Christmas Love

Hi everyone. Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and to share the card I made for my husband and sons this year.

When I saw this Kaisercraft Christmas Love Texture Sentiments stamp, I just had to get it. For me it sums up what is really important about Christmas. I teamed it with Trimcraft First Edition Merry Little Christmas papers and a tree cut using a Tonic Christmas Trios die.

I know Christmas is not an easy time for everyone, and my family has its own challenges this year, but I hope you all find some peace, love and happiness over the next few days. Cathy xxx

Happy New Year!

No, I haven't lost track of time and, yes, I do know we haven't had Christmas yet, but today I'm sharing a Happy New Year card made for Bubbly Funk, using the Seeing Stars Through the Letterbox Craft Box.

You can find out full details on the Bubbly Funk blog and still buy the Seeing Stars box (along with other boxes and goodies) from the Bubbly Funk store.

I apologise for being so poor at keeping up with blogs lately- time just slips away. I finish work today and am looking forward to catching up this weekend. Cathy x

Our little stars

Hi everyone. Today I'm sharing my latest project for Bubbly Funk using the Seeing Stars Through the Letterbox Craft Box. You can see all the details on the Bubbly Funk blog.

Last week my eldest son received a special Governor's award at school, which means he gets to wear a sparkly star badge to school. His little brother already has one, so I thought I would make a scrapbook page to show them how proud we are.

The stars (absolutely perfect for this project), letters and gold washi tape are from the craft box. I have combined them with Trimcraft Dovecraft Time to Sparkle papers a d some Docraft washi tape.

The next few days will be taken up by Christmas parties with two very excited boys and other festive preparations. I may even need to make some more cards! Hopefully I will get some time in the craft room and look forward to sharing more with you soon. Cathy x

Elephants and socks!

Hi everyone. I hope you are all enjoying whatever weather you have been given this weekend. Here in Somerset we had a few snow flurries but mainly rain and wind. However, I decided to abandon my jourmey to Newport for a Trimcraft demo when I hit heavy snow on the M5 not too far north of here.

On Friday Hunkydory launched four new craft stacks and I produced samples using two of them. This is probably my last DT project for HD, as I've decided not to reapply for next year. I have loved being part of the team but am ready for a break and hopefully a chance to try new things.

Anyway, here are a few of my samples 😊

I will be back on Wednesday with a new Bubbly Funk project. Thank you for visiting and commenting today xxx

Bubbly Funk for December

Hi everyone. Last week the December Bubbly Funk Through the Letterbox Craft Box went on sale- you can watch my unboxing video over on the You Tube channel (don't forget to subscribe while you're there) https://youtu.be/T1332P4jcE0

Today I'm on the Bubbly Funk blog with my first project of the month. Although the name of the box is Seeing Stars, I've made a project without any stars at all!

This started life as a 79p notebook from Home Bargains and the only thing I added to the box contents was a sheet of Trimcraft Floral Muse paper. You can see all the details in my blog post here.

I'm really loving working on the Bubbly Funk DT- using the boxes is inspiring me to try new things. If you'd like to try a box, you can find them on the Bubbly Funk website.

Have a lovely day. Cathy xxx

It's December!

Hi everyone. It feels like ages since I last posted, although it was only last week! Since I last posted, there's been several football matches, a birthday party, school fair, DT projects to finish and birthdays to prepare for.

This time of year is always a challenge for me, so a couple of weeks ago I made the decision to try and record all the special moments of the festive season this year. I did lots of research into December Daily before deciding to make and decorate my own Traveller's Notebook to use.

To make the cover I followed this fabulous tutorial from Helen Griffin. However, instead of laminating the cover I used a piece of card, then covered it on both sides with Trimcraft Magic of Christmas paper. I even created pockets inside.

For the notebooks, I took two Rhino squared paper notebooks, removed the covers and made my own using  First Edition Jingle All The Way papers. Because the notebooks slide under elastic in the centre, I didn't even need to attach the new covers.

I decorated the front of the journal with die cuts cut from Docrafts glitter paper, using the Magic of Christmas dies. The letters are from Trimcraft's Simply Creative range.

Now the real fun begins- the aim is to fill in the journal every day. Today we have celebrated my youngest son's birthday, so I will start with that. He has had a lovely time and was thrilled that the card I made him was shown on CBeebies this morning.

This weekend we are having a family trip to Chessington to visit the zoo, with an overnight stay in the hotel and a trip to Father Christmas booked too. Hope you all have a lovely weekend xxx

Deco Dreams

Hi everyone, hope you had a great weekend and start to the week. I had two Trimcraft demos in Bristol on Saturday and Sunday which left me shattered! They are always fun though.

Last week Hunkydory launched their new Deco Dreams collection, which is printed on Mirri card. The collection is stunning, wirh beautiful Clare Coxon artwork.

 I had a bit of a struggle with my samples so was quite surprised, and pleased, to see these cards included on the promotional email and video from Create and Craft. It's always reassuring to find out others like my samples!

Hope you have a great week, thank you for visiting today. Cathy x

It's a Wonderful Life

Hi everyone. Today it's my turn to share a card on the Bubbly Funk blog and I'm revealing my sneak peek card from a couple of weeks ago.

Some of you may recognise this sentiment as a quote from It's a Wonderful Life, which just happens to be one of my all time favourite films. I watch it every year (with a glass of Baileys of course, in honour of George) and it is now an established Christmas tradition for me. Last year was the first time my eldest son watched the film and we are both looking forward to December to watch it together. I'd love to know which films you enjoy watching at Christmas.

If you'd like to find out more about my card, then please check out my blog post. You can still pick up a November Through the Letterbox craft box from www.bubblyfunk.co.uk

Thank you for visiting and commenting today. Cathy x

Warm winter wishes

Hi everyone. Firstly an apology from me- I am really struggling with a few things at the moment and I haven't been able to find time to blog or visit other blogs as often as I would like. For a little while, my visits may be infrequent but I will try to visit everyone at least once a week and to like and comment on Facebook and Instagram when I see your makes there.

Lately I haven't really made anything worth sharing but last night I put together a card I really like.

Unfortunately it seems to be a very difficult card to photograph because of the rainbow mirri I used- I tried this angle too!

All of the papers and elements on this card are by Craftwork Cards, from the Julie Loves All Wrapped Up collection. I was inspired to use it because of the cute mittens which tie in with the theme of the latest Daring Cardmakers challenge.

Today I am going to be making some Christmas cards for the School Fair- one of my eldest son's friends wants to sell her cards so we are going to share a stall. I wasn't really planning any fairs this year so I'm reaching for my Hunkydory collections for some quick makes. This is one I made last night- I love how this glittery star from my Bubbly Funk Craft Box works with this Christmas Crackers topper.

I'll be taking a look at your blogs through the course of today and will be back on Thursday with some more Bubbly Funk inspiration.  Cathy x

Not a blue Christmas...

Hi everyone, brrr it's cold today! Popping by to share a card I made using elements from the November Bubbly Funk Through the Letterbox Craft Box.

The box is full of beautiful, mainly blue, elements, which I love as blue is always a favourite for me. However, today I decided to show how other colours can be used with the elements, with this fabulous bright red.

The elements I took from my box are: chipboard shapes, pom pom ribbon, sequin and glittery star. My papers and red card are from Trimcraft. 

If you would like to find out more about my card, please have a look at my post on the Bubbly Funk blog.

Thank you for visiting and commrnting today, Cathy xxx

A sneak peek and a winner!

Hi everyone, told you I'd be back today!

First of all a big thank you to everyone who commented on my blog candy post last week. The winner was:

Comment number 12! This was Laine- congratulations Laine. Please email your address to cathy_l_jones@msn.com so I can send you the die set.

When I got back from holiday, my November Bubbly Funk Craft Box was waiting for me. I actually got my son to video me unboxing my goodies, which will appear on the website and YouTube channel soon. It's an amazing selection this month.

There was one particular element I loved most and so I built my first project around that. My inspiration is my faviurite film- I wonder if you can tell what it is from this sneak peek.

Please do visit the Bubbly Funk Blog to learn more about the November box and to see some more sneak peeks. The DT are all in love with this month's box and their projects are stunning.

Thank you for visiting today. Cathy x

Boo

Hi everyone. I am back to normality after my fabulous holiday, although after a busy weekend I am glad the boys have an extra INSET day today.

I mentioned in my last post that my son was taking part in his first Jiu-Jitsu competition- well I'm thrilled to report that he came home with a gold medal! We are so proud of him- and one of the coaches wrote us a lovely message to say what an amazing young man he is and how he is a great role model for others.

Now to today's card. I love Halloween crafting (I think it's the colours I love most) but until this morning haven't had a chance to do any. With a quiet day ahead, I decided to make a quick card and am really pleased with the result:

I love seeing scary makes but with two children, it's cute Halloween for me every time.

 I began with a 7x5 card blank which I covered with black card. I cut a smaller piece of orange card (and this is just kids' card from WHSmith!) and stamped it with a fabulous Hero Arts bat panel stamp.

As the stamp was smaller than my card, my Tim Holtz stamping platform helped here and made it easy to line up the stamp.

I added black and purple card to the centre of the card then added orange ribbon across all the layers. 

My ghost and pumpkin dies are XCut mini dies I picked up in The Range. For the pumpkin I cut it in both orange and yellow card, layering the orange one (without eyes and mouth) on top. The BOO lettering was cut on my Scan n Cut and I finished with a Hunkydory For the Love of Stamps sentiment, from the Happy Halloween stamp set. 

The boys have been busy crafting too- carving their pumpkin. To be honest my husband did most of it!

We will be at a Halloween party tomorrow night and will be Trick or Treating with friends.

A quick reminder that my blog candy giveaway finishes at 9pm (GMT!) so make sure you enter if you haven't already HERE!

It's a busy crafting week for me this week so I will be back tomorrow with another post- and to let you know my blog candy winner x

Wild and free

Hi everyone. Today we are returning home from our holiday so it's another scheduled post from me.

Last week I shared my Hunkydory Foxy and Friends samples and promised I'd share another sample this week. Well here it is:

I always enjoy making something different with the collections and thought this fab topper set was perfect for a scrapbook layout to celebrate my son's first Cub camp.

I was at work during the launch show when I had a message from another member of the DT to tell me that my page had been shown on TV:

Luckily I had recorded the show, so got a chance to watch it. It was lovely to here Anne-Marie and Nigel saying sucb nice things about my layout.

This weekend will be a busy one- my son has a football match on Saturday and then his first Jiu-Jitsu competition on Sunday. Thank goodness there is an Inset day for both children on Monday!

Cathy xxx

PS Don't forget I have a fabulous Die Set as blog candy on my last post, so visit that if you'd like to win x

Holiday Blog Candy!

Hi everyone, this is a scheduled post as I'm away for a few days. To celebrate my holiday, I'm offering some blog candy, a brand new pack of these fabulous Dovecraft Time to Sparkle dies:

To be in with a chance of winning these dies, simply comment on this post before 9pm on Monday 30th October. I'd love to know how you would use them. I'll pick a winner at random and announce it on Tuesday 31st.

Now to my card. I have used the collection which matches the dies, Time to Sparkle, to create this shaker card:

As you can see, I have used the stag and snowflake from my set of the dies. I cut them from glitter tags from the collection and they cut beautifully.

I look forward to reading all of your comments. Thank you for visiting today xxx

Bubbly Funk- Believe

Hi everyone. I am finally on half term holiday- well if you don't count a Trimcraft demo in Weston Super Mare on Sunday, which is too much fun to be work! We are going away to North Devon on Monday and we're all looking forward to some time away.

Today I have a post on the Bubbly Funk Blog, sharing this card:

These were the Craft Box elements (I decided against the orange flowers) I used on the card, along with a Sheena Douglass embossing folder and Tim Holtz Big Words sticker:

You can find out full details on the blog, along with projects from the rest of the Design Tean.

Hope you have a lovely weekend. My posts for the next week will be scheduled, but I will visit your blogs when I have a chance. Cathy x

I'd like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Creative Craft Cottage Use a Sentiment

Foxy and Friends

Hi everyone. Today sees a new Hunkydory Collection, Foxy and Friends, launching on Create and Craft today. I don't often do cute but I absolutely adore this collection. The characters and designs are just so fabulous and making samples for this launch was so easy.

Here are a few of my projects:

Next week I'll be sharing another special project I made- I think it deserves a blog post of it's own!

Thank you for visiting and commenting today. Cathy x

Hugs from me!

Hi everyone. What a blur life is at the moment. My new job is amazing and I love it so much, but I am having to get used to being out of the house more and fitting everything around it. I can't wait for half term and going away for a few days.

Today I'm sharing another Bubbly Funk Craft box project- you can read full details on the blog here.

I do hope you will pop over to the blog to take a look (and catch up on the what the DT has been up to). Check out the Bubbly Funk Shop too.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week. I will be catching up on blogs over the next two days, can't wait to see what you have created lately.

A most beautiful day

Hi everyone. I wasn't planning to blog today but I have just finished this card and I like it so much, I thought I would share it!

I have used Hunkydory's Rose Gold Moments collection for this 7x7 card. I have layered the papers of the collection then added two foiled toppers (the foiling is rose gold, so pretty).

I used co-ordinating Moonstone dies to cut flowers- the paper I used is the reverse of  my first layer. I shaped them and added them to the card with Pinflair. I then cut the leaves from rose gold mirri card.

I'm off to work in a moment- 2 hours of maths support with a lovely apprentice. I do really enjoy working one to one with young people, it's so rewarding. Have a lovely afternoon. Cathy x

Bubbly Funk in October

Hi everyone. I am really excited to be able to share the news that I have been asked to join a new Design Team. Some of you may remember Bubbly Funk- well they are back but with a new concept, the letterbox friendly Bubbly Funk Craft Box and I will be making projects to share on their social media and, of course, here.

My first box arrived last week and contains a fabulous mix of embellishments, die cuts and much more. You can take a closer look, and subscribe to the boxes at the Bubbly Funk website. I love the way the elements combine with the things I have in my stash already and for this card I just used some simple wooden squares from the box:

The squares started off plain but I have coloured them with a Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen in Onyx Black. They coloured up beautifully and I love how sparkly they are:

I combined my squares with paper from Trimcraft's Time to Sparkle collection and a Craftwork Card sentiment stamp. I think this is a great masculine birthday card.

I will be sharing another Bubbly Funk project next week but for now you can visit the blog to meet the whole DT.  I'm so happy that every member of the team is one of my crafty friends and they are all amazingly talented.

This weekend is going to be quite busy. Today is a day off but tomorrow we are off to the cinema to see the Lego Ninjago movie (after football of course). The Lego movies usually have enough adult friendly jokes to keep me happy! On Sunday I have a Trimcraft demo from 11am in Newport. I'm really looking forward to it. Hope you all have a lovely weekend, whatever you have planned.

Have a blooming lovely birthday

Hi everyone.

Today is my friend's 40th birthday. She often asks me to make cards for her, so I knew she would appreciate a handmade card for her special day.

The cardstock and toppers come from the Blooming Lovely collection which is free with the 9th Anniversary edition of Crafting With Hunkydory magazine. I just love the bright colours, especially when teamed with the pink Adorable Scorable card I found in my stash.

I had a lovely surprise when I opened the magazine as I found 5 of my recent Craft Stack projects are featured.

One of my first ever crafty purchases was a Hubkydory magazine so it's lovely to have this chance to have my cards published in there.

I have lots of crafting to do today, so it will be a busy day off. Have a lovely day x

Patchwork Owls

Hi everyone, hope you have had a good day today. After 6 days of working (35 hours- so much for being a part timer!), I have a day off today so am catching up on blogs, cleaning and watching Disney films. I might squeeze in some crafting too!

Last week saw the 9th birthday of the daughter of one of our closest friends and I made her this quick and easy card:

All of the elements are from Craftwork Cards' Julie Loves Pretty Patchwork. Although it's a pretty collection, it's not really one of my favourites so I haven't used it before. I do love this owl though and the flowers are fabulous.

I'm looking forward to a weekend of family time, hopefully around the usual football and rugby we will get a chance to go somewhere together. Hope you all have a lovely weeked too. Cathy x

Into the forest

Hi everyone. I'm a day late with this post, after a fab weekend of demos and a whole day First Aid course yesterday.

Yesterday morning, Hunkydory celebrated 9 years on Create and Craft with a wonderful new launch, Twilight Forest, along with some beautiful matching dies. The collection is a mix of pixies and forest creatures and was a joy to work with.

One great thing about the collection is how good it is for masculine cards. I think the wolves are my favourite:

This card uses an insert in the background. The central image is a square cut from the corner of the printed cardstock. I added toppers and a border strip from the topper sheet and cut an owl from Black Mirri card with one of the dies.

These are some of my other samples, I'd love to know which is your favourite.

Hope you have a good week. Thank you for visiting today, I really appreciate your comments xxx