Meh...

*** Pity Party Alert! Pity Party Alert! Do not read if you're not in the mood to indulge my first-world problems! ***

Urgh. Well, I think I might be about to throw the towel in as regards selling Stampin' Up! I absolutely love their products, but I just don't seem to be able to translate that into sales. I held a workshop in my home last night and invited pretty much everyone I know here in SoMD and whilst I had a great time socialising & chatting with my friends, at the end of the night my net sales were.... the roundest number in the world!

I'd spent all day cleaning, baking, and all the previous day designing the project & getting all my stuff ready to go. This while looking after two children and having very little support from the hubs (he isn't that interested in me earning money as it'll complicate our tax return... ????!!!).

I just feel a wee bit flat today, particularly as both my children are now ill & I feel like I neglected them all day. I know they were probably brewing their bugs long before now but it doesn't stop the Mummy Guilt. I am trying my best to get some sense of achievement out of my life here but there isn't much instant gratification in what I do!

Anyway. Here's a picture of my cocoa bunny cookies (with SU! cookie stamps, naturally!) I made for last night:

They were yummy. And they've been helping me through today! :D

Sideboard update!

Here's the sideboard so far... And the original pic. We are having MAJOR staining issues now but it's early days!

Stampy Saturday

Lots of cards done today, and there may even be another!

First up - a card for my friend's niece:

I am not at all confident on "vintage" and that was not the look I was aiming for, but it just evolved this way! I like this one. 

And now for something completely different.

I finally cracked how to use my Piestra Tile die - I used Dotto to tape a strip of DSP to the back ( leaving a 1/8" border) then used the shims from my SU! crease pad. This one is for my sister's 39th birthday. Colours are Summer Starfruit, Sahara Sand and Raspberry Ripple. Yum! 

And! I started, at long last, my Christmas cards for 2013.

This one is for Retro Sketches #50. I rarely use purple but I recently discovered that Wisteria Wonder is quite pretty with Baja Breeze. 

Anyway I am hoping to do one more challenge this evening, HOPEFULLY it will be making a card for my Stampin' and Socialisin' night on Friday. Looking forward to it very much. 

Happy V-day!

Hello everyone! I am sitting her in my PJs at 8.05am because my wonderful husband has taken the boys to nursery. So it's just Solomon and I here, enjoying a lazy morning.

I wanted to share some pictures of the Valentines I sent for Jacob & Leo's nursery pals & teachers. I am quite proud of myself this time round, lesson learned: start early!

OK so here are Leo's pressies - Leo is 10months and he goes in the Baby Room every Thursday. So thinking of an appropriate Valentine was tricky but then I spotted these in the cupboard:


So I jazzed them up a bit:

In case you can't see, the sentiment says "Whale you be mine?" How cute!!!

Then, for Jacob's room, I got these pencils at Target and whipped up these little labels:

I cobbled the "You are just" and "for me" together from some random stamps. There was cutting up of stamps involved! (shock! horror!)

Finally for the teachers, I made these little cookie goody bags:

Spot the funky cookies? I used food colouring on my usual speciality, sugar cookies stamped with SU! cookie stamps. They bizarrely matched the DSP I used... now that's serendipity! Truly accident rather than design as I was aiming for pale pink & pale purple, NOT Calypso Coral and Rich Razzleberry, but who's counting!?

Have a wonderful day... I suppose I should start thinking about de-PJing...

On a happier note...

Another challenge done with Laura today and I *think* this might be Stew's V-day card. Maybe.

This one's for Retro Sketches #49:

I love their sketches! This one's SUO and I made the heart-y paper myself. Fun!

A "why?" day

Tears were shed over this card. My heart hurts.

Aaaaaah...

After a tricky week, I sacked off the housework today & treated myself to a couple of hours crafting. It was fab! Only got two cards made but I really enjoyed the whole process.

Make a monster has to be one of my favourite sets! I've used it loads. Might be something to do with having two little boys but it seems to fit the bill quite often! Also great for hallowe'en, and who doesn't love pink, girly monsters?