Today's a very special day!

It's all very exciting today..my best friend Corrina is going into hospital to have her second baby.

It's a little bit different from when Alana her first child was born two and half years ago as then we didn't know that she would be a girl and Corrina was in labour for quite a while before she had an emergency C'Section. None of that this time..we already know that she is expecting a little boy,(though I'm not so sure he'll be that little as poor Corrina has been 'huge' for ages!!) and that his name will be Sam. With having a C' section you even know they day he will arrive!

I am sending all my love and best wishes to both Corrina and her husband Neil and big sister Alana today..I wish I could be closer to you, but I'm off sunning myself on my first holiday in years! How un-thoughtful of you to be due right in the middle!! I can't wait to see you all and to meet Sam.

I made sure I had my card ready before I flew off on my jollys!



The papers are from the baby collection my craft CD V Funky. I even hand stitched the swirl..not that Sam will really appreciate all the effort, how's he to know that I'm not much of a stitcher, but I'm sure his Mom and Dad will!!

Speak again very soon
Anice xx

It's fun to try different things..

When I launched my latest craft CD Funky Word Books back in May I didn't really consider that my customers might make anything else with it but Word Book keepsakes. How wrong I was! I have had so much feed back from crafters telling me all the amazing and different things that they have created using the Funky Word Books CD which were not straight forward word books.

With this in mind I thought I would share a couple of creations with you that were made with the Funky Word Books CD, the first one is a fab note book creation from my newest Design Team member the super talented Dolly..



What a great idea to add the first three letters to the front page together to make the covers of the note pad. Each of the letters has been beautifully stitched around in Dollys wonderful style that really makes them 'pop'



This one is one of mine.. I never remember the dates of my friends and family members birthdays so I made myself a Birthday book, now I just need to fill in all the important dates!





So, just because I didn't think 'outside of the box' when I was originally designing the word book CD (Oops! nasty throw back from my old corporate work life!!) doesn't mean that you can't create loads of different things using it. If you've created anything unusual or different with a Funky Hand craft CD or download collection how about putting a link to it here..I would love to see them.

Speak again real soon.
Anice xx

I Do! Wedding Download collection available now

It's Wedding Season so I thought it would be a good time to release a new Wedding themed Word Book Collection so here it is I Do!



You've all been asking me for a Wedding Word Book so I've created a download that is made from very a neutral colour collection so you can add any colour to it that you like to match any wedding or anniversary theme that you may have. It's available now on my website www.funkyhand.com and it's priced at £4.89. It's a big download with 49 separate items, so pop over and take a look at the gallery to see what great cards my Design Team have created.

Speak again real soon.
Anice xx

Don't forget Fathers Day!

Don't faint..I know this is two posts in two days, what's coming over me?!!
I thought I'd remind you about Fathers Day. I only remembered it is on Sunday yesterday afternoon and if you have forgotten like me, you still have time to create something for the first man in your life and get it in the post in time!

I had to make two cards as I couldn't leave out Ians Dad. Though, I thought I was going to have to make another one this morning when Ian was hurriedly writing a message inside and wrote 'Happy Birthday' in it! Thank goodness for inserts!!

This one is for Ians dad,



and this is for my Dad,



Both cards were made using papers and letters from my craft CD V Funky. It's been a while since I've played with papers from that CD and I'd forgotten how handy the matching letters in boxes are when you are in a bit of a rush! It's easy to get caught up in using the latest released papers and forgetting that the older ones work pretty well as well!!

Speaking of a rush..I have a hundred things to get finished before lunchtime so I can't hang about..I hope you have a great day.

Speak again very soon
Anice xx

What I did last weekend..

You may or may not know that I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis about four years ago. It's the reason I started Funky Hand in the first place as I couldn't work in my old Management job and whilst off sick trying to decided what to do next.. discovered crafting... anyway, each year the MS Society hold a weekend long conference called MS Life and this year it was held in my home town Newcastle upon Tyne. So, Ian and I took a very rare day off last Saturday and attended some very interesting talks about MS and the future. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about being around so many other people with MS as I knew I would see some people that were more disabled than I am. I need not to have worried at all as everyone that I met was so friendly and positive. I even got recognised..from a talk I did at the local rehabilitation hospital about starting your own business..which was really great as the lady had been inspired to try something for herself after listening to me. (Blush!)

I don't talk about my condition here very often but I wanted to share a little bit today to show you that it doesn't matter what life deals you, there are always great people to meet and things still to be achieved. Here's a fab picture that the MS Society took of the new bridge in Newcastle that had been specially lit in orange for the conference..



Talking of things to achieve..I have at long last finished my new download collection.My wonderful Design Team are currently working away with creating fab demo cards to show you what can be made with it..as it's Wedding Season I thought a Wedding themed collection might be in order..I'll be back very soon with details of when it will be available to purchase on the website..I can't wait to show you what the DT lasses have created with it..

Speak again soon.
Anice xx

A Saturday Challenge..

I know, I know, it's been far too long since my last post. Apologies all round and a new promise that I will try to be here more often. I just don't know where the time goes these days!

The live TV show on Create and Craft went pretty well last Tuesday..you would have never known I'd had about 10 mins with the pink Bind it All machine before I demonstrated it. It has a few new gizmos on it compared with my blue version but I think I got away with it. hehe!! Thank you to everyone who watched and then sent me such kind emails for when I got home. I really appreciate you getting in contact and I love to hear what you thought and what else you would like to see on future Funky Hand products. It gives me inspiration !

Ian and I have lots of very big plans for later in the year and they are all starting to come together now so, hopefully there will be interesting things ahead...

Anyway today I decided that I wanted to craft. I needed to make a birthday card for Ians sister Sandi so I thought I'd join in with the challenge over on the Penny Black Saturday Challenge Blog. I have to admit I don't own many Penny Black stamps, though I do like them I don't get much time for stamping lately so I don't buy as many as I used to. Anyway a little while ago all my Funky Hand Design Team members had a image swap so I got some lovely Penny Black stamped images from Kath so I decided to use one of those for this weeks challenge. Blooming Gorgeous !



It's not too easy to get a decent picture when you are using an acetate card blank but hopefully you get the idea ! I also used my new set of nesties dies that I treated myself to from Craft Obsessions last week. Here's the back view!



The papers are from my CD Funky Word Books, just to show you that you don't only need to make Word Book cards with it!

Right I best get off and see what else I can get done in my craftroom. A bit of a tidy up wouldn't go a miss actually but..I don't think I'm in the mood for that today!!

Anice xx

Finally some Challenge Cards !

Lately I haven't had the time to join in with any challenges so today I decided that I wasn't going to miss out for another week. I have cheated a little as I have combined two challenges into one card but..I'm sure I'll be forgiven! The challenges are from Daring Cardmakers to use 5 of something on your creation and the sketch is from one of my favourite designers Di Hickman.



The papers are all from my CD Now that's Funky and I decided my five things had to be buttons that I seem to have rather a large collection of at the moment! I decided to use lots of different sized, coloured and texture buttons to give the card a bit of a random feel rather than it be all regimented and organised. I have a thing for hand cutting stuff at the moment and as I am pretty awful at hand cutting, everything turns out a little rough..but to tell you the truth with this card that was just what I was going for. Hence the squares have been stuck on at slight angles..there isn't a straight line on it! That's why I decided to use the 'Handmade with love' sentiment circle as it certainly looks handmade and I love it!!

I'm spending the weekend getting ready for my TV show on Create and Craft next Tuesday at 12 noon, second time lucky as I had to cancel last time due to being ill. I'm all back to normal now..well as normal as I get anyway, so hopefully I'll see you on Tuesday..well you'll see me anyway if you are watching. I'll be demoing my latest CD Funky Word Books and having a play with a Zutter Bind it All.

Speak again soon.
Anice xx

I'm back and crafting!

Well, it's been an 'interesting' week here at Funky Hand Towers. Thankfully I seem to have turned the corner with my allergic reaction and after taking the truck loads of pills my GP prescribed (no joke!) I am finally on the road to recovery! I was sorry to have to cancel my live appearance on Create & Craft TV on Tuesday but I couldn't stand up for longer than about five mins so it would have been a rather interesting show with me disappearing behind the counter to have a sit down!! Everything was all prepared for the show so it's just been re arranged for the 2nd June. Gives me a bit more time to practice using my Bind it All!!

Well as I am feeling better I got on with a bit of crafting this morning..and I actually made cards to be sent out rather than as demonstrations! What a treat! I thought I'd share them with you as these crafting moments for fun are rare occurrences these days.

The first one is for Ians Dad birthday. I have kept it pretty plain as Ians Dad isn't really a ribbon and jewel kind of guy! But I couldn't resist just adding a few buttons.. It was made using the For the Lads Word Book Collection from my Funky Word Books CD.



This next one is a wedding regrets card. It's always a shame when a wedding clashes with a holiday..especially as we don't get to go on or to either very often! But this time we will be on holiday when Ians cousin ties the knot so a regrets card it had to be..



The paper is from my Funky Daze CD and the fab ribbon is from a huge stash that Enfys from my DT was able to get for me when she was last over in the US..it's amazing what Enfys can find in the bargain tubs around the craft stores of Florida..I have enough ribbon now to keep me going forever.. well I'm sure until the next time she is over there anyway!! You know us crafers..you can never have enough stash!

Well, I hope you have a fabby bank holiday weekend. I'm hoping to get a new download collection started with all this sun and talk of Weddings maybe that will be my direction for a new collection..who knows?!

Speak again very soon.
Anice xx

Oops! Create & Craft show is off tomorrow.

Just a quick note. I'm afraid I'm not feeling well, some sort of nasty allergic reaction on my legs, so my live show on Create and Craft has been postponed until Tuesday 2nd June at 12 noon instead.

Now I'm off back to the sofa to continue to feel sorry for myself! Hopefully I will be better very soon and I'll be back to share some crafty stuff that I've been working on.

Anice xx

Create and Craft Live show Tuesday 19th May.

Yes, you are going to have to put up with me again on live TV on Tuesday at 12noon. The Create and Craft channel (Sky 671, Freeview Channel 22) have started having live shows a number of times a week to bring crafters new products and on Tuesday it's my turn.



I'll be working with my new CD Funky Word Books trying to give you a few more ideas of what sorts of things you can create with it. But what will be quite exciting is that Create and Craft are premiering the Zutter Bind It All machine (the new pink one) and I get to have a play with it and show you ways you can use it with my Funky Word Books CD



Luckily I do already own a Bind it All so I am making sure I have a practice so I don't show myself up on Live TV. Which doesn't mean I wont so it might be worth watching just for the laugh!! I hope you can join me, I should have more time for demos and having a closer look at the fab samples that my Design Team have created with the CD than I did on the launch show on Ideal World a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway I haven't finished the demos yet! So I'd best get going and finish them off or it will be a pretty quiet show!!

Speak again real soon
Anice xx