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,