Just take my hand, hold me tight

Humph, nothing sunny about this Saturday.  Got drenched this morning so I'm compensating this afternoon with a cosy crafty afternoon in!  Fingers crossed it'll be a bit more productive than recent days,  i've been sitting down at the crafty space, looking at papers & stamps wondering what on earth i'm supposed to do with them.  I was asked this morning if I would stop crafting when I run out of stuff?  Um, no.  I'll just buy some more!

This card was made to fit the brief at Sweet Stampin' this week, to use a sentiment as the focus of the card.  I used a stamp from SU that makes me think of the amount of afternoons girlfriends & I have sat putting the world to rights!  Clearly we haven't succeeded yet.

Stamp - Stampin' Up
Dies - Spellbinders & Cheery Lynn
Papers - Papermania (yay, using old stash!)
Card - American Crafts & SU
Embossing folder - SU

Playing along with a challenge or two:

Crafty Calendar - Dies & Punches
Cut it Up - Anything Goes (100th Challenge, Congrats!)
Penny Black at Allsorts - Anything Goes +Stamp

That's Crafty - Feminine

Appreciate you stopping by, have a great weekend

The Genius (Occasionally!) xx

Eleanor's first outing

The title refers to the Stampin' Up set I've used on this card....Everything Eleanor.  It's conceivable that I could have had this set for 3 years and not inked it until now.  But it's here now to let you know about this week's Sweet Stampin' challenge which is CAS, one of my favourites.  

I was inspired to make this card by the following challenges:

Craft for the Craic - Something to make you SMILE

One Layer Simplicity - Friends

We are sponsored this week by the lovely Nikki from Bunny Zoe, sadly Nikki has announced she is closing the shop but that does mean there are bargains to be had with at least 30% off in the store, click the banner below to go see if there's something you can re-home!

Now, I know it's been a while since I blogged but it's a very busy time for Birthdays in my house, still one more to go which finds me cooking a full roast dinner followed by choccolate brownie this weekend.  Plus I have some pictures to share with you (once I have them organised) after a certain small cherub decided with a weeks notice she wanted a Harry Potter Party.  Kids!

Thanks for popping by,

The Genius (Occasionally!) xx

Happy New Year!

Yes, the chaos has finally receded enough, children have been packed off back to school (even if I did get the wrong day!) and I am back in the world of crafting.  I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year, we certainly did.  Lots of games and giggles

Of course, I have been reflecting on my crafty resolutions for 2016.  Really I want to continue in the same vein as last year.  So I'm going with:

1. Use up more of my existing stash.
2. Only buy essential items (adhesives, cards, envelopes etc).
3. Improve my one layer cards.
4. Experiment with shaped cards.
5. Send Birthday cards!!  (Cobblers children syndrome!).
6. Leave comments as often as I can.
7. Create more Christmas cards throughout the year.

So my first blogged card of 2016:

It uses some retired S.U. paper & my very oldest S.U. stamps.

I was inspired by the following challenges:

Penny Black & More - One for the Girls

Shopping our Stash - Monochrome (Pink for Leslie)

Sketch Saturday - Sketch
Southern Girls - One for the Girls

Thank you so much for dropping by, I will be around to visit soon

The Genius (Occasionally!) xx

P.S. I hate gloomy weather.  It took 4938 attempts to get an acceptable photo of this card!

Top 12 of 2014

Well that title is a bit misleading!  The lovely Wendy is challenging us to display our top 12 creations of the year.....Considering I haven't blogged more than about 25 cards this year, I couldn't find 12 that I really felt were favourites.  So I've gone for 5.  If you're a better blogger than me, you can join in with 12, there's blog candy on offer too.

March - I love the softness of this gorgeous LOTV fairy, love the fact that I used that very dimensional word i've had for over 5 years (it came from Lakeland & we know how long it's been since they did craft stuff right?!) and I love the fact that my wee cherub coloured it in for me.  She enjoys colouring but prefers me to turn them in to cards.

July - A special request this one, using the Stampin' Up truck.  I love that it's got layers but it's still clean & neat

October - made this for a very wonderful friend's birthday using a Penny Black lady.  My friend has dabbled in making cards herself & truly appreciates them.  In fact she still has this on display 3 months later....

November - I almost couldn't give this one away!  Another LOTV, I just love it.  I was reasonably happy with my colouring, attempted a bit of texture on the fur which looked ok but I just love the whole feel of it, it makes me smile you know?

December - Another one I made for a friend & I am not totally sure of the stamp origin so please let me know if you know.  I love the softness, I felt it suited the image and again it's one where I was reasonably pleased with my colouring.  It also went to a friend who makes cards herself so I know it is another that is truly appreciated & cherished. ETA - Thanks Wendy for letting me know it's LOTV but an older one.

So there we have it, my top 12 5 cards of 2014.  I hope you've enjoyed seeing them.  I'm also linking up albeit late in the day to Debby's Favourite Five of 2014.

See ya soon xx

Sweet Stampin' - For a Friend

I consider myself incredibly lucky with the friends I have, truly they are amazing & I am so happy they are all in my life.

Hopefully you all have some of those people in your lives too & at Sweet Stampin' this week it's time to appreciate them with creations For a Friend.  As well as the stamping always required, your project must have some reference to friendship to be eligible for the fab prize from Emma at Flat Friends.

So I made 2 cards for this one, but the first one was one of those where the idea would not transfer from my head to paper how I wanted it...

This week I've had my 'bits' box & scrap paper box out on the table determined to use some of them, I found the little lady, sentiment and here's what transpired:

I'd love to play along with a few challenges:

Crafting at the Weekend - Anything Goes (3rd Entry)

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Sister Act #78 - Anything Goes

Thanks for popping by, have a great day xx