Elin's Cards

Long time no see!

2011-10-24T11:32:00.000+01:00

I know, I could give you a speel about very busy, no time .... which is very true but also, to be honest I've been lazy too. :D I've had a quiet summer crafting wise having bought a static caravan and having fun in that. Plus I've been actually crafting for me a little by slowly making a king sized patchwork quilt! But now it's coming round to Christmas season and the bookings for fairs are coming in thick and fast. I've just scared myself with the number I had booked as I was filling in the section in the sidebar!

Wed 26th October ADLA Christmas Shopping Evening, Ayr Racecourse 6.30 to 9.30

Sat 5th November Ayrshire Arts & Crafts Fair, Troon Concert Hall 11 to 4.30.

Saturday 19th November Ayrshire Hospice Fair, Ayr Racecourse

Sunday 20th November Galston Christmas Market

Thursday 24th November Garden Rose Primary School Fair, Maybole 6 to 8pm

Sunday 27th November St Patrick's PS Christmas Fair, Walker Hall, Troon

Wed 30th November Queen Margaret Academy Christmas Fair 6 to 8pm

Thur 1st December Doonfoot Primary School Christmas Fair 6 to 8pm

Sat 3rd December Ayrshire Arts & Crafts Fair, Troon Concert Hall

Sunday 4th December Dean Castle Country Park Christmas Fair, Kilmarnock

Sat 10th December Christmas in Catrine.

See what I mean?!!

Now I need to find my camera which has photos on to upload and show you what I'm up to this year. :) - Soon - I promise!

Happy 21st!

2011-05-22T17:41:00.000+01:00

The fantastic Ann Prescott who makes beautiful quilts, cushions and other fabric crafts to sell at Ayrshire Arts & Crafts ordered 21st birthday cards for her children. James is fanatical about a computer game (can’t remember which one as it’s too old for my kids to play!) and so I based the card on that.

Anne found it very easy to choose one for Rachel as she’d seen the patchwork cards on my my website! Very apt as that’s Ann’s expertise! I personalised it by putting ‘Rachel is 21’ round the happy birthday in the corner.

I had an email from Ann the other day saying they were delighted with the cards – especially James.

Confirmation & Communion Congratulations

2011-05-20T17:23:00.000+01:00

Along with the invites I was asked to make several special cards for the communicants. One was for a lady being baptised and making her first communion.

Then the girl’s design was this one:

And the boy’s:

The stamp set used was again the special blessings and also, for the top one I broke out my old Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps. I should use these more often as they’re fun to use and very difficult to get poor results from! In fact I have some more ladies birthday cards to make for the stall so I know exactly what I’m going to use!!

Back again?!

2011-05-19T17:26:00.000+01:00

This time just to let you know that I’ll be having my stall at Eaglesham Fair on Saturday, along with Mairi from Oscar Cat Creations (I bet she has some daleks and ferrets just waiting for you to adopt!!) and Sheila from Treasure Trails. Come along and have a great day full of fun at the fair!

Calm is returning!

2011-05-18T17:05:00.002+01:00

The last few weeks have been hectic – it was the first holy communion and confirmation for the children in DD’s class so I’ve had invitations and cards to make for that, medals to make for the boys, prayer cards etc not to mention my DD having a special blessing – wearing the full communion outfit and then the parties afterwards! It’s lovely that the non-catholic children are included in every part of the service, and they just receive a blessing rather than communion itself.

So today I have a couple of the invitations that were ordered to show you. The wording was done on the pc, the cross is part of the Special Blessings set by Stampin Up.

More birthdays!

2011-04-15T18:40:00.000+01:00

Remember the other day I showed you Laura's card and I said I made it at midnight the night before the party? Well a couple of weeks earlier I was even closer to the deadline for no one but 2 birthdays! Why do I do this to myself!!

We had the Boden event at school and then an hour after that finished my daughter had a joint party to go to at the swimming pool. I promptly came home from Boden (where we raised over £300 I hear!!) and made these 2 cards. I hear the recipients and their mums liked them so that was worth the panic then! I really must get more organised. We have no more parties in the pipeline just yet though thank goodness!

Something a little different.

2011-04-13T18:28:00.002+01:00

My neighbour was giving wine to a friend of hers as a gift so we made up these labels to put over the original ones to personalise them.

Armed with old and new photos, she made up some poems to put on the back. I Arlene likes them! We did some for the staff at her kids nursery at Christmas and some for her Mum & Dad's anniversary before now too.

These make a reasonable bottle of wine very special! What would you put on them?

Quick Birthday card

2011-04-11T18:24:00.000+01:00

I recently got the Stampin up medallion stamp. I've wanted it for ages after having seen some stunning cards using it but of course as soon as I got it all inspiration dissapeared!

Eventually I managed to make this one and love it. I love the cream with teh crumbcake (kraft) colours and the red just pops out. I hope this one sells well as it's pretty without being too girly. What do you think?

Last minute card!

2011-04-09T20:12:00.002+01:00

Last weekend while I was in the middle of watching Mama Mia I realised that my daughter had a party to go to the next day and I hadn't done the card yet! Worse than that was the fact that I was out of the house at 8am to go to a craft fair. So, shattered after a great night out and having to wait an hour in the carpark to get out, I made this card for Laura at midnight. I broke into the new gingham cardstock I bought - a purchase I blame fully on Ali Watson! I think I may be in love with the stuff just as much as you Ali!!

Luckily I had the image coloured beforehand as often when I go to fairs I take a sketchbook that I've stamped lots of the images in and the promarkers to keep myself busy in the quiet periods. So it was relatively easy to pull together. And at last, again inspired by Ali I used my Stampin up paper piercing kit. :)

Safe to show you these now!

2011-04-08T12:23:00.003+01:00

It's past Mothering Sunday so I should be safe to show you these now. I hope you all had a great day and were thoroughly spoilt!

Is everyone ready for Mother's Day?

2011-03-31T18:21:00.003+01:00

Sunday here in the UK is Mothers Day. The day we should be spoilt rotten with breakfast in bed, no cooking to do, and generally treated like a Queen for the day. Mmm won't be happening in my house although I admit, it's all my own doing. I've got a craft fair booked on Saturday and Sunday here at the new Scottish Art, Craft & Design Centre at Valley International Park, Lanarkshire. Come along and get the kids to treat you from the multitude of beautiful hand crafted gifts that will be available.

Then when I get back on Sunday night I will just have time to sit down, relax for 1/2 an hour before going out for a girlie night!! I can't wait as I've not been out (apart from kids clubs!) for ages. Although, does Friday count - me and my daughter are off to see Mama Mia!

I should be safe showing you these cards as the recipients are not computer users generally, and there's no chance my mum will see it as she's sunning herself on holiday!

Boden Sale!

2011-03-10T21:59:00.002Z

If you're in Troon on Saturday then think about popping into our school for a fabulous 20% off orders for Boden - plus free delivery & returns and get the 4th item for £1!!

Who, What, Where?

2011-03-02T21:44:00.003Z

Thought I'd add a list of fairs I've booked up for up to now - not only to let you know but also to keep me right!

Sat 5th March Ayrshire Arts & Crafts Fair, Troon Concert Hall 11am-4pm
Sat 19th March Troon District Guides & Brownies Coffee Morning, Walker Hall, 10-1

Sat 2nd & Sun 3rd April Scottish Arts Craft and Design Centre Fair, Crossford, Clyde Valley

Saturday 21st May Eaglesham Fair

Saturday 11th June Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Saturday 2nd July Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm
Saturday 17th July, Jaguar Enthusiasts Club, Eglinton Park, Kilwinning

Saurday 6th August Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Saturday 3rd September Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Saturday 1st October Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Saturday 5th November Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Saturday 3rd December Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair Troon Concert Hall 11am to 4:30pm

Of course I'll be adding more as I have them confirmed or find more!

Congratulations Aunty!

2011-02-28T18:34:00.000Z

Kirsteen's twin sister had a beautiful baby boy recently. So a Congratulations card for the very special aunty was called for! I played with my mum's new My Craft Studio CD for this one.

Thinking of you

2011-02-26T18:29:00.001Z

There seems times when all I do is make card after card after card. Then I don't need any for ages and it's the 3d things for a long time. At the moment it's cards.

These are using Basic Grey paper, with a waltzing Mouse stamp and nesties. They look regal in real life.

Remember you can always contact me to order special (or ordinary come to that!) cards - names, funny requests etc!

Birthday Boy's Money Wallet

2011-02-24T18:21:00.001Z

A friend turned 14 last week so I can now show you his card/money wallet. He's saving up for a 3DS so that makes giving him a present really easy - money! lol

This DL card opens up like my christmas ones to safely hold the notes. I used the Stampin Up circle circus stamps and punches. I don't think I could ever be bothered cutting the circles by hand - yey! for punches!

I've a lot more wallets started (well A4 card scored!) that I must get to finishing. Maybe that could be another job for Louise!

Twins!

2011-02-22T18:13:00.002Z

Remember I was painting a little boy's room a few weeks ago? Well his mum had twins just before I started so they were all still in hospital as I painted away! I was asked to make a card for their arrival. This is it.

I was on a roll and had remembered I'd made a 'baby on board' card for someone going on maternity leave. I thought there may be someone else eventually wanting one so I made a girly version this time.

New Photo tent

2011-02-21T18:07:00.001Z

When I bought my original pop up photo tent I did smaller A6 cards generally. As I've moved up to the A5 size, the tent is a fraction too small and ends up with white sides showing on the photos etc. Tents arn't too expensive so I thought I'd buy myself the next size up. Well, it arrived and what a laugh. I think I could fit a baby elephant in it!! See
!
You'll have to excuse smiley in the bottom photo - he's forgotten how to smile naturally for a photo!

Now the next problem is getting the lighting sorted for it. The lights I had for the smaller tent arn't strong enough to light the bigger one!

Janie here's the proof!

2011-02-20T12:53:00.002Z

Yesterday Louise came round to help me make some notebooks for the stall. It's surprising what you can get teenagers to do when they're really bored! We had a great time and she was so much help. We managed to decorate and complete 59 notebooks!! I now need to get another 40 inserts to fully complete them.

After all that hard work we started decorating Lippy Chic flap books that I had in. We didn't get them finished which is no surprise so we can do that next time. When I dropped her off home her mum didn't believe she'd worked so hard - so here's the proof!

Has love dissapeared into the clouds?

2011-02-06T21:07:00.003Z

After having made the Valentines cards I was surprised to see that hardly anyone looked at them even though they were prominently displayed. The chocolate guys next to me didn't seem to do well with their yummy champagne chocolate hearts either. People were buying but not the lovey dovey stuff. A couple of us traders decided that maybe the people at the craft fair wern't the best target for such items - we were all far too old! Could it be that valentines is more for the kids, teens and those not yet married? It seems that after a few years of married life it's a case of 'I've caught him and I'm sure no-one else would have him so I'll not bother'! LOL

Oh well, never mind. I'll have the pick of the cards for one for my other half!

I'm back painting murals tomorrow so I thought I'd show you one or 2 more photos of the last one I did. Have you noticed I've added a tab at the top of my blog for you to see the mural pictures all in one place?

These are from what we now know as the Garden Room! There are a couple of free hand trees, flowers etc. The Manager was really excited when I said she could have a strawberry as her daughter loved them. :) So I gave it to the snail for his lunch!

Even before the room was finished the staff told me one of the girls using the house was fascinated with the bird house, trying to put her hand in the hole in the middle. Little things like that really make it worthwhile. Tomorrow there are rainbows, monkeys, balloons, helecopters, cars and horrid Henry on the list. Which reminds me, I shold have gone for more red paint today. Oops!

Love is in the air!

2011-02-02T18:25:00.000Z

Yup, it's that time of year where we declare our love to our chosen one. Here's a couple of the cards I've made for the stall. If I get organised I hope to have an exploding box ready too.

This is a version of the Ruby Anniversary card I did here. This uses cuttlebug folders, sizzix folders, SU stamps, punches .... And anything else I could find! lol

It's great when you find images you've already stamped and coloured - it's half the job done before you've started!

Here I went to town with hearts of all sizes!

Saturday is the first of the year's Ayrshire Arts & Craft Fair at Troon's Concert Hall. Many beautiful gifts (and cards!) for your loved ones will be available to purchase. Please pop in and say hello!

Anyone there?!

2011-01-31T19:50:00.003Z

It's a bit echo-ey round here. Sorry. I've not been crafting much - my mojo was lost which isn't good when I had a long list of things I wanted to make for the stall! Then I was asked to go back to Ardfin to paint murals in the bedrooms.

I was introduced to them a few years ago by my neighbour who suggested me for a mural they wanted painting in the hallway. I'm afraid I went a little mad and painted Nemo, Dorey, Rainbow fish, great big octopi, little mermaids etc along with hundreds of little fish! If you go onto their virtual tour on the website you can see part of it! I've been back several times now to paint the fence outside (not the mural on their virtual tour I hasten to add!), living room, afterschool club and now the bedrooms. I'll show you the photos of the other rooms later.

For now these are the pictures from the 'in the air' bedroom. I really love how the dragon came out. I used Dustin Pike's Dragon and floating monkey - I couldn't help it as they were perfect for a kids' bedroom.

2011-01-04T18:47:00.003Z

I'm back in the craft room. I have a month before my next fair at Ayrshire Arts & Crafts and a long list of things I want to replenish and create. Can you believe this will be Valentines time?!

I was looking for some of my older cards on the blog to see how I'd done the clouds and realised I've not actually posted them! So here's a couple. The planes are from a set of wall art diecut shapes from Poundland last year - along with the pirate ones I did show! They're A5 in size, although one or 2 of the images are too big for that so I'm having to make A4 cards!!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T21:58:00.002Z

Just popping in to quickly wish everyone a very happy new year. I hope 2011 is infinatly better than 2010 for everyone!!

I'm having a well deserved break from crafting and fairs for Christmas and new year, but I've already done a stock take and anaylsed my sales for last year. So now I have a plan of what to make, what not to bother with and ideas for new stuff. Pity I haven't got my accounts up to date though!

I can hear the call of the craft room getting louder though so will start the creative cogs turning again very soon! Then I will have more pictures for you all!

2010-12-05T18:24:00.004Z

That's it. The last of the craft fairs for the year. There's been fantastic ones, good ones and OK ones. After Christmas I can review everything, decide what to make, what not to, where to go, where not to as well as the dreaded tax forms to get ready for. But before all that there are commissions to finish, school costumes to finish and christmas to get ready for!!

Thought I'd leave the crafters among you some photos of my stall set up yesterday. I know I appreciate photos like this to help me with set ups etc. I treated myself to a double stall too! :D

Greetings form Troon

2010-11-26T13:04:00.000Z

I was asked to create a couple of 'Greetings from Troon' cards. It's a style that is rarely asked for but is that because people don't think of it? What do you think. Do you like the ones that say 'Greetings from' or not?

I am still here!

2010-11-24T12:44:00.003Z

Honest! Problem is a lot of what I'm crafting is orders for people for christmas so I can't show you them without giving the secrets away! It does however mean I'll have lots to show you after christmas - or even for next year!

What I can show you is these post it notes. At last I've been able to use my new toy to cut something out. I bought an ecraft machine in October to replace my old craft robo that had dementia!! For the un-papercrafty of you, both of these machines are similar to printers but instead of printing a picture they cut out! It's fantastic (when they work!) to be able to easily cut out shapes or words any size you want rather than have to laboriously hand cut them with a scalpel blade! The ecraft is new out and still has lots of blips I have now discovered. However, I followed some advice and changed the blade so now I can cut from the cartridge that comes with it. I just need to find time to download the new software onto the other computer to try that out and we should be much further on!

The flower shapes were cut on the ecraft - could you imagine trying to cut them out by hand?! I used to!

7 Fairs down, 6 fairs to go! If you're about Coatbridge on Satruday pop into Coatbridge High for their craft fair, and My most favourite school ever, St Patricks in Troon are having their amazing Christmas Fair in the Walker Hall on Sunday from 12.30 to 3 - please come and support us. I'll have my stall there and Santa is coming! The school choirs are singing - lead by Miss Gallagher. I also hear one of our fantastic old staff members is coming to judge the Christmas Card competition too!

Alan is 50!

2010-11-19T18:45:00.000Z

Not sure who Alan is though as it's a commission! lol It's always difficult to photograph mirri card - I can see the reflection in the camera in it!

If you're about Troon on Sunday it's our Wintertainment! The whole town comes to life on the sunday when Santa arrives in the search and rescue helecopter (if it's not being used on a rescue mission!) to come and visit the children and finally turn on the christmas lights!! There are coffee afternoons and activities all around the town - there's an Animal Fayre in St Patrick's school, Owl Magic in church street, Santa's grotto, the RNLI in the concert hall and best of all 1st Troon Brownies and Guides have a coffee afternoon in St Ninians Church Hall, Bentick Drive from 2 to 4pm! Please come along and support them - I have my stall there (and my friend Stacey has more of my stuff in the library too!) amongst other stalls. Any girls in Brownie/ Guide or Rainbow uniform get in free!

Journal Jar Gift

2010-11-18T22:25:00.004Z

Think of all the questions you would have liked to ask your grandma or grandad about their lives - what they played in the playground, what on earth they saw in their spouse, what their wedding was like. How about what they did in their first job, what was Christmas like for them, what did they think when they first became parents? It may be too late to ask them those questions but it's not too late for you to start recording your answers for your grandchildren and great grandchildren!

A journal jar is just what you need to help you get started in writing it all down. Each day pull out a wee strip of paper from the jar and write the question into the book or even paste it in. Then just waffle an answer! It could be a one liner or could take 3 pages to answer, it's up to you! By the time you've answered the whole jar you have a potted history of little interesting facts all about you!

I'm not sure why but this year journal jars have taken off like wildfire! You get the jar of over 100 questions and the notebook. I've got a set of questions for married people with children and a set for 'young, free and singles'. I'm thinking of doing 'part 2' sets and other sets for children to spark their imaginations for stories etc.

Lanarkshire Arts, Craft and Design Festival

2010-11-13T08:28:00.000Z

Yes, I know I'm a glutton for punnishment but tomorrow I have another new fair. This one is in the beautiful Flowers of Scotland Garden Centre, in the Clyde Valley. It's open between 10am and 4pm. Come along and have a coffee and browse round the garden centre after you've been round the craft fair. Garden centres are always fantastic to look at in the lead up to Christmas!

More Money Wallets

2010-11-12T21:03:00.004Z

I made some money wallets for an order last week, a rather large number of them and thought I'd see what they went like on the stall. Well they went too quickly! lol, I shouldn't complain but that meant I had to make some replacements for the stall and some for the order. That was today's task. I have a nice pile for the stall, and Kate yours are put aside!

I love creating and don't tire of it but sometimes you can end up in a groove (not quite a rut) when creating many of something on the same day. I'll start for example making cute wallets and then find it difficult to switch to elegant ones. It's much easier to change to cute cards, notebooks etc then do the elegant ones another day. Is anyone else like that?

Any take your fancy?

Falkirk Christmas Craft Fair

2010-11-12T08:24:00.000Z

Hope you can come and say hello tomorrow at Falkirk. Even more I hope I can find the place OK! I also hope the wind dies down so that lots of people come to visit us. I'd better not hope any more or I'll be tempting fate!

Haven't shown you this!

2010-11-09T11:30:00.000Z

Did I tell you about a scrapbook commission I did last month? Well I was told today that it was fine to share some of it with you. I've not had chance to scrap for months due to making cards & gifts so I snapped up the opportunity to do it and get paid! For the non-crafters scrap is a technical term for the act of making scrapbook pages. Could you honestly see me trying to fight someone?!!!

It was an 8x8 album so relatively quick to produce as long as you stick to simple pages with repeated elements. This also helps tie all the pages together even if you use different colours. I used a small tag attached to each photo as a repeat in this one amongst other things.

The best thing is they want to add some more pages to it!

Amazing start to the Christmas season!

2010-11-07T22:48:00.003Z

No photos to show today, sorry! My fantastic friend Ali helped me craft all day making 20 post-it calendars, 20 sets of christmas gift tags and re-stocking the snowman soup! It was a great start to crossing off things on my to do list! Thanks Ali!

She was also here yesterday and helped me out at the Ayrshire Arts & Crafts fair which was amazing! I've just heared we had well over 1,000 visitors (not including children!) with 280 of them in the first hour!! No wonder I kept having to fill gaps in the stall before I could even finish putting the price labels up!

The book thong bookmarks did well - especially as the long awaited charms arrived so I was able to make pretty snowflake ones and princess ones. The tags flew off the stall hence having to replenish stocks as did the snowman soup!

I really hope this is the rest continue in this light!

(PS if you want anything reserved give me a shout then you won't be dissapointed!)

Christmas Gift Tags

2010-11-06T13:06:00.000Z

Sat playing the other day with the sizzix tag die I borrowed from a friend. I sold mine years ago and have regretted it ever since - especially as it's now retired by sizzix and rare. However, I've managet to track one down in america and hopefully it is winging it's way here to me as we speak.

Used some chipboard shapes I found that I've obviously bought and not used before losing them!

Christmas Money Wallets

2010-11-04T15:01:00.001Z

Thought these would be useful for some people with Christmas coming up. I need to make some elegant ones and cuter ones too. Short post as I'm off to get ready for the Ayrshire Arts & Crafts fair on Saturday in Troon Concert Hall - hope to see you all there!

Notelets sets

2010-11-02T12:48:00.009Z

Well, I thought I was doing well with putting my creations on the blog and after selling some snowflake notelets, and having another order for some I came to find them to refresh my memory. Well not only have I not posted them on here, I never took a photo in the first place!!

So, after making more from a poor memory, here they are for when I need to find them again! lol While I was at it, I made a couple of christmas sets and a more general use one in beautiful browns. The stamp sets are all SU and the snowflake punch is a martha stewart (for those interested). They are sets of 5 notecards and envelopes in a matching folder that can be used later for filing.

Had to edit these more than usual as it's a really dull day and I didn't have time to set up the lights properly etc (OK, I couldn't be bothered really!) so the photos are a but more washed out than in reality. Sorry!

Hubby's birthday card

2010-10-31T17:53:00.001Z

Last week was hubby's birthday and I've just got round to photographing his card! In real life it isn't as 'wonky' looking - honest! I photographed it in a rush and had to edit it straight.

A simple layered one with a slightly decoupaged clip art beer glass. If I had some I would have used white puffy paint to make 'foam' on the top. I have red, blue, yellow, green ... anything except white - typical!!

Enchanted Forest

2010-10-30T17:45:00.000+01:00

Tonight the kids and I are going to the Enchanted Forest in Pitlochry with fabby friends (well they have to be fabby as they put up with us incliding me lazing in bed in the morning until goodness o'clock! lol)

This will be our 3rd time of going and I can't wait! Hope there's no rain!

Think Pink Test Tube Sweeties

2010-10-29T17:39:00.000+01:00

I was asked this week if I could do some of the test tube sweeties for a party a lady is holding today for Breast Cancer Awareness. So these 'Think Pink' test tubes were born. Hope you like them!

A fresh look

2010-10-25T21:04:00.000+01:00

You know how it is - you start doing one thing and that leads to another, and another ... I came to add the Lanarkshire fairs to the 'where to find me' and ended up playing with the layout and colours of the blog! What do you think? A few autumn leaves. I love this time of year with the colours, although this year it's been a little windy up to now so they're falling off before we get the full autumn colour. I went with my hubby to New England in the fall a couple of years ago. The site was stunning, full of reds and golds. When I came back I noticed we have the same stunning reds and golds - just not the blue skies very often to set them off perfectly!!

Chocolate cake in a mug

2010-10-25T12:01:00.004+01:00

This has become an annual favourite for several people. I'm always on the look out for some nice mugs that can be used all year round rather than a christmas one that will only be used for a few weeks!

This year I've put the recipe on a card rather than on a little folder like other years - just for a change. Their 'first outing' for the year was on saturday and I sold 2 which I was quite happy with. I had pack holiday with the brownies so a fabulous friend of mine Kathleen ran my stall for me at a ladies shopping night. It's becoming a must attend annual event - I mean, how glamerous to go out in the evening to a ladies only night where you're handed a glass of wine on arrival and guided towards a chocoalte fountain! Then you have a fabulous evening of shopping to get you in the mood for Christmas! Although I had an amazing time at Brownies I really missed not being at the shopping evening. Next year I will NOT get the dates all mixed up!!

Candy Cane Seed Test Tubes

2010-10-20T11:13:00.001+01:00

Just a fun project for my stall to show you today. These are test tubes decorated and filled with millions sweeties. The strawberry ones look like candy cane seeds, the brown ones like reindeer poo (but as I already have that in a bigger form on the stall then this is baby reindeer poo!), the purple ones I decided to call christmas wish seeds and the blue were frozen snowman noses.

I hope these appeal to people for stocking fillers. I know my kids are desperate to get their stick mitts on them!!

The little craft factory is overflowing!!

2010-10-19T08:53:00.002+01:00

I have so much going on at the moment I'm sure I'm going to forget something major very soon! It doesn't help that my son is off to his first scout camp on Friday, along with his Dad, and me and my daughter are going on Brownie Pack Holiday! I only got his kit list last night and there's a lot on there he doesn't have! Luckily they're off school today so we'll be going shopping - I hadn't planned for that!

What I have planned for and am ready with is my craft class I'm doing tonight witht he fabulous ladies of the St Anne's Guild. I'm giving them a taster of stamping with (hopefully) 4 tags to make. I'm rather pleased with them - one of those things where you sit back, look at them and think 'I do like those'. What do you think?

Do you like my little fairy too? One of my best Pal's bought me that for my 40th birthday and although she's christmassy colours she stays out all year adoring her duck friend. I'll show you him too one day!

Have I shown you these?

2010-10-16T19:29:00.000+01:00

My old brain cells are going on holiday I think - well I hope it's a holiday and that they're going to come back or there's no hope for me!! I don't think I've shown you these wee notebooks that I made for Barassie Senior Citizens Club 30th Anniversary. They are index notecards bound with bookrings which has the advantage that you can re-arrange the notes inside to your hearts content rather than being bound in a fixed state.

They use Stampin' Up's Baroque Motifs stamps in not quite navy and bashful blue. The wording is computer generated with the whole thing finished off with tiny pearls in the flower centres. I think this design would make a lovely wedding card front!

I must catch time over the next couple of days to photograph lots of new things I've made so I can show you. One of them is a comissioned scrapbook - I've not done one of these for a long time and I'm really enjoying it! Which reminds me, blatent plug - if there's anything that sparks your interest to buy or comission me to make a special card, gift or even scrapbook them please get in touch. My prices are extremely reasonable!

I'm on facebook!

2010-10-15T23:52:00.000+01:00

You can follow my business antics on Facebook! Come and have a look, 'like' and say hello!

Elin's Cards on Facebook

Handbag notebooks

2010-10-14T22:09:00.004+01:00

Well that's what I call these little matchbook notepads. They are so easy to make, with either a patterned cardstock or plain cardstock that's then decorated. The inspiration came from several sellers on etsy. I used re-cycled A4 paper cut down for the inside and stapled them into the covers. On the decorated ones I even went as far as covering the staples with paper too! I soon gave up distressing the edges of all the layers though as it is too time consuming.

How I wish we could have the zutter distrezz it tool over here. As far as I can find on the internet we can't have it in the UK because of diferences in the electricity systems. It's not fair! I think the distressed ones look much better!

Hello Chuck!

2010-10-12T17:28:00.001+01:00

I totally forgot to tell you about Chuck, my new pet:D Mairi made him for me. You can see him here! He's fab and such a good boy.

Get Well Soon

2010-10-10T17:23:00.002+01:00

My Dad hasn't been well lately so I made him a card. Hopefully he's on the road to recovery - I'll find out today when I go down to see him. :)

The card was fun to make as I used wordart in powerpoint to do the lettering and filled them with a photo I had taken of the view from Troon over sea (well river) to Arran. Do you like the sentement- I want him well NOW not Soon!!

I was doing so well too!

2010-10-08T23:12:00.005+01:00

Can't believe how hectic it's got round here! Sorry for not posting!

I spent all day - yep! It took me all day! arranging and re-arranging the stall last thursday so that I can fit as much christmas stock on without it looking like a car boot sale! Prices needed printing etc and I still managed to forget a couple of prices for Saturday's fair. One day I will have it all done. OK, in my dreams.

Thought I'd show you a couple of photos of my table set up - remember this is at home so I've not put the cloths on the table or the price tags up. Hope they help someone!

Poop! (snowman poop!)

2010-09-30T15:28:00.001+01:00

What happens when the snowman has had your soup? He needs to go poop! And reindeers leave edible poop - you did know that didn't you?

One for the Boys

2010-09-28T15:48:00.000+01:00

Found the cards for the boys that I was talking about the other day. I still can't believe I've not shown you these as they sold really well! These are the pirate ones.

It was fun making the backgrounds for the pirate on the island - a bit different to usual.

PS did you know it's 87 days to Chirstmas! Let the countdown begin!

One or two for the little girls

2010-09-27T15:40:00.000+01:00

Shopping the other day with Karen, I came across these cute Fifi the flower tot decorations. They were ideal for the front of some larger cards for little girls. Up to now it was images for boys that I found - I don't think I've posted pictures fo them yet so I may dig them out to show you.

Snowman soup time again!

2010-09-26T23:15:00.000+01:00

The soups and poops factory has been in production again at Elin's Cards - which reminds me, no, the baby factory isn't here! lol I had a few strange looks after the last post! Serves you all right for only reading the title!:P

Anyway, back to soups! The marshmallows were in the shops as were the candy canes so it's time for making snowman soup! I had sent for mini candy canes but when they arrived 20 out of the 40 were broken! So of course they'll be going back. I fancied a change from last years packaging and went for a cute snowman from a cd from chamelion card craft. The images are so cute and you'll see lots of items using them coming along in the next week or 2! I made over 100 of these last year - guesses please on how many for this. I'm starting conservatively at 20. First time out for these is on Saturday at the Ayrshire Arts & Crafts Fair - as usual between 11 and 4.30 in the Concert hall, Troon. Hope to see you there!

Baby on the Way!

2010-09-23T19:04:00.002+01:00

This one was to be given to a lady leaving to have a baby boy. That one left me scratching my head for a bit! I eventually found a download that was perfect for what I wanted! I decoupage'd the mum to be and cot and then used blue stickles to glitz it up a bit. I can't remember where the download is from - if I find it I'll come and update here. If you need to know then give me a shout and I'll investigate sooner!

Thank you

2010-09-21T18:57:00.011+01:00

Our Parent Council Chair was stepping down recently so I made the thank you card - well I wasn't going to buy one was I!!! Jennifer's done a fab job and I wish she was able to continue - mainly because I've had to take her place! lol This one uses the butterfly stamp set from stampin up and the co-ordinating butterfly punch. If you're looking for a Stampin up dempnstrator to but your stamps, inks, papers etc from I can highly reccomend Maggie - she's fab and runs some amazing classes in Largs.

Happy Birthday Dad!

2010-09-19T18:49:00.001+01:00

It was my dad's birthday at the end of august so of course I had to make him a card. I went for a simple one as this seems to be my phase at the moment. Funny how you do that - go from a simple phase to very complicated cards for a while before going back to simple again. I've also noticed that I seem to show a lot of cards on my blog rather than the 3d items yet I spend much more of my time making the 3d stuff. Maybe that's because I've shown lots of them and I'm just repeatingly making the same things for the stall - they may be in different colours but basically the same.

I warn you, Christmas is coming so there maybe a few cards and gifts on the way!

Just trying something...

2010-09-17T21:07:00.003+01:00

I've been jumping between a couple of emails addresses to log into things, using one for everything but another for just one or 2 things. I think I've just worked out how to post on my blog using the main email so I'm just testing! It will mean no more logging out of google, logging into blogger and then visa versa when I come out!

I suppose I should show you something while I'm here! Lets see what I can find.

Here's a just moved card. It's actually for the mum and dad of the baby girl I told you about the other day. They moved house shortly before she was born. Marliegh is doing well by the way, the proud grandma showed me some gorgeous photos last night at my dance class. I can't wait for her to be big enough to come home and visit us all! While making this one I also made a matching one for the dance teacher's sister with the word 'again!' added to the bottom! Apparently she moves a lot! lol

Birthday Card for Canada.

2010-09-16T18:40:00.001+01:00

Another order - this time for a nephew living in Canada, originally from Scotland who owns a Scottie (the white one) and a Westie (the black one). With a remit like that there's only one way to go - tartan and dogs even though I find tartan very predictable and 'twee'. As it's leaving the country I made myself use it! lol. The dogs are decoupaged and sit either side of the birthday banner. You can't see too well from the photo but the tartan and birthday banner were mounted on gold card

Ruby Anniversary

2010-09-14T18:31:00.001+01:00

I'm getting into these 'white on white' type cards. I look frequently at the fabulous cards on Ali's blog but never actually get round to having a go. When I did, I loved the effect in real life too! I decided to use the effect for a ruby anniversary cards I had an order for. Lots of using the cuttlebug, layering and a touch of colour. The butterfly in the corner is my new Martha Stewart punch!

Hope you like it!

Nothing like a new baby to make you go Aaahhh.

2010-09-13T17:20:00.000+01:00

I love hearing about new babies and this one was no exception! Although for her sake I would rather she was still cosy and warm in her mummy's tummy for now! Marleigh Jane arrived 10 weeks early, being a very bigh surprise for everyone! She is doing well though according to her proud grandma Sharon. I can't wait to see her in person.

New babies of course mean new baby cards - as I was making one from me I phoned our other friend at check she wanted one made from her too. 'Of course' was the answer, along with one for Grandma and Aunty Victoria! I tried to make all the cards co-ordinate by using the same colours and patterned papers but different by using different stamps and styles. I think I managed it - what do you think:

The images were coloured using my promarkers - got to love those things, although I need to remedy the fact that my mum has more than me! :D

11 Today - twice!

2010-09-10T18:30:00.000+01:00

As my son is now 11 it also follows that lots of the boys in his class are too! Rather than re-invent the wheel I'll often use the same design over in a different colour scheme. The blue one was for my boy, and the green for his celtic fan friend. The numbers were traced and cut out before stamping over the footballs and the elephant stamped, coloured, cut and mounted.

Another fair tomorrow - the Ayrshire Arts & Crafts one at the Concert Hall, Troon from 11 to 4. This is the last of the year without lots of christmas items on sale on my stall! Mairi will be there - not sure if there's any daleks left as she sold most of them last week but she's a quick knitter! :D I'm looking forward to choosing the cotton for her to knit me a chick doorstop - there's a little chick like the one I want on her blog here

Crafty Critters Fair Tomorrow!

2010-09-03T19:33:00.000+01:00

If you're in the area pop into the Crafty Critters First Craft Fair in Shawlands Kirk, behind the Granery pub, Glasgow. The lovely Mairi and her daleks will be there too! Then next week is Ayrshire Arts & Crafts at the Walker Hall, Troon. Busy Busy, must get busy!

Ribbon bookmarks

2010-08-25T13:15:00.000+01:00

Browsing through the net for ideas (something I do far too frequently!) I saw ribbon clamps. Having never heared of them before I hadn't realised that this was exactly what I had been looking for for an idea I had for a new bookmark. Within seconds I had ordered some from our friendly neighbourhood ebay and the service I had was outstanding. From seeing them for the first time to making my first bookmark was less than 16 hours. The first 2 I made were snapped up by a friend who was over to craft!

Hope you like them - they're on my stall to purchase! Talking of which, I have a stall at the crafty critters first craft fair in Shawlands, Glasgow on the 4th September and then Ayrshire Arts & Crafts on the 11th September. Hope to see you there!

Thank You for everything!

2010-08-19T22:23:00.001+01:00

One of the simplest, but most elegant cards to make is this one. It seems to suit any colour cardstock I use. It's an embossing folder from crafts too called swirly frames.

I've got a new toy!

2010-08-19T22:22:00.001+01:00

Given that we don't seem to get much useable sun for photography up here in Scotland I treated myself to a light tent. It's supposed to improve yoru photographs no end. I think it does improve mine to an extent, now I just need to play with the settings on my camera now to improve them further. I do love the blue background. The tent comes with a red, black and white backdrop too although I would like to try a kraft coloured one. I just have to find an A3 size piece of card for that! We're never satisfied are we?!

I've also been having a break from christmas creations by doing some colouring in. I used images from Dustin Pyke. He does some fantastic drawings. it's not surprising he's a book illustrator. Having coloured the mouse and the monkey with promarkers I handed them over to my friend Ali to turn into cards - She has to earn her keep for the weekend somehow!:P I love the fact that the card came out so different to how I would have done it but it looks fab! Ta Ali!

Dean Castle Country Park

2010-08-03T22:34:00.001+01:00

Just a little note to say if you're passing the gift shop at Dean Castle Country Park in Kilmarnock pop in and have a look at my stuff! Yep, I have my crafts for sale there!! It's a fabulous park for the kids to run around and play, roll down hills, follow the river, look at the animals and lots more.

Woohoo!

2010-07-31T22:33:00.000+01:00

Wow. This is the first time I've had to file my accounts online and it didn't take me as long as I thought! I spent more time looking for the piece of paper I had just put down than actually completing the forms!

To celebrate I crafted of course! A couple of days ago I took a set of monogrammed thank you notecards over to an elderly neighbour. I'd made them a while ago with her in mind as I knew she liked to still send cards and notes through the post. I then lost them!! In the middle of a sort out the other day I found them so took them over to her before I had chance to loose them again. A quick 10 minute 'pop over' turned into a couple of hours chat, listening to her fabulous stories. I really must go over more often as she's a very interesting, lovely lady. As I was leaving she asked me to make a set of the cards for her friend who's birthday it is next week.

There's 6 in the box. Please excuse the horrendous photos but the sun just will not come out and play today! It's supposed to be sunny summer!

After I made the notecards I carried on and made a birthday card to go with them. It's inspired partly by a couple we made at Maggie's class last month.

Now with the accounts out of the way and orders completed I can concentrate on Christmas! I kid you not!

Stop the World - Please!

2010-06-10T21:56:00.000+01:00

I need 48 hour days lately!! Either that or I must learn to not stretch myself too thinly. Who am I kidding! I always will so I need the 48 hour days!

For a long time I have secretly followed Helen's blog - It's All Fiddle Fart . She has some fabulous ideas and I get so much inspiration from it. She makes the most amazing newspaper headline cards, each being taylor made for the recipient. I have wanted to have a go at making one for myself for ages but have not got round to making the template. But now I have and should have done ages ago! I actually made 2 - one for a girl in my daughter's class and one for a boy in my son's! The parties were the same weekend. I am so pleased with the results - as were all the kids!:D

The beginning of a journey..

2010-05-15T22:17:00.001+01:00

Another commission. I'm always amazed how varied the cards I get commissions for are. This one is for a gentleman who is going into a retreat/monastary. The usual 'good luck' or 'on your new job' etc just didn't seem to fit so we brainstormed and came out with this. I waned to keep it fairly simple so printed a picture of a woodland walk onto vellum and mounted it onto white that has been through the cuttlebug embossing folders first.

50th Anniversary

2010-05-13T22:12:00.001+01:00

Not of a wedding but as a lay preacher! This is for an aquaintance of my Dad - ordered from a very very long standing family friend Vera. My dad was apprenticed to Vera's husband Jack. The photo is from a CD my mum has, so not sure which as she has so many! I added a bit of flowersoft to the flowers and diamond glaze to the windows. Computer generated text mounted on ovals cut from nesties.

Ta for coming back again! See you soon!

2010-05-11T22:03:00.001+01:00

See! Told you I wouldn't leave it so long! OK, if all goes well I cheated and have set this to post at a future date!.

This is a couple of cards I had a commission for. These girls were leaving our school to move to one closer to their future secondary school. Both Eilidh and Erin will be missed lots!

Im my usual manner I can't remember the paper - I do know it was a pad. The centre strip has wee gems in the flower centres. The picture is from a cute download from Digi Scrap Kits. I added their names to suit using Panitshop Pro.

Ok, OK - I lost my way!

2010-05-09T22:02:00.000+01:00

Long time no see! I have no excuse - I let life got in the way of me updating! I thought it was time to come back and update you with some more inspiration! I have been busy with Easter, school, Brownies, dance costumes - the usual for me!

Then this weekend it was confirmation and first communion. Although I had no children taking part I did have a few commissions for things and cards. Let me show you the cards. As you can see these are for the same boy. It took a few puzzling moments to work out how I could make them look different using the same wording and stamped image. I think I managed it.

Both are A5 size, using computer generated text and a dove from SU's mixed blessings set. The small strip of patterned paper is aslo SU.

I hope you like them. I promise not lo leave it so long next time!!

Chinese New Year!

2010-02-08T12:49:00.000Z

I had an order for a couple of Chinese New Year cards. Not knowing much about these cards I did a little research and found that red and gold were lucky colours, it is the year of the tiger and that there are 2 phrases that could be used depending on whether you speak Manderin or Cantonese. So far so good! Then, after finding out Cantonese was probably better for the final recipients I found about 3 different ways of spelling what I wanted to write! So I chickened out and put happy new year in English! I'm pleased with the final result though. Now to find out whether Wilma likes them too!

So wherever you are, let me wish you all a Happy New Year for next week!

New Website

2010-02-02T23:02:00.000Z

I have finally got round to making some changes to my website after my fab friend Sylvianne suggested using Weebly for designing it etc. It was so simple to add photos and put the text exactly where you would like it! It is still in its infancy and I know I must work on the photos very soon. They were taken as reminders for me - I am awful at remembering what I have made before! Then I will work on adding a shopping cart and pricing.

Could I ask you all a favour please? Could you cast your wonderful crafty eyes over it and tell me what you think? What have I got glaringly wrong (I know I don't have full company details on yet but up to know I don't take orders)? What do you like in the layout? How can I improve it??

Oh! You'll need to know where it is won't you?! Elin's Cards Thank You!

Let the mess begin!....

2010-01-18T18:39:00.006Z

Thought it was time to take the Christmas decorations down off the blog! A little late I know! I've been trying to make lots of stock to re-stock ready for a craft fair in February. Christmas fairs left the cupboards almost bare!! I have no photos to show of the new stuff yet though as I lost my camera over christmas!! I left it in the church hall after the last Brownies and was very very lucky to get it back, especially as I hadn't realised that was where it was lost!

The mega painting job has started too.

Here's a couple more notepads along with an anniversary card to show this time!

These were part of the same order I made before Christmas. Moira's one uses pocket silhouettes and the others use Baroque motifs, both stamp sets by Stampin Up. They're still my favourite ones to date.

This card is so cute! The heart and the birdies are nestabilities. I ran the heart throguh a cuttlebug embossing folder - the spotty one. I've still to do some of these for valentines day.

Belated Happy Christmas!

2009-12-29T10:37:00.003Z

And an early Happy New Year!! LOL

Hope Santa was good to everyone! I was a lucky girl and got some crafty stuff. I haven't had much time to use it yet with making up kids toys etc but I will! I'm giing myself till the 2nd January 'off' crafting as we have things on till then. Then it will be all systems go to re-stock for the stall for early February. I need to get that done as I then have to decorate the living room, dining room and craft room ready for a new carpet. The craft room will be a nightmare as all my craft stuff will have to be packed away and moved out of the room! It's such a big job that I'm not really relishing the idea. I may have a quick look in Ikea for new storage while I'm at it.

Well I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a very happy new year. I'm not one for making resolutions but I will try to post more things to my blog!

Post it covers

2009-12-15T18:21:00.005Z

I managed to get some square lined post its from Tesco in pretty pastel colours. So I made some pretty pastel covers for them. The cardstock are the soft subtles from Stampin Up. I think I need to stock up with some more of the cardstock soon, especially with valentines and easter coming up. (yep, us crafters like to think ahead don't we!)

These ones are post it clipboards - some I did with the wee calendar tabs hanging underneath. These sold out as soon as I put them on the table!!

Now after 4 cards to do tonight I can then make, write and post my own cards!

Oh well. They'll have to wait. I'm off to the Brownie Christmas Party first

Finally I can breath!

2009-12-11T23:40:00.009Z

Last night is the last of my run of Christmas Craft stalls. I have had a fabulous time doing them and my items seem to go down well. The really odd thing is that you cannot second guess what is going to sell or not. What goes like hot cakes one day doesn't sell at all the next - even in the same location!

I've also finished the costumes for the school Christmas show. Oh, and the backdrop! I still don't know the story but I do know there are 2 cows, 2 sheep, 2 ducks, 3 robins, 3 mice, a santa, 2 worms and a donkey!

Now I can concentrate on cleaning the house before putting the Chritsmas tree up tomorrow. I've been that busy with fairs, replenishing stock, costumes, Brownies etc that I've not managed to do any real housework for 2 months! The duster was in that much shock I had to give it time to recover before doing the 2nd half of the job tomorrow! Then, after the tree goes up I have my own cards to make - I was going to use the ones left over from the stall but there's nowhere near enough. Good in one way I suppose.

I finished the order for the 200 christmas cards. They didn't take as long as I thought which was good. I had help from my fab pal Ali while she was over one weekend, celebrating her and my birthday. This is what they look like.

That's one full box!

These were the simple ones for the kids. The toppers are made from gift tags that were in many of the pound shops round here. They make fab, quick cards. I also sold lots of these on the stall. It's a pity that I bought out the supplies I found as I would have loved to have some in to get a head start on next years! Nothing like starting early!

This was my least favourite of the cards I sent as an example and was the first the boss picked out. It's always the way. The star is from a stamp set by Waltzing Mouse stamps. I love the star but just not what I've done with it here. There were 50 of these to do. I stamped them then cut the star out using the largest star nestability. The stamps also come with a beautiful heart shape that also cuts out with the nesties - i already have plans for valentines cards!

This is the one I made 100 of. The image is printed from a set I purchased on digiscrapkits.com. They have fabulous images you can print and use on cards etc. The Merry Christmas label is from my hostess set in the current Stampin Up catalogue.

Ta for popping by - hope your Christmas plans are going smoothly! I can start with my own now!:D

Big OOOpsie!

2009-11-25T19:27:00.002Z

Please tell me I'm not the only one to have done this. Picture the scene. An email comes through from a charity you have done work for before. Could they please order 150 Christmas cards. No problem, says I. I work over the weekend making some samples, working out costings, timings etc. Turn up on Monday morning, chat with the manager who promises to tell me exactly which cards they want after chatting with the staff. Fine! And off I trot a very happy bunny!

The email comes tonight asking for 200 cards!! 3 Different designs. All great. Still with me??

I go into my craft room to start and then realise I can't remember what the cards look like!!! Some silly person (me!) didn't photograph the cards before taking them and leaving them!! So now I have to wait until after school tomorrow to go and retrieve them!

Wonder if I'll learn my lesson and not do it again!

At last - caught up!

2009-11-20T20:23:00.005Z

At last, for all of 1/2 a day, I think I'm caught up with stock for the stall and orders! I can have tomorrow morning off without worrying!

For your delights today I'm showing you some notepads I made for an order. The lady who ordered them is a lovely lady and great friend. It is her daughters birthdays tomorrow. Each year for their birthday or christmas she orders notepads and magnetic shopping pads as stocking fillers for them. So, by putting them on my blog I can easily look back next year to see what I have already done!! She also ordered some for other people for Christmas so you'll have to wait till after that to see them just in case they stumble on the blog LOL.

Kirsteen doesn't really like girly pink stuff so these are what I designed. The notepads at the top are inspired by a notepad my SU demo gave me once. The magnetic notepad uses the SU circles stamps - I've been dying to use them!

Kathryn does like more girls things so the magnetic notepad was much easier to make. With the notepads I had enjoyed brushing the edges of the Kirsteen's pads with ink using a duster brush so I did it again for Kathryn's. I used the pocket silhouetttes stamps from SU to decorate the bottom of the notepads.

I delivered them today and was relieved to see they were liked. It's always a worry when you are given free reign with a comissioned project!

Well, I'm off to play some Farmville and Fishville guilst free!!

No crafts today..

2009-11-19T23:30:00.005Z

Not sure if I've done this right you can click on the poster. If I have you should be able to read the whole poster. Basically, come along to the Christmas Ayrshire Arts 7 Crafts fair on Saturday 5th December in the Concert Hall, Troon between 11am and 4.30pm. You can enter the draw to win £75 to spend at the fair and help us raise money for th Parkinson's Disease Society!

I'm so lucky to have this monthly craft fair on my doorstep. There's not many places have them this frequently at this calibre of stalls. The crafts people are so friendly. I look forward to catching up with them each month as well as trying to raise some money from my crafting!

Tell me a Story....

2009-11-12T20:53:00.002Z

Remember when your granny or grandad started reminiscing about times gone by and you were too young to appreciate the stories? Then years later you wished you had listened to them? Journal jars are a way of getting those stories down on paper now to pass down a piece of history. I thought I'd try some journal jars for on the stall. The idea is that you pull a piece of paper out of the jar and use it as a prompt for your memories. A starting place for your story. There's about 100 slips with questions such as where did you first meet, talk about your memories of Christmas as a child, what is your favourite food etc. The jar comes with a matching notebook.

2009-11-09T17:29:00.002Z

My fabby pal Ali was asking for inspiration for a 100th birthday card. So Ali, here's the style I do for number birthdays. This one is a men's 21st but any number fits. The numbers are made from a sheet I've made of 1 inch squares. It's great for using up all the scraps of papers. For ladies I use a papermania pack of co-ordinating papers and it's gorgeous if I do say so myself!!

It's an A5 card by the way.

A bit more organised.

2009-11-08T13:27:00.005Z

I'm having a quick breather from crafting and decided to sort out my photos on my SD card. I need to get a new one as the kids fiddled with it breaking the lock on it. I still have all the photos but now can't add any or delete any!

I found a few of my crafts and have edited them so now I have a small stock to feed you with over the next week or so. See I can be nice sometimes! LOL

The first photo is my version of storing my nesties. I'm getting quite addicted to these things. In my defence I do use them a lot for different cards etc I've stored them in a wee 6x6 album that has page protectors in. This one came from a Heidi Swapp kit from Costco the other year. I cut some cardstock into 6x6, added a strip of strong magnetic tape and then added the names of the sets. Just have to find time to decorate the front now. I find it really easy to use!

The second photo is of my stall at the recent Church Ladies Night. It was a fabulous night with chocolate fountains and wine. There was a fabulous selection of stalls.

The SABP family fair on Saturday was fantastic. Plenty of people through the door, all in the mood for spending too! My children's school table that I helped make the things for did well too. I'm looking forward to hearing how much money SABP raised. It seems as though it may be a lot of money!

The last photo is of a card similar to the one I showed in the last post - just changed the colours a little. I must put this with an envelope and prepare it for sale!

2009-11-02T18:48:00.002Z

Wow! 2 posts in one day! Please don't faint!!

I've signed up for an online course by shimelle called 'blogging for scrapbookers' The aim is to improve my blogging and maybe even more frequently!! No promises though! It started today - have a look here if you're interested. This is the 3rd or 4th class of Shimelle's I've done. I can't wait for the Journal Your Christmas one to start again.

2009-11-02T11:10:00.004Z

Well, the piggy wands went well. People kept coming back for more! So the wand factory has been full steam ahead for the next few. I'm trying to make enough for the next few fairs so I don't need to make any between.

The snowman soup went too. I had a major panic over the mini white marshmallows for replacements though. After hunting everywhere I found that our local sweetie shop had them. I bought 200g and was as happy as anything. I used them up and went back to get some more to find she had sold out!! Panic again! I found a 1kg bag online so was happy, but wasn't sure it would get here on time due to all these postal strikes. So I bit the bullet and joined Bookers cash & carry. What a result! The same 1kg bag but even cheaper! So, I've half used that one and the other bag still hasn't arrived.

Just the one card to show you today. My neighbour recently came back from seeing her daughter in America and brought me some Papertrey Ink stamps! I've wanted some of these for ages but the postage to the UK is extremely high. I'm sure if they brought their postage rates down they would make a fortune over here!

2009-10-26T10:41:00.004Z

Long time no update! I've been busy getting ready for umpteen christmas fairs. 2 down, 7 to go! I'm now knee deep in half made piggy wands & snowman soup. At least I have next weekend free before the next one on the 7th November - for South Ayrshire Befrienders in the Walker Hall if you are free to come!

Here's the piggy wand. Not my idea - found it surfing on the web but I'm afraid I can't remember where. They seem to be going down a storm - even a dietician bought a couple!!

This is a card I made for the school parent council to give to our retiring head. He had actualy left on a sabatical the year before but decided not to come back and retire early. I know he is missed as he was fabulous with all the kids.

Off to tame some more pigs to pop onto wands!

2009-09-24T16:20:00.004+01:00

Some new home cards to show you today. These are easy to do with paper piecing or with a simple stamp. They make an elegant card.

How do you keep track?

2009-09-22T21:42:00.002+01:00

My blog isn't that old and I'm already losing track of what photos I've posted already! How do you remember which ones you have posted? Any hints & tips are graetfully received!

Today I have a set of wedding stationary to show you. These are relatively simple with lots of heat embossing & gold cardstock. The stamps are Stampin up - Baroque Motifs I think.

My craft space is a right tip as I'm in the depths of christmas crafts. It's a fine balance between having the right number of christmas cards to sell and having too many. I've found that people don't really want to purchase hand crafted cards as they are expensive in relation to a pack of 10 cheap christmas cards. But, there is still a market for the 'specials' to immediate family etc. On the flip side, if I have any left over that saves me buying some or making more!

Where did the time go?

2009-09-18T20:12:00.005+01:00

Time is running so fast these days! I've been busy with craft clubs, Centenary Parades for Guides, family visiting, craft fairs, school cycle training, Brownies, Rainbows ...... Just the usual for me! LOL Here's another couple of cards & 3d items.
These 3 (I've no idea why I've photographed them together!) are simple cards for the stall. The middle one is a sugar nellie stamp and the others are stampin up with cuttlebug embossing on each. Maybe that was my reason for the group - they all use the cuttlebug!
Another cuttlebug card with stampin up stamps.

These are post it note pads covered and trimmed with ribbon, punched shapes & fabric flowers!

I promise not to leave it so long before I update again!!

The Mural is Finished!

2009-09-03T19:37:00.003+01:00

Yippee! It's done. I'm pleased with it, and the time taken. More importantly, the family are very please with it. Here's a few photos of it. If anyone in the Ayrshire area and wants a mural painted - just give me a shout!!

Pack Holiday was amazing. We had so much fun even though the weather was rotten. The leaders all worked together well - especially as it was our first district one. Now we just would like good weather for the parade through Ayr on Saturday to celebrate the beginning of Girlguiding's centenary year!

2009-08-27T16:50:00.005+01:00

I really can't believe the kids have been back for over a week already! Time is really flying. I don't think it helps that I have been planning and preparing for a district Pack Holiday this weekend. We are taking 70 girls away for the weekend. I know, I'm mad!!

I've also been doing some mural work. This is something I started a few years back and although they don't happen often I do enjoy them. This one is for a gorgeous little boy who is having Roary the Racing car, Charlie & Lola, Pingu, hot air balloons and anything else I can cram onto the walls in his brand new bedroom.

So that means there hasn't been much crafting being done in our household.

Here's one of my favourite wedding invitations. It takes some time as the hearts are stamped with a script stamp, cut using a sizzix die then the wire and pesky beads wrapped round. Sorry for the squinty photo. Don't know what happened there!

2009-08-18T22:23:00.004+01:00

Yey! The kids went back to school today! I get a day of freedom to play with my friends and go out for lunch! Then Brownies started back too ao that was another hour and half of fun. (I've been a Brown Owl for almost 20 years!!)

Onto some cards & stuff! This is a couple of sets of notelets I made for the stall. The square ones are 4x4 inches. I really like that size as they are good for thank you cards etc - you don't have to write an essay to fill them! The others are a set of A6 flat notecards I designed with my elderly neighbour in mind. She loves sending notes through the post still - a dying art I think!

These are a couple of chipboard hanger for my kids. The used scraps of paper, paint & ribbon I had lying around. I have far too many scraps and should use them all up!

2009-08-13T22:39:00.006+01:00

Evening all. We've had pretty good weather the last few days and so I've been out and about. Problem is that I've not been in a crafty mood at all so not got a lot done at all. Now I'm off camping for a few days so nothing will get done then either! Never mind. The kids go back to school on Tuesday so normailty can soon resume!

These cards are some of my boys best seller cards. They're sugar nellie rockstar images that have been watercoloured using derwent inktense pencils. The stars are hand cut and then doodled on.

This is a gift bag of cards. It is made from 1 sheet of 12x12 cardstock and decorated to match the cards. The cards are stamped with stampin up's pocket silhouette stamp set and uses the cuttlebug embossing plates. I have to make some more of these! They make a good gift for teachers etc.

2009-08-05T19:08:00.006+01:00

Ok. Time to add more photos! I've spent the last few weeks working on a 12x12 album of wedding stationery samples. Sometimes it's felt as though it will never end! But today I finished it. Yippee! Tomorrow I'm taking it to the wedding dress shop in Troon for prospective clients to look at. Fingers crossed that I'll get lots of orders.

This is the front cover (obviously!). I clear embossed the black cardstock and computer generated the title.

This feathery one is quite pretty. Not my style but I'm sure it will be perfect for someone.

Now these 2 I love! The top one has seed beads sewn along the branch. The bottom one is a SU set called Baroque Motifs I think.

2009-07-28T20:33:00.004+01:00

Here are a few of the items I make for sale at the Monthly Craft Fair in Troon. I have another on Saturday so I should get going with making more stuff! If there is anything you want to know about them please give me a shout.

2009-06-29T16:05:00.001+01:00

Welcome to the Elin's Cards Blog. Here I hope to showcase some of the cards and invitations I make.