Supplies and Stuff

So, I was lucky enough to get a bonus at work last month and before it was all eaten up with life stuff (our wedding, daughter's uni fund), I thought I'd spend some on myself.  I am returning to card making after quite a while away from it (if you don't count wedding invitations!) and although I already have lots of lovely crafty stuff, there's nothing quite like a bit of a spend to get the creative juices flowing again, I find.  But where to begin? There's so much choice out there and my hard-earned bonus wouldn't stretch to buying everything I'd had my eye on for so long.  Neither would the house accommodate it, I might add. 

So, I looked for inspiration in Crafty Blogland and found it, particularly in two places: Stamping Bella (oh! feel the love) and Paper Possibilities - Paula Williamson's wonderful blog. I had 'stalked' these two for months and months, coveting Bella's stampy stuff and devouring Paula's creativity.  So, there was only one thing to do: Shoppabella!  And I did, big time - bought all the lovely Bellas I could afford (plus a couple of other stamps I'd always wanted) and some Bella's Bestest paper, which should give me a brilliant base for my stamping and colouring.

And, I can't colour without pencils, so my next treat was a box of 132 (yup, 132!! Yayy!) beautiful Prismacolor pencils, the stuff of my colouring dreams. And some blending stumps. And some Sansodor for using with the blending stumps and Prismacolors. Can you feel the excitement?  It was extreme retail therapy - and all without leaving the house, actually!

Finally, a piece of equipment.  I had wanted a 'cutty machiney thing' for quite some time.  I wanted to be able to produce beautiful circles and ovals and squares and rectangles, some with plain edges, some with scalloped edges, in all sorts of sizes.  Yup, you got it, I bought myself a Spellbinders Wizard (and carry bag, of course) and found a wonderful website, Once Upon a Stamp, which was (and still is, I think, at the date I'm writing this) offering four lots of Nestabilities dies for a very good price!

Throw in a few of my favourite Cosmo Cricket and My Minds Eye papers (yum-yum), a few tubs of glitter and I was ready.  Aaaaahhhhh - the anticipation. 

So I sat down, I stamped, I coloured, I blended, I cut, I layered, I glittered and I came up with:

SnowbunnyBella

Isn't she cute?  I'm so pleased with her.  She's my very first attempt at using my Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor (I think they call it gamsol in the US) and I'm very chuffed with her.  I popped in some Cosmo Cricket background paper from my 'Jolly by Golly' mini-book, and used something that came out of an old tube I had for the 'fur' effect.  Can't remember what it's called just now - and the tube is buried under all the 'stuff'.

It was wonderful to be back in the Land of the Card Makers (a rather large county in Crafty Blogland).  Mind you, how am I ever going to sleep again? Too many pretty things, too many ideas and NOT ENOUGH TIME!!!

Speaking of sleep - '"Time for bed", said Zebedee'.  Bye for now.

If you're sitting comfortably, let's begin

It feels odd to welcome you to my blog but, as this is kind of my internet front room, then 'Welcome, come on in, pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable.'

I've been a fan of craft blogs for a while now and have whiled away many a lunchtime revelling in the gorgeousness of Crafty Blogland. But I've always been a bit shy of stepping out here on my own - until now, of course.  I'm getting braver as I get older, methinks, and now my darling daughter has stepped out on her own for the first time at university, well, I've a bit of a gap to fill.  So this is my first post and I'm on my way to Crafty Blogland. I just need to go and get some supplies for the trip! See you there soon.