Sunday 31 January 2016

Anniversary wishes

And this card brings me bang up to date with all my crafty endeavours so far this year. Yes they have been a little thin on the ground but I do have some cards to make in February and I am eager to get back to my first love of Scrapbooking. I have lots of photos to work with  and my craft room is all organised now, so, no more excuses !

This card was for my mum and dad on their wedding anniversary

I used my favourite papers which were a gift from Neil just before christmas and some lush ribbon which I have been hoarding for a special card



I feel so lucky and incredibly grateful that my mum and dad have built such a wonderful family, as each anniversary passes I am reminded of how hard they have worked to keep us all happy, safe and loved

It seems not many marriages stand the test of time nowadays, I am so glad that mum's and dad's have, it has taught us so much over the years

Love you both more than words could ever say

Your ever grateful daughter

xxx

Saturday 30 January 2016

The men in my life

It was Neil's birthday in December

This is the card I made for him
I have free reign to throw a load of flowers on his cards and he doesn't mind me making his a little more feminine, I think he would probably draw the line at pink and sparkles though !


And Dad's birthday was on the 6th January, I used one of my favourite Stamp sets on this, I so enjoy making cards with the 'Lovely as a tree' set from Stampin' Up, the images are so classic


I am so lucky to have the best dad in the world and the best hubby too, must be because I am so bloody perfect ha ha

Love and fabulous menfolk

Tracey
xxx

Friday 29 January 2016

Last of the Christmas 2015

2015 was our first Christmas in Cornwall



We did most of our Christmas shopping at Truro, I never tire of seeing this beautiful Cathedral


The last few of my christmas cards

This one was for a commission, I made it for our decorator to give to his girlfriend, he wanted something with the theme of Tim Burton, what could be better than Jack and Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas !


Ben and Amy are completely besotted with all things animal, so I made them a card with penguins


And mum also adores penguins, so this was my card to mum and dad


All the kids made it home for Christmas. Ben and Amy came a couple of days after as they spent Christmas and Boxing day with Ben's parents. They travelled down in the car, got stuck for five hours at Bristol services,  lots of little things went wrong, lost car keys, dying phone batteries, bumbling AA men, etc etc - honestly it was like a scene from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but they got here eventually and Robbie came home the week before

Seeing Robbie ( on the left in the photo below ) made us realise just how much AJ has grown in the last couple of months, must be all that good clean Cornish air ! You wouldn't believe the taller AJ is four years younger than Rob when you look at the photo - and yes his hair is always like that !




And it was our first ever Christmas with our lovely little lab Molly, look at those beautiful eyes

We bought both the doggies glow in the dark bandannas for Christmas, they look so cute



And my big softie Bruce, awwwwwww



I hope all my friends and family had as lovely a christmas as we did

Love and looking forward to the new year

Tracey 
xxx

Thursday 28 January 2016

More Christmas

A few more of the different designs of christmas cards made for last year

I made four of this one in varying colours


I made four of the Kraft coloured one


These three are variations on a theme, all similar but slightly different, the lovely soft coloured papers were a gift from Neil




Last year was the first year I actually managed to get all my cards made well before the day itself, as most of them were to be posted I really did have to get more organised, it felt a bit strange not having to rush around making last minute cards

I could get used to this retirement lark !

Love and mistletoe kisses

Tracey
xxx

Wednesday 27 January 2016

Christmases past

As promised I have a few of the christmas card designs I created for last years Christmas cards

These four were all variations on a theme, lots of layering and die-cutting 

These first four were made for the lovely ladies I work with at the Cornwall Hospice care shop, they have all made me so welcome and I love my monday mornings, we are endlessly busy but always end up having a giggle and quite often cake !












All the ladies I have worked with have taken me under their wing and have helped Neil and I find out all the best local shops, pubs and places of interest, everyone is super friendly in our little town

We all enjoyed a lovely Christmas meal out at one of the locals, it was originally a just a meal but most of us ended up staying for the pub quiz, what an absolutely brilliant night ! It's funny sometimes how the least planned events seem to turn out the best, we didn't win, didn't even come close on most of the categories but we had such a laugh, the Prosecco flowed and if we were being judged on fun then we definitely won!

My lovely 'boss' Sue ( who is coincidentally the least bossy person I know) , Margaret and I ended up with an extra bottle of Prosecco somehow at our end of the table and all I will say, is, the tea towel Neil bought me as a joke definitely came to mind

Just for you Sue 


All new friends, people I will learn more about and spend more time with as the weeks pass by, people I never knew six months ago but who are already a big part of our new lives down here in Cornwall

But not forgotten are my old friends from up country, cherished friends who have kept in touch and who thought of me and my family at christmas time

One very special gift I received came by the way of Jan

She came to stay with us one weekend before christmas and brought with her this adorable little book




Tee book is made up of little envelopes, each containing a handmade tag


All the little tags had been decorated and each of them had a little message handwritten on the back from Jan's class members who were my old class members and friends


I can't tell you how much I enjoyed receiving this gorgeous keepsake, thankyou so much to all the lovely ladies who contributed, my gift took pride of place on my special bookshelf for the whole of December and most of January, it is now tucked away for safe keeping in my memory box

Thankyou for all our cards, handmade and otherwise

Love and belated baubles

Tracey
xxx

Sunday 10 January 2016

Happy New Year

Hello and a Happy New Year to all my lovely blog readers

I don't make resolutions as such, I am far too rebellious and only see them as rules to be broken, most lasting fewer than three days

But I have a couple of goals I would like to reach this year, one of them is to blog a little more regularly

Retirement has left both Neil and I a little rudderless. We are loving the time together and seem to have loads to do but don't really have any deadlines or routines. We seem to wander from one week to the next a little bewildered as to what happened to all the hours in between and days turn into weeks, and weeks into months. It doesn't help that Cornwall is so darned laid back, everything 'appens dreckly and it's not long before you fall in with the slower, more relaxed pace, any more relaxed and we will definitely both be horizontal !

I have been doing a little crafting over the last couple of months, this card was made way back, at the end of last year to thank my special friend Beryl for a beautiful gift sent at the end of the summer.




Thankyou so much Beryl, I loved my gift and miss you more every single day, I need to persuade you and Geoff to make a trip down and we can enjoy fiddly diddly beach together xxx

I have lots more cards to share, birthday cards and anniversary cards and of course all the christmas cards I made but have not yet shared

Will be back soon with crafty stuff, updates and photos

Happy new year to all my family and friends, new ones down here and old ones up country
Love you all dearly

Tracey 
xxx