Blogging again after a very long break

I can hardly believe how long it has been since I posted on my blog.  I can not even explain why the long absence.  For those friends who know me, I do suffer with depression and a spell of it made me withdraw from many aspects of my life including my blogging.  So much has happened since I was last posting, and through the last couple of years, I have had spells of not crafting at all.  Having lost my wonderful Mum 18 months ago, it took a long time for me to get back into my crafting and to get my MOJO back.  I think I am finally getting there, and thought I would like to start sharing some of my projects with you and also to update you on my day to day life.  I am looking forward to catching up with some old friends on blogger.  Will be back shortly with some projects to share.  Hugs xxxx

Orange for a change

Can not believe its Friday again already, where did this week go? Thought today I would share with you another card we made when we were away for the weekend. I used an image that had been coloured in by the lovely Heather, who was my weekend away partner! I made my own background using the wonderful Cosmic Shimmer Mists and then stamped the swirl which is part of the Creative Expressions plate, using the marmelade distress ink pad. Turned it into an easel card and the inside is pratically the same as the outside without the image!



Today we are Celebrating my lovely Bear's 3rd birthday, happy birthday my lovely baby, and thank you for bringing so much joy into my life.


Well ladies hope you have a lovely weekend, will be back later to share some more cards with you.

Hugs Linda x

MUSIC SAVES MY SOUL

Good evening ladies, I can hardly believe I'm doing another post. This time not only a card but I am also taking part in the lovely Marceas - Music Saves My soul Saturday, which I came across this evening. Of course I realize its not Saturday but I am always late!

I am a huge Westlife fan and was very sad to hear of the break up this week. My favourite all time song is Flying Without Wings, which I decided to share with you.



Why not join in with this weeks Music Saves My Soul and share with us your favourite track.

Back tomorrow with another card to share.

Hugs Linda x

DIES MAD!!!!

It has been a week since I got home from the crafting weekend, and other than a brief post, I did not get chance before now to show you one of the cards I made. If you have been reading the weekend blog, you will know we didn't get to craft quite as much as I had intended, far too much chatting going on, and a severe lack of inspiration on my part. This was the last card I made, and the one I was happiest with.

Using some of the fabulous gold/white greetings card and the embossed happy christmas card I made this take on an acetate card. I am just loving the use of acetate in my cards at the moment, and these dies lend themselves perfectly.

The wonderful bird cage die has been one of my favourites, I have used it in lots of my workshops, I will be back later this week with more of the cards Ive made using this beauty.

I love the Cheerylynn flourish die too which is soooo elegant and one of the Crealies flower dies too which I just find scream for gems to decorate! EK success flower punch dies and a gorgeous butterfly punch too which the lovely Sarah let me borrow. I think I've finally tracked one of these down now Sarah, can't wait for it to arrive.


I have used one of the nestabilities to cut out the frame, and embossed it with an embossing folder that I borrowed , and don't know which brand - sorry! You can not see from this picutre, but you can open the book to write inside your message.


I hope you've all have a lovely weekend, I will be back later in the week, with a few challenge cards (fingers crossed) and also the other two cards I made while I was away.

Hope you have a good evening, hugs Linda x


PS. If anyone wants any other details on the dies i've used, or to purchase, please email me at littlepopits@aol.com.

Crafty Weekend Away and Back to Blogging

Yes, I have decided to go back to blogging properly! I have just returned from the Crafty Weekend break which was an absolute blast. Hello ladies (waving !) , thank you for making both Heather and my weekend so enjoyable. Only wish we hadn't had to rush off this morning! I hope all you wonderful ladies have returned home safely, and in good form, hows that head of yours Natalie???! Sorry, to have missed you this morning to say goodbye. You really helped to make my weekend, with your banter, I have never laughed so much!

Well, we didn't get as much crafting done as I'm sure was expected, but we had some lovely goodies from the sponsors to play with now we are back home. I will be doing a separate post later thanking those sponsors, once I get photos of the 3 cards I made this weekend using their fabulous goodies.

The weekend made me realize how much I had missed my blogging, and I will try to find time to blog again on a weekly basis, and share with you my latest creations.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your evening, big hugs for now Linda x

AWOL - a Card and hoping to be back soon

I am not sure anyone will read this, its been so long since I blogged. Infact, I can not believe just how long. Where has the time gone? I have had alot on with personal issues and my classes, and most of the time I feel im chasing my tail, but I have missed my blogging and you've always been near in my thoughts. I am determined to start posting again regularly, I have a lovely party to go to on Saturday, and a class on Friday, so have alot to do over the next couple of days, but intend to post here on Sunday, with some photos of the cards from the class and also of the party.

Here is a wedding card I made a while ago, thought I would share it with you. Have a ton of cards to share, but have had no camera to take photos of them, so am waiting on my lovely daughter or hubby to do it for me.



I hope everyone is well, will get round to your blogs very soon. Thank you for bothering to visit me.

big hugs Linda x

Craft Workshop and An Adorable Girl!

Good morning, its Monday again and despite having a really bad head cold , it's a gorgeous day, the sun is shining and the temperature is high for this time of year! I have done nothing today, i had a craft day yesterday, and how I got through it I don't know, my head was thumping and I made more than one mistake, my ladies must have learnt very little!!! I will be back later with the cards that we made in class. In the mean time I would like to share with you a card I made with one of the absolutely Adorable digi downloads! I just love this little princess, how beautiful is she? and what I love the best is no colouring!! i have combined her with some of the lovely DCWV papers, which are just my favourites! The white lace leaves along the left hand side were from a bunch of lace collars I brought some time ago on the internet, finally a use for them!!!! corners were made using the Nellie Snellen flower die cut into quarters and stamped using one of the Stampin Up stamps from the vintage vogue set. I use these a lot.




I apologize for my lack of blogging these days, i just don't seem to find the time, I am however hoping to get back into things very soon. Please bear with me. Have a lovely afternoon xx

Happy Birthday to my Dad

As promised i am back with a card that I have made for my dads birthday, on the 23rd January. It is using a digital download that I brought from the very talented Teri, some time ago. I love otters and this are a dream to use. Just click and print, how easy is that. Have used a combination of DCWV and GHD papers, both in black hues and totally stunning.



I still have stomach pains and also a head cold, so my creative juices aren't really flowing. I have some cards to share with you that I made for the christmas season, will share throughout the week.

Will come visit you all soon too, have a fabulous evening, hugs Linda x

So Long but back soon

Happy New Year to you all. I can not believe just how long its been since I have posted on my blog. Lots of things have been going on this end, a new year brings with it hopefully new beginnings. I am looking forward to returning to my blogging, I have missed all my lovely friends on here. Unfortunately this is a short post, I have terrible stomach pains nothing more serious than those dreaded women's visits!! and I have managed to get myself a terrible headcold too. I am feeling very sorry for myself this morning.

I will be back later in the week with some cards to share with you. Hope you have a lovely weekend and will catch up with you soon.

Oh before I forget, I can not believe I have plans already for October!!! check out the link on my sidebar to the weekend away!

Hugs Linda x

Sorry for the Absence, Sweet Peas to Share and the chance of some Blog Candy

Can you believe this awful weather, its raining cats and dogs and the wind is blowing a gale!!! what a start to winter, I am glad I didn't have to venture very far today!

I can hardly believe how long it has been since I last posted on this blog. I did post on Jazzlins yesterday, please go take a look here.

BLOG CANDY AT JAZZLINS

I am going to give some blog candy to a random follower of Jazzlins, when my followers reach 100, so to be in for a chance of winning some Sweet Pea stamps, 4 random stamps (my choice) , go and add your name to my followers list (found at the bottom of the page). If you want to add a link to Jazzlins about the blog candy you will get an extra gift if you win! but please leave me a comment saying you have linked the blog candy, thank you.

Well I went to the NEC on friday and what a lovely time I had, I managed to stock up on some of the new LOTV stamps and some more image cards which i just adore for that quick card.

Unfortunately the shop is keeping me very busy and im finding it very hard to fit in time to blog as I would like to, so I apologise for not visiting you all more, I hope things will settle down after my next craft weekend on the 20th/21st November.

I hope you will enjoy catching up with some of my makes from the last few months. Kicking off with a couple of the delicious sweet pea images. I just adore these fairies and they are such a dream to colour in. If you would like to purchase any please email me. At the moment I have some Sweet Pea Grab Bags on offer for £10.00 for 4 stamps my choice.

I adore this beautiful girl, what a gorgeous face and I have sneaked outside my usual pink colourways and gone for some blue!!! papers are from the DCWV range, the sentiment is a rub on from my stash. The flowers have been punched out with the whale of a punch daisy punch and a smaller woodware daisy punch.




Secondly another sweet pea card, and another gorgeous girl! this time in more neutral colours and a sentiment downloaded from the internet.

Using one of my all time favourite MS deep punches, available from my shop at £14.99 plus postage.


Lastly another card but this time a card made in one of my weekly classes. A simple sentiment and the addition of a few flowers, simple! pink managed to creep its way back in this time!


Well im now off to post on Jazzlins about the blog candy, hope to see you there soon, have a lovely day, big hugs Linda x

A NOSTALGIC CARD

Happy Saturday Morning, hope your day is starting better than mine. My headcold has taken a hold and I feel like i've done ten rounds with Mike Tyson! its cold, windy and the threat of rain later, can the day get any better?????

Hope you are having a better day than me. I just wanted to come and share a card with you that I made for my lovely friend Jan's birthday.

I want to apologize to some other friends Tracey, Helen and Cami, as I realized I missed your birthdays. I hope you had a wonderful day, and the postman will visit you soon, I promise!

Yesterdays MacMillan coffee morning at the garden center was a little disappointing, I only sold 2 Martha Stewart punches, so will instead make another personal donation to the charity. Will also be running a blog candy on my Jazzlins Designs Blog soon for this charity. Please be sure to join in, by keeping an eye out here.

Here is the birthday card I made for Jan. I have used the DCWV Linen Closset papers, i love this pad, and i have used the Martha Stewartdeep lattice border punch. Some addition of lace and paper punched flowers to complete this course.

Hope you will come back tomorrow when I hope to share some more Sweet Pea cards.

Have a lovely day, hugs Lilnda x

MacMillan Coffee Morning at Baytree Garden Centre

Happy Thursday morning, can you believe another week is nearly over? I am at home today instead of at work as my youngest son has had to have 5 baby teeth removed. He has been very brave and making very little fuss about it. Wanted to post on here and then we are going to settle down to watch Lord of the Rings together.

Tomorrow at Baytree Garden Center we have a coffee morning in aid of the MacMillan fund. There will be free drinks and a cake, but donations would be welcome.

The shopping village outlets are all donating a prize for the raffle and also a designated item in the shop will have a £1.00 donated for each of that item sold to MacMillan. In my case it will be any Martha Stewart of EK success punch. If any of you live near enough to join us we would be thrilled to see you there.

As you know I have a blog especially for the shop Jazzlins Designs. I will be running blog candy from the weekend, so please follow the link on my sidebar and follow me, so you do not miss it!

I have a few cards to show you, none that i've made this week, but cards we have made in my weekly wednesday class and also a project I did to highlight the fabulous sweet pea Stamps.

Firstly I love this sweet pea image and she looks gorgeous in more muted colours. Her wings were decoupaged and stickled and glossy accented to add extra dimension.



I have altered a clip board, I painted in with acrylic paints and then covered with some gorgeous MME papers. Added a few lovely flowers and beaded gems and of course some ribbon. All available from Jazzlins.



Secondly a card we made a few weeks ago using some sentiment rub ons and those fabulous fused pearl strings. I am just loving these at the moment and seem to be putting them on everything!

Turned this card into another easel card, as I am addicted to them still!!!!! oh and some more fused pearls and a lovely Martha Stewart border punch!


So remember girls, go take a look at Jazzlins as there is more inspiration there, not only from myself but some of my lovely DT girls.

Have a lovely day and will be back later at the weekend with more cards to share.

Hugs Linda x

Happy Weekend

Jazzlins Designs

Happy weekend to you all. I hope you are all okay and having a great weekend. Its dull and miserable here with the threat of rain at any minute. I wonder what the week has in store for us.

As many of you know I have a new blog for my shop called Jazzlins Designs. I hope you will have go take a look . I am going to be updating my blog at Jazzlins probably more regularly than here, at least for the time being, so please become a follower here.

Jazzlins Designs will soon be having its own fortnightly challenge and my lovely friend Paula will be putting out a DT call soon, along with more details of the challenge blog. Hope some of you might want to join in!

So this week has been fairly quiet in my little shop, but it has meant I have had chance to do a bit of crafting. I have a couple of cards to share with you. A wedding card I made for a customer and an anniversary card for my sister in laws friend.

This wedding card has been very popular in the shop, I have reproduced it with different colours and slightly different layouts at least 10 times. I have actually taken this design out of the shop now as I am fed up with re-producing it!

Adorable LOTV wedding couple, one of my all time favourite wedding images and a simple layout again using my favourite easel cards.



Using my favourite heart Marth Stewart edger punch available from my shop and also my script embossing folder. Fused pearls used to decorate. The vellum is from my stash and unfortunately im unable to get any more. If anyone reading this has any they would like to sell to me, PLEASE get in touch!!!




Secondly an anniversary card similar layout as the wedding card, has anyone noticed how much I love that heart punch? and those flowers?

Again more of those fused pearls and my favourite heart nestabilities!



Well my lovelies, i hope you enjoy your weekend, I'm off to watch the rest of X Factor and to wait for my chinese super, I'm starving!!

Loving you all Linda x

September and Getting Organized

Now I suspect not many people will be reading this, its been such a long time since I posted again, you've probably all forgotten about me by now.

I can not believe its September already, and only 3 more months till Christmas, I don't know what has happened to the rest of this year.

The shop is certainly taking up all my time and energy and i'm finding it increasingly frustrating that I am not finding the time to update my blog a little more regularly.

The shop is going well and I have met so many lovely new "crafters". I have two ladies every Wednesday for a class and it has eased me into teaching very gently.

I have now decided to have a craft day, as I have been asked about classes by lots of ladies, and I am limited in my little shop to only two/or three ladies at a time.

I am having my first craft day on October 10th, a lovely friend has allowed me to use her beautiful crafting barn for the day. If anyone is interested in joining us please either send me an email or contact me via this post. Leave your email address or phone number and I will get back to you with more details.

I have a batch of the new Martha Stewart punches and EK success punches on order which i'm expecting delivery of next week, so if anyone wants any please contact me.

My actual crafting time is very limited, and unfortunately I have had to step down from some of my DT positions. Thank you to the other Design teams for being so patient with me, I promise I will get myself organized and back to normality soon!!!

I have quite a few cards to share with you, that ive been making in my classes and for the shop. I am going to put out two wedding cards that were special orders and also a birthday card for my colleague next door (at work) for her husbands birthday. He loves sailing so I decided to put my iris folding boat stamp to use! Hope you enjoy seeing them.

Now I am hoping that a couple of the ladies who visit my shop will read this as I do not have their email addresses, and I wanted to let them know about the craft day. You will know who you were, you were in last week. If you are interested in the craft day please drop me a line.







So I hope i've not bored you all too much. I promise to get round to some ofyour blogs this weekend. I miss visiting you all.

Have a lovely evening, hugs Linda x

MISSING IN ACTION - TERRIBLE BLOGGER

I can hardly believe how long its been since I last posted on this blog. I have been so busy with the shop, that i've had little time for much else. I am so sorry that I have not had chance to visit your lovely blogs, I promise to spend some time catching up with you over the weekend. I have to say although I am enjoying the shop, I never realized just how much time it would take up. I am barely getting chance to craft just for the fun of it. I have been making wedding cards lately, special orders for customers. If I am totally honest, I am a little sick of them just now.

I thought I would share one of those cards with you. I love the easel cards as you know and the customer wanted a card to matvh the colours of the bridesmaid dresses, so green and pink it is, one of my favourite colour combinations. Hope you like it.





Well back to work, hope to catch up with you all again over the weekend.

Hugs Linda x

Long Absence - Sorry Again

Good morning to you all, its been a while since I last posted. I have barely been at my Computer since opening my shop. I dont know where the time goes, im constantly chasing my tail, but I have to admit, I am also enjoying it!

Unfortunately I have not had time to blog much at all and I am missing visiting all your wonderful blogs, I am sure you will have all completely abandoned me by now.

I have a new blog that will be running alongside my personal blog called Jazzlins Designs. I will be posting about the shop on my new blog and letting you know of new items I have in stock at my shop, and of course trying to offer you a little inspiration. I have a fabulous DT who are showcasing my products perfectly, thank you girls!

I hope to visit you all soon, will be back later with some cards I have made for special orders.

Enjoy your day, hugs Linda x

Sunshine and Hot, Hot, Hot!! and a Garden Show this Weekend

Good morning ladies, I can barely believe its Thursday again, at the moment the weeks are flying by even quicker than usual. The shop has for the time being completely consumed my time. I apologize for the lack of blogging and visiting, I hope to rectify that soon. I also want to say a huge Thank you to the Challenge Blogs that I am on, for their understanding and patience with me just now, it means a lot.

Well as you know I am selling the fabulous Sweet Pea Stamps and have a delivery due in any day. If you would like any of these beauties please drop me a line. They are such a bargain at just £4.25 each. If you are able to visit my little shop you are sure to be inspired by the samples that my lovely DT girls have made. Thank you girls.

This weekend, infact starting from Saturday the Bay Tree Garden Centre has a fabulous Garden Show. It runs from Friday through to Sunday, and there is something for all the family. A Craft marquee, little laid out gardens, and to keep the children happy of course the resident Pet Centre. Entry I believe is £5.00 which includes entrance to the petting Center. Please dont take this as red though, i shall check tonight and confirm the price tomorrow.

So anyone living in the Braintree area, or within travelling distance, it may be worth a visit this weekend. Oooh forgot to say there is a fabulous restaurant and if you knit a wool shop next door along with another fabulous shop selling very reasonably priced glass, including drinking glasses and vases and candle holders!

Last weekend I had two visits from my lovely blogging friends, firstly from the lovely Zoe and her family, it was just a joy to see you again hunny and your gorgeous family. Thank you so much for making a special visit, you have been a true friend, much love xx

Secondly a lovely lady who I met through facebook named Rosemary came to visit, and I have to say she had me in stitches from the moment she arrived till she went!! you are a true character Rosemary and it was a total joy to have met you, i hope to see you again some time in the future.

Well my friends, I really must get on, another list as long as my arm, and not even made a start on it yet.

Have a lovely day big hugs Linda x

UPDATE ON JAZZLINS

Happy Friday to you all. I hope you're all enjoying some lovely weather this week. It has sure been a warm one, and this heat is really getting to me. I am finding it very hard to stay awake, am I the only one who feels sleepy in this warm weather?

Well Jazzlin's has now been officially open for a week, and I am happy with the start I have had. It may seem possible for me to have a webshop up and running in the future which I am very excited about.

Also I have been given permission to advertise the fact that I am selling the fabulous Sweet Pea stamps. If you have not seen these beauties, please go over to the Sweet Pea Stampers challenge blog to look at these beauties. If you would like to purchase any from me please send me an email.



I hope you all have a fabulous weekend to look forward to. I will of course be in the shop. Hopefully with lots of visitors.

Enjoy your weekend, hugs Linda x

Creative Card Crew Challenge - An Easel Card

Its another week at the Creative Card Crew Challenge, and this week it was my turn to set the challenge. Now you all know how much I love easel cards at the moment, so any excuse to make one, and I take it, so this week I would love to see your easels. I have made a couple for this weeks challenge, the usual and the less usual. Hope you will get some inspiration from them.

The first easel card I made was a card for a blogging friend. I found this wonderful image at the Stitchy Bear Stamps site. This image is called "Reach" and is available to buy here. If you havn't visited it before please go take a look, there are a host of digi downloads and paper kits, something for everyone.


This was the sentiment I used inside the card using my PC. The words were of special meaning.


I used a combination of cuttlebug embossing folders and die cuts. The letters for the word 'REACH' were printed out on my PC and punched out using a small circle punch, I used my soot distress ink pad to soften the edges.

I used stickles and some glossy accents to her wings and the addition of a organza dotty ribbon.

The addition of some flower sequins to the die cut swirl border, that I added stickles to for extra sparkle.

The papers are from the black monochromatic colour capsule from Papermania, a stunning collection of papers.

Finally!!

Good evening to you all. It has been a very eventful weekend. Yesterday was the official opening of my store JAZZLIN DESIGNS. Unfortunately the weather was terrible, and i'm sure it put off a few customers from venturing out, but still I had a nice day meeting some new crafting ladies. I have had a positive feedback with regards to the sensational sweet pea stamps that I am selling instore and I feel sure everyone will love them as much as I do by the time I have finished promoting them!

It was also my birthday today. At forty five years, I have finally taken a risk in my life, and I have to say as nerve racking as it is, it is also very liberating. Okay, it might not work out but in the process I am meeting lots of lovely people, and its giving me some life experience, as they say better late than never!! I had almost forgotten what it is to be anything other than a mum or wife, I have lost in essence my own identity, maybe this will help me re-find it. I know don't want to run my own shop forever, but maybe while running the shop, I will get some answers as to what direction I do want to take my life in.

Over the past three weeks since venturing on this journey, I have had such positive feedback from friends in blogland, and it has made me feel very humbled by your encouragement and kind words. I want to thank you all. You will never know what a difference your words have made to me.

So once again, I am rambling, bet you havn't missed that!! Now on with the reason for my posting, my little craft haven.

Finally Friday I managed to put up my bunting with the words JAZZLINS appliqued on it. Unfortunately you can not see very clearly from my rubbish photos on here. I am absolutely thrilled with it, thank you so much Lesley for making it for me. I just LOVE it! I have a host of very talented friends!!

So here you have it my little summerhouse! Welcome, and please come in ...........


I do not have much storage in here, so I have had to make use of every bit of wall space I can. There are more cup hooks up here that B & Q have!!!!!

As you all know I'm totally rubbish with my photo taking, but I have done my best to show you what I have inside my little store. It is not a huge shop, and I can't stock everything I would love to, but I can I hope offer that personal touch to my customers and I can order in much more than I have on my shelves! Have the fabulous cosmic shimmer range in, which I can't wait to play with, please contact me if you are interested in purchasing any of these fabulous products. Also stocking the fabulous martha stewart punches. Anyone interested im selling the border punches for £14.75 and the deep border punches for £18.99. The large latice heart or butterfly for £15.99 and the corner punches for £13.99.

My little colourful chest is full of double sided satin ribbons and handmade flowers. You can never have enough ribbons and flowers can you?

Have the basic collection of pro markers (8.99 a pack), and of course a selection of the fabulous Sweet Pea stamps.
My daughter taking charge of the money!!! she is expecting a share of the profits, I think she will have a long wait!!!!
More ribbons, 25 meter mixed packs for just £2.99 or 2 packs for £5.00 also have organza ribbons in the same deal. Can I tempt anyone???

I am awaiting stock of the fabulous distress ink pads, will be selling them at a price of £ £4.50 each or any 10 for £40.00. Also available distress ink refills and alcohol inks.

If any of you wonderful ladies get chance to visit me please be sure to say hello and introduce yourselves. I have already had a visit from the lovely Leigh (Charity Crafter) and Angie (waving at you ...) Hope to meet up with a few more of you wonderful ladies too.

So i've kept you all long enough. Just before I go, thank you to all you lovely friends who have sent me birthday cards and gifts, I will try and get round to emailing you all individually over the week. Your thoughtfulness never seizes to amaze me, you truly are the best!!!

Enjoy your evening, lots of love Linda x