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Thursday 31 May 2012

Sunday Stamper Week 207: Words - Thursday 31st May

Hi Blog Friends,


The good thing about working part time is that if I take a few days off, I don't use up too much holiday..especially when part of it is using up the extra hours I've worked and there's a nice long bank holiday...so I worked Monday and am now having a nice long break until 11th June! Tom has Friday and the Bank Holiday off and we had family and neighbours coming in on Monday for a little  Jubilee fundraising garden party, but other than that...it's all about catching up with my crafts!


Today's card was made as my contribution for Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers. I only started to create for challenges a short while ago and I wish that amongst the commissions and preparations for our workshops, I had more time to do devote...hopefully a catch up break from the work that pays for my crafts, will get me up to date and give me that time!


The theme this week is "Words' and this is my creation....


 First of all I die cut the front of the card shape using Clarity Card and Grand Labels 23 and decided on a dark purple textured card for the back. I stamped the heart and words from Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 'Love to Make a Art' stamp with Versamark on to  the Clarity Card and then used Mountain Meadow Big & Juicy and a brayer to create the background and resist with the image. The leaves, from the same stamp were stamped with Perfect Medium and heat embossed using Tim Holz 'worn paper' distress powder, which gives a really rough feel to the design. 


I stamped the word LISTEN again and die cut the bird from the Spellbinders Bird Sanctuary set and distressed both with a mixture of Milled Lavender and Bundled Sage distress ink. I then took some gorgeous multi-faceted ribbon from my ribbon box. This ribbon is also wired, so it is malleable. I made a small ribbon rose to place on the heart, punched two holes in the side of the card, which I finished off with dark purple eyelets, added some ribbon and a button heart...then I found the rusty tin heart in my 'arty bits' box and decided this had to be the finishing touch!


Thanks for stopping by!
Carole X


I've made this card as my Contribution to Sunday Stampers

Wednesday 30 May 2012

Circles of Fun! HMFMC120 - Weds 30th May

Hello Blog Friends!

I've been 'missing' for a few days, but instead of being out enjoying the sunshine I've been busy in the craft room! Today's card was made for the current House Mouse Challenge, "Circles/Polka Dots and all round Fun".... and it was just a so much fun to make! I decided to go to town on the circles theme as you can see..maybe a bit OTT, but I was having such a good time I just couldn't stop!!!

First of all I stamped the Autumn Tumble design...I coloured it with Promarkers and decided to turn the autumnal berries into summer fruits (well why not?) - these little mice are having a bit of summer frolicking :). I punched it with a circle punch and then cut two slightly larger Spellbinder Teardrop Circle dies in a plain green textured card. I then cut more from the same set of dies in a mixture of cream card, coredinations polka dots and the same textured green.

For the main background of the easel I used the polka dot card...I love this coredinations pad, when the dots are sanded and raised the effect is fabulous and so tactile, I really wanted this to be a tactile card....with movement...

Now to put the card together...I adhered the image to one of the teardrop circle dies and the fixed a brad to the back centre. Then I took the second die cut of the same size, pierced a hole in the centre and threaded the brad through. Once the circle was fixed to the card with the brad, it would turn around when touched so that the mice actually spin!

I did exactly the same with the remaining die cuts, which are fixed with brads so that all the circles turn.



I know still photos don't really explain, but hope they help with the imaginations!
To finish off I used cream card as the main card 'blank', covered the base with some green and pink dotty paper from stash...perfect as the hint of pink co-ordinated with the berries! Some polka dot ribbon was tied around the easel and I added a green button from my button jar threaded with bakers twine, to the bow.

Finally I found a huge green button, added a bit of bakers twine and sewed it to a scalloped polka dot circle. The cream teardrop circle and bakers twine were coloured with shabby shutters distress ink.  

Thanks for stopping by!
Carole X

I would like to enter this card into the
House Mouse Monday Challenge

"Circles Polka Dots and all round Fun: HMFMC120



Saturday 26 May 2012

Card Class! - Saturday 26th May

Hi Blog friends,

No card today, I wanted to tell you about the second card making workshop, my friend Amy and I led on Thursday....

We had twelve ladies booked on again (although 2 couldn't make it) and this time we were using the Sarah Kay stamp that I featured in some of my blogs last month. For our first class, we had concentrated on stamping and alcohol ink techniques  and a few of our ladies told me that they had become very keen on inking since, so that was good news! This time we were teaching colouring with Promarkers and using  Spellbinder dies...my trusty Grand Calibur had it's first trip out of the house since I bought it about 18 months ago!

If you are a regular follower of my blogs you will already know that Spellbinders and Promarkers are a must for me, I barely make a card without a Spellbinder die-cut in there somewhere and I use Promarkers virtually every time I stamp, so of course I was in my element.

However, we are still new to teaching and I soon realised that it's easy to sit in your craft room and colour and be confident about it; I have watched the Queen of Promarkers, Nikky Hall (Polkadoodles), many times, including live at the NEC, but to try and teach a group of people, some of whom aren't so confident is really hard! I'll get used to it eventually, just got to keep on getting more confident at showing them how myself.

 The main thing is that people are enjoying themselves and  coming back; we have a few spaces next month, are having a break in July and then August is (I think) full. In between I'm accompanying Amy on a workshop day to one of the leading craft companies and really looking forward to it.

I have a few days off from work over the next two weeks, so I aim to get in  a fair bit of crafting..meanwhile here are a few photos from after our workshop...note to self, next time take them 'during'!!! We get so caught up in it all that we forget!


Amy (smiling) with some of the ladies from our Workshop


Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all have a lovely, sunny Saturday,

Carole X



Friday 25 May 2012

Emergency Crafters Challenge -Friday 25th May

Hi Bloggers,

Here is my first DT card for Emergency Crafters new challenge - Dreamland. It was a fun card to make using one of LOTV's oh so cute fairy stamps, coloured with Promakers. I think a fairy splashing into a fairy cake is definitely dreamland.

The challenge runs from 12 noon  (GMT) until on 7th June to enter, Happy Crafting!



Thanks for stopping by,

Carole X

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Steampunk Circles - Tuesday 22nd May

Hi Blog Friends,

Isn't it lovely now that the sun is shining again? I was so happy to see the sun still warm in the sky when I got home from work last night, that I took this project outside in the garden  to photograph it!
I created this piece of art work on Sunday, for Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers week 206 challenge, the theme of which is Circles; it was fun and I had no idea where I was going when I started out! I die cut 3 large circles and punched 2 deckle edged circles, all with various pieces of kraft card card I had in my stash. I stamped the cogs from Sam Poole's 'Steampunk Dreams' stamp set, very faintly on one circle and I also stamped the mechanical bug from the same set (he has a round body, I had to!) and "Dare to Create' on another. That stamp and the flower are both from Sam Poole's 'Steampunk Flowers' set.


Having stamped the circles I then spent quite a bit of time distressing them with a mixture of Wild Honey and Tea Dye Ranger inks. I had seen Hels' demo-ing the flower on C&C at the weekend and have the tut from her blog. The demo reminded me that I hadn't made a flower like this in a while, so I was determined to incorporate one on this piece, but I had to adapt it to the stamp I wanted to use, which didn't have the same effect because the petals were closer together and harder to manipulate. I stamped the on grunge paper and also distressed it. After I had made it and stuck it together with Cosmic Shimmer glue, (which is my favourite glue, I use it all the time!), instead of teasing the petals back,  I painted them with some Glossy Accents and did the same to the bug.


To finish off I added a clock face, little brass cog,a faux screw brad and some rusty wire as the hanger. I then die cut some flowers using the smaller dies in the Peony set, distressed them and scrunched them.


It's a whimsy, I had fun making it and it will hang on my craft room wall!


Thanks for stopping by!
Carole X




I made this as my contribution to
Sunday Stampers Challenge - Week 206: Circles
http://pinkleart.blogspot.co.uk/



Saturday 19 May 2012

90th Birthday: Saturday 19th May

Good Morning blog friends and hope you all have a great weekend!


Our day off yesterday ended up with a day in Cirencester, which is only about 20 miles away, followed by the weekly shop in Tetbury on the way home and after a pretty hectic week both at work and home, I was worn out!
I did go to the craft room and try to complete the Sunday Stampers Challenge, but it failed miserably and now the half-finished project is sitting on the shelf waiting for the right amount of inspiration - or failing that, fairy dust (!) to come along and finish it off...so I'll have to try harder next week!
Today's card was a commission earlier this week for a grandad's 90th, with a note that he likes gardening/flowers and bird watching.


I used some scrapbook card (from stash),with a distressed floral design as the base layer on an 8x8 card blank and then matted and layered this with white card embossed using a "That Special Touch of' mask. I then cut a rectangle strip for across the centre using dark green card and matted and layered this with a slightly smaller rectangle cut from card from the same pack as the base green. This was attached to the white and green card and then I tied bakers twine (I think from the vintage selection) around, tying a loose bow. I felt this would give it a more masculine and 'gardener' feel than a ribbon.
 The flowers are die cut from the anemone flower topper in wool felt and the leaves are little dies from the Chateau gate set. Apologies, I was about to pack the card for delivery when I realised I hadn't photographed it and that's why the blossoms are flat.


I finished off with buttons in earthy tones, a flower topper cut from Layered Flowers and a bird cut from Bird Sanctuary. The greeting is printed, cut using Lacey Ovals and distressed with Bundled Sage ink.


Thanks for stopping by!
Carole X

Friday 18 May 2012

Summer days - Friday 18th May

Good Morning Bloggers!


I was up bright and early this morning trying to create a design for Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers Challenge today...but I was having a loss of mojo moment, so thought it a good time to say hello and update!


Today's card was in fact made a few weeks ago, for Christine Emberson's Hope and Chances blog. Christine has started doing a brilliant thing by inviting her followers to submit a project inspired by some photos. It's a lovely idea because there's no competition and we all get to see each other's work.


This was my contribution...


I used this stamp on the bookmark a few days ago..it's really cute and is by Stampavie. I used a 5x5 card and covered the front with kraft card, matted and layered with a sheet from the Spring Jubilee pack that I had free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. I then created a strip for the centre using kraft card and coredinations card, which was sanded to raise the polkadots. 


The image was stamped with memento, coloured with Promarkers and die cut using labels 24. I stamped the greeting using an LOTV stamp, using Latte Adirondack and die cut it using the smallest Heart Circles die. Both die cuts were distressed lightly using Spun Sugar. I cut the butterfly from Fanciful Flight and the flowers from Flower Creations and the Aster Flower Topper. The accents were also free with the magazine and the lace, candy and gems were from stash.


As Christine is the only British Spellbinders Design team member, it seemed fitting to make this a bit of a Spellbinders homage...also you know they are my faces anyway!


I took this card into the garden to photograph.. just to carry through the theme!


I'm not going to get much done today, as Tom has the day off too, so it looks like I'll be returning to Hels' challenge project this evening!


I am excited though..next Thursday Amy and I will be delivering our next workshop, full of my favourite things - Spellbinders, Grand Calibur, Cuttlebug and Promarkers...can't wait!




Thanks for visiting, following and commenting!


Carole X

Thursday 17 May 2012

House Mouse Bookmark - Thursday 17th May

Morning Blog Friends!



Today I'm sharing the second of the corner bookmarks I made a few days ago...
  .




Using one of the tiny House Mouse Worker Stamps, coloured with Promarkers, I die cut this using Spellbinders Heart Squares. The base of the book mark is covered with purple card, which had been cut with Grand Scalloped Rectangles and  embossed with one of my M-Bossabilities dies. This was then decorated with ribbon and bordered with card cut from a Martha Steward border punch. 

I am really fond of this little stamp, these worker stamps are really handy parts of stamp sets.

Is it possible to have a day when you are 'crafted out'? I think I might have come almost close yesterday! I work three days a week, which means that I usually get Wednesdays and Firdays to craft (and theoretically do housework!). Yesterday, I had 5 large commission cards to make and I started at 7am, then  I had an early work meeting at home with some colleagues, that lasted just under 2 hours...then back to cards. I did actually get the cards made, which amazed me - usually with commissions I ponder over design for days, then take hours just to make one, whether it was because it was urgent and there was a deadline or they were almost all for the same person who has regularly ordered cards for a number of years so I was feeling more confident, I just don't know....but that's not the end of the story...

After preparing and cooking our evening meal I had to head off to a friend from the library's house ( I work for a charity based in the local library) as she was hosting a Stampin' Up party...so more card making! I think by then  my mind was just not feeling very arty, so just as well it was all quite basic! But also a very social, fun evening with friends from my workplace.


 I don't drive (I know! Awful isn't it? Passed when I was 18 but just never took to it, scares the heebie jeebies out of me and I have have tried to break my fear several times), so Tom had to pick  me up (that's the worst thing relying on husband and friends for lifts, the guilt aspect can even stop me doing things!). As he has a big thing on at work today and I was...wait for it...having to come home and finish a card I'd started for a friend, I left at 9.30pm, which was a shame but couldn't be helped.

So at 11pm last night I was just finishing a card and no kidding, I dreamt card designs last night....shame I can't remember them this morning! Now I have to go get ready for work...have  good day all!


Thanks for stopping by,
Carole X

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Spring Corner Bookmark- Wednesday 16th May

Hello Blog Friends!


First of welcome to my new followers! Thank you for following me, I hope you like what you see and please leave a comment, I love to read them. I've been blogging less than a year, but I am so pleased that I started because it is putting me in touch with so many lovely crafty people every day! If you have a blog and I'm not following you, please let me know the address in the comment box and I'll be sure to stop by.


Today I am posting the first of two bookmarks I made after reading  Lindyloo's very inspiring post - see http://creativeharmony.blogspot.co.uk  - and then taking part in her challenge last week. These corner bookmarks are a lot of fun to make and very practical. I am already using the one I made for the challenge. I'd like to make some more complex ones in the coming weeks, but meanwhile I wanted to stick to ones that could be very easily used. I think that they would make a lovely little present for anyone who likes reading and what a great way to give a handmade card that is also a gift.

Here is today's offering:


After the black and white of my earlier design, I decided to go for lots of colour. The little bird stamp is from Stampavie. I like this stamp because it's adaptable for all seasons, even Christmas. I coloured the image with Promarkers and die cut it on Labels 24, cutting a larger coredinations card with the same die and sanding it back to raise the polkas dots. I used some pretty vintage paper that was free with Cardmaking and Papercraft recently and cut the flower border with a Martha Stewart punch. I finished off with a navy satin bow, vintage bakers twine and a lightly distressed wooden button.


Thanks for taking a look!
Carole X

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Birthday Girl - Tuesday 15th May

Good Morning Blogger Friends,

Hope you are all well and up to lots of lovely craftyness! I've been 'missing' a few days as we had such a busy time over the weekend...but more of that tomorrow...

You all know that I love LOTV stamps, so I'm back today with one I have made for this week's challenge which is to use your favourite tools. As regular visitors will know mine are Spellbinders, coupled with my Grand Calibur and Promarkers...tools I just couldn't be without in my craft room and at least one of them features on most of my cards.

For today's card I have used them all...





After stamping with black Memento ink,I coloured the image very lightly with pro markers as I wanted to keep a 'sketchy' feel to it. I then die cut using Labels 24 and distressed the edges with Spun Sugar distress ink. Then using wool felt, I die cut from Spiral Blossom One, three times. Two of the roses are made from the whole die cut, but the two smaller ones I made from one cutting.


Finally I decorated the inside of the card to co-ordinate and stamped the greeting with an LOTV sentiment.






































Thanks for stopping by!


Carole X


I'd like to enter this in


Lili's Little Fairies Thursday Challenge: Your Favourite Tools


http://liliofthevalleythursdaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

Saturday 12 May 2012

Pirate of Penzance - Saturday 12th May

Morning Blogger friends,


If you follow my blog, you'll know it's not been a good week, so when Tom came home from work Tuesday and asked me to make a 40th Birthday card for a colleague's 40th - that they could pass around and sign - by Thursday(last Thursday),  I wasn't amused. I was caring for a very poorly hen and already had a pile of commissions. But he does sell my cards at work and gets me lots of commissions, so who am I to complain?


As it happened, Wednesday was the day we found Buffy had passed away during the night in the basket we had brought her into inside, so I actually didn't feel like making the cards I had planned to make anyway. The theme for the requested card was a Pirate/Cornish theme. So still wiping away the tears from losing our hen, I searched the digi stamp sites I use for a suitable image and this is what I found...






I got this image from  http://www.makeitcrafty.com/ an Australian site, with some super art work and to be honest the request for this card was fortunate in the end because if I'm feeling low or stressed then time spent with my Promarkers just takes my mind off all the things that are upsetting me, well nothing was going to take my mind of losing Buffy, but it helped. This is a big card and a big image, so it took a while to colour and I put another in the insert as well!


Having coloured her, I cut her out using Grand Labels 23 and printed the greeting, cutting it out with Labels 24. Both the die cuts' edges were shaded with Vintage Photo distress ink. I also typed the 'Ooh Argh' and coloured the card with Vintage Photo before tearing the edges. I then cut a buckle from Ribbon Buckles with gold mirror card. The skull and crossbones backing paper is from a download from http://www.craftsuprint.com - Little Monkeys Pirate Paper Pack, I got this some time ago and have found it very useful.




This is the inside of the card...just thought it added a bit of humour and wanted to do more colouring!


Thanks for stopping by,
Carole X



Friday 11 May 2012

Expect Miracles - 11/05/12 Sunday Stamper 204

Hello Blogger Friends,


As you will know from my previous post, I haven't crafted much this week..I made one card for an urgent commission, which I will share tomorrow and whilst I have a lot of commissions, none of them are 'urgent', so today I sat down in my craft room (no work on a Friday!) and decided to get inky and messy and make a card for  Hels Sheridan's Ink On My Fingers Sunday Stamper Challenge. I've been wanting to enter this for a long time, but don't get much chance to just play..well today I did!




This is a mixed media card, different techniques and so much fun to make - I used:

That Special Touch of....Cogs mask
Sam Poole's Steampunk Dreams stamp
Flower Creations, Spiral Blossom One, Wings of Hope and Grand Labels 23 Spellbinders dies

Pages from an old book
Craft metal (brown)
Distress Ink: Vintage Photo, Faded Denim
Versamark ink
Big n' Juicy Mountain Meadow
Cosmic Shimmer Mist: Blue Ice
Grunge Paper
Speedball Brayer
Clarity Card
White Card
Creative Expressions Faux Screw Brads, Antique Copper and other brads, copper net and buttons from stash

First of all, I used the Mica Mist to spray through the cogs mask and set it aside to dry. I then used the cogs mask again and inked through with Vintage Photo distress ink, so that I had a blue and a brown cog background. I took a piece of Clarity Card and stamped the winged dress form from the Steampunk Dreams stamp set with Versamark ink. I then brayered over the image with blue ink from the Big 'n Juicy and I was quite pleased with the result, as this was my first real attempt at brayering. Stamping this way and brayering over, leaves a resist effect on the stamp, which I really like.

I cut the stamped image and the brown cogs out using  Grand Labels 23. With some left over grunge paper I cut out the butterfly and coloured it with faded denim distress ink. I also cut a butterfly out in heavy vellum and used Vintage Photo to distress this. I used rusty wire to make the antenna and faux screw brads to decorate and carry through the steampunk theme.

The old book was bought a while ago in a charity shop, after I had seen Sue Wilson make flowers with pages and spellbinders dies and really liked the idea. You need books with thin pages. I cut the paper flowers from Flower Creations and distressed them with Vintage Photo again.

The roses were cut in my Grand Calibur, using Spiral Blossom One and Craft Metal and the third flower is also from Flower Creations, using a faux screw brad as the centre. To finish off I scuffed and inked the edges of the card with faded denim ink.

It's so nice now and then to have the chance to 'play' whilst still having a reason to make the card.

Thanks for stopping by,
Carole X


I'd like to enter this in:

Ink On My Fingers: Sunday Stamper - Week 204 - Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue








Thursday 10 May 2012

Buffy is at the Rainbow Bridge - Thurs 10th May

Buffy and Martha, Summer 2010
Our two original ladies, Buffy and Willow January 2009
Hello Friends,


Please forgive me fellow crafters: for this one day, my blog post  is dedicated not to craft but to our sweet pet hen, Buffy, who passed away in the early hours of Wednesday morning....and to all the pets we love and miss when they are gone. 


Buffy and Willow (above) were our original gals; sadly we lost Willow three years ago, when she was just two and since then, Buffy lost another companion Martha, both of them dear little brown hens...but Buffy stayed with us for five years and through that time was a real character, right to the end.

Tom and I it's fair to say are real softies when it comes to animals ...my first pet was (of course) Goldie the goldfish I won at a fair, when I could barely walk...he(or she) was followed by Mum and Dad taking care of my Grandma's Springer Spaniel,Tangles, after my Gran passed away, but alas he was already promised to someone else, so his stay with us was short and sweet. My Gran also had a Macaw, which sat in the corner of her living room on a perch (I have no idea who took him on). I was three when my Gran died but I can still picture that oh so colourful bird and maybe it's the reason birds have always fascinated me....I had a pretty little pale blue budgie I named Pip, who if I remember correctly was named after someone from Crackerjack and lived with us for many years.During that time I also had a black and white Dutch rabbit, called Venus (yes after the Fireball XL5 character..can you see a theme forming here?).

Mum and dad loved animals, I was always taught to look after my pets and I did and so when I was 10 and pleaded for a dog, they figured I was ready. Along came Lassie, a male (!) shetland cross with several other breeds. A small dog with a strong will. Lassie was 12 when Tom and I married and his dog, a beautiful Irish Setter called Lupo was the same age, so they stayed with our parents until they both died within a year of each other, Lassie at 14 and Lupo, 15. Since we were married,we had our rabbits Flopsy and Gizmo and then a while with lots of travelling and no pets at all..but I always felt a void without them.



Buffy, last Summer




This much wasn't about Buffy, but I wanted to say that we never forget our pets, who bring us so much pleasure, sometimes through all too short a life. Every one of them brings tears when they pass and although I knew from the moment Buffy got sick with sour crop for the third time since Christmas, that this was probably the beginning of the end and her passing in her sleep, after we brought her into the house and laid her in a cozy basket for the last few nights was the sweetest way to go - and I knew before I opened the door this morning that our little cuddle the evening before would be our last - it was still so very sad for both of us.


Our local vet, Mark and the staff at his surgery have been amazing, he tried every way he could to get her through this - when I was a kid I wanted to be a vet or a journalist/writer. Well I sort of achieved the latter by having some articles published in a national film magazine but as I was hopeless at maths and the sciences the former was way out of my sights..lets face it I was always destined for something more 'arty'. When I see our vet and the surgery nurses at work, I really wonder what I missed.

If you have never kept hens as pets, you won't know what characters they are, how much fun they can be, each one very individual. Buffy was also known as Princess because she could be quite 'haughty' and was always making herself look beautiful and a beauty she was..photos don't do her justice: she was a large hen, but it was all feathering, so many shades of grey and mauve. When she was having problems with egg laying just after passing from POL to hen, I did some investigation and it seems she probably had a form of endometriosis. The poor thing had the nickname of 'Too Posh to Push' at one stage. She probably laid about good 50 eggs in total, plus some 'softies', but ironically that problem could have helped with her longevity, as hens that are prolific layers like Willow and Martha were, can wear themselves out. Buffy was brave, she would stand up for herself and her companions, no cats strayed into our garden after Buffy's arrival, but she loved a cuddle and was a dear, sweet soul.Whenever I am feeling low, being in the garden with our girls is a real mood lifter. I'm under no illusions that they run after you when you appear in the garden, you are their food source, but when I was cuddling Buffy over the last few weeks, she would look up at me and I swear that in her own little way she was saying 'thanks, I like this'. I know, I'm daft.


Buffy and Martha, December 2010
And so now Buffy is at the Rainbow Bridge, meeting I hope, her former hen friends Willow and Martha. I confess I didn't know about the Bridge, until a few years ago. One of my Twitterarty friends, Michele Bimpson was a crafter and an animal lover, living on a farm, she had her own hens. It was Michele who introduced me to this poem and website for pet owners. Sadly Michele herself was very ill and passed away almost a year ago. I still miss our little twitter chats about hens, dogs, crafts and musical theatre.

Here is the poem:

There is a bridge connecting heaven and earth
It is called Rainbow Bridge because of its many colours

Just this side of the Rainbow Bridge there is a land of meadows,
hills, valleys and lush green grass

When a beloved pet dies, the pet goes to this special place
There is always food and water and warm spring weather

The old and frail are young again
Those who are maimed are made whole again

They play all day with each other
There is only one thing missing

They are not with the special person who loved them on Earth
so each day they run and play until the day comes 
when one suddenly one stops playing and looks up!

The nose twitches!
The ears are up!
The eyes are staring!
And this one suddenly runs from the group!

You have been seen, and when you and your special friend meet,
you take him or her into your arms and embrace
your face is kissed again and again,
and you look once more into the eyes of your trusting pet.

Then you cross the rainbow bridge together, never again to be separated
Author Unknown


So RIP Buffy and one day I'll cuddle you again X

Once again, to my blog followers, forgive me for this one day - I made this post for myself and any of you who have pets and know what I mean -  and I hope you don't mind.

Carole X

Buffy with Cara, our one year old, just a few weeks ago

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Corner Bookmark - Wednesday 9th May

Good Morning Friends,


Today's project is a corner bookmark, which I made on Monday (another wet Bank Holiday!), to enter into Lindyloo's blog challenge draw. Linda showed some of her creations last week, with a link to the instructions, so I thought I would have a go...


The criteria was for a Corner or Ribbon bookmark, in Pink, Black (or grey) and White. I enjoy making black and white cards, but it was really quite hard for a small bookmark and knowing I only had Monday afternoon to design and make it as there is so much to do this week,  this is what I came up with:



For instructions on how to make this bookmark visit http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/cornerbookmark/and also visit Linda's blog for examples.  http://creativeharmony.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/bookmark-challenge.html a really good idea and if you are selling crafts what a great little gift...I'm also thinking a gift within a greeting card, what a super topper.

I used Spellbinders Heart Squares, Chateau Gate(as a window) and a border die from Parisian Accents. The stamp used is from HOTP Sweet Tweets, which I had free with a magazine some time ago. I just added a little pink blossom and highlights on the birds.
A pink bow finished it off. 

I must say thanks to Linda for letting her blog followers know about this little gem of an idea, when I get a few moments, I will make some more and upload them!

Thanks for stopping by,
Carole X

I'd like to enter this is in Creative Harmony Blog: Bookmark Challenge