First card made with my prize!

Hello, well it's a cold and very frosty day here. But it's so pretty to look out across the fields to see it all sparkly white.  There's mist hanging in the valley which the sun is reflecting off. I could spend ages just looking but I best get on with some work. I've an article that needs to be written, cards to start and some to finish.

Anyway I thought I'd share this with you. It's made with some of the Dawn Bibby Flower Patch kit that I won from the Create & Craft competition.  The fairy is a Loralie Designs topper from Kanban, that I've had for ages. I've been wanting to use her but never found anything quite right to go with it until I received my DB kit. The colours matched perfectly and I thought she looked fab as if she's coming out to greet you from under that arch!

Hope you like it. I will be sharing my desk with you all again tomorrow for WOYWW, though I have to confess the project that was on my desk last week, the one with the image hidden will not be on here for a few weeks yet as it's a DT project for a challenge in the weeks to come, so you'll just have to keep popping by to see it! Yeah I know, I'm teasing you all.

Take care Zo x

WOYWW 138

It's Wednesday and that means I get to have a chance of being very nosey as I have a peek into your worlds and see what's on your desk. Of course none of us would have been able to be so nosey if it weren't for Julia over at The Stamping Ground who hosts this wonderful walk about weekly.

So here's my desk today,

The starting of a new project, just printed out the bits and bobs I wanted, the stamped image is hidden from you as I don't want to share it just yet! lol The bags of buttons are recent finds in my local haberdashery, they had a big basket full of bags of buttons, all colours etc. So I bought these 3 as I thought the colours would work with many a make.

I will confess I am a tidy(ish) crafter and tend to tidy away each night apart from anything drying etc.

Right I will be peeking at your desks during the day and will try and leave a few comments. I do look at each and every one even if I don't say anything.

Take care and enjoy the day. Zo x

Some more Red, white & blue!

Ok I admit it, I got carried away with these papers & colouring my stamps to match. I enjoyed a spot of paper piecing too. Can you believe I'm posting 2 days on the trot?!

Right here we go 2 more Strawberry Kisses cards, coloured with Spectrum Noirs.

I just love this one with the cute bag & Snow peering over the top. Thought the paper piecing worked really well so I thought I'd try it again with the next card.

You'll see I'm using buttons a lot at the mo, my local haberdashery had a basket with lots of bags full of different coloured buttons. I couldn't resist so picked up quite a few bags with lots of colour schemes!

I'm so enjoying playing with the Strawberry Kisses stamps, they work so well with any colour scheme & papers. I'll probably be working through my favourite papers using these stamps.

Right must get on, I'm going out for lunch today with my fab friend Debs, we're making the most of a voucher I've got which entitles us to a cheaper lunch in our local farm shop restaurant. Yum!

Take care Zo x

Crafty Boots Song Title Challenge

Hello everyone on this Monday morning. Hope you are all well?

Well it's that time again when Crafty Boots launches its next challenge. This time the theme is Song Title - so basically you choose a song title and make a project to fit what you have chosen.

I will confess I made my project as a Christmas present for my good friend. Debs loves fashion and writing, you can check out her blog here, she may not be a crafter (yet!) but you'll find her words inspiring and her blog is a real insight in the mind of a writer.

However when I found out what the theme was I just knew I wanted to share this project with you all, and set about finding the right Song Title for it. I came up with 'Handbags and Gladrags' by Stereophonics. I thought it fitted perfectly with not only my creation, but also with its recipient!

It is on a boxed canvas but the project is made entirely with paper & card stock. I distressed some neutral toned core-dinations card and stuck onto the canvas. Then I cut the A4 card covered with writing/postcards into a random shape and distressed it with vintage photo and walnut stain inks. The two lady images are cut from Graphic 45 paper which had the ladies on one side and the writing on the other, I used the other side to die cut to make the rose and leaves and also the small lacy square. A couple of hat pins, a bow and a few splodges of  water here and there completed the look!

Now you beady eyed crafter's who are viewers of  a certain crafty channel  may recognise this design. I entered it into the Dawn Bibby competition to win her Flower Patch collection. All you had to do was email pictures of your favourite paper craft project. This is one of my favourite makes of recent times. I never imagined Dawn would pick my entry - so was thrilled when I found out, plus seeing it on TV and hearing Dawn say it was one of her favourites certainly made my day!

Right the postman has just delivered my prize (I'm typing this Friday morning & scheduling the post!) so I'm off to play.

I look forward to seeing all of your Song Title entries, it'll be fun to see what you come up with!
Take care Zo x

An award & a Happy Gashead

Well what an afternoon! My boys (Bristol Rovers) only went a beat Cheltenham Town 2-0 away from home, a result that not only gives our new Manager, Mark McGhee a winning start but ends Cheltenham's amazing unbeaten run to an end.

And then I come on here and find that Helen over at Beeskneescrafts has awarded me the Liebster award!

I am thrilled to bits to accept this:

The idea of the Liebster Blog Award is to spread the love from one small blog (under 200 followers) to other small blogs. This helps to spread knowledge and readership. 

"Liebster" in German means "dearest", so as part of the Liebster award tradition, I am going to pass this award to 5 blogs that I value, and that have both inspired and motivated me.

To accept the award, you must:

1) Link back to the person who gave it and thank them for thinking of you.
2) Post the award to your blog.
3) Give the award to 5 bloggers (with less than 200 followers) that you appreciate and value.
4) Leave a comment on the blogs of the five people you have chosen to let them know.


So thank you so much Helen, I really appreciate your kind gesture.


Right 5 blogs, this is a hard decision as I follow so many amazing blogs & people. 


1) Has to be for my good friend, Debs. Deb's Pen Pot is a fairly new blog, that is all about creativity. While Deb doesn't paper craft too much, she does craft away with words which never fails to inspire me. So Debs this is for you me lovely!


2) My second goes to Amy over at http://craftythinker.blogspot.com Amy's creations with punches and stamps always inspires me & Amy is one of my Twitter/Crafty Boots friends that I've been lucky enough to meet. 


3) Thirdly my award is for Stephanie-Emma over at http://stephanie-emma.blogspot.com. Another Twitter/Crafty Boots friend. She's a lady that was brave enough to have faith in my creative talents!


4) My fourth goes to Elizabeth over at http://silverscrappers.blogspot.com I met Elizabeth through craft else where, and she never fails to say kind words to me, and her creations are so lovely. I also enjoy having a nose at her desk and pictures which she shares.


5) My fifth goes to Emma over at http://stickydots.blogspot.com Emma's work is truly inspirational.  I can't believe this lovely lady hasn't got far more followers as her work deserves to be seen by everyone.


So there I've made my choices but to be fair there are so many more I could've chosen if I was able to have more than 5!
Take care.
Zo x

I've been playing.

Like many of us, I love the stamp ranges from Crafter's Companion - and I could not resist the brand new Strawberry Kisses range. While storing them into my file I spent a while looking through my collection. I'd just got my hands on some of the Papermania Portobello Road papers and decided the stamps would look lovely with these papers.

So here's 2 cards I've made for no reason other than to play!

 This first one is the 'After the rain' SWALK stamp, I thought it worked well with the British theme, after we're known for our rain! I coloured the image with Spectrum Noirs, and added Glossy accents for rain drops.

The second is also coloured with my Speccies, I'm really pleased with the colouring on the trainer, and feel like I'm really getting somewhere with my colouring.  I also got to play with my Bakers Twine. The colours worked beautifully as do the buttons - well I think so!  I finally bought myself a white Sakura pen, why have I not purchased one before? It's perfect for adding the stitch details.

Anyway I'm off to play some more, so I think these papers may be used for a few cards, funny how we find a them we like and then go mad with it!

Take care and I hope you enjoy the weekend.
Zo xx

WOYWW - no 2 for me!

Good morning, well it's a wonderful Wednesday. Later today Bristol Rovers will announce their new manager, so I am very excited about the possibility of a new experienced man leading my beloved club forwards.  Yesterday, I found out that I was one of the lucky ten to be chosen by Dawn Bibby to win her new Flower Patch kit from Create & Craft. It was announced during her show.  My entry is actually my next Crafty Boots DT project so be sure to come back and have a peek when I share it with you all next week!

Right onto today, as I said last week I wanted to join in with What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday more often.  I love this idea & enjoy having a peek at everyone's desk's, though I will try to make a bigger effort to leave you some comments as well as being nosey!

So here's my desk today;

I've been playing with the new Strawberry Kisses range from Crafter's Companion, I love their stamping companions so have been printing and stamping like mad. I also thought I'd use some of their stamps with the Portobello Road papers from Papermania.

Last week I showed you my Soccer Tilda stamp that I coloured with the Bristol Rovers colours, well here's the card I made with it.

I used my new Spellbinders dies for the lacy squares, the base card is Centura Pearl, I kept it simple. I will be sending this card to one of my female footy friend's later this year!

Right I'm off to make a coffee I will be back later to have a nose around your desks!
Take care Zo xx

WOYWW - my first time!

Hello, well it's Wednesday and that means it's What's on your Work-desk Wednesday over at Stamping Ground  I've been following this for a few months but have never joined in, but today is different, I'm joining in! So here's my desk this morning.

Okay, so the purple box holds all of my stamp leaflets, you know the little sheets that come with stamps showing what they are, especially stamps from Crafter's Companion, so I keep them in there for easy reach. I often flick through for inspiration and it saves me getting my stamp folders out. Then at the back is my latest card and envelope I made using my Pirate Tilda stamp. The orange box is an old washing tablet box which I use to store my pro/flexmarkers/copics. I've a number of boxes all for different colours.  I make a key on the front!  You can see my Ottlite - an invaluable item this time of year! At the front is my latest coloured image, Soccer Tilda, that I had for Christmas and as it was my first use I had to colour her in the Bristol Rovers colours!  My large Tonic Guillotine is always on my desk as is my non stick craft mat and my large steel ruler.

Here's a closer look at the card/image.

Well I hope you liked having a nose at my desk today, I will try to join in at least a couple of times a month from now on!

Take care Zo x

The day we met....

John Barnes and Kevin Keegan!

As you all know, I'm a big football fan and for me, the magic of the FA Cup never fails to surprise or excite. This year it was no different. Having succeeded through the early rounds my boys (Bristol Rovers) were handed a 3rd round draw against Premier League Aston Villa at home. As soon as tickets were available I got ours.

This match was going to be the first time I'd get to share such an occasion with my lad, Keagan.  We set off early and arrived at the ground 2 and half hours before kick off. We have a fab supporters club where we meet up with friend's and have a drink and food before going round to take our seats.

Yesterday, we went round to our seats a little earlier than normal as Keagan wanted to watch Aston Villa warm up, which they did right in front of us, so that he could spot the likes of Emile Heskey, Darren Bent and Stephen Ireland. However, what we saw when we got to our end was a huge surprise which caused great excitement.  ESPN tv were covering the match and had set up their outside studio right in the corner, just in front of us. It was fascinating watching how they prepared, filmed and produced from an outdoor studio. Presenting was Ray Stubbs and the 2 pundits were none other than John Barnes and Kevin Keegan.

 These 2 pics show Keagan (bottom left in grey coat/white hat) stood watching the preparations. Because we went round early he could stand there and watch. Once it got busy it was difficult to do so.

 Ray Stubbs, John Barnes and Kevin Keegan.

The FA Cup! The nearest we'll ever get to it I think!

In between prep and filming we asked John Barnes and Kevin Keegan for their autographs. They were both lovely, I introduced my Keagan to Kevin, saying " Kevin, meet Keagan!" He laughed and I explained that my Keagan was indeed partly named after him. He had a chat with Keagan and shook his hand. John Barnes was a character and teased me that I couldn't possibly of seen him play as I wasn't old enough, surely? Ha ha, of course, I am old enough and saw him play throughout my childhood. I told him I even saw Ian Rush come on for Liverpool against Rovers. Barnes said to me I must've been a little girl then. He also told me off for getting him to come over as that meant getting his shoes dirty! Nice bit of banter from Barnes.

Our programme signed by them both. I actually already have Kevin Keegan's autograph as I met him when I was a teen and he managed Newcastle.  Rovers were in the old Div 2 then(Championship now) and we played them, so that's 2 programmes I have with his signature!

But for me, being able to introduce my Keagan to Kevin Keegan was what made the night.

As for the game, well we lost 1-3, but we did ourselves proud. After all, the gulf between league 2 and the premier league is huge these days. Funnily enough, Villa recently beat Chelsea by the same score and during the game the Villa fans were singing at us " Are you Chelsea in disguise?" I'll take that as a compliment, well being compared to Chelsea is no insult, is it?!

Take care Zo x

Hello 2012

Happy New Year everyone - well I hope you all enjoyed your celebrations whatever they were. Things were very quiet here, I've not been so good, been in bed ill and generally not good with my conditions this last week so was tucked up in bed long before midnight.  I didn't see 2012 until 10.40 this morning, and to be fair I wasn't impressed with the grey, damp, dreary day!

I do hope that 2012 is an inspirational year for us all, that it sees us all crafting and creating. But also happy and healthy. There's much to look forward to, what with the Olympics, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and, for us football fans, Euro 2012.

Right so I thought New Year, let's put a new profile pic on the blog, so here it is;

This is me and my lad, Keagan (he's 13). This was taken at the end of September 2011 on my mum's 60th.  Some of you who follow me on Twitter or FB will have seen this one, but it's probably my favourite one of us two for the year.

Take care Zo x