Happy Mother’s Day... a wee bit late!! ;)

Hello Bloggers!! :)

Well, it's been too long since my last post again! :S There's been a lot to deal with here lately- and most of it far too stressful and unpleasant to tell you about here- and I'm still struggling healthwise, too... I've managed to make a few cards as I've needed them but had no chance to get the photos edited or write a post! :( Anyway, I'm really missing blogland and don't like how neglected my blog is looking so have dug out some already edited pics if my mum's Mother's Day card which I never got round to sharing and I'll attempt to keep my explanation brief... 'fat chance!' I hear you cry!!lol

I know at the time I had a bit of a nightmare with making this, but I can't really remember why now... which probably means it was more to do with my brain malfunctioning than anything else!lol Anyway, I always try to do something different or use something new for my Mum's cards as she sees- and often helps with, due to my mobility/strength issues- almost all my cards and this time I decided to try a Centre Stepper Card. I made a Side Stepper last year and was not enamoured with it at all- it just looked and felt very awkward and unbalanced to me! :S lol - but I really like this version and think it's a great way to frame an image :)

The adorable image is, if course, from Lili of the Valley and I coloured with PMs as well as copious quantities of Stardust pen!! :) I also used the Mica Powders I got in the Xmas sales for the first time on the scalloped circle... so pretty!! :)

The flowers were cut on my Cricut and were another first- the first cut file I designed myself in my graphics program after getting the cutting software for my Cricut... the software paid for itself in this card alone as I'd been contemplating the set of punches in this shape for ages and now I can have them in as many sizes as I like- and with no wrist pain from punching either!! :D :D I stamped a swirl on these and dusted Mica on to it but it mostly came off when I embossed them from the back (who’d have guessed- told you my brain was useless at the time!!lol) to get the shape and depth :S Still, they do shimmer prettily at least!!lol

The list:

• A5 Scalloped white card blank
• Lotv image, stamped in Memento London Fog and coloured with PMs
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen
• Nesties - Circles and Petite Scalloped Circles Large
• Perfect Pearls 'Interference' Mica Powders and Versamark pad
• Memory Box Gossamer papers
• Cricut to cut flowers- from 100gsm office paper- and 'Mum'
• Crystal Stickles
• White Pearls

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Allsorts – Free and Easy :), Totally Papercrafts - Bling It Up :) ; I ♥ Promarkers - Anything Goes :) ; Stamp Something - Summer :)


Well, thanks for stopping by!! :) I don’t when I’ll be back as the stuff that’s draining my energy will be doing so for a while yet I think... but I’ll be back if I can as the odd bits of card making and blog reading I’m managing are about all that’s keeping me sane!! Thank you for all the comments on my last couple of cards so long ago-it always means alot!! :) Hopefully I will catch a break before *too* long and have a chance to recharge and feel able to leave some comments myself!! :S Hope you’re all having a good summer so far- we even had a fair bit of sun this week... maybe it really is summer!?! Wow!! lol

   

Stripes at Forever Friends... and more Christmas!! :)

Hello again!! :)

It’s the first Thursday of the Month which means but one thing... we have a new Monthly Challenge for you over at the Forever Friends challenge blog!! :) But before I tell you what it is (okay, my post title probably renders that redundant but still!! ;) ) I have a couple of bits of FF news to share with you as some changes happened while I was MIA at the start of the last challenge: firstly, we have a new name and are now the Forever Friends and Co. Challenge Blog; and, secondly, you can now enter our challenge using any animal image not just a FF bear... although we wouldn’t be on the DT if we didn’t love to see those little cuties, but this should make it easier for some of you to enter!! :)

Right, formalities out of the way and it’s time for the fun bit... Our challenge for July is to include ‘Stripes’ in your creation- which is a lovely easy challenge!! :) We are sponsored this month by Di’s Digi Downloads-

and it was a trip to her fab blog to choose my DT image which sparked off my recent and rather unexpected Christmassy mood as I just couldn’t resist this lovely Santa image... after a lot of looking around and oohing and ahhing over the rest!! :) I could just picture my little bear sending off his Christmas List to the North Pole for Santa to read!!lol

I kept the rest of the card fairly simple again and used some of the lovely Dovecraft Noel papers I got for a bargain price a few weeks ago- really quite wanted them last year but no way was I paying full price so when I saw both collections on offer together for half the price of one normally I leapt at it!! :) I cut the shapes freehand and then distressed and inked the edges :)

I coloured Santa with Prismas with a little Poppy PM on his suit first to get the depth of colour it needed. I’m 

learning that while with PMs it’s best to leave the lighter areas ‘til last, with Prismas it’s the other way around as I keep smudging the darker colours when I try to blend out the lights :S I used fun flock on his collar, hat and cuffs for a bit of fun and love the effect!! :)

The FF bear is coloured with PMs as usual as I haven’t had chance to play to find out which pencils will give the right colour tones yet and the FFs have to look right for me, I’m afraid!!lol This green is the reverse of the stripy paper- how nice to be able to change my mind at the last minute and not have wasted anything!! :)

The sentiment is one of the (quite a few!!) gorgeous new ones I treated myself to by Cat’s Life Press from the fab Crafty Emma’s Store when they had a summer sale last week, and I love it!! :) It and the LOTV corners were stamped in the same DI as I used for the paper edges :)

The List:

• Images: Letter for Santa Digi from Di’s Digi Downloads, coloured with Prismas and OMS; Forever Friends bear wooden stamp, stamped in Memento and coloured with PMs: Ivory all over to help the blending, Oatmeal for the shaded areas and Vanilla all over to blend together, then a few touches of Sunkissed Pink for cheeks and ears
• White Fun Flock
• Dovecraft Premium Noel Papers
• Tim Holtz Paper Distresser
• Vintage Photo Distress Ink
• MS Cherish PATP set
• Cat’s Life Press sentiment stamp
• LOTV Additions corner stamp
• Platinum Stickles

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Allsorts – Free and Easy :) ; Papertake Weekly – Anything Goes :) ; CES - Woodland Creatures :) ; Divas by Design – Die cuts or Punches :) ; Color Throwdown – Red, Green and Cream/Beige :) ; Christmas Card Challenge – ‘Twas the Night before Christmas :) ; Sentimental Sundays – Anything Goes (plus a sentiment) :)

My next project is a Diamond Wedding Anniversary card for my Grandparents- which I should sooo have started by now!! :S – so you probably won’t have to see another Xmas card here for a while... shame really, I feel like I’m on a roll and if I stop I probably won’t get another one made ‘til October like last year!!lol I am glad to hear from the comments on my last card that I'm not the only one whose good intentions to keep on making Xmas cards all through the year rarely works out, though!!lol Anyway, hope you liked this one!! :) Please pop over to the FF blog to see the fab cards from the rest of the DT, too!! :)

Hope you enjoy the rest of the week and your weekend- where does the time disappear to!?!?!!

                                             

Christmas is coming... (help!! :S) lol

Hello there!! :)

I hope you're all okay and enjoying the warm weather over the last few days!! :) It’s gloomy here today but still warm- we’ll no doubt be back to needing cardis to keep warm enough soon, though!! :S I've gone from one extreme to the other on the cardmaking front, too, and from the hot and sunny beach card of last week straight to my first Christmas card of the year...

I saw several cards made with Donalda’s Sketch for last week’s LOTV Challenge and loved them but typically knew I wouldn’t be able to get anything done in time... but, after rediscovering some LOTVs I stamped and coloured but didn’t get round to using last Christmas, all neatly tidied away in a folder with the leftovers of the digi christmas papers I made last year, I came over all inspired- a rarity it seems atm :S – and decided I’d make my first Christmas card of the year ...what happened to the idea of keeping going after Xmas last year to avoid the last minute panic, I really don’t know!!lol 

Anyway, this is the adorable James and he’s been coloured in PMs in my fav colours of last Xmas- Greys and Slate applied with Blender- with just a smidgen (yeah, right!!) of Crystal Stickles and Clear Glaze :) He wasn’t meant to be cut out like this but I had a moment with my C’bug and the image shifted in the die as I tried to emboss it- I haven’t had that happen for ages and I was not a happy bunny with the image already coloured... but now I think it looks better this way as you see more of the coloured papers rather than just a white square and must remember to do it more often!!lol

These are also (big surprise!!lol) my fav colourway of the papers I made last year to go with my fav PM and DI colours when I couldn’t find any that I liked to buy, and I still love that I don’t have to think about what colours will go... makes it so much easier!! :) I didn’t get to use them as much as I wanted to last year as I ended up not able to make all my cards so I think I’ll be using them a fair bit this year again... do hope you won’t all get bored of seeing them!! :S I finished off the sketch with some ribbon, some ink and stickles around the papers and one of my sentiment tickets also left from last year :) Nothing too complicated... but that’s the best way with Christmas cards really, isn’t it- for all but the really special ones anyway!! :)

The List:

• 6"x6" white blank
• Image: James Bear All Wrapped Up - Lotv
• ProMarkers to colour: Cool Greys and Slate applied with the Blender pen
• My own design Digi Papers and Digistamp Ticket Sentiment- left from last year
• Color Box Chalk ink pad - Wisteria
• Copy paper coloured with Slate PM for matting
• Crystal Stickles
• Sakura Clear Glaze pen
• Lilac Pearls
• White Dotty Organza Ribbon coloured with Amethyst PM

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: Lotv - Celebrate :) ; Fab 'n' Funky - Bermuda Triangle :) ; Dream Valley - Ribbon :) ; Totally Papercrafts - Bingo (I've used Gems (my pearls), Glitter and Ribbon) :) ; Allsorts - Free and Easy :) ; Winter Wonderland - Christmas Buffet (I've used Patterned Paper, Ribbon and Gems (pearls) :) ; An Oldie But A Goodie - Anything Goes :) ; ABC Christmas - Monochrome :) ; Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes :)

And, as all my papers- not to mention the image and ticket- are from last year’s leftovers, I’d also like to join in with Jules’ fab Sunday Snippet challenge- I love the inspiration(al reminder!!) from Jules each week to think about what leftover bits and pieces I might have hanging around!!lol

Before I pop off to link up- might take me a while!! :S lol – I want to say a huge ‘Thank You!!’ to all the lovely people who’ve left me comments recently!! :) I am still not feeling up to commenting on nearly as many of your fab creations as I’d like- though thanks to my fancy new phone, I am at least getting to see them more than I would if I had to be feeling up to using the comp- and I truly appreciate every one of you taking who’s taken the time to leave me comments despite that... it makes my day to read them, especially on the days I’m struggling more!! :) I’ll hopefully be back on Thursday with my DT card for the next Forever Friends Monthly Challenge :)