Frost & Ice

Here, where we are in South Wales we have been very lucky with the weather in regard to the snow that most people have had recently.

At the beginning of this week though we have had some very hard frosts. This is what our front looked like on Monday morning, it stayed so cold that the the plants were white over until yesterday. It must have warmed up enough for it all to thaw out, not that the increase was noticeable. As you can see I stayed inside to take the picture – far too cold and slippery to venture out.

It does look very pretty though.

This icicle has formed from the air outlet from the shower.

Sue xx

Bag charms

I made these 3 charms for my Grandaughters and my sister for Christmas.

The one for my sister was intended for last year, that’s when I bought the beads, just never got round to doing it.

The other 2 feature Hello Kitty which seems to be very popular right now.

The boxes are handmade too on my Hougie board. A brad and spacer has been used for the girls to enable them to get the lid off easier.

Sue xx

Kids Company

A friend from facebook put me onto this site which helps under privileged children in London. She was knitting scarves to send out to ‘wrap up a kiddie’ so as I already had my needles out decided to knit a few as well.

I’ve only managed to finish 3 so far but with this very cold weather thought I had better get them posted off to be put to use.

The blue one is in chunky yarn and the other 2 use 2 strands of double knitting yarn. I’ve done single rib on BIG needles to make them feel very soft and warm.

Sue xx

Emerald Anniversary

A friend asked me to make Anniversary cards for her Nan. I had done several cards for her own Wedding a few years ago.

I used my Forever Friends cd to make one for her young son to give to his great Grandparents.

It’s a DL sized card as I folded the A4 sheet back on itself.

This one is an image from Romantic Moments cd from MCS. The original is a single rose but I copied, flipped and rotated it. I added a simple sentiment in a fancy font.

It’s printed on pearlescent paper and mounted onto green cardstock. The hearts are a Martha Stewart punch. Small adhesive gems complete the look.

The final one is a large 8 inch square card. Again it’s an image from MCS Romantic Moments Cd. simply printed onto super smooth paper and mounted onto pearlescent paper decorated with another MS punch then onto green card.

This is a close-up of the sentiment.

It took me ages to match up the font for the insert as i’d forgotten that i’d done the front on the laptop and realised that the fonts are not the same on the pc. Why I don’t know as they both use the same edition of Windows.

Sue xx

Sad moment

My Dad passed away at the end of last year and a couple of months ago we went with Mum to order the headstone for him.

I helped her with the wording and the etched image on it is taken from the card I made for her Birthday in August. It’s a fuchsia image from the MCS Cross Stitch Cd.

It was erected last week and I have just been to see it for the first time. It was very sad seeing it in place as it made everything seem so very real and final. I’m not ashamed to say that I shed a tear or two as I looked at it.

Sue xx

New baby

An ‘old’ friend from a crafting forum and fb recently gave birth to a daughter so I made a card and knit a few things for her.

This jacket is my all time favourite to knit for babies, probably every baby I have knit for has worn it . 

The lemon hat is a new pattern for me but i’m pleased with the way it has turned out. The lilac one is another favourite with it’s heart button to match the ones on the jacket.

The card features an image and background papers from Teddies Friends by Peerless designs.

It is the first time I have tried this style of card with the cut-out inside but I love the way it has worked out.

The hanging panel is suspended on fine wire and is the same as the one on the front, it is double sided . 

Sue xxx

Dragon Hunting

In Newport, Gwent where I live there have appeared some 60 large dragons throughout the City and surrounding areas this past month. Officially called Newport Super Dragons.

Here is the link to the official website.

During August while we had Faith with us we went out and about and actually found almost 30 on the first day. Sadly I didn’t think to take a picture of her with each one.

At the weekend I took Sallie and we found a few more.

Sadly some of them have had to be removed from their original positions and placed indoors for their own safety. Can you believe that some mindless (drunken) people actually ripped one of it’s plinth and threw it in the canal.

There are always some in the Den being repaired, this is such a shame as they look so beautiful around the place and have provided much pleasure for so many people. They will be auctioned off in October for charity.

Sue xxx

Anniversary & Engagement cards

I was asked at the last minute by a friend to make an anniversary card for him to send to his wife.

He likes his cards to be romantic so this is what I came up with.

The image from MCS is printed onto super smooth card and layered up onto a gold coloured mat.

The sentiment is a gold peel-off.

The insert has the same image and a suitably romantic verse.

It was also our Anniversary last month and this is the card I made for Mick.

It is a printed from a Forever Friends cd. I printed the image onto the background paper and then onto super smooth card and decoupaged it on top.

Mum asked me to buy her an engagement card for her neighbour. BUY!!! I don’t remember the last time I actually bought a card so I set to and made her one.

This is what I came up with, again from the Forever Friends cd. Simply printed onto super smooth card and layered onto the white cardstock.

The insert has the same hearts background and smaller image printed onto it.

Sue xxx

Just because

This is a card I made for my Mum to let her know we were thinking of her on what would have been her Wedding Anniversary.

It doesn’t seem right to ignore the date, which i’m sure is still important to her, because my Dad is no longer with us. It always will be the anniversary of the date they married.

The image is a Forever Friends stamp, coloured with Promarkers and layered onto squares of a paper by K & co. The sentiment is layered onto a scrap of the same paper. The cardstock is an ivory textured one with a slight sheen.

Sue xxx

One for the Girls.

Over on Wild Orchid Challenges this week the theme is One for the Girls.

I've produced 2 cards with the toppers shown earlier for my grandaughters’ birthdays next month. One is going to be 6 and the other 9 years old.

I’ve used an A4 sheet of cardstock and folded it on the DL line to give a square shortfall card. The front has then been layered with pale green paper, to match the shoes and pink glitter card to create the full width required. The edges have been crinkle cut and the green paper decorated with the same punch which was used on the topper.

Scalloped and plain ovals cut with Nesties have been put on the glitter card and decorated with a peel-off number. The greeting is a peel-off and card candy finishes the card along with a pink crystal in the tiara.

 This 2nd one has been cut the same but due to a mistake with the glue has more layers and a few border peel-offs, because of this i’ve not been able to fit a number on. Gold coloured card has been used to match the colouring on the topper.  I've used a small peel-off greeting and 4  gems on the card as well as the gem in the tiara.

Sue xx

Card & Book

I made this card and little book for Lynn’s birthday.

Since the schools finished for the holidays she seemed to have nothing but rain so I thought this image quite appropriate for her. Thinking back i’m almost certain I used an umbrella image last year for her.

It’s an easel type card held up with blue gems (raindrops)I’ve also used fabric flowers and spotty braid. The image, which is a new stamp but from where I can’t remember, is coloured with Promarkers.

This is the book I made for her, it’s only about 4 inches square and fastens together with spotty organza ribbon. The papers are K & Co but I don’t know the stamp as it was borrowed from Kaz.

The pages are cut, folded and glued back to back with a stiffer card for the cover.

Sue xx

Toppers

I sat last night and coloured in some images with Promarkers and managed to get these 2 mounted up ready to use on cards. Both are the same Tilda image but using different colours for the hair and shoes. The different mounts make a big difference to them as well. I used glitter card and pearlescent card. The corners have been cut using a X Cut flower punch and my trusty corner  rounder.

I know 2 little girls who will love the Birthday cards i’m going to use them on ;-)

Sue xx

More wrecking!

 Document time passing. Done with a collection of car park tickets since November last year.

From the M5 as we travelled home. we brought Mum with us so I sat in the back and was quite bored as I couldn’t see where I was going so well as from my usual seat. The cover has been decorated with Promarkers, they will write on anything including the shiny surfaces.

Sue xx

80th Birthday

It’s my Mum’s 80th birthday next month but i’ve made her card already as I knew which image, from my stash of cds,  I wanted to use.

Dad used to grow many varieties of fuchsia and Mum has managed to save a few for the garden this year.

The decoupaged image is from the Cross Stitch cd by My Craft studio, it has been printed onto super smooth paper and layered up onto backing papers and borders from the same cd. I’ve used a stepper card, folded with the help of my Hougie board, so that I  could size it to fit the image.

The ‘80’ is in silver card and cut with my newly acquired Craft Robo Lite cutter.

The card is finished with a ribbon and bow in 2 shades of purple to match the images.

I’ve written this with Windows Live Writer so we’ll see if it turns out ok, if it does it’s easier to use than blogger for layout.    Fingers crossed!

Sue xx

Not much to show!

What a numpty!!!
The first time i've blogged in absolutely ages and i've very little to show. I've been making cards as when i've felt like it using new stamps and a new Cd. I have 5 birthdays coming up in July so decided to get the inserts printed and written all ready for when they are needed. Like an idiot I wrote the envelopes and sealed the cards inside before I realised i'd not photographed a single one of them.
I had 3 birthdays in June as well and forgot to photograph any of those cards either so will have to make do with a card I made way back in May for my great niece.
The images are from the Forever Friends cd by DoCraft.
I had a play and decided I couldn't really get on with the graphics package included with it so imported the images into MCS Pro and manipulated them that way. I printed the insert to match with lots of stars and ice cream sundaes, just right for a 3 year old.

Memo to self - photograph cards as soon as they are made in future.

Oh, i've had to put comment moderation on as some kind soul keeps posting ads for adult meds. They only do it one posting but quite persistantly keep commenting on an almost daily basis. annoying or what??!?

Wreck this Journal

Sallie and I went to Barry Island yesterday and took our journals with us. She had already taken hers for a walk, so I tied string round the spine of mine and embarassed her by dragging my book along behind me. It had started to rain so it got a bit wet and manky. The corner that Lewis had turned up has been worn away completely now.I walked along and crossed the road, banging the book up and down the kerb.To prove that I had done this in public we waited for some others to pass by. Even the dog ignored us!