A slightly new direction!

Hello bloggers.  Well since my last posts aherm..... yes I know ages ago I have been diversifying my crafty makes.  I have taken up both jewellery making and crochet.  My lovely hubby bought me a crochet book for my birthday and (pardon the pun) I am hooked!!  Whilst I am still loving my papercrafting, I often sit of an evening with a big ball of wool and my crochet hook.  I find its something I can do in front of the telly and be sociable, unlike papercrafting which takes over the whole dining table and cannot be easily done in a small space.  Here are some of my makes:

Girls shoulder bag - fully lined (yes sewing machin in use too)

Commission from a friend for a mobile phone cover.

and some hats :)  These are going down fairly well at the fairs and I have also had some commissions for these too!

I won't bore you with any more for the moment!

To finish for today and to wish you all a Happy Halloween:

I will be back soon........

Easel Card

Hello bloggers :) - I have been asked to make a card for a third birthday and before seeing the Polka Doodles Blog competition decided to make this:

To be honest I am a very lazy/boring card maker as I always seem to follow the same type of card - rectangular or square - and avoid the fancy folds.  However, I have recently got a bit fed up with card making which I think was due to my mammouth card making session for a craft fair back in March. 

So I have set myself a challenge of trying to do different shaped/fancy folds on my cards to see if I can get my mojo back :)

For this card I printed papers from the All Around and Everywhere - Polka Doodles CD and then used my trusty Cricut (with Sure Cuts Alot) to cut the card and embellishments.  I used Create a Critter for the Bear and Doodle Type font.  I am pleased with the result and now have an idea for a boys easel card too - so maybe this change of card style is working :)

Thanks for looking in.  Vxx

What a busy time!

Hello all - well how great were the Easter Holidays this year - we had such lovely weather and got to do lots of lovely things with the kids including a trips to Edinburgh Zoo, Glasgow Science Centre and East Links Farm in East Lothian.  On the days we decided to stay at home we got to spend outside enjoying the sunshine.  Here are some piccies :

I have only just realised how rude this picture looks!! ROFL

Fancy I game of spot the chimps.... no ok I will tell you my three kids are sitting in the middle!

This picture was taken through the glass of the leopard enclosure and yes it really was that close - no zoom lenses were used!  It really was fantastic seeing it this close.  If the glass had not been there you could have touched it (and then run away really quickly before it ate you!!)

And no trip to Edinburgh Zoo is complete without watching the penguin parade. It really is fun to watch them waddling round. :)

Over the hol's I also got back into my crafting - crochet in particular.  Its a bit more social than the card making as at least I can sit with my OH in front of the telly and have a natter, and it also does not make so much mess!! (or is that just me). Here are a few of the things I have made:

My second attempt at a beanie - Gemma was not impressed with the first one as it was not pink!!

Mobile phone cover

Little purse with pop fastners 

 Following my advert on my Facebook selling page I got an order for a purple mobile phone cover

Which was closely followed by two more orders for a camera cover and mobile phone cover :)  I have an order for 4 beanie hats now too but have a little bit of time to do them as they are for christmas presents! 

Anyway I better go and feed the kids as its that time of night again.  Thanks for reading and hello to my new followers to :) its really nice to have your company.  TTFN Vx

Spots and Stripes

Hello again :) - well it has been such a lovely week so far.  My OH is now off on holiday too and the sun has been shining.  On Sunday we spent the day in the garden with the kids and then ventured out to the park after lunch.  I then got an email asking for a birthday card for a motorbike lover - not having any motorbike themed items I trawlled the internet and found the following image which I used on the card below:

When I was making this card I really loved the colours from the Jovial Man collection on the Funky Hand Colour Me Happy cd I thought they went well with the digi image and with a bit of luck it happened to fit in with the Funky Hand challenge of Spots and Stripes! Yay So I have entered it in to the challenge.  I just hope the recipient liked his card!

After finishing this card I thought as it was a nice evening that we would go out for fish and chips at South Queensferry.  We had a delicious tea and then went for a walk (and ice cream) and my OH took these:

The ice-cream was delicious! Raspberry Ripple Flavour shlurp :)  Well I better go as I have a huge pile of ironing to do!  Got an exciting day out planned tomorrow too so will be heading to bed early :)  TTFN Vx

Zing Into Spring!

Hello blog land :) - Its nice to be back.  I have been so busy over the last couple of months getting ready for a Spring Fayre to raise funds for our local school.  The school kindly asked me to have a stall to sell my cards and crafty things.  It was a successful day and I made over £100 which was not bad for my first Fair!!  However, as a result of getting organised for the fair it did not leave me much time to do anything else - hence the lack of bloggage!  But I am here to change that and I will be a regular blogger again - promise :)

To celebrate my return I have made this for the Get Funky - Zing into Spring blog challange:

As you can see it is an easter sweetie bag filled with scrummy Cadbury Mini Eggs - delish.  It was a very quick and simple make - kids are on their easter holidays so I did not want to spend the whole day crafting and neglecting them - however, I think I just might cut out a few more of these and get them to decorate them on this wet afternoon :)  The papers are taken from Funky Hand Colour Me Happy craft CD.
Well I better go and get my ankle biters fed and watered - hopefully will be back soon!  TTFN Vx

Its a sad day - but here is a freebie giveaway!

It was a really sad day yesterday - it was my last day at the Papermill Shop in Livingston :(  They have taken the decision to close all their stores and concentrate on selling the paper online.  To say I am gutted is an understatement.  I really enjoyed working there and the girls I worked with are really lovely and I will miss working with them!  However, we are going to keep in touch and get together for some crafty sessions :) and I must admit a good thing to come out of this is that I have made 5 new really great friends :)

It is going to be very strange going into the centre and the shop being filled by someone else but unfortunately it seems to be how things are going at the moment.  So many great shops are going online to cut overheads and some are even closing completely and there are very few good craft shops left.  Its very sad to see.

On the bright side!! and yes there is one, one of the Girls who works in the shop has decided to start up her own craft shop.  Kim worked in the Papermill for 9 years and has lots of crafting experience.  She has been lucky enough to get the units from our shop to fit out her new premises in Veitch's Garden Centre in East Calder - which sounds like the perfect location as it has a Coffee shop and a Fabric shop too - What more could a crafter want!!  Cant wait for it to open now :)

As a result of the closure I was given a Popcorn the Bear Christmas Collection CD which was a free sample which was given to the store along with some other products.  I am now offering this a freebie to one lucky follower.  If you are interested in winning this please leave me a message below and I will pick someone at random on Saturday 29th January.  Please feel free to let all your crafty friends know about this giveaway as Popcorn needs to find a new home.

Well that's it for now as its bath time for the kids - thanks for reading :)

Vanessa xx

UPDATE - 29th January

The winner is Alison Bates who entered the competition on facebook and was chosen at random by my 2 year old Oliver :)