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Hey everyone,

I finally got round to taking some piccys of all the goodies I bought at the NEC earlier this month when we went to the Hobbycrafts ICHF exhibition. I reckon I did pretty well -i bought lots of nice crafty goodies, but didn’t spend an insane amount of money – which (as i’m sure we all know) is soooo easy to do!

Here’s what I bought:

1. Rock Candy Distress Stickles. I have to admit, I have a few bottles of Stickles on my shelf, but everyone always ranted and raved about rock candy. I figured i should give it a shot to see how it differs from the rest of the bunch. (I can’t for the life of me remember which stall I bought it from though, sorry)
2. Impression Obsession 6×6 rubber stamps: I have never seen rubber stamps this big before, and as i am a background stamp junkie, I needed these! I wanted the lines, but then saw the flourish…i couldn’t make my mind up…so i bought both! £9.99 each, but i will use these A LOT! (Stamps and Memories £9.99)
3. Paperartsy flower dies. I visited the Paperartsy booth a few times, because I simply kept getting drawn back to to drool over Leandra’s samples. Just before we were about to get chucked out of the show, I saw Mark packaging up some flower dies, and I had to have them!! (Paperartsy Stall £7.00)
4. Sticky tape – A crafter’s staple diet! I always like to stock up on tape at the show because they are great value for money. (check out the multibuys at Card Craft Plus)
5. Bloom and Grow Alpha stickers – I love alphas, and earlier this year I bought some Bloom and Grow papers that i have nearly completely used up, but the colours looked great. At £1.00 per pack, how could I resist? (Every Crafts A Pound: £1.00 each)
6. Glue pen – I have had quite a few of these in the past and i think they are great. The tip is quite chunky so you get good coverage and it sticks really well. £1.00
7. La Blanche Foam stamp: These are a new type of stamp that are silicon, so the etched impression is a little more solid than rubber or acrylic stamps would be. I wasn’t sure about it at the start because sometimes foam stamps don’t give an even stamped impression, but when I saw these in action i have to admit I was impressed! There were quite a few artsy designs, but i chose the flourish – flourishes are always versatile! (Artist Trading Post – £6.75)
8. Cars Border clear stamp by Dimension Fourth – Okay, Confession…I saw it, and I wanted it. I fell in love with it! What a perfect little stamp for little boy cards! (Dimension Fourth: £3.00)
9. Hero Arts Cling Friend Definition stamp. I have been wanting this stamp for ages because it gives such a classic feel and is fantastic for backgrounds. I was so glad that i was able to pick it up at the show as every time i looked online it was out of stock! (Card Craft Plus £12.99)
10. Sticky back canvas – Another product that i have been meaning to buy for a while now. There are so many uses for this fun product and i cant wait to get messy with it! (Artist Trading Post – £10)
11. Meiflower Charms & other goodies: You have probably seen me use little metal charms on a few of my projects – and in most cases these are from Meiflower. They have such a HUGE range of pretty little embellishments that melt your heart. I love peering over all the trays with my little bowl, picking up a selection of goodies, and it only comes to a few pounds! (Check out their full range at Meiflower.co.uk)
12. Woodgrain embossing folder: I saw this embossing folder at quite a few stands, and every time it caught my eye – i couldn’t go home without it. See how I have used it already on a this card. (Crafts U Love – £3.99)

And there you have it, now all i need is some time to play with them all!!

Have a great day!

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Hey everyone!

Have you entered our November Competition yet?! You really should, because you can win lots of goodies from the wonderful gang over at Craftwork Cards.  Thanks you guys for being so generous!

One of the most unique products from Craftwork Cards is their Card Candy embellishments. I really love their versatility! These are little domed pieces of pretty, pearlescent card that look like brads, only legless! I’ve been playing with them recently, using them in different ways, and today I have a video tutorial on how you can use Card Candy embellishments to build flowers to use on your crafty projects.

I’ve built a few flowers and used one to add an elegant, dimensional aspect to this card.  I hope you enjoy the video!

Have a crafty day everyone!

Products Used

Woodgrain embossing folder
Kraft cardstock
Distress Ink: Walnut stain, Worn lipstick & Spun Sugar
Spellbinders Nestabilities- labels 9

Unity stamps KOTM rubber stamps
Hero Arts swirls stamp
Hero Arts All Occasion Messages Clear stamp set
Perfect Pearls – Jewel set
Embossing powder
Card Candy Embellishments from Craftwork Cards

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Whats going on in the land of Lesley?

LOTS!! Life is going a million miles a minute just now. It’s so very exciting, but also tiring, and i’m sure thats most likely due to the ever increasing bump that i’m carrying around with me. ♥

– Work has been crazy – we repatched the comms room last weekend, and then on Thursday and Friday, I decided to take some time off to recuperate. I definitely needed it! As soon as I got home from work on wednesday I jumped into my PJs and climbed into bed. I sneakily put a duvet underneath us, and a duvet on top, and I was oohhh sooooo snuggly! I think i fell asleep about 9 o ‘clock. It was awesome!

– The agent and conveyancer tells us that they expect that we will be exchanging contracts for our new house early next week! Oh, the thought of being in the new house by Christmas…. :0D

– I tried to make a start on my Christmas shopping. Normally we take a trip back to Ireland before Crimbo, but this year i’ll be too pregnant to fly. So i’ve been cruising the net looking for stuff that I can ship straight to mums house. I have to say, I totally get that online shopping is easy…blah, blah, but it doesn’t fill me with the same excitement that I get from walking around shops, seeing all the wonderful Christmas displays, colours and smells! < sigh! >

– Friday night we went out for a free meal! Ohh yeaaaah! ♥ It was one of those restaurant launches that they offer free meals to people in exchange for feedback on service etc. I had crab rolls for starter and the most amazing gammon and mash for mains. Unfortunately, baby didn’t want to let me eat my dinner! It’s ok though, because we got to have a great night out with Mark and Helen, plus Craig asked the waitress to parcel up my leftovers and we ate them the next day. Nom! We had bread to nibble on with starters, and the oil & vinegar mix looked like a smiley face: We just had to take photo for comedy reasons!

-I’ve reached 23 weeks. Baby is kicking and thumping and having a jolly old time in there. We have discovered that he/she likes jazz music. I had my first night of pregnancy insomnia (ugh) BUT we did purchase a pregnancy pillow (which has now been named Bob), and this has helped loads! I did promise to share my 20 week scan with you – here you go! Everyone is saying he/she looks like a mini-Craig! ♥ It blows my mind to think that there’s a little person growing in there!

– Saturday, we got up super early to travel to the other side of London- all in the name of craftiness! One of my fav online stores (ArtBase Hornchurch) is shutting its bricks and mortar shop, and were selling the scrapbook storage trays. I have been wanting these for ages! These are going to look great in the new craft room in our new house! Thank you ladies for making one of my crafty dreams come true!

– Sunday! What’s better than a Pyjama day?! A Onesie-day! Yip, I have a onesie and it is very snuggly! We watched the last Formula 1 race, and I spent loads of time in the craft room playing – which of course I will share as soon as I get the camera out to take some photos…

…but for now, a Scrapbook sneak peek!

I’ve been working on a few scrapbook layouts for issue 52 of Scrapbook Magazine (available to buy in February). I had sooo much fun making this layout, and I love the finished piece: I hope you will too! You’ll have to buy the magazine to see the full layout, but here’s some sneaky peekys to whet your appetite!

Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave me a comment, but remember that if you want to enter the November prize giveaway to win up to £100 worth of craft goodies sponsored by Craftwork Cards, you need to go straight to the Nov competition post.

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