Séb's Card For His Grandma

Good morning. Sorry I have been AWOL for a few days. My nephew and his children are staying with us so we have been having a good time together but no time for blogging. This morning 8 year old Sébastien asked if he could make a card for his grandma (my sister) whose birthday is on Sunday.

Séb's Card

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The card is 14.5 x 14.5 cms. He used the Grand Calibur with SB Dainty Dots folder for the red card and he stuck it on with wet glue. He used a topper with an extra heart added. The sentiment is Craftworks Card but it was white so he coloured it with Promarkers and then he put some pearls in the corners. He even typed out a "Handmade by Séb" label for the back and die cut it with SB Scalloped Circles.

We have had fabulous weather but it's raining today so we are going to the museum soon. Hope you all have a good day.

Normal service will be resumed soon so I will be back to visiting your blogs again.

Love and hugs from Christine xx

auntie christine helped me make this card (only a bit) :D

love from séb :)

Merci

Hi. It is so dark and overcast out there you would scarcely believe that it is almost June! I have just popped in with  a simple thank you card today.

My Card

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I've used up old stuff for my card. The purple pearlescent card was a piece from my bit box, as was the lilac strip. I used Fiskars Corner and Edger punch and the Bracket edge punch on them. The flowers I found in the back of a drawer, the 3D Merci embellishment I have had for years and the ribbon was old stash.

Sorry for such a quick post - but it was either a quick one or not at all!

Hope everybody is well - especially all of you who have been suffering various nasty viral bugs!

Love and hugs from Christine xx

Criss Cross Card

Good morning. Well I had a very restful, relaxing day yesterday. Apart from running the hoover over the dining room carpet (because John "forgot" to take his boots off!) and cooking a meal I did nothing that even vaguely resembled housework.

The weather is pretty murky again today. Damp, misty and cool. It seems like our summer is going to be as bad as last year : non-existent!!! John is trying to get a window of decent weather so that he can get up to Scotland for some climbing. It's pointless to go all the way up there if he then cannot get up into the mountains because of the pouring rain. He doesn't actually mind rain, but when the visibility is affected it is just dangerous - I want to have him around a bit longer yet so I'm glad he is sensible about these things.  I can remember when he was younger and not quite so sensible - it's a wonder I wasn't grey with worry. Old age does bring sense.

My Card

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 insert

pocket and insert

I have been thinking about making a criss cross card for a long time so that's one of the things I did yesterday. I just took two 6"x6" cards, stuck them together at the back and trimmed the fronts diagonally.

The backing papers are First Edition "Love Letters". I stamped Sylvia Zett's "Spring Bringer from Wee Stamps, coloured with Promarkers and then just added a little pink glitter to her wings and flowers. I diecut with SB Standard Circles and Lacey Circles. The leaf sprigs are Cheery Lynne Wreath Strip. The ribbon, lace and pearls are from my stash.

I realise the sentiment circle has slipped in the last picture but that's because I attached it with temporary sticky because I'm not really sure what I want the sentiment to be, but I wanted to have something to show in the picture. The pink paper on the back of the pocket is actually patterned but doesn't show up.

That's it from me. Have a good day.

Love and hugs from Christine xx

If Nothing Changed

Hello everybody. Thank you for all your good luck wishes yesterday - they worked. We had a great day! The weather was absolutely perfect for cycling. Sunny and warm but with a light breeze which just kept the heat down enough. Mind you, I have got some very patchy sunburn! Arms and back of neck, cheeks below my sun glasses and little D-shaped sun burnt areas on the backs of my hands through the gaps in my cycle mitts. Not a good look! I was tired but really enjoyed the day. And what a difference a day makes Today is cold. damp and windy!

My Card

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I didn't do any crafting yesterday (surprise, surprise) so this is a card from a few days ago that I need to try and repair somehow, or if not then I will just remove the parts I can and make something else.  The background looked very bland so I started stamping tiny flowers - and messed up big time! I smudged a couple of the flowers at the bottom.

I used an LOTV topper that I have had for a couple of years.  I mounted the image onto SB labels 16. I do like this little chap's glasses. The backing papers are First Edition, Dream Catcher, and I'm using up bits from the bit box. The papers are double sided too so work well. The butterflies are a combination of Marianne and SB Jewel Flowers and Flourishes. The flower is Fabulous Phlox from Memory Box and the computer generated sentiment is matted onto SB circles and lacey circles. I then just added a few pearls from my stash.

Today I shall be having an easy day I think so maybe crafting will be on the menu!!

Hope you all have a good day.

Love and hugs from Christine xx

CCC -Feature A Creature

Good morning!  I have scheduled my post because by the time most of you read this I should be out cycling or at least on my way to Cheltenham if you are an early bird.  Yes, today is the day of the Cotswold Bike Ride.  Fortunately it is a circular route starting and finishing at Cheltenham Racecourse and covering 40 miles in the meantime - and a hilly route to boot!  I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the weather stays dry. According to the forecast rain isn't due till later in the afternoon - if you can believe that!!!

My Card

Well I have another card for the Christmas Card Club today, and this time it was Hazel's choice to "Feature A Creature". I had planned to use a polar bear image that I have, but I have had such a busy week that in the end I went with this "Me To You" die cut decoupage for a quick option. I used Glamour Dust on his cap and  for the tinsel around his chair. The backing papers are "Winter Wonderland" and matted onto jade "Gemstones Pearlescent"   card stock.  The snowflakes are SB Create A Flake 4 and I added a few gems from my stash. I am trying to keep the majority of my Christmas cards fairly flat so that I don't have extra postage to pay. For that reason I kept the layers to a minimum and used 1mm foam pads just to give a little lift.

Well hopefully I will have a hop around your blogs later - unless I am totally shattered! LOL!

Love and hugs from Christine xx

Birthday Easel

Good afternoon everybody! Hope this finds everybody well. We've been pretty busy over the last couple of days so I apologize if I haven't visited your blogs lately. I have been popping in when I could - but my visits have been rather sketchy!

My Card

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For my card today I have used a combination of Spellbinders Detailed Scallops and Radiant Rectangles with white card stock and pearl pink card stock. The leaves are a Marianne die. The two sentiments are from JustRite Stamps Grand Sentiments. The ribbon and pearls are from my stash and the pretty ribbon and organza flowers I found at the back of a drawer; they must have been there for ten years or more!

Well that's it from today. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Love and hugs from Christine xx

I would like to enter this into:
http://www.ladyanneschallenges.com/14/post/2013/05/2nd-lady-annes-challenge.html
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-127.html
http://crafts4eternity.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/r123-tic-tac-toe.html (Tic Tac Toe-pink, 3 of anything, bling.)
http://www.craftybloggersnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/ o's and x's challenge (diecut, flowers,ribbon, )
http://bearlymine-challenges.blogspot.se/2013/05/challenge-86-lucky-dip.html (diecut, pearls, ribbons)

Time Together

Hello dear blog friends. First I would like to say thank you to everybody who left a comment on my post yesterday about my lovely parents. You are all very kind - although I knew that already!! Since I started blogging I cannot believe how many good friends and blog buddies I have made. It truly is a fantastic world and I am so glad that I managed to find my way here. Bloggers are all so helpful and so keen to share and pass on their own knowledge!!

Yesterday we checked the weather forecast, which wasn't good, but was said to be dry until around 1pm. We decided that we really ought to get out and have a good bike ride because the last week had just been impossible. We left around 8 am and planned a route that would be about 36 miles. The first 20 miles we rode into a head wind, which was very hard work - and tiring. In the end we cut it short by 2 miles because as we approached Stratford upon Avon we could see that there were huge black clouds, and it was also two miles on an extremely busy road, so we looped back. We much prefer country roads, because some car drivers just show no respect for cyclists and it can be quite hair raising.  I managed to get up all the hills this time but I must confess that by the time we got to the two finals ones, only about 1½ miles from home, I was very tired and really struggled. But I made it! Hurray! We had been home about half an hour when the heavens opened, so that was great timing. And for once the forecast was just about right.

My Card

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This is my usual 6x6 card, matted with grey pearl and a grey striped card that I bought a couple of months ago at an Excalibur craft fair at the National Motorcycle Museum. These fairs are held every couple of months and are great if you live reasonably close. ( Free parking, only £2 entry (as a "senior) and not too busy so it is easy to get close to stall and see the demonstrations.) I used a Kanban stamp, "Florals", stamped in Versamark  onto grey pearl card and heat embossed with WOW opaque bright white embossing powder. I then die cut it with SB Labels 10. I cannot remember the last time I used this die. I think we get so focused on the new dies and we forget that the old ones still have their place. The sentiment is from a Dreamees set and again stamped, embossed and die cut as before. I just added some Craftwork Card Candi and some ribbon from my stash. I didn't have any grey, black and white were both too stark, and so I coloured it with Promarkers. Nice and easy.

Well that's it from me in a very wet Oxfordshire.

Love and hugs from Christine xx