Hand Crafted Memories

Wow I've made top spot over on the Stamp with Us Challenge blog, with this card. I am so happy. I've been looking at some of the statistics from my blog counter. I love statistics, I started my blog over a year ago but added the counter exactly a year ago. I have it set up to count unique hits only, so only the first visit that anybody makes is recorded. The most number of hits in a week was last week with a total of 302 hits, the most in one day was yesterday with a total of 80. The second highest week was 267 and the highest day was as a result of me being chosen as one of the Stampin Up fab five for this card.The 5000 th new visitor to my blog was on 24 th January 2010. This might seem like small numbers compared to some of the fabulous blogs out there, but for me its nice to know that somebody out there takes interest. The Allsorts Challenge Blog this week is a sketch . I have to say the sketch challenges are my favou...

The theme for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week is Someone Special , perfect because I needed a card to give to a friend of mine this month. I already had the image stamped and coloured. I had a night this week stamping and colouring some images ready for cards. I had a rummage round my scrap box for some backing papers, a bit of doodling and this is the result. I hope she likes it.

Here we have another male birthday card for work. This stamp was one of the first I bought. I use it quite often for male cards and is one I will never purge and put on e-bay. It is quite versatile because each of the tiles can be used on its own. The elements in each tile can be 3 d'd it also looks lovely done in sepia tones. Here I've just out the steering wheel (can't remember what it's really called), then the tan coloured mount I cut a square out of the middle before I stuck the stamped image onto it. The whole lot was then 3 d'd onto the stripy backing paper. The delicious card is a very deep blue with shimmer, Craftwork Cards of course.

Back to basics can sometimes be a good thing, rediscovering the joy of what it was that got me excited about stamping and card making in the beginning. I picked up this rubber stamp for a ridiculous 79p, I was attracted to its simplicity. I could imagine it stamped and coloured, 3D'd, paper pieced, suitable for Christmas, birthdays, thank you's. What a magnificent bargain. The other joy I have is using my gorgeous copics pens, love, love, love them. I had an evening where I sat and stamped a few images then coloured, what joy! It was the best therapy, who needs to spend a fortune talking things through, just get the crayons out! I don't know what the line across the top is, it must be a shadow because its not there on the actual card, the straight line on the bottom is, don't know why I did that but it looks OK IRL.

The current challenge on the Stamp with Us website is a sketch challenge, so I broke out this cutie patootie stamp set that started my now huge collection of stampin up products. I love this little truck and its accessories, this stamp set covers a multitude of occasions . Perfect to do the sketch challenge and make another 'boy' card. This card won me the Stamp with Us top spot award for this challenge.

The C.R.A.F.T.W.O.R.K cards challenge continues with the letter A for Acetate this week. Anybody that knows me is aware that I love making ' projects' as much as I like making cards. This week I decided for the acetate challenge I would make this picture frame. It was all cut (by me) from chipboard and covered with 12 x 12 paper. The acetate is the 'glass' in the frame, I stamped it with white Stazon (love this effect). I was so happy with this when it was finished. Hop over to the blog to have a look at some of the other entries. Don't forget you have until Friday to get your ribbon entries in to Craftwork Cards .

Blimey this daily blogging takes some planning! Hats off to the ladies who manage it, I'm only 25 days in and I'm exhausted 8-). This week over on Winter Wonderland it's a sketch challenge , this is a blog I look at but don't take part in really. The thought of creating Christmas cards in January would normally set my noggin to explode, it's just wrong (in my world). It is a lovely site and the cards are very beautiful and inspirational as Christmas approaches. This week though, the sketch is gorgeous and totally made me want to have a go, so I did. The photo doesn't do it justice but this card is so blinged up you need sunglasses to look at it! I loved the sketch and will definitely be using it again for my cards.

The challenge set this week on the Penny Black Saturday Challenge is to show something sweet . I've used the same stamp as last week it still counts, the mice look really SWEET waiting to tuck into their SWEET cupcake. See it counts. It was a nightmare photographing the card, it's a sort of gate fold , the flap on the right tucks under the left flap. To try and take a picture it kep t standing 'open', so I just laid it down and took it flat. The card will be on its way to work on Monday to add to their stash of boys cards.

I can't believe it I won the Allsorts Challenge last week , the theme was brown and pink. I'm thrilled, it was the first time I'd posted anything for them. This weeks challenge is hearts and flowers , of course I have to enter, so here goes with my take for this weeks challenge .I've made a Valentine's card, not that I need one but I know I'll get asked at the last minute, by somebody, if I have one.

While I am waiting for the prompts to appear for the Document 2010 project, I made my page for the Pencil Lines Challenge this week. I love looking back at photos, they always make me smile. Especially the hair styles and fashions. How good did I think I looked at the time, all my photos are defiantly me, everybody says I haven't changed much. I know what they mean although I do think I show signs of aging, not too bad but there seems to be a lot more of it and it's all migrating south! Do you remember the 80's and big hair? I laugh because its back, big hair not the 80's. The styles are different but big bouncy hair is the in thing. I've been to the hairdressers this morning and my hair has been dried Cheryl Cole styley , it's big and full of bounce (and product ). It reminded me of this photo, so I was inspired to scrap it.

Here's another of the male birthday cards that I am making for the boys at work. It's making me feel old that they are all only just turning 30. I love this little stamp its one of my all time favourites and can be made to fit any occasion where present giving is appropriate. I'm still waiting for my new Penny Black stamps to arrive, I want them now!

The Craftwork Cards C.R.A.F.T.W.O.R.K. challenge continues. Each letter of their name represents one of their fabulous products,they are asking for cards to be made featuring one of these products. There are only two days left for you to e-mail your entries for the card candy challenge, on offer as the prize is o ne of the card candy stores . We have now moved onto R for ribbon , they would like you to show what you can do with their ribbon. Go and check out what they sell, it's a lovely choice of yummy. I love ribbons. Here is my card, as I've said previously although I'm not eligible for the prize I am eligible for the fun! I alos couldn't resist using the card candy again.

My brother has two boys that are now entering the teenage years, HELP!!! I have to say they are the most gorgeous boys, very polite and with great senses of humour. No I'm not biased at all. What do you buy them for presents when it comes round to birthdays etc? and to make them a card, what a nightmare! The youngest is 11 tomorrow , so here is his card. I'm quite pleased with it let's hope he likes it.

Was that sunshine I saw yesterday, thank goodness the snow has gone and everything is back to normal. Unfortunately if the snow didn't get you I'm afraid the pot holes will. One road I have to travel twice a day has the biggest pot holes in it. The road is always being worked on and as a main route it causes congestion regularly. Well now its like a slalom run trying to negotiate the huge craters in it, at least now they aren't full of snow you can see them! This week over on the Allsorts Challenge blog its a theme of brown and pink . I love this colour combination, not my favourite but I do use it as one of my staple colour combinations. I think I may be getting a little predictable as the butterfly and border punch are heavily featured again. I can't remember how long it is since I loved a new craft purchase as much as I love these. In fact I don't even put them away, they are currently residing on my counter, permanently .

This page is something I've had in mind for a while . I wanted to document that I'd seen the big 5 on one of the safaris in Africa that I have been on. I love Kenya and hope I can go back again sometime. The big five are traditionally the animals that game hunters went out to find, nowadays it's the tourists who want to see them. The page is suitable for two challenges, Pencil lines challenge sketch 169 & J ournalling challenges 16 which was to use handwriting on your page.

This week over on Penny Black Saturday Challenge is a theme of Blue, Cream and Gold. I've made a card to add to the stash at work for boys, I've realised that I'm a little bit short of Penny Black images, no idea why because I love them. Maybe I'll have to break my stash diet to get a few more. One thing I'm really please about is that since Christmas all the cards I've made were made out of my scrap box. In my Christmas purge I got rid of a bin bag of scraps but kept some of the big pieces. Unless I was making a page I committed to using my scrap box. About a year ago when I last purged the scraps I cut a pile of 1.5" squares but never did anything with them. While I was blog hopping I saw an idea of gluing all the bits to a piece of waste card then cutting a background with a nestabilities shape. I remembered thinking it was a good idea, but can't remember who's blog it was on. The pile of 1.5" squares was at last utilised for this ca...

I have a plum tree at the bottom of my garden, which has the most beautiful blossom in the spring. It never lasts very long but is gorgeous when its there. I made this card and it was completely inspired by my tree, I'm trying to trick myself into thinking this awful weather will be gone soon. I love this card so much I don't want to give it away.

I'm not a huge fan of shaped cards, I find them a little bit predictable and blah! however, I have to say I love these cupcake cards from Craftwork Cards , they just need a bit of decorating and they're finished. I have to say they are always popular with people I send them to and you can really let your imagination go mad with the decorating. While I was looking at their website I spotted this new collection for easy peasy boxes , I confess to getting a bit excited about my boxes being used in a kit like this. Remember I drew out these boxes for them, see the details here on a previous entry.

Two cards today, because they are both for challenges and on a theme. Craftwork Cards have a great challenge on, you have until the 22nd January to enter with a card featuring their card candy. Here is my entry, as I'm part of the Design Team I'm not eligible for the prize, but I am eligible for the fun! The prize is a Card Candy Store, I know this is fabulous because I've got one. These little doodies are so useful, I use them most often a the centre for flowers. go have a look at their blog to see some of the great entries so far. This next card also features card candy, but was made for the Allsorts Saturday challenge , this hasn't photographed that well. The embossed circles look much nicer IRL. It was sitting on my counter for a couple of days because something was missing, but then while I was making the above card it came to me. Silver card candy to look like rivets. Done (in true Gordon Ramsey style)!

Recently Nichole Heady challenged her senior design team to use scraps to make a project, I don't have any of Papertrey ' s products but have had a go anyway. I love the look of their products and follow their blog regularly, but cannot justify the cost of postage combined with the exchange rate at the moment. I dream of having some of these delicious stamps. Here is a super easy, quick card, that may not look like much but IRL it's effective. You can only just see the embossed lines above and below the squares of paper. this might be something I keep in mind for emergency cards. Pop over to Craftwork Cards blog they've got a super challenge on at the moment, it's worth having a go.

For a change I've made a New Home card, I don't know anybody that is moving but I thought I would make one to have in my stock of cards. It's a teeny tiny card only 4" square, its so cute. The chipboard house and tree are Maya Road and I love them a lot, I just painted them and added some glossy accents to the house.

I am sooo oer this snow now, I got to work today after struggling off the small estate I live on and got through to Sheffield where the roads are completely snow free. The ones I need anyway. However, I think getting home might be a different story. In an attempt to encourage spring I've made another card using my favourite rose in a sunny yellow. The branches behind are from the Enchanting trees stamp set from Craftwork Cards, just to show they don't have to be used just for Christmas.

One thing about this weather is it forces you to stay in, which can either drive you nuts or you can go blog hopping. I chose to do the latter with a bit of the former chucked in for good measure. Fortunatley today the snow looks like its clearing, its melting a little bit, which is clearing the roads. Nothing else but that will do for me, at least I can get out and about a bit better.Last night I looked at the Penny Black Saturday challenge and came up with this. They have two card sketches that you can choose from. I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself, you may notice there's a pattern . Yes I used some more of the purple card stock mountain and my fabulous new punches from Martha Stewart. I don't feel that anything is complete without the butterfly and deep floral border punch. Yummy.

I've had a lovely day, it didn't look like it was going to amount to much when I woke up this morning. Overnight we'd had another fall of snow and I had made plans to go shopping with Theresa my BFF. She couldn't get her car off her drive and I didn't think I was going to get mine off the road, we decided that we would go thro ugh to Meadowhall on the train if her husband could drop us off at the station. I also have the first signs of laryngitis and each time I cough it hurts my back, not the best start to the day. Anyway we went to the station and the trains were replaced by a bus service, we needed this girly day we were both feeling a bit stir crazy. Her lovely husband took us through to Sheff ield, dropped us off and then came back for us, what a hero. We did all the things we used to do, coffee, lunched like ladies, shopped an d chatted. It was the best day. On the way back we bought a lucky dip lottery ticket, again this was something we used to do, each o...

Time for a girly birthday card I think, this one features my current favourite rose. I love making these little flowers and they are great for using up your scraps. As long as you can get a circle out of the paper you can make a flower. I also seem to be making simple cards with quite a lot of 'white space. I'm feeling comfortable with white space.

Phew managed to get off my drive and into work at last. We had more snowfall last night that completely covered my digging efforts yesterday . Boredom gave me the strength to go for it this morning, it was a bit hairy but at least I got in. I pity the poor souls down south who have a horrendous40 cm predicted to hit them. The lovely postie has delivered me two gorgeous Martha Stewart punches, can't wait to get home and play with them. Here is another of the cards I've made for work, I'm trying to keep everything simple this year.

I'm still snowed in, and it is snowing again today, not too heavy but enough to cover over the drive and road that I'd spent three hours clearing this morning. My back is breaking. I'm going to have a drink take some painkillers and go to bed for an hour. This was the view last night at 4.30PM. It looks very pretty. Here is the result of my 3 hours with a shovel. Before I go here is one of the cards I've made for the collection of 30 year old male cards I need for work this year.

I'm all snowed in! I got up for work this morning at 6.30, nothing, even though the predictions were that I would get up to 4 inches of snow. So I did my normal morning things and opened the door at 7.30 am with the intention of getting to work early to tackle my mountain of tasks and WHAT! Where did it come from? I did set off but after skidding a couple of times and only getting a mile in 15 minutes I gave up and came home. It is now 9.00 am and about 1.5 inches of snow covers everything, and its still snowing heavily . What's a girl to do other than craft? I taken a picture of my wellies, I bought these to try and help with walking in the snow. When I got them home they fit great but because I'm only 5'2" they came right up to my knee which meant I couldn't bend my leg, so to sor t that out I've chopped ab out 4" off the top. Everybody found this really funny, I just thought it was practical, but have photographed them to record the story. Edited: ...