Suzie's 365 day 62: comfort

When I saw Suzie's 62: comfort, I knew exactly what I would do, so here is a picture of my hot water bottle:

Lilac and yellow Easter

This isn't a usual colour combo, but I think it works (hope so!).

Once again I've used FF spring time papers and the Personal Impressions stamp coloured with copics. I've used the last of the yellow flowers that I bought some years ago at ELC.

This is for:

Cute card Thursday 206: signs of spring
St Luke's March: spring into spring
Squigglefly 8: spring is in the air
Joanna Sheen 4: spring is in the air
Crafty bloggers network 15: spring time
Hiding in my craft room 35: bring on some spring
Deep ocean 20: spring
Nightshift stamping 108: flowers
Stempelsonne 57: a flower for you
Divas by design 24: spots and/or stripes
Shelly's terrifically thrilling Thursday: seeing spots
Lothian crafts 24: 2 main colours
Cutie pie 12: flower power
Paper crafting journey 4: anything goes
Creative Mondays (Always crafting) 2: anything goes
The pixie cottage 110: anything goes
Simon says: anything goes
2 sisters 80: anything goes
Make it Monday 78
52 cardpick up week 8

Pink and green Easter

Yes, it's another Easter card that I made earlier, this time with a pink and green colour combo for Digi doodle shops best 97: pink and green.

The background spotted paper is unknown, the Easter sticker from Poundland and the daisy stamp is Magenta coloured with copics.

This is also for:

Cute card Thursday 206: signs of spring
St Luke's March: spring into spring
Squigglefly 8: spring is in the air
Joanna Sheen 4: spring is in the air
Crafty bloggers network 15: spring time
Fairytale 35: spring
Hiding in my craft room 35: bring on some spring
Deep ocean 20: spring
Nightshift stamping 108: flowers
Stempelsonne 57: a flower for you
Divas by design 24: spots and/or stripes
Shelly's terrifically thrilling Thursday: seeing spots
Lothian crafts 24: 2 main colours
Cutie pie 12: flower power
Paper crafting journey 4: anything goes
Creative Mondays (Always crafting) 2: anything goes
The pixie cottage 110: anything goes
Simon says: anything goes
2 sisters 80: anything goes
Make it Monday 78
Inspire me Fridays 47
52 cardpick up week 8

Yes, another Easter card

Similar layout to a previous one. This time I've used a panel made with alcohol inks (an offcut from some that I made and used ages ago) and offcuts of Forever Friends spring time paper - another opportunity to play in the playground at Pixie's craffty snippets 9.The flowers have been in my stash for ages and ages, as has the green ribbon. Once again the Personal Impressions stamp was coloured with copics.

This is for:


City crafter 98: extra! extra! - use two or more ribbons and 9 or more words
Ribbon carousel 42: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 206: signs of spring
Delightful: spring colours
St Luke's March: spring into spring
Squigglefly 8: spring is in the air
Joanna Sheen 4: spring is in the air
Crafty bloggers network 15: spring time
Fairytale 35: spring
Hiding in my craft room 35: bring on some spring
Deep ocean 20: spring
Nightshift stamping 108: flowers
Stempelsonne 57: a flower for you
Divas by design 24: spots and/or stripes
Crafty purple frog: get inspired with yellow and green
Lothian crafts 24: 2 main colours
Cutie pie 12: flower power
Paper crafting journey 4: anything goes
Creative Mondays (Always crafting) 2: anything goes
The pixie cottage 110: anything goes
Simon says: anything goes
2 sisters 80: anything goes
Make it Monday 78
Inspire me Fridays 47
52 cardpick up week 8

Blue Easter

Another quick Easter card - the flowers and butterfly are Dawn Bibby die cuts that came with a kit a few years ago. The background paper is PM birdsong and the card blank is ready embossed.

This is for:

Cute card Thursday 206: signs of spring
St Luke's March: spring into spring
Squigglefly 8: spring is in the air
Joanna Sheen 4: spring is in the air
Crafty bloggers network 15: spring time
Fairytale 35: spring
Hiding in my craft room 35: bring on some spring
Deep ocean 20: spring
Scrapbook sisters 73: spring flowers
Flutter by Wednesday 192: open + butterfly
Do you stack up 61: things with wings
Guylou: things with wings
Lothian crafts 24: 2 main colours
Cutie pie 12: flower power
Unique crafters 1: anything goes
Paper crafting journey 4: anything goes
Creative Mondays (Always crafting) 2: anything goes
The pixie cottage 110: anything goes
Simon says: anything goes
2 sisters 80: anything goes
Make it Monday 78
Inspire me Fridays 47
52 cardpick up week 8

May the blessings of Easter be with you always

I like the sentiment on this Personal Impressions stamp - I coloured simply with copics. Papers are Forever Friends spring time, spotted sticky ribbons that I've had for a while and the yellow flowers were bought from Early Learning Centre ages ago (wish they still sold them).

This is for:

City crafter 98: extra! extra! - use two or more ribbons and 9 or more words
Ribbon carousel 42: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 206: signs of spring
Delightful: spring colours
St Luke's March: spring into spring
Squigglefly 8: spring is in the air
Joanna Sheen 4: spring is in the air
Crafty bloggers network 15: spring time
Fairytale 35: spring
Hiding in my craft room 35: bring on some spring
Deep ocean 20: spring
Scrapbook sisters 73: spring flowers
Nightshift stamping 108: flowers
Stempelsonne 57: a flower for you
Divas by design 24: spots and/or stripes
Shelly's terrifically thrilling Thursday: seeing spots
Crafty purple frog: get inspired with yellow and green
Lothian crafts 24: 2 main colours
Gingersnap GC140 colour challenge: two colours only
Cutie pie 12: flower power
Unique crafters 1: anything goes
Paper crafting journey 4: anything goes
Creative Mondays (Always crafting) 2: anything goes
The pixie cottage 110: anything goes
Simon says: anything goes
2 sisters 80: anything goes
Make it Monday 78
Inspire me Fridays 47
52 cardpick up week 8

Easter wish

This is a simple shaped card distressed with mustard seed DI with some stickers and greeting added. The area around the centre strip and the sentiment panel are silver, not black as they look here.

This is for:

The stamping boutique 27: shaped cards
Crafting for all seasons 21: shaped cards
My mum's craft shop 46 throw us some shapes
Clearlyistamp 46: let's get shapely
Cute card Thursday 206: signs of spring
Delightful: spring colours
St Luke's March: spring into spring
Squigglefly 8: spring is in the air
Joanna Sheen 4: spring is in the air
Crafty bloggers network 15: spring time
Fairytale 35: spring
Hiding in my craft room 35: bring on some spring
Deep ocean 20: spring
Divas by design 24: spots and/or stripes
Shelly's terrifically thrilling Thursday: seeing spots
Unique crafters 1: anything goes
Paper crafting journey 4: anything goes
Creative Mondays (Always crafting) 2: anything goes
Crazy challenge108: anything goes
The pixie cottage 110: anything goes
Simon says: anything goes
Party time Tuesday 57: anything goes
2 sisters 80: anything goes
Make it Monday 78
Inspire me Fridays 47
52 cardpick up week 8

Inspired by Marie Antoinette

This week's challenge on Daring cardmakers:

'I want to see your Vintage Parisian/Palace of Versailles creations as this week's theme is Marie Antoinette'.

I looked on the internet for pictures of Marie Antoinette and was going to lift and use one of them, such as this:

 

and then I remembered a spare ATC that I made when I entered a swap, so I thought I'd use that because it is vintage style and, I hope, appropriate for the challenge.

I used a card blank that already had a swirly lilac pattern on it and then added a piece of Papermania Chatworth vintage collection - the paper was too pink, so I distressed it with a mix of dusty concord and chipped sapphire DIs.

This is also for:

Kaboodle 108: shades of purple

Bling it on March: birthdays and shades of lilac

Crafty creations 159: vintage fashion

Little red wagon 122: use a vintage item

Pattie's 38: vintage

Sugar creek hollow: vintage inspired by a photo

Creative inspirations 152: anything goes

One crazy stamper March: birthday wishes

Stampin' sisters in Christ 128: create a card in variegated colours

Suzie's 365 photos 61: grass

This is probably the most boring (and terrible) photo I've submitted for Suzie's 365, but here it is anyway - day 61: grass:

I'm busy with getting ready for tomorrow's card sale, so I just took this in a hurry - might try later to get a better one.

My 5th blog anniversary

I can hardly believe that I started this blog five years ago today! Since then I've done a lot of crafting and made a lot of lovely blogging friends.

I am so grateful for those who take the time to visit and leave me comments - the blogging crafting community is very precious.

I was going to do something special to celebrate - offer some celebration candy - but with everything going on in life the date has crept up on me and I haven't organised it. I will do soon!

March is a very special month

Crafts by Carolyn forum is celebrating its 10th birthday in March. If you haven't yet done so, why not click on the link and pop in and join in the fun.

Each month this year one of the members of the forum is choosing a challenge for Time to Create and it's my turn for March. So I thought it would be a good idea to celebrate CBC's birthday by making a project with TEN items - I say 'project' because it could be a card, a LO, something altered ... whatever.

I've made a card to start the ball rolling. Not counting the card blank, I've used TEN items:

A piece of K & Co sparkly sweet paper
A piece of Pink Petticoat Wild Blossom paper
A piece of lilac ribbon
A ready coloured digital image (Dottie fairy from Charmed cards & crafts)
Two craftime lilac flowers
An aqua butterfly
Three aqua pearls

I'd love to see you come and join in the fun. I joined CBC forum in August 2004 and still love being part of a very special crafting community.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

Flutter by Wednesday 192: open + fairy and butterfly
Daisy doodles 54: colour your world
The sisterhood of crafters: getting digi with it
Just some lines: girly girl
Ladybug 55: pink and girly
Creative Mondays (Always crafting) 2: anything goes
Crazy challenge108: anything goes
The pixie cottage 110: anything goes
Simon says: anything goes
Party time Tuesday 57: anything goes
Ribbon carousel 42: anything goes
2 sisters 80: anything goes
Make it Monday 78
Inspire me Fridays 47
52 cardpick up week 8

Suzie's365 photos day 59 + 1!!: extraordinary

Update since writing the post below: We've been back to the hospital - John does not have a DVT - it's just the after effects of the cellulitis he had recently - such a relief!

When you see the photo of my mobile you'll think that's pretty ordinary, but when you see the time of the call, you'll understand that it was 'extraordinary'!! A friend accidentally rang my number at 7 o'clock. I was still in bed, but, fortunately, was actually awake, but the mobile was in the other room - didn't get there in time to answer the call, but did then speak with my friend a few minutes afterwards.

So the day started in a bit of an extraordinary way ... let's hope the rest of it is quite ordinary (although we're waiting for a call from the hospital to tell us when John needs to go to the DVT clinic).

So here is my take for Suzie's day 59 + 1, showing the missed call:

WOYWW 143

Update since writing the post below: We've been back to the hospital - John does not have a DVT - it's just the after effects of the cellulitis he had recently - such a relief!

I know that most visitors to my blog for WOYWW think that I'm always neat and tidy because I do tend to clear up quite often and put things away between crafting sessions.

Well, today (officially 'yesterday' now) turned out different to what was expected and we spent most of it at hospital with John having a suspected DVT in his leg.

So I came back home this evening to the state of how things had been left from crafting yesterday - I've been trying to make as many cards as possible, particularly Easter ones, ready to sell at church on Friday evening. Rather than tidy up and start again I went on this evening to make a couple of cards and add to the mess.

So here is my craft space with things all over the place:

Last week I started out with good intentions, visiting other WOYWWers, but I'm afraid that life with all it's ups and downs got in the way, not to mention the need to get lots of cards made ... so I didn't get to visit many blogs in the end. I'm not sure how well I'll do this week as John's got to go back to hospital tomorrow or the next day and I need to make up for lost time today (yesterday!) and make more cards for Friday evening. But I'll visit as many as I can. And a big THANK YOU to everyone who visits me and leaves comments - it is very much appreciated.

Get well soon

The sketch for Perfect sentiments 20 is for a 'get well' card:

My card is also for the recipe on Creative Belli 137: 1 ribbon, 2 designer papers, 3 colours (green, grey and lilac/purple) and 4 rhinestones.

The circle and square are chipboard - I've had these for ages, so it's good to use them at last. The card blank is stardream and is a smokey grey colour.

The lilac/purple papers are scraps - another for Pixie's crafty snippets 9.

This is also for:

Phindy's Friday 94: get well cards
Challenge up your life 63: get well soon
Sassy Cheryl 104: are you seeing spots?
Raise the bar 93: purple, green + one other colour (grey)
Paper sundaes 109: circles
More than favors Wacky Wednesday 65: circles

Suzie's 365 photos day 59: grey

I had a peep this morning to see what Suzie's prompt was for today ... and then we were out all day at doctor's/hospital (see previous post) and so I wasn't able to take my photo earlier.

'Grey' made me think of my favourite 'grey' - Basic Grey - I love Basic Grey papers, so here are some of them for Suzie's day 59 (and there are lots more apart from these):

For fun

It's been a tiring day. It started off with a doctor's appointment for John which led to a trip to A & E because the doc thought the swollen leg could well be a DVT. We eventually got back home just after 7 and have got to go back to the DVT clinic either tomorrow or the next day to confirm whether it is DVT or not. So all my plans for cardmaking went out of the window today - and John is much more important - but I'm just making a couple of cards now to help unwind.

This card is for the recipe on For Fun challenges:  1 senti as the main image, 2 different ribbons and 3 brads or buttons.

The papers are Forever Friends spring time, other bits, including doiley, from stash and another stamped image made with one of the PM moments of faith stamps, coloured with copics. The buttons were from Poundland - I like these because they are not too raised, so should escape having to pay the extra postage for large letter stamp.

I've used the sketch for CRAFT 143:

This is also for:

Deep ocean 20: spring
Top tip Tuesday 71: stitches
Card and scrap 26: use buttons
City crafter 98: extra! extra! - use two or more ribbons and 9 or more words
Ribbon carousel 42: anything goes
The pretty little ribbon shop 7: anything goes
Crafts and me 72: shades of spring
Fairytale 35: spring

Simply Santa

Yes, I know, I should be making Easter cards ...

but here are three simple Christmas cards - background papers are Anna Griffin, Santa glittered stickers from the 99p store.

These are for Dare to be sassy Thursdays 113: Christmas red and green.

These are also for:

Jingle belles: stuck on you - stickers
52 Christmas carddthrowdown embellishment challenge 2: stickers &/or rub ons
Winter wonderland: glitter and bling
Desert island 25: I chose 2 or more patterned papers, sparkle/bling and stickers
Art impressions 52: clean & simple
Let's craft and create 39: less is more
Make it Monday 78
Inspire me Fridays 47
52 cardpick up week 8

Honey & hugs for Easter

This is for Scrapbook sisters 72 sketch:

Papers are Papermania honey & hugs, stamped image is once again Funstamps lily cross coloured with copics. Stitched ribbon and gems from stash - the gems are aurora borealis - they look dark on here, but as the light catches them they are lighter.

This is also for Sweet stamps 54 bingo - I chose die cut (nesties), ribbon and bling.

This is also for:


Love to create 4: stitching
Dilly beans: in stitches
House of Gilli 27: Gilli goes green

Dottie fairy

I've used a pre-coloured image from Charmed cards and crafts called Dottie fairy.

I've used the sketch for Creative Inspirations 151:

Papers are My mind's eye, the strip of paisley paper is from Poundland, various gems and a large bloom that I've had for ages.

The use of all the pink was inspired by Flutter by Wednesday 181 (plus a fairy):

This is for Digital Tuesday148: make it sparkle (the gems look much more sparkly IRL).

This is also for:

Make my Monday 38: flourishes and diamonds
The cheerful stamp pad 37: land of fantasy
Daisy doodles 54: colour your world

Clean and simple Easter

This is for Try stampin' on Tuesday 54 sketch:

 A simple card using two small offcuts of Papermania Honey & hugs paper and a piece of sticky flowered ribbon. The stamped image is Funstamps lily cross coloured with copics, cut with nesties and distressed with shabby shutters DI, as were the pieces of paper. Just the addition of the stamped sentiment and the card was finished.

This is also for:

Less is more 56: don't scrap it - use left over bits and pieces
Pixie's crafty snippets 9
Art impressions 52: clean & simple
Let's craft and create 39: less is more

Summer lovin' in Paris

Having seen a challenge I wanted to enter and paid and downloaded what I needed, I nearly forgot to make the card in time - so busy with making Easter cards. Anyway, I did remember in time, so this card is for the three companies team up Paris challenge.

The theme is 'love'. The following had to be included:

1 Whimsy stamps sentiment - the 'summer lovin'' heart
1 Make it Crafty product - the Cafe de Paris digital image that forms the background of the card
1 Little Miss Muffet stamps product - the bicycle that I printed and carefully cut and coloured

I coloured very roughly with copics trying to keep the picture looking a bit like the one featured on Make it Crafty.

I'm also entering this for:

Freshly brewed February: love
Charisma cardz 7: love is in the air
Joanna Sheen 3: love is in the air
Polka doodles 8: summer fever
2 sisters 80: anything goes
Penny's 73: anything goes
Make it Monday 78
Inspire me Fridays 47
52 cardpick up week 8