Fab service

After seeing Han make a beautiful card out of these scrummy papers, I just had to get them for myself. I placed an order yesterday with Sarah's Cards and to my surprise my order arrived this morning, better still it was free p&p, how fab is that. Normally with other companies you pay a premium postage cost and still have to wait the best part of a week for delivery. This was the first time for me to order with this company and I will definately be a returning customer, they have some lovely stash available and with service as reliable as that, what more can you ask for. Well done Sarahs Cards and huge thanks for the fantastic service.I don't usually post about advertising companies, it's just that I was so surprised to receive my order today I thought I would just put in a good word about this company as I know it can be somewhat daunting ordering over the net. Hopefully I'll get chance later to have a little play, ttfn xx vicki xx

With love....

Helllllllloooooooo, I hope you are all keeping well and not too stressed out with the kiddies at home and this awful rain we've had the last couple of days...aarrggghh, Georgia & Yasmin have either had friends around, or they've gone to friends houses or we've gone out to indoor activity centres. As for Ryan he's been doing lots of fishing, yep!!! in this weather, he's mad. Tom, well he spends most of the day in bed, surfaces early afternoon, then goes out until the evening.

Anyway back to the card, I felt as though I was neglecting poor Martha as I've not used her for quite a while now. So here she is, coloured with water coloured pencils, papers are Basic Grey 'archaic' and Making Memories Boho Chic Olivia (the green one). Sentiment stamp is Cuddly Buddly, the lace is from WHAT!! and I've inked it with my Distress Ink pad tea dye. The pin is from my sewing box, you can get them from haberdashery shops.

Well at the mo we are all still in our jammies, having another lazy morning...lol!!!! I'd better get ready now though, as I promised to take the girls out for a girly day, Yasmin asked last night if we could go shopping for clothes and go to the hairdressers etc, she's only 5, I dread to think what she'll be like as a teenager.......

Well thanks for visiting my 'lil oasis, hope you all have a lovely day, ttfn xx vicki xx

Been having a sort out

Now I know I've showed pics of my little craft room before but that was when I had to share my room with some very large bunk beds. YAY!!!!!!! they've finally gone. A friend of Leighs collected them on Friday as she has twins and an older daughter. So I made a quick dash to Ikea and bought another desk and smaller Expedit unit and have spent the last couple of nights sorting through my stash. This smaller unit is where I keep all my scrummy stash, dcwv, K & CO, Melissa Francis, Cosmo Cricket...well you get the idea. The smaller boxes (which were previously Molton Brown boxes, see pics below) I covered with some gift wrapping paper from Tesco's and that's where I keep all my unmounted stamps i.e Sugar Nellies, Magnolias, Sweet Ebony's, Kerryjo's etc. You should be able to click on the pics for a better look, if you want to. The shelves on the wall house all my ribbons, hanging from the shelves, I keep my Cuttlebug embossing folders and rubbons. The small chest of drawers is where I keep all my wood mounted stamps, ink pads, envelopes and embellies.
The larger Expedit unit houses just about everything from embossing boards, magazines, 6 x 6 paper pads, chipboard alphabet, but most of all some of the gorgeous cards sent my lovely blogging buddies are on display.
Small drawers are where I keep some of my 12 x 12 papers.
These are those Molton Brown boxes I mentioned above, before they were covered. I've had these for yonks, waiting to be used.

Just added some wrapping paper and labels and put them in the unit shown above to house all my unmounted stamps.
Well sorry to have bored the pants off you all, it's just that I've been waiting sooooooo long for those bunks beds to go and now to have the room to myself, at long last. I've still got lots of organising to do, but I'm getting there slowly. Thanks for looking at my pics. Hope you are all keeping well. Take care, love & best wishes to you all xx vicki xx

Pals...

Just a quickie card I made using this cute freebie stamp from one of the crafty mags. For a change, I have coloured the image using only Copic markers. I haven't been able to get on with these markers, until seeing some clips on You Tube which give some good tips and tutorials. So perhaps I will persevere and try another image using these markers. Papers, ribbon and brad are from qvc. Hope everyone is keeping well and happy, take care and thanks for visiting

xx vicki xx

Thank you Denise and Natalie

I have received this fab award from two lovely ladies, Denise and Natalie, thank you both so very much, I'm chuffed to bits that you would have thought of me. Must say it's most appropriate for me, I do feel kind of Wilde at the mo, especially having four scallywags at home for the summer hols.....lol 1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.
2. Link back to this blogsite (http://http://www.tammyvitale.com//) so Tammy can go visit all these wonderful women.and remember the Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgment to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

I would like to pass this award onto everyone listed on my blogroll and everyone else who kindly visits my blog and takes the time to leave such lovely comments. I know I really do need to update my blogroll, so if your name isn't down, please give me a reminder and I will add your name. Thanks for passing by, love to you all xx vicki xx

simply embossed

Just a few cards that I've been asked to make recently. I decided to go for the simply embossed approach, bit different for me but wanted something quick to make. All cards have been either embossed using the cuttlebug embossing folders and/or heat embossed. Well that's me well and truly up to date with my card orders. Think I'm gonna have some time off from crafting for a few days, I shall catch up with everyone soon, take care and have fun what ever you get up to, ttfn xx vicki xx

Michelles Blogoversary round 2

The second part of Michelles blogoversary challenge is to make a card using just one colour and shades or tones of that colour. Here's my effort, well infact I ended up making two cards for different occassions. The first is has been stamped and embossed with gold embossing powder, image is Woodware, papers are Papermania, Bazzill bling cardstock and ribbon by American Crafts. The card below was a quick and simple card, feels rather bare to me though. Cardstock is DCWV, stamp was from a bargain bin at my local craft central, which has been embossed, as have the woodware sentiments, a few gems for a little sparkle, ribbon from my stash.

Well I've had most of the day to myself so decided to make a start on the dreaded ironing, followed by time to myself in my craft room. thanks for looking, take care all xx vicki xx

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!!!

This Friday is my fathers birthday, I can hardly believe he will be 72, where on earth has time gone, seems only yesterday he was chasing me around and playing with me now he is such a frail old looking man and since my mum died, he has really become withdrawn and not interested in going anywhere or doing anything. We only live on the next estate and he doesn't come over unless I ring him to have dinner with us, then he would rather pick his dinner up and take it home to eat it on his own, stubborn as a mule he is. Anyway for the above card I've torn some script velum and adhered it with eyelets to Basic Grey paper, images are Magnolia which have been coloured using distress inks. The letter tiles are cheapie ones from the walkaround store What!!! As for the sentiment, I won Laurels blog candy a little while ago which was a fabby stamp set by Close to my Heart, with some gorgeous flourishes and lovely sentiments, many thanks again Laurel.
Sue very kindly sent me a load of High Hope images, many thanks again Sue, so I thought this would be ideal to my dad of my kiddies, as my father loved going fishing in his younger days, I would often go with him. Papers are dovecraft, I think, I've added a few drops of glossy accents to the splashes on the image, don't think it shows too well on the piccie though. Nestabilites scallop shapes and cuttlebug embossing folder. Well I think thats me nearly up to date with everything, got quite a few more cards to make but goodness knows when I'm going to have time to make them..lol!!! xx vicki xx

Wanted....

Just having a little play with my Kerryjo stamps and this new Cosmo Cricket scrapbook kit, which is on offer here, have to say the papers are scrummilicious, infact I couldn't decided which of the two kits to buy, so I bought them both.

I hope everyone is enjoying this gorgeous weather we're having. Ryan enjoyed his day fishing, he caught 11 trout, but had to put them back, can't see the point in fishing if you can't bring them home, I wonder if it was the same trout each time he caught.....lol!!!! My daughters and I had a lovely day together, I took them to the Energy Zone, which is an outside activity centre with sand pits and climbing frames, well I had to wear them out one way or another. They've only now gone to bed after playing football in the garden with Ryan, they were well and truly shattered...fingers crossed they will have a lie in tomorrow.....hhmmmmm... I doubt it though.

Thanks for visiting, ttfn xx vicki xx

Thank you Caroline

What a lovely award I have been given by Caroline, thank you so very much Caroline for thinking of me to give it to, has made my day. Caroline is relatively new to blogging, so please check out her blog as she has some wonderful cards on display. The rules for passing this award on are:-

1. Pass on to 5 people

2. 4 should be dedicated followers of your blog

3. 1 has to be someone new to your blog and from another country

4. Link to whoever gave you the award just as a thank you

I find it so difficult passing awards on, as I read so many amazing blogs and also have some wonderful comments on mine from such lovely ladies, so I am going to choose:-

Maria

Natalie

Kerry

Michelle

Tiets

Well I'd better get a wriggle on as my son, Ryan is waiting patiently for me to take him fishing and I've promised to take the girls out today. Thanks for visiting, I hope you all have a fabby day whatever your up to. xx vicki xx

Thank you Maria

I have received this fabulous award from the very lovely Maria, thank you ever so much Maria, to say I'm chuffed to bits is an understatement...lol!!!!, if you haven't already, please pop over to Maria's blog and say 'hi', she has some gorgeous creations on show. Now for the difficult part, I have to pass this award on to 3 others, so I'm going to choose:-

Kerry

Tiets

Han

I hope everyone is enjoying their Summer hols with the kiddies so far. We've not been up to that much as yet. I do have a couple of cards to show, will post them another time though. Love & best wishes to you all and thanks for popping by xx vicki xx

sketches by Tiets

I love visiting Tiets blog, she makes some truly wonderful cards and her blog is soooo inspirational. She has very kindly put up a selection of 5 sketches for us to follow, this is my interpretation. I've used my other new stamp from Funky Kits, which is a Sweet Ebony 'reflective', coloured with Whisper pens. Papers are Basic Grey 'gypsy', Autumn Leaves sentiment stamp. xx vicki xx

thinking of you...

I couldn't resist having another little play with this gorgeous image which has been coloured using my Whisper pens. Papers are a mix of Papermania retro florals and Basic Grey, sentiment stamp is HOTP, Thanks for passing by xx vicki xx

Happy Birthday Becky!!!!

I made this card for my daughters friend Becky, who's birthday party was earlier today. The papers are from the second part of the qvc DCWV tsv, as are some of the stickers/rub-ons.

Happy Blogoversary Michelle!!!!!

To celebrate Michelle's Blogoversary, she has got a fabby sketch for us to follow, also some future challenges will be coming our way, can't wait, sounds very exciting...lol!!! This is my contribution. My new stamps from Funky Kits arrived yesterday and I know I said in the post below that that was my fav stamp at the mo, well I have changed my mind, as I love this image soooo much. I have coloured her using a mix of Copic markers, distress inks, watercolour pencils and Whisper pens. The papers are Basic Grey 'sugared', Bazzill cardstock has been embossed with 'script' embossing folder, flowers are from my stash. Huge thanks Michelle, I really enjoyed following your sketch, look forward to seeing everyone else's. xx vicki xx

Just for you...

Well I don't know about anyone else, but the colours on this card reminds me of those sweets I used to have as a child, fruit salads........ lol!!!

I just love this Sweet Ebony stamp at the mo, I've coloured it using my Whisper pens, which I am ashamed to admit I don't use as often as I should. The papers are a mix of Papermania retro florals, DCWV and Basic Grey. Sentiment stamp is from Cuddly Buddly and the brads are from that cheapie walk around store WHAT!!!

I have officially finished work today for the summer hols, YAY!! 6 weeks off. My daughters are off school today and tomorrow due to the teachers strike, but will go in on Friday for their last day at this school. They are moving to a new school come September. ooooo fabby news by the way, we found out today that my eldest son Tom has passed his entrance test to study for an apprenticeship...I am soooooooooooooooooooo proud of him. There were only 12 places available and 52 applicants. He has also got himself a part time job, which he started last night, working in the kitchen of a very nice hotel/country club....hehehehe!!!! washing dishes....pmsl.... I wonder how long he will stick at it though, he works from 5pm til midnight. Well at least it should teach him the value of money now, I hope. He's a typical fussy teenager who loves all the latest gear and yippeeeeee he can now go and buy for himself.

Well that's my bit of news for today. Hope you are all well and happy, love & best wishes to everyone who kindly takes the time to visit my 'lil oasis xx vicki xx

Magnolia Challenge

This weeks Magnolia challenge is to Distress Tilda. Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed making this card and found it extremely therapeutic. It's for no-one in particular, nice to be able to make a card just because...lol!!! I've hacked away at the edges of the papers using my metal ruler then inked the edges with gold versa colour ink pad. Papers are K & CO Bailey & McKenna. Tilda and the bench has been coloured using distress inks, mind you, I think Tilda looks as if she is suffering from 'slapped cheek syndrome' did go a bit overboard with colouring her face...hehehe!!! Autumn Leaves 'tickets' sentiment stamps, buttons are Woodware, large eyelets are We are Memory Makers from qvc, string from my kitchen drawer which has had the distress ink treatment, ribbon is from a walkaround store in Cardiff called What!!!, must say they stock a fabby selection of crafting goodies at amazing prices.

Hope everyone is happy and well and looking for to having your kiddies home for SIX weeks.....grrrrrrr.... Yasmin and Georgia took their cards and pressies to school today for their teachers and friends, was quite an emotional time,( for me that is), my daughters seem to be taking it all in their stride. I'm dreading Friday, saying goodbye to everyone.

Thanks for popping by, ttfn xx vicki xx

spoonfull of sugar challenge.

The challenge this week over at the spoonful of sugar blog is to make a card for a girl.
I made a birthday card back last year for Tia, my daughters best friend. Tia's mum told me that she has framed it and has it as a keepsake in her bedroom and would I be able to make a similar one for her other daughter, Morganne, not for any occasion, she just wanted something similar as a keepsake. Morganne is known as Mim at home, so I was asked if I could put that somewhere on the card. So here it is. Papers are all Papermania retro florals, die cut flowers are DCWV, image is sweet ebony, autumn leaves and sugar nellie sentiment stamps, papermania 'scrabble' letter tiles. Thanks for popping by, ttfn xx vicki xx

Maria's candy....

If you haven't already, go check out Maria's blog, she has a fabby blog with beautiful cards on show. Also by way of celebrating 5000 hits, she has very generously offered some delicious candy. Congratulations Maria on all those hits. xx vicki xx

Inspired by Kerryjo

My hubby came home from work on Friday and asked if I could make a few cards for his work collegues. The list included, 40th birthday wife, funny anniversary bingo card, 2 more anniversary cards......panic bells set off in my mind. I started off with the 40th birthday card. A while back Kerry made a card for my bling challenge and then very kindly gave the card to hubby and I for our 10th Anniversary. I loved the papers and colours so much that I thought they would be appropriate for the 40th birthday card, I hope you don't mind Kerry. The papers are from Craftwork Cards. DCWV diecut 'flowers' which have gone through my Big Shot using 'swiss dots' embossing folder, velvet and satin ribbons, diamonte ribbon slider, black sequins, cuddly buddly sentiment stamps have been heat embossed with silver embossing powder.

This card was meant as a joke. The lady is apparently a bingo fanatic and is always after her hubby's money to go and play, so I am told. Stephen found this image via google and he thought it would make a funny bingo anniversary card.....I'm not too sure if it will gone down very well with the recipient though...lol!!!!! Stephen did check with his mate first and he thought it would be a great anniversary card. To be on the safe side, I did make a proper sloppy card to go with this one, with lots of sloppy verses, just incase the lady in question wasn't impressed with the one below, I didn't get chance to take a piccie of that one though, as my hubby was in a rush to get back to work and he whisked it away.

I hope you all have had a great weekend. We were out all day yesterday, took our daughters to see Kung Foo Panda, the bits I saw were very funny, but I did fall asleep every now and then. I often do that in the cinema......hehehe!!! it must be all that popcorn pmsl!!!! We also quickly popped into the Papermill shop. OMG!!! not been in there for a while, had a huge shock at the size of the boxes, crikey have they shrunk. You used to be able to get loads of paper/card in the boxes before, now they are half the size, didn't notice a reduction in price though. I shall do some blog hopping tomorrow after work, lol!!! still seems strange saying that hehe!!! didn't realise how late it was, better get off to the land of nod now. ttfn xx vicki xx

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #18

The challenge this week over at CCT is to make a card for a child. How appropriate, considering the amount of cards I've to make for my daughters friends at school...hehehe!!! The image is Sweet Ebony 'picking apples', papers are a mix of Papermania, Basic Grey and DCWV, sentiment stamps are Sugar Nellie and Autumn Leaves, a touch of glamour dust and distress inks. Yay!!!! I think I have finished the list of cards my daughters gave me. Now all I have to do is buy them a small gift each....phew!!!!! I hope you all enjoy the weekend, lets hope this awful rain holds off, take care, love and best wishes to you all xx vicki xx

mojo monday #45

There is another great sketch to follow over at Mojo Monday's blog but for some reason I can't seem to upload it to my blog, shall try again later. Again this sketch has come in very handy for my daughters school friend, Emma. The glittery pp is DCWV, Bazzill bling card stock, Autumn Leaves sentiment stamp, 'real' stitching...lol!!!!!, a few brads and image is Sugar Nellie. Thanks for visiting xx vicki xx

Passing your driving test

I was asked yesterday by my friend at school if I could make a card for passing your driving test. This is really out of my comfort zone, as I have not done anything like this before. I googled a map image of our area and gave it a fuzzy frame in paint shop pro, cuttlebug spots and dots embossing folder, computer generated sentiment, as is the 'L' plate, silver peel off. I took it to school earlier and my friend was very happy with it, thank goodness. xx vicki xx

2 sketches 4 you

Well I'm getting stuck into these challenges this week lol!!, they certainly have come in handy for making my daughters teachers cards. There is a great sketch to follow over on the 2sketches4you blog

The papers are Papermania 'retro florals'. Thanks to Maria for the Penny Black image, which has been coloured with watercolour pencils and a touch of glamour dust for a little bit of twinkle. Buttons are woodware, chipboard circles are Brenda Pinnick. As for the flower, hehehe!!! my daughter has the rose light fitting from Next in her bedroom, but the flowers are beginning to fall off, so I thought I would keep them and use on my cards, recyling at it's best...lol!!!!

xx vicki xx

ismaki challenge

This is the very first time for me to join in with any of the sketches over on the Ismaki blog. After seeing this weeks fab sketch, I thought it would make a lovely card for my daughters teacher. The papers are from the DCWV qvc tsv, sentiment tile is a freebie from one of the crafty mags, making memories clips, Sweet Ebony image coloured with water coloured pencils and shimmery chalks. Hope everyone is happy and well, just a quick post tonight as I've loads to catch up with around the house. ttfn xx vicki xx

Spoonful of Sugar Challenge...

This weeks challenge over on the Spoonful of Sugar blog is one for the boys.

I have made this card for Yasmin's friend at school, Jed. They are such close friends, I think they will really miss each other, as Yasmin is moving schools. Papers are Dovecraft, sentiment stamps are again, Autumn Leaves, cuttlebug embossing folder and 'scrabble' tile letters from Papermania. Thanks for visiting xx vicki xx

Friday sketchers challenge

There is a fab sketch to follow this week over on the Friday Sketch blog. This is the first time for me to join in with any of their challenges. This card is for Yasmin's teacher. Papers are DCWV kids, thank you to Sue for the image, doodled some faux stiches with white gel pen, sentiment printed on my pc. TTFN xx vicki xx

cards for schoolfriends

Well I am slowly ploughing through making cards for my daughters schoolfriends. Yesterday was such a wet and windy day I decided to get crafty and catch up with the list of cards I've got to make. Thanks to Sharon for the info on this stamp, this is the first card I've made using this image. The card is for Yasmin friend Tia, she lives on a farm, so I thought this would be very appropriate. Papers are DCWV kids stack, the photo doesn't show the embossed glitter on the ladybirds,
This is for Yasmin teacher, again using DCWV kids stack, sentiment circles are cuddly buddly

Well I am getting there slowly, just a few more cards for schoolfriends left...yay!!!! Hope your all enoying the weekend. Thanks for passing by xx vicki xx

anniversary card & box

A work colleague of my hubby's asked if I could make an anniversary card for him to give to his wife. I've used a pale pink pearlescent card stock, silver mirri card, nestabilities, papermania glitter embossed vellum, ribbons and eyelets. xx vicki xx

Crafty hubby...

Yep that's right, my hubby made this card. The reason being is that my mil next door neighbour gave me a photo of her grand-daughter about two months ago and asked if I could make a card to give to her son, his birthday being the end of July, thank goodness she gave me plenty of notice...lol!!! Me being me, hopeless with computers didn't know where to start. So hubby installed paint shop pro and this is what HE came up with. I think he's done ok....lol!!!!!!!

Yasmin's school trip

Hello everyone, well what a week, it's been so busy I've not had time to blink....lol!!! It was my first week in my new job, well three days a week I shall be working, so far I am really enjoying it. Plus because of it being almost the end of term, there are lots of goings on at my daughters school. Yesterday we went on Yasmin's school trip to the Amelia Trust Farm and Porthkerry Park, Barry, South Glam. We all had a really lovely day. I thought I would just pop some piccies on my blog. I made sure to take loads of photos as this is the last school trip Yasmin will be going on with this school....I'm going to miss these guys so much.........

Below is Yasmin with her best friend Tia and her teachers, Mrs Perry and Miss Withers. Here's Yasmin and her little friends at the Amelia Trust Farm. Baby piglets had just been born, so everyone was very excited to see the little pink piggies...hehe!!
Yasmin and her class friends looking at some goats.
This photo was taken at Porthkerry Park, Barry. What a beautiful place this is. Steve and I often take the girls here at weekends. The green fields lead onto a lovely pebble beach.
Another view of Porthkerry Park. Yasmin is with her best mates Emma, Tia and Jed. We had just come back from rockpooling and poor Jed fell head first into the water.....lol!!! typical of Jed. He had to take his clothes off and wear his mums jumper. He is such a comical character, we all love him to bits.
Sorry I've not been around much, I've still got loads of cards to make, I'm way behind with everything this week. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with everyone soon, I really have missed blogland. Hope you guys are all happy and well. Have a great weekend. Take care, love to you all

xx vicki xx