Hello and Welcome...

Hello & Welcome...My name is Anne-Marie, I am a full-time administration assistant for a local housing association, I have a husband, two adult sons, and a mad dog named Fritz. I spend any spare minute crafting (although there are never enough spare minutes)...anything from making cards, papercrafts, knitting, crochet, baking and making jams, curds etc. I also enjoy growing my own fruit/veg in my greenhouse/garden.


I hope I will post something that may be of interest to you.
..thanks for visiting xx

Friday 14 November 2014

Gruffies & Guests Challenge #11 Anything Goes with the Option of Christmas

Hi everyone

I'm so sorry for not being around in blog land for a while, I have been very busy with my wedding preparations!  I got married in Mauritius on 27th October :) but I am back now and hopefully will be able to give more time to my blog, and facebook crafty page and get on with some crafting.

I made my first (yes I said first) Christmas card today!  I'm soooooooooo behind with Christmas preparations :(

My DT card is for the halfway reminder for Gruffies & Guests challenge #11 Anything Goes with the Option of Christmas...and here it is...



I've used a lovely embossed glitter card as the background and the gorgeous house mouse image is from Joanna Sheen's House Mouse Triple cd, there are some fantastic images on these cds.

The prize this month is £10 to spend online at Scribble and Scrap Crafts

                     

I hope my card inspires you to have a go, please join in the fun of the challenges, we love to see all of your fab creations each month. 

Thanks for popping in.

Anne-Marie xx

I would like to enter my card into the House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge - Brrr it's COLD outside

Saturday 16 August 2014

Gruffies & Guests Challenge #8 - Anything goes with the option of 'for the Boys'

Good Morning!

It's that time again...

Here is my halfway reminder for Challenge #8 over at Gruffies & Guests Challenge Blog -  Anything Goes with the option of 'for the boys'

I have chosen a lovely image from Gruffies & Happy Hoppers cd, which I have used many times.


Also decided to do an easel card for a change


Our sponsor for this challenge is Petal Lu
Petal Lu makes the most beautiful hand made flowers and has kindly donated a £10 lucky dip prize of some of her flowers

http://petallu.tictail.com/

I look forward to seeing your lovely creations so please pop over and have a look at our DT creations to inspire you, and join in the fun.  Good luck in the Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,
Best Wishes Anne-Marie xx

Friday 18 July 2014

Gruffies & Guests Challenge #7 - Anything Goes with the option of Summer

I really must update my blog more often, it's been a month again!

We're on Challenge #7 over at Gruffies & Guests the theme for this challenge is Anything Goes with the Option of Summer.

Here's my card as inspiration...hope you like it


I've used Joanna Sheen's House Mouse triple cd for the images and backing papers


and added a shell and starfish to go with the beach theme


Please pop over and join in the fun!  The winner will receive a £15 voucher to spend online at

The Scribble & Scrap Shop

We have some fab entries so far, so come on get your creative caps on, I look forward to seeing all your lovely creations.

Thanks for stopping by,
Anne-Marie x

Saturday 21 June 2014

Gruffies & Guests Challenge #6 - Anything Goes with the option of Patchwork

Hi All

I can't believe it's been a month since I last blogged...where has the time gone?

I have a bit of exciting news!  I passed my driving test first time earlier this week :) after a horrendous lesson before the test (you'd think I'd never driven before, I got everything wrong) thankfully on the actual test I had a lovely examiner who got me to calm down and I passed with only 3 faults so I'm a very happy bunny.  I've been out in my own car this morning with my partner and it wasn't too bad so there's no stopping me now!

Anyway the reason for this blog post is I'm here with the mid-way reminder for the latest Gruffies & Guests challenge.  The theme this month is Anything Goes with the Option of Patchwork.

Here's my card, hope you like it and it gives you some inspiration to have a go with these lovely images and come and join the fun.


I've used the Gruffies & Happy Hoppers cd for this lovely image



I love this image, don't we all dream of cake? haha

The lucky winner of this month's challenge will win the prize of 1 class at My Creative Classroom

We've had some fab entries so far, so why not pop along and join in the fun.  I look forward to seeing your lovely creations.  Good luck in the challenge :)

Thanks for stopping by Anne-Marie xx


Saturday 17 May 2014

Gruffies & Guests Challenge #5 - Anything Goes with the option of Spring

Evening All

I must apologise as my post is a bit late today.

The weather has been so nice today I've spent most of the day outside in the garden painting my very worn out looking garden furniture so not had chance to sit down and update my blog.

Anyway...

this is my half-way reminder for the current challenge over at Gruffies & Guests - the theme for this month is Anything Goes with the option of Spring.

The lucky winner will receive a $10 voucher to spend at




Here is my creation for this month's challenge inspiration.  I used the Joanna Sheen ~ House Mouse Triple cd for the cute image & backing paper.



We've had some fab entries so far, so why not pop along and join in the fun.  I look forward to seeing your lovely creations.

Thanks for stopping by Anne-Marie xx


Saturday 19 April 2014

Gruffies & Guests - Challenge #4 - Anything Goes with the Option of Lace

Hi All

Here's my half-way reminder for Challenge #4 over at Gruffies & Guests Challenge Blog, the theme this month is 'Anything Goes - with the Option of Lace'.

The winner will receive a £10 voucher from our Sponsor


For my DT card I've used a lovely image from Joanna Sheen's House Mouse Triple cd - would definitely recommend this cd there are soooooooooo many lovely images to chose from





Please pop over and join in the fun, we would love to see your fab Gruffies, Happy Hoppers and House Mouse creations.

The challenge runs until the end of April so you have plenty of time to get your entries in.

Look forward to seeing your entries, thanks for stopping by Anne-Marie xx

Thursday 3 April 2014

New to Digital Designer

Good Evening

I've had Docrafts Digital Designer installed on my laptop for months and never got around to using it...until now!  Had great fun and found it really easy to use.

So here's my first digitally designed birthday card for a friend's daughter.




I used Papermania Enchanted Christmas & Fairies cd, there are some really lovely images on this disc, can't wait to play more!

Here's a close up of the glittered fairy wings ~ I used stickles glitter glue


And on the name I used Anita's glossing pen to give a raised effect and finished it off with a few little gems.


I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Creative Moments - Challenge #39 Things with wings
Digistamps4joy - Challenge #89 Add wings
Fab n Funky - Challenge #210 Once Upon A Time



Tuesday 1 April 2014

It's April!!!

Where has the first 3 months of the year gone?  Can't believe it's April already.

Not blogged for a while as seem to be busy with allsorts!  And work!

Last night I made another button canvas, an order for a friend.  It's on an A4 size canvas, I'm quite pleased with the outcome, hope the little girl's mum is too :)




I used Sizzlits die for the larger butterfly and All Occasion die for the smaller butterfly



and lots of lovely little pink buttons and gems




I'm off to look if there are any challenges I can enter this into.

Thanks for popping in, much appreciated, A-M xx

I would like to enter the following:

Sweet Stamps - Challenge #163 Dies
Through The Craft Room Door - Always Anything Goes
Crafting Musketeers - Challenge #12 Monochrome





Friday 14 March 2014

Gruffies & Guests Challenge #3 Fit for Mum or Special Female

Hi All

Here's my half-way reminder for our latest challenge over at Gruffies & Guests the lovely theme this month is Fit for Mum or Special Female.  



The Lucky Winner will receive a £15 voucher from our Sponsor Scribble and Scrap

The Scribble & Scrap Shop 

Here's my DT creation, hope it gives some inspiration and helps you with your creations.


I have made this for my Mum for Mother's Day, using the cute Happy Hoppers image from the Gruffies & Happy Hoppers cd


Which you can get HERE


I have used a glossing glue pen on the bubbles to make them 3d, not sure if you can see from the picture but it gives a great effect.


I cut a piece out of a facecloth to make the mini towel.

Hope you like my card.  Please join us over at Gruffies & Guests and enter this month's blog challenge with your lovely mother's day cards or cards for a special female.  I look forward to seeing all your lovely creations.

Thanks for popping by Anne-Marie xx







Nephew's Birthday

Ooooohh the smell of chocolate cupcakes baking in the oven is gorgeous!  Yes, I'm baking cupcakes again...this time for my nephew's tea party tomorrow afternoon.  I will be decorating them with chocolate butter icing and mini eggs tomorrow so no photos to show tonight.  

He will be 5! Five years have gone by sooooo quickly.

I've made him a personalised birthday card...hope he likes it.


I would like to enter it into the following challenges:

Fussy and Fancy - Challenge #109 Happy Birthday
Bloggers Challenge - Happy Birthday

Thanks for popping by, I'm off to check the cupcakes now.  Hopefully I can resist and not eat any of them before tomorrow :) x

Thursday 20 February 2014

Happy Hopper

I am just loving my Gruffies & Happy Hoppers cd, so thought I'd make one of my Facebook birthday buddies a birthday card using a lovely happy hopper image.  It took me a while to cut out the decoupage pieces (trying to do it nice and neatly) but it was worth it in the end, well at least I think so.  Here it is...


Isn't that bunny just so cute?

Here's a close up so you can see the decoupage layers


And a side view :)


I'm really pleased with the finished card, just hope my birthday buddy likes it too.

I've been looking at the House Mouse triple cd and have added it to my birthday wish list for next month ;)

Also made my buddy a little friendship heart using Docrafts 'Sew Lovely' range, just as a little something extra...


Well I'm off to have a look if there are any challenges I can enter my card in to.

Thanks for popping by A-M xx

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge - Amethyst Challenge #163




Saturday 15 February 2014

Gruffies & Guests Challenge #2 Love Is In The Air

Morning All

Here's my mid-way reminder for our Challenge #2 Love Is In The Air over at Gruffies & Guests 


Here is my DT card for this month's challenge, as usual I had great fun making it as the House Mouse, Gruffies & Happy Hoppers images are soooo cute!


I've used the cute bunnies image from Gruffies & Happy Hoppers cd which you can get from Joanna Sheen

And the lovely Parisienne Blue papers/hearts/crochet ribbon from Docrafts



Hopefully this has given you some inspiration to come on over to Gruffies & Guests and join in the fun of our second challenge.  The lucky winner will receive a £10 voucher from our sponsor Dawn till Dusk


We've had some fab entries so far, so come on get into your craft rooms and get creating, and then share your creations with us, I look forward to seeing them.  

Good luck in the Challenge :)

Thanks for popping in, Love Anne-Marie xx

I will be entering my card into the following challenges:

Sparkles Monthly Challenge - Challenge #53 Ribbon/Lace Hearts & Pearls 
Brown Sugar Challenge Blog - Challenge #81 Use a Die Cut or Punch
Fussy & Fancy Challenge - Challenge 107 Be My Valentine
Polkadoodles Challenge - Wk 7 Love/Romance
The Stamping Boutique - Challenge #4 Valentine/Love Card
Totally Papercrafts - Challenge #206 Valentine/Love
Papertake Weekly Challenge - With A Heart

Sunday 2 February 2014

1st Birthday afternoon tea

I've spent this morning making cupcakes for my niece Eva's 1st birthday tea this afternoon.

First time I've used a dual icing bag, seems to have gone ok, but I suppose I will get better with practice.  It was hilarious trying to work out where to put the nozzle until I realised I needed a further icing bag to put the nozzle into, and then place the dual bag into that!!  Anyway, here they are...



I've used a gold shimmer spray on the butterflies to make them shiny! 

I've entered these into the following challenge:

Crafting Musketeers Challenge - Challenge #10 Butterflies



Friday 31 January 2014

Gruffies & Guests - New Challenge

Good Evening

Firstly - I'd like to say the Winner and Top 3 have been announced for our first Gruffies & Guests Challenge - Anything Goes - so pop over to see if you're a winner HERE Thank you to everyone that entered our first challenge, there were some really fab entries.


Secondly - We will be starting a new challenge tomorrow, Saturday, 1st February 2014, the theme for February is "Love is in the Air"

Our sponsor for February is Dawn till Dusk, and the winner will receive a £10 voucher


So come on get your crafting hands creating, using a House Mouse, Gruffies or Happy Hoppers image, then please pop over and join in the fun and enter the challenge HERE


I look forward to seeing all your lovely creations, good luck, Anne-Marie DT xx



Tuesday 28 January 2014

Buttons & Butterflies

It will be my niece's birthday on Sunday and wanted to make something a bit different.  So armed with a blank 8x8 canvas, pink buttons, pink gems and pink butterflies that I'd cut out using Sissix Sizlits die using my Big Shot I set to work.  And this is what I came up with...


I though it might look nice on her bedroom wall.  Had a great time making it and might have to make one for my nephew next, although don't think he'd be impressed with pink buttons & butterflies haha

I'd be grateful for any feedback and ideas on what I could use on a canvas for a 5 year old boy.

Thanks for stopping by, A-M xx

I have entered this into the following challenges:

Scribble and Scrap Challenge & Blog - Challenge #10 Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody - Challenge #37 Anything Goes
Cards Galore Encore Challenge - Challenge #1 Anything Goes
Fan-Tastic Tuesday Challenge - Challenge #20 Make It Cute or Sweet
Jellypark Friends Challenge- Challenge Buttons and/or bows
Feeling Crafty Challenge - Challenge Butterflies

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Docrafts Creativity Prize Draw Winner

Evening All

Exciting news!  I am a very lucky winner of the Docrafts Creativity prize draw for December, my parcel arrived at the weekend and it was full of goodies from the new 'Sew Lovely' range


I went to a Docrafts demo at our local Craft Central on Saturday and had a fab time with Louise Moore, who showed us lots of ideas on using the new ranges.  Obviously as soon as I got home I had to get in my craft room and start 'playing' with my goodies.  



The first project I made was a deocrated box for a crafty facebook friend, hope she likes it.


The second project was a Mother's Day card using a card kit.

I still have lots of goodies left so what will I make next??

I enter the prize draws every time I go on the website and never in a million years thought I'd win, so get yourselves over to Docrafts and enter the draws...you never know!

Thanks for popping in, it is much appreciated, Luv Anne-Marie xx