Catch up & Candy...

Hello everyone, just thought I'd drop in to say hello! It's been such a busy two week's at work, especially now I have been confirmed as part of a department which is being made redundant next year. It's all very sad and we're all under an immense pressure at work so it's making life quite difficult! Never mind, I'm a firm believer in everything happens for a reason so I'm confident that something better is out there for me! Perhaps at a Craft Magazine (dream job a'calling!)

Anyway, as some of you know, I am off to sunny Florida in just over two weeks time and I have been busy preparing some surprises for my crafty follower's during the time I am away so keep your eyes open from 21st November....

I have not been able to do much crafting recently and have been very good and not bought any new additions to my stash! I am trying to save my money for American goodies which I am hoping to find on my travels :o)

I did stumble across some candy on Susie's blog so go check it out if you can as it ends today at 10pm.

Please keep leaving comments and popping by as I do read your comments!

Much love,

Christmas cutie...

Well Happy Monday everyone...back to work for most of us (including me!) except those lucky one's that are on half term! Countdown for the holiday is on with less than 4 weeks to go...starting to get excited now :)

Had a very relaxing weekend which was lovely and finally managed to find some time last night just before X Factor to make a card for some challenges this week. There was a sketch to follow on Anyone for Anya and it was a colour theme over on Passion for Promarkers which was Poppy and Forest Green. I must confess that I do enjoy working to a sketch and it's good to keep a collection to hand when suffering from crafter's block which I know happens to all of us at some point :) Here was the sketch on the Anya challenge this week...

And here is my interpretation of that sketch using Promarkers Poppy and Forest Green...

I didn't really have an appropriate Christmas themed Anya stamp but I thought this little cutie holding her bunny would look good as a Christmas image if she was coloured in with the Promarkers...

Cute little candy cane charm fits right in with the theme of the card....

Used my fiskars winter embossing punch here to create a border of snowflakes to match the paper and ribbon...

Crafty Recipe...

TGF 'Snuggle' stamp coloured in with promarkers (Hair - Cinammon, Cocoa, Shale; Skin - Ivory, Blush, Vanilla; Clothes - Poppy, Berry Red, Grass, Forest Green, Emerald; Bunny - Cinammon, Cocoa; Background - Poppy, Forest Green

Christmas Sentiment - Papermania

Cardstock - The Paper Mill

Paper - Daisy & Dandelion Christmas Collection

Printed Ribbon and Charms -The Works

Red Ribbon - Stash

Winter Border Punch - Fiskars

Glitter Glue - Glitz It

Gems - Papermania

Hope you have a great day - whatever you get up to!

Much love,

Just a quick one..

Hello all! Hope you are having a good week. Just wanted to drop bye to say hello and hope you are all well! I haven't done any crafting since Sunday evening which is so rubbish and I'm beginning to get itchy fingers now...I find myself looking longingly at my craft stash wanting to make a card. I'm sure I'll find time in the next few days to whip up a card! Just finding it hard to fit in during the evenings as I seem to be constantly on the phone sorting stuff for the holiday - can't complain too much I guess ;o)

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and that I have been looking at your blogs and your lovely cards - you can't get rid of me that easily!

Much love,

Autumn shades...

Wow, so it's been a week since I last blogged -naughty me! What has happened in those 7 days in the world of Han? Well...quite a bit I can tell you! Mr Hannah and I have decided to go to Florida....in 5 weeks time! Nothing like last minute eh? His parents are out there for a month and his sister and her boyfriend are joining them for the last two weeks, as are we now. I'm very VERY excited about it but that doesn't leave much time to organise things but I'm slowly starting to tick things off my long list.

Obviously that takes first priority at the moment so crafting has taken a back seat but I managed to find some time last night to make a card. I chose to combine my card for this week's Anyone for Anya challenge which was 'Autumn Colours' as well as Passion for Promarkers which was Any colour + sketch. Well here is the sketch....

And here is my interpretation of the sketch and 'autumn colours'...

A close up of Anya coloured in with promarkers of course (excuse the poor pic!)...

Tried a bit of DIY decoupage this week with the flower on her hair...

The beautiful flowers came from Oxfam. They are cotton rags would you believe it! Only £2.99 for a good selection and they have brights, christmassy colours and pastel shades. I put the gold gems on myself...

Thought i'd try two colours of ribbon this week...trimmed the ends to a point...

My 'celebrate' stamp from Studio G inked in gold and embellished with adhesive gold gems...

Final look at the card to see which bits of the card are raised...

Recipe

Backing paper is - DCWV Pet Stack
Plain Cardstock -The Paper Mill
Martha Stewart Doily Punch

Gold Adhesive Gems - Papermania
Ribbon - Hobbycraft (29p a metre)
Sentiment - Studio G
Flowers - Oxfam

TGF Wild Sprout Stamp - Dahlia. Coloured in with Promarkers (Ivory, Blus, Vanilla, Saffron, Cinammon, Cocoa, Pastel Beige, Berry Red, Poppy, Moss, Grass, Gold)

I managed to organise my stash completely last night which is great because I now know where everything is - hurrah! Hopefully my card-making sessions will be a bit more productive now that I won't spend half my time rooting around for a particular item!

Anyway, must get back to 'real' work :( Have a great Monday!

Much love,

Lilac lovely...

I was asked my Nan to make a card for my cousin for her 21st which is at the end of this month and I couldn't think of anything for aaaages but I came across these beautiful papers from Making Memories and everything started to fall into place! It's funny how you can sit there for ages and then you pick something up (paper, ribbon, embellishment) and then the ideas will start to flow! Hurrah :o)

I thought I would also enter this for this week's Anyone for Anya challenge (Paper Piecing) and also Passion for Promarker's which had a recipe to follow: 3 shapes (not including the card) so I've got a circle, square and rectangle, 2 papers -the two different patterned bits and 1 ribbon (butI forgot it was only 1 ribbon and I got a bit carried away with 2 - hope they won't mind & penalise me too much for that so I thought I'd enter it anyway!) Here is my card...

Birthday Anya - coluored in with promarkers and the flame is embellished with glitter...

Cute little metal flower and the all important '21'....

I am liking this ribbon technique...cute little lilac gem..

Gorgeous Making Memories paper with the light mint green and lilac...

Recipe...

Plain Lilac Card
Making Memories Paper, Metal Flower, Letters & Numbers, Ribbon & Gems
TGF Birthday Anya stamp coloured in with Promarkers and embellished with Papermania Fine Glitter

Really like these colours and probably wouldn't put them together and was (pleasantly!) surprised at how they complimented each other!

Have a good Monday...roll on 5pm!

Much love,

Deliciously OTT on the pink...

I finally got round to entering a sketchie challenge over on the 'Let's get stamping' group on Craftbubble after being absent from the gallery for several weeks. Sharon gave us this sketchie to work with and the twist of using scraps....

And here is my interpretation of her sketchie...

Nice and pink this week! Apologies about the photos for the next few photos but I was struggling to take them at about 11pm last night! Anyway, here is a close up of Show Girl Anya...got this stamp set from the USA in the sale for $7. I wanted to make a feather so I attempted to create it out of glitter glue...not sure it worked!

Sentiment from the stamp set....cut it out in a wavy fashion and coloured the background with promarkers and drew dots to match the background of the main stamped image - also added some glitter...

Here's the one of the ribbon scraps I used tying it into a untidy bow to add a bit more pink (as if it needed any more!) to the card...

Gems, paper buttons, ribbon scraps, chequered paper - all scraps or leftovers...

The other set of paper buttons and glitter swirls...

Recipe...

DCWV Rockstar Mat Pack
Ribbons were scraps from my ribbon box

Gems are Papermania but not sure where the paper buttons came from

Pink Glitz it Glitter Glue for swirls and feather
Showgirl Anya coloured in with Promarkers (Carmine, Magenta, Blossom, Rose Pink, Hot Pink, Blush, Ivory, Vanilla and Black)

Hurrah for it being Wednesday (although wish it was Friday!). I was chuffed to be picked by Jude (Jane's daughter) as the winner of her cute little imp stamp - very much looking forward to receiving that - thanks Jane :o)

Have a lovely day, whatever you get up to!

Much love,

Yummy Brownies...

I know that this isn't really craft related but I was chuffed at how my brownies turned out last night so I thought I'd post a pic on here! It's creative of sorts, just not a card! I've already tried one (obviously!) and they taste goooooood! I've never put the chocolate cream on the top but they taste really good with it on top! I had to test it before it went on of course ;o)

Mr Hannah helped but actually managed to get more on his face in the process (boys eh?!) I did take one or two photos of that but I won't embarass him by posting them! Looking forward to making one or two cards tonight which should be nice. Have the evening to myself so plenty of time to relax and craft. Unfortauntely it's still raining in Sussex but that won't stop me tonight! Hope everyone has a great day...whatever you're doing!

Much love,

Cool Aqua and Apricot + Flowers

Well I don't know about the rest of the UK but it is pouring with rain here in West Sussex! I finally managed to fit in some card making last night and decided to make a card for this week's challenge over on the Promarker Challenge blog.

This week's colours are Cool Aqua & Apricot with a twist of flowers. I wasn't sure about the colour scheme but was pleasantly surprised at how well the colours complimented each other. This card took me ages as I wanted to make an effort as it was my first card in over a week! I went to The Glitter Pot at the weekend and picked up my first ever Magnolia stamp - Peachy Tilda! I decided to treat myself and bought the matching paper too :o) Here's how my card turned out...

My NBF - Peachy Tilda coloured in with promarkers...I also used a Cool Aqua Promarker to colour in the background as I didn't want to use it too much on her clothes...

The ribbon tied and trimmed (first ever go at displaying a ribbon like this...think it turned out ok!) and also the TGF circled sentiment. You can also see the gorgeous paper from Magnolia to match the stamp!

Close up of the beautiful little paper roses (think these were 99p for a pack of about 30-40). You can also see where I coloured the edge of a piece of Apricot coloured card to create a border...I also coloured in some different sized spots too with my Cool Aqua Promarker...

Sorry about the last pic...came out a bit blurry! I layered the peach flower on top of the felt flower and coloured the leaves with an Apricot Promarker. You can see where I coloured the border of the card with Cool Aqua Promarker and then cut the Magnolia paper (in a wavy fashion!) to layer over the colouring...


Recipe...

• 'Yummy in my Tummy' Paper is new from Magnolia range (papers to match the stamps - woohoo!)
• Peachy Tilda stamped on white cardstock using Tuxedo Memento Ink and coloured in with Promarkers (Apricot, Gold, Orange, Cool Aqua, Moss, Cinammon, Cocoa, Ivory, Blush, Vanilla - always amazes me how many I use without realising!)
• Circled Stamped Sentiment from 'The Greeting Farm' coloured in with Apricot and Cool Aqua Promarkers
• Blue Ribbon from Stash (two lengths tied together and trimmed the ends to create a fork)
• Paper Roses from 'The Works' (I'm sure it's a brand but they are loose in my craft box!)
• Blue Felt Flowers and buttons and Peach Paper Flowers from Making Memories

Hope you like it!

Much love,

Silhouette Candy...

Jak Heath is offering a Quickutz Silhouette (worth £299!) so hop on over to her blog if you want to enter! Ends 29th October.

Good luck!

Much love,

Crafty Weekend...

Apologies for the lack of crafty postings this week but I've taken a few days off from card making. Never fear I'll be back this weekend with some cards....at least I get to make them for fun now and not like a machine for my fair anymore. Yay! Nice relaxing weekend planned but I'm quite excited as I'm off to Artmiss' warehouse tomorrow as they've got an open day (click here to find out more) and Mr Hannah has also promised to take me to The Glitter Pot too as it's only half an hour away. How exciting! I've started to organise my stash...it's slowly getting there. I'm impressed with how much stuff I have....I think you forget little things...I've found a few bits in the past few days which I'd forgotten I had!!

I've started to organise my stash...it's slowly getting there. I'm impressed with how much stuff I have....I think you forget little things...I've found a few bits in the past few days which I'd forgotten I had!!

Yay! for it being Friday...I finish work at 3.45pm today so a nice early finish for me. It's been a HARD week so I'll be glad when that time arrives! Hope everyone has a great Friday :o)

Much love,

Blue Day...

Well I'm having a bit of a blue day *big sigh* and feeling very negative and cynical about things! Not so good. Crafting has taken a bit of a back seat as I think I pushed myself to my creative limit last week! I'm hoping I'll be able to do some tomorrow or Friday night but definitely at the weekend. I hope everyone is enjoying doing some crafting of some sorts...

So after searching for an image (copyright superkawaiimama) which best demonstrated how I felt, I came across this article on a blog with the above pic, which after reading made me feel a bit better. I reckon we all have days where we feel like the whole world is against us! C'est la vie...hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Much love,

My Favourite Card...

Well I think the new issue of C&P goes on sale today (for those that aren't subscribers) and I was over the moon to be part of their reader feature along with some of my fellow crafters!

My little feature with my glittery card...

My card again...

Really chuffed to be picked as part of this feature...it's really nice to see your name in print as I'm usually the one publishing other people's stuff at work!

Still recovering from my crazy two weeks of crafting and various bits and pieces. I've still got to have a look through my stuff from Alexandra Palace but I think I'm going to sit down and sort through my stash tonight. I only organised it a few weeks back so hopefully it won't take me long!!

Happy Tuesday....

Much love,

Craft Fair

Jeez....that was a mega busy weekend! I went to Ally Pally on Saturday and bought far too much. Alot of it just 'fell' into my hand and I got alot of disapproving looks from Mr Hannah (he was only joshing...I think!) Those bargain shoppers are a bit crazy....I thought it was bad last year but it got a bit chaotic so we left about 2.30 with a few bags! I reckon I got quite a few goodies...lots of cheap packs of brads which was great. I'm going to sit down and tidy up my craft stash tonight as what with organising for the craft fair last week, things were just being tidied away anywhere!

So here are a few pic's of my stall...

Embellished Tags, Calendars, Door Hangers & Photo Albums...

A little photo album of my cards (some of which I've sold, made specifically for people etc...) and also this month's issue of C&P with me in it - more on that tomorrow!

My selection of cards (all divided up!)...with a few of Mr Hannah's planes in the background...


The Craft Fair was ok, sold a few bits and pieces but there were quite alot of older people who weren't willing to part with more than 50p! People were very interested in Mr Hannah's stand as alot of husband's stopped to have a look whilst their wives were on the prowl for a bargain!There was such a range of stalls there from Fudge to Silk Flowers...but having chatted to quite a few of the other stall holders nobody seemed to be selling much, even though it was fairly busy at points. I did receive lots of nice compliments though and people did stop by and took some of my business cards. I'm glad I did it as it's all experience but probably wouldn't go again. I do pretty well at work with my cards so I'm not too disheartened (now on reflection - was a bit disappointed yesterday having worked so hard!)

Anyway, I'm quite relieved it's over as I can relax a bit more at home and not get so stressed about organising everything. I went to bed between 12 and 1 every night last week and I'm up at 6.45 so my body was starting to give up towards the end!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Much love,

Bye Bye Charlie...

Well today's a bit of a funny day as my older sister Charlotte is leaving home (for about the fourth time - uni, florida x2!) to move to Cambridge to start her new job! It's very exciting and I'm happy for her but I'm sad that she is going :o( With my younger sister now back at uni, it's going to be soooo quiet at home. My Mum asked me if I could make her a nice card to say Good Luck etc for her new job and moving away so I came up with this...

My Mum picked out the Tilda and my sister likes roses so we thought it was quite apt for her! I experimented with Tilda's hair a bit to make it look shiny...sort of worked! Still learning :o)

Printed out the sentiment to bring out the lime green's in the backing paper...

Really cute paper flowers from Craftime...which kind of look like cabbages too. Lol!

Stamped 'Good Luck' with one of the mini stamp packs I picked up from Hobbycraft for 99p. Oh I do love a bargain! I then coloured the white parts green to match...

Recipe...

Backing Paper is from DCWV's Glitter Stack 12 x 12
Tilda coloured in with promarkers - Lemon, Pastel Yellow, Lime Green, Apple, Pine, Grass, Cornflower, Blue Pearl, Pastel Blue, Amethyst

Craftime Green Paper Flowers

Ribbon from Stash

Gem's from Anita's Gem Wheel

Sentiment from comp

Really hope she likes it! I'm gonna be really sad by the end of the weekend I reckon. Not one to embrace change...we all had dinner out last night with Mr Hannah and Em's boyfriend too. We're lucky as we all get on really well! Lots seem to be changing at the moment - guess I'll have to get used to it.

On a happier note, I'm off to the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show later this morning. Really looking forward to it (don't think my c/c is!!). Mr Hannah is driving me and we're going to go to RAF Hendon afterwards and then a model shop to keep him happy. Craft Fair tomorrow - major eek!

Happy Weekend everyone....

Much love,