This last few weeks have seen copious amounts of crafting as I needed forty christmas cards, six birthday cards, an anniversary card and a commissioned card had been ordered 

Going back to November, this is the card I made for Amy for her birthday. She is currently enjoying all things unicorn so I set to work trying to find a way to make one from my trusty punches

It was a case of trial and error. My first couple of attempts looked farcical rather than magical, but, I persevered and I think the final version turned out rather cute. Amy loved it

The next couple of cards were for my lovely neighbours Mary and Colin who both celebrated birthdays at the beginning of December

I must apologise for the poor photos, the pictures were taken in bad light and don't show the true colours as they should

They are a very special couple and have taken me and the family under their wings since we moved here

So, the lights, tree and trimmings are all up, the gift shopping is finished, the cards have been made and mostly delivered, the house has been spring cleaned and we have almost completed the wrapping, I don't think I have ever been so organised and I must admit to feeling rather relaxed and ready for the festivities to begin

All the girls from work got together for the christmas meal last week, we met at The Britannia for a delicious and very festive 3 course meal, a little tipple and many laughs, so the christmassy feelings are in full flow

I will love you and leave you as Neil and I have one more small pile of presents to wrap and I will be back tomorrow with some more craftiness to share

Love and unicorn sparkles

Tracey

xxx

Crafting Update

I have not been quite so prolific with my crafting as I used to be, but the upside is now I craft when I want to and not when I have to

I have quite a mixed bag of cards here, dating back to Easter, so please excuse the random selection

A bi-fold, envelope style birthday card

The Easter cards I made, to send to family and friends

All the same but different, same design, different colours

Amy's Easter card was totally different as I wanted to put a bunny on hers

Another birthday card

My lovely dad's fathers day card

And my mum's birthday card, another bi-fold design with fancy edges

Lots of space inside this design for a verse

There have been a couple more too but I did not remember to photograph those ( naughty blogger )

Until next time

xxx

Happy Birthday Katie

I made the following card for my beautiful niece Katie who turned 19 on the 16th of this month

I used Mariposa papers and Tim Holtz papers, the flowers are mainly Prima, the sentiment is Stampin' Up as is the punch I used to mat the sentiment and the stamps and punch I used for the butterflies

The die is an old Marianne one and the border punch is Martha stewart

The next card I will be sharing will be totally different as it is for AJ, might have to go down the themed route for a 17 year male I think

Love and blue birthday wishes

Tracey

xxx

Happy birthday Katie

On the 16th of this month, my lovely niece Katie turned 18

There is a couple of milestones this year  - AJ is 16 in a few days too, it doesn't seem two minutes since they were all playing together as toddlers

This is the card I made for Katie

It's an 8in x 8in card and I made the cake by hand, using punches to create the fancy cake stand, the banner is a die cut

Love and birthday kisses

Tracey

xxx

The men in my life

It was Neil's birthday in December

This is the card I made for him

I have free reign to throw a load of flowers on his cards and he doesn't mind me making his a little more feminine, I think he would probably draw the line at pink and sparkles though !

And Dad's birthday was on the 6th January, I used one of my favourite Stamp sets on this, I so enjoy making cards with the 'Lovely as a tree' set from Stampin' Up, the images are so classic

I am so lucky to have the best dad in the world and the best hubby too, must be because I am so bloody perfect ha ha

Love and fabulous menfolk

Tracey

xxx

Birthday Girl

 Happy birthday Amy

Today saw my beautiful daughter turn 22, I know I say it and think it every single time a birthday comes and goes but I honestly have no idea where the time goes

Amy is staying with my mum and dad for the week so her card and gift were sent and I am saving lots of hugs and kisses for when she comes home at Christmas

This is the card I made, Amy is a massive animal lover and her favourite of all living creatures since she was a baby is the rabbit, she cannot resist anything at all bunny

And the most recent photo I have ( stolen from Instagram of course )

I hope you have had a wonderful day sweetheart, I know Granny and Grandad will make you feel special

We couldn't be prouder of our daughter who is as beautiful inside as outside

Love and birthday kisses

Mum 

xxx