I've won a crafty spend!!

A few days ago I showed some Christmas cards I'd made and I linked for the 'Christmas in August' Simon Says challenge.

My number was picked at random, so I have won a prize - 25$ to spend in the Simon Says online shop - there's such a wide selection of goodies, I'm spoilt for choice!!

A little more crafting

I decided to try to make some more Christmas cards, so I've made five of this one.

I used the sketch on this week's Cutie Sunday challenge:



I used to regularly do the challenges on 365 cards, but haven't been able to for the last couple of months, but I noticed that todays (day 180) is 'Going vintage', so I've used one of my favourite Santa stamps.



Naomi (Sugar Brown) is hosting a challenge on CBC to show a Christmas card made using just two colours, so I'm going to enter this card as it uses only gold and black.

My birthday cards

I've at last scanned all of the beautiful birthday cards I received to show in this slideshow.

Thank you, everybody.

A simple start for Christmas

Yesterday I made a start with Christmas cards. Usually I've done loads by now, in preparation for selling to raise money for Tearfund. It's not going to be possible for me to have the usual Septemer 'at home', but I'm hoping to be able to have some cards to sell at our church's WEF Christmas Fair.

I received some papers, stickers, ribbons etc from a dear crafting friend for my birthday - pink, black and white colour combo. I knew I'd seen the papers somewhere before and then realised that they coordinated with a set of 12 x 12 DCWV paper and embellishments that I bought last year. So I used strips of one of the new papers on the first set of cards shown here.

The theme for 15 August on Our Creative Corner is 'Christmas in August', which is also the theme for challenge 58 on Dutch Dare, also on this week's challenge on Simon Says and also on Creative Card Crew challenge 24. (Gosh, this seems weird linking for challenges - it's so long since I've done any!)

I've made five of each of these cards - very simple, because the base cards were already printed with the designs, so I've just added ribbons and other bits:





Any crookedness is down to the scans, not the cards themselves!

My birthday

Thank you for all the good wishes for my birthay on here, facebook and craft forums.

John wasn't able to get me a present, but, with a little bit of help from me ordering for him on the internet, I received some lovely dark choccie bars from Hotel Chocolat:



and some beautiful flowers:




I've had some lovely presents, including some money and voucher, so I'll look forward to having a spending spree.

I received lots of cards and will show them on here, but probably won't get round to doing so for a day or two.

Mum came over to see us this afternoon - it was lovely to spend some time with her.

As we can't go out, we have ordered pizzas to be delivered and a bottle of white wine is chilling in the fridge (that will replace my painkillers for this evening!).

Salt: Purpose

It was Ruth's turn to choose the topic for today's Salt challenge - you can read what she wrote about Purpose here.

When Ruth introduced the topic to the team, she referred to the verse from Jeremiah 29:11, which is a favourite of many of us on Salt.

I decided to make a card this time, rather than a LO. I used papers, embellishments etc from the box of PM a touch of teal and added some Sakura metallic pens to the cut out flowers.



I don't usually repeat something from the past, but remember that when Esther set a challenge 'Believe' way back in March last year, she quoted this verse from Jeremiah and this is the LO I did then:



You can read what I wrote about it here.

Look what came this morning ...

... two boxes delivered, with beautiful flowers for my birthday tomorrow.

These are from my auntie Madge:



And these are from one of my nieces and her family:




I've received lots of cards over the past few days (and an intriguing package too), but I've been very good and haven't opened any.

Just a little crafting

Definitely 'a little crafting' because these are my 'bling' inchies for the August swap on BF.

You can't see properly on here, but the background is from a DCWV paisley paper which is thermographically glittered with the edges dipped in PVA and glitter. The silvery band was part of a BF Christmas matchbook swap and the flower are PM.



We're just waiting now for the ambulance to take us up to Guy's again for renal and foot appointments for John.

BF August ATCs

I've been working on these ATCs on and off for the past week, grabbing a little time here and there.

The theme for the August ATC swap on BF is 'beach'. I used two rubbadubbadoo stamps, masking one behind the other and coloured with copics, with just a few squiggles of Sakura pen on the sand:



John is now home from hospital again - going up to Guy's again today for an appointment. Thanks for all the comments and concern.

BF Beth's CJ

I thought that with John coming home I'd be able to catch up with a bit of crafting, but it wasn't to be. Unfortunately, early on Saturday morning, while walking with his zimmer frame, John lost his balance and fell - he didn't hurt himself, but he couldn't get himself up and I couldn't either. So I had to call an ambulance and he's been in the local hospital since then - might be coming out later today, depending on blood results (to do with kidneys working poorly again).

Anyway, this is a crafting blog, so enough of that and on with the crafting - although there's been little of that here for some weeks now. My blog used to show regular crafting, but that has had to go by the board.

I needed to get my DLO done in Beth's lovely CJ 'Tranquil moments' so here is what I've managed to put together (a small confession that some of this was cannibalised from a LO I did a couple of years ago).

The 'does the song of the Sea end ...' and the waves and sun section are acetate, part of a sea collection I bought a long while ago (and am sorry that most of it is used up now, because I love it). The right hand background paper is from 'British beach', but I can't remember what the left hand one is. The picture beneath the 'does the song of the Sea end ...' is from a BA brochure.




This week's challenge 47 on Rosiedee is 'beach' so I'm being cheeky and linking there (no chance of doing any other challenges atm)

Salt: Imperfection

I'm a day late posting my contribution for the new challenge on Salt - the topic was chosen by Pauline and you can read what she wrote here.

When I considered the story of Jonah and the topic of 'imperfection' I thought of the lovely song by Marilyn Baker 'Jesus, you are changing me ...' (you can read the words of the song if you click on the photo) and the verse from Isaiah 64:8 'O Lord you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.'

When a potter works with clay he has to get rid of the imperfections, otherwise the finished product won't be usable. God the Father is at work with us, moulding our lives to rid us of our imperfections - He still has a lot of work to do on me because I know only too well that I am far from being perfect. But I am nevertheless encouraged that I am like the clay in the potter's hands and my Father is gradually making me into the person he wants me to be. The trouble is that my 'own way' can hinder this process because of all my imperfections.

Papers used for my LO are Dreamstreet 'simply stated' - 'grapevine gossip', 'elegant expressions' and 'straight talk'; also My Mind's Eye Andrea Victoria 'petals'.



John is now home from hospital - thanks for all the good wishes. He has very limited mobility, but we are managing.

Yay! I made a card!

Yesterday a friend asked me if I happened to have a card in stock suitable for her husband's birthday, featuring tennis. I didn't, but I said I would make one for her, so I made this last night.

Crafting has been low on my agenda for the past few weeks so it was good to have a request that spurred me into action.



John's been in hospital now for six weeks. He's been making progress and is becoming more mobile, so it's hoped that he'll be coming home at the end of this week. He's going to need lots of support and regular hospital visits, but he's certainly better than he was a few weeks ago.

Salt: According to His purpose

Once again, given the present circumstances of John still being in hospital, resulting in an uncertain and emotional time, the challenge chosen by Nikki for yesterday's new Salt challenge was indeed a challenge for me. You can read what Nikki said here.

Romans 8:28 is a familiar verse to most Christians, the main part quoted is usually 'all things work together for good'. For me, the opening of the verse is so important: 'and we know' - indicating absolute assurance in God as Father, knowing how to give good gifts to His children. There are times when it is humanly very difficult to see the 'good' in a situation, but we don't have the full picture. Also, of course, this promise is for those who 'are the called according to His purpose'.

I used K & Co Urban Rhapsody papers and a selection of ribbons, blooms and lettering, including letratag on the ribbons.



These Salt challenges are very precious to me and my journey of faith. I spent some time this morning reflecting on some of my responses to past challenges, being reminded of promises from scripture and thought provoking verses too.

Perhaps you would like to reflect on this verse from Romans and respond with some crafting - we'd love you to leave a comment on Salt with a link to your response so that we can come and look.

At last!!!

Blogging, indeed crafting, has been way down the bottom of the list for the past four weeks since John went into hospital. He is still in Guy's - making a bit of progress - he can now walk with a zimmer and is doing gym work to strengthen his muscles. He's still having dialysis and there doesn't look much hope of his kidneys working again, but we still live in hope.

Thanks for all the good wishes, cards etc that we've received from so many crafting friends. And the other day I received this RAK from a forum friend - some lovely Lush bath stuff:



Yesterday I had a little bit of crafting time in the morning to make my ATCs for the July swap on BF, which asked for two embellishments the same. The background paper is DCWV; the rose circles are PM elements and the silver lettering, swirls etc areAnita's Glitterations - I confess that these are really like peel offs, which I long ago vowed I would never buy again, but somehow I acquired some of these:



And this morning I've managed to do a couple of ATCs for the July swap on CBC - using a stamp. I printed the wording from computer, stamped the Creative Expressions music stamp and the Anita hearts stamp with versamark and heat embossed with silver detail, colouring the hearts with a copic pen. The background paper is PM wedding march:

RAK received this morning

I received this RAK this morning from one of my crafting buddies, with a note to say that we're in her thoughts. We've received cards from lots of forum friends - thank you to everyone - and thank you too for all the comments that have been left wishing John well - much appreciated.

BF Elaine's CJ

As I'm part of a CJ group on BF, I realised that I needed to do my DLO in Elain's 'Perfect Poems' ready to be posted before 14 July. So here I am crafting for the second day in a row - grabbing some time this morning.

You can read the poem I've chosen if you click on the picture for a larger view.

Salt: Prayer

Today's new Salt challenge is 'Prayer', chosen by Mona. You can ready what she has to say here.

With John in hospital and travelling up and down to Guy's every day to see him, I've had very little time for anything other than the essential things of life, so crafting has gone by the wayside.

Until this morning I'd done nothing for today's Salt challenge, but wanted to participate because the subject matter is so relevant in our present situation.

So I got up early this morning and spent time on my LO. It's very simple, but it comes from the thoughts in my heart.

The background paper is Craft Creations Sunset Photo A. (btw the LO isn't crooked like the photo!)



Why not go along and have a look on Salt at the fab crafting of the rest of the team. And perhaps you'd like to make something to contribute this time - please leave us a comment on Salt so that we can visit your blog and see your item.

White space

For the second sympathy card I've used the idea for day 123 on 365, which is: 'Well, we've had a white space challenge before, but this time, I am directing all the decorations to the blacked-out areas in the following image. That means absolutely NOTHING in the white space!!'

The base card is pearlised; the flowers are some Crafty Bitz ones - again, a simple card for a sad occasion:

Lovin' Lavender

With John in hospital I just haven't had the time or inclination to make any cards, but, sadly, needed to make a couple of sympathy cards. So this one fits with the 365 challenge 114 'Lovin' lavendar' - a simple card:

CBC June ATCs received

Postie's just been and I've received two fab ATCs from the June 'men/male' swap on CBC.

The one on the left is from Jane (albajane) and the one on the right is from Andrea.

Lovely surprise

My name was the one randomly picked for the monthly prize for May on 365 cards, as you can see here.

I must admit that with everything that's going on I'd forgotten all about this, so it was a lovely surprise when the postie brought this - 50 sheets of card stock from Sierra Pacific Crafts, card stock alphas from Colorbök, and rhinestones from Kaiser Scrapbook: