From My Design Table - Leeks

Hello again,

Did you like the Story Owl?

So my next sneak peek was this

And the little clue I gave was it had something to do with my Miku mad daughter.
(Technically it originated in Bleach but we won't go into all that.....)

Starting to take shape, but in need of a couple of circular pieces.

Look Out!!

LEEKS

Yes I know, you're wondering if I have completely lost it?
Well actually that happened years ago 😂😂😂

Now Mawgan can Leek-spin to her hearts content.

Many more shares still to come...............Be back soon

Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy x

From My Design Table - Owl

Hello my lovely peeps,

For any of you who follow my Instagram you will have seen a few photos asking if you can guess what it is, did any of you guess.

It took me a while to work out all the dimensions for my little make (not that little), he had to be able to hold a variety of book sizes - but he also had to look like the animal in question.

My first sneak peek was an OWL - but more importantly a Story Owl. He will sit on your bed guarding your bedtime story book

I made him for my great-nephew and I included two books - ZOG and The Gruffalo - Yes the gruffalo, why didn't you know 😉

Sorry could not resist, I've read that book so many times.....

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/Holiday. I will be back soon with another reveal.

Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

Add a Button

Hello Lovelies,

I have used buttons for the centre of my flowers

This cute little guy

A Fab Halloween

Hello All,

We are celebrating all thing s spooky over at Fab'n'Funky Challenges. This weeks theme is:

Halloween

(so share your scare, get out you ghouls, any creepy creation)

I am Halloween mad, and get disappointed if children show up without costumes on the night, so of course invitations are a must.

Super simple, LOTV stamp inked with SU cherry cobbler and trails of cardindal red promarker, the cobweb & skull dies are from my TL Advent calendar (last year)

Please pop over and share some love with our lovely design team 

Last year I actually bought dry ice to create fog on my front lawn..........
Covered my walls in cobwebs and spiders
And did my best to scare small children 💀

I will try to remember to take some Halloween piccies  and share with you. (My next door neighbour is currently the king of scares but I shall better him one year, oh yes. 😂

Hugs & Happy Thoughts
Buffy xx

Cosplay Update

Hello again

So after a few insane weeks of sweat, tears and recutting/sewing/shaping we are actually getting close to the finish line.
Well I can just about make it out in the distance....
We have come so far............from this

Now I'm sure your thinking is that it? No, no it isn't.
It will be ready for the last minute tweaks when Mawgan gets back from Uni in just under 2wks.
(she is literally coming home for 2 nights for this cosplay)

To this...................

Hey presto, Hatsune Miku 2019 costume complete, it has been a nightmare few month getting this made but I am very pleased with how it turned out.

It is so wonderful to see her get up on stage, no agoraphobia/anxiety to be seen. Thank god for Cosplay

She didn't win a trophy this year but ya never know what the future may hold.

I filmed the whole contest and when I've had a chance to upload it to YouTube, I share the link.

Time to start thinking about next years contest, I think Graham & I will take part next time.

Hugs & Happy Thoughts

Buffy xx

  

We're all going on a Summer Holiday

Hello again,

We are currently taking our summer vacation over at Fab'n'Funky Challenges. But that doesn't mean we aren't all crafting....

To help you through the long summer break, here is a tutorial. If you are new to card making I hope you find this help, if your a seasoned crafter then I hope this brings you inspiration. It's also a great project for little hands.

Simple Masked Aperture

You will need a selection of inks, stamps, sticky notes, bone-folder & card blank.
Plus either a circular punch or die or hand-cutting.

Cut the mask out of the sticky note and place in centre of card front

(you can off-set it if you want)

Start with the lightest ink  and largest stamp first

Slowly moving through the different size stamps and inks

Deliberately used the smallest stamp for the darkest ink

Remove the mask

You have a nice clean centre

Finally add your favourite sentiment

The die-cut sentiment was my favourite for this particular project.

What about adding some glitter or pale blue gems?

Back soon

Hugs & Happy Thoughts

Buffy xx

Games Night

So had my sister-in-law and her other half and my niece round on saturday for a family games night.

It was just too irresistible, we had to get my sis-in-law to have a go at a PS4 game called Beat Saber.




It didn't help (but was funny) when my niece start shouting her mum with one of our many Nerf guns

Not sure if my sis-in-law will ever forgive us 😂😂

Back soon with more daftness
Hugs & Happy Thought
Buffy xx

p.s. Remember, Sister-in-Laws are for life not just for Christmas 😂

Pearls and Gems

Another week, another challenge.

Over at Fab'n'Funky challenges we would like you to create a project using:

Pearls/Gem

(or both)

I've created another masking-technique card. This is for a lovely lady who is retiring. It was quite difficult to decide what theme to use for her card. She loves travel, has a small interest in sewing (she's been working on a wee quilt since she was 19) and she loves flowers.

Every flower has a gem centre, because why not! The sentiment is another one of my "need to use stamp-sets, this is "FTLS-Blooming Sentiments" The flowers stamps are from Honey-Do Crafts.

Please pop over to Fab'n'Funky challenges and leave some love for our lovely design team

Back soon with more sharing

Hugs & Happy Thoughts
Buffy xx

Sunny Summer

Hello again,

We are thinking summery thoughts over at Fab'n'Funky challenges.
Well you they say, cover up and seek shade, so I have masked up and multi toned for our lovely

"Sunny Summer"

I'm very much a flowery girl at heart

For this card I first stamped the sentiment, then created a mask with a sticky-note. Once the sentiment was masked I stamped the darkest coloured flowers (Plum), then the dark pink, and final the light pink. A few well placed leaves/foliage in two shades of green.

The sentiment - LOTV

Flowers - Cardio

I'm quite pleased because as I finished the card I noticed  my purple Campanula were flowering.

My fellow design team have some stunning cards to inspire you, so please pop over and leave them some sunny thoughts.

I'm still working on that beer mat bathrobe, but I'm hoping to share it with you the weekend after this one.

Back with more sharing soon

Hugs & Happy Thoughts

Buffy xx

May your day be Furry and Bright

Hello again,

So this week over at Fab'n'Funky challenges we are thinking about

CHRISTMAS

Yeah yeah, it's only June

June?!?! Already?!?

Where has the year gone?

Yes we would love to see your christmassy creations.
I am pleased to say this challenge has meant I have another stamp-set that has now been christened. I know I know, hanging my head in shame for the quantity of "For the Love of Stamps" stamp-sets waiting to be loved. But I reckon over the next month we can turn that around

But back to the important part..........Sharing

This is "Furry and Bright" set, the whole set is adorable but \I thought |I would just start with the deer and save the other cuddly creatures for another card. I used the masking technique to create the border (Cardio Majestic - Festive Fir Cones)

Our lovely design team always enjoy your creations and your feedback, so pop over and give them some love. Don't forget to enter.

Hugs & Happy Thoughts
Buffy xx

Saving a friend in need

Well now, how many times have you accepted a job from someone you work with and then wonder what the heck you were thinking?

My lovely friend from work was asked if she could make a bathrobe out of Beer Mats. Yeah, beer mats! You know what's even worse than beer mats? A bag full of beer mats (40 of the blooming things) and only a few are the exact same size..........Yeah you heard me, beer mats are not a standard size...who knew!!

Yes, I agreed to help her create it, and why?
Because I'm slightly more insane than she is 😂

This is a small sample of all the mats. The 5 mats in the middle will make up the main back section.
As for the rest, I'm still deciding what should go where.

The chap who these belong to has been collecting them for years, and I am really trying to work out how to put it together whilst doing as little damage to them as possible.

Aaaw the joys of being nutty 😁

On the plus side my friend and I had a lovely morning chatting and creating together.

So as well as my daughters cosplay costume, I will be making a bathrobe.
But you will definitely get to see the robe before the tutu.

More sharing to follow shortly

Hugs & Happy Thoughts
Buffy xx

Cosplay can change

Hello again,
For those of you who have followed my blog for a while now you will know my youngest daughter is a fan of cosplay (costume role-play) and that I help create her costumes.
This year she had decided to go as Aloy from the game Horizon Zero Dawn

Then she saw the new outfit for Miku. Oh Boy!
On a positive note I have managed to find a detailed sketch of the outfit

On the downside we are talking about a low-backed ballerinas tutu.

I so need my head examining.

BUT I have now promised to make it so watch this space........

Something New

So we are looking at all things "NEW" this week at

Fab'n'Funky Challenges 

So we would like to see your creation involving something 

NEW

It could be: a new baby, new job, new house 

OR

Maybe you have some new crafting stuff (stamps/ribbon/lace/etc)

I'm slightly embarrassed to say I have several NEW stamps (New as in, I bought them a few month back and completely forgot where I put them so they have never been used 😏

Well, no one is perfect.

So, here is my first NEW stamp set, it is For the Love of Stamps "Best Day Ever"

I love the simplicity of this stamp set. I chose neutral colours and enhanced it with a little opalescence on the cake board and the pearls at the base of each layer. The tiny flowers I coloured  Sun-kissed Pink and the leaves are Apple Cider. If you look closely I have also created a thin boarder around the cake using a opalescent pen.

I will definitely be using this set again.

Hugs & Happy Thoughts

Buffy xx

Sharing is Caring And a challenge

So I was look through my blog when I realised that one of the things I love to do isn't very well represented on here.

Sewing

I love to sew and yet I haven't shared this with all of you. So you may have noticed a new tab at the top of my page.

I'm going to try and be a bit braver and share my sewing triumphs and tragedies. If fact let's start with a minor mistake I made this morning.

This is my first attempt at creating a box bag, but I think I got my dimensions a little wrong. AND I forgot to put the handles on before I sewed the top to the bottom. But it isn't a complete disaster and that is the important thing.

I'm going to finish it off with a thermal liner and then work out how to attach the handles. It will make a good little lunch bag for work.

I think I will try to make another one, but this time I will double check all my measurements. Probably try to make one that will fit 2 small takeaway tubs. (I like to reuse them for leftover, save the planet one tub at a time).

I will be updating the Sewing tab on a regular basis from now on. 

In fact I will update all my tabs as and when I have new stuff to share.

But now let's talk card-making, so Colour Throwdown have a lovely colour challenge on that I thought I would enter.

I like these colours, their gentle and natural. I had a stamp set I hadn't used and figured this was the perfect opportunity to use it.

Please excuse the photo the flash wasn't working. This is "Scent with Love" stamp set from Hunkdory. I have used the beige colour on the wreath wood, with apple cider green leaves. I have put liquid crystal drops on the berries of the wreath

I have felt so much better since I have made more time for crafting hobbies again. Wish I could spend more time sewing, crocheting and card-making but hopefully one day soon.

Hugs & Happy Thoughts

Buffy xx

Oh Baubles to it

Back again

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

"Christmas"

So trees, pressies, baubles or Santa. Whatever makes Christmas for you.

I have had this fabulous bauble stamps set for a few months but not gotten round to using it.

I can honestly say I wished I'd used it sooner, it has so many possibilities. I have gone for a cool frosting toned theme.

I'm slightly disappointed with my photo as it is a little dark, and you can't really see the glitter gel I used on them.

Visit our lovely design team and leave them some good vibes. Fab'n'Funky

There is something so soothing  about sitting down to colour in something you've just stamped.

This is my first self-check, "Take the time to create something"

Think about how it makes you feel when you finish a card, the satisfaction of seeing your finished card and knowing the happiness it will bring someone.

Back soon
Hugs & Happy Thoughts
Buffy xx

Bring Me to Life

Hello

Sorry for not being around for a while. But I have been trying to fix Me. A dear friend has suggested I talk about the things that make me happy, those things that I love to do. But to use those things and the feelings they instil to share my experience and to help me heal myself.
But if in some small way it can help others then all the better.

Over the next few weeks I will talk about how life has been going, what I've learnt, how I've felt about my fear and anxiety. These are things my generation was taught not to talk about. So it is very hard for us, we are just learning to let it out.

So if you will bare with me. We will soon discuss

Life, the Universe & Everything

(Apparently the answer isn't 42 -

Hitchhikers Guide Lied to Us 😉)

Hugs & Happy thoughts 

Buffy x

Failing at Life

I have always hated those blogs where people whine about their life and how it is rubbish.

But I think I'm starting to understand them.

My life isn't rubbish, in fact compared to a lot of people you could say my life is good.

If you walked in to my department at work you would see a smiling, laughing woman who would happily get up to greet you and give you a helping hand.

If you walked into my home it would be a similar picture.

Here in Blog-land, I thoroughly enjoy sharing ideas and designs and encouraging others.

Where I am most successful in my life is at the smiling part.

Not always, I can do a grumpy face when it is absolutely necessary. (When I've caught my leg on someones desk drawer for the umpteenth time because the haven't closed it properly or I asked someone to put the kettle on and they didn't bother -  Grumpy situation.)

But the truth is that recently all I want to do is cry or scream. And that's not who I am.

It feels like everything is spinning out of control. The problem is I'm not sure I explain it.

Maybe it's like sitting in a pool of stagnating water, with a head crammed with ideas and designs and thoughts. But you can't move. You desperately try but the sliminess of the water holds you in place and when you reach out for help the shadows turn and move away. Hmm maybe to dark.

Something more 2019, this might be better description, lets say it's like an annual appraisal and after:

You look around and see chaos setting in, so you explain the situation and request some changes to assist with a bit of reorganisation, but instead of assistance you only get negative feedback.
So you desperately plod on, trying different tactics and methods, hoping you can fix the problems. You occasionally ask others for a bit of help but get nowhere. So they person stops asking for help. All the time you are still slowly getting deeper into chaos. This situation persists until finally the boss fires you for unproductive work ethics.

Sorry for the whole appraisal referencing thingy, it's the next section we have to cover in my HR course.

But that's the other thing isn't it, how the hell can you become an effective HR person when you can't Win at life yourself.

We did a mental Health coffee morning at work the other month, where we all had to make a pledge, initially I pledged to smile more. Someone spotted read my pledge and said "but you are always smiling, I don't think you can smile more". Not a negative comment really, but if you are the person who is expected to smile and be happy so that everyone else feels happier. What do you do?

So I made a new pledge, "To do the things I love more" and it was at this moment ladies and gentlemen that I started to truly feel like I was failing at life. It was at this moment when every tiny thing became HUGE.

Example:

My craft room (well 3/4 of it)

CHAOS

I have 95% of all my crafty-stash organised in baskets/drawers/shelving but unfortunately it's not right. I know a messy craft room is not the end of the world, but it can seem like one of the tipping points.

A craft room shouldn't be perfect but it should be happy.

I have bought a magnetic whiteboard, so I wouldn't be sticking stuff to my shelves and I'd have somewhere to scribble new ideas.
I was told:

  "well there's one screw already here so you only need one more" 

 But if I put another screw in the wall at the same height I basically won't be able to reach a large portion of the board.(I'm horizontally challenged - I just clear 5ft)


I love crafting cards/sewing projects/crochet items and sharing it all with everyone.
I love helping others to feel better when they are feeling low.
I'm proud of what the company I work for does to keep people safe.
And I love my family and being there for them.

But I guess there is a small part of me that hates it all right now. And that's wrong.

How do you get the stream flowing so the pond clears?
How do you talk to people who don't want to hear?

Sorry for the miserable whinging session.
I hope the photo of my craft room has cheered some of you up, bet you're glad yours isn't that bad. Or inspired you to think big.

Hugs & Happy thoughts to you all
Buffy xx

Butterfly Flutterby

Firstly an apology, the other week I wrote my blog and thought I had hit publish, but alas no I must have only hit save.

We are preparing for spring over at Fab'n'Funky, so what do we want to see:

Butterflies

(You can use one or several, but make them the focus of your project)

I used white card for the die-cut butterfly, then coloured it in using promarkers and finished it off with some ultrafine cameleon glitter.

Pop over and view the lovely examples our fabulous DT have created for your inspiration. But don't forget to share some cheering thoughts.

Back soon

Hugs & Happy thoughts

Buffy xx

Say it with Numbers

What a very busy weekend, so many birthday cards to make, so many arrangements to book.....ooo shattered.

But lets get to the important business, we are having a play with numbers over at

Fab'n'Fumky Challenges 

With a Number

(yes we want to see you work those numbers)

I have had so many number cards to prepare this week.....aaaaaaarrrrgh. 30th, 40th, 25th and 50th

Who gave these people permission to do this????😂

It took be a while to decide which one I wanted to share with you, then I realised a couple of card still haven't been handed to the birthday people just yet....So

 This card is actually for my son, yes son. He loves foxes and I had this lovely stamp set from Hunkydory "For the love of stamps" collection. I like these type of stamps because it give me the opportunity to create a scene and colour it in my own unique way.
( I was quite tame this time)

Please pop over to Fab'n'Funky Challenges and leave our lovely team some positive vibes

Back soon with more sharing

Hugs & Happy thoughts
Buffy xx

For a Child

Hello and Happy New Year

New challenges? New you? New........ Well I'll let you fill the blank.

Over a Fab'n'Funky challenges we have a New just for fun challenge for you. So this week we want you to create

"For a Child" 

That's right, we are thinking about the kids, so come along and show us your creations.

Without further ado here is my little creation

A young man I know is mad about football and his team have an interesting colour pallette.

The little die-cut footballs are from my TL advent calendar 2017 (I didn't manage to find one for this year). 

Please pop over and give our lovely design team some positive vibes.

Back soon with more showing and sharing

Hugs & Happy thoughts

Buffy xx