Getting Straightened Out at Last!

Well, I have now got a new laptop and with a bit of chivvying, I got my recovered files from the other laptop. My digital stamps and my photos are saved so its a relief all round. Mind you it's an expense I could have done without what with the weddings. I need to get an outfit for New York as well, pdq.

While I have been without technology I have made a few cards; ostensibly for challenges which have now finished I expect but I can still let you have a look.

Penny Black Challenge on Docrafts



I just managed to post this by the skin of my teeth; we were asked to use orange and brown as the featured colours for this challenge.


This card uses my PomPom stamp and we were asked to be as girly as possible; I think I tried my best. I love the pink daises as an alternative to roses; I got them at 'The Works'.

More tomorrow maybe. I will also try to get round all my favourite blogs and leave comments. It was something I really missed. I didn't miss the weekly treat with Mum at Fir Tree Farm and John had a rather gorgeous pud in store. Pancakes, filled with stewed apple and rhubarb, drizzled with warm honey and served with a scoop of ginger ice cream. Just a lovely treat ( I only had a baked spud & salad!) and even with the beginnings of a cold,  it tasted delish! I had to pick up my dead laptop and the disc of files and then I went to Caroles Crafts for my Creative Cardmaking mag. I only realised after I had left that it wasn't the monthly mag that I had bought (it was due out today!) but a 'special' edition. Looks like I will have to go back........ never mind, eh, lol.

Anyway, I'm off to find something to eat, I've been so busy setting up the computer I didn't realise the time and there was no Mr H to remind me! Cheerio for now,



Just an update!

Goodness but it has felt strange not being in a position to do my blog. Mr H has an ancient laptop which he unearthed for me and which crashed after 20 mins because I apparently uploaded a virus onto an unprotected computer. Well I don't know how it happened but as usual I am to blame - just call me Johnah! I did have some good news because I won some candy and Teresa very kindly let me know and got me the email address. It cheered me up! Still no word from the computer doc about my files and am I nervous- you bet! Thank you so much for your lovely supportive comments - all but that first one, how on earth does that get onto my blog? My eyes are swimming in and out of focus so I am going to have to stop this, take car and cheerio for now, Hazel xx

Disaster has struck!

Oh the humanity - bear with me,I am making a drama out of crisis here! My trusty laptop has googled its last and has gone to techno heaven. The graphics chip has burnt out;right in the middle of me blogging yesterday. However they can recover my files for £40! I simply cannot bear the thought of losing all my digi stamps so made Mr H stump up - I was overcome with the mimsies & flutterings, lol.so I have delegated him upstairs to surf the net and find me another laptop pdq! I am using his iPad touch to do this - it has a tiny keypad and a tiny screen and I am truly pants with it!a
As a result I cannot post my cards so there will be nothing to see here that's interesting so I might not be blogging for a bit as my eyes are fully crossed now! Hope to be back very soon, cheerio for now, Hazeyj, xxx

Catching up with Carding.

I have waved goodbye to Sian and Dan, with a bit of a tear, okay! Now the house is quiet  and I have been doing a bit of crafting to catch up with commitments. I have missed it! I also want to say thanks to every one who has left me comments - I really appreciate you taking the time to do so!


Creativity Club Challenge #5

The cute fairy sitting on her big pile of books and reading fairy stories is a digi stamp freebie from Elizabeth Dulemba. The backing paper is also a free download called Hummingbirds. Promarkers were used to colour up and I made the sentiment on the computer. I matted the image and the sentiment onto Kraft paper just to lift it from the background and the sentiment is on foam pads. The dome stickers are from The Works and the gems are from my stash.

This card is for Debbie's Challenge and she gave us a sketch to follow and asked us to have a mythical theme.

Lisa's Decoupage Digi Challenge

The second card is for my favourite digi challenge on Docrafts and Lisa is the host this time. She asked us to decoupage our digi so this lamb, a free digi from Grandma's Pearl, was printed off 4 times and coloured with Promarkers. The first layer is the rectangle with the lamb and basket and the second layer is the lamb and basket without the rectangle. The third layer is just the lamb and the fourth is just the lambs head. It's much more obvious IRL and I think Lisa's idea was terrific. I made a 15cm square card from thick white card from Rymans which is too shiny to stamp on and matted on a smaller square of raspberry coloured card and then Summer Driggs Sweet Springtime paper, Wildflowers. The Easter sentiment is a free digi stamp from Renate. The paper string and the flowers are from The Works.

We (four of us) bought a total of five suitcases for going to New York, at a local garden centre which, as luck would have it, also contains a concession of The Works where I picked up some nice embellishments. While I like roses I like a change and the daisy-type and the white flowers were only £1 per pack of 12. The paper string was 99p for a pack containing nine different colours. I also picked up two packs of card charms - 6 in each pack, for £1 each and some dome stickers for 59p. They also sold 20 A4 sheets of card or paper for 59p but there was not much choice; I got 10 pieces of Kraft paper, 5 sheets of raspberry card, 4 sheets of green card and one piece of cream, embossed paper.  Not bad going.

I am off to make more cards for challenges I have entered or wish to enter, so cheerio for now,

Just Magnolia Challenge #95 Mina's sketch.

I have to say that prior to entering challenges I had never realised the importance of sketches and the fun involved in using them. I made the following card for my young friend Lucy and her partner Chris who have just had a baby girl. I know that she was born on 18 Feb but no more as the team at Fir Tree did not know more! Lucy is the assistant chef at Fir Tree and one of the most friendly, caring, obliging  and hard working people I have ever met. Nice just doesn't say it properly! I followed the sketch from the new challenge over at the Just Magnolia site which was devised by the lovely Mina. Needless to say I am entering it for the challenge there.



Baby Tilda



The card was cut out of an A4 piece of white cardstock on which I had traced a scalloped border. I cut a square mat and two circles out of the same sheet of pink cardstock. Out of pale pink Mulberry paper I cut two lengths to act as wide ribbon and tore down one side of one of the strips to give it a softer, feathery look. On the vertical strip I used some pink organza ribbon down the middle and on the horizontal, a strip of vellum which had the New Baby motif already printed on it. I placed baby Tilda, coloured with Promarkers and Frosted Lace Stickles, on foam pads above the  larger circular panel matted with paper that had with her toys on it!

The smaller pink circle at the junction of the two ribbons had a smaller circle added to it, cut from pink heart printed card which was the recycled card from a Papermania embellishment. Two holes were prepunched in this card and I threaded some of the organza ribbon through to simulate a bow. Some flatbacked white pearls, ribbon rosebuds and a dome sticker donated by Bernadette were added to complete. The animal paper and the vellum are from a set of pretty papers that I got some time ago from the Paper Mill but I have not recorded the makers.

I managed to make this card on Saturday morning waiting for my family to arrive but only photographed it today to upload. I'm not sure if it's down to consumption of alcohol yesterday but the image looks slightly out of focus to me!

We are all going out to buy luggage now; our other cases may not survive a long haul trip and Sian and Dan have none! Cheerio for now,

Totally Tilda Fruity Challenge

Just a quick post which I am fitting in between visitors to the birthday girl.

I used a Just Inklined digi stamp of an apple tree to back  Tilda with a barrel of apples.The images are coloured with Promarkers. The papers are Pretty Polly and the sentiment is from a cover freebie set from Docrafts Creativity mag. I did this card as a host for the Docrafts Tilda challenge and would also like to enter it in the Totally Tilda Fruity Challenge.

Off to fill the kettle, again, cheerio for now,

Paper Shelter #2 Red and Paper Romance Challenge #39 Anything Goes

Before I start with the cards I would just like to thank you for the lovely comments you made about Sian and her dress. You might have guessed that I would shed another tear but she looks so beautiful. The date is now certain - 27 May 2011, Ladies Pavillion, Central Park, New York. It is going to be wonderful.

The anti-inflammatories are making my tummy roil and I feel as if I'm going to throw up but the good news is the pain in my knee has reduced. Gungy finger feels great too. I have been crafting steadily as I find this a good distraction from whatever symptom is uppermost.



The Paper Shelter #2



I love this little kitty on her cushion from the Paper Shelter. Her collar is made of German Glass Glitter as is the edge of the circular, computer generated sentiment. The backing paper is Summer Driggs Angel Mother Red Paper on photo paper and it is matted onto red cardstock. The lace, red ribbon, red rose, gems and the brad in the sentiment are from my stash. I tried to run my sentiment of on red cardstock but it was not very crisp so I coloured up one on white card. The characters are much sharper even if the colouring is not even. I have also entered this card into Chrissieanns Animal Card Challenge on Docrafts as well as The Paper Shelter Challenge #2.



Paper Romance Challenge #39



The digital stamp, bees and the sentiment are from the Help for Katie Pack 2 and  called Honey Bear by D2D. They are available to buy at the Help for Katie blogsite for which there is a link in my sidebar. The two orange backing papers are from the Summer Driggs Dreamsicle set. This same card was used to mount the ribbon and the sentiment and to make the faux photo corners. Promarkers were used to colour up the image and the bees; the layout is Clare Curds. The ribbon is from my stash and the gems are from Anita's Gem Wheel. As well as the Paper Romance Challenge #39 I am entering this in the Clare Curd Sketch Challenge on Docrafts.

I'm off to get ready to go out to lunch at Fir Tree with my Mum. I don't feel much like eating but Mum doesn't get out unless one of us takes her and both of us look forward to our treats so I will go easy on my tummy. Cheerio for now,

Our baby girl in her Wedding Dress

Okay, I am so mushy I had to post a picture of Sian in the dress she has chosen for her wedding in New York in May. If you tell anybody I'm a mushbag then I'll be round yours pdq, lol! 

Sian had to make up her mind in a hurry so that alterations could be made in time etc. I am probably the only one who sees a tiny curly-haired moppet super-imposed on this lovely woman but I don't care; I am so proud and happy for her. If I could stop the waterworks I'd be quids in; I will have to pull myself together before the big day or I'll be howling in the middle of Central Park at the ceremony and giving everyone a fright - snot and tears not a good look for anyone especialy the MOTB.

No card; I am at a pain level  today that makes  me do everything everything slowly and gingerly but I'll get it done. I'm off to wallow in marshmallow fluff for a bit, on my own, as Mr H is having none. "Nice" was all he had to say when I showed him the photo but it's my guess he headed upstairs so quickly because he needed a mushy moment of his own! Cheerio for now,

DoCrafts Gallery 5th Birthday Challenge

The challenge at Docrafts that I mentioned yesterday was to commemorate the 5th Anniversary of the first posts on the Docrafts gallery. The challenge was to make a card out of what was available then so there were lots of no-no's. I didn't think that I could make a particularly nice card but the host also gave is some useful ideas; things associated with 5th anniversaries include wood, silver, turquoise and daisies.

This card is 12cm square, made from an off cut of the A3 white card I used to make the box lid yesterday. I used blue floral paper from Kate Knight which I thought looked daisy-ish and then added turquoise butterflies and Woodware flowers with a button from my stash (using my trusty hot glue gun). The card has a silver peel-off border as does the sentiment panel. The sentiment is a peel-off and is decorated with little left-over pieces of peel-offs. I used the same little bits to make the butterfly flight trails too. I had thought of using peel-offs, exclusively, in this challenge, as I have loads. However, I did not have as many in silver as I had supposed and ditched the idea.  I am pleased that I was able to make use of  silver leftovers though and felt very 'crafty' doing so.

My finger, in its wrinkly dressing, looks horrible, but I am not managing to get any sympathy from Mr H - he is washing up since I have been advised not to get the dressing wet, he'll find me some rubber gloves, I betcha.

Cheerio for now,

Crafty Afternoon.

It's taking me ages to get through reading all the blogs I follow and it's now nearly tomorrow (23.28) as I type my blog. Made up for yesterday's lack of output and caught up with my good intentions for a change. Also used my hot glue gun without a disaster but it would be hubris to go on about it. I love the hot glue gun but I can and have ended up like Brer Rabbit in the Briar Patch after a session with it. I had to use it today though.

Box top

 Yes, I made a box. A special box to hold the set of mixed occasion cards I have made as a gift for my daughter for her birthday. I used three sheets of A3 white card, hot glue and Papermania Henbury Lane papers in Sian's favourite colours. I used my Amethyst Promarker to colour the white flower pin to match the colour scheme. Thank goodness for my score board and the strong glue, otherwise this could have been far more tricky!



Wedding Invitation Response

I made this to reply to my cousin for her invitation to her daughters wedding at Sandhurst Military College. Unfortunately Mr H and I cannot go as we will be in New York celebrating our own daughters' nuptials and our own 33rd wedding anniversary. I am trying to kid Mr H that this is the Martha Stewart Punch anniversary but he says it's the Apple i-Pad anniversary. Sheesh, but he's getting wise to my banter -  we've been together so long he knows what I'm going to try to pull!

The card mimics the shape of the invitation that my cousin sent to us and I just punched round the top and bottom and round the insert with my Debbie Moore punch. I used my MS punch to make the red strips. The colour came about because I really wanted to use the spray of red roses so I matched cardstock and ribbon with it. The white card is pearlescent and the card reminds me of my dressing gown, it's the collar!

I made a card for a Docraft challenge too but will post it tomorrow when the light is better. Cheerio for now, it's tomorrow already,

Docrafts LOTV Challenge #1

I have done no crafting today but wasted time, firstly sitting in the NHS walk-in centre for two and a half hours and then driving round  and round Newton Le Willows and then Bickerstaffe looking for a craft shop in each place. I eventually found them but did not manage to get any white A4 cardstock of 250/300gsm. The shop  at Bickerstaffe was a real treasure trove but it was really for selling on the net! I can't remember where I got the details but it was a normal address not a web address that was on show, hence my circling Bickerstaffe like a whirlin' dervish instead if shopping sitting comfortably at home.

I have a card which I have just entered in the Lili of the Valley challenge on DoCrafts.



Friendly fairies

I only have 4 LOTV stamps, and three of those are Christmas ones, but when I bought PomPom I also bought some of their squares or toppers. Gillian, the host of the first LOTV challenge, asked us to make a card with a friend theme. I used Diamond Stickles on the wings and the punched out pieces on the corners of the topper. The sentiment is another of the Sentiments 4 You by Lynne Salmon, to which I added a little gem. I am particularly proud of the ribbon and owe thanks to vix, from Docrafts, who told me how she did the ripple effect with foam pads.

Cheerio for now,

Do it With Digis #4 and Paper Romance Challenge #38



Sprout



Sprout is a Mo Manning digi stamp from the 'Help for Katie' set and I used Promarkers to colour her. I downloaded and printed some more Summer Driggs papers on photo paper; Flowers from the Dreamsicle set and Yellow from the Angel Mother pack were used here. There is a punched panel behind the image and the flowers panels, and it is topped with lace and orange ribbon. You can just see it poking out at each side. If I was more experienced more of this would show but I was thinking about, designing and creating  this card for ages and still managed to not quite carry it off! All the ribbon, lace, flowers and buttons are from my stash. I want to enter this in two challenges; The Do it with Digis Sketch Challenge #4 and the Paper Romance Challenge #38 Ribbon, Lace and Buttons. The sentiment is from Lynne Salmon and a link to her Digi Sentiments site is in my sidebar.



Sprout; worth looking at twice!





I have to send my thanks both to Lisa and to Clare, whose blogs I follow, as they have awarded me the liebster blog. It was a real honour and I apologise, to Lisa in particular,for not having posted this sooner. I have been awarded this before and sent it on to 5 other blogsters, in the spirit of the award. Trouble is the only other blogs I follow have large followings. I am stuck for people to pass this on to, Lisa and Clare and have no clue how to proceed. I will sleep on it!

Cheerio for now, anyway,

Double Easel Courtesy of Hyper Ni!

I am typing this very slowly, due to having a septic index finger, which is amusing Mr H no end as I am cursing whenever I hit the wrong keys. I finished a card shape I was inspired to try by Ni, a DoCraft pal and fellow blogger. Hers had a distinctly elegant touch; mine does not. I made  a mistake when it came to fixing the left side topper and had to peel (ie wrench) it off. You can see her blog here where she has a tutorial on how to make these easel cards



Double Easel Tilda



Cherry Tilda and Tilda with three flowers are coloured with Promarkers and are sitting on a wall digi stamp. They are adhered with 3D foam pads. A second wall acts as the stop and carries the sentiment, from Papermania, which was embossed onto green coredinations card and sanded. The backing card is also embossed coredinations card from the Whitewash collection, embossed with a cottage floral folder. I sanded it to reveal the core but it makes for a very dusty environment! I tore the edge of the bottom panel just to add a bit of colour since I had had difficulty in sanding effectively. I used some flat backed self-adhesive pearls and teeny flowers from my stash and some white glitter alphabet letters from Dovecrafts to spell LOVE on the panels. The card fits nicely in a DL envelope.



Folded down

I watermarked the card myself and now I am going to try a twisted easel card which is a variation on this, I reckon. I thought I would also show you the card I made for my very good friend, fellow crafter and stash-sharer Bernadette. It was her birthday yesterday and she is probably out shopping with her birthday money right now. The card is from the La Pashe range and is relaxing to make and always has a bit of a giggle factor.

The front



The rear! 

I would like to thank everyone who leaves comments for me, they are always very kind and make me feel a part of the blogging community. Today is going to be a lazy Saturday and so I hope that it's a good one for everyone, cheerio for now,

Docrafts Weekly Challenge

Just a quick post before I go out to lunch with Mum. We tend to eat so well that I must confess to a little replete nap, or forty winks, as Mum puts it, in the afternoon, which might come between me and a posting, lol.



Clares Weekly Inspiration Challenge 15 - 28 February 2011

This week was 'Inspiration' week where Clare gives a photo and invites you to take any element for inspiration. The photo was of a lovely branch of red leaves against the sky.

You don't get the full effect of the lovely Summer Driggs paper which I ran off the computer on photographic paper, giving it a gorgeous gloss, and which yelled out to be used for this challenge. I topped it with a Carnation from the La Pashe Build a Blossom Collection and a thank-you sentiment I made using a Dovecraft stamp and Glossy Accents.

 I was trying to capture the glossy look of the paper and at first I heat embossed the stamp in black but it didn't gel well with the card. Next I stamped in brown ink but it looked faded against the gloss - then my lightbulb switched on and I grabbed my bottle of Glossy Accents. It isn't perfect, one for the 'must do better' column, but it's the look I was after. The paper was the thing but I couldn't afford to run too much of it off ; not just pennies-wise but because I would be tempted just to keep it untouched. You wouldn't believe the wince when I put the sheet into my trimmer!

Cheerio for now, 

The Paper Shelter #1 Buttons and Bow and Totally Tilda Challenge #16 How Does your Garden Grow

Finally finished the two cards I had on the boil this morning and now I am ready to try Ni's double easel at last! The cards are for two blog challenges for a change!



The Paper Shelter Challenge #1 Buttons and Bows

I made a get well card with this sickly mouse, Pepe L'Souries, from the Paper Shelter and coloured him with Promarkers. Don't you just love his kitty slippers? I made the sentiment on my Paint app on my lap-top to tie in with the cheese tea. The backing papers are freebies from a mag and the button is from the Glitterpot but I have no idea where the yellow organza ribbon is from, nor the little black bead rope. the card candy or the pearls. I am pleased to be entering the inuagural challenge and urge you to have a look - Kevin 'McCrafty' is on the Design Team and his brilliant card inspired me to have a go this morning. The prize is a gift certificate to spend in the shop - think of all those great digis!



Totally Tilda #16 How Does Your Garden Grow



Having just done a garden themed card for the Tilda Challenge on Docrafts I was disconcerted to find that Susie and the team had also chosen gardening as their theme. Rita, aka the Papercraft Tutor had a splendid garden shed decoupage set on her weekly newsletter and so I printed it out on card and took out one shed image and the flowerpots to serve as Tilda's garden shed. She is rolling in leaves and was coloured with Promarkers; I am trying to get blonde hair right and thanks go to Bernadette who generously sent me a sandstone Promarker which she had a double of. The backing card was a free download from Pop n'Stick and the sentiment is from Rainbow echo Designs. The white roses are from Papermania as is the Dew Drop in the centre of the orange flower, which is from the Dovecraft Sugar &Spice range. Check out the challenge on the link in my sidebar - the prize is a doohickey from the Magnolia range.

The gorgeous Neil Oliver is about to come on the telly so I'm off on the pretext of learing about ancient Britons while revelling in the lovely voice of the small but perfectly formed Mr Oliver, cheerio for now,

Ooh, Neil just said 'hazel' but he was talking about ancient woodland!!!!

Creativity Club Challenge #4

We are over the whole car thing and the feeling flumpy thing so I spent most of today away from home instead of in it. I have had no crafting time today but I finished the card for the fourth Creativity Club Challenge on Docrafts. I also experimented with my own watermark for this card! Not as good as Lynn Salmons but worth it to increase my confidence!

The host of the challenge picked a sketch with a featured panel; I had already stamped Tilda with Chicks onto just such a handcut panel so I was practically finished. I skewed the panel because I was going to mat it straight onto the yellow cardstock panel but thought the skew gave it a bit more oomph. The backing papers and the flowers in the centre of Lynne Salmons digi sentiment came from Papermanias Lemon Sorbet range; all the rest is from my stash, although the dew drops are from Papermania too. I finally remembered to edge my paper panels with an inkpad as it's supposed to afford some definition but my own internal jury is still out on this one.

Cheerio for now, I'm off to skype my eldest daughter,

More on the Docraft Challenge front!

Although Mr H and I are suffering from general malaise today I think it had a lot to do with us refusing to buy the car that we had put in for because we felt we had been misled. No-one likes confrontation and we had to put ourselves in its direct path yesterday. The misleading information posted on the  dealer's national website and apparently taken as gospel by the sales force, was  incorrect, but in fact had sold us (or sucked us in, depending on how forgiving you feel) on that particular model. Our sales rep had also given us incorrect advice which he later tried to deny and said that it was my mistake! Picture steam coming out my ears...

We were very frustrated especially when, seeing a potential sale going up the swanee, the salesman tried to find another model to sell  to us. We had to peel ourselves away one by one. So we are wallowing in self-pity for a bit and eating comfort food - me,  my homemade lentil soup, which Mr H, rather unkindly calls 'fart juice' and watching sappy films;  him, he's waging virtual war on some virtual planet and drinking coffee and eating fruit - whatever floats your boat.

Two cards for Docrafts Challenges

Front

This is for Kates Tilda Challenge, She asked for a different shape of card from our norm with pastel colours, ribbon, gem , buttons, bows etc I opted for an easel shape and ballerina Tilda. I used two frames that I cut out of blue coredinations cardstock and pink pearlised paper and backing paper from the Honey & Hugs range from Docrafts. Ribbon rosebuds and leaves are from Hobbycraft and the double ribbon and pearl gems are from my stash.

Flat piece and sentiment/stop



Whole card

The sentiment is from Lynne Salmons range and the blue and pink cardstock is coredinations. Eight pink mini buttons from Papermania were mounted on the sentiment with silicon glue.

The second card is for Jenbob's Penny Black Challenge. I own just  the one PB stamp which I recently bought from Crafts4U2Do so I had to enter.



Don't you just love the moosie!



Jen asked us to have red, white and blue predominating and we were to use one PB image, two ribbons, three backing papers and four gems. I embossed the blue and white panels; sanded the blue and swiped the white with the Dew Drops Danube Blue ink pad, doing the same with the sentiment panel.

Off to design a card for the new Club Challenge, cheerio for now,

Docrafts Diabolical Digi Challenge

I am so behind after a surprise visit from my sister that I should have posted three hours ago! Why is it when you decide to be good and do what you have to when you have decided you will, something steps in and it all goes to pot? It's just one of those things!

Being the new host of the Digi Challenge over on Docrafts, I decided on making a sketch and choosing a fairy theme for those interested to follow.

This is the sketch which I managed to mock up on the Paint accessory on my computer - it took me flipping ages to get anywhere near right and then trying to upload it was hard too since I had saved it as a word doc and had to convert it back to a jpeg file in order to upload it. Why do I do these things? I got the sketch from Simply Cards and Papercraft mag.

I also got the idea of the newspaper punching from the same mag and the photo does not do it justice. It really looks lacey. I used my Martha Stewart punch to cut the frill but it had a meltdown - for some reason it hates paper. I stuck some newspaper onto card to punch out the ribbon piece and it worked perfectly again!

The  fairy digi stamp is a freebie by Sharon Bennett. The sentiment is a digi from Lynne Salmon. Colour by Promarker.  Green swirly double sided backing paper and ribbon from Caroles Crafts and card candy was a gift from my crafting pal Bernadette.

The lovely thing about yesterday, in addition to my lunch with Mum, was a great big parcel of goodies from Bernadette. She is so very generous and shares loads with me - we both look for bargains and bogoffs so that we can share!

The horrid thing was going to see our prospective new car - Mr H and I noticed some discrepencies with the actual car and the description we had been given of it. We are going back tomorrow to speak to Kevan, who was off yesterday but has been dealing with us, but Mr H is not a happy bunny!

I need to do some crafting but doubt I will get much of a chance so cheerio for now,

Another Docrafts\ Clares Challenge!

At last Mr H has upgraded our broadband and wireless connection so that we won't keep crashing when the signal is weak. It was quickly installed and then, after the bloke had gone , Mr H found that there was a fault and that we could not access the internet! It's fixed now but Mr H says his brain is fried after dealing with the call centre for hours.

This is my entry for Clares Sketch Challenge [8 Feb] on the Docrafts site.

I used the Country Companions Clearstamp set again but decided on pink roses rather than red as this is for a birthday and not a valentine. The Happy Birthday sentiment stamp was from Tesco for £2 and I also managed to snag the last two Anitas Gem Wheels (3mm) for £1.50 each. I paid £3.50 for one from my local supplier before Christmas so these were a bargain. I will keep one but send one to a friend. I only went in to buy a toaster but my eyes glomed onto the craft section as I passed by, lol. I digress, surprise; the paper is from the Dovecrafts Wedding pad and I punched the pink square from cardstock with my MS round the page punch. I used my MS lace doily punch to punch the paper strip from a left-over piece of floral paper. I made the corner fastener myself just to add interest. I'm a lousy snapper; you can see the definition between the layers I.R.L.

From Saturday I am hosting the Digi Challenge on Docrafts and I have thought out a design brief so I am going to get cracking with my own card. Cheerio for now,

Totally Tilda Easter Egg Special Challenge

First let me tell you that my lovely mum enjoyed her special day yesterday and they made such a fuss of her at Fir Tree, even putting a birthday candle in her hotpot crust! She was tickled pink!

She's mugging for the camera here and she sat directly in front of the woodstove's chimney!

I was taken by surprise by the early call from the Totally Tilda Easter Egg Special Challenge but this is my entry and I have managed to include a sentiment by the talented Lynne Salmon. A link to Lynne's site is in my sidebar.

Tilda is colored with Promarkers and matted onto a flower embossed card which you cannot make out very well on this pic. I tried to distress the ribbon so it would crinkle more - I can do it to my own clothes no bother - but didn't get the effect I was aiming for, so will have to keep practising. The top sentiment is Lynne's and the bottom one is mine because the brief was the inclusion of an egg. Obviously mine had hatched, lol, and Tilda is carrying the results, so I had to add more.

Off to get a passport for New York, cheerio for now,