Less is More # 87

Good afternoon All.

As it`s the fifth saturday of the month, it`s a lucky dip challenge at Simply Less is More
This time the theme is Love & Marriage.

I made a very simple card.I used the Swiss Dots folder for my panel and added a white ribbon and slider.
The sentiment is by Rubbadubbado stamped in clear ink and embossed in detail silver EP then cut out with a nestie oval.
I cut out some elements of the Fleur de Lis accents from SB and positioned them on the oval with a dab of glue. And that`s it, easy peasy and quite quick.

I spent the morning yesterday at the Macmillan Cancer Trust Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning ( try saying that with your mouth full lol) and took some cards along to help raise funds.
Although I only sold 8 cards, I met some lovely people and got some very helpful feedback. I now know that I`m seriously lacking in man and boy cards so  I think I`m going to have to concentrate on those for a while.
I did wake up in the early hours of friday convinced that no one would even look at the cards never mind buy any so 8 was a bonus and the feedback did wonders for my confidence. All in all I had a wonderful time and the little bit I raised can only help can`t it? The school is sharing the money raised between Macmillan and Candlelighters which is great and as soon as I know the total I`ll put it on here.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx


 

Less is More # 86

Good afternoon All!

The challenge this week at Simply Less is More is  a nice easy one. We are to take three challenge from the past 85 weeks and combine them to make a card. I`ve chosen;
Wk 15...Embossing
Wk 23...Something with legs
Wk 55...Punches or die cuts

Since she was a small child Angie has always been passionate about monkeys so this little cutie from Digistamp Boutique 
fit the bill perfectly.
I`ve embossed the banners with Woodgrain, Swirls and Swiss Dots EF. I`ve also used Dies to make the inverted `V`.
The monkey obviously has legs and I`ve used Spellbinders Circle Dies for the image and the sentiment.
The sentiment is computer generated.

On friday 28th september the school that Ruby attends and which her Mum is a teaching assistant at, is joining in with the Macmillan Cancer Trust Big Coffee Morning fundraising day. The headmaster has also added Candlelighters trust to the list as they donate to Macmillan too and also because Ruby and another pupil from the school are receiving care through Candlelighters.
He has also kindly allowed me to hold a Handmade Card stall to raise funds. I`m really looking forward to it, not only because it should be a fun day but it will give me some feedback as to what people are looking for (hopefully) for future fundraising days.
So, I`m frantically adding inserts to cards already made, trying to work out what type of cards I`m lacking and might need and making up boxes for them all.
I`ll let you know how we get on next week.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Less is More # 85

Good Afternoon All!
Happy Sunday and all that. It`s the last day of my leave from work today so I`ve got a touch of the post holiday blues. I really don`t want to go back to work. Does anyone want to sponsor me to stay at home and make cards? Lol.
Anyway I`ll get straight on with it as I`ve a bit of waffle at the end.

The challenge this week is an easy peasy one from Simply Less is More.
Mandi and Chrissie want us to incorporate an oval somewhere in our card. I use ovals quite a lot, especially in my fussier cards as I think you can arrange embellishments around them easier. However, the challenge for me was to come up with something a bit different from my usual make.

For my first card I used a stamp from Kaisercraft, Little Toot set.

I coloured the plane with Promarkers and cut it out with a nestie oval.

I cut some small circles with a nestie die from some bright coloured scraps of DP and laid them on the card in a square, then place my plane over the top using foam pads.

The sentiment is PC generated.

This next one uses a foam stamp from a set I bought donkeys years ago and never used.
I stamped the Lion onto white card and coloured him with Promarkers then cut him out with an oval die.
I used some more of the scrap DP and used my MS Zig Zag punch ( `cos it looks a bit like sharp teeth)
Oval placed over the top with foam pads.
Sentiment is again PC generated.

My last one is back to my usual style.
The ovals were already made up waiting for me to decide which backing paper to put with it but the decision was made for me with this challenge, none ha.
Stamps are by Flourishes, Flowers and Frames set, coloured with Promarkers and Spectrum Noir pens and cut out with a Floral Oval Die from Spellbinders.
The sentiment is from the same set, stamped inside another frame from this set and cut out with a nestie oval and placed using foam pads.
I`m quite happy with them all but I think the Plane is my fave. What do you think?

Right a bit of waffle. As we both had the week off and nothing major planned we thought it would be nice to be tourists in our home town.
I`m sure we`re not alone in this but we travel for miles to visit attractions, totally ignoring the one`s on our doorstep. With this in mind we decided to visit The Deep in Hull. It is an award winning Aquarium and one of the biggest in the world and seeing as it opened 10 years ago and we had never been, a visit was well and truely in order.

I love the architecture of this building, reflecting Hull`s heritage of fishing and shipping. We were once the third largest port in the country. Sadly our fishing industry has disappeared and most of our docks are long gone but we have some fabulous museums relating the storys of our glorious past.
Inside this magnificent building is a fantastic array of fish and sea creatures. I was very impressed and very glad we eventually went to visit.
If ever you are around this area I would highly recommend it and all the other attractions we have. We are a friendly bunch up here too.
While we were in the Deep I picked up some leaflets for other attractions in Yorkshire and found one for Doncaster Markets.
I remember a customer at work telling me that she goes there for her lace so I talked Alan into taking me on friday.
I`m a sucker for a good market and sadly we no longer have one in Hull. Doncaster on the other hand has five. Yep, FIVE markets all in the same place and running into each other. I was in market heaven!
I found a proper haberdashery stall and bought ribbon and buttons and then I found a man selling clear plastic boxes.
On closer inspection I noticed that these we from the `Really Useful Box Company`, good stong boxes with clip on lids AND he did A4 3inch deep ones. £4 each or 2 for £7 or 3 for £10. Hee hee I bought 6.
They are perfect for card and I now have most of my coloured card seperated into different boxes. Definitely going back sometime soon for more boxes.
Ofcourse stupid me didn`t look on google before we set off so missed a craft shop smack bang in the middle of the market. Another reason to go back I think ;-)

If you`re still with me...Ruby is now home and doing very well. We did have a small incident at the hospital when they forgot to give Ruby an evening meal. By the time anyone realised there was nothing left so she had to have toast. Not that she was complaining but it really isn`t good enough when she needs all the protein she can get.
Karen has had another operation by a different surgeon and it looks as if it`s not as bad as we thought. She is home now and although she`s uncomfortable, she`s doing fine.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Red Rose Wedding

Good Afternoon All!

Just popping in to share another card using my dies.
I think you might have guessed that I`m slightly in love with my Lace Doily Motifs set. It`s just so gorgeous and so...usable lol.
But.. I can`t take much credit for this one as I got my inspiration from THIS fabulous card I saw yesterday. Please check out Darsies blog, it`s so full of beautiful makes.

I made a panel by printing Pink Petticoats Vintage Roses in Double Cream onto white linen card and adhered it using foam tape.
The Lace Doily is cut out of the same white Linen card (Papermill direct) with the sentiment from Rubbadubbado stamped in the middle.
I made a circle frame using two nestie circles and added some paper roses from a local store and adhered that to the Doily using foam pads.
I`ve added some red ribbon and a bow from my stash and some cream pearls to finish.

Apologies once again for the photo. If you could have seen the positions I got into to try to take a half decent pic...I don`t think I`ll straighten out for a few hours yet lol.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

cr84fn..Lavender and Peach

Good Afternoon All!

Autumn has definitely arrived here today. Cold and wet and miserable. A great day to be in the craft room.

I`m a bit late for this fortnights challenge at cr84fn but the colour sample is fabulous and I simply couldn`t resist.

I couldn`t decide whether I was in CaS mood or fussy mood so I made two cards.

 This one uses a stamp from Flourishes, Flowers and Friends, stamped in Memento Tuxedo black and coloured with Spectrum Noir pens and Promarkers.
I`ve cut the image out with a nestie circle and matted it onto some lavender card using a scalloped circle die. It gives just a hint of colour behind the circle.
The sentiment is PC generated, cut out the same way.
The DP is by Shappy Princess, Girly without the Pink.

This one is much more CaS.
DP by Shabby Princess again, printed onto card and mounted with foam pads.
The flower is handmade with Peach tissue paper and a lavender brad.
I`ve added some lavender spotty ribbon.
The sentiment is Flourishes Tag Lines, stamped in Versafine Onyx black.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Feeling Under the Weather?

Good Morning All!

A quick post from me. I want to make the most of my time off and get some crafting done.

The challenge for this fortnight at In the Pink is ANYTHING BUT A SQUARE

I suppose I could have made a rectangle card but as most of mine are either square or rectangles I thought I`d go mad and make a circular card.

Besides, I wanted to play with my dies again and this Umbrella from Die-namics is fabulous.
I made the circle using a Spellbinders Lacey Circles die in white.
The pink is cut with a circle die then run through the CB with the Swiss Dots folder. I thought it looked a bit like rain or snow ;-)
The umbrella is made using scraps from Papermania Blueberry Hill DP and some dark pink card.
Sentiment is computer generated using Amazone font.

I would like to take the time to welcome my newest follower Irene. Thank you Irene for choosing my little blog to follow.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Get Well Soon

Good Afternoon All!

It`s been a pretty horrid weekend for some family members. First it was Ruby with her infection. They  think it might be tonsilitis but until the culture results come back, no one really knows. Anyway we`ve been to see her today and she`s absolutely fine. Bossing Mum around and being a typical 4 year old. I think she`ll be home within the next couple of days.
On a more serious note, Angies partner Karen had an op to remove some ascesses from one of her breasts about 3 weeks ago. After a few days it became infected and the doctor gave her antibiotics. Twice it has been so bad that Angies had to take her to A&E, the first time she was sent home because there was no one at the local hospital to deal with her and the hospital that did the initial op weren`t interested.
Last saturday Karen was taken back to A&E. The area of the op was so swollen they drew a line where the swelling ended and sent het to wait until blood test results came back and after an hour the swelling had become so much worse that they admitted her there and then with suspected Septicemia. They had her nil by mouth from saturday night with a view to her having her op on sunday and today, still nil by mouth and no op, she has been transfered back to the original hospital with cellulitis.
The poor lass is terrified and in so much pain. The tradgedy is that they`ve left it so long that she has so much dead tissue we don`t know how much of the breast they can save.
Most of the time our National Health service is second to none but I`m hearing so many horror stories lately, something drastic needs to be done.

Right rant over.
In true Lynne fashion, if there`s a need I`ll make a card. Here is the card I made for Karen.

A quick and simple card as I didn`t have much time.
The Peony is a digi from Just Inklined coloured with Promarkers and cut out with a nestie circle die.
The sentiment is computer generated.
DP is Pink Petticoat.

Hopefully next time I post I`ll have some better news.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

A quick Ruby update

Hi All!

Just a quickie to let you all know...unfortunately Ruby is a bit unwell at the moment. She came down with a temperature on friday and it was still up on saturday so that meant a trip to the local hospital. Her red blood count is low and so are her platelets and she has some sort of infection. They are not sure what it is yet but possibly tonsilitis.
Ruby had two blood transfusions last night and is on antibiotics. She`s fine but they are keeping her under observation for a few days.
Actually her doctors are amazed that she hasn`t had an infection before now but she`s in the right place and getting treatment.
I`ll let you all know as soon as I hear anymore.

Pixies Crafty Snippet Challenge # 37

Good Sunday Afternoon all!

I`m sharing some cards I`ve made from some of the larger snippets I have in my box. I`m very naughty for using a full A4 sheet and cutting a small piece off for a sentiment or something and then being left with a piece that`s not big enough to make a card. Slapped wrist for me ;-)
So...I decided to put them to good use and make some small, 4x4 cards. I`ve also been playing with my dies again...oh I love my dies. I`m off to play in the playground over at Pixies Crafty Snippets see how they`re coming along with the vitual tree house. It looks fab in the pics.

They are all very similar but some subtle changes with some of the bows. I can`t seem to get a good triple bow with satin ribbon but it works really well with the organza.
The dies I`ve used are Spellbinders Lace Doily and Fleur de Lis squares.
Ribbon and flowers from stash.
Some of the photo`s are pretty rubbish I`m afraid. All the good light was at the other side (windowless) of the loft.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Less is More # 84

Good afternoon all!

I hope you are all well and enjoying the late sunshine that we`re having here in the UK. For those of you further a field, I hope your weather is treating you kindly.

I`m a happy bunny today. It`s the start of a whole week off work for me and hubby :-) We`ve got nothing planned as such. We`re just going to take each day as it comes and try to get some days out into the bargain. Hopefully there`ll be plenty of crafting time too.

Anyway, onto this weeks challenge at Simply Less is More. It`s one layer week again and we are asked to focus on FOLIAGE.
I have quite a few leaf and foliage stamps but still couldn`t decide on a design. My first one was a disaster but this one I`m actually rather pleased with, ( now doesn`t that make a refreshing change) ha ha.

I`ve kept it really simple and refrained from adding anymore than the one stamp, you have no idea how hard that was lol.
I started by embossing a rectangle onto Linen card.
After masking off my rectangle I used decorative chalks  in lime green, bright yellow and orange to fill the space.
The leaf stamp is one of a set from Hero Arts called Real Leaves, stamped in clear ink and embossed in gold EP.
The sentiment is from Paptrey Inc Autumn Abundance set.
Yes, I`m chuffed with this one.

Edited to add, I`m entering this card into Susan`s One Layer Wednesday Challenge which I meant to do yesterday but forgot with all the excitment of making a card I actually like.

Ruby thoroughly enjoyed her first day at school this week and couldn`t wait to go back the next day. She loves her teacher, Mr Weed ( yeah I know I keep wanting to say...flobalob too). Apparently he`s a lovely man who gets down to the kids level and everyone loves him.
I`m hoping for pics of Ruby in her school uniform soon so as soon as I get them I`ll post them.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Happy Anniversary

Good Afternoon All!

Another quick post from me today. The day is flying by waay too fast, roll on next week ;-)

Next monday will be Alan and Rachels first wedding anniversary. It doesn`t seem 5 minutes since we were getting all excited about the wedding. They will be in the Canaries for their anniversary, a belated honeymoon since Alan couldn`t fly last year with his poorly knee, so I`ve given them their card already.

It hasn`t photographed very well and does look much nicer IRL.
The card base and panel are pearlescent faux watered silk in ivory.
I`ve added some ivory lace to two of the corners. The larger oval is Spellbinders Beaded Ovals die with the second size Floral Oval matted onto it, both in plain ivory pearlescent card as is the Labels 4 die with a frame by Waltzing Mouse stamped and embossed in detail silver EP.
The sentiment is Flourishes Tag Lines also embossed in silver EP.
I`ve added some ivory pearls to the beaded oval to finish.
I was going to add a bow but thought it might be too much.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Happy Birthday Cheryl

Good afternoon all!

Today is my eldest daughter, Cheryl`s birthday. Being Ruby`s mum the last few months have been quite difficult but Cheryl has always had a strong personality and she`s coped really well. I`m sure this is where Ruby gets her strength from.
I hope that by her next birthday all this is behind us and we are all looking forward to a brighter future.

This is the card I made for her. I had promised not to make another Poppy card but since I had the die I just had to use it.
Really straight forward. Sentiment printed from comp then run through with Swiss Dots EF.
Memory Box Poppy die cut out twice in green and twice in red. Flower heads chopped off, coated in Glossy Accents and replaced. Job done.

Just a quick note...Ruby starts school on wednesday for the first time. She has had some time at the nursery before but with all the treatments she`s had it`s been a bit random. Now it`s the biggie.
Can`t quite believe it, doesn`t seem 5 minutes since she was a baby. I`ll let you know how she gets on.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Less is More # 83

Good Morning All.

As it`s the first week of a new month it`s a colour challenge at Simply Less is More and this week we are asked to make a card using  Pink and Brown.
I love pink and brown together in all their shades but putting them on a card proved a tad difficult. It`s not the challenge...it`s me... I`m craftily challenged at the moment I think
Lets just say that I`m not doing the happy dance about any of this collection,

 My first one was going great until I tried to be clever and make the bottom trim of the car a slightly darker shade of pink and went over the lines.As this was the last to be made I`d had enough faffing so I`m posting it anyway so you get the gist of the design.
Pink hammered base card. Milk chocolate panel embossed with swiss Dots EF.
Stamp from Hero Arts. Sentiment computer generated.

 This one I`m reasonably pleased with. DP is from Papermania. Stars are X cut nested stars.
Sentiment done on comp.

 Hot pink base card. Dark chocolate panel raised on foam pads.
Heart is Woodware punch, letters Die-namics die cuts. All cut out of hot pink glitter paper by Craftime.

And lastly, hot pink base card ( all card is Papermill) Dark chocolate panel embossed with Craft Concepts Wood Grain EF and two corners rounded.
Flwers are tissue paper cut out with nestie scalloped circles and crunched. Brads in centre are Papermania.
Sentiment stamp is Anita`s stamped in Versafine Onyx and embossed in clear EP. Inverted `v` done with corner of square nestie.

So, nothing very imaginative or ground breaking. I don`t know what`s the matter with my mojo, maybe just a bit tired. I`ve got another week at work and then I`m off for a week so hopefully I`ll be able to get my backside into gear.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

St Lukes Charity Card Challenge ...September 2012

Good Morning All!

As it`s the first of the month that means a brand new challenge at St Lukes.
We want to see " Couples" on your cards this month...this doesn`t have to be romantic, although it can be if you want. Just a couple of characters whether they be human or animal or a mixture...just give us two together. What could be simpler?

For my card I`ve chosen these two love birds. This is a digi stamp from Wee stamps.
I made a panel slightly smaller than the base card and ran it through the CB with a Birds and Swirls EF and adhered it using foam tape.
The image is coloured with Promarkers then cut out with a Spellbinders Floral Ovals Die and placed using foam pads.
I`ve added some tiny pink gems to finish.
No sentiment as it could be for almost any occasion

Don`t forget to check out the other DT cards and leave some love. As always your cards will be very welcome if you wish to donate to the cause. Details on the main blog.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx