happy new year

I hope you all have a happy and safe new year laura xx

48 tags!!

Yesterday on WOYWW i had a few comments about me doing 48 tags. Let me explain they are not big - 2 1/2 inches - and very basic. They were cut out on the cricut and then stamped with 'for you' and a mini Christmas tree was glued on. They are for a friend who gives out jams and chutneys as gifts and she wanted a small tag to tie around the jar with some string. Here they are The other questions I got was the gentlemen I use as my screen saver, he is called Alexander Skarsgard - Eric in True Blood. He is pure beauty don't ya think? I was never interested in True blood at all but Kelly kept on and on about it and she lent me the 1st 3 books when Joe was in hospital and I was hooked - it's well worth a read and the series is great..BUT it is classed as an 18 for a reason and my hubby actually asked me if I was watching soft porn!!! Anyway just a short post from me today as I am busy making teachers gifts and cards. Will post their gifts tomorrow. Laura x

WOYWW and some winners

Happy Wednesday all are you getting excited for next week? The boys especially Joe can hardly sit down with excitement!! Well here is my workdesk today. The stamp is for some last minute cards which I am going to totally case from Julia as she used the same stamp at the card marathon - hope you don't mind Julia x The rest is just odds and sods the SU inkpad and the green paper with trees cut out were for 48 tags I made for a friend last night. The diary is for bookings. In the right corner the wallet is my Dec daily project. The dog tags are from Project 65 a new soldiers charity for fallen heroes. The black book with hearts on is actually a coupon book which is featuring in my valentines class. That's about it really any questions just shout. Now on to my winners. Sorry I didn't do it last week this have been MANIC here with school plays, fetes, discos, coffee with friends lol. So thank you to all who entered the winners are.....................................Nicky from Stiggys cards and...................................Kelly from Caesar crafts. I was slightly nervous of putting Kelly's name down as many of you know that we are best friends but it was my 4 yr old who pulled the name out of the bowl so it was all done completely fair. Anyway if you liked looking at my desk why not hop on over to and have a nose at all the other desks of crafters today. Laura x

First Love

Good morning everyone hows the weather? It's melted here so everything is back to normal. I did a LO over the weekend of my son and his girlfriend. Now I have to tell you he is 6 and she is 5 but they adore each other. On Saturday after Joe had a tantrum over me deleting a programme and accused me of ruining his life, his dad asked him if his life was really ruined he said no as he still had Ella!!! Now they only see each other about every 6 months as she lives the other side of the country but they have already chosen baby names!! I have been told they are having twins George and Molly and then another baby called Joella. I love it the innocence is so sweet. I have to say this LO really made me realise why I scrapped in the first place to record their memories. I want my boys to remember the conversations they had with their first girlfriends aged 6. I had the urge to scrap in pink which is such a rarity with having 3 boys. I used Basic Grey Bittersweet. Which has to be my favourite BG range. Have a good day and thanks for looking. Laura x

WOYWW, new blog and a giveaway!!!!

Well it's Wednesday again and it's the 1st December!!!!! On my desk today I have the cover of my December daily. I have decided to go rather traditional this year and am using a mixture of papers. I won't be showing the pictures daily but will try and do a weekly post just for the daily. If you would like to join in with woyww please pop on over the queen of Wednesdays Julia who has many links to other crafters desks today. Secondly this is my BIG news. I am now a Stampin Up demonstrator for the Tidworth area. I will not be selling on this blog but have started another blog http://airingcupboardstamping.blogspot.com/ to sell these quality stamps. Because of this I am having a giveaway. There will be 2 winners and I will be offering 1 each of the paper below, either a versamark inkpad or a Stazon, candy canes and a embossing stencil. There will also be a gift in there handmade by me. All you have to do to enter the giveaway is become a follower of my new blog. I will be closing the draw next Wednesday so good luck. Laura x

It's snowing!!!!

Finally we have snow here. It's only fine and has not come to anything though :-( I really would like a huge dump of it so we can stay in for the rest of the week. Maybe a snow dance is in order.... bells are you ready?.............. Anyway thank you so much for the comments on the wreath. I was asked a few questions so I thought I would answer them here. Sorry I don't have a tutorial I bought a polystyrene wreath from hobbycraft about 9 inches. (it's flat on the back) for about £1.50 I think. All i did was cut 4 12 x 12 double sided papers into 1/2 inch strips and then in half to 6 inches. I then curled the strips around a felt tip pen and stuck them on the wreath base with extra tacky (the red one) tape. I stuck them so they go in different directions. With the ribbon I stuck that on and then the paper strips over the top. It is quite time consuming but it took about 2 episodes of Greys Anatomy online and 1 episode of Glee - sorry that's how I time things lol. Hope that helps any questions give me a shout. Anyway I thought I would show you some quick and easy Christmas cards. I had some scraps of this Basic Grey paper so instead of it getting thrown in the scrap drawer never to be seen again I used it straight away - I am so good I know......... I have some very exciting news to share with you over the next week so please keep checking back. Stay safe in the snow and if it snows really bad please don't blame my snow dance lol Laura x

Christmas is coming....

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while it's been a bit busy here. I have so much I want to do but not enough hours to do it all in anyone else get the same? We are putting the Christmas tree up today so I thought I would share one of the decorations I have made with you. This is for my living room door. I have seen loads of these around blogland but I thought they took too much paper. They actually only take 4 pieces of double sided. I used an old stampin up paper pack that I bought last year which has now retired. All I did was cut the paper into half an inch strips and then into 6 inch pieces. Curled them around a pen and stuck them on. What do you think? take care Laura xx

Something a bit different

The boys have a birthday party tomorrow, it's the little girl next door. When speaking to her mum she mentioned she was going to decorate her room in a Cath Kidston style - all shabby chic, pink and girly. She asked if I could make her something for her new room. Well this is what I came up with - a look what I made board what do you think? I used Papermania Blueberry Hill paper pack as it seemed to have the shabby chic style. It made such a nice change to be playing with pink instead of the usual boy colours. Laura xx

Never Forget

Card Marathon

Hi there guys I hope you are all well x Thank you so much for my WOYWW comments I am trying to get around to you, so I apologise if I haven't yet but I will soon. Anyway on to other things. I have had the BEST day ever. Julia from WOYWW and Ally are 2 scrap ladies and today was their card marathon. It was based here in Tidworth in the community centre which was perfect as just down the hill from me :-) I went with Kelly from Caesar Crafts and we had the most amazing time. I learnt so many new things - alcohol inks, nesties, glimmer mists, how to tie a bow lol. There were 34 cards (I think) to complete and I managed 22. I have bought some more home to finish too. I have to say that maybe I would of completed them all if I hadn't spent most of my time eating cake!!!!!! Oh and the food was outstanding. Lunch lady Jan who if you have read Julia's blog you would have heard about already, spent the whole day slaving in the kitchen so we could have cakes, drinks etc when we wanted them. Lunch was brill and I was stuffed afterwards so I only had one slice of cake for pudding........... One pic with flash on and one off - sorry about bad piccies. There was talk about them having a summer marathon too so if you are close by I urge you to sign up as it's a great day. I have had the most amazing time spending the day crafting side by side with my best friend making some fabulous cards. Thank you so much Julia and Ally you worked so hard for today and it was very much appreciated/ Take care Laura xx

WOYWW

Well it's Wednesday again so that can only mean one thing WOYWW. Here is my desk today. It's extremely messy, But I am in the middle of making a few boxes so everything on there is for a reason - apart from the lollipops which are there for the boys obviously.......... I have 6 boxes to make so am going to try and get them finished today and then hopefully I will be back to a tidy desk. No promises though. Pop on over to Julia's if like me you are extremely nosey and like looking at other peoples work desks. Laura x

Some stitching

Well good morning guys hope you are all well. I have a desk full of stuff but nothing I can show you yet - give me a few days and all will be revealed. As the nights get darker and colder I have my stitching back on a hoop in the living room and this is what I have stitched this last week. The fabric behind the designs is what I have used as the backing. The blue check is my sons old Junior J pyjamas that I couldn't part with. This is January and February designs. I have the whole twelve months to do so am hoping to have them all displayed in a basket. I have managed a few LOs this weekend too so I will post them up this week too. Enjoy your day Laura x

Halloween Card

Here is the Halloween Card that you could see on my desk in my WOYWW post. I have used Imaganisce papers and stamps. I cut the eek out with the cricut. It was a easy card to put together as everything was from the same range. I am entering this into the following challenges http://paperromancechallenges.blogspot.com/ http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/ http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/ http://thecraftypad.blogspot.com/ Thanks for looking Laura x

WOYWW

Good morning everyone I hope you are having better weather than us here, it's rain and wind today. I am early doing my desk this week as I have to take ds2 to the hospital at 3.40 so we are going straight after the school run and going shopping first. Here is my desk as I left it last night. My copics in their basket, twine, orange box I have made ready for sprucing up. The boo sign was in my last post and the card will be posted tomorrow. The red book well that's what I live by, it has the list of things I need to make for the rest of the year now. I have quite a few orders in as Christmas is coming so I need to keep myself organised. The choccies are for gift bags for the Halloween party (shhh I have had a few). Well guys that's it for me today. When I get back tonight I will start visiting you all. If you want to see more desks hop on over to Julia's. Happy Wednesday Laura x

BOO

Firstly let me please apologise for the terrible picture, my camera died just after I took this so I couldn't take anymore. Over on two peas in a bucket they are having a Halloween month. They will be posting a new project daily and it started today. The one on there is stunning mine is a cheap imitation but I am pleased with the outcome. I have used all Imaginisce papers and stamps. I am going to hang this in the kitchen. I am having a small Halloween party and Kelly (Caesar crafts) and I are making up lots of Halloween goodies for the children. We have many ideas on food so I will make sure after the party I will do a post. Well I am off to catch up on sleep as we had a very busy girls weekend away and am now shattered. Laura x

WOYWW

Hi there guys hope you are all well. I hope the weather is better where you are today as it's wet and horrible here. I haven't blogged for ages as had a rather busy summer, computer broken and ds2 having spinal surgery. But all is well now so am hoping to get back into it. I have rather a lot of pictures to show you today of the craft room. I have changed it round and added new furniture. This is the view as you walk through the door. I need to change the curtains as they are Thomas the Tank and I have a few shelves to put up on the wall. This is my dresser that used to be in my kitchen. In the cupboards that you can't see I have chipboard embellishments and magazines. On the top here I have jars full of buttons and large flowers. I also keep my albums, cricut cartridges and other bits. This is the bottom half of a unit I moved up here the other day. It used to be in the living room then the bedroom and is now here - I like to recycle lol. This is just paper and a basket full of punches. Here is the top half of the unit where my cuttlebug sits and also my sons cuttlekids. The top shelf is projects I have done at classes at the local craft shop ( I am also teaching a class on the 20th November, more details to follow in a later post). The lilac box is a box I made and cross stitched the top, it's where I keep my finished stitching ready to be framed or made in to something. This is the overall view of the unit. It does have glass doors but I took them off as I cant attach the unit to the wall as I need to get behind it for plug sockets and the doors are to heavy. This is my chest of drawers that I have primed but not got around to painting........ It's full of fabric for sewing projects that I have not got around to making........ - do you see a pattern here? On top of here I just keep ribbon boxes, embossing powders etc. These are our plastic drawers the large one is mine which I keep stamps in apart from the bottom drawer which is flowers. The smaller unit is my boys as this is there craft room too. This basket on top of my wooden unit is what I got on Friday from the local charity shop for £2.50. I love baskets and this one is too small for my washing as you can imagine how much I do with 3 boys lol. I have filled this with bits ready fr altering. The clarks shoe box is ready for altering and is destined to become my photo box. I have organised everything how I want it and have made a few projects this weekend and is working really well now everything has a place. I have just realised I haven't actually showed you my desk sorry but don't worry there is nothing actually on it today anyway. If you are still with me at his point then thank you for looking around my room and if you want to have a look at some more rooms then pop on over to Julia's blog ( stamping ground) where she has over 100 people linking up to show their desks. Laura xx

WOYWDW

Well it's been a while since I did this so I thought today I would play along. I have moved into my own craft room now which is working really well, I need to change curtains and tweak a few things but on the whole it's fab. I can't show you my desk today as I have loads of household paperwork on it sorry but this is the left side of my room. Here is a clock I altered. I got it from Julia and Ally from 2 scrap ladies. I am decorating in the theme of Basic Grey Phoebe. If you fancy nosing at everyone else blogs pop on over to Julia's for a look. Laura x

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside..............

Well I would at least like to see some sun anyway!!!!!!! The weather has been awful here today with thunder and lightning. Over at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ the theme this week is a beach one so I had a raid through the stash and this is what I came up with. Hope you are all well Laura x

Christmas card

I haven't had much crafting inspiration of my own lately so I have been using a few sketches. This is from a sketch challenge over at http://ourcreativecornerweeklysketch.blogspot.com/ The papers I have used are Basic Grey. I hope you are having a wonderful day sorry it's a short post I am in a cooking frenzy today as the freezer door got left open last night...... Take care Laura xx

Good Morning

Well I haven't been online in what seems like a lifeline so I do apologise for not visiting any ones blogs recently. I ventured into the craft room last night and actually crafted which I haven't done since the last crop!!!!! Over at http://www.twistedsketches.com/ this week they have a lovely sketch and I thought I would play along. Here is my interpretation of the sketch. I used scrap fabric and Papermania Hampstead papers. I managed to create a few things last night so will be updating regularly this week. Take care Laura xx

Gift for MIL

Well I haven't been on here for so long I need to blow the cobwebs away. I have had no Internet as I kinda changed the house around a bit.... I now have my own craft room and I love it!!! I haven't spent as much time as I would have liked in here but yesterday I spent most of the day in here. Hubby was watching the rugby and then the football so the boys and I were in here playing. It's my mother in laws birthday in July and she is the most difficult person to buy for as she's not really into anything if you know what I mean, so I made her a gift yesterday. This stationary set is a tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers and is very easy to make I will certainly be making some more for Christmas gifts. Here is the box. I used Making Memories noteworthy papers I think.... This is how it is with the lid off. This is the address book, pen holder and the other pocket is for stamps. I made some cards, thank yo u notes and some gift tags too put in. So there it is I really like it and am hoping she will too. I have to say I was feeling a little sickly at the end working with all that pink lol I am used to boys!!! I have a million blog posts to catch up on so after lunch I am going on a huge blog hop to see what you have all been creating. Take care Laura x

no internet

just a quick post to say sorry i haven't been commenting have no computer at the moment. Am doing this from my phone so i hope it works. I will hopefully be back on line by the end of the week blogging and commenting. Take care Laura x

WOYWDW

Well firstly let me apologise for not being around lately. I have a million blogs to catch up on so I am sorry I haven't visited you. Things have been stressful here Nan has been very poorly and at one point we were told to prepare for the worst but fingers crossed the hospital are letting her home this week. So what do I do when I am stressed apart from eat? Stitch. I can't show you what though as it's a surprise for someone sorry. I never papercraft when things are on my mind I don't know why. I have done a card but that's it. When I polished this morning the cricut had loads of dust on it!!!!! Anyway I thought I would share with you what my production line was last time I blogged. I have made all of my teachers gifts for end of term. Early I know but I had no inspiration to scrap and I wanted to play with paper. Jake made the paperclips and decorated the bags and post it note holders. I just cut everything out and scored the card. These are the paper clips. The papers used are Papermania Rose garden. This is the post it note holders.

And here in full glory is the 9 completed bags. The instructions for the bags are on splitcoast. They are very simple to make.

I really enjoyed this project and it was great doing it with Jake. But the best bit was using up scraps from the drawer.

Well thank you for looking and head over to Julias blog for a nose around everyone elses desks. Oh and it's not all been gloom here have a look over at Kellys blog (CAESER CRAFTS) for a look at what else we've been up to.

Laura x

WOYWDW

Well here we are with my desk you nearly didn't get to see it as I thought it was Tuesday!!! I haven't done any crafting since the crop on Saturday but in a mad moment I have started a new project and this is how my desk now looks. How can it get like this so quickly??

As you can see there is a mixture of paper strips, stamps, extra strong tape, punches inks the list goes on and on. I can't show you what I am making yet but all I can tell you is I have a production line going and I'm doing alot of gluing, scoring and cutting. I hope your enjoying your Wednesday and if you like looking at desks pop on over to Julia's for a look around everyone elses.

Laura x

Such a happy boy...

Thank you all for your comments on my stitching. You will certainly be seeing a lot more as I do more stitching than paper crafts. Meet Jack he is my youngest child and is sooooo miserable. I don't know if you can read the journalling but it just explains how grumpy he is and how much he whines. It also says that he makes me laugh so much because of this.

The weather has changed here today so it's grey and horrible so I am going to comfort myself with an afternoon in the kitchen baking. Have a great day.

Laura x

WOYWDW

Hello again I can't believe it's nearly the end of April!!! The girls and I were yesterday saying in 6 months we will be waiting for payday to but the Christmas food shopping how mad is that!!! Anyway while I am on the subject of Christmas I have completed a Christmas ornament. I finished it a few weeks ago but had it on my desk today to email a photo to a friend. This is cross stitch and is a Lizzie * Kate design. I love cross stitch and I have to say I never show my stitching on here even though I do loads of it I don't know why. Would you like to see more?

On the paper craft front I am getting things ready for the crop. I start early as I am really anal about planning for it. I like to have my sketch, papers, photos, embellishments, title cut out if needed etc. I usually take about 6 - 8 page kits with me but only manage about 3, maybe I should stop talking so much.......

If you want to see some more interesting desks than mine have a look over at Julia's blog.

Laura x

Cybercropping

Did you all take part in the cybercrop on UKScrappers then? I didn't, Saturday we were out and Sunday was doing the usual of ironing uniforms etc. When I sat down Sunday evening I had a look though. I was really impressed with the classes and am going to do a few at the Ludgershall Crop on Saturday. I did get two completed which I love. The first one is The Strand by Sarahy. I loved this it is so not my usual style and took me so out of my comfort zone with the inking, distressing and stitching it was fab. I can see me doing a lot more of this style in the future. The LO is Jake trying to make money in the garden by selling lemonade and cake to his brothers. I used K&co papers (surprise surprise). This next LO is Mayfair by craftypants. I love the sketch of this one. I didn't use paint on mine but if you look over at UKscrappers and look at craftypants LO it's stunning. This is my son Joe being a cool dude. The flowers are handmade and the flourishes are cut out with Make The Cut.

I have managed a few other LOs this past week so I will be sharing them with you this week too.

I hope you all enjoyed the weekend.

Laura x

Altered C.D

Firstly I would like to thank you all for the lovely comments I have been receiving they really mean alot :-) As you know I have been on a challenge roll and I can safely say I now have my mojo back!!! At http://cinspirations.blogspot.com/ this weeks challenge was to alter a C.D. I chose to do a door sign with mine. I have used K&co paper4s (surprise surprise) and have made it for my son Joe. The reason I chose this is that I have made him a look what I made board with this paper too. I will show that on another post. Thanks for looking and have a fabulous Monday! Laura x

Christmas cards and a LO

Hello all I hope you are enjoying the glorious weather. I have had a relaxing day pottering in the garden. Continuing the challenges that I have completed over at http://christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.com/ the challenge was for 5 cards using pastels. I have used the My Minds Eye pad (I had a lump in my throat as I was cutting it lol) and the cricut for the snowman.

Here is a close up of the card. I embossed the snowman with the cuttlebug and coloured in his nose with an ink pad. I love these cards and am going to make some more as my Christmas cards this year. I feel very organised to have some cards made already!!!!

This LO is of my son Jake who was 8 last week. I have had the idea for this LO in my head for ages. It is very simple but it's exactly what I wanted it to be. Please excuse his handwriting he has to have extra help for it and is really trying. You can enlarge the picture to read his answers. I love the fact he says he's scared of nothing - until there's a spider in the bath or a bee flying by lol.

Well for the rest of the evening I will be watching the new Dr Who and the Britain's Got Talent whilst playing with Make The Cut which hubby bought me for Easter.

Thanks for stopping by and take care

Laura x

Flutterby.......

Wow it's Friday already and the kids are back to school on Monday where have the last 2 weeks gone? I have had a lovely day here today baking - baguettes and a chocolate orange jaffa cake it was scrummy!!! Here is a card I made this week. The colours aren't my usual palette but I love Amy Butlers patterns (Have some of her fabric too) and it all goes well together. I said yesterday that I have done loads of challenges this week so I am entering this card into http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/ http://tuesdaymorningsketches.blogspot.com/ Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for visiting Laura xx

Dads Birthday Card

Firstly thank you so much for the comments yesterday I really enjoy WOYWDW thanks Julia for setting it up xx Anyway I have lost mt mojo a bit this fortnight so to get me in the mood again I do challenges. Here is my dads birthday card (mum if he's reading this with you tell him to look away xx). He is getting it early as they are going to Canada for his birthday.

I am entering this into

http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/

http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/

http://pileitonchallenge.blogspot.com/

http://sketchesbytamara.blogspot.com/

I have done alot of crafting and have loads to show you so please visit again.

Take care

Laura x