Thank You Rose Card

Hello... I hope you are all doing ok today... big hugs to those who are unwell or not feeling good.

Here's a quick Thank You card that I made with the lovely Rosebud Die that I won in Jo's Candy Draw a few weeks back.

I love how you can layer the rose up and think it looks stunning. I've just added some corrugated card for interest and a gem to finish. The gorgeous Thank You sentiment was a Birthday Gift a few years ago from my good friend Lynn :-)  It's wood-mounted and stamps perfectly every time, so I use it lots... it's fab for quick Thank You cards! 

I have to apologise again.... as my commenting is so bad at the moment.  I had another flare up with my chest last weekend, and the good news is that I actually managed to get over it without any antibiotics and steroids... but found that I had to have loads of sleep... but I'm still sleepy... and can happily sleep for 10 to 12 hours!! think maybe I'm turning into a hedgehog and getting ready for hibernation!! I feel like my body needs the sleep though, so I'm accomodating!

While I was awake!! Lol...  I made a few Christmas Cards, and really enjoyed making them. I started off copying some from my Making Cards magazine... it got the ball rolling and I'm feeling inspired again.

Downton again tonight!! and my lovely daughter is home, so we can watch it together.... I'm a happy bunny! :-D

I will catch up with you all soon

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend

Love and Hugs

Hello and Thank You!

 Hello... I hope you are all doing ok today.... I know some of my friends are unwell or going through a difficult time at the moment and so I'd like to send love and huge hugs to them.

Sorry... it's been a while since I last posted. I've had a lot of appointments but I now have a wee break from them until next Thursday! Yay! so I'm trying to find my crafting mojo again ... but I have to say that I'm VERY slow at everything. I'm having a go at some CAS cards at the moment and hoping to get back into the flow... will see how it goes.

But I still have a lot of stuff that I made months ago and have not got around to sharing... so thought today I would show you this Audrey Hepburn Canvas that I made for my dear friend Ira's Birthday.

Quite a simple design but love the quotes.... I merged photos from the internet and printed them on photo card... then just added the embellishments. 

I was a very lucky bunny... and won some gorgeous candy a couple of weeks back...

so I would like to say a Big Thank You! to Jo... thanks hun! I really love this fab selection of goodies! the rose die is awesome!

Ah well... better go and check my Tesco order now.... before it's too late to add anything... so many little jobs to do.

A Big Thank You to all my Followers... I really do appreciate you taking the time to visit and comment!
Will catch up with you over the weekend!

Love and hugs

Jamaica Rum

Hello... I hope you are all well today and having a nice weekend. Big hugs to those who are unwell or going through difficult times.

I haven't done very much crafting lately... but had an hour to spare last week and felt like getting inky.. so here's what I came up with...  I imagine this sailor is rowing ashore into the sunset... from his ship.. in some exotic place... maybe Jamaica? 

I created the background colour with my ink dusting brushes and distress inks. Then used Stampscape Stamps for the silhouette details. Finished off by colouring the huts and greenery with Copics.

I'm sorry that I'm not a very good blogger at the moment... my life is bit hectic as my chest keeps flaring up... and I'm having more trouble with my teeth. Hoping to get my teeth fixed very soon though :-D   and then I need some tests on my eyes!! Lol... oh the joys of getting old !!

I have hospital appointments every week through September ... so hope you will forgive me if I don't get around to commenting on some days. I can't seem to get motivated to make cards at the moment, so I'm just going with the flow and doing a bit of painting and colouring... might try some cross stitch.... and hopefully my creativity will return when things settle down a bit healthwise.

I'm having a very relaxed Bank Holiday Weekend though... have been enjoying reading my books and magazines... I still have some creations that I made a couple of months back and so I will pop back and show you them... :-)

Take Care and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Love and Hugs

Graduation Card

Hello all ... I hope you are all doing ok today... sending huge hugs to those of you who are unwell or going through a difficult time. 

I thought I'd share the card that I made for my Daughter's Graduation... I found some photos of the robe and bonnet online and did all the layout on my computer. Found a coat of arms that looked similar, changed it to gold, and added it to the red bits. Somewhere along the line, the red morphed into pink? Oops! think my printer was running out of a colour. But I didn't feel like starting again!!

I made a paper template for the hat and then cut it out of black felt. Pleated the crown and sewed it to the brim. I was trying to 'channel' my ancestor Nathaniel Barton who was a Hatter!! but hopefully not a mad one! :-) Then I found some cord and a tassel... painted them both blue to match.

Quite pleased with how it came out and happy that my daughter thought it was awesome!!

I've not had a lot of time for crafting lately but have been doing some of my Folk It painting when I can fit it in... as it's so relaxing. I'm onto the 2nd kit and so it's learning brush strokes as well as the dotting tool. The comma stroke is not as easy as it looks... so lots of practice needed.

My laptop died last week... but managed to revive it... it made me realise how important it is to keep backing everything up and to do it very often!!!

I'm in TV heaven at the moment... Bake Off AND Who Do You Think You Are!!! did you see those wonderful Black Forest Gateaux's last week... it's my favourite dessert... so I was drooling!! Lol

Thanks for visiting and for all your lovely comments
Take Care

Happy 30th Birthday!!!

Hello... I hope you are doing ok today! 

I thought I'd show the card that I made for my Daughter's 30th Birthday back in May.

She asked for an Art Deco Card.. so I decorated the front with Papermania Art Deco 'Roaring Twenties' Decoupage Set. It's an 8 inch card... so bit bigger than my normal cards... but wanted to fit more on. I'm please to say that my daughter loved the decoupaged images and art deco paper...  and especially the sentiment which is a Wild Rose Studio Speciality Die - Vivianna Corner and you can get a matching set of sentiments to fit called Wild Rose Studio Clear Stamp Set - Vivianna Greetings! I bought them both with my Birthday Vouchers.

As it was her 30th... I was going to buy her one of those Trivia Sets as a keepsake... where they give you information on the month and year that you were born.... but they were quite expensive and they didn't have many facts.. so decided to do my own version.... I decorated the inside of the card with Trivia.... now I have to admit that it was very time consuming... like doing a magazine layout! but it was also lots of fun to do :-) I managed to find a photo of the toy kitchen that she had as a toddler from an old Argos Catalogue from 1985! and couldn't believe some of the facts from that year... you could buy a 4 Bedroom Detached House for £45,000 back then!! Our little terraced house is worth five times that amount now!! Lol

I put lots of photographs of her growing up and of the family on the opposite side of the card... and also wrote a personal verse. She loved it and it's something that she can keep and look back on....  :-))

Glad it's gone a lot cooler here in Manchester... it was lovely to get a good night's sleep last night without noisy fan!!

Only two more days to go... then I get my tooth out... can't wait to get rid of it!!! as it's hurting all the time now.  Hopefully I will feel a bit more relaxed when the pain is gone.

Hope you all have a lovely evening!

Take Care! :-)

Love and Hugs

MAWTT - Baby, Baby... and NEWS

 Hello... I hope you are all doing ok...

I'm very sad today as my good friend and lovely boss Hazel is stepping down from MAWTT.

 But at the same time I totally understand that she wants some well deserved 'me' time. It's not easy running a blog... and would like to say a HUGE thank you to Hazel for all the hard work she has put in over the last 6 years... Hazel has kept the blog running smoothly and so well organised... kept the team together and very happy... making it  the best team that I have worked on. It was my first ever DT Position and I have stayed with them because of the wonderful rapport that the team has.  I'm sure you will join with me in wishing Hazel all the best... and it's not really goodbye as we will still be seeing her in blogland and keeping in touch! :-))

MAWTT is continuing with Wendy taking over as leader... so we wish her all the best.

There will be monthly challenges for the Summer.... so you have until 5th August to enter the current 'Baby, Baby' challenge..... see below...

Please check back with us on the main blog here for any updates and more information.... we will keep you posted of any other changes.

and so now for this week's challenge... a nice easy theme of...

  BABY, BABY  

I thought I'd make a vintage baby card for a boy or girl... and also keep it fairly flat for posting.... the faux buttons are made using Raspberry Road Design elements and printed onto glossy photo card... love how they came out! :-)

Image: Free Pretty Things For You
Papers: Design House Digital
Faux Buttons: Nitwit Collections - Tour of London
Sentiments and Inset Images: Computer Generated from assorted Fonts

Thought I'd show the inside... I used the same paper but added the sentiment and some little baby images before printing out.  Amazing how many lovely baby fonts there are online if you search for them... some have little sentiments or images.... I've listed the ones I've used below....

The Congratulations sentiment was made with Fontdinerdotcom Sparkly Font.
The little baby images were from a Font called MTF Itty Bitty Baby.
The Welcome Little One Sentiment was made with KR Scrappin Babies Font.

I hope you can pop over to our main site at MAWTT and see the rest of the Team's baby creations.
Don't forget... closing date for this challenge is 5th August... so you have plenty of time to get your entries in.

Can't believe that we are in July already! this year seems to be whizzing by way too quickly!
Thanks for all your lovely comments, I really do appreciate them!
Take Care

Love and hugs