Bit of cardmaking again :)

Finally had time to finish few cards :) I can say - all just waited to be stick together and now is done :)
Xmas card for my Sneaky Santa partner - already sent out with gifties for her.

Hope she'll like it :)

My new birthday cards:

Just birdies :)

Everybody loves owls ;)

Hmmm, just realised I'm writing only about my cardmaking, but nothing yet about jewellery. Need to do that in my next post then :)

By the way - horrible me - I'm online player - Settlers :) Playing this game long time, but stuck on lvl 45 :) peeps in guild are saying that I'm socializing there not playing :) They are right!!! 

Gifts - who doesn't like to receive them :)

Just received my first Sneaky Santa gift this year, have no idea who my Santa is, but I love my new bracelet :)

This cutie is from Bente Pedersen shop: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Sweetiespearls. Bente has lots of beautiful jewellery pieces in her shop. Check her current offer, I'm sure you'll find something you'll like :)

Also my Italian friend Leda made me a gift - beautiful felt bookmark

You can find her creations in TinyFeltHeart shop on etsy.com :)

I'm almost ready to send out my Sneaky gifties and I hope that girl for whom they are will like them :) Will share pics sometime later :)

By the way my Sneaky Santa bought me little gift from Leda's shop - I love it :)

Show must go on :)

'Show must go on' like Freddie was singing, and for me here 'Life must go on' :)
So no complaining for cold, red nose, headaches etc. Time for little bit of crafty work :)

That's how my crafting table looked today :)

Lots of papers etc on table and chair :) Choosing colour scheme for cards is my constant and neverending nightmare :)

After about 1.5 hour I have for my crafting....

few cards just waiting for sticking together, have all prepared for 6 of them :)

Bit of stamping for Christmas cards done :)

Colour schemes chosen for my new stamped images - was really hard :) Hope they turn out good when finish them :)

Who knows if I don't change my mind about papers when I start to put them together :) Time to finish my cup of tea and go to nursery to pick up my little boy :)

Tobisia with cold :) part 2

I love books!

I'm total bookworm :)

My parents' fault :)

I'm reading since I remember, lots :) I don't remember my first book - that was long time ago :) , but for sure that was nothing girly :)

I loved Karl May and his Winnetou, Jack London and James F. Cooper ( boy's stuff ). Read a lot of Alexander Dumas - still coming back to Three Musketeers, last time I had a chance to read Black Tulip (nice piece), which I didn't read before and read again Queen Margot ( great book about love and politics).

I was in late teens (about 16 or 17 yo) when I discovered Lucy M. Montgomery and her Ann - loved TV serie with Megan Follows :)

Went through Stephen King, Agatha Christie, John Grisham, James Patterson, Danielle Steel, Umberto Eco, William Shakespeare, J.R.R. Tolkien and lots of others.

I'm pretty sure I couldn't live without books :)

Thanks to friend I discovered few weeks ago Paul Christopher and his trilogy about Templars - still one book left to read :) If you like conspiracy theories - this is something you should read! I like this guy's writing style.

Like Venice?
Never was there, but I hope I will see the place one day :)
Check Donna Leon - great books with action placed in Venice. This woman really knows the place and Italy. Just finished 'Beastly things' - good written criminal book.

For sure I want to see Languedoc in France :) Why? Castles, history and Kate Mosse novels :) Labirynth is brill! I love her style - so creative girl :) Something from her good for dark evenings of autumn:

Now I'm trying to find her 'The Winter Ghosts' - I'm sure I'll love it :)

Tobisia with cold :) part 1

I'm not myself at the moment... Blocked nose, headaches... Yesterday I was laughing I look like Rudolf Reindeer :)

Sitting in the front of computer with huge cup of tea with honey and honestly... want to go to bed and take a nap :)

Yeah my wish to do that :) Who then go to pick up my little boy from nursery :) So no sleep, time for writing :)

Yesterday I received stamps my man bought for me from Lili of the Valley for Xmas (never waiting for Xmas :)), and we were played with them with my 3.5 years old son - he was so proud to help his Mum :) You should see his fingers dirty with ink :)

I'll make some nice cards with them soon. They are so pretty. My partner loves all these cutie stamps and he cannot wait to see me using them :) Igloo bears just stole his heart and fairy girls too :)

Our trips around the UK

We're travelling around as much as we can, mostly during summers when weather is nicer.
We're checking nearer and farer places from our home.

We travelled near Hadrian's Wall - Vindolanda Roman Fort is really nice, we were in Lake District - amazing even during autumn :), we visited Edinburgh and we surely back to Borderlands - Kelso and Jedburgh are beautiful. Berwick upon Tweed and Holy Island, Bumburgh and Dunstanburgh castles can tell you a lot about this region history.

So many places to see and to show :)

As a English Heritage members we have a chance to visit lots of castles and gardens for free or on discounted price :)

Here just few pics from places we saw and we love to back. Northumberland and North East of England first :) as is so many beautiful spots in here :)

Morpeth and its Turner's Gardens :)

Jesmond Dene park in Newcastle is nice and has something kids will love: Pet's Corner :)

Newbiggin by the Sea is small village with old churches, Maritime Museum and Couple statue

Woodhorn Museum near Ashington is nice place to visit too, with its exhibitions about coal mining, special exhibitions which stay there for some time only like: Dinosaurs or Lego (we saw both :)) and chance for little train ride near small lake where you can spot swans :)

If your boys love trains - Stevenson Railway Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne - is good place.

Whitley Bay and Tynemouth are places we are the most often in :) Nice beaches, lots of places you can eat or just sit and contemplate view :)

St Mary Island, Whitley Bay - lighthouse plus chance to see seals :)

Tynemouth - remains of Priory plus Blue Reef Aquarium

More castles? Here you go! Warkworth - castle on the hill, cross the river by boat to see Hermitage.

Our biggest trip this summer was to Fountain Abbey in Yorkshire - huge place, beautiful and full of history.

First time I saw sooo big abbey! I felt so small there.

More about cards :)

I love stamping, but I still need more practising :) Cardmakers for their stamped cards usually using promarkers or chameleons to colour images, me... prefer colour pencils :) Some kind of old school girl :)

This year I decided finally send my cards for Cardmaker of the Year competition, didn't won, but I tried at least and for sure will do that again next year :) Here what I sent:

And here my newest creations :)

Birthday card for neighbour - he is keen gardener

Birthday card for my partner :)

Birthday card for my son's friend from nursery 

Patchwork Christmas card - I made 5 of them on light gold paper ( you can find them in my shop).

I think that's all for now about my cardmaking :) Time to change subject for a bit :)

Cards for friends and neighbours :)

Making cards for other people then family is sometimes not easy, some of them are close to our hearts, some are just lovely people we met on our way and they stay with us as friends or neighbours.

This card I made for Pat - our neighbour - lovely and elegant Lady for her 70th birthday

This one was for Margaret - another lovely neighbour who make us welcome on our new address 6 years ago :)

These few were for my friends in Canada - special orders :)