Crazicards Crafty Blog

We have all seen the conventional exploding boxes which contain several layers decorated up and which fall open once the box lid is removed. I wanted to try the exploding box but I also wanted to do something a little bit different inside instead of the layers.

So I decided that as I love butterflies so much I would have to incorporate them  in the design of my box. The though of floating butterflies was quite intriguing too. By the end of this two part tutorial I am hoping that you will be able to create your own exploding box with a difference.

What you will need

• Coloured card for making your box and for matting and layering.
• Card for stamping.
• Stamps of your choice - I chose Elusive Images Eastern Grasses and Gina K Take Flight
• Ink pads in your chosen colours
• Acetate sheet
• Waxed thread
• Glossy accents
• Glitter or Sakura gel pens
• Promarkers
• Wet glue and small pegs or paper clips

 Getting Started

Step 1

The hardest part for me was to choose the right colour combinations of card and the stamps I want to use. I eventually decided on Lime Green plain card stock for the main box and shiny black mirror board for the matting. I chose super smooth white card for my stamping surface as I find this always gives a good impression.

Step 2


As the Eastern Grasses stamps from Elusive Images  are quite long I needed to make my box large enough to accept the full image of each stamp. To do this I simply measured the largest stamp from the set. After measuring and adding a little for matting and layering it worked out that I needed a box that had sides of 4.5" tall and at least 3" wide. This worked out great as it meant that I could use a 12" x 12" sheet of card for the base of the box. My card looked something like this:


Next I made the lid using the same principle but I added 1mm to two adjacent sides to ensure the lid fit snugly onto the box base.

The depth of the lid sides is entirely up to you. The image to the right is what I had by the time I had cut out the base and lid. At this point to make life easier label each side of your box and lid. This will make life much easier for you when you create your matting an layering as you will label each piece as you go along.

The next step is to make all your mat and layers for each side of your box base and your lid. This takes a lot of time depending on how many layers you go for but take your time as you want the layers to look great. So choose the colours that match your main design as well as your box colour.

I wanted to make my stamped layers pop so I made a mat from glossy black mirror board to sit between my stamped layer and the box base. You can miss this part out if you prefer and just use distressed inks to highlight the edges of your stamped panels.

Tip: Don't forget to make enough panels for both the inside and the outside of your box base. By the time you have made all your panels it should look something like this.

Step 3 

Now you need to glue your box lid together making sure all the edges are lined up, use your little pegs or paper clips to hold the corners in place whilst the glue dries. (I am presuming that you will know how to make up your box lid so please feel free to contact me if you have never made a box before, I am always happy to to help).

Step 4

Next comes the fun bit - decorating your panels. There are so many possibilities when it comes to decorating your box panels. You can stamp them, you can paint them and you can even decoupage them if you wish, the choice is entirely yours, the main thing is to have fun and enjoy what your doing.

I decided to ink my panels with Tim Holtz Distressed Inks and then I stamped them with my Elusive Images Eastern Grasses stamp set. At this point you can add highlights to your stamped images or you can mount them onto your matting layers and them add embellishments, glitter and highlights if you wish.

I added small amounts of glossy accents and I also used my Sakura Glitter pens to add highlights. Once you have finished all you panels mount them up onto your matting layers, matching each numbered or lettered layer together, (did you remember to number them?).

Once you have finished you will have something like this image to the right. In total you should have 14 panels depending on whether you decided to cover each panel or not.

Step 5

The last step for making the box is to put all your panels onto their corresponding box flap, base and lid. Inside and out. Now you can just keep your box as it is or you can add a little twist so that when the box opens you get a lovely surprise. There are many different things you can do such as flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, balloons etc.


As I mentioned previously I decided on butterflies so here is a sneaky peak, I will show you how to make these floating butterflies in the next newsletter.


I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings,  until next time happy crafting :O)

This months theme for the Graphicus Guild Tag swap was Romance. Which fits in quite nicely as  we had Valentines Day last week.

This is the gorgeous tag I received from Sheila. She has used Elusive Images stamps and Tim Holtz Distressed inks. 

I love the lace edging to the bottom of the tag.

After the huge tag I made for my first tag swap I managed to scale it down a little for this months Romance swap "lol" . I think the size of the tag is going to be dictated by the stamps I decide to use for that particular challenge.

I don't think it really matters too much what the size is as long as it is a tag.

I wanted to try something new for my tag this time.  So I set about making the background and took 4 different coloured Distressed ink pads and coloured in the page using each one in turn with my cut 'n' dry foam pad. Once I had finished that and let it dry I set about making a fabulous collage using some of my Tim Holtz stamps.

That was quite good fun and something I will definitely be trying again using different stamp sets that I have in my Stash. I can imagine that I will get some great collage background sets.

Once I had made the background and collage it with my stamps I took a  gold pen and a white pen and made some little highlights which made the background come forwards a little. I then stamped my Clarity Stamp Sketchy Lady on to card and added some swirls to her dress in red ink. And then I stamped her into Angelina fibres and put them together with my trusty zig pen.

Whilst that was drying I found some little letter stickers I have had for an absolute age and set out the word love to the bottom left. I covered each letter in Glossy Accents and left that to dry.

Once everything was dry I coloured in the sketchy lady with my promarker skin tones an mounted her onto the tag with silicone glue. I then coloured some string using the 4 distressed inks that I used to make the background, added a heart flower charm and there you have it my finished romance tag. I sent it off to it's new home with Pearl this week and I hope she likes it :O)

If you look through my cards you won't really see anything too girly in there as I don't have too many girly type stamps to be honest apart from flowers. I love that grungy arty look more than anything else so I concentate on that style normally.

However, when I saw the Debbie Moore Art Deco Ladies on TV the other week I just had to have them. There is just something about that era I love.

Sadly only one was sent as the other went out of stock :O( But lucky for me the one I did receive was my favourite one so I wasn't too disappointed.

So over the weekend I set to and made this card with a wrap. And although I say so myself I really love it.. as it came out so much better than I imagined it would.

I wanted to try something different for this card so I made a cross over card, with a wrap around.

The little wrap around helps to keep the card closed as well as making it look good too. You can make this from anything you like such as vellum, card, lace, paper. And you can keep it really simple or make it as lavish as you like.

I went for the simple but elegant, using patterned card, black organza ribbon and string of pearly beads. After I took this picture I decided to add a tiny red rose and a Chrystal heart charm which were attached to the bow. Unfortunately I forgot to take another picture - sorry ....

The base card was made from 2 x A5 centura pearl card blanks. The front of each card was scored on the Hougie board to make a diamond pattern before cutting in half.

The half that was removed was then used to decorate the inside of the card fronts and continued the diamond pattern on the inside.The 2 x A5 cards were then stuck together with collall photo glue.

I love this glue as you can rub away the excess if it squishes out the sides, like it always does!!! The inside of the card was matted with Black glitter card and a punched out white glitter card topper.They were stuck together with collall silicon glue to ensure a good bond.

I then stamped the gorgeous Art Deco lady and coloured in the back panel using Sakura Gel pens.And I coloured the ladies skin in using my skin tone and skin accent promarkers.

Now for the fun bit. I took out 2 different colours of Cosmic Shimmer Fusible Film and a tiny bit of Angelina Fibres to create the ladies dress, feathers and hat.

I stamped and ironed the image first in one colour and then with the darker colour I just stamped and ironed the hat and feathers.

These were then cut out and put together over the original stamped figure. The great thing about the fusible film is that you can shape it with your iron. So you can really make the dress look like it has folds in it.

And one of the other unique things about the film is that it changes colour in different light. For example in the image the dress is Pink and Blue. If you turn the card more to the light the dress turns Green, and more to the other side it is a pearly White, it's fabulous...

To attach the film pieces to the original image I used a Zig Glue Pen round the edges. And to finish off I added a few gems to add some sparkle.

I shall definitely be making more cards like this in the future, I just have to hunt for some different art deco stamps...

Thanks for reading & Happy Crafting...

I just wanted to add a quick message to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day

I hope you all got lot's of nice flowers, chocolates and cards from those that you love. If not then here is a Valentine from me to you :O) Have a lovely Day xx

In my last tutorial I promised to show you how to emboss with you Mica Masks when you don't have an embossing machine such as a Spellbinder Wizard, Cuttlebug or Sizzix Big Shot.

It's quite easy really and the depth of the embossing can be adjusted to your needs quite easily where as with an embossing machine you don't have too much control over the depth of embossing.

Here are the tools you will need for this technique:

1. A Speedball or other soft rubber brayer.
2. A dye based ink pad such as a Ranger Big and Juicy.
3. A Mica Mask of your choice.
4. Cheap tissues, toilet tissue or shoe box tissue paper.
5. Card or paper stock.
6. Cosmic Shimmer Misters or any other Mica Mister or Ink Mister (you can even make your own mister using water and with mica pigment powders or perfect pearls).
7. Wet Wipes and paper towels for cleaning up afterwards.

 Step 1

Place a sheet of card or paper onto your covered work surface, you don't have to do this but as I hate to waste ink I do this every time. You will create 3 sheets from this one technique.

Now place your chosen Mica Mask on top of the card.

I chose the leaves mask again as it is one of my absolute favourites and it shows this technique really well. You can see all the other masks I have here.

There are 19 different masks to choose from.

Step 2

Cover the the mask with cheap tissues or toilet tissue making sure you create a good layer, n the same way as we did for the last project.

Step 3

Spray a good layer of your chosen cosmic shimmer misters over the tissue and then cover with a piece of card of thick paper.

Once your are happy that you have finished adding your colours place a second piece of paper or card over the top of you tissue paper.


Take your brayer and roll it back and forth over your tissue sandwich applying plenty of pressure.

At this point the initial depth of embossing will be determined by the amount of pressure you apply and how many times you go over the paper with your brayer.


TIP: You can also use a rolling pin if you don't have a brayer.

But don't worry if your not happy with the embossed images depth when you have finished brayering you can apply more depth by using a sponge.

At the same time you can also add other highlights of further colours if you want to.

Once you are happy with your background leave it to dry naturally or you can use your heat gun to dry your paper if your in a hurry.

I like to sit and make a whole load of backgrounds all at once, which is great messy fun, and then I put them away to use at a later date. It saves a lot of time if you are in a hurry and need to make a quick card for someone.

I used this background on one of my Charity cards, the one with the orange toned topper, that you may have seen in my blog update on the 2nd Feb, or you can see the card on my website here.

If you follow my blog you will know that I recently started fundraising for Cancer Research and that I have a few items on my website Crazicards that are for sale and a percentage of the profit will be donated to my Cancer Research fund . You can read all about it on my Just Giving Page here.

Things are going well and the shopping trolley tokens have been a hit so far. And as a little thank you I have been sending a little thank you card with every fundraiser item which have also gone down quite well.

Here are a few of the new cards I made ready to go out with the next items that are sold, I try to make each one slightly different is some way.

For the first two I used my Tim Holtz Distressed Ink Pads to create the backgrounds using my trusty cut 'n' dry foam.

I then over stamped with my Creative Expressions British Wild Flowers and Meadow Flora using two different colours of distressed ink before I sprayed gently with water to help defuse the background a little. The more you spray the more the ink will move so it's just a case of playing to see which effect you like best.

Once that had been dried I added a little shimmer to the buttercups and thistle with my Sakura pens just to give the topper some sparkle.

Then I stamped an Elusive Images butterfly onto some shiny card and coloured them in using my Promarkers. For the antenna you can either draw them onto the card as I have or you could use wire or waxed cotton if you have the time.

 
TIP: Use Momento or Adirondack dye based inks for Promarkers and Stazon ink for Aqua markers. Always make sure your initial inked image is completely dry before you start to colour in as the edges may bleed if it's still wet.

You can also emboss the image which will fix it fully, you can then use either type of Promarker to colour in.Once the butterflies were coloured in I covered both of them with Glossy Accents and left them to dry for an hour or so.

Whilst they were drying I used my Rich Gold WOW embossing Powder to highlight the edges of the toppers and sentiments. And once the butterflies were completely dry I cut them out and put the cards together.

For the third card I used the same techniques for the background except I sprinkled the back ground with a little water and dabbed it off to get a speckled effect. And I used one of the gorgeous British Butterflies from Stamps Away.

I just love Sheena Douglass don't you?

And I just love her "A Little Bit Sketchy" range of stamps as they give all of us the chance to play with so many different mediums.

 I sat and watched Sheena on Create and Craft the other day full of a cold but still as enthusiastic as ever about what she was showing to the viewers. Bless her...

Anyway in this particular programme Sheena was showing us how to use her stamps with watercolour pencils and chalk pastels. Both of which I have had for absolutely eons and never really used much.

So after being super inspired by Sheena I dug out my pencils and chalks from the dark depths of the spare room, where I keep my stash, and had a little play.

The first picture is coloured with the watercolour pencils and using the Nature Accomplished stamp set. It took me a while but it turned out OK although I say so myself and also considering that I used my cheap watercolour pad which is only 180 gsm. I will definitely use my Bockingford watercolour paper next time as I think the result will definitely be much better.

This second image is also on my cheap watercolour paper using the Milestone and Moments stamp plate and using my chalk pastel pencils to colour it in. This is the first time ever that I have used these pastels and I must admit I wasn't as happy with the results as I was with the watercolour pencils.

But that could be the paper I used I guess and  for a first attempt it's not too bad, practise makes perfect as they say. So next time I shall try the pastels using the right card stock and hopefully the end result will improve with more practise. I would most definitely recommend that you have a go with your watercolour pencils and chalk pastels if you have them, it's really rewarding and I know you will be happy with the end results once you have finished.

Have fun and Happy Crafting :O)

So what did you get up to over the weekend?

Besides the usual shopping and tidying up I managed to squeeze in some crafty things. I wanted to have a go at making some different style of flowers which was fun and very addictive (lol).

I have heard a lot of people say that once you start to make them you will not be able to stop. And now I know why they say that, as I really enjoyed making the flowers because I managed to get rather messy, like you do....

Here's a few of the ones I made:

This is the first rose I made using my Tim Holtz Tattered Floral dies with watercolour paper. I used this type of paper as I wanted to see what effect the ink would have from the Tim Holtz Distressed Inks and Cosmic Shimmer Mister Sprays.

To get this effect I simply sprayed Cosmic Shimmer Ocean Sunlight onto my craft mat and sprayed with a little water. I them spread the ink over the craft mat with my hand before adding my flowers.

I was quite happy as the ink soaked in to the paper in a kind of tie dyed way but you can't really see that from my photo. The only problem I had with the watercolour paper was that it is very fragile when wet.

Once the paper has been sprayed and dried it is quite stiff which is great for these flowers and you can shape the petal quite well. You just need to remember to cut in between each of the petals so that they don't tare when you stick and shape them.

Once this rose was dry I sprayed it again with a Cosmic Shimmer Mister which from memory was the  Sunlight Mist.

I also had a play with the rest of Tim Holtz Tattered Floral dies and made this fabulous flower using two of the large flowers and the same two  medium flowers as I used for my roses.

Again I decided to use the watercolour paper for this flower and I used Tim Holtz Distressed Inks Vintage Photo, Scattered Straw with a hint of Spiced Marmalade, and the Bronze Blush Cosmic Shimmer Mister to finish off with. Sounds like a 3 course meal doesn't it ...

To ink the flowers I simply dabbed my ink pads onto my craft mat and then added water, one colour at a time.

This was by far the messiest one to make as I scrunched the flowers up once I had finished inking them up. So I would suggest that you wear some rubber gloves to protect your hands before you start to play.  Again once the flowers were dry I sprayed them very lightly with the Bronze Cosmic Shimmer Mister spray and then dragged the petal edges through the excess spray left on the craft mat.

Once dried I glued them together with my hot glue gun, the two large petals first followed by the two medium flowers and I added a nice fancy metal bead I had in my stash for the centre. I really like the look of this flower and will most definitely be making a few more of these in different colours. The only thing to remember with this particular type of flower is that it is quite big at 2.5 to 3 inches across.

You can alter the width slightly when you put it together as long as the flowers are still damp. You can spray it with water to re-shape it if you want to after you have glued it together

And this is the third flower I made. For this one I dabbed my Chipped Sapphire distressed ink pad onto my craft mat and sprayed it with water. I then spread the ink over the craft mat before adding my flowers. This gave a much deeper covering to the flowers which was really quite vibrant before the flowers dried. (Once the flowers dried they had a more distressed look to them which is great).

Once the flowers had been dried off using my heat gun I stamped them all over with the word "bloom" in silver ink. And once I put the rose together I dragged the petal edges through the silver in pad and also a little gold.

I just love these roses and they are perfect for adding to your cards, boxes and photo frames. If you haven't had a go at making these yourself yet I really suggest you do give them a go, you will be really glad that you did, and once you get the hang of it you will know doubt have a big box full of many different types and styles of paper flowers that you can use on all your projects.

Tomorrow I will show you the two stamped Sheena images I had a play with over the weekend. I have never used watercolour paints or pastel chalks along side my stamping so this was something new to try and it turned out ok for a first go ...lol..

So until tomorrow....happy crafting :O)

Well I am really thrilled to say that the card that I made during my tutorial sold instantly.  A "BIG" thank you goes out to Mrs S Buchanan,  from Kent, for her generous donation, I really appreciate your support. It means a lot to me and Cancer Research.

Luckily I did make a couple of extra cards and I have now added them to my Fundraising page on my website here.

Here they are:

This is an A5 Portrait card. Again using the Mica Mask leaves background but this time i used darker Cosmic Shimmer Mists to give a more earthy feel to the card.

I really love this Elusive Images tall trees stamp plate, it has a fabulous oriental feel to it. And the verse is just perfect for this scheme.

It reads:

A tree is known by it's fruit,
A man by his deeds,
A good deed is never lost,
He who sows courtesy reaps friendship,
And he who plants kindness gathers love.

I just love these Mica Masks from That Special Touch Of...

They are just so versatile, you can run them almost any type of embossing machine such as the Spellbinder Wizard or cuttlebug. Check your machines instructions if your not sure on how to build your embossing sandwich.

You can ink your mask using dye based inks and use them to print onto your card, fabric, paper and vellum etc..  

Top Tip: Stazon Ink and permanent pigment Inks may mark you masks. You can still use them once they are dry but you have to ensure your mask is thoroughly dry and clean before using on a new project.

You can use them for dry embossing as you would with your normal embossing folders or you can use them for wet embossing using Cosmic Shimmer Misters, Tim Holtz Distressed Inks and even craft pastes.

Infact there are so many things that you can do with your Mica Masks it's incredible. And one of their best features is that once you have finished getting all messy you just need to throw them into a bowl of warm soapy water and give them a wash and your ready to start over.

One of my favourite ways to use my Mica Masks is to create embossed backgrounds using Cosmic Shimmer Misters and tissue paper. Here's a card with an embossed background which I made for my February Cancer Research Charity Fundraiser Project using this technique.

Here's how I did it:

Tools you will need : -  Your Mica Masks, an embossing machine, cheap tissues or toilet paper, ink misters, Mica misters or for a more natural look a plain water mister.

And to clean up afterwards wet wipes and paper towels.

You can also create this effect without an embossing machine by using a soft brayer and a sponge but I will save that technique for next time....

Step 1

Choose your mask and the misters you want to use for your project. For my project I used Cosmic Shimmer Rich Gold and Golden Mint. And I selected the Leaves Mica Mask which is one of my favourites.

Step 2

Place your mask onto the base plate of your embossing machine and cover with tissue paper, make sure you get plenty on there but not too much as this will be difficult to run through your embossing machine.


Step 3

Take your Cosmic Shimmer misters and spray the tissue paper making sure that you get plenty on there. You can add as many colours as you like but for this project I chose just the two colours.

Tip: If you don't have ready made misters you can either make your own using perfect pearls or you can use just plain water for a more natural appearance.

When your happy place a sheet of card or paper over the tissue paper followed by your embossing mat and then your top plate.

When your happy place a sheet of card or paper over the tissue paper followed by your embossing mat and then your top plate.

If you don't have a wizard you will need to follow the instructions you have for your machine to get the right sandwich.

TIP: I place the card or paper between to prevent my rubber embossing mat and top plate from getting covered in ink. At the same time you will get a sheet that is also embossed and inked. You can use that sheet on another project.

Step 4

I have been a member of the Graphicus Guild for a while now but due to circumstance I never seemed to be able to find the time to join in with the monthly swaps that are ongoing.

So one of my New Year Resolutions was to make sure I join in swaps more often this year. So when January's swap was announced I put my name down straight away. The subject was New Beginnings and you could either make an ATC or a Tag.

I racked my brains for ages to see what I could possibly do an this is the Tag that I made:

 I made a large tag and then set about stamping with versamark ink and embossing with Clear WOW powder, several flowers from the Creative Expressions stamp plates - British Wild Flowers and Meadow Flora.

I then used Tim Holtz distress Inks with cut'n'dry to colour the background. The stamped and embossed areas done previously created a resist to the ink and once I had finished with the ink the flowers really stood out.

I then created the flowers and coloured them using Brilliance inks which have a lovely shine to them. As these tend to be a little wet for a while I set them aside to dry whilst I stamped onto acetate the sentiment "Let the Adventure Begin" from the Elusive Images stamp plate - Artistic Affirmations.

I then stamped the beautiful butterfly from another Elusive Images stamp plate - Flora and Fauna  and embossed it using a pepper Wow embossing powder. The Wow powders are brilliant for this as you don't leave as much powder on the acetate as you do with other types of embossing powders.

I must admit though that I still use my antistatic bag on acetate as no matter how good a powder is it will still get caught in the static on the acetate, the bag helps to prevent that.

I then had to create the pupa, (I think that's the right word for it), for the butterfly to emerge from, and for this I tried several thing like Angelina Fibres and wool but neither gave he right effect. Whilst I was rummaging through my scrap box I came a cross a small scrap of hand made paper that had been stitched and when I pulled apart the two sheets the threads split giving quite a fluffy stranded effect, just perfect for what I wanted.

I then stamped and glazed a branch from the Sheena stamp plate - Faith for the pupa to hang from. The finished tag is almost A5 in size which I think is probably a little bit large, but I think it turned out OK for my first tag swap.

Here is the fantastic tag that I received from this swap. The detail is just fantastic and I am afraid this photograph doesn't really do the tag any justice as you can't see the superb Copper embossing of the lady tree or the deep Gold embossing of the swirly Sun. The lovely bead trim at the bottom is simply gorgeous.

I am now thinking of my next tag for the February swap which has a title of Romance. I am quite looking forward to taking part over the coming months and I shall be sure to share my tags and the ones that I receive with you all.

If they are all as beautiful as this one it will be wonderful.

I have been thinking of changing my blog template for a while and today I found one that I think is more in keeping with my style.

Hope you like it :O)

Well I have been busy during the last couple of weeks getting the new Crazicards Website Newsletter revamped ready for it's re-launch at the beginning of February.

This newsletter is aimed at being a much shorter and to the point newsletter. I aim to add new projects and tips in each issue as I never have been one to like those news letters that just sell you products and give you nothing else in return for your loyalty to their webstore.
 
I have also decided that instead of being a weekly news letter it will now be sent out fortnightly which will give me more time to hopefully bring you some interesting projects.

I thought you might like a sneaky peak of what the first project might be so here are a couple of images to tease :O)

This is another ATC I created called Woodland with a twist. The theme was to be Woodland and had to include something real from a woodland.

To make this ATC I started by creating my own background coloured card using perfect pearl pigment powders mixed with water and a Tim Holtz Shabby Shutters and a Broken China distressed Ink pad. I started by adding the shabby shutters and a light swipe of the broken china ink to the white card using Ranger cut 'n' dry foam. I then made up my mix of perfect pearl pigment powder and sprayed the coloured card.

Once dry I stamped the naked tree stamp from Elusive Images and embossed it.  For my real woodland item I chose pine cones which I cut up using garden sheers and stuck them together in the shape of flowers using 3D Glue Gel I added a couple of peel off glittery butterflies and then I finished off with a few rhinestones and some fabulous swirls  from my Tim Holtz Grungeboard plain elements pack painted Copper.

Here we have my ATC for the letter Q to keeping in line with the letter theme from one of my ATC swap clubs.

For the Q swap I chose Queen of Hearts as my title. Here's the finished ATC.

At some time in our lives we all come into contact with Cancer. Whether it is through our own personal experience or the experience of others.

In my case Cancer has been a factor in my life for quite a long time in one way or another.

My first close up experience of Cancer was with my Grandma, she was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer and sadly passed away in November 2005.

Since then I have had quite a number of friends and family who have been diagnosed with Cancer and some have survived  and sadly some have not been so lucky. The most recent encounter being that of my partners mum who sadly passed away in December 2010 from Stomach Cancer.

I myself am one of the lucky ones...


In 2008 I was told that I had cancer of my right side Parotid Gland which sits just below your ear. Nothing can prepare you for that kind of a shock, I only went to the doctors for treatment with dizzy spells....

Lucky for me though my consultant is at the top of his profession and I was in and out of hospital before I knew what had hit me. After the surgery in July came 5 weeks of intensive radiotherapy in November this helps to kill any remaining traces of cancer, Chemotherapy isn't an option with this type of cancer. And then once all that was over and done the long road to recovery began.

Thankfully I am now well on my way to surviving Cancer, there have been a few hiccups along the way and I am sure there will be a few more smaller ones a long the way but the chances of surviving Cancer in today's society are far better than they ever have been thanks to Cancer Research.

Without donations from the public Cancer Research wouldn't be as far along as they already are - EVERY SINGLE PENNY COUNTS - and could save the life of someone you know.

I wanted to do my bit and came up with the idea of fundraising by donating 100% of the profit made from the sale of my website shopping trolley tokens as well as a selected monthly craft item/s from my website http://www.Crazicards.co.uk

The Shopping Trolley Tokens will be a permanent item and the selected craft item/s will change each month. And I will also be donating handmade craft items that I have personally made. 100% of the sale price for my hand crafted items will be donated to my scheme.

Thank you for your support - it's people like you that helped to save my life....

If you would like to donate directly to my Cancer Research fundraising scheme at Just Giving please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Crazicards

Sadly 2010 ended on a very sad note as my partners mum passed away on 13 th December and the funeral was held on the 21st December. Thankfully Irene's passing was quiet and she is now at rest after a courageous battle with stomach cancer.

I made these two cards for John, Jan and Stuart.

This was the first time I had used the iridescent WOW powders and I must say they are brilliant and easy to use with minimal mess. The WOW powders change colour when you move them in the light and they look stunning. The stamps are from the Elusive Images range.

Now that 2011 is here I am hoping to be more active in the blogging arena, it's always been on my to do list but has never managed to get to the top spot, this year it is up there so hopefully you will join me on my journey of crafty things to come :O)

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and i wish you all Happiness and Health.

I just wanted to add these fantastic ATCs of Cinderella and her Fairy Godmothers which I received the other day from my lovely friend Sandra Buchanan. She sent them as a surprise as I wasn't feeling too well and she wanted to cheer me up a bit.

Well Sandra you certainly did that, they were a beautiful surprise and made my day, so thank you very much xx

Well I think I have broken the back of my Christmas cards now. I only have 3 left to do yippee !!! I just hope I didn't forget anyone.

I as mentioned in a previous post I chose trees as my main theme this year as I wanted to do something totally different and not so traditional. Here are a couple more of the cards I have made using My Create a Scene Tree stamps by Sheena Douglas.