80 years young

This was an extra special birthday card for a special lady

I made a 'flip' style card, which was a nightmare to photograph but looked really pretty in real life

Still wading my way through older cards but definitely getting more up to date now.

xxx

Best Wishes

Another card from 'way back when'

I am not sure I will ever catch up, but, at least I am finally finding my mojo again.

I got to the point of looking at some of my stash yesterday. I didn't actually get it out and I didn't actually make anything, but I did think about it 

I also bought a couple of little paper pads on my last trip in Newquay and Neil bought me some Christmas papers when we went to Truro

New stash does always inspire me, so maybe I need to get them out and start stroking them if nothing else

Hoping this beautiful weather stays a little while longer

xxx

From the archives

Another card from the archives

Working my way  slowly through the photos on my Mac

The weather remains glorious here in Cornwall, t-shirts and flip flops are still being worn, most of the trees are still lush and green, Autumn seems a while off yet !

Note to self, must start thinking about Christmas cards

xxx

Happy birthday

Playing catch up

Another birthday card, this one was for someone special

Lots of distressing and tearing, shabby chic and ultra feminine, my favourite kind of card to make

There will be no order, or rhyme or reason to the order in which I share my makes from the last 3 months, I just aim to upload and blog my way through my camera roll. 

Love and kisses

Tracey

xxx

No apologies

Sorry, not sorry !

I have been a terrible blogger, mojo for blogging had wandered off

 I am not sure it is entirely back, so please excuse me if this is not artful nor chatty, but it is a start

Thank you for the kick up the a*** Jan

So, no apologies ( I have been living life to the full here in sunny Cornwall, enjoying the amazingly warm summer and all that it entails)

A quick and easy birthday card, not for anyone in particular this time just one to keep in my stash in case I need one pronto

I hope I still have the occasional reader over here at Sandy Toes and if not - well, hey ho, I am used to talking to myself anyway

Love and kisses

Tracey

xxx 

Ann number 2

Good evening, as promised I am here to share the second Ann's birthday card

I used the same instructions as yesterdays card for the base, but instead of keeping the three layers in stepped increments, I cut diagonally all across the top

Papers are from the Poundshop of all places, dies are from China and flowers are Prima and Wild Orchid crafts

Sentiment and punch used to make the sentiment plate are both Stampin' Up

The butterflies were fussy cut from the patterned paper

I really like this variation of fold and can see me using it time and time again, I might have a go at making it in a larger size

Love and butterflies

Tracey

xxx

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad

Please excuse the absolutely awful quality of this photo

I made the card back in December and we didn't have a single nice day to photograph it before I took it up to mum and dad. The colour is a little bit off and the little gold flowers weren't nearly that shiny in real life, but, you get the gist

I used some Craftwork Cards pearlescent paper for the background, the large hearts are die cuts and the smaller ones punches, foliage is dies and small flowers are a Stampin' Up punch

Hope you both have a lovely day

Love and kisses

Tracey 

xxx

Thankful

 Happy New Year

My first card of the year is a thankyou card

I created a variation on the standard stepper card with a double step in the centre

I used a mix of old dies and new dies. I just love my new cha cha cha dandelion dies

The leaves are Marianne, as is the fancy tag in the centre, the green centres to the flowers are an old Martha Stewart snowflake punch and the butterflies are a cut and emboss folder from Stampin' Up

The extra step in the centre of the card adds a little more dimension and an extra surface to decorate

I hope you have all had a lovely new years day

We have spent a peaceful and very restful day at home, a long lie in followed by a roast lunch and not much else to be honest - bliss !

Love and happy new year wishes

Tracey

xxx

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

A little vintage christmas

And we are now on the home run, just a couple more batches of cards to share

I have very much depleted my christmas craft stash this year and have already bought a lovely paper pad in the sales from The Range, with which to make a start on next years cards

On a side note I can't believe how many reductions are already in place. There are lots of bargains to be had in the shops, as, no doubt, the retailers are already preparing for their Easter displays

Again, lots of layering, lots of die cuts, not very mail friendly but, hey ho, that's just the way I roll

I have definitely rekindled my passion for paper and have a few projects planned for the new year.  Who knows, I might even partake in a challenge or two just to keep my momentum and my mojo

I hope whatever you are doing this Christmas Eve, you are doing it with your loved ones, I hope you are warm and well and looking forward to tomorrow

I am sending each and every one of my readers, much love and lots of kind wishes for Christmas and the new year

If you have loved ones that are no longer with us, and you are struggling with the season,  I wish you peace, and the ability to cherish the memories you have

Take good care of yourselves and your loves

I will be back over the next couple of days but I am going to schedule the posts this evening as I am going to limit my online time over the next few days

Merry Christmas

Love and warm wishes

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

Birthday and christmas all rolled into one

First up today I have the card I made for Neil for his birthday

I have seen this combination of aqua and deep red all over pinterest and on many a cardmaking blog, I love the contrast, so decided to try it out for Neil's card this year. He loved it too, so it was a successful experiment

We celebrated the occasion at The Rashleigh in Charlestown ( where Rob works ) and enjoyed a beautiful meal, there were plenty of gluten free options for AJ which was a bonus and Rob was happy to be back drinking the local beer. He has come to the conclusion that it is hard to find a decent pint back up country ( this is what happens when you educate a drinker and have access to a wonderful array of local brews)

Up next I have Neil's christmas card from me. I made four of this design in total, for special people, all the same but ever so slightly different

Every year I attempt to make 'flatter' more mail friendly creations but I just can't help adding all the little bits and bobs. So I gave up on the clean and simple style and decided to hand deliver most of them ( they took up half my travel bag when I delivered the 'northern' cards last week )

Well, that's it for today. Roasting aromas are wafting in from the kitchen as I type this post, tempting and tickling my tastebuds. I wonder if anyone will notice if I purloin a potato. It is time to put the finishing touches to our dinner so I will bid you good evening and will return tomorrow with some more christmas cards

Love and sparkles

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

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day

To all you lovely mums out there, whether you are mums of children or mums of fur babies

Thinking of all those people who have lost their mums and can no longer give them a hug, and all those mums who have lost children, bless you all

It wasn't until I became a mum myself that I realised just how hard mums work, to keep families together, to keep everyone happy

My mum is one in a million and I couldn't have had a better teacher, friend, guardian angel

Happy mothers day mum, I love you more than words could say and I couldn't be prouder to say that you are my mum

Here is the card I made for my mum

I used a brand new die and my favourite stash of papers for a subtle and very feminine card

I also made Neil's mum a card, she's definitely not a pink person so I opted for fresh spring colours and flowers, who doesn't like flowers on Mothers day

And me...... I got three gorgeous cards and some lovely gifts and I spoke to them all, I miss the older two like mad and really wanted to give them both a hug but I will have to wait patiently until the end of May and the end of uni

What did I opt to do for my special day ? We took the doggies to the beach of course !

It has been a beautiful, bright and sunny day, so we spent the afternoon, beach combing, walking and playing in the sand

Look at Bruce's face, sun on his back, sand in his paws, ball in his mouth, the absolute picture of happiness

I am so blessed, my mum, my children and my fur babies all very much at the fore of my mind all of the time but especially today

Happy Mothers Day

Love

Tracey

xxx

Golden Anniversary (Part 2)

Hello

 I am back with the second of the two Golden Anniversary cards I made for my friend Margaret

I went for a slightly vintage, shabby chic style for the second card, I wanted it to look soft and romantic

Neil and I are exactly halfway to our golden anniversary, we celebrate 25 years of marriage in May and Neil has already got lots up his sleeve

We have a weekend in London and a couple of special gigs lined up, I can't wait !

Love and marital bliss

Tracey

xxx

Christmas before Easter

As promised here is the first of my Christmas cards

I decided in January that I would make them through the year to save time in November and December when we are all super busy anyway

The papers are from a Trimcraft stack I bought in The Range at the end of last year, they are very traditional colours and style and beautiful quality

The card is a folded design with a band running through the middle so it gives a nice 3 dimensional effect when stood up

And here it is folded flat, ready for the envelope

I used a Nellie Snellen die for the oval, a Marianne die for the tree, Cuttlebug embossing folder on the tree, Stampin' Up stamp and punch for the flowers and the sentiment is also Stampin' Up

I will be interspersing the christmas cards with my regular cards and projects throughout the year and I also hope to get back into my scrapbooking soon, I have so many great photos to use

I will be back tomorrow with the first of the two cards I recently made for a special occasion 

Love and baubles

Tracey

xxx

Spring greens

Hellooooooooooo

I am back with a quick post today

This card I made for my wonderful friend Jan

I broke out some really old embossing folders for this card

I have had a major clear out and these flower stems were among the first cuttlebug folders I ever bought, they never made the cull because I like them just as much now as I did when I bought them 8+ years ago, sometimes the simple things in life are the ones we keep going back to

The weather has started to turn now and the garden is full of beautifully bright spring blooms, sat looking out the window, inspiration hit and I had to go with fresh vibrant spring colours, nothing more cheery in my opinion

Must dash, two hungry men due home any time soon

Back tomorrow with the first of the christmas cards I have been making this year

Love and springtime kisses

Tracey

xxx

Pretty in pink

Hello

It has been a little while since my last post

We have joined a gym, Neil and I

Neil for physio reasons, he's trying to strengthen his knee after his op and to regain some of the lost muscle on his left side and therefore hopefully regaining a little of his strength and co-ordination

And me, well, I need to shift these pounds before I get to the big 50 or I fear they may never go

I am eating fully vegan now, for health as well as ethical reasons, many thanks to Amy and Ben for all their help and advice and their inspiration in the first place, love you two xxx

I lost just over a stone by going vegan and then a plateau hit and so Neil joined me at the gym as part of my christmas gift, thankyou sweetheart xxx

I have to say I have had gym memberships on and off for years, but this time it just feels right. I love my gym - Snap fitness in St Austell, the staff are lovely and helpful, the gym is brand new and immaculate with absolutely tons of equipment, it is bright and cheerful and I actually look forward to going - that's a first !

We have been working out for a month and I didn't weigh myself at all in the first four weeks. To my dismay I lost only one pound when I jumped on the scales this week, I was gutted, I had worked bloody hard, weights and cardio, five days a week for four weeks

Neil urged me to measure and to not get hung up on what the scale reads, I was sceptical but did as I was told

I had taken my measurements at the beginning of January and when I repeated them I was gobsmacked

All in all I have lost 12 inches in total - 12 bloody inches - wow !!!! that's 30 cm, 300 mm, you get the gist - I am pretty happy with that

The scales have now been consigned to their hiding place under the bed, and, from now on I am just going to go by the mirror and my measurements

So that's the reason I have fallen behind with my blogging and cardmaking

But the upside of all this exercise is, at first it nearly killed me, I was sleeping for England, but now I have more energy, more motivation and my sleeping has returned to a normal pattern once again

I feel motivated to do more, more of everything, exercising, cardmaking, crafting, even cleaning, literally everything !

Woohoo, go me !

So, enough of the update, I am sure I have bored you all to tears

I have a card to share, I made this for my lovely friend Gillian

I used a Martha Stewart border punch and a lattice Nestability die to create the whitework

The leafy scroll is an old Marianne die and the flowers were made using a Stampin' Up stamp and punch set

The sentiment is also Stampin' Up as is the punch I used to cut it out

Gillian is currently nursing a poorly shoulder so I am sending her all my love and hoping she feels much better soon

Love and lost inches

Tracey

xxx

Anniversary wishes

And this card brings me bang up to date with all my crafty endeavours so far this year. Yes they have been a little thin on the ground but I do have some cards to make in February and I am eager to get back to my first love of Scrapbooking. I have lots of photos to work with  and my craft room is all organised now, so, no more excuses !

This card was for my mum and dad on their wedding anniversary

I used my favourite papers which were a gift from Neil just before christmas and some lush ribbon which I have been hoarding for a special card

I feel so lucky and incredibly grateful that my mum and dad have built such a wonderful family, as each anniversary passes I am reminded of how hard they have worked to keep us all happy, safe and loved

It seems not many marriages stand the test of time nowadays, I am so glad that mum's and dad's have, it has taught us so much over the years

Love you both more than words could ever say

Your ever grateful daughter

xxx