30TH GOTH CARD

Hi all! Isn't this weather terrible? Really miserable! Hope you're all keeping warm.
I was asked to make a birthday card for a Goth. Now this is right out of my comfort zone, but I knew it had to be black and purple!

What do you think? TFL x

SOMETHING DIFFERENT...

Hi all! I know - it's been over a month again. Sorry. I'm just trying to get back on my feet properly! Anyway, hope you're all well?
My very good friend has a birthday coming up this week, so I made this for her. It's a deep-edge canvas collage. Get me! She is also a very talented crafter, especially for this sort of thing. And it will be her first birthday without her dear husband, who sadly passed away earlier this year. So I wanted it to be a bit different.

As you can see, it's a right mix of textures, pearls, flowers, ribbon, buttons, etc.

Most of it is from my stash, so I've no clue where I got them. But the flowers are definitely from WildOrchidCrafts...

... and the sentiment is from Melissa Frances.

What do you think?

Right then, I'm off to wrap it up and post it! TFL x

OMG!! TWO CARDS IN ONE MONTH!

My friend's birthday is coming up at the end of the month, so I thought I'd try and make her something. Used the Cuttlebug again, with the usual sprinkling of flowers and pearls. TFL x

A BIT MORE DECORATION...

Morning, all. Firstly, thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my card. I wasn't sure about it, but you've made me feel much more confident about taking up crafting again after my break....

Secondly, we ordered some other decals at the same time as those in the Garden Suite (!):

This is on her wall above her bed. She didn't notice it until we asked her to tidy her room up a bit!

She loves it!
TFL x

FIRST CARD FOR MONTHS...

Well, here it is. I have at last made something. It's a card for my friend to give to her sister, who has inoperable cancer. The brief was 'not too fussy or sad, but lots of flowers and stuff'. Oh, okay then!

I put my dusty old cuttlebug to use and added some flowers (WildOrchid Crafts) and a few pearls.

I like it and I hope it fits the bill. TFL xx

THE GARDEN SUITE

I haven't been completely out of it... I have been decorating, too. The downstairs 'facilities' were a bit dark and miserable, so I changed it.

I bought the decals in contrasting colours (ebay) and cut them up a bit.

It is now known as the 'Garden Suite'... get me!!
TFL x

I'M NOT DEAD....

... just been away for a while. I can't believe how long it has been since my last post. But it wasn't through laziness. I've been a bit poorly. The best way to explain it is to say that the world started to spin a bit too quickly for me and I needed to get off for a while. So I came out of hospital, packed up my job and have been spending some quiet time with my hubby (who is struggling with a 'rotator cuff impingement' or something painful) and my girl.

But I'm back now. I've been asked to make a card so I'm about to brush away all the cobwebs from my craft room and let the daylight back in. Then I need to find the box marked 'mojo' and try and come up with something amazing!!

Watch this space! xx

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

My Dad was the best, as I'm sure was everyone else's!! Happy Father's Day to my Dad. I miss you every day. xxxxxxxxxx
And I'm sending big hugs to everyone who can't be with their Dad today. xxx

YOU OWE ME MONEY!

Morning all! It's a horrible grey day here in rural Lincolnshire - but then it IS a Bank Holiday weekend, so I shouldn't really be surprised!
Anyway, I found out last weekend that a very close friend of mine has just been diagnosed with inoperable ovarian cancer. She starts chemo on Tuesday to hopefully shrink the tumour so they can at least stop the little bugger spreading any more.
Stunned.
Anyway, her sister and I had a chat and we (along with my lovely Lil G) are going to take part in the Race for Life on the Lincolnshire Showground on 10 July. (For those of you around the world who may not know what this is, it's in aid of the Cancer Research charity and is supported by Tesco supermarket. There are events around the country and it's a women-only event.)
For those of you who know me, you will know that I'm not a runner/walker. I'm a swimmer. I don't do running. If I need to be somewhere faster than walking pace, I take the car. So this is big.
Now, you can probably see where this is going...
My Dad used to ring me up and say "You owe me money" and I'd ask what for? He'd say "For the raffle tickets you're about to buy!"
I am not going to adopt the same tactic, but I am going to ask you if you can spare a few pence to sponsor the three of us.
Here's the link you need:
Race for Life
We've set ourselves a target of £250, so anything you can spare would be much appreciated.
Thank you all and have a great Bank Holiday weekend! xxx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Hi all! I know it's been AGES since my last post... so busy and no mojo since the hair slides episode. Which is why I didn't want any more craft stuff for my birthday - I have tons and no time to do it lately. So I asked for a new handbag. And look what I got:

It's from the Dandy collection by Disaster Designs. I got a handbag, purse, mirror, make-up bag, wash bag, weekender bag, mug/coaster and a flask! How spoilt am I??? I love this design, very shabby chic and reminds me of Melissa Frances.
AND
You may or may not know that I'm a big red panda fan (I have one at Bristol Zoo, well for this year, anyway) so my very talented Mummy painted this:

Absolutely amazing. She's very good, isn't she?
Anyway, off to eat birthday chocs for breakfast! xxx

MY FAVOURITE...

My very lovely hubby bought me some yellow roses for my birthday. I bought him a macro lens (nope, me neither) for his camera and he took this of one of my roses. How beautiful is this? xx

He has his own blog for his photos...

WE'RE BACK AND WE'VE BEEN BUSY!

Hello all! I can't believe we're in MAY already, nor how long it's been since my last post! We've been away on holiday (spotted that thing where, if you take 3 days' leave, you get 11 days off in row!) but I did manage to smuggle in some craft stuff to our luggage!
This is what I've been doing:

(beautifully modelled by my very own Lil G, by the way!)
I made the one above cos the bought one she had fell apart. Glue gun and a few flowers from WildOrchidCrafts and hey presto!

I made the red/white one for school (and cos I found some red roses in my stash...)

This one was made to go with her new outfit and cos purple is her favourite colour... and you may notice that I've started to add a bit of bling as well now...

No idea why I made this one but I was on a roll...
And finally...

... this is the reason that I bought the slides, once I realised I could make them pretty. This one is for a wedding later in the year and I love it. What do you think of them all?

Did you all have a good Easter break? We had a good holiday, but it was tinged with sadness as we lost a close friend just before we went away. But it's best for him as he's not in pain any more. And he can keep my Dad company, heaven help us!!

TFL xx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD

Love and miss you every day. Doobie xxxxx

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY...

... to all of us mums, to our Mums and their Mums! And hugs to all of you who can't be with your Mum today x

SOME MOTHER'S DAY CARDS

Hubby cooked, bless him, so I could catch up on some long overdue crafting! So here are today's offerings.

All the stems are from Beccy's Place and the butterflies are from the Digi Stamp Boutique. Sentiment from Waltzing Mouse.

I coloured them all with Derwent Watercolour pencils, which I love. I use them with my Whispers blender pen and it gives a great finish.

I finished off the butterflies with a dash of GlimmerMist for a bit of sparkle.

Thanks for looking! xx

THE PINK LADIES WOT LUNCH

Morning all!  It was Lil G's birthday last week so we took her and three of her friends out for the day to a local theme park.  They had a brilliant time and we gave them each a pink baseball cap so that we could find them amongst the many, many, many other small hooligans!  Here they are having an ice-cream break.... yup, that's mine.. the one with the ice-cream moustache!! x

IS IT JUST ME?

Hi all!  Bit of a late one, but I wanted to get this in before going to bed... Lil G's birthday yesterday and we're taking her and three friends to a theme park for the day tomorrow - woo.  Anyway, what also happened yesterday was that we got Sky installed at home.  The man came and stuck a nasty little wok on the side of my house and left us a little black box that does all kinds of clever stuff. 
And he also left us the cardboard box that the little black box was delivered in.... Now, maybe I just have a dark side but this little box is still here, on the living room floor, and I keep giggling at it...

So I've left it on the floor in front of the bookcase.. asleep.  And it hasn't moved an inch since yesterday.  Not sure how it's helping the planet or our electricity bill - it just seems to be taking up space, but it seems a shame to wake it up!!! xx

MOTHERS DAY CARDS FROM LIL G

Us again!  Here is a set of oriental cards that Lil G made for Mother's Day!  I love the colours and her designs - nothing to do with me! 

The papers and chipboard toppers were part of a freebie set that came with a craft magazine and she loves the bright colours.  I think she's done a really good job. 

She has made a set of four because there is one each for both Grandmothers, one for an Aunt and another one for a lovely lady we call Nanna 3; she's not related but she might as well be!

Right, I'm off to start my own cards now! xx

SSSHH!! I'VE MADE THIS FOR A FRIEND AND SHE DOESN'T KNOW!!

Hi all!  At last I've got around to some crafting, so here you are... the first one of the day!  It's for a very good friend of mine and I made it using Waltzing Mouse's 'Asian Garden Additions' stamp set.  Hope she likes it!
Off to start work on Lil G's birthday card now.. Can't believe she'll be 8 on Thursday!!! Have a great weekend xxx



Morning all!  It's O/H's birthday today (which is why I couldn't publish this earlier!) and Lil G thought that you might like to see the card she made.  She chose the image, coloured it with watercolour pencils and assembled it.  I cut it all out for her.  The card background is PP's craft card and the sentiment is printed on the pc.  I think it's gorgeous and Daddy loves it!  TFL x

WHAT A WEEK!

Sorry for the lack of cardage... I'll be remedying that today with hubby's birthday cards (hopefully!). I say 'hopefully' cos I've been flat out all week doing a PRINCE2 course and I still can't see straight! My brain hurts. I passed the Foundation level on Wednesday and I now have to wait a fortnight to find out if I've passed the Practitioner level - eek!
So, watch this space!! xx

SURPRISE!

Morning all! What do you think of the face-lift? My good friend, Mrs VH, has revamped her blog and I thought mine needed a fresh look. xxx

Hi all! Thought I'd show you the card I made for my lovely hubby....I made this a few days ago, but I couldn't publish it until today! I used Waltzing Mouse stamps and Letterpress ink. Happy Valentine's Day xx

AND SOMETHING FROM LIL G

A bit of a giveaway if the recipient spots it, but hey ho! My baby girl made this, with a little (but not much, I have to say) help from Daddy. She chose the image (and was a bit scared that it might offend!), coloured it in, cut it out and added the foam pads. Inside, it says "... from your biggest fan". Well done, baby girl xx

'HANOVARIAN' BIRTHDAY CARD!

This is for someone special but I can't tell you who yet cos it isn't their birthday and they may try to sneak a peek!
I used those amazing V&A Hanovarian papers with a freebie digi image - and I found another use for the brayer and gold ink that I got for the Letterpress!

I inked up a flourish stamp I found and it just adds another dimension. The sentiment is of course Melissa Frances and I think it stops it being too old-fashioned. Hope they like it!! x

A CARD AND AN UPDATE...

Hi all... a quick card for another newborn, so I used the same image but slightly changed the layout.
And some news on the Letterpress... Well, it seems my problem is actually the die itself; it isn't that well made. I used some of the others and it works fine, so I filed down the edge and I seem to be making progress. However, I'm still not 100% happy with it cos it's flippin' messy!! But I solved the issue of the sticky paper, I now just use a strip of DST and it works much better! TFL x

RISE AND SHINE!!

Morning all! Had a panic this morning, when I got up and realised it was my friend and neighbour's birthday!!! So I made this. A freebie digi stamp and lots of matting and layering. I recoloured the image in Photofiltre and added the flowers (from WildOrchidCrafts) and some pearls from my stash. Hope she likes it!! x

LETTERPRESS? NOT IMPRESSED...

Hi all. Well, after many months of threatening to get the Letterpress starter kit, I eventually found one. I've put it off because I couldn't really justify £50 on a new crafty toy! However, MadAboutCards had one in their sale at half price, so I thought, why not?
I had read mixed reviews on it, but I really liked the look of the results. I have to say that the only good thing about it so far is that MAC delivered it in super-quick time!
You get a small collection of 'dies', actually very pretty and ones that I would use a lot. You have to stick them to double-sided adhesive paper and cut them out. This paper sticks them to the lid. You then line up your paper, ink up your die with the brayer (and you really REALLY don't need much ink, it goes for MILES!) and whack the whole thing through the machine. Now, I have a Cuttlebug and I can tell you that it works fine with it.
BUT the resulting image was not as wow as I'd hoped. It had printed fine and the ink was even, but it had done that thing where it shows the edges (there is a name for that, but I can't remember what) so there were black lines around the image. I cleaned it all up - a feat in itself - and tried again. No matter how carefully I ink up the die, it does the same thing.
And the adhesive backing comes off the die after one go, so I had to stick it on again, cut it out and stick it to the lid again. That will get extremely boring when I have my invitations to make!
So, all in all, not a great start. It is obviously something I'm doing wrong, but as far as I can see I've followed the instructions to the letter and I'm not at all impressed.
Any of you got one? What am I doing wrong?
xx

IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!

Hello all and a very happy 2011 to you and yours! I can't believe how long it's been since I posted, but things have been a bit hectic lately.
What news? Well, I've been promoted, which is a real bonus, especially in the current climate! Andy and I have been married for 10 years this year, most of which have been traumatic for one reason or another. But we decided to make or break at New Year and luckily, we went for make. So we're renewing our vows around our anniversary in October - a great excuse for making stuff, eh?!!
And our friends had their second baby girl on Friday!! So I made this for them:

(apologies for the rubbish photo, but the light is rapidly fading here!)
I wish you all well for this year and I hope your dreams come true. x