10 years longing to paint again

 I have had a huge longing to get back into painting, I has been probably 10 years since I have picked up an artist brush to just paint. 

 I have always loved flowers and when I was very tiny I had the dream to be a botanical illustrator, but nothing really goes to plan and I never followed it through.  But the longing has stayed and I felt enough was enough and it was time to start again. 

Today has been a bit of a chill out day and the little one wanted to do something together so I thought right what better time than now. 

So, I am being very brave and posting this, as like everyone thinks about their own work it could be better but it has been 10 years!

I'm hoping that with a lot of practise I will learn how to handle the brush and paints again and get better. 

I would love to have your feedback but please remember be gentle.

Hope you have a lovely evening.

Love Em x

Wonderful online shopping

I just wanted to write a little post to give a huge shout out to a wonderful online shop.

Sir Stampalot

If you have not already popped along to take a look I highly recommend it.  We are planning loads of work on the house over the next year and one huge part is to create a new craft studio/office. There have been some craft storage that I been eyeing up for a while, and I finally got around to ordering it.  The parcel arrived within 24 hours of ordering by tracked delivery.  How fab is that!

These are my little spends.

Ribbon Carousel

Storage carousel and it actually comes with those extras!!

Not only is the delivery service fantastic but I am over the moon with the products.

So check it out for yourself.

I am going to do some adjustments to my blog over the next couple of weeks and I will have a section on the side bar of my favourite places to shop and Sir Stampalot will definitely be there.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post today.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Love Em x

Spring has sprung..

Today's card is for the following blog challenges

Lili's Little Fairies ~ Diamond and Pearls.

Totally Papercrafts ~ All Buttoned Up.

Crafty Catz ~ Stripes or Checks.

Allsorts ~ Buttons and Thread.

Sir Stampalot ~ Happy Birthday.

Materials Used:

Background card ~ Bazzill

Patterned papers ~ First Edition Spring Drop

Doilies ~ Dovecraft Tea Party

Image ~ Lili Of The Valley

Buttons ~ Sew Sweet

Pearls ~ Wild Orchid Crafts

Thread and sentiment from crafty stash.

Image stamped using memento tuxedo ink and coloured with Pro markers.

Thank you for popping by my blog today.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Love Em x

Happy Easter

Hi everyone and Happy Easter Holidays. 

I hope you are all enjoying the extra long weekend.  The weather's not at it's best here kind of hit and miss between the showers. 

I had a bit of a baking experiment yesterday, which was half disaster and half not (because they look ok decorated lol!).

I saw a recipe on the internet for Easter cupcakes with a hidden surprise, I was intrigued to know how this worked.  I followed the recipe to the letter and they were a disaster, the sponge was terrible and they hardly rose to hide the 'hidden' surprise.  So I thought I would use my usual cake mix and hide the treat and see how they turned out, well they rose lovely and looked good.  I waited for them to cool and then decorated but when I cut them in half the hidden treat ~ a mini creme egg was well hidden! It had melted and was squished in the bottom.  Pretty hard to find and recognise what it was.

Not good ~ but they looked pretty decorated and tasted lovely.

That's the fun of baking.

Things are heading back to normal here now.  My dark blonde roots are now back to red, the house is clean and tidy, the HUGE pile of ironing is done and packed away and work is up to date ~ phew!!! It's hard enough conquering flu but clearing up the aftermath that's something else. 

Hopefully next week I will have time to get back into crafting.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

Thank you for popping by my blog.

Love Em x

Back and ready for action!!!

Hi everyone!

Sorry I have been so quiet on here lately.  I have been totally wiped out by the flu for the last 2 weeks.  Today is the first day that I have felt back in the land of the living ~ and I have a lot to catch up on.

Just before I became unwell the lovely Sandra sent me this award.

 Thank you so much Sandra it really has made my day.

 Now onto the terms & conditions.....

· 1, This award is for any blogging friend who has helped you develop your blog in many ways

· 2, This award is for any co-blogging friend who has cheered you along in your blog building craft advancing career

· 3, This award is for co-blogging friend who always stops and is kind to you can count on them to always be one of the great comments at the end of your post

· 4, This award is to be given to 3-5 blends whom you feel meet the listed requirements

· 5, Create a post with the terms of use and publish your blends of choice

· 6, Blend of choice may copy the award from your blog and proudly post it on theirs

· 7, Blend of choice may continue the kindness by issuing this award to keep the circle forever growing

So now here are my choices

1/  http://peppermintpattys-papercraft.blogspot.co.uk/ ~ Karin.
2/ http://clairescreativecards.blogspot.co.uk/ ~ Claire.
3/ http://debby4000.blogspot.co.uk/ ~ Debby.
4/ http://buttonsforbrains.blogspot.co.uk/ ~ Liz.
5/ http://chrisscardcraft.blogspot.co.uk/ ~ Chris.

Thank you to all these lovely ladies for your daily inspiration, and beautiful creations.

Now I am off to have a cup of tea in the sunshine while it lasts.

Love Em x

I have some gorgeous ribbon for that........

Today's card is for the following challenges:

Passion for promarkers ~ Colour theme pastel

Less is more ~ Don't scrap it

Allsorts Challenge ~ It's your choice

The Secret Crafter ~ White on white

Materials used:

White card stock inc. scraps

Sizzix Dots embossing folder

Stamped images from Penny Black ~ Critter party & Bubbly

Images stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Promarkers.

I do have the perfect cloud ribbon for this card, but it was so hard to not add it.  Trying to keep it white (excluding the image) and simple is harder than it looks.  This has to be the smallest card I have made in a long time, an A6 card.  I just wanted to keep going with this card by adding more and more detail to the colouring, but I thought 'no' it has to be clean and simple.  I may have to remake this card with all the extras I want lol! 

The scrap paper was used to make the clouds.  I always keep all my scrap strips, rectangles, anything they are great for the little one to sort through for her little crafty moments.

 Thank you to the lovely Franz over at The Secret Crafter for her beautiful DT card that gave me the inspiration for this project.

Hope you have a lovely day, thank you for popping by my blog.

Love Em x

Time for tea

Today's card is for the following challenges:

Lili's Little Fairies ~ Afternoon tea

The Ribbon Girl ~ Pink, Brown & Cream colour challenge

Papertake Weekly ~ Get Krafty

Crafty Catz ~ Something beginning with B (Buttons & Brown)

Sweet Sketch Wednesday ~ Sketch 142

(lol! Knew I should have waited for that glue to dry =D)

Materials Used:

Background papers free from Simply Cards & Papercraft.

Lighter pink polka dot background paper ~ Paper Cellar Wedding

Stamp ~ Lili of the Valley

Stamped with Memento ink Tuxedo Black and coloured with Pro Markers

Kraft Card ~ Docrafts Papermania

Ribbon & Buttons ~ Sew Sweet

Flowers & Lace from crafty stash

Thank you for taking the time to pop by my blog.  Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Love Em x

My First Easel Card.......

This is my very first easel card... and I am totally addicted.

This card is for the following challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge ~ Pearls & Lace

The Secret Crafter ~ Bingo (Pearls, Swirls & Flowers)

Allsorts Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Catz ~ Favourite Things

Totally Papercraft ~ Ribbons and/or Bows

Materials Used:

Stamped image ~ Penny Black ~ in the garden (T for Transparent)

Image stamped with Memento ink Tuxedo Black and coloured with Pro Markers.

Die Cuts ~ Flourish #10, Flowers layers #9 and Framelits circles, scallop.

Purple backing paper ~ Bazzill

Floral background paper ~ Forever Friends Spring Time 6" x 6".

Ribbon buckle and self adhesive pearls ~ Wild Orchid Crafts.

Sentiment ~ Lili of the Valley.

Ribbon, felt and lace from crafty stash.

Thank you for taking the time to pop by my blog, your feedback/comments are much appreciated.

Love Em x

Hello...

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog.

Sorry it has been such a long time since my last post.  I caught the dreaded cold that seems to be going around everywhere at the moment.  Feeling a lot better now though =D

I wanted to share with you a new project I have on the go.  For my 'day' job I run my own business doing printing (mugs and other gifts) and embroidery.  It's a great job and enables me to stay at home and work which is very convenient when you have a little one, for those unpredictable days off school sick, etc.  The only thing is sometimes it's just not creative enough for me.  I have had the idea for quite a while to design my own mugs.

I have started to turn the 'idea' into actual products ~ Yippee!!

Here is the first design

You can find these for sale in my e-bay store (click the link on your right) or you can contact me direct.

I am working on some Mother's day designs now and will share as soon as they are ready.

Hope you are all having a lovely half term break.

Love Em x

Monochromatic

Today's card is for the following challenges:

Polka Doodles ~ Shades of grey sketch

The Secret Crafter ~ Let them eat cake

Sir Stampalot ~ Monochromatic

Materials Used:

Polka Doodles stamp set free in the latest Simply cards & papercraft.

Heart Doily, ribbon and sentiment from crafty stash

Pearl effect ribbon fastener ~ Wild Orchid Craft

The background patterened paper I stamped myself using the heart and cupcake from the free stamp pack.

Images stamped with Momento Ink and coloured with Promarkers

Thank you for popping by my blog today.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Love Em x