Sweet Little Girl

My card today is a Lili of the Valley image, she actually came ready coloured, they do these sheets of all sorts of different sizes in printed images, perfect for quick cards when you haven't got a lot of time to colour.

I used a base scallop card, and some gingham papers from a stack by The Paper Company. I pleated a strip of paper to make a ruffle and added some mosaic tile gems to that. The sentiment is by Stampin Up

I thought this would be a nice card to send someone who is having a hard time for whatever reason - I always think that a homemade card is one of the nicest things you can give to show that you care

The weather here in Spain is wonderful, we see that the UK is due to have a heatwave starting this weekend - inevitable really, it always gets hot and sunny as soon as I leave the UK. They should really put helpful little signs on at the end of each long-range weather forecast..........

June 19th - July 5th heatwave expected, Enfys has left the country. Safe to arrange barbecues, trips to the seaside, painting the outside of your house and any other external jobs during this time. Please note that the weather will revert to cold, damp and rainy on the 6th July

We are spending a lot of time lazing by the pool, it would be a lot more relaxing if we didn't see a rat running along the top of the wall alongside the pool at regular intervals during the day - yes, a rat, definitely not a squirrel, or a mouse, a very ratlike rat..........

See you tomorrow

Sweet Little Birthday Girl

I made this one with a sweet little Lili of the Valley image - she looks so intent on balancing that huge cake!

I airbrushed around the image, and also airbrushed on top of the paper. The crochet flower is by Stampin Up, base card and sentiment tag by Craftwork Cards

I coloured the image some time ago, so have lost the list of promarkers used - sorry

There is as much excitement about the royal wedding here in the USA as there is in the UK. Loads of TV shows, rehashing anything that's ever being made about the royal family. To my great delight (and amusement) they have a special at Dunkin Donuts this week - the Royal Wedding donut - it has pink icing and white swirls.
If you want a real laugh click HERE to see the spoof video made by T Mobile, it's hilarious - I love the bottom bumps of Prince Charles and Camilla, Princess Anne is a hoot, and I swear that is the real Archbishop of Canterbury! Best of all is Prince Harry.

Happy Birthday Bear

Well I got my magazine cards done, I was quite pleased with them in the end, after all that anguish, so I am a happy bunny now.

This card is another Lili of the Valley image, I used core-dinations cardstock, and some We R Memory Keepers letters - I stuck a couple of them onto a scrap of card before mounting them, it gave it a bit of a different look

The brads are denim covered ones that I picked up in Big Lots in the US

Image - Lili of the Valley

Papers - We R Memory Keepers

Cardstock - Core-dinations

denim brads - making memories
Promarkers -

teddy: vanilla, honeycomb and caramel

Car and clothes - Denim blue, pastel blue and midnight blue

Shadow and detail on tractor, ice grey 1, ice grey 2, warm grey 1, warm grey 4

Sponge - buttercup

Overheard in Costa Coffee today (two twenty-something designer- clad women, wearing false eyelashes and a lot of fake tan)

1st girl - 'He's booked our holiday, we're going all-inclusive to Lanzarote'

2nd girl - 'ooooh luverly. Where's that then? Spain innit?'

1st girl ' dunno really, think it might be somewhere by Ibiza........................

Makes you want to weep doesn't it?

Christening Card

This is a Lili of the Valley stamped image, and I kept the card to (almost) white, I just coloured in her face, and the very edges of her dress and the window with a pen, and feathered the line of colour out with a blender pen. The background was embossed with a cuttlebug frame, and the edges of the card rounded, and inked in pale pink versafine ink. I added lots of pearls, as a border to the image, and on the baby's dress

Promarkers used

Ivory and blush for the skin

Pastel pink/blush/dusky pink for the dress /window/shadow

I was in the dentist chair for over an hour yesterday, luckily he isn't the sort of dentist who cheerfully carries on a conversation with you whilst your mouth is full of stainless steel instruments. More the silent type, issuing curt commands to the nurse. Instead, it's always me trying to initiate some communication

oooohhhhbggggggrrrr - translated means, ouch, that hurt

bbbblldyyyyyhllllll - translated means, ouch, that hurt a LOT

and

bbbppppllssshhhhhcnnnIggggghmmmmeee - translated means, can I go home now, please

£129 pounds and a lot of dribble later, I escaped. I wouldn't mind, but the gleaming new filling is in the very furthest, darkest corner of my mouth, that nobody will ever see (unless I inadvertently stray onto the Incredible Hulk rollercoaster in Florida again, in which case the whole theme park will see it, so I am well prepared for such emergencies now)

Get Well Soon

My friend Lucy sent me a bunch of these Lili of the Valley stamped images, thanks Lou, I just love them. I covered the front of the card with kraft cardstock, then cut a square of pale blue paper and stitched around that - my little Janome sewing machine took me about 15 minutes to thread, shedding tears for my self threading one back in the USA. I cut a piece of a raffia weave, it's held in place by the image, which I mounted onto a nestability shaped piece of kraft paper

The sentiment was stamped in momento brick ink and is an Inky Antics stamp

I used my new promarkers. I just love working with them, I find the fine bullet nib much easier to deal with than the brush nib of the copics. They are readily available in the UK, but you can get them in the USA - HERE is the distributor who will be able to tell you where you can get them.
I used:
Blush and Soft Peach for the skin
Buttercup and Sandstone for the hair
Pastel blue and Denim Blue for the clothes
Vanilla and Honeycomb for the bear
Shadowed in Ice Grey 1

We are off to London tomorrow for a couple of days to see the family, I can't wait to cuddle those babies. Monty is feeding himself - see new photo on my sidebar. I think I will wear old clothes!

Sneak Peeks, a cute baby and what's on my desk...........

Here's a sweet little baby card I made using one of the printed die-cut images from Lili of the valley, the papers are Heidi Grace, and the sentiment is stampin up. The stitching without thread on the yellow strips was an accident, I was sewing away without realising that the bobbin had run out of thread, it looked okay, so I just left it that way

I used embroidery floss to make a bow..........


Here's a sneak peek at two cards I made with the Summer in Paris mini cartridge, they are over on Scrappy Go Lucky's blog today.



I was in a red and black sort of mood.............




I really enjoyed joining in with What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday last week, it was fun going to different blogs and getting a peek at people's crafting space, also reassuring that I am not the only hurricane crafter in the universe. So here's what's on mine today, I have been playing with the Pagoda cricut cartridge, now I have all these dragons and pagodas and haven't a clue what to do with them. I have made some oriental type cards this week, will show you later, but for some reason, the pagoda has me stumped at the moment. Maybe I will have a blinding flash of inspiration,,,,,,,,,,,or maybe not

One thing that is new this week is my very organised nestabilities. I bought some self adhesive magnet strips and put them on the wall, they hold the dies perfectly, although I will have to be careful taking one off, in case the others tumble down behind my table, that would be a disaster, I'd probably never find them again, which says a lot for my housekeeping skills. The silver coloured dies are samples that were sent for me to try by Go-Kreate, they work beautifully and are cheaper than the nesties.

There is no way it could be called a scientific sample, but I was amazed how many of us are left handed judging by yesterday's comments.

Thanks to all of you who said sweet things about the latest baby photos, my boys are very good about sending us lots of photos whilst we are here in the USA, and I love updating my blog, simply because it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling every time I see their little faces over on the sidebar. It's difficult to get a good one of Max though, that child won't stay still for a moment.

See you tomorrow

Cute little wedding card.

When I went to the NEC craft show I was very taken with the Lili of the valley stamps and bought a few of them, but they also had sheets of some of their most popular images printed out and die cut ready to pop out, so of course I thought they would be perfect for quick cards, I just love them.

The pink vellum is embossed with the dots embossing folder, I inked the edges of the card and the die cut image with versamark baby pink. Some organza ribbon tied with a couple of hearts from a pack my Funky Hand teamie Jules sent me, all it needed was a sentiment.......

One of the things I did yesterday was to pop in and see my crafty friends here, we get together every thursday, lo and behold Cheryl had just bought these acrylic sentiment stamps from Stampin Up, so I had to stamp a few, and it's perfect for the card, a nice casual font, and not-too-gushing words
and yes, I did make this card last night, so back in production folks.


The car is mended, it needed a new battery, I don't think cars like being left on their own in a garage for months with just a trickle charger for company. We are settling into our 'new' way of life, and gradually adjusting to the time change. Did I really fly over here for just a week when I was younger, and go straight to work after an overnight flight on the way back? How did I do that? When did my internal clock change so stealthily? My clock worked well enough for me to make a trip to Michaels, I wandered around muttering 'I do not need any more paper, I do not need any more paper....' like a mantra, and managed to come away with just a few dollar stamps (oh and a couple of Martha punches, well everyone is allowed a little weakness).
See you tomorrow

Fairy for cute card thursday

Over on Cute Card Thursday blog the challenge is FAIRIES, so I had to give my little Lily of the Valley fairy another outing

Papers - WeR Memory Keepers

Stamp - Lili of the valley

Raffia lace - Paper Cellar UK

Labels 1 dies - Spellbinders nesties

sentiment oval - Craftwork Cards

and oops, sorry, forgot to make a note of the copic numbers

I have been so busy this week, the decorator has finished the kitchen and moved into the master bedroom now - well, not literally, but you know what I mean............and of course, a shiny clean kitchen meant that all the cupboards and drawers needed a good spring clean as well, good heavens, I found tins and packets in there almost as old as my kids. What did I think I was going to do with polenta? Did a recipe once call for sour dried cherries? What possessed me to buy FIVE jars of papaya balls? Amazing how much more room you have when you chuck out all the rubbish. So if anybody has a blog award for housewife of the week, I will happily receive it

Lili of the valley Fairy.........

I won this gorgeous little fairy by Lili of the valley in a challenge, it was waiting for me when I returned to the UK, and this is the first time I have had a chance to ink it up, I just love her. I used my new label #1 nesties as well.

coloured with Copic markers and glamour dust

love these scrunchy flowers........................, I think this is the last of them, I got them on clearance somewhere, I should have bought a barrow load when I had the chance
Papers - dill flowers by SEI
Flowers - Prima
stamp - Lili of the valley
sentiment - Craftwork cards
nestabilities label # 1 dies
colour box bronze cats eye inkpad
glamour dust glitter
pearls - michaels

Well, the cold and snow continues to hold the UK hostage, with more on the way. Apparently it's the coldest winter we've had for 30 years. Theories will abound of course as to the reason why. I was tickled pink the other day when Kiki (age 5 1/4) said 'can you switch the light off please Ma, to save the little polar bears'