Custom made...

I get asked to make lots of cards but this one was quite special! A very dear friend of mine asked me to make her husband a valentines card from the invitation of their wedding! I love a challenge! It turned out so nice and I reduced her to tears when I gave it to her! It's an amazing feeling knowing your card can make someone express such emotion. That is why I love making cards!

Rekindling my love of sewing...

As some of you may know I studied fashion at college (BTEC National Diploma in Fashion and Design) and I loved it! It's actually how I got into crafting. Part of the course was putting together a portfolio. This involved a lot of layering and having a good eye for how to place items on a page, so a lot like card making. This is where my love of card making and paper crafting began. But I also loved sewing! I made skirts, men's jackets, corsets, trousers, t-shirts and a lot of other items too. A lot of these had embellishments on them which where made by me also.

I have recently discovered a new shop in my town called Button Up and Stitch. It's a beautiful fabric and haberdashery shop full of amazing fabrics and run by some really lovely ladies! They also run all sorts of sewing classes, which I hope to take part in in the future!

I brought some fantastically priced fabrics and felt and a few hair pins. I found a great video on you tube on how to make a fabric flower by www.allfreesewing.com and these are my first results! I added a hair clip to the back with some felt and they look amazing and it was so easy! Now I find myself scanning the Internet for more sewing projects! So watch this space!

Introducing Woolly Mammouth!

Woolly Mammoth is a subscription craft pack designed for grown-ups and children to do TOGETHER. It arrives in the post and off you go!

•No forward planning
•No need to think up ideas
•Takes about 20 minutes
•Ages 3-7 years

How Does it work?

The woolly mammoth pack arrives through your letterbox twice a month containing an imaginative make-and-do craft kit, photo suggestions, and either a story, song, quiz or game linked to that week's theme.

Why Woolly Mammoth?

Two years ago, I sat down with my three year old son and spent some time creating a masterpiece, no doubt from an old cereal box. At the end he held her face in his hands ad said "Mummy, thank you for spending time with me!" This made me think about my priorities and the seed for Woolly Mammoth was sewn!

In our busy lives, we never seem to stop. Work, school, activities and chores take over our weeks. Woolly Mammoth has been designed to make it easy for grown ups and children to have fun together.

-Words by Fiona, founder of Woolly Mammoth.

Woolly Mammoth is run by Fiona and her business partner Charlotte. They also have four adorable product testers Jules, Lucas, Toby and Billy and without the children's approval the kits don't make it to your letterbox!

I, like many of you, have to balance work with my family life and sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day! Woolly Mammoth takes all the planning (which is the bit i don't have tine for!) out of doing something quick and most of all FUN with my little boy.

I love that the kit fits through the letterbox so I don't have to worry about missing it , resulting in a post office trip!

All you need to make the kits are a few craft essentials for example scissors, glue and tape! On the back of each craft you receive a list of things you will need for your next kit so that you can be prepared. To be honest I already have all these things in my sons arts and craft box anyway!

Now for a look at what you get!

The first kit you receive is the Woolly Mammoth Club Badge Kit! EVERYONE'S first kit is the same and I love this idea! Now every time he gets his kit he can put his members badge on! What child doesn't love to wear a badge!

The instructions are super easy to follow and include pictures. The kit is jam packed full of craft items and there is even enough to make TWO badges! (With more left over too!) And this is only the first of two kits which I think is amazing value for money at £9.90 a month!

Me and Joshua had so much fun making our first kit together! We waited for his little sister Summer to go to bed and then sat down together to create a masterpiece of our own! It was lovely spending some quality creative time with him and watching him follow the steps and create his badge. He gave me a huge cuddle and kiss when we were finished and said that he can't wait for the next kit to come!

I hope you enjoy our pictures! For more information on Woolly Mammoth and to sign up visit www.MakeAndDoTogether.co.uk or their Facebook page www.facebook.com/makeanddotogether
Or give them a tweet @woollymammoth4

Washi tape and paper straws...

After my CCBox 8 arrived today I was itching to get my hands on the contents! Once the kids were safely snug in bed I was straight at my desk with a coffee and an open box! This is the result of my first sitting, a small collection of cards using the washi tape (I got spots) and paper straws. I love them so much I don't know how I am ever going to give them away! What did you make with your paper straws???

SPOILER ALERT!!! CCBox 8...

It's that time again! Here is the Crafty Creatives box 8! The theme this month is spots and stripes...

This months box is jam packed! This is now my new favourite box! I absolutely love stripes so this box is perfect for me! The amount of colour in this months box is exactly what I need to get me through the last bit of winter! And today the sun is shining, and when I opened the box it made me feel all summery!

So what's inside???

Art card - This months art card is by Paul Heard who works from his home studio in Essex and this piece of work is from his #NEONFUNK series. He works with a lot of local charities and community groups which makes me like his work even more! Visit www.paulheard.com for more of his artwork. I also like how the back I he card is all spots and stripes too.

CCKIT - Laura and Kireina Jewellery have done the instructions for this months lit and I can't wait to try making a polymer clay necklace!

Roll of patterned washi tape - As a cardmaker I have lots of washi tape and this will be a great addition to my collection!

Bundle of spotty and stripy paper straws - I have seen these used a lot in cardmaking recently so I can't wait to try these!

24 spotty cupcake cases - I shall enjoy making a few cupcakes to go in these to eat whilst I craft with my two children

Single spotty glass bead - this is adorable! I love how the spots look like tiny little eyes! Well to me they do...

3 metres of stripy string - this is great to work with and my red one has just ran out so perfect timing!

20 stripes resin beads in green and purple - cant wait to get these on a card! The look just like sweets so in think I shall use them with some of my sweetie stamps

50 cm strip of green and white spotty PVC fabric - as soon as I see this I had the same idea as the crafty creatives team... Would make a fab purse!

Fat quarter of striped cotton fabric - this will work great for a project I am working on at the moment... Wait and see!

Pack of sticky foam dots - I use literally thousand of these so they will come in handy.

Sheet of stripey tissue paper - maybe some pretty wrapping? It's my best friends birthday soon... Hmm...

Plus... The crafty essential this month which is a pair of round nose pliers and set of silver head pins - mine have a huge kink in them so a new pair is just what I needed!

WOW there is a lot in this months box! Of you don't already subscribe check out the crafty creatives website www.craftycreatives.com to sign up and for lots of great ideas/tutorials on their blog. Or if your already a subscriber you can visit their Pinterest page www.pinterest.com/craftycreatives for lots of inspiration and ideas of what to make with your items.

Below are some picture of the box contents... The colours look amazing and I can't resist any longer I'm off to have a go and see what I can make with it all!

Crafty bargains...

I am so pleased with my latest craft buys! And they were complete bargains!
I love crafting and will take the opportunity to do it wherever I am! I always have the same problem though, how to travel my products well without damaging them! So I invested in a craft tote! I'd seen these a few years ago but I'm glad I waited to buy because this one was a bargain! It has so many compartments and pockets my craft stash will be organised and safe on the go. I got the papermania craft tote and ALL it contents for under £25! It came full with all sorts of goodies from adhesives to peel-offs to a pack of 50 cards and envelopes (I'm sure you all know these can be pricey!) it even came with a craft knife! I hope you all enjoy my pictures and if you would like one yourself head over to www.craftsuperstore.co.uk there are lots of other bargains to be had too. I also got the craft tonic sticker folder for £2.50 and the papermania frame stamp set for £1.99!

And the winner is....

Thank you all for taking part in my competition sponsored by the very talented Lucy Farfort! And of course thank you to Lucy for sponsoring the competition!

And the winner is...... Hannah from www.daintyandivory.blogspot.com! Congratulations and please email me your details and I shall pass them on to Lucy so your prize can be posted to you!

I shall be running another competition soon....