I've got a new toy!

I had my little Sizzix Tag-along (now called the Side-kick) die-cutter for my birthday about six or seven years ago and I have loved creating cards with it ever since. Once I figured out what it could do, I started lusting after it's grown up brother the Big Shot but I could never justify spending the money to upgrade.

I recently got the chance to buy a Big Shot for half price (thanks to a school mum who is a Stampin' Up demonstrator) and after not very much soul searching I went for it. AND it is awesome!!!

The next thing I needed to do was get some more dies: my existing sizzlit dies still work in it but don't take advantage of the heavy-weight capability of the Big Shot so I bought some Bigz dies that can cut everything from paper to fabric and even aluminium. I bought directly from Sizzix and chose all the dies from their clearance sale (saving up to 75% on some of them!) which meant I could justify buying a few more and also didn't feel so cross over the £7 postage they charge.

I have had lots of fun over the last week playing with the new dies and creating a bunch of cards: take a look at what I've done so far ...

Dies used (in order from the top):
Sizzix Bigz die - caged bird (656634)
Sizzix Sizzlits die - butterfly #12 (656512)
Sizzix Bigz die - daisy blast (657390)
Sizzix Sizzlits die - heart, lace (657418)
Sizzix textured impressions embossing folders - flourish, dots & ribbon set (656980)
Sizzix Bigz die with textured impressions - flower #2 (657362)
Sizzix Framelits die set with stamps - flowers, doodle (657580)
Sizzix Sizzlits die set - bird set #2 (657080)

And with the extra bits from the Daisy Blast card above, I created skirts for some little fairies!

I haven't been too ambitious with the heavy duty Bigz dies yet and still have some other dies that I have yet to use so watch this space ...

© 2013 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.

Saved from the compost heap

I don't know about you, but I seem to struggle a lot with house plants! They start off looking beautiful but never seem to stay that way. It might be something to do with the fact that I often forget them so any plant needs to be very sturdy to survive in our house.

I also get annoyed with flowering plants that are in full bloom when you get them and then never seem to flower again. How long do you keep them? Two years, three, even four in the vain hope that they will suddenly delight you with their original glory?

I have a couple such plants - orchids to be precise. I don't know much about orchids but I do think they seem to like bathrooms as that seems to be where most people keep theirs. I have had one particular orchid for very many years now and I am beginning to work out that it seems to flower every other year. And this year I am in luck. What a stunning display it has put on for me. There are three stems heaving with flowers and it delights me every time I go into the bathroom.

I also have another orchid that I was given when Justin was born and it has never flowered since; I am giving it one last chance but if there are no signs of any flowers by the time Justin is four in January then it really is for the compost heap! I might resort to buying a fake plant as I really like the pot it is in!!

© 2012 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.