Feeling Blue.

I've not been feeling very inspired the last few days and not just because I've been feeling poorly.

My poor mum is really ill again. She has taken a real downturn the last few days and, I hate to say it, she looks like an old lady. My dad phoned me in tears this morning as he just doesn't know what else to do. The home support team from the local psychiatric hospital don't seem to what to know anymore. They say they've done their bit and want to sign her off. She's just as bad as she was when they first started. They've messed around with her medication which gave her problems with her heart problems (she was getting extra beats) and not a lot else.

When my dad rang them today, they kept saying that they would ring back but didn't and when they did finally call, all they did was speak to my mum for 15 mins and said they would pop round on Thursday. I'm sorry, but that's just not good enough. She needs to bee seen now. Our surgery can't get involved either as she is still being "treated" by the hospital.

She's not eating much, hardly drinking, not really sleeping and she's lost so much weight. She's so exhausted she doesn't have the strength to do a lot and quite often her legs go from under her and she collapses.

It's breaking my heart to see her like this and even more so to hear my dad so distraught. I really feel for her state of mind and well being. I'm really scared that she won't get back to the way she was. I wish I could turn the clocks back 7 months to my wedding day and have my mum back again because I miss her so much.

I'm sorry this is such a long post.

xx

Cute Card Thursday - A Girl Thing

This weeks CCT challenge was A Girl Thing, after the male cards of last week. I didn't intentionally make this card for the challenge, but after looking at it decided that it would qualify.

I've used one of my Tilda stamps which has been watercoloured and matted and layered onto lilac then blue bazzil cs. The paper is part of the Amythest Infusion Creative Tones by Papermania and the flower is a Prima.

Where?!

Well, Jon and I are still off suffering! After posting yesterday saying that I was hoping to make some cards, I have to admit that I didn't do a thing. I just couldn't myself up and motivated, despite receiving my new Sugar Nellie's.

My reason for posting is this. I would like to know where you guys get your white cardstock? I would really like some bright white, smooth cs to stamp on, that will also take watercolouring. I'm currently using cs that I got from the Paper Mill ages ago, but it's not pure white and the majority of it is textured.

I've been lucky enough to receive stamped images from you lovely people and the cs used is just what I'm looking for so can somebody point me in the right direction please??!?!

Thank you!!

At Last!!

These are the male cards that I made the other day, but was unable to upload.

Making male cards isn't something I do very often so I'd love to know what people think. I want to be able to make some more for the show.

I'm off work at the moment. Both Jon and I are poorly. We got drenched on our way to work the other day and seem to have got colds. Jon's worse than me bless him.

I got a nice surprise from the postie today! One of my orders from Funky Kits arrived with my Sugar Nellies!! I can't wait for my second order to come!! I'm sooo impatient when waiting for craft goodies to arrive!

I'd better go, I'm going to see if I can make some cards today so may post again later on.

xx :0)

What am I doing?!?!

Well, I'm not sure how she's done this, but my best mate Nikola has convinced me to join her at an arts and crafts show selling my cards!! I must be mad!! Am I really good enough for this?? My friends keep telling me that I am, but I'm not so sure. Oh well, I've got until 24th May to make a load more cards to take with me!


I've made a start with a couple of men's cards as I don't have very many (if any) in my current hoard.

It seems as if I'm unable to upload the photos to show you at the moment so I guess I will have to try again tomorrow to do this.

Because of this show, I'm trying to set myself a mission of making at least one card a day, if not more. I have stamped a load of images that need watercolouring before being mounted onto cards. I am really having a crisis of confidence as to whether I'm cut out for this. Maybe I need to take a couple of days off work so I can have a good card making session to build up my collection and this may in turn increase my confidence?

What do you guys think? I'd really appreciate your thoughts and comments.

xx :0)

Just for You

I made this card to accompany some stamped images I was sending to a friend. The Sugar Nellie image was courtesy of an image swap I participated in. The card is Bazzill Bling and the sentiment is from Craftwork cards. It's fairly simple but I think it's okay.

Happy Birthday Mum

It's my mum's birthday today and I wanted to make her a really special birthday card. I used my Keepsake Elegance and Fantasy board and got the idea from their project book.

The paper flowers are from Hobbycraft and they came with a self adhesive backing so I didn't have to sit there glueing them all night (I would have if I had to as she's worth it). I also made a box to present it in.

As some of you may already know, my mum has been suffering with a severe bout of depression for two months now. There have been times when we thought she was showing signs of improvement, but at the moment she is still very fragile. She is currently in the process of changing medication which is making her feel out of sorts. She popped round today for a change of scenery. When the time came for her to go home she got a bit teary. It's so hard to see her like this. She is a shadow of her former self at the moment. My dad is doing a wonderful job of looking after her and supporting her through all of this, especially when she is having a bad day and takes it out on him. I really hope the new tablets start to work soon and we'll start to see a change.

I hope everybody is having a good weekend in spite of the terrible weather.

xx :0)

Glitter, Glitter Everywhere!

This weeks challenge over at Papertake Weekly is All That Glitters. Well, having made my entry, I can safely say everything glitters; me, the table, the floor, Jon and Bozzy!!!

I stamped little scotty from Little Claires onto acetate. I then glittered him on the reverse using Art Institutes glitter and glue. I think he looks great!!

The layout is this weeks Mojo Monday challenge. The backing paper is from DCWV The Paper Stack.

I hope you like it!

xx :0)

Sugar Nellie Cards

I was sent these gorgeous images as part of a swap and thought it was about time I used them after seeing some amazing cards recently.

I watercoloured the images ans mounted them onto cardstock. The backing papers are Amethyst and Raspberry Creations from Papermania. They were finished off with a strip of cs through the cuttlebug with the swiss dots, sentiments from Craftwork Cards and some gemstones.

Thanks for looking.

xx :0)

Mojo Monday #32/ Cute Card Thursday

After seeing the great card on Claudia's using the Poetic Artistry Mojo Monday #32 sketch I thought I'd give it a go!

I have adapted it for a 15cm square card, so I hope it still looks ok.

I've also combined this card for the Cute Card Thursday challenge which is "Things with Wings"!

I hadn't used my PB Duckling stamp for a while, so this challenge was the perfect excuse to ink him up again! I coloured the image using my Whispers pens. He was cut and mounted using the square and scallop square nestabilites. The paper is from the DCWV Spring Paper Stack and the CS is bazzill. The flower was from some PIF candy I received from Michelle.

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Box

Claudia set this weeks challenge over at Papertake Weekly Challenge. You have the option of making either a large or small box using the dimensions given.

The Design Team made some great examples and I felt that I had to give it a go!

I went for the large box to store my card in and went one step further by making a lid to go with it.

I've gone for a very simple look which I hope you like.

I love this shade of blue bazzill card. It's very soft and matched perfectly with some organza ribbon that I'd got from the NEC. I added the Dreamweaver PB image, which i'd cut and backed onto some more card using my nestabilities. Just for that extra little touch, I added some jemstones on the ribbon, either side of the image.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

xx :0)

Sorry it's been so long!

I'm sorry I've not been around much recently. I've been busy working on a job application (horrible things) for a promotion at work and also my mum is still not well so haven't felt overly-inspired on the card making front.

However, a friend in Jon's team asked if I could make a card for his housemate's birthday on Monday so it got me back going again! All I knew about her was she likes dogs and pinks her favourite colour! Dogs and pink......hmmmm!

I decided that I would make a selection of cards for him to choose from so then he wouldn't feel obliged to take the one that I made. Anyway, this is what I came up with.

I used a combination of Little Claire's, Whipper Snappers and Penny Black stamps (yes, I know the hedgehog isn't a dog!), cuttlebug folders and Craftwork Card sentiments.

Thank you to everyone who helped with my sticky stamp problem. I got myself a versafine ink pad and, as you can see, was able to get my little scottie's to stamp!!

I took the cards into work today and he loved them. He ended up taking both the scottie cards as he remembered another friends birthday was coming up. He has also mentioned the possibility of getting me to make his mum's birthday card in June, so I might have a regular customer here!

Help! Sticky Stamp problem!

I wanted to use my new Little Claire Desgin stamps today but I'm having some trouble. The stamp is sticking to the paper when I press it down and it doesn't leave a full image. I'm using a black stazon ink pad.

Does anybody have any idea or suggestions on what I can do to stop this happening? It's really frustrating as I love these stamps, but don't want to waste anymore cardstock.

I've heard some people suggest putting sellotape on the image and tried this, but without any joy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

xx :0)

It's snowing!!!

Yay!!!!!! I must sound like a big kid, but that's because it very rarely snows where I am! We live in the Thames Valley so for the snow clouds to reach us, they have to go up over the Chilterns, by which point they warm up and we might get a bit of sleet, but that's all.

But it's happened today!! It started off as a big hail storm at 6:20am, but when I looked out 30 mins later, it was white with HUGE snow flakes so I couldn't resist getting up and taking a few photos to show everyone. Jon must think I'm mad!!!!

Anyway, here they are.

The sky's starting to get a bit lighter now, so I wonder how long it will last.......

Edited: It's now 13:15pm and the majority of the snow has disappeared....:0( Oh well, it was fun whilst it lasted!

Poll Results

Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who took the time to vote on my poll.

It certainly seems that the majority of you prefer to use square cards, which took a massive 77% of the votes! A6 came second with 8%, Other came third with 6% whilst A5 and DL brought up the rear with 4% and 3% respectively.

Thanks again.

What's your preferred card size?

Edited: Just to say that this post will stay at the top until it closes so all new posts will be below.

Yay, I've been reunited with my laptop!!!

After reading a post on the Docrafts forum about card sizes, I was just wondering what card size you preferred working with. I have put vote survey on my sidebar with a few choices for you to choose from.

At the moment I'm using square cards of different sizes as well as A6 cards. However it would appear that a number of people on Docrafts are preferring A5 as you can include more detail, which makes sense to me, so I might have to give that a go over the Easter break.

Anyway, this is open until 4th April so I look forward to seeing what you all think!

I'll be back later to post a few new cards that I've made.

Papertake Challenge

After taking the plunge and joining in last weeks challenge, I decided that I would give this weeks Papertake Challenge a go!

This weeks challenge is nice and easy! 'Making Waves' - the challenge is to use scallops or zig-zags (or both if your really keen lol!) on your project!

I thought that I would use my scallop circle nestabilities as the "waves"! I stamped Rainin Daisies onto a white A6 card blank and used my watercolours. I then used the d'vine swirls embossing folder on some bazzill basics before cutting the aperture. I finished off with some ribbon and a PB stamped sentiment.

I have to say that I'm really pleased with how this has turned out!

xx :0)