That was 2010!!

As promised I'm back with my choice of favourite cards from 2010. This was such a difficult choice!! When I looked back at the beginning of the year there wasn't much I liked now LOL and then towards the end of the year I was spoilt for choice and couldn't decide!!

JANUARY

I still LOVE this card that I made for the Simon Says Stamp DT call! In fact I have it on display in my porch!

FEBRUARY

Again I still LOVE this altered mirror for a challenge run by one of my local craft shops, Running with Scissors, and it is on display in my dining room!

MARCH

I found it hard to part with this one as I just loved the colours and my buttons!

APRIL

I intended to add this card to the top of a box of memorabilia but I haven't done that yet LOL!

MAY

This card is on display above my craft desk as I can't bare to part with it!

JUNE

I'm still holding on to this one too as I just love the colour scheme and embossed flowers!

JULY

This card was made for my guest designer spot at Lovely hAnglar only challenge and I love the pink girly look of it!

AUGUST

I just loved how country looking this turned out and was rather chuffed with the flower I made too!

SEPTEMBER

September was a hard choice but I finally settled on this slider pop up card with an older Tilda and the gorgeous Eiffel Tower that I finally bought after lots of drooling LOL!

OCTOBER

I was really pleased with this card I made for The Hobby House and found it hard to part with!!

NOVEMBER

I think Ben and Nora are my favourite release from Whiff of Joy this year, they're so cute and I loved how this one turned out when I masked all the images together for a party!! It took me forever to colour but it was definitely worth it!

DECEMBER

I knew this was my favourite card for December without even looking through my posts!! I loved the colours on this card and the gorgeous butterfly Christmas tree! Another one I didn't want to part with LOL!

Hope you've enjoyed looking back through my crafting year with me! Some of you are already partying I know as it has already turned 2011 in some countries!! I'd like to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I hope 2011 brings you all happy times and all that you wish for! x

Just Magnolia DT - Anything Goes!

It's out with the old and in with the new this week at Just Magnolia as we are changing to Just Magnolia and hAnglar & sTanglar challenge from this week's challenge!!! I've chosen Tilda this week as you can see but a lot of the design team have inked up their hAnglars!! So, if you have any hAnglars you now have an extra excuse to use them (if you needed one LOL). It is our Anything Goes challenge this week too. I've decorated a gift card holder.

I stamped part of the winter forest stamp twice so that I could cut out the separate branch layers for a bit more interest. The snow covered tips have been given a touch of stickles too.

I used this gorgeous mini Tilda from the autumn kit, coloured with copics. I've added some stickles to her coat and hat trims too.

The back of the gift card holder was decorated with the same papers and a tag cut with the Magnolia Doo Hickey tag die.

I decorated the top of the pull out gift card section with a strip of matching paper too so that just the gift card was still visible.

Hope you like it and I've inspired you to join us this week at Just Magnolia and hAnglar & sTanglar challenge!! I'll be back later with my favourite cards from the year but in case you can't come back I'd just like to wish you a Happy New Year!! x

The final tag!!!

Well, at last I have my final tag to share with you (thank goodness I hear you cry LOL!). This one is more or less faithful to Tim's tag idea but with handmade things! I inked the tag with bundled sage and peeled paint distress inks before stamping a script stamp with bundled sage idstress ink too. The edge was inked with walnut stain. I stamped a Stempelglede grunge splatter stamp around the edge with some white emulsion paint as I don't have any acrylics!

I stamped the script stamp onto some red cardstock before cutting out a bird by hand. I also drew the branches with a black marker pen. The nest is some leaf ribbon from my stash.

The text stamp is from Stempelglede, stamped with vintage photo distress ink which I've also used to age the cardstock it is stamped on.

Again I made my own tissue tape by stamping the text stamp onto some masking tape, although I was too impatient and didn't let it dry thoroughly so it is all a bit smudged (aka distressed LOL). The centre is a spacer and a silver brad. I also added some gold tinsel fibres from my stash.

Hope you like it and thanks for looking! x

Simon Says Stamps Challenge DT - Party!

Well, I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas!! We certainly did! Our children were overwhelmed with their presents and fell asleep exhausted from all the playing on Christmas night LOL! As it is that time of year when there are parties left, right and centre (if you're lucky - personally I haven't been to a single party! - that's being a SAHM for you LOL!) our challenge this week at Simon Says Stamps challenge is Party!! The DT are showcasing glimmer mists and glitter this week so if you have some we'd love to see it!! We have once again been given the most fabulous prize from our lovely boss Heidi of a $50 spending spree in the Simon Says Stamp store for the lucky winner!!!

I have my lovely hubby to thank for my creation today!! I was sat at my craft desk umming and ahhing about what to make for the challenge when he plopped a bottle of Prosecco on my desk and said "decorate that, people drink at parties!!" LOL! Of course the rest of the ideas are mine :). Bubbling Tilda came to mind straight away!!! - bubbly! - OK so Prosecco isn't champagne strictly speaking but it is certainly bubbly!! I cut out several plain and scalloped ovals with my nesties to create the shape of the bottle tag. The paper is from Basic Grey's Cappella paper pad.


I have coloured Tilda with copics and added stickles to her wings and the bubbles and sprayed the entire image with pearl glimmer mist.


The swirl is a Magnolia Doo Hickey swirl and the bubbles were cut from acetate with circle nesties, sponged on the edge with white stazon and smothered in stickles.



The word "bubbly" was cut from white coredinations cardstock using Tim Holtz' vintage market die, inked on the edges with walnut stain distress ink, and the dots are gold liquid pearls. The chiffon bow was made with ribbon from my stash. No fancy angled shot today - bit difficult with a bottle LOL! Hope I've inspired you to join us this week! Pop over to the challenge blog to see the rest of the teams' gorgeous creations! Thanks for looking! x

Another tag!

Not many more tags to show I promise LOL!!! This one was inspired by one of Tim's tags but is completely different to it LOL! I have used another gorgeous Stempelglede stamp of two little girls decorating a Christmas Tree.

I created the background of the tag with bundled sage and peeled paint distress ink and then stamped the larges Vintage Holly stamp from Stempelglede around the edges with peeled paint. The red and gold woven ribbon was a recycled ribbon from my Mum, I think it was on some flowers she received last Christmas!

I created some baubles with a selection of beads from my stash. I have no idea where the star bead came from but it adds great variety I think!

Very extravagant this tag - I added two metal corners from Tim Holtz!!!!! The sentiment is the bit inspired by one of Tim's tags except mine was written with a white gel pen onto black cardstock and Tim's was done on a tick a tape machine! As you can see I've attached them with staples.

Hope you like it and thanks for looking! x

Another Stempelglede tag

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas!!!! This is a scheduled post so please excuse the absence of any details of my Christmas festivities LOL!! I'm hoping I will have had a wonderful time though!

I didn't get chance to show all of my tags before Christmas day so I would like to show the rest this week! (Hope you're not getting bored of them LOL!). This is another one of my own design using a gorgeous Stempelglede Vintage Christmas stamp! I created the background for this tag with antique linen and vintage photo distress inks and gold cosmic shimmer. I have then stamped Tim's pinecone branch stamp around the edge with vintage photo. I distressed the edges of the tag and inked with walnut stain distress ink.

The gorgeous rosette ribbon is by Tim Holta, you can't quite tell on the photo but I sprayed it with pearl glimmer mist and I've attached it with a stapler.

I added part of a Prima swirl to the top of the tag together with some white and silver glitter ribbon from my stash.

Hope you like it and thanks for looking! x

Altered Matchbox Gift

Yippee!!! Christmas Eve!!! I love Christmas Eve don't you??? I love all the yummy smells in the kitchen from all the preparations for Christmas dinner and wrapping all the presents after the children have gone to sleep before arranging them downstairs for that big WOW moment in the morning!!! I can't wait to see their faces tomorrow, especially my little girl, we have got her the most gorgeous wendy house which we will have up ready for when she enters the sitting room!
As it is Christmas Eve I wanted to share a very special project with you all that I made at the beginning of December. My lovely Simon Says Stamp team mates and I exchanged decorated match boxes in pairs as a Christmas gift and this is the one I made. As you can see it is very Tim Holtz inspired!! I created the paper myself by swiping different distress inks onto a non stick craft sheet and spraying with pearl glimmer mist before blotting the paper onto it. I then stamped Magnolia snowflakes over the top with faded jeans distress ink. It is very shimmery in real life!


I followed Tim's tutorial for making grunge roses from last year's twelve tags and was really pleased how they turned out. I've made one before and it didn't quite work and then I realised I'd been doing the centre petals incorrectly LOL!! These are made from grungeboard coloured with distress inks and gold cosmic shimmer. I've also added some rock candy stickles to them, they look so frosty! The holly leaves are also cut from grungeboard with a sizzix die.


I photocopied a carol from one of my music books called "Lo how a rose" (to tie in with the roses!) and tore it into strips and inked with antique linen distress ink.


Underneath the music paper is a row of snowflakes cut with Tim's snowflake on the edge die from white felt. I added stickles to it for a frosty look and a gemstone to the centre of the largest snowflake.

I inked the edges of the matchbox drawer with walnut stain distress ink before covering it with a piece of lace. The handle is made from a spacer and a pearl brad, both from The Hobby House.

I lined the matchbox drawer with the rest of my photocopied music paper strips! Hope you like it and thank you so much for taking time out of your Christmas Eve to look at it!!

XXX MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!! XXX

Merry Christmas from the Whiff of Joy family!!!

The Whiff of Joy team have recorded holiday wishes to you all and these have been expertly edited by Katharina!!! Merry Christmas everyone!!! Click on the link below to view our holiday greetings! x

A tag with a twist!

I have been having so much fun creating all the tags I've been showing this week! After creating my favourite ones from Tim's twelve tags I decided to branch out and design some of my own!! I'm really pleased how this one turned out!

I have used one of the gorgeous photo stamps from the Stempelglede Vintage Christmas collection. I inked the edge of the "photo" with walnut stain distress ink and added a feather and a Prima flower sprayed with glimmer mist. The pearl on the top is from The Hobby House. I added some white ribbon and some silver glitter ribbon from my stash to the top of the tag.

The gorgeous elasticated ribbon along the bottom is by Tim Holtz, it is white and you simply spray with water to customise it with distress ink pads!! I shall definitely be buying some more of this it is brilliant for ensuring everything matches! I coloured it on this occasion with weathered wood distress ink. I attached it to the tag with some gem brads from the Hobby House.

Hope you like it and thanks for looking! x

My favourite Tim Holtz tag!

Well today's tag is very appropriate as we have had more snow overnight - luckilly not too much so it is looking pretty but not too dangerous! This was my favourite of Tim's twelve tags this year so I had to have a go at it! I just love how cool and frosty the snowman looks under that layer of acetate!

I don't have the Tim Holtz snowman die so I cut my own from cardstock. The holly is from the Magnolia autumn kit, coloured with copics. The rest of the pieces were coloured with distress inks. The sentiment is from one of my Stempelglede collections, stamped with black soot distress ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I embossed the acetate with Tim Holtz snowflake embossing folder.

I recreated the "wonderful" tag that Tim used with a piece of cardstock, a gold pen and some glossy accents and attached it with a paper clip.

Hope you like it and thanks for looking! The children are baking gingerbread biscuits while I make mince pies this morning so it is going to be smelling soooo Christmassy in our house today! We're also collecting our Turkey this afternoon so we'll be almost ready by the end of the day! Hope everyone's preparations are coming along too! x