An Update

This is just a quick update to let anyone who's still following my blog know the reason for my prolonged absence.

I was in hospital yet again three weeks ago and to be honest I've not felt up to being online since then due to the fact I'm on quite a lot of medication for pain. This Thursday I should be having my hysterectomy surgery. So, I shall be absent after that for a few weeks more then I'll be back to creating things. I don't really know how long it will be before I have my energy and mojo back but hopefully I'll be back to posting and joining in with challenges once again pretty soon.

I hope you are all well and I shall see you all in a few weeks time.

Crafty Cardmakers Chalenge #87: Friendship

Where does the time go? I can't believe it's two weeks since I last made a post and time for a new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers! Thanks to everyone who took part in the last challenge.

The new challenge is hosted by the super talented Yvonne who has chosen the theme of  "Friendship".

This means Yvonne would like to see the word "Friend", "Friends" or "Friendship" included on your card or project. 

As always we have two brilliant sponsors.

SATUTRATED CANARY

 

 with 2 of their fabulous images 

and 

SIR STAMPALOT

 

with these 2 wonderful prizes

Hero Arts "Fancy Friendship" stamp sheet

and "Our Friendship" single stamp

I think we can agree that both those sponsorship prizes are totally awesome!

So here is my creation for the challenge:

Saturated Canary - Pint Sized Love

Dovecraft Back to Basics 3

Craftwork Cards - Mini Messages

a little close up of the image

I used a mixtue of Promarkers, Flexmarkers and Coloursoft pencils for the colouring.

Please visit the Crafty Cardmakers challenge blog and check out the fabulous creations of the design team you're sure to be inspired and we'd love to have your company in the challenge.

 

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #86: Masculine Birthday

It's time for our latest challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and this time it's been hosted by the very talented Rebecca, who makes the most stylish cards - check out her blog.

Rebecca would like to see "a masculine card that features some technology or a gadget. Some examples of this would be a computer or games console - technology; rocket or car - gadget. I'm sure you can think of some others too."

Please ensure that you do add the technology or gadget aspect to qualify for a Winner or Top 5 slot.

As always we have two brilliant sponsors!

Di's Digi Downloads

with a $10  gift voucher

 

and 

The Stampman

with a £10 voucher to spend in their store

 

Now I'll be completely honest and admit I actually completely screwed up my first card for the DT by forgetting to add the technology or gadget. That will teach me to read things more carefully, although of course Lin was lovely about it and I had time to come up with this card instead. So don't forget - include technology or a gadget in your card!

Mo Manning - Video Boy

DCWV - Generation Tech Stack 

Dew Drops

and a little close up

I didn't realise until today that I used a lot of the same colours as the ideas picture on Mo's page. It wasn't intentional on my part,  I chose colours to match the papers I've used.  It's funny how I went for green for his t-shirt though, I was going to colour it orange at first then changed my mind at the last minute. Anyway I'm waffling as per usual.

Please, please, please check out the work of the DT, their interpretations of the challenge are sure to inspire you. I do hope you'll join in with us.

Always the Last to Know

All I can say is hooray for sunshine, it's amazing what a difference it makes to how I feel. Today is the first day all week where I've managed to get up before 11a.m. I know that sounds incredibly lazy but I'm not going to make excuses, it's just how my body is coping at the moment. Anyway to make up for it today I got up at 7:30 and plaited my hubbies beard for him before he went to work. Then I made dinner for tonight, washed the dishes and now have two loads of laundry drying outside. How fantastic is that seeing as it was snowing only a few days ago?

I also have some other news. I've finally been given a diagnosis as to what's wrong with me. That's right, it turns out I'm not some hypochondriac who's been making stuff up. The MRI I had just after Christmas proves it. I have a condition called adenomyosis. I'll be totally honest now and say that this condition has made my life utterly miserable for the last two and a half years. Also, as you might guess from my absences from blogland the condition has had a considerable impact on my life, increasingly so in the last few months. I think it's quite easy to dismiss painful periods, I put up with them for 24 years. However, when you're in pain for 3 out of 4 weeks of your cycle and your actual period is so painful you can barely stand nevermind be all "Bodyform" and go out skydiving, it's almost impossible to express what a relief it is to know that you don't have to suffer anymore. Sure, it probably would have helped if the people treating me had listened a bit more carefully to what I was saying rather than dismissing me. I'm not going to go on a rant about that though, I'm going to stay as positive as I can. So in the next few months no doubt I'll disappear from time to time but I can finally see a brighter horizon.

I'm going to share a card I made for my sister-in-law today. I have to admit I've just discovered how truly awesome Inchies are. I've always seen them in magazines and thought they looked great but never made any until the other night. I love the fact that now my stamps can go even further and look fresh, I know I'm late on the uptake - hence the title of this post.

I admit to not knowing which companies (bar the DI's) made the items I used for this card - sorry. DI's used were Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed.

This should be the last of my poor quality photos as I got my memory card back the other day.

I shall be trying out using Inchies again in the very near future no doubt. Well that's it from me, thanks for popping by and I hope that you're having a great day today.

 

At 57 Mount Pleasant Street

I'm going to be very British and talk about the weather. We've had some really weird weather here over  the last two days. Last night we had really heavy rain which featured a single lightning bolt and  the loudest thunder clap I can ever recall hearing. The lighting was so random and the boom so loud that I actually checked outside to make sure something disastrous hadn't occured. I tend to associate thunderstorms with warm weather so I thought it was rather strange. Today of course we've had snow, which was fun - well it was for me I wasn't going anywhere. If it's the same tomorrow I'll be less impressed though because I've got to go to the hospital!

I'm only typing so much due to the fact I've lost my voice.I'm sure people who know me in real life will be relieved to read that, seeing as once I start talking I often don't shut up for a very, very, very, very long time. I'm not sure how well going to the hospital will actually work out seeing as I've lost my voice - no doubt the consultant will be happy as I won't be complaining at him.  I'm sure I'm capable of bursting into tears pathetically so maybe I'll still be able to communicate effectively!

Righty-oh onto my card which I made with a new stamp I bought last week. Hooray for January sales!

 TGF - Blush Bettie

Lili of the Valley & NitWit Collections - Promises

Ribbon and bling from stash

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Farm Fresh Friday - Ribbon and/or Lace

Sunday Sketch & Stamp - Challenge #142

 Close up of Bettie

Can I just say sorry for the quality of my photos. It was my nephew's 18th birthday (and my hubbies b'day too) the other week and we went out for a family celebration where my dad used my camera to take pictures. He then took the memory card from my camera to upload them to his comp. Which I thought was fine, due to the fact I have more than one SD card, only to realise the other day that my camera only takes XD cards bah! Hopefully I'll get my memory card back soon and the photos will get better again.

Thanks for taking the time to pop by my blog, I hope you're well.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #84: Vintage Love

It's time for the new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and this challenge has been set by the extremely talented Kylie. As Valentine's Day is fast approaching she has chosen the theme "Vintage Love". 

So we would like to see creations incorporating a vintage love theme. Your project MUST be VINTAGE and SHOW at least one object that potrays love. Perhaps a picnic basket, gold locket, love letters, hearts etc. Kylie has included some photos on the Crafty Cardmakers blog to help inspire you.

As always we have some fabulous prizes on offer from our brilliant sponsor companies.

 Di's Digi Downloads

with a $10 gift voucher

 

and also by

Hobby Art

with these two gorgeous stamps 

 

So here is my creation for the theme:

 Kanban - Romantic Couple

Indigo Blu - Truly, Madly, Deeply and Script Background

Stampin' Up! - Tiny Tags

Distress Inks - Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet, Brushed Corduroy, Walnut Stain

and Old Paper

Brilliance Ink Pads - Galaxy Gold 

Rangers Liquid Pearls - Gold Pearl

DCWV - The Metallic Stack

 Buckle - WRMK, Ribbon - Papermania, Flowers - Dovecraft, pins from stash

The background card was created  using the "Wrinkle Free Distress" technique then over stamped with both the Script Background and the Truly, Madly, Deeply stamps. I used the same technique on the piece of card I used for the main image. I then stamped the Romantic Couple stamp using Vintage Sepia versamark. The male was coloured with DI's, for the female I allowed the background to act as material for her dress. The flowers were plain white which I coloured with DI's and their centres were created with Liquid Pearls. The background and image were matted with gold DCWV card. Finally, I added a small tag, the ribbon, buckle and pins.

Close up of image

Close up of flowers

I really hope you will check out the DT's inspirational creations and join in with the challenge.

Some Cross-stitch

Although I've been absent from blogger and not making cards much whilst I've been ill (I managed to make all my Christmas cards but that's all) I actually manage to do quite a bit of cross-stitching. This was due to the fact I could stay comfortable whilst I sewed and take breaks when I needed them. I set myself a goal to create presents for my family for Christmas. To be honest I started the sewing a little late and was a bit overly ambitious with my goal. So the photos are of incomplete items as I didn't have a chance to get photos of the fully finished creations due to the fact I ran out of time.

Some of the Christmas decorations I made, they were finished off with baker's twine around the outside edge that could be tied into a bow, these were sent out to the US as soon as they were completed

One of three bookmarks I created, the finished creations had felt backings and ribbons

Mid way through a second bookmark, I used different colours for each bookmark

I had a bit of a nightmare with the bookmarks. The first one I finished frayed badly, so I decided to remake it. I ended up having to re-sew it three times and had to finish it off on Christmas Eve - I'll be honest that was really stressful.

I've decided to try to make decorations every year for my family as I was actually quite proud of what I made. Needless to say I'll be starting any Christmas gift projects much earlier this year though; so hopefully I'll be able to share completed projects next time round!