Cards for Delia

Wow 2 posts in 2 days, that's a record for me lately... but I just had to pop on and tell you guys about this though. I found it while blog hopping over at the wonderful Dustin Pike's blog. He has a request on behalf of a little 10 year old girl called Delia. Here is the info (taken from his blog entry):

I have a Special Request...
Jennifer from http://just4funcrafts.blogspot.com asked if I could help and ask for card donations..
This is part of the email:
On Friday, December 11th, 2009 my friends daughter Delia was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. She is 10 yrs old and is currently being treated at the Denver Children's Hospital.

She loves art, photography and really loves owls. I was hoping that there would be some wonderful women or men out there that would love to send her a card of encouragement. I thought it would bring a smile to Delia's face to be inundated with cards as a special Valentines Day gift from people around the world. Please find it in your heart to bring hope and love to this beautiful spirited girl. Any card will do..but if you have an owl that would be a bonus. Please pass this information around so we can thrill a little girl in her time of hardship!
She is on her second round of chemo and its been a struggle for her, although she is doing better today.

This touched my heart as she is the same age as my son and I cannot imagine what she must be going through. Her address if you want to send a card is available on Dustin's blog the link is in my inspiration list over on the right side of the page. Dustin is an awesome artist and has drawn these super owl images for you to download and use on your cards. They are so cute I could not resist using 2 of them.

I am a little late for making it in time for valentines day but I figure her fight is not going to end on valentines day and therefore she will need encouragement today and everyday until this nasty illness has been beaten. I used to be a Chemo-Angel and send cards to people just like her and know that everyday is a day that could do with a little extra happiness in it, snail mail for me is the best way I know how. I hope she likes my card.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Valentine Cards

I didn't get around to making many Valentine cards this year. My mojo is still very much in disarray. However I did join a swap on Joani's group (cards made by hand) to try and get the juices flowing. This is my Valentine swap card.

I did one of Joani's challenges while making the card which was to use pink, black and white. I made my own background paper by using 2 stamps from the SU set I {heart} hearts. The main image was from another SU set Whoo's your Valentine?

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Their Own T-Shirts

The kids had fun last weekend making their own T-shirts. I thought you might like to see their creations. Megan had a little help from me with the large heart and the words but after I drew a couple of cats for her she tried it for herself and off she went. Jake's is all about Star Wars and done all by himself. I got the iron out to heat set them (one of the rare occasions it comes out of hiding.LOL). I think they look awesome.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Dropping A Line

I made this card for a sketch challenge on my friend Joani's group (Cards Made By Hand). The long front strip was perfect for this Whipper Snapper image. The cardstock is from Archivers so I am not sure of the color names. The DP was from my scraps box. The little fish charm I won in a blog candy a year or two ago . I have been reluctant to use them but they are perfect for this card and I have way to much stuff to keep them any longer.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Cowboy Christmas

Hello friends

It's time to start making Christmas Cards for this year. What! I hear you cry, LOL. I am going to try and keep up with Tracy's challenges (http://tracyshappyplace.blogspot.com/) again this year to avoid the last minute rush. So far I am on track with that but then again it is only January.

This months challenge was to make 5 easel cards. They could be all the same or different. I stuck with making them all the same. It was easier. I finally got around to using my cowboy snowman from High Hopes. You can't live in Texas and not want this cute fella in your collection.

I used blue bayou and close to cocoa cardstock and Heidi Grace designer papers.The stars on the close to cocoa are from Starstruck and Delightful Decorations. I heat embossed them to standout and shine with clear embossing powder. An SU brad on the inside of the card makes the perfect stopper for the top to lean against. I was pretty chuffed with it once it was finished. Not bad for a first attempt at this style. I may just have to try this again.

An optional extra to the challenges this year is to make a 3D item (Christmas themed) also. I like to make handmade gifts for certain friends and found last year I had no time to make them so I hope to try this part of the challenge also. This month I kind of cheated as I had these glass coasters hanging around just gathering dust. Well Tracy sent me some lovely poinsettia images when I won one of her challenges last year and I have been holding on to them every since because they were so nice I didn't want to use them. Well I gave in and trimmed a few of them down and put them in the coasters. They look real pretty now and will make an awesome gift for someone this year.

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Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Sewing for a Friend

I have just a little something sewing related to show you today. My friend Sandra asked me to make her a little tablecloth. She wanted to match her curtains in her kitchen and had some fabric left over for it. Turns out it was just enough. No fancy stitching involved just straight lines but I wanted to show it to you because when we put it on the table in front of the curtains it looked awesome.

Thanks for Looking

Hugs

Nic

Birthday Cupcake

Here is a card I made for my Mum for her birthday. She was tickled pink with it and envisioned the girl on the cupcake to be her which tickled me.LOL. I have been planning this card for some time. Since before Christmas in fact but alas my beloved mojo went walkabout and it has been sitting on my desk ever since.

Well I sat down and finished it the other day and got it in the mail in time to reach my mum on her birthday yesterday. Cardstock used is Close to Cocoa and Purely Pomegranate. DP is Stampin Up and the cute image is from the breast cancer digi set from Nutcrafters. As it turns out their challenge blog this week has a color challenge of pink and brown (challenge #7) which fits this card perfectly so I am gonna enter it for that.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Racing Time

I know it's not a card and my part in it was very small this year but I wanted to show you Jake's car for the Pinewood Derby this year. He and Paul decided they wanted to make it look like an I-phone. So here for your enjoyment is the App-mobile.

Ruby Anniversary

Here's a card. My first of the year, I made it for my in-laws. They are celebrating their Ruby Wedding Anniversary tomorrow. I made a similar card last year for an Aunt and Uncle and followed the same pattern. They probably have had the card by now but they do not have a computer so will not be looking on here to spoil the surprise.

We sent them a BIG bouquet of flowers for the occasion. I am hoping they took a picture of them though as we won't get to see them otherwise due to being an ocean away.

Cardstock is Purely Pomegranate. I thought this made for a pretty close to Ruby color. The cake is a sticker and the sentiment has been embossed.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Happy New Year

I have been very dormant over the Christmas season and because of that I am finding it very hard to get back into the swing of things. However cards and such won't make themselves so hopefully I will be back soon with something new to show you.

In the meantime I want to show you one or our Christmas presents. It is from my wonderful friend Lucy (aka The Quilting Queen) You can find her sewing up a storm on her blog. She sent us the most awesome quilt. I love this quilt so much I won't even let my cats on it for fear they will snag it with their claws. Thank you Lucy!!!!!!!

One thing I did find a renewed passion for over Christmas was jigsaws. I came across some in my attempts to tidy my craft room (this endeavour is not going so well). I set about this one between Christmas and New Years and finished it last weekend. It was only 500 pieces but pretty tough as a lot of the pieces looked exactly the same, nightmare. Still it's finished, question is, what do I do with it now?

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Time For One More

Paul asked me the other day to make a set of 5 cards for a friend he works with. How long did he give me to make them?.......Less than 24 hours. Yes, you heard correctly. Luckily I have a bunch of ideas running around in my head and was able to pull this one together fairly quickly. I also got to use one of my favorite techniques - Embossing.

I am dedicating this card to all my online friends who I did not have enough time to make cards for this year. Especially my new friend Tracy in Canada who sent me the loveliest card (I am sorry I did not get one to you in time I will make it up to you).I have found that this year has gone by incredibly fast and I am still waiting for it to slow down. I have a feeling though that it is me that will have to speed up to keep up.

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Not sure if you can see in this picture but the ornament has been heat embossed. The powder is called Red Dragon and is mixed with gold glitter so it sparkles ever so pretty. I used my new SU set Delightful Decorations and my new Real Red polka dot ribbon.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Hugs

Nic

Tree Decorations

I went to a make and take at Archiver's about a month ago and one of the makes was an ornament for your tree. I was very impressed with how easy they were and felt that I could probably make them at home as I have the most important thing I needed already.

What I didn't have I bought while there. For me a good make and take is when I end up buying and taking the product home. So I guess this one was a winner. I bought the acrylic snowflakes and the ribbon and the mosaic tiles before leaving and invested in a Martha Stewart snowflake punch from Michael's as the one they had used was very awkward.

At home I ran the snowflakes through my cuttlebug. The finished thing looks really nice. Of course the ones I made myself at home are green as that is my favorite color and that way the people getting them as Christmas gifts get a little piece of me for their tree.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

On The First Day Of Christmas...

...I just have to sing the praises of my lovely friend Lucy who sent us this awesome quilted advent calendar. She even sent the candy to fill it. Isn't it just awesome. Her blog link is over on my sidebar if you want to check out what else she has been up to. I dream of being as good as her one day but alas it is just a dream. It will not stop me sewing however.

Just to prove it here is a little something I made for my other lovely friend Sonya. Today is her birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONYA!) and she admired the one I made for Lucy earlier this year so as per her request I made her one with her favorite thing - FROGS!

I am currently wrapping gifts like a silly person trying to get them mailed by the end of the week to the UK. Hopefully I can get back into my craft room after that. Although I think I may need to purge/tidy/clean it first as I have so much stuff in there these days my brain feels a little overwhelmed every time I go in there so I need to sweep a few cobwebs clear first.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Happy Thanksgiving

I have backdated this post because I meant to post it on thanksgiving but completely forgot. Here is a little turkey card I made for a thanksgiving swap over on my friend Joani's card making group (see sidebar). I got this stamp from High Hopes just before they went wholesale only. He's so cute trying to make a speedy getaway on his scooter.

The paper is from a Debbie Mumm stack I must have bought ages ago. Cardstock is chocolate chip, real rust and old olive.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Finished Them

Here is a picture of the other half of the cards I made for my friend Renee. I am busy trying to get Christmas presents organised right now as I have to mail most of them overseas and the mail slows down a lot this time of year so I need to get them posted before the end of the month. Hopefully I will be back to crafting and have cool things to show you real soon. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Hugs

Nic

Half Way There

Here's a quick picture to show you what I have been up to and why I have been a little quiet on here lately. This is the first 25 cards that I have made for my friend Renee. I am now busy at work on the other 25 of a different design. I hope to be on top of things soon.

Thanks for hanging around while I am so busy.

Hugs

Nic

Halloween Crafts

Here are a couple of pictures of the crafts I did for Halloween. Megan took a pot of pencils with lollipops into school. These look very similar to what I did last year with the Pixi Stix. I was a little light on ideas and time so I went with what I knew. It did end up taking a while though as the pencils, being thicker than the pixi stix were not co-operating with my dimensionals. I ended up resorting to stapling each side together. Due to all the time I wasted I just gave Jake a pot of pencils and lollipops to hand out - no frills.

I also made these little goodie bags for a friends Halloween party we went to. Megan's friend has a peanut allergy so we made sure everything inside was good for her to have. I will be a little light on posts for a while as I am feeling under the weather. Will be back when I have time to craft a little when I feel better.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Halloween Witch

Once again I have missed the challenge for this card. It is from a fairly new company called Nutcrafters http://nutcrafters.co.uk/zen/ and they were giving this digital download Witch on their challenge blog http://nutcrafters-nutshells.blogspot.com/ for free. I snagged her and used her to make my Halloween cards this year.

Of course as always I missed the deadline to enter my card. But at least I got some Halloween cards made. Which was starting to look doubtful. They have some super cute images, you should check them out. I also purchased their Breast Cancer Digital download. The cutest images and 50% goes to Breast Cancer Awareness. I will be back later in the week with a card for that, I hope.

I made the card in three different colors. Tangerine tango, kiwi kiss and lovely lilac. The web is a cuttlebug folder cut with a scallop circle punch. The spider is confetti and the sentiment is Stampin Up. Oh and I almost forgot the best part - my Martha Stuart dripping goo punch. Love it. LOL.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic

Finding Nemo

I just love this movie don't you? There is a story attached to this card so let me tell you it. I will make it as short as possible. I was looking at stamps online one day a couple of months back and came across this cool one with seagulls at Whipper Snapper and thought to myself that it would make a cool card if ever they chose Finding Nemo for the Cinema Saturday Challenge so I promptly put the stamp on my wish list where I then promptly forgot about it. Till that is I checked the challenge for this week (Challenge #54) and lo and behold there was Finding Nemo as this weeks movie choice. Straight away I went and ordered the stamp as I really really wanted to do this card. Today it finally arrived and I quickly made this card. There was a color guide for it that I totally missed in my excitement and I'm not completely sure I like it 100%, simple cards are very hard for me these days. I keep looking at it thinking somethings missing. My sentiment is improvised and I know that in the movie the birds apparently say "mine" not "mate" but it suited the card better.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Nic