Hello

Good morning on this cold, bright Mothering Sunday.  Unfortunately families are not able to get together today but better afe than sorry.

Our WI has had to close and we are concerned about a number of our older members.  Of the 60 of us we have three over ninety and five in their late eighties who rarely miss a meeting.  We are keeping in touch with them by email, phone etc and I have just a made a card for each of them. I will be doing this at regular intervals just to let them know they are not forgotten.

My Card

Recipe

5" x 7" white base card.
lilac and purple card - Hobbycraft

embossing folder -Petal Pleasure from Couture Creations

flower die - Britannia Dies

sentiment die - Sue Wilson

Tonic crystal drops

Simple cards but just a way to keep in touch.  Unfortunately the photo does not show the lovely embossing.

Keep well and if, like me, you are confined to barracks keep busy.  I am sure we all have enough craft supplies to keep us going well past this emergency situation. 

Sentiment As Focus for Christmas Card Club

Goo d morning to you all and thanks for dropping by.  I can't believe how quickly these two weeks pass and now it's time for our next challenge in the Christmas Card Club.  Carol is hosting this this time and she wants us to use the sentiment as the focus of our card.  Suits me down to the ground.

My Card

Recipe

5" x 7" white base card

white card stock - Rymans

pearlescent card stock - Jelly Bean Crafts

embossing folder - Chain Link from Couture Creations

die - Sue Wilson

bottom edge -Martha Stewart Cherish punch 

I decided to use a non-Christmas embossing folder for a change.  I think it looks quite masculine which is a bonus since I send a few to males on their own.

This card is not due until tomorrow but I have a DT card to post then so whenever possible I try to post this one a day early.  

Hope you enjoy the weekend, though I think the weather has changed now.

Take care.

CAS Christmas Cards

Good moring to you all. This card is very late I'm afraid.  It should have been posted last weekend for the Christmas Card Club. I knew it would be late but not his late so I apologise to the girls in the club, but particularly to Sylvie who was our host this time.  She gave us the simple "Anything Goes".

My Cards

I came upon this embossing folder lurking at the bottom of my box which hasn't been used for at least two years so I have remedied that. Two very simple cards in different colours. The e/f is from Couture Creations called A Magical Time. I just added a Spellbinders snowflake from Create A Flake 5 and popped some pearls on.

I have been so busy this last week or so with other crafting that I have had no time for cardmaking - 

and I missed it. I mentioned the other day that I had some panels to make for a WI wall hanging.  Well I managed to do three and I have one still in progress so I am pleased that they are almost behind me.  Mind you, we then have the task of putting it altogether with the wadding and backing etc.  I'll show the panels in a day or two.

Our internet connection has been very iffy the last few days and yesterday disappeared totally just after lunch.  We managed to get through to our internet provider eventually after being on hold for 45 minutes - a free call fortunately. John had tried  a couple of times earlier but he gets very impatient and only hung on for about 10 minutes.  Men!  I just put it on speaker and then went about my business until it was answered.  He didn't think of that!! In fact the music was really brilliant, which makes a change, so I was quite enjoying the range and bopping around the kitchen. I apologise for not visiting your blogs but it was just too arkward and I gave up.

Anyway that's it for now.  Hope you are all well.  Very big hugs to Mrs Duck who is suffering.  Get well soon chuck - as Mrs D  herself is wont to say!

Take care and enjoy your day.

         
Entered into :  12 Months of Christmas

Golden Wedding

Hello to you all.   Hope everybody is well.

Today I am showing a card that I made for my cousin, who has been married for 50 years. My goodness I cannot believe it!  I was 16 when I was her bridesmaid and it certainly doesn't seem that long ago!

My Card

Recipe

5 x 7"  base card - made from Crafters Companion pearlescent card

gold mirri card - Dovecraft

Tied Together e/f - Couture Creations

Anjas large oval dies - Marianne Creatables

roses - Wild Orchid Crafts

rose leaf spray -  Brittania dies

gold pearls - Meiflower

sentiment - computer genearted

There are so many new dies that we tend to forget that some of our older ones are very beautiful.  I have decided to keep going back into my collection and using some of them.

Take care and have a good day.

Wedding Couple

Good morning, and it looks quite bright out there this morning.  Yesterday was pretty good too - certainly made a change from all the rain over the last week.  But at least my wells will be full - always a bonus, as my sister says! (If you are new to my blog our place is isolated and we are not on the mains for water or sewage so rely totally on rainfall!)

I have a few wedding cards to make over the next couple of weeks so here is the first.

My Card

Recipe

5" x 7" base card - Crafters Companion pearlescent card stock

Lilac card - Hobbycraft

Tied Together e/f - Couture Creations

Topper - Lili of the Valley

Sentiment - freebie from Netties Cards

Pearl sprays - Hobbycrafts

ribbon - from stash

I have had the topper for many years and it is so cute. It was when LOTV did a sheet with various sizes.  I always thought the tiny ones were useless and ended up with all those left over, so I was pleased when they changed the format - but far from pleased when they withdrew them altogether!!!

Well that's all from me today.  John has a dental appointment in town so I might tag along for the ride and have a "mooch" around the shops, not something I do often.

Hope this finds you all well.  Take care.

PS I obviously spoke too soon - it has started raining!!

Spring Birdhouses

Good morning.  I hope that you had the same wonderful weather yesterday that we did in Oxfordshire.  Spring is definitely on the way.  So different from Wednesday when we had over night torrential rain Tuesday night; so much so that the roads were very badly flooded and I wasn't able to drive into town.  I got through some of the flooded areas but eventually I had to give up and go back. At one point there were two fire engines trying to pump the water away.  And then yesterday it was beautiful.  Crazy British weather!!!!

My Card

Recipe

5x7" base card
yellow card - from stash
white card - Rymans
embossing folder - Couture Creations "Petal Pleasures
 Noble Rectangles  die- Sue Wilson
Fancy Tags die - Spellbinders
Birdhouse Topper - Lili of the Valley Art Pad
pearls from stash

I found this LOTV art pad in the drawer (not that it was lost!) and since it was so spring-like yesterday I decided to use this image. The daffodils are out and the birds have been very busy so it seemed very appropriate.

Hope this finds you all well. Take care!

Entered into:

Allsorts Challenge Spring is in the Air

CRAFT Spring/Easter

LOTV FB Spring challenge
Craft Your Passion Anything Goes
Cuttlebug Mania Spring

MAWTT - A Note To Say Hello

Good morning.  I hope all is well.  My card today is for the challenge at MAWTT. Our host today is Diane and she asked us to use either wet or dry embossing. I have been a little greedy and have used both.  Otherwise my card is pretty CAS.

My Card

Recipe

5 x 7" base card from white cared stock

pink pearlescent card - Pennies Worth

embossing folder - "Petal Pleasures" Couture Creations

silk flowers - very, very old stash

tiny bling - stash

diamanté brad - again very old stash

stamp - sorry I can't remember

A very simple card today. I stamped the two lines of sentiment with black ink and embossed with WOW Clear Gloss embossing powder.

Please pop across to the blog  and see what the rest of the team have produced.

Have a good day. 

.

Potted Flowers

Good morning.  Well this week has been back to winter!  Cold, wet, windy and even some hailstones!  Cold enough that we lit the woodburner - in June .......!!  According to the forecast (oh yeah!) it's supposed to be better today. So fingers crossesd because we are hoping to have a day out today. Certainly yesterday was a vast improvement, but still not June weather!

I have seen quite a few of these plant pots around blogland so I decided to make one too.

My Card

Ingredients

Brown card - Bazzill Basics

Cream card - scraps from my box

Pink patterned card stock - First Edition "Love Letters

Damask embossing folder - Couture Creations
Flowers - Spellbinders Rose Creations die

Argyle embossing folder - Embossalicious from Crafter's Companions

Spellbinders - Classic scalloped ovals

Sentiment on insert - Freebie from TLC Creations

Lace and gems from stash

I added a cardstock stand to the back of the plant pot so that it would stand upright.  I thought it would make a nice get well card but decided to type "Just For You" on the label then it can be used for something else if necessary.

This fits nicely into a 5" x 7" envelope but obviously it could be made smaller or larger. I shall be making some more and try different sizes to see which I prefer.

Well I hope everybody is okay, but hugs to those who need them.

OSAAT Challenge # 231 - "Anything Goes ..... Birthdays"

Good afternoon to you all.  Sorry I'm being such a bad blogger right now.  Life seems to be a bit hectic at the moment and I am also involved with a project with our WI group which has a deadline.

Anyway, I'm here with a card for One Stitch At A Time. The challenge is "Anything Goes ..... Birthdays", so this is a nice easy one.  My card features Sunflowers from Barb Jenson which can be found at our sponsor Stitchy Bears Digital Outlet

My Card

Recipe

7" square card - AnnaMarie Designs

Pearlescent cardstock - Create and Craft (bought at Wilko's)

Yellow backing paper - very old stash

Ribbon - Offray

Dies - Floral Ovals from Spellbinders

Sentiments - JustRite Grand Sentiments

Damask embossing folder - Couture Creations

Coloured with Promarkers

Pearls from stash

This card was a nice easy one to put together.  I thought the different shades of yellow suited the sunflower.The tiny yellow sunflower I found stuck to something else (as happened to me recently ... lol!) which I used months ago so I decided to pop it onto the centre of the bow.  I used the smallest die from Floral Ovals and just stamped a tiny sentiment onto each one.

I hope you decide to join us in the challenge this time.  If you pop across to OSAAT you can see some inspiration from the DT and this is the prize you could win. 

Take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

With Much Love

Good morning to you all.  Well the snow has gone again so hope it stays away for a while.  I shouldn't  really grumble because it hasn't been too bad - yet! It was a bit hairy on my way into town yesterday morning when I was going to the hairdressers but it started to rain late afternoon. Let's hope it doesn't freeze on top of that.

I have been playing around with some new techniques (nothing to show for it yet!) and I had quite a few dies out on my desk so I thought I would put some of them together and make a card.

My Card

Recipe

Spellbinders - Radiant Rectangles

Opulent Ovals

Parisian Accents

Standard Circles

Couture Creations - Tied Together Embossing Folder

Little Claire - Sentiment Stamp

Pennies Worth - Blue pearlescent cardstock

Offray Ribbon

Pearls from stash

I started by making a 5" x 7" tent fold card. And then just layered up the various diecuts as you can see.  I added some pale blue and white pearls and cut up a pearly spray. I added a flower pearl to the bow and that was it.  The bow looks a bit odd but that's because I realise I have cropped the image too much and chopped off part of the bow.  

So that's one for the box, which needs topping up again since I gave my sister quite a few at Christmas.  I also need to make some male cards - ad won't that be fun ... lol!

Hope this finds you all well and keeping warm and safe.

Pink and White Box

Hello dear friends and fellow bloggers.  Thank you so much for visiting me today.  Well we have had a couple of good days weather wise, which is always nice.  Done quite a lot of washing - which means quite a lot of ironing too.  However, I never find ironing a chore when I can bring it it straight in off the line and iron it, but when it hangs around that's a different story!  Unfortunately today is totally different, extremely foggy and cooler.

My Project

Click on image to enlarge picture

I first made a box measuring 7" x 5" using my boxer board from Crafters Companion.  I die cut the largest die from SB Resplendent Rectangles twice for the lid and base.  I added a layer of card which I had run though the Couture Creation "Tied Together" folder and inked with Spun Sugar distressing ink. An SB Labels 20 die topped that and then I finished with a WOC rose and leaves from SB Foliage dies. A very simple project but quite a pretty box.

Another hospital appointment again tomorrow so more hanging around hospitals . It just wastes so much time doesn't it? And John gets so cross when the appointments run late. You can understand it more when you have an appointment towards the end of the session, but there is simply no excuse when you are booked in early.  Ah well, we'll just have to see what happens.

Have a good day everybody.

The Same - But Different!

Good morning friends and fellow bloggers.  I've been having rather a strange week and have not really been able to create anything at all.  I keep starting things but never actually getting anything finished. I guess that does happen sometimes.

My Card

Click on image to enlarge picture

I have been playing with the aster die and that is how today's card came about.  As you can see it is exactly the same as the last card I posted, but in different colours and a fuller flower.  (So how can it be exactly the same duh!)  But it is amazing just how different it looks.  This one is more me. I really was not sure about that brown card, but you have to try these things don't you, before ruling them out?  I shall be keeping my brown card for male cards in future.

(The dies used are SB Borderabilities Bracket Borders One and SB Heartfelt Creations Delicate Asters.)

We had a really nice day out on Sunday .We had to go to Chepstow to pick up something for John so we made a day of it.  The weather was glorious and we went across country via the Forest of Dean instead of just whizzing down the motorway.  We stopped off for lunch etc and had a really pleasant day.  I think we need to make the most of them because although so far we have still been having great weather (today has been almost unbearably hot!)  it can't last much longer.  The mornings are quite dark and it is getting dark quite early too. Autumn is a lovely time of year - but let's keep a bit of summer for now.

Well that's all from me. Hopefully I will be able to produce something in the next couple of days!

Aster Die

Good morning friends, and welcome to Lydia my newest follower. Glad you are here Lydia and hope you enjoy what you see.

I have been wanting the SB Heartfelt Creations Delicate Aster die for some time but kept telling myself I had enough. In the end I couldn't resist any longer and it arrived this morning, hence I had to use it straight away. Well you do, don't you?

My Card

Click on image to enlarge picture

I already had an idea what I was going to do today - and using the aster was not part of that plan!!  However I cut three of the second size and added them to my card in place of what I was going to use.  My card is approximately 6 x 6 " and made from some cream card stock.  I ran a piece of brown card stock through Couture Creations "Damask" embossing folder.  I then die cut another piece of brown card with  SB Borderabilities Bracket Borders One.  The striped card stock is from First Edition "Daydream".  I then just added a few pink pearls and some card candi to the aster to finish . This card is nothing like it started out but I'm not unhappy with it.

Well that's all for today. See you again soon. 

Sympathy

Hello everybody, well the sunshine didn't last long. It's very cold again and we have had a few snow flurries, although nothing much. I was hoping the sun would get rid of the snow but no such luck. We live next to a public bridleway. The gate is just passed the entrance to our drive. A girl on a horse went through the gate earlier but turned back immediately because the snow drifts were still too deep. This has certainly been the worst winter for a while. The fact that we had very little summer has made it seem even longer I think.

My Card

Click on image to enlarge picture

I haven't done any crafting today so I thought I would post the other sympathy card that I made and didn't use.

It is again 5 x 7 inches and I used the Couture Creations Tied Together embossing folder. The two crosses are from Spellbinders Crosses 2 which I inked whilst still in the dies. The sentiment was computer generated and cut with the smallest die from Detailed Scallops. The flowers were made from Cheery Lynn Miniature and Medium Roses and the pearls were from my stash.

Well that's it from me. Hopefully I will get some time to craft tomorrow.

Love and hugs from Christine xx

Entered into: http://perfectsentimentschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/psc73-sympathythinking-of-you.html

Hello

Hello everybody, from a bitterly cold and blustery Oxfordshire!

My Card

Click on image to enlarge picture

My card today is another quick and easy make. I was having   a look through my stash and came upon these Papermania flowers. I knew I had some scrap bits to match  from the Lincoln Linen collection so I cut a couple of pieces in different patterns and used Fiskars Threading Water punch on one of them. I ran another piece of scrap through Couture Creations Damask embossing folder. Finally I used a rub on for the greeting and attached  it to a 5x7  white card. Nice and easy but also, I think, quite effective.

I'm glad I don't have to go out today in this awful weather so maybe I'll spend some time sorting  out my craft stuff. Or maybe I'll just make another card, therefore creating even more mess! LOL! You know that saying about "Creativity is messy - and I am very creative!" ? I think it was meant for me!!

Have a good day everybody.

Love and hugs from Christine xx

It's A Girl - Or Is It?

Good morning  dear blog friends. Well, I'm back with a card today. No baby on the scene yet,  but first babies are notorious for being  late - as a midwife in my previous life I certainly know that. John now tells me that he may have got it wrong, he's almost sure they are expecting a girl. Flipping men!! Either way, I have one of each ready now.

                                                                             Click on pictures to enlarge images.

Showing the flowers and leaves used.

This is the second tag I made on my pc.

This card is a strange size about 7 inches square, but it looks fine. 6 inch was a bit cramped when I laid it out but there was a lot of space left on the 8 inch so I compromised. Who said things have to be standard? I don't think there are any Card Police out there - unless of course you know different? Lol! The card stock is white and I then layered it with pink leaving just a narrow border. I used the Tied Together embossing folder and layered that to one side, dotting tiny pink pearls into each overlap. I used an LOTV die cut topper which I matted onto pink card.I wrapped white lace and pink and white spotted organza ribbon round, which I tied with a bow, and hung the last of my silver pram charms. I really must get some more because they are really cute. I think they were from the Ribbon Girl, as was the ribbon. I used pink roses and carnations together with tiny white rosebuds in the corners from WOC. The leaves are Spellbinders Foliage. The tag is LOTV and diecut with Spellbinders scalloped circles and matted with a pink scalloped circle the same size.  I also did a second label/tag on the computer and added some mini flowers round the circumference before cutting with the same dies as before. I can then decide which I want to use later. This image is just so sweet isn't it?

Well, have a great day everybody! I'll be back same time again tomorrow, DV! (God Willing.)

Love from Christine xx

                    

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
http://liliofthevalleythursdaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/flower-power.html
http://craftsandmechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/challenge-102-roses.html
http://kaboodledoodles.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/challenge-137-babies-children.html
http://trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/craft-challenge-173-children.html

Thank you for your visit and all your  lovely comments. I appreciate each and everyone of them.

Butterflies and Bow

Hi everybody, thanks for popping in today.

As soon as I saw Linda use this Tied Together embossing folder on her Almost White card, which was the start of the challenge, I just knew I had to have it. Yeah right! It was totally out of stock everywhere but in the end I got it and it came when I was away. It is so beautiful that I just had to have a play with it straight away - there will be another card soon with it too because I was playing for quite a while!



I used all pearl cardstock - white for the base, (which is tent fold, 7.5 x 5.5 inches,) and two shades of blue.  The white cardstock is A3 and very sturdy so easily stands up and holds the weight of the extra card and embellishments. Because of the size 8x8 cards are easy too.I got it from a craft show at the National Motorcycle Museum and I am running out, but I don't the name of it! Typical isn't it?

I embossed the pale blue with the embossing folder, mounted  it onto the darker blue card, wrapped some blue satin ribbon round it and then attached it to the base card. I then used another one of my new purchases Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles, and die cut the second size down, having first stamped the card with Kaisercrafts Botanics in silver. Initially I used black but  it wasn't right, so I had to use the silver and heat emboss it because otherwise it just blended into the blue background. I mounted it with foam pads to give the card some depth. The blue embroidered butterfly has been in my stash for ages, along with a few othe colours, and they are so gorgeous! I also added pearls into the cross overs of the latice and finally added the blue bow. The lack of greeting of any kind is deliberate because then it can be used for anything.

Well that's it from me for today. Hope you all have a good day and find some time for yourself at some stage.- I really do think this is so important!

With love and hugs from Christine xx