Darnell's blog hop

Hello there,

The wonderful Darnell is hosting a Blog Hop in honour of Di at Pixies crafty snippets.
It's 7 years this week since Di took over the playground from Jules and she's doing a cracking job of it.
I must admit it's been quite a while since I joined in the fun in the playground but really wanted to send some love and thanks to Di with a little card from me.

My snippets started life like this,

I use A3 size card to make boxes for my fussy cards and always have a strip of leftover card, around 4" x30". I cut these up into roughly A5 size and use them for smooshing, sponging or backing for tissue paper technique backgrounds. The coloured card above is smooshed with distress inks, then run through a Spellbinders EF.
The other 2 pieces of white card have obviously been used for die cutting previously.

And this what I did with them,

I cut out the coloured card with Spellbinders Hexagon dies.
The Flowers are dies from Simply Graphic
The sentiment is by Personal Impressions.

As you can see I save and use every scrap I have but, for some reason, my snippets box(es) don't get any smaller.

Thanks for popping in x

Inkspirational #179

Hello there,

I've 'discovered' a new to me challenge called Inkspirational. It's a photo challenge this week and looks yummy so I thought I'd give it a go.

For some reason the first thought that popped into my head was Baby. Maybe because we are expecting a new grand daughter in the spring lol. So that's what I went with,

 Luckily I spent a good part of Thursday getting messy with Luminate micra paints and a bit of smooshing. For these I used Grapefruit and Jasmine.
Once the paint was dry I gave it a quick spray of white spritzing ink to give it a bit more sparkle.

A close up of the shimmer.

I used a Crafts Too border embossing folder for the card front.
The hearts are cut out with a Sizzix Framelit die and I've mounted them onto some white hearts to give a bit more depth.
The letters are by Yvonne creations cut from a piece of scrap card.


Thanks for popping in x

Simply Less is More #387, Sketch

Hello there,

It's Saturday and time for a new challenge at Less is More. This time it's a sketch.

I tried really hard to put my own slant on it, turned it round and upside down, Tried a die cut with the sentiment across it but nothing worked better than the sketch so I just went with it.

I found a piece of card that I'd marbled a few months ago that I was happy with and used that for my background.
I had to use my brain to get the triangles cut right because measuring and maths are NOT my strong point but it worked really well so I'm giving myself a pat on the back.
The marbling is hot pink, lime green and a bit of orange so I picked out the pink for my sentiment.
The stamp is Avery Elle Valentine set stamped in Magenta Versa color and heat embossed with clear EP.
I used a scrap piece of hot pink card to punch out the 3 tiny hearts to finish.

We're taking my dad for a Sunday meal tomorrow for his 87th birthday. I think I'm looking forward to it as much as he is, no cooking and no pots to wash, yippee!

Thanks for popping in X

Happy news

Hello there,

A much more uplifting post than my previous two.
My niece Lucy gave birth to her second daughter, Millie Rose at 12:01 on New Years day. Although it's not confirmed, we think she was the first baby to be born in the country this year. Millie had a traumatic entry into the world when it was discovered that the chord was wrapped around her neck three times and mum Lucy had internal bleeding. An emergency Ceasarian was performed and Millie was born with no problems at all, thank goodness. We were really pleased, and very impressed, when Lucy managed to get to mum's funeral a week later and brought Millie with her. It really did lift everyone's spirits on the day.

Ofcourse I made a card.
I used a gorgeous paper from Lemoncraft, Tiny Miracles
The backing paper is pink with stars and I used a second paper with dots for the letters and daisies.
The tags are made with unnamed dies and the daisies are punched.
The letters are dies from Yvonne Creations.
Finished off with some very slim ribbon that started out as hangers on a blouse.

Thanks for popping in x

Thank you card

Hello there,


I made a thank you card for the staff at the care home where mum lived for the last 11 years. They treated her with kindness and dignity throughout and I cannot fault the care she received.

I've kept it clean & simple with just a bit of colour.

I made the panel by smooshing Tumbled Glass, Squeezed Lemonade and Spun sugar DI onto a piece of A5 card.
Once dry I gave it a quick spray of white spritzing ink.
When that was dry I ran it through a Spellbinders floral EF.
I used a rectangle die to cut the correct size and mounted it with foam tape.
The flowers are dies from Simply Graphic cut from white card.
The sentiment is from a set called Summer Blossom by Flourishes.

I'm really pleased with the panel irl it has the look of Mother of Pearl and, although the embossing is a bit fussy, overall the card still has a CaS look.

Thank you for popping in x

Less is More # 386

Hello there

I've quite a long post today but I'll leave the reading bit till after I show my card for the latest Less is More challenge # 386 Water

I was a bit flummoxed by this one but after looking through some of the other entries I've come up with a card. Not sure whether I've pulled it off or not,

 I used distress inks with a little water to smooch some card hoping to get a rippled water effect. It's not quite how I wanted but I'm fairly pleased with the result.
I added the Bullrushes to enhance the water. Unfortunately the stamp doesn't have a makers name

A closer look at the 'water' effect.



Sadly we lost my mum on 22nd December.
Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimers in 1999 so she's been suffering this dreadful disease for almost 20 years. Mum had been in a care home for the last 11 years and they rang to tell us that the end was imminent but it still hits you hard even though you're prepared.
Christmas was a bit emotional as you'd expect but we took my dad to my son's house for Christmas day and, I think we were all better for it. There's nothing like an over excited 6 year old to take your mind off things
Mum was 66 when she was diagnosed and I can't help but think of all things her and dad have missed out on over the years but she was so poorly towards the end it was a blessing really.  I miss her terribly but wouldn't want to see her suffering any more.

Thanks for popping in and I'm sorry if my post has made you sad X