Core Memories...

Everybody needs a friend like Justine. I've known her for 25 years and we first met through a friend of mine (Kathleen) who I'd known at Glasgow University and who had moved to Oxford University to do a PhD (I know a lot of smart friends!). She had met Justine as they were studying in similar fields (Classics, it's not a very big world) and as I was working at the University in one of the libraries, she introduced me. 

Like a lot of friendships over the years we've flitted in and out of each other's lives, but this past year or so, we've been back in touch more regularly, and she's popped in to see me in Leeds on her way back further up north, when this photo was taken last October. 

This was one memory I was definitely going to be keeping and so this page was born. As it happens, I've met up with Kathleen early this year in Oxford and so this will eventually become a double page spread.

I've been making good use of the Party Alphabet dies on my pages lately, and stencils from Uniko - this one is the Layering Retro Lines - along with the new ink colours for 2026-8, which I absolutely love, not just for their colours, but because they are now the magnetic closures which makes my life a whole lot easier in opening them.

This year is definitely becoming the year of reconnecting with friends. I have a trip planned to Dublin later on in the year with some other friends I lost touch with, and I will definitely be keeping those memories too.

Justine is definitely one of a kind. A kind, wild, helpful, intelligent and thoughtful person, who has faced challenges and overcome them. I'm very glad that she's in my life, and I am definitely the better for it.

Keep those memories of your friends, they deserve to be remembered.

You Inspire Me! New catalogue and new Stampin' Up magnetic ink pads

There's a new Stampin' Up! Catalogue heading your way soon and shopping can start from May 6th. I love it when a new catalogue comes out - it's a chance to see all the new and inspiring crafty things there are. 

Things have changed this year with the catalogues and instead of an annual catalogue there are going to be 3 catalogues each year. I think this is a brilliant idea because often the annual catalogue comes out and then is forgotten when the mini catalogues appear 3 times during the year. This way things are always fresh. There will be items available throughout the year, though, moving from catalogue to catalogue, so there will still be some continuity. I think it's the best of both worlds.

What I really wanted to chat to you about today was the new In Colors. If you've been watching my Instagram and reading my newsletter for a while, you'll know I'm a big fan of the In Colors - I'm still sad that Shy Shamrock is leaving us this year - and I've really enjoyed the current colours. The new In Colors for 2026-8 are really different though - not just in colour, but in design. 

I'll not lie, I've never been a huge fan of the ink pad mechanism of the current ink pads - I end up with ink on my hands sometimes more than the project I'm working on, so when they started talking about magnetic ink pads, my ears pricked up.

I have them, and I can attest that they are great. I love them! Easy to take the lids off, bigger than the current pads, and back to the old felt pad design they used to have. 

The price point is higher than what we've had, so it does make them more of an investment, but, my Instagram reel shows how to use them and that they are so easy, so it's definitely worth it for me. I won't be rebuying ink pads as they change them over to the magnetic pads, but any new pads, I will be getting them in the new format as they come out.

I'm also a huge fan of Hydrangea Hue in this set of colours. Such a beautiful blue. I'm trying a new technique with two tone cardstock with this using an embossing folder and an emery board. You can read all about it in My Projects over on my Stampin' Up! page.

I'm so happy to be blogging again. I forgot how much I really missed it!

Happy Crafting!

Ruth x

Wheear 'ast tha bin sin' ah saw thee, ah saw thee? [Where Have You Been Since I Saw Thee?]

Not on Ilkley Moor baht 'at [Ilkley Moor without a hat] I can tell you - far too chilly for that! No, since I last posted back in 2023, I have been rediscovering a love of card making and I finally decided to join Stampin' Up! as a Demonstrator and have a new brand for this adventure - Ruth Gets Crafty (I love owls!).

I've joined my friend Kylie's team the Cuppa Crafters and am really enjoying all that it entails. I'm part of a team of other local crafty people, I get a discount on some quality craft supplies, and I've even started to run some classes myself which is a scary and thrilling experience all at the same time. Not only that, but I had someone join my team, Ruth's Crafty Rebels, which is really exciting, as I love the idea of creating that crafty community that we all need.

I have a regular weekly email newsletter, which I've been enjoying writing, and I'm regularly posting on my Instagram, Ruth Gets Crafty (that's my new name), but I really really missed having a blog. 

I spent a great deal of time agonising over setting up a website - I bought a domain which I never used of course - and having a blog that way, but the cost in terms of time and learning were too much for me. I thought I might set up another blog like this one, but I never got round to it. I realised that I  already had a blog and one that had been sharing my crafty journey since I started it almost 12 years ago.

When I first set up this blog it was suggested to me that the name would be come obsolete after some time. True, my girls no longer nap, they just don't get up in the morning, but I felt I wanted to keep that connection going and not lose that link from when I first started crafting back when my 12 year old was 6 months old.

So, after 18 months of faffing, I'm doing what I always should have done. Start writing again on this blog!

I'll be sharing craft projects, mostly Stampin' Up! because after all, it's business, but I will throw in other things I'm doing because I can't just have one focus, no, I need all the hobbies, and I'm still loving sewing in various different forms.

I hope some of you out there are still crafting - I definitely know some of you are! - and that you'll join in the further adventures of Crafting While the Baby Naps, also now known as Ruth Gets Crafty.

If you'd like to join the newsletter where I share weekly what classes there are coming up, and other jolly tidbits of Stampin' Up! fun, I would love to have you!

Flowers are Forever...

How many of you have been with me on my journey from my very first card way back in 2015? Can you remember when I joined The Flower Challenge? A card making challenge set up by one of my very earliest card making buddies, Aileen. Well, don't be shocked when I tell you it was 7 years ago. Truly it is because this month they are having a challenge and a celebration as Aileen and Viv retire.

I was touched when Viv emailed me to ask me to join in with this challenge. I've hardly been in touch and it has been nearly 2 years since I last blogged anything, but I couldn't say no.

I've been getting back in to card making, mostly thanks to my friend Kylie who lives a 20 minute walk from me and is a Stampin' Up demonstrator. I've got back into going to her monthly card classes and now that I'm gainfully employed in retail with a regular salary again, I've been saving up for some new purchases. Watch this space for more cards to come!

This challenge is Anything Goes, which can be a double edged sword really with having to decide without any restrictions and that means endless possibilities with a whole host of stamps I could use. In the end I decided to use the Sweet Floral Friends stamp set from Clearly Besotted to make a couple of Good Luck cards.

In my usual style it's pretty simple with an image coloured using Copic markers popped up on foam pads onto a white background and a coloured card base. I do love the Stampin' Up card stock for their vibrant colours. The sentiment is from the set.

So this is a way for me to say to Aileen and Viv, Thank You for giving me the opportunity 7 years ago to join a great team, I'm glad that it's still around and going strong and Good Luck to you stepping down and to Karren taking on the mantle of leadership.

I hope you'll join in, after all, Anything Goes!

Happy Crafting, Ruth x

It's not easy being green...

My goodness me it's been a while since I blogged here; April 2020 to be precise! A lot has happened since then. We've been in and out of lockdown, we've now got a vaccine, but we also have various new variants. Which brings me onto my card. Variants. Not of the virus kind. 

Given all we went through in 2020, I expected to be feeling a lot more positive coming into 2021 with the vaccine, but another lockdown, another round of home schooling, bubbles bursting, and just more uncertainty has taken its toll on me since January. I've really struggled mentally this year so far.

One thing that has been getting me through various trials are the recent Marvel TV series on Disney+. From WandaVision, to Falcon and the Winter Soldier, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. My latest obsession and by far my favourite, however, is the recently finished, Loki. If you're a fan, you'll get the reference to variants...

It's polarised quite a lot of Marvel fans, but with some fabulous and very engaging performances by the main characters, Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino and Owen Wilson, a brilliant score and writing, I loved it. Thankfully there will be a Season 2 sometime in the next 18 months, so the cliff hanger ending will get resolved - I hope... I highly recommend for some escapism in trying times, even if it at times isn't so cheery!

I was going through my card making stash, and having a bit of a clear out - some eBaying may be on the horizon - and found in my scrap box, this image of an MFT Viking that I stamped onto some watercolour card ages ago. The stamp is no longer available by the look of things, so I will be hanging onto it. Given Loki is from the Viking myths and legends, it was clearly a sign to use him up at last.

I got my Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils out and spend a happy few minutes colouring him in. It's not quite the fine Asgardian leather that Loki wears in the TV series, but you can't have everything, right? I don't have the die to go with him, so I simply fussy cut and kept him very simple on a green card base with a white background. With coloured images I find simple is best.

I made the card base out of some lovely green cardstock from Stampin' Up, and I ended up with two card bases, so I just carried on and made another simple card with a wax seal I bought from my lovely Etsy buddy Karen. She makes and sells wax seals that you just have to peel and stick to your card - I can get embellishments without the added need to buy more crafty paraphernalia.

Simply done, with some added sequins from Lucy's cards - I have so many and it was hard to part with them, so I'm using them up! - and I have two cards and had a very enjoyable session whilst the children played outside. A win win for everyone.

I hope you have managed to stay sane as much as you can since last April when I last posted, and I hope to be back here a bit more regularly, as I've found card making at least once a month, can really help. Keep going, it's all we can do!

Clearly Besotted Mr Mole

Here we are in Week 3 and the odd thing is it's starting to feel normal! Hope you are still bearing up. Without further ado, here's my card....

  I've had these stamps for a while and one evening a few weeks ago, along with a whole load of things, I decided to colour them in. I struggled to get the right browns, but I did a lot of blending and came up with something that seemed to work!

I'm enjoying making all things sunshine and rainbows at the moment, so I decided Mr Mole would be popping out of the ground to look at the glorious sunshine. He might have bad eyesight, but he can still make out when it's lovely and sunny.

The sun is keeping me going and it's almost Easter, so the sun is bringing a whole load of hope to the world.

A quick one from me today, but sending you all the requisite virtual hugs and a reminder in these times to keep on crafting :)

Sending you sunshine, with a bit of extra news!

Gosh we could do with lots of sunshine at the moment! What a different route life has taken us over the past couple of weeks. I was adjusting to having the girls around and they were adjusting to being around, but not able to go out and see their friends, so I didn't manage to post anything last week. 

Week 2 of social isolation is going slightly better. I have closed the Etsy shop for the time being as I'm not comfortable going out to the post office. I may in a few weeks reopen and do weekly post office drops. I'm also more into a routine with the children and negotiating some time for me with my husband. As he's the main bread winner and can work from home, it's best for him to do that for as long as possible.

I'm missing the person to person contact, but ironically I've also decided now is the time to reduce my time on Facebook. There is just too much on it for me at the moment and it's all whirling round my head and I just sit and flick and it gets me nowhere. I still have both my Instagram accounts Crafting While the Baby Naps and Ruth's Reusable Products, and I prefer that for interaction. 

So that's my news. How are you all bearing up? 

Card! So I've had this set for ages. It's an old MFT set called Sunflower Sweetheart which they re-released in 2019. Someone very kindly sent it to me along with the dies. I didn't use them, as they are the old closed dies and I didn't want to mistakenly chop bits off I'd spent ages colouring, so after colouring her with Copic markers, I fussy cut her. Nearly chopped her head off in the process, but managed not to! 

She's just simply adhered to a card base along with some frames I cut out of patterned paper and the sentiment has been stamped along the bottom.

Wishing you all the best of things at the moment. Stay safe. Stay home. Stay sane and Keep On Crafting!