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

Anniversary

Neil and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary back in May

I wanted to make him a keepsake rather than a card, so crafted this little exploding box

When the lid is removed three layers of pages flop outwards

Each of the pages is embellished with a pocket, in which to hold tags

I made 25 tags in total and wrote on each of them a little message

25 tags

25 years married

25 reasons why I love him

There are many more

We decided to spend the day together pottering around Padstow

Loved this doggie made from wellie boots

We headed to the harbour first then meandered around the tiny streets

We stopped at Rick Stein's for lunch. I love Rick Stein, have watched most of his shows and was looking forward to the experience

Sorry Rick, we have enjoyed better fish and chips in Grimsby ! It wasn't awful but it wasn't the best we have had either, and, for the price, I would have like to have eaten from proper plates rather than the cardboard it was served in

We then drove a short distance to Port Isaac

We really liked it here, it was still off season so not too busy

We don't watch Doc Martin so didn't partake in the hunting down of all the sites from the TV series but we did enjoy it for the picturesque fishing village it is

After a quick wander round the shops at Wadebridge we headed back home for an Italian meal

Neil asked me if I would do it all over again (meaning marry him) and I said yes I would

He then presented me with a stunning new wedding band

(see - he's definitely a keeper)

We spent the evening with our lovely friends Sue and Paul at Fowey and discovered a fab local band Assassins of Silence

We had decided at the beginning of the year to celebrate our anniversary this year with music, we both love mostly the same kind of thing so choosing gigs we would both enjoy was a breeze

That is a whole other blog post though as this one is getting rather long, so I will leave our gigging adventures til next time

xxx

Pretty in peach

Back to girlie and floral ( much more my comfort zone)

This card was made for my lovely friend Trish, it was her birthday at the beginning of the month but I have just found these images on my camera

I am so longing for all these wet and windy storms to pass and had Spring in my mind when I made this card, hence the colour palette

Hope this lumpy bumpy card made it through the post in one piece, I really just can't get my head round doing postal friendly flat cards

I have a couple of very special cards to make this evening for an event we are going to at the weekend, so I will be back to share those very shortly

Love and spring wishes

Tracey

xxx

Crackers, cards and cats

 Good evening

I hope everyone is enjoying their run up to Christmas and not getting too stressed

I am loving the family being home, Amy and Ben arrived yesterday, so the house is full, and happy

I made these cute little crackers for my neighbours doggies, they have some little festive dog biscuits in them

And I made some of these gift card holders for the kids, I copied a design that my good friend Linda shared, she made me one and the bottom held chocolates, in my version I added a lip balm to each one and all the kids gift vouchers fit onto the slot at the top

Thankyou for the inspiration Linda

Finally I have a cute photo to share

The pets are all spoiled for humans to snuggle with at the moment

Sox couldn't wait to get on Rob's knee so perched herself atop his shoulder

They are so going to miss them when they have all gone back to uni

Love and christmas kisses

Tracey

xxx

A Vintage Christmas

These are the final four christmas cards I made this year

All four the same but different if you know what I mean

Same basic design, slightly different papers and images

The stunning papers are Maja design from Sweden, I bought these at a craft show that I visited with my lovely crafting buddy Jan. I just had to have them and knew they would make beautiful cards

I used Marianne dies for the baubles and large flower, the small flowers are a Stampin' Up punch

The little gold leaves are an old Woodware punch and I inked all the edges with Tim Holtz distress inks in Walnut Stain

That is the last of my christmas cards this year

Love and vintage wishes

Tracey

xxx

White christmas

Aside from the little forest of christmas tree cards that I made, the other style of christmas card was these, which I also made in abundance

Again I went with a production line of die-cutting, inking and tearing, making the job much more organised and easy than had I created all the cards totally unique

The music paper was some that I had from my shop, I believe it was originally from Payperbox and the rest of the elements are die cuts, the sentiment stamp is one from Stampin' Up

Although this method of mass production was easier I did miss the challenge of coming up with completely original designs for each card so I think for next year I am going to start earlier ( maybe even one card a week all through the year as I keep promising myself) - well thats the theory but I have been aiming to do this for the last four years !!! 

Love and white winter wishes

Tracey

xxx

It's starting to look like Christmas

The trimmings are up, the shopping is done and one of the kids is back from uni. Robbie arrived home yesterday and Amy and Ben will be here in a couple of days. Robbie has been thrown in at the deep end and is doing a 13 hour shift today back at the Rashleigh, with many more shifts on the rota for whilst he is home

Most of the christmas cards are finished now

Thanks to lots of inspiration from my lovely and very talented friends Linda and Jan

This following card is inspired by Linda and uses all Stampin' Up products

And these lovely little 'tree' cards are inspired by Jan, I made thirteen in total and had quite a production line going, I have a little paper forest in my house at the moment.

This following card is the card I made with Jan

I think I have finally found my mojo at long last, I was beginning to think I had left it back in Grimsby with all my crafting buddies. But I have had loads of fun creating these christmas cards, let's hope it lasts into the new year. I would dearly love to get back into scrapbooking - I have hundreds of photos to play with !

Will be back soon with the remainder of my christmas cards and maybe a couple of other little projects to share too

Love and little christmas trees

Tracey

xxx

Happy birthday Colin

If you read yesterdays post, you will know the last card I made was for my lovely neighbour Mary, this card was made for her hubby Colin. They both have their birthdays in the same week as Neil so I have been a very busy girl this week

I loved Colin from the moment he popped his head over the garden fence to introduce himself just after we moved in

He has me in stitches every single time I see him and he is such a lovely bloke

You will always find Colin tinkering, usually with the cars on his drive, but he can turn his hand to almost anything and always has wise advice to share and has helped Neil and I on many occasions 

I used dies by Nellie Snellen and Marianne, the birthday stamp is by Hero Arts. I have no idea where the paper is from or who it is by, it is one of those random sheets that I have been saving for years, knowing it would be perfect for someone, that someone is Colin, with his love of cars and mending them

Love and good neighbours

Tracey

xxx

Happy birthday Mary

Todays card is for my very special neighbour Mary who has been such a special friend to me, since we moved next door 18 months ago

Mary and I share very similar interests, have the same sense of humour and got along from the first time we met. 

I feel as though I have always known Mary and honestly couldn't wish for a more lovely neighbour or friend

The papers are from Provocraft, the greeting and little heart topper from Making Cards magazine, the dies are Spellbinders and Marianne dies

Love and friendship

Tracey

xxx

Happy Birthday Neil

Happy birthday to my gorgeous hubby

I have been saving these papers for someone special, my lovely friend Jan and I split a pad between us and I have been keeping them aside ( why do we buy papers that we love and then hoard them rather than use them - the mind of a crafter is a scary place !)

The papers are My Minds Eye, I used dies by Nellie Snellen, Spellbinders and Cheery Lynn, the stamps are both Stampin' Up

We have a special date night planned, we will be enjoying an evening late night shopping, followed by a meal at Prezzos and the cinema to finish

Hope you have a lovely day Neil, love you

Tracey

xxx

Amy's card

One person I know I can make a card full of girlie goodness for is my beautiful daughter Amy

She loves flowers and bunnies and the colour pink

I used papers and an image from a magazine

The flowers are mainly from Prima and Wild Orchid Crafts

The tag die is an oldie but goodie from Marianne and the stamp is from Stampin' Up

I absolutely loved making this card and Amy loved it too ( I knew she wouldn't be able to resist the bunny !)

I think that is me all caught up from the last few weeks of cardmaking.  I now, really must, crack on with Christmas!

Love and bunny kisses

Tracey

xxx

Jude's card

Another card from a few weeks back ( noticing a trend ?)

This card was made for one of my lovely work colleagues Jude

Jude is a veritable font of local knowledge and has always been so sharing of that knowledge, she has helped me find some gorgeous local beaches and walks and has always made me so welcome at work

Jude loves black and white and lots of bright colours too, we share a love of art and so we always have something to talk about

I honestly can't remember the name of the papers I used here, they were from a pack gifted to me a while ago from one of my lovely friends at the shop. The flowers are all Prima and the stamp is from Stampin' Up

And yes you guessed it, I will be back tomorrow with another card for another friend that I completed a little while ago ( I am determined to get caught up !)

Love and late postings

Tracey

xxx

Sue's card

Another card from a few weeks back, this one was made for my lovely friend Sue

Sue is my boss at work, but she is also a good friend. She has gone above and beyond when it comes to Neil and I settling here in Cornwall, always happy to share tips and tricks, ideas of places to walk the dog, do some shopping or for a lovely day out. We have a very similar sense of humour and share the same values when it comes to friends, family and our furry friends, all in all I couldn't wish for a nicer boss or a more lovely friend

Thankyou for everything Sue xxx

I know Sue loves lime green and she is a very feminine lady, so I loved making this girlie card with lots of flowers and beautiful colours

I used K and Co papers, Prima flowers and Nestability dies

Back tomorrow with another girlie card for another friend

Love and friendship

Tracey

xxx

Yoda and Darts

I am not really one for creating themed cards, my preferred cardmaking and scrapbooking style is very girlie, floral, with a touch of shabby chic

But, alas, every now and then girlie doesn't cut it, especially when making cards for very masculine friends and family of the opposite sex

These are a couple of 'themed' cards I made this year

First up Yoda for my lovely son-in-law, Ben

Ben is into all things Star Wars, I have made him 'music' themed cards in the past as he is also massively into his music, but this time round I went for something totally different and very fun to make

All the elements on the card are dies or punches, it was loads of fun trying to get all the shapes to come together

And this second card was for my friends hubby who is massively into his darts, he recently celebrated a milestone birthday

I printed the dart board from a google image and all the other elements were die cuts and punches, the darts themselves were hand cut as I just couldn't find punches to suit the job

Although my 'go to' style is really an explosion of flowers, pearls and all things feminine, I do love to think out of the box and stretch those 'masculine' creative muscles every now and again

Love and macho crafting

Tracey

xxx

I'm baaaaaaaack !

Hello

When Neil asked me if I had given up blogging I realised that my posts have been less than regular

It has been a case of life getting in the way, in a very nice way of course - all the kids are home yayyyyyyy

I mentioned in my last post that Robbie was the first to arrive and quickly found himself a job to tide himself over the holidays, he is still working hard and doing lots of hours, he has finished the  training he was offered so will be getting a pay rise shortly. He survived last week which was the Charlestown Regatta and was his busiest week to date. We are beginning to notice a big difference in the amount of people visiting -  our sleepy little towns and villages are becoming increasingly busier with lots and lots of holiday makers enjoying all the joys of Cornwall, thankfully the weather has been kind with most days dry, sunny and warm.

Ben and Amy are also here now, and both working

Amy has got a job in the tea-rooms at the Lost Gardens of Heligan and absolutely loves it, she says the people she works with are all super friendly and helpful. She commented last week that she loves the general laid back nature and genuine friendliness the Cornish people have, and she gets lots of yummy treats to eat on her breaks

Ben is working at a seafood restaurant - Wreckers -  in Charlestown just across the road from where Robbie works, he also works similar hours so it has been easier for Neil to drop them off and pick them up at the same time

And last but not least AJ is working as a kitchen porter at The New Inn in Tywardreath, he has applied for an apprenticeship at the Eden Project but wanted to keep busy and earn himself some spends over the summer

And now for a little crafting update ( I found a few images on my computer of projects that I have not yet uploaded to my blog, so I will try and incorporate them into my next few blog posts)

My mum's birthday card from last month

I created an 8" x 8" card base, I extended the Nestabilities die to fit the card, matted and layered the patterned papers and added a punched border, using a Martha Stewart border punch

The flowers were created using a variety of Marianne dies ( the largest actually being a snowflake)

The butterflies are also a Martha Stewart punch

And next I have a page from my bullet journal last month

Each month I create a 'memories' page, a little reminder of the things that made me smile that month, I love that my bullet journal allows me to document what I want, how I want ( and I get to do lots of doodling)

And finally all our pets are super happy that we have a house full of knees to sit on, extra playmates and many more opportunities for spoiling

Sox alternates from being super sleepy and peaceful, knee hopping as each of us gets on with our daily activities to being ultra playful, taking a swipe at dangling dressing gown belts, laces, ear phone wires and generally anything that catches her attention

One full house = happy kids, happy pets and one very happy mum!

Love and family fun

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