Chrimble Cards and birthdays!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CELIA!!!!!
21 years young again, hope you have had a fantabulous day!

Here are a few more Christmas cards made recently!
These cards have used Peppermint Twist Die Cut Cardstock from K and Company, christmas pics from Pink Petticoat, ribbons, pearlescent card and Christmas reds cards, papers from Paper Adventures and Dovecraft Christmas Blues, eyelets (used with Big Bite), snowflake brads, snowflake punch, glitter glue, stickles, cuttlebug snowflake embossing on generic card, other card and foil cards from my stash.

I have also finished Annettes 40th Birthday card, and am very pleased with it! Of course I cannot post it yet cos its not her birthday for another month but its ready to go, lol.

We are enjoying having hubby back home sooo much (Big Grin!) and he seems to be not too adversely affected by his experience, thank goodness.

Also, we are now in the final countdown for the Sound of Music Production that my 2 eldest girls are in, they go on stage on 3rd Nov for 6 performances and also that week my brother in law and his family are visiting. We have front row seats for the Thursday night and we cannot wait!

Thursday mornings and Tuesday nights are working out fabulously with the Craft Club, especially Thursday mornings, its great to see people there! We have two great demonstration nights planned before Christmas, Christmas card stitching and Christmas Card beading of Santas, quite intricate but cannot wait! Also have reorganised the management - Sarah M. is now secretary (she stepped in last meeting and did such a great job!), Sue S is treasurer (using all those wonderful skills she has!) and Martine (cos she is fab and will undoubtedly continue to take it on to bigger and better things) will be taking on my role when I go! Just a few months now, so its all in place ready, less to worry about when its comes to moving, knowing its all in fab and capable hands!

Creatively Yours
Sally x

The frugal/tightwad in me!

Ok, not too creative so far, had a quick surf for blog candy give aways and came away with an abundance of inspiration as I always get side tracked and end up reading pages and pages of peoples blogs!!

Today we shall be sorting out the kids clothes for the second day in a row, threw a whole bin bag away yesterday of old, stained, worn items, have a huge pile for eBay/thrift shop/recycling/give away and can now actually fit clothes in draws again! How exciting!

I am a great believer of accepting whats offered to me, I think

a) Its good for the environment, recycling and all that
b) They grow out of it so darn quickly anyway
c) 1 have 4 girls, easy to pass down
d) Its cheaper! If it saves money, fab.

We have been blessed with 4 gorgeous, talented, loving girls and consider ourselves very, very lucky. BUT! With the cost of living these days and just the basics such as heating, fuel and food soaring in price at the moment, so who can resist a bargain, right? So free is a definite bargain in my book! Of course there is also the added bonus of having a few extra pennies for crafting occasionally and kids activites ;o) hehe!

So I accept everything - clothes wise - that is offered and with such a huge turnover of military staff in Gibraltar at the moment, there are a load of people leaving and discarding... so 'Sally I have a tonne of clothes that are bound to fit one of your brood... '(I have 4 girls and they are 3 thru 12 years) My answer??? 'Hell yes!, bring them over!'. Of course this leaves me with the mountain to sort thru!

Yesterday I almost reached the summit and today I plan on making it most of the way back down! I will contact the local Cat Welfare who love to accept donations, also the local Cancer charity (close to my heart), give some to other larger families on the rock and sell some (a portion of which also goes to local and Moroccan charities).

I must add at this point I have kitted out my daughter almost completely for her new school in September nearly for free! And considering she will be there for only around 8 months before we return, it's great! This is due to 2 wonderful women in my life, Annette and Gill! Both of them have just left and had daughters with uniform in GREAT and virtually new condition that needed a new home! Thanks girls! You have enabled me to be able to afford the electric bill!! Lol!

For those who are into a little bit of frugality - check out Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced decision) and her Tightwad Gazette, which I have to say is my bible for all things frugal! Especially muffins.......mmmmm..... It can be found on Amazon, the blue one is the complete one I have had for around 9 years now and can be bought used on Amazon or off eBay for slightly more. Amazon link on the right over there -------->.

If I do make it all the way back down the mountain, I have several cards to make, so if I am awake after all that climbing I will start them tonight! AND I know where the camera is today!! Yeh!

Later ladies x

Creatively Yours

Sally x

Some cards..

I made this one using the new Happy Birthday background stamp I bought for the Craft Club, stamped onto black card and clear embossed, scrap slightly woollen ribbon, and one of the many new embellishments I got for the Craft Club. Punched the eyelets in withthe Craft Club's new crop-a-dile! A Pink one!!

These next cards are made by my daughter Rachel.

Isn't she talented? She just loves to install herself on mum's craft table...... :o/

Bits and Pieces

These are some goodies I received from ScrapbookInspirations magazine for subscribing, lots of K & Co Yumminesssssss!!! Mmmmmmmm!! I also got a load of Laura Ashley goodies for subscribing to PapercraftInspirations but have used half of them already so no pics, but you will see them scattered thru my up and coming creations!!
This is Elizabeth and Tash on one of the couple of times we had Tash overnight, once for Elizabeths birthday and another to help out so Gill and Mark could prepare for their marchout (on a school night too! They didn't stay up late or anything Gill, hehe!).
This is the card I made for Annette's leaving. Using those K & Co goodies and See D's!
Annette receiving one of several gifts from us. Cos she is wonderful and we love her!! Sob!
And finally this card is one of the cards I have made for my hubby in Afghanistan to pop in his care boxes of yummy snacks and stuff. I used the new crop-a-dile I bought for the Craft Club on this one (I have just had a MASSIVE £200 stock up!! We are so busy now!) purely to check it was working you understand ;o) hehe! Also the new male papers from Papermania 'For Him' range.

Cards! Copied and Pasted

Father in Law & Mother in Law!
Friday, Apr 11, 2008
This was one of my first attempts at cardmaking, not bad eh? Still possibly one of my favs so far, for my father in law. It was so simple, papermania backing and embellishments, some from Ebay and some hand made. He likes gardening and walks and the surname is Bees so all very appropriate!

Now this WAS my first attempt at making cards back in January (08)at the local Craft Club run by Gill here in Gib. What do you think for my very, very first attempt? Its a bit 'raw' and 'basic' compared to what I do now, as I am slowly learning. It was just made from bits and pieces they had there. Peel offs, embossed background (possibly by a Cuttlebug) and my favourite toys - brads!