Megashroom

No, I'm not eat magic mushrooms
I'm crocheting games characters.
Yes I've been hooking my heart out to please my 11 yr old.

My set design leaves a little to be desired, but I think you get the basic idea of a game world.

Hope you all have a very very happy new year.
I'll see you on the other side

back soon

Hugs and wishes

Buffy x

My First Amigurumi

Hello darlings,
I'm affraid the photo isn't great but here are my very first amigurumi.
I can happily say I quite proud of my first attempt.

My wonderful husband bought me a couple of books I wanted for xmas (Amigurumi Two; crochet toys for me and you and baby too) and these littl guys were one of the adorable patterns.
Now I have the difficult task of deciding which pattern to crochet next.....
decisions.....decisions.....

Off to choose

Big Hugs to all

Buffy xx

Merry Xmas to All

Hello everyone,

I hope all of you have had a wonderful xmas.
I'm affraid I don't have any piccies to share with you today, but thanks to the adorable pressies my husband gave me I shall have some super cute items to share with you very soon.
(HINT: we can fix it......lol)
I am definately turning into a happy little hooker...LOL

Back soon
Hugs and blessings to you all
Buffy xx 

On display

Good morning all,

Well as promised here are my latest creations.....no cards just crochet.....

But first something warm, yummy, velvety, rich and spicy, yes it's my delightfully sinful Pumpkin Pie,

Now I realise it isn't the sexiest looking pumpkin pie, but you know the saying...never judge a book by it's cover. Trust me when I say it turned out very well.

Here is my next offer for today. A Patchwork Blankie. I used 3 different shades of pink, plus a light and dark beige.
Unlike my first blankie, this one has a scalloped edge.
I can now say I am a happy hooker.....LOL










And last but by no means least, a Scood and Wristies set, kindly modeled by my youngest,

The wristies are a little large on her, but I didn't make this set for her. It's my little sisters birthday present (20th Dec), I only hope she likes it.

Well got to go get this hell hole tidied up and work on another Scood.

Hugs

Buffy xx

Really need a kick

Hello all,

I need a good kick up the botty, I know, I've been meaning to get my latest projects photographed and put up here but I've just not stopped recently.

I have a gorgeous blanket to share with you all, and I have to say I'm rather proud of it. [it's even got a pretty edge :) ]

And my sisters birthday pressie, Snood and Wrist-warmers.

But for this moment I'm off swimming.......it's become my saving grace since being made redundant.
It won't make me into a super-model and it probably won't make my husband notice me, BUT, at least it helps make me feel like I might still be young and pretty enough.

Luv'n'hugs

Buffy x

Snuggle Up

Hello lovely bloggers,

I have been rather busy these last few days, but as promised here is one of my recent projects, a snuggly blankie

I've blackened out the background so you can get a better look (and the living room looked like a bomb went off lol).
It's pram/lap size which was perfect for a first try I thought. I am nearly finished another blanket and will then make a start on the headbands Mawgan wants for the school fair.

Before I shoot off here is another photo I took during our mid-week break

I loved the reflection and hope you do to

Bye for now

Hugs

Buffy x

A quick Hello

Hello
I have been away for a couple of days whilst they youngest was away on a school trip.

We cycled around Derwent reservoir................only 5miles..........ouch!!
Thankfully we had found a fabulous B&B in the village of Hope called Woodbine B&B, yes quite an apt name considering I quit smoking LOL
The weather wasn't brilliant but it was ok. We've suffered far worse over the years when we've been up in the High Peak.

It's always worth the effort when you get to sit and eat your pack-up whislt enjoying a view like this. This was at the far end, about 3 miles from where we started. That might not sound to far but it feels a lot further when you haven't cycled in a while...
We actually got quite lucky on our last day

The sun came out and lifted the lovely autumn colours.

We definately need to get away from Derby more often.

I shall return real soon with cards and crocheting

Hugs

Buffy xx

Anything Goes

Good evening,
the One Stop Craft Challenge are having an anythings goes week so thought I would enter this little card I made.

It's a bit of a mix. Cream card blank, Clarity Stamps sets - Birdcage and Letterbox, Not quite Navy Ink, and SU backing paper (forgotten which set sorry), and a small strip of kraft card.

Back soon

Hugs

Buffy xx

Card tutorial PLUS Hire a stall?? Oh Help

Good Morning All.
I'm having a bit a a dilema, Mawgan (my youngest) wants me to hire a stall at her schools xmas fair.
But I've never done something like that!! Some of the money you make goes to the school, which is great.
I just don't know if I'm capable of doing it, I've made a start on cards, but how many might I need, how should I package them.......etc,etc,etc.

Anyway enough about dilemas, lets get back to what we all do best.....Papercraft!!
I am writing this in tutorial style. Please excuse me for jumping between imperial and metric.
Here are a batch of xmas cards I've whipped up (in case I do get a stall)

They are fairly simple to make, it's the background stamping that's the pain part. I have only done Blue and Red as I did try green but it really didn't look right.

What you'll need;

•  A Ruler, preferable with inches one side and cm/mm the other (I've always worked with both, sorry)

• CARDSTOCK - 12x12 kraft, A4 cream, 2cm wide strips of both Riding hood Red and Not quite Nav
• INK - SU Riding hood Red, Not quite Navy and Always Artichoke
• STAMPS - Waltzing Mouse sets: Nordic Winter, 2011 Holiday Ornaments and Say It With Style
• ADHESIVES - Foam tape/pads, doublesided tape/gluemouse
• White Pigment Ink Pen
• A4 Cream paper (cut into 3 3/4 inch strips)
• Scissors, Guilotine, Babywipes(mainly for fingers) and various stamping blocks (gridded ones best)

Please remeber you can substitute the colours and stamps for your favourites.

You start with a 12x12 sheet of krat card. Mark at 4 & 8 inches and cut. (I personally find a large guilotine best for this) and fold in half. (No I didn't stamp it before I folded, but if you mark it at 6 inch you could stamp before you fold)

I stamped straight onto the kraft card to create a partial background, using a stamping block with a grid which helps when lining up you rows/coloumns.
Using the Nordic Winter stamp I found 8 coloumns to be perfect.
Using a 2cm strip of card (Riding Hood Red Or Not Quite Navy OR alternative) lay it half over the last stamped coloumn.
This creates your quiet space.
Take the white pigment ink pen and place a dot in each of the star shapes and drag it down the outer edge of the strip.
On cream card stamp your baubles, again in the colours mentioned OR alternative, with the greeting stamped in Always Artichoke.
Curl your bauble round your finger just enough to give it some shape, add foam tape and position on front of card at a slight angle.

Now you card is ready for it's insert.

Using the 3 3/4 inch strips of cream paper, fold in half. Position inside card and adhere the front of the insert to the inside front of the card.

Now grab your sentiment and stamp in centre . Then using the colour that matches the outside, stamp a small bauble in the bottom right corner.

HEY PRESTO!! A lovely simple xmas card.

 

Back real soon

 

Hugs

Buffy xx

 

Pretty pink flower

Good morning all,
I hope everyone is well. This morning I am bringing you a 2 challenge card.

• CR84FN Colour Challenge
• Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge

These two wonderful challenges gave me the perfect excuse to create something with my new ability I have just acquired....

 

Yes it's a crochet flower!

But more importantly I've attached a broach clip on the back of it. So it not just a greetings card but also a gift. It is held in place by a paper tag that can easily be ripped off without destroying the card.

• Card - Cream, Pink and Kraft(closest thing I had to Tan)
• Stamps - WMS Dainty Doillies 2 and Compact sentiments
• Ink - S.U. Pretty in Pink and Crumb Cake
• Pearls from stash
• Crochet flower Broach - 3cm broach clip, 1.75mm crochet hook, DMC Petra 5149(flower) and DMC Pearlescent E966(leaf) PLUS Mom of 5 Daughters how to video (see previous post - crochet how to video)

I aged the edges a little as it just felt right.
I've almost always believed in doing what feels right.

I shall endevour not to bore you all to death with my crocheting escapades....but I can't promise :-)

Hugs

Buffy xx

Holy Crochet Batman....

Hello my lovelies
I have had a brilliant weekend and achieved one of my bucket-list goals......ready?

I CAN CROCHET!!!

Yes you heard me correctly...........ok, so I'm not going to win any prizes with it but I did it and it only took me 2 days to learn how.

Fisrt came a bog standard dishcloth.....well that what I'm going to use it for as it's better that those soft shop jobs.

I've used your basic parcel string......It ain't going to win a beauty award but by gum it's good and strong.

After this first little success, the scientist in me took over slighty......I had the basics now it was time to EXPERIMENT.....wahahaha

Graham (my husband) thinks it looks like a coaster.....DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT MATE!!!
I was just trying different stitches/chains to see what could be done.

BUT THEN!!!!!

I discovered the most wonderful woman on the planet........................and her youtube videos

Mom of 5 Daughters

And she could make crochet flowers................aaaaaahhhhhhhhh.................I love this woman!

Well you can guess what happened next

My first crochet flower

Yes yes it's made fromthe string but Mawgan had a brilliant idea.......shower flower. So several of my closest friends will be getting a shower flower and pretty soap. (You would have gotten a home made soap but I've been banned from experimenting in the house....spoil-sport.)

I have nearly finished my second flower....much smaller and pink and not parcel string!

Back super soon with a few cards and my new flower

Hugs

Buffy xx

A little Waltz

Good morning all,
a quick card for you this morning. This one is for the lovely Waltzing Mouse Sketch challenge

It's a very interesting sketch. I decided that this was a playtime challenge. So out came the stamp set and ink and I just went a little crazy.

I used 3 WMS sets in total, Celtic Heritage, French Country and Say it with Style.
The Hearts (celtic heritage) are stacked up using different thicknesses of foam pads.
The background was quick and simple the Tulip (french country) was just stamped in a light green then the gaps filled with a softish yellow.
I cut out the centre of the border stamp (french country) to give a bit of extra shape.
The green backer is stamped with the teardrop shaped stamp (french country), the cut around them to give the wave.
In the bottom corner is the sentiment With Love (say it with style), sorry it's a little difficult to see.
The huge wooden button was in my sewing box, it must have fallen off something but I just can't figure out what.

Hope you find it interesting
Back soon

Hugs

Buffy xx

Hope when you're down

Just a quick note to all my followers and those visiting

I had almost forgotten about this story a dear friend had sent me.

Donkey Logic

Please take a minute to have a read, it is wonderful advice.
Although I get the feeling he would slap my wrist for not following it better LOL

 A little bit of inspirational photography. Even when things appear dark....you can photoshop them

Big Hugs to All

Buffy xx

feelin Blue and Mowed down till you Yelled me

Hello again,
yes another bizarre title, but did you work out the colours? Well Blue was the obvious one, did you get Yellow from yelled? and what about the last colour Mowed...grass...Green? I know it's weird but being out of work I'm trying desparately to keep the old grey matter as active as possible.
I won't always include a bizarre title people so don't panic.

Today is all about colours. This is my second colour challenge of the day and I have to admit I have followed CR84FN for quite some time now. I may not have always joined in with the challenges but that was more to do with my lack of confidence than anything else.

So without further ado, here is this weeks colour challenge colours CR84FN64

I think my post title goes well with the quote on this weeks challenge. I think I probably come under the different way thing.

I have gone for the layered approach. The card and backing layers are yellow, the faint flower are in a very light green the the main image is in a lightish blue with green foliage.

• Card - S.U. Daffodil delight and whisper white
• Inks - S.U. Marine mist, Lucky limeade, Certain celery
• Stamp - S.U. Faith in Nature and Fresh vintage sets.

I shall be back soon, but for the moment I'm just finishing the shrinking of all the fabrics so I can make my new quilt cover. Have to make it, I couldn't find a single thing I liked in the shops.

Hugs

Buffy xx

Royaly stampin away

Good day Ladies and Gents,
my first offering of the day is a colour challenge

• Stampin Royalty - colour challenge

I have gone for a very simple and clean design for this one

I delicate "Thank You" card. The card itself is made of Rose Red card, the flower stamp and sentiment are from the Faith in Nature set and are Rose Red ink. The strip is Tangerine Tango left-overs and the pearls were in my stash and just happened to match the tangerine beautifully.

The problem is.....once I got stated on this simple card I had to have a little mad session...and here is the result

I happened upon this fab leaf die the other week and was not sure what I would do with it....found something to do with it :-) Again using the challenge colours and different set of stamps (Happiest birthday wishes 1 and Fresh vintage). The twine was plain white so I used the inks to bring it into speck. Four eyelets to string it through. There is a hint of green only because I could not justify foliage in one of the challenge colours.
That is why this isn't the card I submitted to the challenge.

Back soon

Hugs

Buffy xx

WMS Thank Q

I know, I know, another weird title,

but hey..........being normal is soooo overated!!!! :)

So to explain the title, two challenges that almost begged me to be put them together...

• WM Sketch challenge #117
• Colour Q challenge #156

Interesting combination I thought, although I've never heard of Dusty Durango, so substituted in Cajun Craze.
Rather than add a die-cut shape to the card I decided to take it away, by using it purely as a inking template. I then used a marker to highlight the shape.

 

The sentiment and half the flags are stamped in S.U. Soft Suede, top left corner is S.U. Rich Razzleberry, bottom right corner S.U. Pumpkin Pie and the champagne flute and rest of the flags are in S.U. Cajun Craze (seemed closest to the colour)

The stamps are from Waltzing Mouse Join Us stamp set.

Hope you like my little creation

Hugs

Buffy xx 

Peek time finally

I'm back
I know it's been a while since I promised to share this, but better late than never.

This is from my first batch of cards, which I have had to whip up early and quickly, with the down-sizing started at my old job (yes, I've already been down-sized) I needed to get them done as soon as.
This is the green version, there are 4 differnt backers all of which match the snowmans scarf.
I shall display the full range soon (just got to shrink the photo)
Still can't get the pdf file to work, although it could just be my laptop....it's getting on.....5 yrs old...which in laptop years is about 200..........lol 

Buffy xx

Hint, close your eyes and die cut

Hello,
I'm sure the title of this post will be made clear in a moment....
So a 3 challenge card

• Lili's Little Fairies - White with a Hint of Colour
• Stampin Royalty - Use Die Cutters
• Papertake Weekly - sketch

 Hence the strange post title...hint(of colour), close your eyes(the stamped image on my card) and die cut....
and now without further ado.....

I rotated the sketch, for my hint of colour I distressed the edges of my die-cut shapes with blushing bride inkpad. To give the white more depth I decided to emboss it with my brand new M-Bossabilities EG-002 [put a few of these on my list for Santa ;) ].
This is one of my favourite LOTV stamps it's called "Close your Eyes"

and as you can see, she is.

I used ProMarkers to colour the image and went over the sentiment stamp with the Stampin Write blushing bride pen as it was a little too pale on it's own.
The lace was sitting in my stash.

Time for bed me thinks
Back soon
Buffy xx

Football 40

Back again,
but not the reveal....sorry....pdf really ticking me off now...
Instead I have a newly made card for you, (had to get away from computer)
This is a two challenge card:

• CR84FN - demin, tan & brown
• Mojo Monday - sketch 

 One of my mates is football mad and turning 40 and these two challenges just felt so right for his birthday card.

You may be wondering what all over the face.....that's easy

**** FRECKLES ****

Yes people, my dear friend is still freckely at 40.........hahaha.......actually it looks really sweet and he's happy for me to tease him about it. (In a nice way!)

• Card - S.U. choco chip, crumb cake
• ProMarkers - Denim, Tan, Twighlight sky, Cocoa, Chestnut, Ivory, Blush & Dusky pink.
• Stamps - Super striker (LOTV), Have a warm (LOTV), 40 (See D's), Wishing you a (Stampin Up)
• Ink - Momento's tuxedo black, Dew drops desert sand & Adirondack denim
• Piece of denim from my sewing box

Back real soon

Hugs

Buffy xx

A little hiccup!!

Hello All,

I had planned to bring you the reveal and tutorial today...but..slight problem with that!!!
Hopefully tomorrow afternoon all the bugs will be ironed out and I can share my hard work with you.
Off to squish those bugs

Until then

Hugs

Buffy xx

Sneak Peek 2

Hello again peeps,
so here comes number 2......

now....hmm....did Buffy deliberately blur the piccie......hmm
Maybe......
Have any of you recognised the stamp used yet? Clue - it was free on a mag.
Only one more sneak peek from the final reveal.......how exciting...

Soon soon soon

Hugs

Buffy xx

Sneak Peek 1

Good morning all,
as I promised a day or 2 ago, here is the first sneak peek of what I've been upto

hmmm.....have I grabbed your interest yet?
I will also be including a colouring tutorial at the reveal....I am a busy girl...lol
Amazing what you can do when you've been down-sized...LOL!!!

Back soon with sneak peek 2

Hugs

Buffy xx

Scary 5 minutes

Oh....had a few scary minutes.......thought my tan promarker had died on me. But luckily the wedge end is still going strong.....so my first batch of xmas cards are back on track

Sneak peek soon
Hugs

Buffy xx

Peachy Butterflies

Good evening,
it has been a rather interesting day. Had a lovely (sinful) piece of chocolate fudge cake at Tracey's and we gossiped over coffee. So nice to get out and meet up with friends.

But, the reason we are all really here.....Crafting.....
I have made a card for the CR84FN colour challenge

I decided to go super simply with this one, and instead of inkpads I used Promarkers to ink my stamps.

A little bit of bakers twine for interest and a tiny bit of bling to make an impact.

• Stamps - Butterfly (free from craftstamper) , Flower in background (free from craftstamper) , Sentiment (WMS)
• ProMarkers - Peach and Lavender

I shall return soon with a sneak peek of my first batch of christmas cards. Yes, I said first batch. Got to hurry and get them done before the site shuts as I don't have all my workmates adresses.

Back soon
Hugs

Buffy x

Autumnal Birthday

Good morning all,
the sun is shining, my youngest is at big school and I've been laid off due to down-sizing.....in the words of teenagers everywhere....WHATEVER!!!
But seriously it's no biggy, not yet at least! I have been building up my card stock for months knowing that the site would eventually be shutting......my date arrived earlier than expected!!
BUT!!!
It does mean I get to craft and share a lot more with all you lovely people   : )
So without further ado.....A Three Challenge Card!!!!

• Mojo Monday - sketch (see below)
• Fab n Funky - autumn colours
• Flutter by Wednesday - birthday theme with butterfly

 Now, rotate the sketch 90 degree clockwise and swap the flowers for butterflies, gather every tiny piece of scrap autumn coloured card and a small leaf-shaped die and you get:

Ta Dah!

A very autumnal birthday card...

• Card used - SU chocalte chip, more mustard, cajun craze, old olive daffodil delight. (other than the card itself all the other embellishments were made with scraps I've been hoarding)
• Stamps - Butterflies (free from craft stamper mag), Grow (a gift from my SU demonstrator), With Love (waltzing mouse celtic heritage set)
• Die - Maianne LR0117

The large stamped image was created by first applying more mustard ink at one end, old olive at the other, then very carefully adding the cajun craze down the middle.

I think the best thing about this card is it is great for a man or a woman.

Back soon
Hugs

Buffy xx

Another day another card

Hello again,
well my little loft craft space is almost organised again...not quite, but almost :)
But of course that doesn't mean I couldn't find time for a couple of challenges......

• Fab n Funky "birthday with a sketch"
• Cupcake Craft challenges "Flowers"

This is one of my favourite stamps, bargain bucket job. I stamped it several times, then cut it out removing different sections to slowly bulid it up. Distressed some cream card for the under-layer of the rose.
I also decorated the inside:

I tried to keep the colours on the inside softer and lighter than the outer image.

Back to organising for now

Buffy x

Shabby Mojo

I said that was just my first card for the day!
My next card is 2 challenges in 1.
The Shabby Tea Room had a fabulous inspiration photo and I just had to see what I could do with the Mojo Monday sketch.

So, here is the card I came up with:

Nothing too complicated, the backing paper was free out of a mag and I thought went really well with the Shabby colours in the photo. I tried to pick out other colours to use as the layers and then distressed the edges a little. The sentiment is also free out of a mag and I tried to capture the metal (at the back of the photo on the wall) by using guilding flakes on the sentiment backer. Just not sure if it's very easy to see. 
And of course a nive big Anemone.

I shall be back later, I just have to go get the x-box back from the repair shop, otherwise I may have to gaffer tape the kids to the oak tree down the road....lol

Hugs
Buffy xx