Whimsical Wishes

If you are interested in seeing more of Tracy's amazing creations, then check out her website or Facebook page, you won't be disappointed, they are all so beautiful. I can not recommend Tracy highly enough to anyone looking for a wedding or celebration cake, she is such a pleasure to work with. Tracy is also an inspiration to me for following her dreams and setting up her business whilst working full time and making it such a success that she is now doing what she loves full time.

Tracy is also running some classes over the coming months and I can't tell you how excited my sister and I are about attending the vintage boutique cupcake class, I'm new to cake decorating but if you are going to have a go, why not be taught by the best. It's in April, so watch this space to see what we have made. Below is a picture of what Tracy will be teaching us! Simply gorgeous! I better get practicing!

Thank you again for stopping by and indulging me with letting me tell more of our wedding story! It means a lot! Sorry if you are now craving cake :)

xxx

Heavenly hydrangea

2012-01-15T11:36:00.000-08:00

I hope I'm not boring anyone with the posts about the details of our wedding day, I do apologise if I am :-) However I just wanted to share these details and touches with you all as I enjoyed the planning and choosing these so much, as well as the crafting involved. I have a handful more posts and will get these on here this week as I have some time off work. Then I'll get back to some regular crafting posts etc! Today I thought I'd share some pictures of our order of service. They were kept simple and I stamped sheet music onto cream card, then stamped the hero arts hydrangea stamp and a fancy flourish stamp over the top. Simple yet effective, again I had more plans of t hings to do with these but when you have so many to do and limited time, it's definitely best to keep it simple. I absolutely love this hydrangea stamp and have used it for our thank you cards too, which I will share soon.

I choose the hydrangea for the order of service as these were the bridesmaids flowers, we also had a hydrangea wreath and some around the birdcage centre pieces on the tables. Definitely my most favourite flower, I love the fullness and the pretty colours, absolutely beautiful!

Our flowers were done my Karen and Gemma at Passion for Flowers, a lovely mother daughter team who were a pleasure to work with. The flowers were so pretty, simply be autiful. Although we had a limited budget for flowers they looked amazing and we were so pleased with them. As well as the hydgrangeas we also had some tea cup arrangements for the top table and some single roses in vintage inspired bottles. I would highly recommend Passion for Flowers if you are looking for wedding flowers. I collected lots of vintage china in the run up to our wedding and still have these pretty teacups etc, I'd love to have a go at doing an arrangement in one myself to have around the house, as they were so gorgeous!

Again these photographs are by our photographers - Source Images.

Thank you for taking the time to visit, it is much appreciated.

xxx

A little birdie ......

2012-01-13T05:05:00.000-08:00

.... told me where to sit, lol! I saw this used as a table plan and had to have it, it was perfect as we had some birdcages for the tables and I planned to incorporate them into our invitations. I also thought I can use it afterwards to peg projects, cards, photos etc to, it will have pride of place when I have a craft room! (one day!).

I had lots of ideas on how to decorate it for our table plan but as this was done the night before, I decided, well had no choice really, if I wanted a few hours sleep, but to keep it simple! I therefore just printed the table plans out and mounted them onto gorgeous Tilda papers which again were perfect for our vintage, shabby chic theme theme. I think that simple was best in this instance as the birdcage and the papers did all the talking!

I did not just want to go with table numbers and had lots of ideas on what to use instead, thanks to wedding magazines and blogs but settled for something simple in the end. Our table names were inspiring and meaningful words, we choose, Love, Hope, Wish, Dream, Believe, Inspire, Honour, Cherish, Faith, Imagine and Blessings.

I had planned to do beautiful table names to place in the holders but this was one bite more than I could chew with the time I had unfortunately so they were just printed. A small regret as they would have been so pretty and another nice keepsake but in the grand scheme of things I had already made alot an d there were lots of nice, personal touches, so it didn't matter. Just me
being a perfectioni st! It was such a shame that I had had the car accident when I did as it put me behind with so much!

Again thanks you for your lovely comments on my last post, I really do have the nicest blogging friends :-) You are all so kind and I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Plus I'll be sure to get my dad onto making some spools and will put them in my Etsy shop etc very soon. I also have a website coming soon and will be selling all sorts of lovely gifts, homeware and decor on there, I have some fab trade accounts aquired already, one with the company that made this table plan, so I will hopefully have these in the online boutique if you are interested in something to hang your craft projects on!

Thank you for visiting!

xxx

Cute little spools!

2012-01-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Thank you for your lovely comments on my last post about my bouquet, so sweet of you, they really made my day :-)

I completely blame my friend Debb ie for this one!! I wanted something a little different for our place names, something our family and friends could take home and keep if they wanted to, a momento of the day. When Debbie still owned Stampeezee, I went there for some supplies one day and she said I have something to show you, it was an issue of Somerset Life that had the most gorgeous little cotton spools, with flags on for place names! I was smitten, I had to have these on our tables, they were so cute and very in keeping with our vintage theme.

By the way if you haven't already checked out the Stampington publications, especially Somerset Life then I would highly rec ommend them, so jam packed pull of prettiness, it will make your eyes hurt!! They will definitely inspire you, a must if you love vintage, shabby chic style crafts. I am now collecting all the back issues as well as it now being a quarterly mus t have. It's more of a book than a magazine.

I then searched high and low to find the right spools to no avail, they were either way too small, too big or just too expensive when you needed 90 od d of them, plus the other supplies! Then enter my wonderful and very talented Dad to the resue! He had started wood turning a few months earlier and had all the tools, so I showed him the picture in the book and he said he would see what he could do!

A few weeks later my dad then said would these do, wow, he had turned some spools for me and they were perfect, just the right size and they looked amazing. Even better to know that my Dad had made them and from a branch from a tree near their house! Being made this way meant that they all had a different individual woodgrain and colour, simply gorgeous! The only sticking point was wh en my Dad asked how many I needed and replied 96!! Yes, we were only having a small wedding but these things esculate!! Poor Dad then set about making them, they took forever bless him, but he did it for us, so a huge thank you to my Dad for all his hard work and talent. He really is someone who can turn their hand to anything and be good at it, a true inspiration to me. Watch this space as I also have some gifts my Dad made us to show off! Sorry proud daughter moment!

Anyway once they were all turned it was then the task of figuring out how we were going to decorate them, then cue Debbie, offering her help and her house for the night to my production team of helpers! Being my mum, Auntie Janice, two of my best friends and bridesmaids, Gemma and Daniela. Debbie had us all descend on her and Pete and he even made us our dinner. A huge thank you to you both for your h elp and kindness and everyone else for your help and support too! I really do have the best family and friends! These spools would never have been finished otherwise, it was another down to the wire job as I had to wait for my dad to turn them first before decorating them. All very time consuming!

Debbie and I worked on these whilst everyone else helped with the order of services and favour boxes! We wired the little flags and put beads on them, then hot glue gunned them into the spools, we then attached the little card flags and viola, cute little spools just waiting for some ribbon, lace or twine to be wrapped around and names put onto flags! Which was supposed to be a fairly quick job, I'll never think that again, it was again time consuming, I was rescued once again my my wonderful mum and sister for the ribbon/lace wrapping and Gemma for adding the names. What would I have done without you lot?!

Anyway enough of the rambling. I loved them and was so pleased another of my crazy ideas had come off! Please note that no family members or friends were harmed in this production, although they way be scarred for life or still be nursing a repeatitive strain injury, lol!!

I have quite a few spools left over and of course I can always ask Dad to do some more ;-) so you may just find some other little creations using them appearing on here soon! I may also pop some plain spools in my Etsy shop for anyone looking for some to decorate.

Thank you for stopping by,

xxx

Bouquet of dreams.............

2012-01-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

I knew I wanted to be able to keep my bridal bouquet, I'm a sentimental girl at heart and although I love flowers, the thought of the ones I have on my wedding day wilting away was not good, however I did not want artificial flowers. I searched around the internet and came across the beautiful vintage brooch and button bouquets that were being made by many talented crafters out there. I did contemplate ordering one from a company that mak es them, but ther e was one thing stopping me, the price tag. Not that they did not look worth it, it's just that we had a budget and were trying to stick to it, we had already added a few things that we had not budgeted for so I had second thoughts about it. Then it struck me........maybe I could make one?!?! Well why not have a go, what did I have to lose?! I googled and found some hints and tips, then found somewhere to get supplies from. I then searched antique and charity shops for some old brooches et c and started collecting bits and pieces. This was quite exciting! My mum also gave me some pieces of jewellery of hers and my Nan's to put in my bouquet which made it extra special and was a lovely way to honour my nan and feel like she was close to me on the day. My Auntie also gave me a silver shoe from here wedding cake which I wired in, it was great as these were my something old too. I wore my Nan's wedding ring on my right hand as my something borrowed and had a blue cameo in the bouquet as something blue, needless to say there were lots of new things ;-) any excuse to shop!! lol. There are also beads, buttons, little fabric flowers and gems in there as well as brooches, ribbon and lace. My mum and dad then told a friend of ours in Greece who makes jewellery about it and she kindly made me some pieces to incorporate into it, they were beautiful and gave me a good clue on how to go about wiring it t ogether. Thanks Denise!

Then I got really busy and w as thinking I was running out of time and maybe I'll just have to have flowers, they are beautiful after all. But I really wanted my sparkly pretty vintage bouquet to keep, so with only a few weeks to go to the day I set about wiring bits together like a mad woman! Then our lovely neighbour, an ex-florist helped me put it together into a posy shape and there I had it, my beautiful keepsake bouquet! I was so so p leased with it and couldn't wait to see how it went with my dress on the day.

I had so many admirers of my bouquet on the day and it went with my dre s s and accessories perfectly. I'm so pleased that I ma de this myself, be it with some help as it was such a nice sense of achievement and saved a lot of money too! I really enjoyed putting it together and definitely feel another hobby coming on, I have so many ideas on how to use these pretty jewels etc, thanks to Pinterest! I would love to have a go at a wreath sometime this year!

I put this on my stand at my last wedding fair as I thought I may as well offer to make these as well as my stationery and had lots of lovely comments and hav e an order for one already! So watch th is space to see more creations like this in the future. I'm like a magpie now looking out for pretty sparkly bits and vintage buttons etc on my travels and I am loving starting a collection of these.

Please see my bouquet page in the sidebar if you are interested in ordering one of these for your wedding, as I have added some information there. Please note that these images are copyright of Source Images Photography.

My bouquet now sits pride of place on the dresser in my lounge, it brings back memories of our happy, dreamy day and will be treasured for years to come.

Thank you for stopping by, wishi ng you a bouquet of dreams come true!

Strive.Believe.Achieve.

2012-01-02T05:29:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! May 2012 bring you good health and lots of happiness! I do not know where 2011 went! I literally flew by for us, it was such a happy yet busy year! We planned our wedding, had an amazing wedding day and honeymoon and I started my little business. So many happy memories and good times I was sad to say goodbye to 2011, however I am filled with excitement and anti cipation for what 2012 will bring! It is wonderful to be starting the year as husband and wife. I have so many plans and ideas for my little business and hobby too, I'm literally bursting with them after not having much time to focus on this or to just create for fun last year.

My mantra for this year is strive, believe, achieve! I will strive to reach my goals and dreams, to make them a reality. I realise that I will have to work hard, stay positive and motivated to achieve this and I am willing to do jus t that. I will also believe that these things can and will happen, as if you have no belief in yourself or your abilities then it is hard to flourish! This along with support and encouragement from my family and friends should set me on the right path! I read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne last year and this book has really helped me to think more positive and focus on what I want to achieve and believe in myself. I would recommend this book to anyone!!

I will start the year with catching up on posts about the creations I made for our wedding, our invitations, my bouquet, the place cards, thank you cards etc. Whilst I post these I will be working on some new projects. I am hoping to create, create, create .......my hands are itching to!!

Wishing you a very creative and happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-27T03:01:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to pop on and say that I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We had a lovely first Christmas as husband and wife! Santa came and spoilt us again and we loved spending time with our family and friends. I just don't know where it has gone, it's flown by, just like this year has!! I have missed blogging and crafting and I am hoping to get back into it properly over the coming weeks, it's just been such a busy year with getting married and starting my business as well as working full time and the usual family commitments etc. I have lots of posts to catch up on that I had started putting together, things I've been meaning to share on here for a while.

Hope you enjoy what is left of the festive season.

xx

The coolest wedding photograghers......

2011-11-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

........ in all the land! I wanted to give a huge shout out in this post to our ah-mazing wedding photographers, Jordan and Ines Banks of Source Images.

It was a daunting task finding the right photographers as we wanted some relaxed images that would capture our big day as it unfolded. We did not want lots of posed group shots as this eats into a huge chunk of the d ay which we knew our guest would much rather spend having a cold beverage or two! We aslo knew that these photos would be something that provided a lasting memory of the day, so we wanted to be happy with them.

Then ensued much searching on the net, hours and hours of pouring through photographers websites and I knew that I would know when I found then, I'm one of those intuitive types (I get a feeling in my waters, you know what I mean!!).

I then discovered wedding blogs, probably a bit of a mistake really! As I spent hours and hours on them getting inspiration for W-day! Then I found the Rock My Wedding blog, seen our photographers work on there and the rest as they say, is history!

My search was over, or was it, I had to convince the hubs to be now! I got some info from the dynamic duo that are Source Images and we set up a meeting in their funky little studio in Cookham. A nice part of the world if you haven't been down to that neck of the woods!

On the way down in the car, Adrian said to me, their work looks fab, but I know what you are like, don't commit yourself staight away, we can come away and think about it you know (yeah, yeah, whatever, but I did think I better behave to avoid a telling off on the way home!).

We sat for ages chatting and looking through their past work, it was AMAZING!! The most stunning images we had seen, crystal clear and so emotive. They really seemed to capture something special from their end of the lens. Well Adrian was sold too as we hadn't been there long when he said we definately want to book you guys!!! What?!! I thought we were supposed to come away and discuss?!!? ha ha. I was over the moon that he loved them too. Also a huge job completed towards the wedding to do list, and a major score as they were the first and only photographers we m et with, so much time saved too.

We ended up in the pub drinking and chatting for a while, they were so easy to get along with, we just knew that we would feel comfortable with them on the day, and lets face it, that is an improtant element when they would be there all day on one of the most momentous in our lives.

They have been great to work with and we are so happy with our images from the day, they are awesome, there are literally over a thousand photographs, can you believe it! So many special moments, I love how they managed to capture the atmoshere and feel of the day, our guests enjoying themselves and some fun ones of Adrian and myself! They have made us one happy pair of newly-weds! A huge massive thank you to Jordan and Ines, you are two very talented photographers, you two most definately ROCK!! You worked so hard on the day and in producing such great images, we really are over the moon with them! We can't thank you enough. We will have one fantastic album that's for sure!

Please check out their blog post with the images from our wedding here. If you do stop by their blog please leave them some love as they deserve a big pat on the back!! Also it would be great if you went over and liked their Facebook page too. We really can't recommend them highly enough if you or anyone you know is getting married!

Thanks for indulging me in more wedding whittering, sorry folks, but there is more to come too, I'm lining the posts up as we speak!!

To Have and to Hold............

2011-10-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

I thought it was about time for me to return to my little old blog! What can I say, last month was the most amazing of my life so far!! I married my soul mate Adrian after nearly 10 years together on the 9th September and it was the most amazing day ever!!! We had the time of our lives and loved celebrating with all our wonderful family and fri ends. So many fantastic memories that will stay with us forever. We also h ad a fabulous time on our honey moon to California, we loved it there! It was so so busy in the run up to our wedding that it left little time to pop on here and document the process, which is what I had planned to do!!! However I always plan to do more than I can chew! So here I am now better late than never with a few tid bits from the planning and the big day itself ! There will be quite a few posts over the next few weeks so that I can share some of the details and photos with you here. There were lots of handmade details which included the wedding invitations, the place names, table plan, my bouquet etc. We had so much help from our family and friends and some fantastic folks in the we dding industry and we can use our posts to say thank you to them as well.

For now here is a few snap shots that our friends hav e send over to us or popped on Facebook, more to come in the coming weeks.

Love,

2011-07-06T01:51:00.000-07:00

Hello there, sorry for my absence from here. It's been a bit trying around here since my last post. Adrian came back from his Stag weekend a bit worse for wear, I thought it was all down to partying too hard, he had a temperature of 38.9 though and I th ought that I would have to take him to the walk in centre or hospital, but he refused to go (awkward patient!!) so Nurse Katrina here had to look after him at home, I was worried sick, but at least being a nurse I had an idea of what to do! A few days later though he had to go to the doctors as he had an upset stomach, turns out he had gastroenteritis! He is better now thankfully.

However just as he was better, I was tootling around in my car on the way to a hairdressers appointment and some idiot going too fast just after we had heavy rain went into the back of my car!! I have had awful whiplash and my car has been written off! I could really have done without this on the run up to the wedding!! Those of you that follow my blog will remember that someone went into Adrian's car on the M1 in February and wro te his car off too, and prior to this we were both involved in an accident just over 18 month s ago! I can't believe it! My back had improved slightly but has been awful the last few days, got to have physio now.

Anyway not much to share with you, I am so b ehind with our invitations etc at the moment, so frantically trying to get those done, think I may be taking some friends up on their offers of help now! I will share them here with you when I have them done. I love how they are turning out!

I thought I would tell you about my love of Pinterest though, for those of you w ho don't know about this amazing site, it is a place with millions of photos of all sorts of things, you can build inspiration boards with pictures that you find inspiring or useful etc from around the web, you can also follow peoples boards on there and repin other peoples pictures. I love it and have quite a few inspiration boards now. I would really recommend checking it out an d if you need an invitation to join just give me a shout and I'll se nd you one via email. Here are a few of my favourite inspiring pictures this week .

Via Pinterest

Utterly dreamy and inspiring right?! Makes me want to take a picnic, buy some beautiful blooms and send beautiful vintage inspired stationery! It feeds my love of all things vintage and shabby chic!

Thank you for stopping by.

Love,

First large order completed - yipeee!

2011-06-11T01:11:00.000-07:00

Well what a rubbishy (is that a word, if it is it's probably spelt wrong anyway!) few weeks!! I ended up having my wisdom to oth out following a trip to the dentist after my last post, then it got infected, then I got a horrible virus, which Adrian then got too, then got better, then tooth ache etc flared up again, ended up referred to the hospital urgently due to a suspicious lump on the roof of my mouth, which was slightly worrying, thankfully they t hink it's a blocked salivary gland. I feel much better in myself now, had been so tired for weeks, however my mouth is not healed yet, more inflammation and ulcers, yuck!

Right enough of the moaning! Whilst feeling grotty last weekend I managed to complete my first big order of wedding statio nery, whoop whoop!! It was a big task, all did not go smoothly on the way, think companies discontinuing products, trying to find altern atives, then being unwell and then major technical gremlins stopping the printer f rom wo rking just as I needed to print all the inserts etc!! Thankfully I had a really lovely, understanding custo mer, thanks Cara and I got there in the end. I was really pleased with how they turned out and I'm over the moon to say that so were the Bride and Groom, they have had some amazing feedback too, one of their friends even called them EPIC!!! I was so happy to I can tell you!

I thought I would shar e some photo's with you. They are not the best photos at all, a rushed job as I was down to the wire and the happy couple were on there way to pick them up! I will however share some better photos soon, as I have other parts of the order to complete and will be making a few more of these.

The last photo is them all piled up ready for collection. I did 70 daytime invites in presentation boxes with tissue paper and RSVP's and 25 evening! The heat embossing on that many was probably not my best idea ever as it took way longer than expected, but it did look lovely and was well worth it in the end. I have their order of services, place cards, menu cards and table plan cards to do for July, so I will share those with you once they are done. Thanks to Cara and Jonathan for their custom, patience and understanding and their lovely feedback!

Right now, I'm waaaay behind with our wedding invites so I better get to work right away on those, looking forward to doing them now! Adrian is on his Stag weekend in Budapest so I have some peace and quiet ;-) I'm sure they will have a fantastic time, 16 of them have gone, I have a feeling it could get messy! lol.

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Birthday gift emsemble for a friend

2011-05-18T02:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a while I know! Busy as usual these days! Some tim e off work this week though hopefully means we can recharge the batteries, c atch up with the to do list and take some time out to do some nice enjoyable things! Although, typical, I've ended up with awful tooth ache and what looks like an abcess, so a trip to the dentist for me tomorrow :-(

It was my lovely friend and bridesmaid to be, Gemma's birthday on Monday and I went round for tea and cake and to take her card and gifts. I brought her a few little p resents, we have a trip to The Bramble patch and lunch at The Heart of the S hires planned too in the not too distant future to treat her to some new fabric for her next proj ect. As Gemma is always making me wonderful thoughtful gift s I thought I would return the gesture and make some little gifts for her to go with her other presents. Here is the notepad, canv as and gift bag I made. All have Avenue Crafts on which is the name of Gemma's studio!

Sorry the photos are not great, the lighting around here as been a bit hit and miss! Supplies used: 5x7 canvas/acrylic paint/plain craft gift bag/paper doilies/vintage seam binding, glass gilttered stars/ Kars glittered chipboard alphabet letters/Tim Holtz paper Rosette die which I got from Stampeezee/My Minds Eye - lost and found collection papers/flowers and jewelled embellishment from stash/buttons - Papertrey Ink.

I have lots of crafting to do, working on a large order for a lovely customer at the moment and in the process of samples for another. I'm waiting for a Papertrey Ink parcel and some others to arrive so I can get started with my own invitations too, I want to send them out at the beginning of June, lots of ideas for the design, can't wait for them to come together! I've also had another special little extra designed for us that involves lots of colouring, which I'm in the process of!! All will be revealed once they are all made and sent out, so watch this space!!

Thanks you to all those who have liked my Whimsical Wishes Facebook page, I now have 103 likers! So will be having a give away on there soon, it will coincide with the launch of my Etsy shop too! I will be putting some little craft supplies in my Etsy shop as well as handcrafted items, so it may be of interest if you like vintage seam binding, glass glittered accents or crystal/pearl jewelled embellishments.

Hope you are having a good week so far.

Love and hugs,

A spring wedding card

2011-04-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share the card I made for Adrian's sister's wedding a few weeks ago, I also altered a horseshoe to give her at the church as a keepsake. I tried to match in with the colour scheme she choose for the day.

Supplies: Stamps - Papertrey Ink/card - Papertrey Ink/DP - The Girls Paperie/lace - Prima/Flowers and pin - Wild orchid crafts/Seam binding - ebay/pearls from stash.

I used seam binding, flowers and pearls to alter ceramic horseshoe that was from Tesco gift/card section. A beautiful sentiment on the card, perfect for a special day filled with love!

Some of you may remember me mentioning my nan needing a major operation a few months back, well I'm pleased to say that she had it done and is now on the mend, it only took just over 4hours in the end, instead of the 10 originally planned, which is enough but a much better outcome! We are all very relieved.

Thank you for popping by my little blog, I hope you are having a good week so far.

Hugs,

More from the Vintage Wedding Fair

2011-04-22T05:34:00.000-07:00

I thought I would put the rest of the pictures I have from the Vintage Wedding Fair on here and a shout ou t to s o me of the lovely and talented exhibitors!

My lovely friend Cheryl from Vintage Glamour Days had a stunning stand, a gorgeous display of china and accessories to hire and of course tea and cake!

Nicola from Silver Sixpence in her Shoe with her beautiful handmade bridal accessories. It was lovely chatting to Nicola, who started her business after planning her own too!

Gorgeous shoes by Rachel Simpson....

Stunning jewelled bouquets from Debbie at DC Bouquets

Innovative albums from Illustries

Beautiful blooms from Bottega Blooms, who offer DIY bridal classes.

There were many more lovely exhibitors and pretty things on display, I just ran out of time to get round and get good photos of them, a very talented bunch of people, it was a great way to spend a Sunday! I look forward to my future vintage wedding fairs, always an enjoyable day chatting to brides to be and fellow exhibitors, fun designing new samples, planning my stand and developing my little business! Etsy shop coming soon folks, a work in progress as we speak!

Hope you are having a lovely Easter weekend!

xxx

New Samples - Vintage Glamour and Birdcages!

2011-04-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'm back as promised with a few pics of my latest sampl es that were on show at the Vintage Wedding Fair in Leamington on Sunday.

The first are from my new range of vintage glamour w edding stationery. I'm so pleased I managed to source these vintage brooch style embe llishments as they as go rgeous! This is my higher end of the price range I'm affraid but worth every penny if you want show stopping invitations that set the tone perfectly for an elegant affair! I'll have a better idea of prices once I have more info regarding my trade account with my supplier, as always I want to offer quality bespoke invitations at affordable prices and want t o offer something to cater for all tastes and budgets.

Meet Grace......

and Ava .....

Here are some samples of my Birdcage range, I love these too as I have a soft spot for birdcages and birdies, they have such a pretty vintage charm.

I hope you like! These are samples and can be made in any colours to suit your scheme and are just an idea of the sorts of things I can produce, any of these can be altered or adapted to suit your requirements. These pics will be added to my wedding stationery pages in the sidebar.

I'll be back soon with more pics and news from The Vintage Wedding Fair .......

The Vintage Wedding Fair in Leamington Spa!

2011-04-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a fantastic weekend! Firstly it was Adrian's sister's wedding on Friday, we had a lovely time with family and friends celebratin g with the m. It was a lovely day and the sunshine was wonderful! Congratulations Sarah and Paul!

Then I had my stand at The Vintage Wedding Fair in Leamington Spa. I t wa s a really great day, I had such a lovely time chatting to lots of lovely brides to be and fellow exhibitors there. I was so pleased that I had so many lovely comment s and positive feedback, it was really encouraging and a real boost! I've been tired lately as I seem to be working non stop with my full time job, wedding plans and no w Whimsical Wishes but when you h ave a day like that, it is all worth it!! So thank you to anyone that stopped by, including friends, Elaine, Emily and Dawn. Also one of my dear friends and bridesmaids Gemma and her partner Matt, your help was much apprecaited with all the packing away, thanks guys!

A big shout out though to Adrian and my mum, for getting up early, helping me load the car and set up and for being helpful and supportive all day. I couldn't have done it without you, huge, massive thanks, love you both lots. It was also so lovely to see my sw e et friend Cheryl from Vintage Glamour Days, her stand was amazing as always and it's a lways nice to catch up with her.

Anyway onto the pics! Here is my stand, I have some new samples which i will post in dividually over the next few days. The Vintage Wedding fair was held at the Assembly in Leamington and it was a stunning venue. There was so much pretty on disp lay, such a great way to spend a Sunday!

More photos to come of my new samples and of the other exhibitors at the fair coming soon. Anyone who requested samples I will be working on those over the next few days and get them out to you.

Hope you had a great weekend too and enjoyed the sunshine!

Mother's day cards

2011-04-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

I hope all you mums out there had a lovely Mother's day and were spoilt rotten!! Hopefully I'll be joining the club in the next few years ;-) I just want to say a big thank you to my mum for all she does for me and for always being there, sh e is such a beautiful person, I'm so so lucky to have a mum like her!!

Just popping on quic kly to share a few photos of the other Mother's day designs I made. Had a few happy customers :-)

I've got a busy rest of the week now, busy, busy all the way, samples to do for customers, samples for my stand at the Vintage Wedding Fair on Sunday, brought lots of lovely Papertrey goodies for these, can't wait to play and make the de signs that have been in my head for a few weeks! Adrian's sister also gets married on Friday, so a day of celebrations there. As well as a busy week at work I imagine! Think I will book myself a few days off soon, so tired!! Got a sinus infection and the early onset of hayfever, so on antibiotics and meds for that!

Hope you have a good week. I'll be back soon, I'll be sharing photo's of my stand from the fair etc, I'm hoping it will come together well, lots of ideas for this one, just not enough prep time now, March just sort of diasappear ed on me!!

Hugs,

A few more notepads and the first Mother's day card

2011-03-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

I've got my work cut out for me the next few evenings, I'm in the process of making Mother's day cards, I've had a few ordered and I have my own to do for m y mum and Adrian's mum. I've gone and hurt my shoulder too, I had a fight with the car door and the car door won!! Not a good idea, I blame rushing around! It's painful and bruised at the moment.

It was a busy weekend, I had Adrian's sister's hen party, Ad rian and I were at the theatre seeing Blood Brother's (my third time!!) on Saturday evening and a family meal with Adrian's side on Sunday! If you like the theatre and haven't seen Blood Brother's I would highly recommend it, it's fantastic! We saw it at the Bel grade theatre in Coventry, Nicki Evans did a fantastic job, it was a standing ovation! We also had scrummy pizza at pizza express (blew the diet!).

Here are a few more notepads that I've made, one was for my friend Debbie from Stampeezee, the other for Adrian's sister, so the hen's could write her a message in, a little keeps ake.

Thank you for visiting! I'll be back soon with more Mother's day cards. I haven't had much time to list supplies lately but if there is anything of interest, just shout!

Hugs,

Shabby little notepads!

2011-03-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of some of the shabby chic, vintage inspired notepads I've been making. The first I made was for my friend Letitia's birthda y, I was so pleased that she liked it. I really enjoyed making it too, I used my favourite Tilda pape rs and some gorgeous embellishments I had in my stash, it's good to finally be using my supplie s instead of just hoarding them!! So when I wanted to send my friend Cheryl from Vintage Glamour Days a little thank you gift, it was what sprung to mind! Cheryl is helping me with one or two things for our wedding and has become a lovely friend, offering me help and encouragement towards my little business venture too. I was overwhelmed with her lovely comments about it, she loved it and even posted it on her Vintage Glamour Days Facebook page, to which there was a positive response! It made my day, I tell you! Therefore I will be making some for my Etsy shop, which will be up and running soon, just taking longer than I intended due to so much going on around here. I'll shout and put a link on here when it's ready. I have a few more to make for some friends too and one for my mum for Mother's day.

Right, now I better get back to those Mother's day cards, and the samples I need to make etc. Oh and not forgetting the housework, the joys!

Thank for for dropping by my little blog, say hi and I'll stop by yours in return.

Hugs,

I heart vintage newsprint!

2011-03-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

Whoa!!! Marc h needs to slow down, it's going so fast it's scaring me!!! I was hoping to have more pictures of my we dd in g inv itations from the fair on here before now, but best laid plans and all that. lol. I've been a busy bee again, I have booked two more wedding fairs, one in April and one in October. They are both vintage wedding fairs. I'll be adding an events page to my sidebar with all the deatils on. The next one is on 10th April in Lea mington Spa. I'm really looking forward to it as I love all things vintage and I will be in my element! I just have to get cracking with more samples of stationery, favours and wedding decor now, so many ideas, not enough hours in the day! I'm looking forward to planning my stand/display, I want to make it better and bit different from last time!

I've have also had several consultations with some lovely brides to be and I am in the process of making their requests a reality with some samples. It was so much fun chatting weddings and stationery with them too. I have a few Mother's day cards I need to make too over the weekend.

Along with that was the mine field of sorting out the paper work etc, to do with registering as self employed (I already have a full time job, but have to do this too) to keep the tax man happy! I've also had to sort public liability insurance out as I am having stands at fairs etc. The not so fun but compulsory part!!

I'm still enjoying making our wedding plans too, a lthough we hav e almost everything choosen and booked! Just all the making and creating then!! So many plans and projects, a proper vintage inspired DIY wedding!! A few things left to order and buy too but nearly there. Plus the all important (and probably much needed by then) honeymoon to book! Soooo looking forward to it all. It's going so fast though, time flie s when you're having fun! I must get myself in shape now, been going to zumba which I'm enjoying but need to step it up a gear now.

Anyway enough of me rambling on, here are a few of the invitations that I had on display at my last wedding fair, the plan is to make the matching, place cards, order of service/order of the day, favours etc so I can show case the whole range of each design, plus I want to add tons more designs, although these can be changed, etc to s uit peoples tastes/needs. I am loving vintage newsprint at the moment, that and vintage sheet music and vintage book print, so watch this space more to come with those.

Thank you for stopping by, I'll be back soon with some Mother's day cards and some altered notepads to show you.

My first stand at a wedding fair!

2011-02-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy few weeks again, working and wedding plans etc. Also do ing some bits and pieces for my Whimsical Wishes Wedding stationery. I set myself a challenge this past week I booked a stand at a local wedding fair to exhibit my wedding stationery!!

I only had just over a week to plan and prepare, so no pressure then ! Then Adrian was in a car accident, someon e went into the back of him on the M1, thankfull y he is OK, although has a bad case of whiplash! Those of you that have followed my blog for a while will know we were in an accident just over a year ago and had bad whiplash then too. His car is a write off, so he is dealing with that now. I also got a bout of sinusitis which I could have done without, but never mind!

Anyway I managed to get some samples together and plan my stand, it turned out quite well, I had lots of interest and compliments on my stand and stationery. I had more ideas and things I wanted to do but ran out of time, how ever I really enjoyed it and now have something to build upon! It was nice chatting to so many lovely brides to be.

Here are some picture of my stand, the first two are courtesy of Richard Plastow of that's life photography, thank you for sending these over to me Rich, much appre ciated.

The next photo's I took with my humble camera!

You can see my lovely friend Gemma in the above photo's, she gave up her day to help me and keep me company, thanks for your support Gem, it is much appreciated!

I will be posting individual photo's of the new samples I've done on here and my Facebook page over the next few days and also adding pages on here with information regarding enquiring about or ordering wedding stationery from me, so please check back if you are interested!

Thank you for visiting!

Vintage favour boxes and demask wedding invitations

2011-02-13T05:23:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on lots of samples for Whimsical Wishes wedding stationery and favours! These are now at their new home in the display cabinet at Bea's Brida l! I'll keep a set for myself too. I'm been having so many ideas for designs, I brought a sketch book so that I can get my ideas down when I have them, and even though my drawing leaves alot to be desired I can at least look at them and know what they are supposed to be! It's just finding the time to actually make them now!!

We have had some time off from work this week and have had a fab time. We've been browsing antiques, I love anythi ng old, vintage or shabby chic so I'm tr ying to in corporate this into our big day! We are amongst other things, collecting vintage tea sets to use! I'm loving looking for them and finding so many lovely treasures!! You can see a few of my vintage finds in the pictures below!

We also met our lovely photographers this week, they are great, a husband and wife team, who are so bubbly and friendly, their enthusiasm really shines though and their work is amazing, we spent several hours chatting to them and looking through their work on Thursday and even ended up in the pub, so saf e to say we already feel at ease and well acquainted with them, thanks Jordan and Ines for a great afternoon! We are so excited about ou r photos now, just what we were looking for, really looking forward to our pre-wedding shoot too, should be fun! If you are getting married and haven't got a photographer yet, then we would suggest you check out Source Images .

Here are my latest creations,

I'm going to try to get some goodies in my Etsy shop within the next few weeks, I'll link it on here when it's up and running properly!

Oh well back to work tomorrow! Had such a great week off catching up with family and friends, sorting wedding plans, browsing antiques, crafting and eating out, could seriously get used to it!!

Thanks for popping by!

Where have I been?!!?!

2011-02-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well hello lovelies! It's been quite a while I know, I've missed this li ttle blog of mine and all of you too. The reason for the neglect, well, several really. Firstly in full on wedding planning mode now and loving it!! Have also discovered wedding blogs, this is good, but bad at the same time as I have spent too many hours perusing these numerous pages of wedding prettiness!! Very inspiring but you have been warned, it will pass several h ours without you realising!!

Secondly well just working full time and trying to be social and have a life, but thirdly an opportunity has presented itself which I could not ignore or let pass me by. I was looking for bridesmaid dresses and found a company I loved the designs of, searched for stockists and found a lovely bridal shop that stocked them - Bea's Bridal in Southam, Warwickshire! The shop is owned by the lovely Hannah, her assistant manager Ria is also v ery friendly and helpful, a must visit if you are g etting married as they offer gorgeous dresses, cak es, vintage china hire, the list goes on, take a look at the site or visit the shop, it is very pretty, a real treat! Well I got chatting, those that no me know I'm good at this!! Got on to the subject of me being crafty and making invitations etc, next thing Hannah asks if I would like to put some samples in the shop!!! Beyond excited!!! They are starting a wedding planning side of the bu siness and are looking to offer everything for the bride to be. Hannah took a look at my blog and then emailed me about it and now I'm making samples! I also went to a vintage weding fair in Birmingham and seeing all the talented ladies with their lovely goodies on display has spurred me on and I've now got business cards, a Whimsical Wishes Facebook page and an Etsy shop!! Not forgetting my little old blog here. So lots of wedding yumminess coming to my sites/pages very soon.

I've been wanting to ge t a little crafty business going for som e time and have done bits and pieces but something abo ut planning our weddin g has bro ught about more inspiration and motivation, so I'm going to throw myself into it once and for all. I plan to offer bespoke greetings cards, keepsakes, wedding stationery, favours and decor, in vintage, elegant and contemporary designs. Please visit my facebook page if you have time too.

So for now I'll leave you with a few of the wedding samples I have done so far, many, many more to come!! Don't worry though I will still be doing general cards and proje cts too. Phot's taken in Bea's Bridal.

Thank you for stopping by, let me know you did so I can visit you in return.

Love,

Happy 2011!

2011-01-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2011 brings you all you wish for and more. May much love, happiness and good health be yours always. I am soooo excited for this year I could burst!! This is the year that I get to marry my prince charming!! I can't wait and I am looking forward to finishing all the preparati ons. All that wedding crafting I'm going to be doing ....... invitations, order of service, place cards, tab le plan, favours, guest book, decorations etc, the list goes on and the i deas are overflowing, can't Wait to get into the swing of everything again! I would like a lasting reminder of the build up to our big day, hence the wedding planner journal I made, which I plan to finish up in the next few weeks and share w ith you.

Always a bit sad when Christmas is over for another year as I love it so, but with so much to look forward to, it's full steam ahead!! As well as the wedding I have so many plans and goals for this year. Feeling full of positive vibes, ideas and inspiration . Just need some energy now and we are well away!!! ha ha.

Here are some of the Christmas creations that I did not get to share before Christmas arrived, the last of my 2010 creations. A Christmas notepad for those shopping/gift lists, a keepsake box for my mum and a few cards. I forgot to photograph some of the other things before giving them to the recipients!

Wishing you a wonderful new year,

Christmas Wishes

2010-12-25T21:30:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing you love, joy, happiness and all the bles sings of the festive season. I hope everyone is having a lovely time with their family and friends. I'm having a lovely quite, cozy Christmas day with my hubs to be in our little cottage. I was working yesterday but after work visted Adrian's family, then my family came round when I came back, we went to the pub in the village and had lots of laughs. Love it, family and friends, the greatest gift of all, I feel very blessed!

I'm sorry that I h ave not updated in so long, but can honestly say that I have only just stopped!! lol. It's been a crazy 4/5 weeks. We decided to decorate the kitchen at the end of November after my last post, we didn't think it would take long ...... wrong! Took a few weeks, but the hard work has paid off because it looks much better. It's where I do my crafting too, so I had no where to craft as our cottage is only small. This then put me behind with Christmas crafting, shopping and decorating etc. My mum was also 50 on 8th December so I had her birthday presents, card etc to get, we also went away as a family for a few days to celebrate, which was lovely, we all had a great time. We wanted to make it special for her and think we did.

So here we are, I must admit I'm really enjoying it but feeling very tired! The few days off are much needed and I'm hoping my batteries will be fully recharged! I've got some Christmas creations to share, hopefully will do so over the next few days, better late than never!

Thank you to all my family and friends for their lovely cards and presents, I've been spoilt again! I love spoiling people too at this time of year, so much fun! I've got some new Papertrey ink goodies to play with oh, we never grow up do we ... new toys!!

Well just about to settle down with a glass of bubbly and watch It's a Wonderful life (my favourite film of all time) in front of a roaring fire, with the tree twinkling, candles flickering and my gorgeous h2b, bliss, what more could I ask for!

Hope your Christmas is a wonderful one.

Love,

Cosy Christmas Wreath

2010-11-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

The parcel Gemma and I had ordered from Papertrey Ink finally arrived (a few weeks ago), it took so long because it went via Australia!!! Never mind, at least it got here in the end, and in time to make some Christmas cards etc. I absolutely love the Wreath forAll Seasons set, it's gorgeous, I'm afraid I think you will see this on my creations again and again. It's just my style!! I love twiggy berry wreaths like this a nd h ave o ne h a n ging year round in my home. Something about these wreaths say cosy country home and a warm welcome. So I thought they would be perfect for Christmas cards, however the set is versatile and can be used for all seasons or occasions, yippee, cute wreaths all round!!

Supplies: Stamps - Papertrey Ink, A Wreath for All Seasons and sentiment Holiday tags 2010/DP - Basic Grey wassil/Cardstock and Buttons - papertrey Ink/Twine - Stampin' Up/Lace ribbon from stash/Other - PTI mat stack die, distress inks, sewing machine.

Thank you to those of you who left comments about my Nan, so kind of you.

Hope you are having a good week so far. Please let me know you stopped by and I can visit you in return.

Hugs,

First Christmas cards of 2010

2010-11-20T03:02:00.000-08:00

I'm frantically trying to catch up with my to do list and my Christmas planning, feel way behind!! I made these Christmas cards a few weeks ago now when I went to my friend Gemma's for a craft day. Gemma had made us all a little gift, we had water bottles with our names on for our place settings and a lovely buffet with sandwiches, cakes etc. It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon and with such lovely ladies there for company I think I did m ore talking than crafting!! I didn't take any photo's unfortunately, I must remember to always take my camera! Thank you Gemma for arranging it and spoiling us, you're the best!!

Supplies: Stamp - Imaginations/DP - Websters pages/Buttons and twine - Papertrey Ink/Rick rack from stash/Other - Beaded oval nesties, Tim Holtz distress inks and tool, distress tool.

Supplies: Stamp - Whipper snapper designs, sentiment - Papertrey Ink/DP - Imaginesce/Butons - Papertrey Ink/Baker's twine - Stampeezee/Other - ribbon, oval and scallop oval punches - Stampin up, Tim Holtz distress inks and tool, distress tool.

I absolutely love Christmas and the build up to it, I love getting out my cherished Christmas decorations that I've collected over the years, they bring back such sweet memories. I also enjoy getting my Christmas crafting items out and using these to create handmade cards and gifts for loved ones.

I haven't had the best of weeks this week, had some news regarding my nan, she has been under investigation for mouth cancer and had her biospy results on Thursday, the good news is that it isn't a cancer that can spread to other parts of her body but the bad news is that it is a rare tumour of the jaw which had eated away at the jaw and she has got to undergo a major 10hr operation to remove it and reconstruct her jaw with bone and arteries from her leg. It is a risky operation but the risks of not having it are bad too as it will continue to grow and cause damage. The recovery involves a stay in ICU, breathing tubes, liquidised food, speech and language therapy, a long haul bacically. Not a nice prospect at any age but she is 77 and has had heart trouble in the past, we are very worried about her. So please say a little prayer that she comes through this OK. She is having more tests etc and will be having this surgery after Christmas. So we will try to make Christmas special for her to hopefully take her mind off what the new year is to bring.

Thank you so much for stopping by, please let me know that you did so I can visit you in return.

Hugs,

A snowflake is winter's butterfly

2010-11-16T13:04:00.000-08:00

I'm back again! It's been such a hectic few weeks, I'm really feeling it now, but I've had a great time. First it was celebrating my sister's and Adrian's birthdays. Then I've had one of my best friends, Daniela's wedding, I was chief br idesmaid and it was such an honour.

Congratulations Daniela and James on becoming Mr and Mrs Taylor. Thanks for letting us share your special day, we had a fantastic time. Love you both lots.

So there was all that a wedding entails, I had hair dressers appointments, spray tan appointment, bridal shower, we all met at the hotel the evening before and had a lovely meal. Then me and Daniela had a nice girly time gettin g ready the night b efore and on the morning of her wedding. Then the really fun part, the wedding itself.

I thought I'd share the invitations that I designed and we made for the wedding, Daniela loves winter and wanted snowflakes but also liked butterflies, thankfully we were able to tie these together with the beautiful sentiment a snow flake is winter's butterfly. We made these a while ago now but I never got around to sharing them bef ore. The photo unfortunately doesn't show up the shimmery cardstock etc. The colours were blue and silver.

Then here is the wedding card I made for the happy couple, again bringing in the colours of the wedding and the butterflies.

I also made a keepsake box for Daniela's lovely mum Yvette to give to Daniela at her bridal shower but I don't think I took a picture of it, doh!!

Anyway just a quick post to let you know what I've been up to and to share a few things I'd made, I've now got to get cracking with some Christmas cards etc, feel so behind with everything, so much to do so little time, Christmas is approaching fast!!!! I've got a few cards made which I'll post over the next few days.

Until then,

Hugs,

Bonfire Birthday's

2010-11-05T03:48:00.000-07:00

Today is Adrian's and my sisters birthdays, they were both Guy Fawkes night babies!! So sending big birthday wishes their way. Hope you both have a great day and yes all the fireworks are just for you!! I love you both dearly.

Here are the cards I made for them.

I'm off to my friend Gemma's tomorrow for a craft day, so should have something to share with you over the weekend too. We did order lots of the new release from Papertrey Ink to make Christmas projects with, poor Gemma even got up at 5am on release day because of the time difference to make sure we ordered before they ran out of stock, as if they did it may be too late to order things to make cards etc before Christmas with us being in the UK, but alas that was over three weeks ago and still no parcel, no tracking number and now PTI email system crashed and no other way to contact them!!! The money has been taken and confirmation of order received, so we are worried as to the where abouts of it! Fingers crossed it arrives soon.

I'm off to celebrate Adrian's birthday with him, we both have the day off together, not much cooking today, yipee, we will be going for a lovely meal. My sis is in London seeing Blood Brother's with her boyfriend Carl, so I'll see her to celebrate tomorrow night/Sunday. Also my friend Daniela is having a bridal shower Sunday, as she gets married next week and I'm Bridesmaid. So a busy fun packed weekend!!!

Hope you have a safe and happy Bonfire night.

Hugs,

Pumpkin Pie

2010-10-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

Autumn is my favourite time of year, it is passing so quickly this year, I've been so busy too that I feel I haven't had time to soak up all the things I love about this time of year. So I tried to embrace autumn today and went on a fall food cooking spree!! I made chicken stew with herby dumplins and then pum pkin pies. One for us and one for my mum as she loves it too. I planned to make some butternut squash soup and some autumn cards too, but ran out of steam!! So hopefully I'll finish up the cards over the next day or two and have them to share. I'll make the soup another day too. I always try to cram too much in!

But for now folks all I have is a pic of my pumpkin pie, doesn't look like a pic out of a Martha Stewart cook book I know, but it tasted good all the same ;-)

Hope you have had a happy and safe Halloween weekend, with lots of treats, no tricks!!

Hugs,

My Wedding Planner

2010-10-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd hop on here and share a quick pic o f the wedding planner I'm working on, it's a place for my ideas, inspiration, a place to jot down lists, websites, blogs etc. I wanted to have a shabby chic, vintage feel and to be simila r to my save the date cards. I'm also quite pleased with how it's devel oping, here is the front cover. It is really sparkly in real life, doesn't show up too well in the photos, but here goes. Couldn't decide which pic was best as lighting wasn't very good, so popped them all on here.

Chipboard album - Papermania/DP - Girls paperie/Stamp - Inkadinkadoo/Sparkly chipboard letters - Dear Lizzy - American crafts/Pins - Jennie Bowlin/Vintage seam binding - ebay/Glass glitter star - Etsy/Other - sewing machine, glamour dust, Tim Holtz crackle paint and distress inks, mica flakes, distress tool.

I have the inside pages t o decorate, I'll try to post some pics of the whole thing once it's finished, which hopefully will be soon. I've got a few keepsake boxes I need to finish up for orders etc and a stack of baby cards to make, it appears everyone we know are having babies at the moment!!

Thank you for stopping by and for any comments you may leave, I love reading them.

Hugs,

Save the Date!

2010-10-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

Here are my save the dat e cards that I have been working on, had to do quite a few, over 40 anyway, I'm pleased with h ow they turned out and have started handing them out as I see the guests we will be i n viting , got to post a f e w out too. I love all things old, vintage, distressed and shabby chic, so I'm trying to incorporate this into our big day.

Stamps - American crafts/Vintage seam binding and glass glitter stars from etsy/cardstock and notebook page die - Papertey Ink/Gem pins - Making Memories vintage findings range/Other - Tim Holtz distress inks, gems from stash.

I really can't wait untill 9th September next year, will be marrying my gorgeous guy!! Time is passing so quickly I'm going to savour the planning and the build up as much as possible too! It is very exciting and so much fun! It's right up my street, I could do it for a living!! I'll try not to become a wedding bore on here though, but can't promise! I'll share a pic or two of my wedding planner journal once I've completed it too.

Hope you are having a fab weekend!

Hugs,

Candy winner!

2010-10-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, I'm still here, just busy! Had a kidney infection again too which make me feel yuck and slowed me down. I thought I'd pop on here to announce the winner of my Papertrey Ink blog candy....... the winner is Victoria, please could you contact me with your snail mail address so that I can post it out to you.

I will be back in next few days, just putting the finishing touches to my Save the Date cards so I have those to share with you. Started them weeks ago but you know how it is! Oh doesn't working full time and housework get in the way of our hobby!!

Hope you are all well, keep warm, it's frrreeeezzzing outside, especially for this time of year!!

Hugs,

Friendship Jar

2010-09-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a card I made for a friends birthday, I love the freindship jar sets from Papertrey, I'm not sure why exactly, maybe it's the cute old fashioned jars or maybe it's the fun fillers, or both, the fact there are matching dies too made me swoon when they released them. I had the fall fillers set for my birthday too so expect to be seeing a few jar style creations for a while, lets hope they release a Christmas fillers set too, goodness that would be heaven! ha ha. Only you fellow crafters would understand my excitement, others would just think I'm nuts, well maybe I am?!

Supplies: Stamps - image and sentiment - Papertrey Ink/cardstock- PTI and SU/DP- October Afternoon/Buttons and baker's twine - PTI/Felt and rick rack border die - PTI

Well this is a scheduled post as I'm a way with work for a few days at a conference, so I hope it's posted OK. I'll stop by your lovely blogs once I'm back.

Hugs,

Birthday celebrations!

2010-09-26T04:01:00.000-07:00

I have had a lovely week off, It's flown by though!! Probably because it's gotten a bit busy around here again! I had a really nice birthday though, it was great to get away for a few days, it was relaxing and the Cotswolds are beautiful. We stayed in S tow-on-the-Wold which is a lovely little town, some nice little shops, cozy pubs and gorgeous countryside. I was drooling over many of the stunningly pretty cot tages around the Cotswolds. We stayed in a great hotel too, called The Royalist, one of the oldest inns in England, I'd recommend it if you were planning a break away in that neck of the woods, it was a great base too, we only seemed to be 10 miles from anywhere, so the travelling didn't take long. Here are a few pics.

Thank you to my better half, Adrian for such a lovely break, it was refreshing!! I was spoilt on my birthday, I really was. Thanks to my family and friends, you are the best!! Here are my goodies, lots of Papertrey goodies from Adrian, othe r crafting goodies include new nesties, magnolia dies, Basic grey and October afternoon papers and some Greeting farm stamps, doesn't get much better than that for a paper cr after does it!! ha ha. I had some lovely decorative items for our little cottage too, will enjoy finding a home for these! I also had a fab cupcake stand, I will have fun using that!! I had some pretty jewellery and a cozy jumper too. I also had some money, gift vouchers and lovely flowers. I'll get some nice snuggly autumn/w inter clothes with my vouchers and what money I have left, as it's definitely gotten chilly the last few days.

I also was very touched at the gorgeous gifts that my friend Gemma and her lovely mum, Jan sent me, I was really spoilt here, look at the amazing items Jan made me, she is a fantastic sewer/quilter and I now have this really pretty matching set, including a sewing bag, pin cushion, needle case and scissor holder, how cute are these?!! All in my favourite Tilda fabr ic too. A big thank you to Gemma and Jan for their thoughtfulness and effort, I love them!! I just need to get sewing now!

I was also lucky enou gh to have some gorgeous handmade cards, nothing nicer!! thank you to Debbie, Gra ce, Gemma and Annika for these! When I first started crafting I didn't really know many wh o shared my hobby, it's so great that I have made such fab crafty friends!

I have got a few cards etc that I've made to share and will do over the next few days. I didn't do as much crafting as I intended to but spent some time with family and caught up with friends, which after all is the most important thing you can do! I was at one of my best friends hen parties yesterday, which I helped plan, we had a fun day and I really enjoyed my massage too!

I'll be back soon, don't forget to enter my Papertrey Ink blog candy!

Big hugs,

xxxxxxx

Birthday blog candy!!

2010-09-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

***********THIS CANDY IS NOW CLOSED***************

Hi folks, well it's been a while again, I don't know, life just gets in the way sometimes doesn't it, but I'm craving some crafting time and to get creative and thankfully have a week off work too, so it might just happen for a change!!

Well today is my birthday, the last of my twenties, boo, hoo!! So I thought I'd spread a little love and have a giveaway. It is also my blog anniversary in September, yes my little old blog has turned two!! Can not believe it's been two years since my first post, where has the time gone. So I'm giving away a Papertrey Ink Take Note stamp set to one lucky winne r as a way of saying thank you for visiting, and leaving such lovely encouraging comments, you are all so lovely and I thank you dearly. Just leave a comment, open to all, please link on your blog and if you are not a follower, it would be great if you became one. Only one entry each please. Closes on 19th October 2010.

I'm off to the Cotswolds for a few days away with Adrian, a much needed break and some quaility time together. Looking forwa rd to having a look around the lovely villages, little shops and sampling a few pubs! ha ha. I'll be back soon to share some creative projects and some pics from my birthday celebrations.

Thank you for stopping by

The date is set!!!

2010-08-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

What a few weeks/months it has been, so many ups and downs and it's been very busy! I'm really happy to say that one of our biggest goals this year has now been met though!!! We have set a date for our wedding!!! We will be tying the knot on 9th September 2011!!! I can not wait! I love Adrian so much and it will be fantastic to finally be Mr and Mrs! We have been together nearly nine years now a nd engaged for three, so it will be lots of fun planning our big day at last. We are hoping the ceremony will be at the church here in Brinklow (awaiting confirmation as there is a new vicar starting in September, but I've been told there shouldn't be a problem) and we have booked and paid our deposit on a beautiful venue, near Lea mington Spa, called Wethele Manor. Wethele is just the sort of place we were looking for, somewhere with character and rustic charm, simple and elegant without being pretentious, somewhere where our g uests would feel at home and Wethele ticks all those boxes. It is a family run place and they are very friendly and accommodating, which allows us to have what we want, we have exclusive use of the manor farmhouse, the barns and marquee. I have so many ideas for decorating etc it's untrue!! I can't wait to really get stuck into the planning and organis ing. It's a year away but if the last year is anything to go by it will be here before we know it!! So I better get cracking.

I'm in the process of designing and making save the date cards and I'll share those as soon as they are sent out. I'm decorating a chipboard album that will be my wedding planner/idea book, so watch this space for those.

In the mean time I have made a few little than k you notelets with some of my Papertrey Ink supplies, as I really don't have much of a card stash lately. This needs to change as I have been wanting to put some things in my Etsy shop for a while now, but with the wedding to save and pay for I think I need to make this a reality, the extra pennies will definitely come in handy. I'm always getting asked by work colleagues etc ask for cards and it will be great to direct them to my Etsy shop, I will also perhaps start a Folky shop too, so there is more choice where to shop for my goodies. For anyone interested I will link them on here when they are up and running. I know that most of you that visit make your own but just thought I'd mention it for those that don't. I may have try to do some mini kits, possi bly PTI f or the crafters out there, so that may be worth a look!

Anyway, I hope to get back into the swing of posting and crafting more often now. After how hectic things have been lately I think I need to take some time out for myself and to do what I enjoy as I have been really tired lately and I don't want to end up too run down, not when there is so much to look forward too. Hope you are all well and I'll pop by your blogs to see you all soon. Thank you for stopping by and for letting me share my good news.

Big hugs,

Hello again!

2010-08-08T04:38:00.000-07:00

Warning: long post!! Well what a couple of weeks it's been, I don't think my feet have touched the ground!! I'm really pleased though to report that my mum is home from hospital and is recovering, she will have to have more tests in a few weeks to get a better a picture of that is wrong and hopefully a plan to prevent it from happening again etc. Thank you to those of you who left comments, sent messages etc, all were very much appre ciated.

I also had my assignment to get done amongst, visiting my mum at hospital, then at home and going to work etc. I work at the hospital my mum was at so at least I could keep an eye on how she was doing whilst at work etc. We were also trying to sort our w edding venue and date out too. Thankfully my assignment has now been submitted, I just have a presentation to work on now, then I go to Cambridge on Tuesday/Wednesday to com plet e the course and deliver the presentation. So it will be a sigh of relief once it is all completely out of the way! I just have to hope I pass the course then, which I will not find until September, so fingers crossed. It was one thing after another since I went on the course an d was set the work, first the bereavement of my great aunt, then my mum being ill, so it's been a challenge!! It is also my last shift working on the ward tomorrow, those of you that follow my blog might know that I got a specialist nurse role last year but as the hours were not enough I still worked one day a week on the ward to make my pay cheque balance, well thankfully after a long wait I will now be doing my stoma care nurse role full time, which is great a s I can concentrate on this now. So I'm hoping that now with the course out the way etc I can get back to some sort of normality, whatever that is! lol. Anyway enough of me waffling on!

I don't have much to show you yet other than a few things I hadn't had chance to post, so here is a card I made for a dear friend's housewarming rec e ntly.

Supplies: Images and sentiments - Papertrey Ink, Wonderfully Whimsical and Up, up and away sets/cardstock - Papertrey Ink and SU/Buttons and twine - Papertrey Ink/other - Baker's twine - Stampeezee.

Also my friend Gemma and I indulged our obsession with all things PTI a little more!! This helped to cheer me up the other week, my collection is really growing now, yipee! I don't feel too guilty indulging as I have sold an awful lot of my SU stamps etc on ebay recently, so it made some money and space for more PTI yumminess!! With my birthday coming next month I'm sure I may get to indulge a little more, then the purse strings will have to tighten as we will be saving hard for our big day!

On the subject of our wedding, we have chosen a venue and date, just need to sort a few things then I can shout about it from the rooftops!! lol. Can you tell I'm excited?! I'm sure there will be save the date cards, wedding planner journals and inspiration folder projects galore on here soon!! I've got some wedding invitations I made for a friend to share too, so stay tuned, I'm back and itching to create!!

Hugs,