Christmas Fun

Hello happy crafters
So this week we are having a just for fun week over at Fab'n'Funky challenges. We would like to see your brand new

"Christmas Creations"

Yes, that time of year is quickly approaching and we are all frantically checking our christmas lists are complete, the turkey is ordered, uncle Bob's favourite cushion is plumped, aunty Gwin's favourite tipple is in the cupbaord and of course that we have enough wrapping paper to cover a cathedral.

As I searched through my stamps collection for seasonal inspiration I rediscovered this little chap

Unfotunately this will also be the last time he ever gets used. I have owned him for over 6 years and he sadly fell into a couple of pieces after I stamped his image 3 times (cried like a baby). I shall of course be scouring the internet to find him as he is one of my favourite stamps (doesn't help I lost his packaging).

So for the finally time here is Santa's Little Helper

Such a cute little face

Please pop over and give our lovely design team some seasonal cheer.

Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

Fantasy time

 For some reason this post never went live, but unlike a few of my other posts this one has popped back up in my posts section. Hurray, so although it is a a little late I thought I would still share it with you. It had been scheduled to go live on 7 Nov 18.

So we are having a fantasy time over at Fab'n'Funky challenges

"Fantasy Figures"

So fairies, mermaids, goblins, trolls, monsters, dragons or superheros.

(But not Santa, elfs or rudolf please.) 

Our lovely sponsor this week is

Digital Stamps 4 Joy

I used Peekaboo Angel - Here

Of course she has glittery wings, what angel wouldn't (even a fallen one)

Also some fab new pens that work get on darker colours

Please pop over and share some love with our lovely team

Hugs & Happy thoughts

Buffy xx

Boo

Hello Halloween Fangs
We are celebrating all things spooky over at Fab'n'Funky challenges, so float on over for a peek at our surprisingly special samhain.

Here is my very quick and simple greetings note

Yes, even jack-o-lanterns get frightened too.

Please pop along and leave some gorily good vibes with our wickedly wonderful witches.

Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

All Creatures Great or Small

So I'm back from a lovely long weekend in London.
We visited the Natural history museum, V&A museum and of course the Science museum (Mawgan refused to go to the science museum with us, so we had to geek out on our own).

The Natural History Museum is a must visit and it also ties in nicely with this weeks challenge theme over at Fab'n'Funky Challenges

All Creatures Great or Small

(anything from the animal kingdom, so insects,

birds, fish. But it has to be real life NOT mythical.

Yes my hippogriff was upset too 😁 ) 

So without further ado, here is my creature creation

A quick and easy card, I offset my layers and used minial colouring. This allowed the lovely rainbow organza ribbon to pop. (stamp - LOTV Blowing Bubbles, Ribbon- from inside new clothes, Dye - TL lacy daisy).
I apologise for the photo, I misplaced my phone and little camera so grovelled to my daughter to snap a shot on her phone and send it to me.

Nip over to the Fab'n'Funky blog and leave our lovely team some good vibes

Back soon

Hugs & Happy thoughts

Buffy xx

Exploding Box

Hello lovely crafters,

Firstly an apology for no post about last weeks challenge, that is the third time I have totally lost a scheduled post (technically I'm typing this one and hoping it one goes live and doesn't vanish)

This week over at Fab'n'Funky challenges we are busting with excitement for our challenge which is

Exploding Boxes

We want to see what wonderful creations you can come up with.

Here is my take on this weeks challenge

 

It is multi-layered with pockets for inspiring notes and happy thoughts

As well as just good old-fashioned some loveliness

The most important thing about this challenge and all our challenges -  is to have fun.

Pop over to the Fab'n'Funky Blog and see the lovely creations the team have come up with.

Remeber to leave them some good vibes

Back soon

Hugs & Happy Thoughts

Buffy xx

 

J-Con 2108

Hello from J-Con 2018 here in sunny Derby, UK.

This is the 11th annual convention and is growing in strength each year.
When it started 11 years ago virtually no one entered the cosplay competition (fancy dress of a character from anime/game/film), those of you how have followed my blog will know my youngest daughter joined the cosplay world dressed up as Miku,

but it is only the last 4 years that cosplay has become a major part of the event in Derby and very proud to say that this year the standards were amazing.

 My youngest in her (female) Jak costume (Jak and Daxter game), I spent the last 3 days frantically  creating this outfit and I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out.
She is standing the with what I can only describe as the most amazing cosplay costume I've seen yet. This gentleman spent 3 months creating this foam-based costume based on a Fall Out 4 character. More amazingly this was his first attempt at a foam-based costume.

But I will share you more tomorrow

Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx
 

Belgium Break

Hello from a very warm Belgium. I never thought I would pray for snow as much as I have over the last few days. BUT....what great beauty we have encountered.
Although Graham and I visited Ypres several years ago, we hadn't taken a hop around and boy did we miss out.
We started our Belgium adventure with an overnight sty at St.Pancras Renaissance Hotel (well a girl has to have a luxury treat now & then). I can highly recommend, utterly gorgeous.

The beautiful St.Pancras Station & Hotel.
It's hard to believe now that in the 1960's this had become redundant and was being considered for demolition.

It was only the dedicated campaigning of John Betjeman that saved this magnificent structure.

It was declared Grade 1 listed only a few days before demolition was due to begin.
That fact that it then took nearly 30 years for the revival to start.

If you would like to find out a more detailed explanation you can go HERE

It would have been a true crime if it had been replaced by a modern monstrosity, especially if you travel all the way to Antwerp.



Because when you get to Antwerp Station you are greeted by this

The very grand Antwerp Central Station. (and this is just a small part of it)
We went for a little exploration once we dropped our bag off.

All I can say for now is Antwerp is well worth a visit. We also visited the magnificent Antwerp Zoo and went to a Dweezil Zappa concert but I will save that for another day.
Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

Make Em Laugh

A good laugh can make a world of difference to your day and over at

Fab'n'Funky Challenges

we want you to 

"Make it funny"

Yes we want to see your sense of humour come flooding out.

Our lovely sponsor this week is 

I have to confess my sense of humour is a little on the raw side, but I hope my card makes you smile

 I have gone for a simple design with this fabulous Mad Hatter digi-stamp as the main image. I couldn't resist making him LOUD.

Please pop over and check out all our lovely ladies designs. If you can leave them some positive vibes that's even better.

Hugs and Happy thoughts
Buffy x

Christmas is coming

Yes we are preparing for Christmas over at Fab'N'Funky challenges.

This weeks challenges is 

Quick & Simple Xmas card

We want to see your take on a quick and simple Christmas card

So a pre-coloured image or simple stamp 

I have a simple confession, I always have snowflakes in my die-cuts box

which is very handy for last minute cards or spiky flowers.

So here is my take on our challenge this week

I chose a simple white/blue/silver colour pallett

Please don't forget to check out our lovely DT inspirations, they love to hear from you.

Back soon

Hugs & Happy thoughts

Buffy xx 

Creatalicious Colours

So we are have had a colour explosion over at

Creatalicious Challenges

our sponsor this week 

Cute As A Button

You can find them at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CuteAsAButtonDigiStamps/

I have used Belly-dancer Amirayah and set everything at slightly differing angles. I also added a little bit of gold.

Please pop over and share some positive vibes with all our lovely DT ladies

Hugs & Happy thoughts

Buffy x

Sewing Sneak Peek

So I have been working on a insulated lunch bag that will fit my lock-lid plastic box. Its almost finished but first I thought I would tease you all with a sneak peek and here they are

I'm sure you are wondering what I have used for insulating it and that is a very good question. The simple answer is Thermal foil.

Yes DIY insulation. It might seem a little crazy but it is perfect. It's flexible, lightweight and easy to cut.

Hopefully my next update will have a finished lunch-bag and a sneak peek at my new dress.

Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

Mamma Makes Gardening

We have a Fabulous challenge for you this week over at

 Fab'n'Funky challenges

Our challenge this week is 

Garden or outdoors

so lots of leafy /floral projects please

This week our lovely sponsor is

Mama Makes

Be sure to watch Loti on Hochanda this Wednesday 9th May at 11am and 2pm - remember you saw her here first!!

Bio about the company:

Mama Makes is all about preserving memories and sending positivity through crafting. These stamps are perfect for cardmaking, journaling and scrapbooks. They are a perfect combination of modern, quirky and the perfect size for a multitude of projects. Mama Makes originally started as a craft blog in 2014, while Loti was on maternity leave. On Mother’s Day 2017, Mama Makes opened as a store selling Loti’s designs as photopolymer stamps. You might have seen the stamps as part of Katie Skilton and Paula Pascual’s demos on Hochanda or maybe in Papercrafter and Die Cutting Essentials magazine!

Loti Maria has been creative ever since she was a small girl watching Art Attack in her bedroom! This passion evolved over the years and was reignited when she was on maternity leave with her son, Charlie and found herself watching craft shopping television.

She then went onto work in craft shopping television and one day was offered something she couldn’t refuse, a chance to make her doodles, into photopolymer stamps, to sell. The rest is history!

Loti lives with her husband Esteban and son Charlie. All of the stamps are made in A grade 3mm photopolymer and are hand poured and packaged by Loti and her husband in their home. Loti designs all of the stamps digitally and takes time to think of quirky sentiments for all occasions. Some of Loti’s sentiments are words she wrote down to motivate herself through tough times and she hopes to help and inspire others by making them available as stamps.

This lovely flower and foliage are from Mamma Makes Foliage Frenzy. 

So I noticed one of my favourite plants is starting to return and that was my inspiration for this little card.
It comes back each year and has the most lovely orange/yellow colouring.
One day I will make the effort to find out what it's called.
(I don't know its name because so I rescued it from my my mother-in-laws garden, she was going to bin it).
 When it comes into full bloom I shall try to remember to take a picture, I'm sure one of you lovely people will recognise it straight away.

Well, back to studying.
I have my PTS course next week and I don't want to fail.

Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

(p.s. PTS for anyone who doesn't know means Personnel Track Safety (yeah I work for a railway company but don't hold it against me)

First Christmas card for 2018

But his week we are celebrating christmas over at Fab'n'Funky challenges.
Our lovely ladies have been working hard to spread some holiday happy, with wonderfully inspiring Christmas creations.

"First card of the year Buffy!!" I here you shout
Yes, I know I'm very late starting my cards, I can assure you I am hanging my head in shame.

So here in a little card I whipped up

These adorable little guys are from my Waltzing Mouse Stamps collection.
 I really miss WMS shop, it was my go-to-place for choosing pressies for my Christmas Wish-list. Think hubby may miss it to as it made his life so much simpler

Please excuse the piccie, my husband has run off with our little camera for some job he's doing and I have never been very good at taking piccies with my mobile.

I have nearly finished tweaking my next SnC cutting file, a litttle bit steampunk-ish
Back soon with more sharing

Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

p.s. I will be typing up some of my weightwatchers friendly recipes to share with you all xx

Fabulous Cute Critters

We are going critter crazy over at Fab'n'Funky Challenges.

Challenge this week

Cute Critters

Our lovely sponsor is

For those of you who have known me a while now, you will know I've been struggling with my weight for a few years and falling down the stairs didn't help matters. So for this challenge I decided I needed a cute new recipe book to write-up all the healthy W.W. friendly recipes I'm going to try to create

And here it is, the little critter hippo is to remind me how I don't want to look anymore, the critter rabbit is pointing out to think veg! Lastly Alistair Alligator is reminding me not to make Snap decision. All these adorable critters are available from Dr.Digi.

Please pop over and visit our lovley design ladies and leave them some happy thoughts.

I do promise to post my W.W. friendly recipes on here if they turn out yummy. They will be for a family (4-6portions) not a single person recipe. (But hey, sevral portions means several days of prepared lunch/dinner.)

Back soon
Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

Not a square on it

We have a great challenges for you this week over at Fab'n'Funky Challenges

"Anything But Square"

(No squares cards or boxes or anything)

Our lovely Sponsor this week is

Whoopsi Daisy

It is so simple to make square or rectangular cards, so hopefully we can inspire and encourage you all to change the pace a little.

If you are one of the lovely people who treated yourself to a Scan N Cut then let it help you created a shaped card, like this:

I can see this being the start of lots of shaped cards, I simple typed my daughters name into canvas then used the "create offset line" to make the actual card section. 

Once you create the offset you then duplicate it and use the mirror tool to flip it over. Now line up the top edges, allowing them to overlap a little bit.

This is your card base, now you can go nuts and decorate.

I used this lovely Whoopsidaisy digi stamp

and coloured it with Promarkers that were as close as possible to the card-stock I used.

Pop over to the Fab'N'Funky blog to see the lovely inspiring creations from our fabulous design team. Leave our ladies some good vibes.

We look forward to seeing your creations.

Hugs & Happy thoughts

Buffy x

Happy Mothers Day

I would just like to wish all my fellow mums a very Happy Mothers Day.

Today has been lovely, I whipped up a quick card for my nephew, which I am entering in the "Abstract" #290 CASology challenge:

A nice simple card, I had the sunset backing paper in my stash and thought my little skate-boy stamp and a die-cut sentiment.

I got taken out for a lovely meal at Moonsha, a Japanese restaurant I like.

My lovely girls trying to decide what to have.

We started with Sushi and Gyoza (fried dumplings). Unfortunately I forgot to get a piccie.



 
 Main course was excellent, I had the Tempura bento box, it was like being back in Japan

Needless to say the girls were happy too, eldest had the Beef Teriyaki bento, youngest had the Katsu don and hubby had the Tempura, same as me.

Of course Mawgan had to share her dinner with her friends on snapchat.







 But no meal is complete without dessert

                Mochi                                                                       Coconut Ice cream

I hope your Mothers Day was a wonderful one too

Well, it's been a long and exciting day           
Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx                                                                           

                                                                       

Mothers day is coming

Well what a week we have had. Snow, sub-zero temperatures and a lot of people driving stupidly.
I personally love snow and have driven to work on several occasions in the past in rather poor visibility.
Well when you work up on the Staffordshire moorlands you have to be prepared for anything, especially when there are areas with no mobile signal if you get into trouble.
I have to say, it was easier to get to work in a blizzard up on the moorlands than it is here in the city...go figure.

But let us get back to the more important matter of crafting. Over at Fab'N'Funky Challenges we are celebrating Mothers day.
We would love for you to come and join in with us.
I have had several requests for card from work colleages, but here are just 2 of the many I have had to make.

This first card I decided to go elegant & understated, gentle mute tones and just a simple ribbon.

Sticking with the multi-stamp tulip, I changed up a gear with bright crisp colours.

I have also done something crazy, I have entered a dress I made into the "Dress maker of the year" contest. I am actually feeling slightly queazy now that I've done it.
Every entry gets 2 dressmaking patterns, so that's like winning to me 😁
I will keep you updated.

Getting late and I'm shattered.
Back soon with more sharing

Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

Lacey Heart Update

Hello lovely peeps

So I realised today that there was an access issue with the Lacey Heart cutting file.

I have hopefully resolved this problem, so head over to the Download tab to get your copy.

Here is a super quick card using the Lacey Heart:

Simple with a hint of elegance.

I look forward to seeing your creations in the comments below.

Hugs & Happy Thoughts
Buffy xx

p.s.  I spelled Lacy incorrectly so it would be a distinctive name, I'm planing to make a collection which of course will be "Lacey"

Lacey Heart and Sponsored torture lol

Good morning,

I have carefully tweaked my cutting file and now it it ready to share with the world.

 

I created a little heart flower as well.

I have only cut three size but I'm pretty happy with how it cut.

I have put the cutting file in my Downloads tab.

Please notify my if there are any issues with the file.

I would love to see your creations.

I'll have my card creation with my Lacey Heart ready to share when I get back from my daughters sponsored walk

Mawgan's Sponsored Walk

A couple of friends who were supposed to be doing it with her pulled out, so my husband and I are joining her instead......

Hugs & Happy Thoughts

Buffy xx

Cutting file not quite right

Morning my lovelys,

I must apologise for not uopdating my blog sooner.

For those of you waiting for the cutting file I was designing

I'm afraid it didn't cut as well as I hoped and I am just fixing the issues I had. I want it to be fully size adjustable and it wasn't. I had made one of the lacey internal hearts too thin, which meant if you reduced the size it just didn't work.

Hopefully my tweaks today will mean it is adjustable and if so and if it cuts well, then I will upload it and and blog it in the morning.

I really can't believe it's almost March already.

Quick update on our house, the builder=contractor promised to get the plumber to put our radiator in next week, as well as our replcement window sill. Woohoo.

Back soon
Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

p.s. wrote this without my glases, sorry for any spelling mistales :-)

A quick update

So this week has been totally mental. I've finished work late most of the week and been to tired to bother attempting anything.

BUT TODAY

I have nearly completed an new Scan'n'Cut cutting file, "Lacey Heart", which I just need to send to my machine. If the cut is good then I will share it in my download section for you all to try. 

(Not before 7pm GMT)

I have also been out on my bike for the first time since I fell down the stairs and injured my lower back. And here is my first attempt

It's not very far but I put a bit of effort in. Definitely need to swap seats, my back isn't too keen on my old one.

Hugs & Happy Thoughts 
Buffy xx

Say it with Words

I hope you week has been as invigorating as mine. Busy, busy, busy...work, parents evening, pattern designing and of course card-making.
I might have to ban birthdays for a couple of weeks....exhausting 😁 

So we have a fabulous challenge for you this week over at Fab'n'Funky Challenges.

Our challenge this week is  

Valentines - "Say it with Words"

(your project must contain words or a sentiment)

Our Fabulous sponsor is

Mama Makes

Bio about this relatively young company:

Mama Makes is all about preserving memories and sending positivity through crafting. These stamps are perfect for cardmaking, journaling and scrapbooks. They are a perfect combination of modern, quirky and the perfect size for a multitude of projects. Mama Makes originally started as a craft blog in 2014, while Loti was on maternity leave. On Mother’s Day 2017, Mama Makes opened as a store selling Loti’s designs as photopolymer stamps. You might have seen the stamps as part of Katie Skilton and Paula Pascual’s demos on Hochanda or maybe in Papercrafter and Die Cutting Essentials magazine!

Loti Maria has been creative ever since she was a small girl watching Art Attack in her bedroom! This passion evolved over the years and was reignited when she was on maternity leave with her son, Charlie and found herself watching craft shopping television.

She then went onto work in craft shopping television and one day was offered something she couldn’t refuse, a chance to make her doodles, into photopolymer stamps, to sell. The rest is history!

 Now for the sharing part, I have gone for a simply understated look.

The image and text are from Mama Makes, I used foampads on the figures but simply glued the sentiment to the ribbon. 

The background paper I discovered in the back of my understair cupboard only the other day (no idea where I got it or how long ago). 

The flower is a few die-cuts, differing sizes, which I coloured using Promarkers (Satin & Blush). 

The stripy ribbon I found in the bottom of my ribbon bag, seemed almost made for this paper so I just had to use it. 

Of course not forgetting the little wooden Dove.

I have made myself a promise to start using up some of my older stash at every opportunity...not sure how long that will last 😉

 Back soon with more sharing

Don't forget to visit our lovely design team and leave some love.

Hugs & happy thoughts

Buffy xx

Anything Goes with options

So over at Creatalicious Challenges we have a lovely little challenge for you.

Anything Goes 

with optional love/anniversary/thinking of you 

and our lovely sponsor is

Wild Orchid Crafts

I chose "Thinking of you" for the theme of my card.

I used a Poppy die-cut, red textured card-stock, kraft card blank, Poppy digi stamp and a selection of Promarkers. 

I went for a simple and clean layout.

Remember to pop over and visit our lovely design team. Leave them some positive thoughts.

Back soon with more sharing

Hugs & Happy thoughts

Buffy xx

Candy Giveaway Winners

So, the lack of entries I decided to choose the winner the good old fashioned way, pieces of paper drawn from a bag.

Due to the fact that there was no UK entry I had to make a difficult decision, but I'm happy to say the UK bundle is now 1st Prize with the World bundle as 2nd Prize and I have put together a small surprise bundle for the 3rd place Prize.

The 1st Prize winner is

Annie

(aussie aNNie)

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

The 2nd Prize winner is

Valerija

(My Joy)

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

And our 3rd Prize winner is

Wendy

(Crafty Kiwi Mama)

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉]

Congratulations ladies, you will be recieving an email very soon, please respond before friday so I can get your Prizes in the post to you saturday morning.

Spread the word - the next Candy Giveaway will take place at the end of March

Back soon with more sharing

Hugs & Happy thoughts

Buffy xx

Whoopsi Girly

Over at Fab'n'Funky Challenges we have a very feminine challenge for you

This week want want you to

 Go Girly

Our lovely sponsor this week is 

Whoopsi Daisy

Without further ado here is my inspiration creation

I decided to used this adorable little image from one of my Whoopsidaisy sheets. I think she's very sweet with her little dog. A simple card created with layer of colour and coloured using Promarkers.

A Final Reminder......only a couple of days left to grab some candy

CANDY GIVEAWAY

Just click the link to reach the giveaway post

See you soon

Hugs & Happy thoughts

Buffy xx

GREAT news Great-Nephew

So my nephew and his lovely wife had their first baby the other day, he weighed 9lb 4oz. So he's no featherweight.

Our new great-nephew, isn't he adorable. Looks just like my nephew when he was a baby. (except cuter....haha)
I have made them this card to congratulate them on their new arrival.

I have been really getting used to my new toy (scan'n'cut) and had lots of fun working out sizes to cut. But the hardest decision was on which colours to choose. Now call me old fashioned but I'm very much a "Blue for Boys" kind gal.
I added Sakura crystal gel pen to the egdes of all the light-blue cut-out pieces as well as a few colour complimenting gems.
But the insert was made with a little more love.

It is a rare day that I make the effort to get my coloured pencils out but this was so worth the effort.

I felt my Promarkers would be too harsh for an insert.
I used Spectrum Noir Coloured Pencils - 7, 38, 64, 69, 110, 114 & 118.

I have decided to emter this card into a challenge -

• Cut Card Thursday - Something New 

Another quick reminder;
My candy giveaway is still up for grabs , click HERE for more details and the Inlink
You have till Friday evening to enter.

Back soon with more sharing
Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx