Presents for My Nieces

Seasons Greetings to everyone! We have had a lovely Christmas - quiet, and spending time with family - just as I like it. We don't have many plans for the rest of the holidays at the moment except a family party for my cousin's 30th birthday next weekend! For the rest of the holidays, we'll just play it by ear and see how the mood takes us!

I did not manage to make as many presents or cards as I had originally planned, but I did make some presents for two of my nieces.

This first gift is a teddy in its own bag which I knitted for my 2 year old niece. The pattern was in the Crafts Beautiful magazine. I was getting a little worried that I would not finish it in time, but I got there in the end.



The little bag opens up to reveal a sleeping bag for the teddy to go to bed!



And this is what the teddy looks like - she has pink knickers on under that dress - and they can both be taken off! My knitting is not too bad, but I'm not very good at sewing - I just hope it all stays together!!



My 13 year old niece loves to sketch, so I covered a watercolour sketch pad for her. (Sorry about the quality of the photo - it was dark when I was taking the photo, and I don't have any kind of light box).



I have used the sketch on Sunday Sketch and Stamp. The only thing missing is a sentiment - but I couldn't find anything suitable, so I added flowers instead - hope that counts!

The stamp I used is from Whiff of Joy - I think she's called Melinda with Book - and I coloured her with Promarkers. The papers are Kay and Co.

I had planned to cover some notebooks for teacher presents this year, but I completely lost my mojo and did not get around to it - I might just do that for when the children start back to school if Mr Mojo comes back!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you are able to pop back again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Such Sad News

Sadly, I must report that my mother-in-law passed away this evening.

Thankfully, several members of the family have been able to spend time with her in hospital over the last couple of days, and Richard, his Dad and his brother were with her during her last few moments. I have spent some time with her today but, unfortunately, was not able to get back to the hospital to see her again this evening. I came home this afternoon to collect the children from school and to take Eleri to her Rainbows Christmas Party. I am very sad that I was not able to be there to support Richard but I know that Eileen would have been happy knowing that Eleri was able to go to her party.

My heart goes out to anyone else who is also going through such a sad time at the moment.

I must go now.

Love, Andrea

D'you Fancy a Giggle? ... But First You Need to Use Your Imagination!

Hello and Happy Sunday to you all - I hope you have had a lovely weekend, and not had too much trouble with the icy conditions!

I made two gorgeous birthday cards for Eleri to take to a double birthday party this morning, but I bloomin' well forgot to photograph them (doh!). So you'll need to use your imagination while I try to describe them to you (lol!). (If you want a giggle, you'll have to bear with me or skip the next bit of waffle!!!)

The two cards were very similar. I used 6x6 card blanks, covered with turquoise pearlescent card. Then added a mat using the dark pink paper with the knobbly diamond pattern from the MME Quite Contrary pad. I used a little girl from Ollyfant Stamps - a clear stamp Autumn set - she looks a bit like the Tilda images, she is holding some twigs, and her hair and coat is blowing in the wind - there is no name on the stamps. I coloured her dress and wellies in ruby red Promarkers, with ivory tights. On the one card, the girl had dark hair and on the other she had blonde hair (just like Eleri's two friends). I stamped an umbrella from the same clear stamps set. I paper pieced the girl's coat and the umbrella with the cream paper with the swirly flowers in pink, blue and green from the same MME paper pad. I added 3d gloss to her coat, wellies and brolly, to make them look shiny and waterproof. The brolly was added to the top of the card as a penny slider, so that it looked as though it had blown away in the wind - the slide bit was made out of the turquoise pearlescent card which I embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. On the bottom right hand side of the card I added two sentiments from the MME pad - one said birthday girl and the other said make a wish - I wrote over the sentiments with a Sakura clear stardust pen to make them sparkle. Then added some punched flowers out of the same flowery paper as the brolly and coat, added some dark pink pearls, et voila!!!

So, how's your imagination - can you see my cards? In case my description is rubbish, here's a similar card I made last year .... my cards today did not have the ribbon element on.



And now for that giggle - well it made me giggle anyway! ...

One evening last week, I was in the kitchen peeling potatoes for our evening meal. My daughter and her friend were under the table acting out the Nativity. Eleri's friend was one of the three wise men and I heard her say "I've got Frankenstein, Sense and Myrrh"!!! ha ha ha!! - I was desperately trying not to laugh out loud cos I know Eleri's friend would have been devastated if she thought I was laughing at her! But at the same time as trying not to laugh, I was also trying to work out what she should have said - took me a few seconds!! - Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh! It's still making me giggle now!

Reminds me a bit of the Christmas after my son started school and he was talking to me about Jesus Pryce (awwww! he was only 4, and his cousin's surname is Pryce so he thought that is what people were saying!). And also the time my MIL told us she had to have a cold compost put on her nose when she fell up the steps and bumped her face (ROFL!) It is funny sometimes when people say the wrong words, don't you think???

Hope I've given you a little giggle today, and have a fabulous next week.

Love, Andrea xx

Another Christmas Card

Hello Everyone - I hope everyone in the UK is managing to keep warm and safe, and not struggling with the snow too much! We have snow here in mid Wales but not as much as in some other areas. I had a meeting planned for work this evening but thankfully we were able to cancel it yesterday - I was dreading having to drive 30 miles each way in the snow and ice in the dark!

Enough waffle! I have managed to make another teacher Christmas card - this one is for my son's teacher. I have used the off-cuts of the papers I used on the first teacher card I made - I think I have enough left to make another card with them too! As the one paper has Christmas trees on it, I can enter this card in the Stamping Vacation Lots of Paper Challenge.


(Sorry about the quality of the photo but the light was not good - if I can get a better photo I'll update it)

The image is Little Christmas Angel digi from Whimsy Stamps and I have coloured her with Promarkers and added Diamond Stickles to her wings. The die used for the image and the sentiment is Nestabilities Labels 10. The sentiment is from Crafters Companion - it's not stuck down in any way, is just hanging from the bow by a jump ring. The gems are Papermania shimmer dots.

I didn't have any pink card to match the backing papers, so I coloured some cream card with a Promarker to match.

I really wasn't sure whether to add any flowers or snowflakes onto the card, but decided to leave it clean and simple - I'm still not convinced though!

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:

Create4Fun - the sketch I used
Charisma Cardz - one for the girls
Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club - use a die cut
Top Tip Tuesday - anything goes

I hope you like my card, and I hope to be back soon. Surely will be, as Eleri has been invited to a double birthday party at the weekend - better get cracking on making the cards - I thought I was going to be able to concentrate on Christmas cards and Christmas presents this week (oh well, hey ho!!).

Love, Andrea xx

For Someone Special

Happy Wednesday everyone - hope you are having a good week.

Well, I was back to work today after a week's holiday - boy, what a week it's been!

Thankfully, my Mum came home from hospital on Monday evening - her operation seems to have gone well, and she is on the mend now. I went to do her ironing last night - it's about the only thing my Dad can't manage to do - Mum says he'd cooked her the best roast beef dinner she's ever had last night - certainly smelled good anyway!

Unfortunately, my husband's Mum was taken back into hospital on Monday - fluid has built up in her lung again, very quickly actually. We now suspect that she was insistent that she be allowed home last week, but she was not well enough really. It is her 70th birthday today so Richard has gone to visit her in hospital this evening and taken her card and present - hope she likes it but I now have a feeling I have bought her the same thing as I gave her last year for her birthday (oops, what it is to have a bad memory!)

This is the card I made for her. It is a clean and simple card and I don't think the photo does is justice really but I only took the one photo!



I have used a Tilda image - I'm sorry I don't know what she's called, and she has been coloured with promarkers and decoupaged up - I don't think the photo shows it though does it?! The background is white pearlescent card embossed in the cuttlebug. I have used my Nellie Snellen dies for the frame Tilda is leaning through, and the mat behind her has been cut with the same die and embossed with the cuttlebug swiss dots folder. The heart charm was taken off an old card I had made for my Mum which she gave back to me to use the bits again. I wish I'd got some larger roses - actually, I've just remembered, I was going to use some different flowers that I bought for a wedding card in the summer (oh bugger!!! LOL!).

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Just Magnolia - White Plus One
Papertake Weekly - Cut It Out - the dies I used plus I cut Tilda out to decoupage her up
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes with a bit of sparkle if you like - I have added glitter to Tilda's wings and the roses, and the gems are nice and sparkly, also the pearlescent card has a nice sheen on it!

Think that's it for now - I need to make a sympathy card - struggle with them a bit but I do have an idea I want to try.

Thanks for looking. Be back soon I hope.

Love, Andrea xx

Pink Christmas Card

Hello and Happy Friday Everyone

I have made my first Christmas card for a teacher - this one will be for my daughter's teacher.



I think this little angel is adorable - she is a digi from Whimsy Stamps, and I bought her because she reminds me of my little girl. I coloured her with promarkers and added stickles to her wings. The gorgeous pink papers are from Crafters Companion Occasions CD, the sentiment is from a Crafters Companion Cute Christmas set. I punched the snowflakes from the papers, layered them up and stickled them, and added two ribbon loops and some irridescent shimmer dots, and that's about it.

I followed the sketch on Sketch and Stash - my new stash is the angel digi and the ribbon bought from a local cheapie store.

I'm also entering the following challenges:

CES Challenge - Think Pink
Fussy and Friday Challenge - Christmas Without Red and Green

I have been making a batch of simple Christmas cards today, so I hope to show those to you soon. I've made 9 so far today and hope to make some more later this evening.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Love, Andrea xx

My Most Favouritest Card Wot I Made ... Evvver!!!

Hello Everyone

My Goddaughter is 21 today - Happy Birthday Teri - where on earth did that 21 years go - scary huh??! This is the card I made for her:





The papers are Kay and Co, the image is Miss Anya (coloured with Promarkers), and the sentiment is from Pollycrafts. I've embossed a panel with a Cuttlebug folder, and added sparkle with diamond stickles, a pearly brad to hang the heart charm, and pearls. I've been wanting to have a go at pleating paper for a while, and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out - in fact, I'm so happy with this card! I followed the sketch on Friday Sketchers, but was too late to enter the challenge, so I think the only challenges I can enter are:

Secret Crafter - Sparkle and Shine
Simon Says - Sparkle

And now for an update re. some of the people in my life:

My mother-in-law has finally come out of hospital today after a four and a half week stay and both her lungs having to be drained.

My Mum is in hospital at the moment - had an operation on her lung yesterday - she is not feeling too good today as the morphine she is on is making her feel very sick - so we don't think she will be home for the weekend.

I've taken a few days off work to try to get some things sorted for Christmas. On the first day I was just about to walk into a shop about half an hour from home to do some Christmas browsing but I had a call from our school secretary to say that my son was ill - so it was get straight back in the car to go and collect him. I was planning on going Christmas shopping yesterday, but Andrew was still not too well so I had to keep him off school. But he is better again now and was back to school today, so I decided to go shopping today. I did some shopping at out of town Toys R Us, Boots, Sports Direct - managed to get a few pressies. Before catching the bus into town I thought I'd better phone my husband to check how he was getting on with mending our fence and to check what the weather was like (cos he was going to collect the children from school and would have had to walk, if it was raining I was thinking I would go home earlier - aren't I kind? LOL!). He told me he'd had an accident! - a fence post broke as he was trying to pull it out of the ground and it banged and cut the top of his head, lots of blood apparently OMG!!! So I had to rush home in a terrible panic - took me over an hour to get home, I was shaking and worrying about what I was going to find when I got home - would he be unconscious on the floor? But, thankfully, he was conscious - was still bleeding a bit so I took him to our local Minor Injuries Unit to get the cut checked. Thankfully, he's OK - apart from having his head glued (with nice bright blue glue LOL!), and he's got quite a headache!

Well, that's enough waffle from me for now. I have made a Christmas card for my daughter's teacher, and I hope to show you that tomorrow - hope you'll pop back to have a look.

See you soon.

Love, Andrea xx

A Christening Card

Good Morning fellow bloggers - hope you are having a good week. My daughter had a sickness bug yesterday so is off school at the moment - but she is nearly back to normal today, happy, singing and bouncing around - yesterday she spent most of the day in bed!

Anyway, my card today is a Christening card I made for my cousin's little boy. I spent ages trying to get this card just right - my original idea was to stamp the teddy onto the gingham paper but it just did not look right, so back to the drawing board and I coloured it with promarkers. The stamp is from a Daisy and Dandelion set. The papers were printed from a couple of Crafters Companion CDs so I sprayed the finished card with CC silver sparkle. I followed the sketch on Sketch Saturday from a couple of weeks ago but did not have the card made in time to enter!



I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Lexi's Creations - Anything Goes
Crazy 4 Challenges - Create a Square Card
Elephantastic - Blue

Well, that's it from me for now - I have lots of cards to make, but just can't get into the right mood at the moment - hope my mojo returns soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Halloween - I Know It's Late!

Hello Everyone - and to those who are at the NEC or going over the weekend, I hope you have a fabulous day - I am green with envy!

My son was invited to a Halloween party over the weekend, so I decided to send some little treats for everyone - and here's what I sent:



I made the little sour cream pouches - I printed thin card with designs from Crafters Companion Occasions CD. They were all made out of A6 size card, some had the short sides joined together first and some had the long sides joined together first, depending on the chocolate I was putting inside. They were so easy to make, but I think they looked really effective. In fact, if I'm asked to give some little pressies for the lucky dip tub at the school Christmas Fair, I might make some of these.

At the last minute, I decided to take Eleri to a Halloween party in a nearby village, so she went as a devil princess. She made her mask herself, wore a princess dress, a devil's tail (can't see it in the photo) and devil horns, and her new boots. And she had a lovely time at the party, especially when one of the little boys from school started chasing her! (who, by the way, asked her to marry him a couple of weeks ago :o

This is Eleri dressed up



Finally, Andrew took part in an inter-schools cross country competition yesterday - he came 57th (out of 59 or 60! - unfortunately, he takes after me for his lack of athleticism!), but he crossed the line running and smiling, and I was very proud of him! At least he took part this time - the last time they held the competition in the summer, I went to watch but Andrew stayed at school because he didn't want to take part - a bit embarrassing really, but never mind!



Oh - update - my mother in law has finally had a drain fitted to take the fluid away from her lung and she had the best night's sleep in over three weeks on Tuesday. My Mum's operation was cancelled on Tuesday but it was a good job as she has come down with a nasty cold - operation now due to be done on 12th November. And my Uncle has come home from hospital and is improving!

Well, I'll love you and leave you now - hope to manage to craft something to show you soon - in fact, I need to get shifting as I have a few birthdays and a christening coming up.

Love, Andrea xx

Any Celebration and G is for Glitter

Hello again - me posting two days on the trot - not often that happens? LOL!

Anyway, my cousin got married last Saturday, so I made a card for that special occasion.



The image was from Digistamp Boutique, and I re-used the sketch from Friday Sketchers a couple of weeks ago - I love that sketch. The tag comes out and has got the date of the wedding on it. I added my current favourite stickles - diamond!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

One Stitch at a Time - any celebration
ABC Challenge - G is for glitter

My Mum had some lovely photos from the wedding - I saw them on her camera on Sunday. Unfortunately, before my Dad downloaded them to the computer, he decided to delete some old photos and managed to corrupt the memory card - oopsie!! At least my Mum has three brothers and three sisters who were taking photos too - so she's going to ask for copies of some of theirs! Aaaww, things do go wrong for my Dad quite often!

I went to see my MIL in hospital again today - she is still very breathless, and is fed up with it now - she had an x-ray yesterday which shows that the fluid level hasn't changed on her lung so, at last, the doctor has said they will drain the fluid - not sure if that means just syringing some off or actually fitting a drain. I hope they manage to get all the fluid from there pretty quick - I really don't want her to have to go through what my Mum has been going through for the last year or so. On the plus side though, you can see she's got ankles now - I don't think I've seen them before! - it's all the weeing she's been doing because of the water tablets they've given her - she says she would have filled their water tank at home and could even have flooded Wales ROFL!

That's enough from me for now.

Love, Andrea xx

A Bookmark

Hello Peoples!

I've just spotted a challenge for a bookmark so I'm going to show the one I made as part of my sister's birthday present. The image is from Whiff of Joy, and I coloured her with Promarkers.



I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Your Next Stamp - Bookmark It
Sweet Stampin Challenge - Anything but a card
A Spoonfull of Sugar Challenge - Diecuts and punches - I hope my one lonely punched flower counts!
Creative Card Crew - Lets Punch It - hope my flower counts!

Just to update you re. my mother in law - she's still in hospital, but improving (although I didn't see any improvement when I saw her on Monday - worried me actually!). She is waiting for the results of one test, and all the ones that have come back so far have been OK. Her oxygen levels are improving, but she is still on oxygen continually at the moment. We did take the children in to see her on Monday and she was so pleased to see them, I think they were very daunted by it though. Hopefully, she is on the road to recovery.

My Mum had her pre-op yesterday, and is hoping to go into hospital next Monday for an operation on her lung on Tuesday. My Uncle went into hospital this morning and was supposed to have an operation on his lung today, but it had to be cancelled because an urgent case came in, so he's down to have his operation on Friday now. Oh I don't know - what's happening to my family and their lungs??

See you again soon I hope.

Love, Andrea xx

I Feel So Mad and Sad, and I Really Want to Throttle Someone ...

... but thought I would be better off coming on here to blog a rant instead!! LOL!

So, why am I so mad and sad - well, it's the little girl next door who is my daughter's so called 8 year old friend! She has started telling Eleri (who is 5!) that Santa's not real (again! - she did it last year too when Eleri was only 4!). I feel so sad because Eleri desperately wants to still believe in Santa - we were going to be doing the letter to Santa this week in the school holidays. Andrew (who's 9) doesn't believe any more - which is fair enough I think - but I've had the conversation with him that he must not say anything to younger children and spoil Christmas for them. I've told him that if I hear him or hear of him saying anything, then he won't get any extra presents.

I just don't know what to do! Should I try and catch her on her own and ask her not to say anything to Eleri again (but she doesn't like being in a room on her own with me - I think I scare her too much!), or should I have a word with her Mum? I just think she is being very cruel, spoiling Christmas for younger children.

When is it right for children to stop believing in Santa? - OK they probably shouldn't be going to High School still believing! But, as parents, we want to keep Christmas as magical as possible for as long as possible don't we?

Anyway, enough ranting - I feel better now - think I must be hormonal today LOL!

The other day, Andrew asked me if I was the Tooth Fairy! But I told him I wasn't, and I said I was trying to get hold of a fairy door so that the Tooth Fairy could always get in. I've only recently discovered that fairy doors exist - from Maddy at madimaginations - but now I've discovered them, I think every home should have a fairy door LOL! My husband thinks I'm mad!!!

An update re. my mother-in-law - she is still in hospital - has got to stay in until at least next Wednesday. They are having trouble getting the oxygen levels in her blood correct or something. I'm hoping to be able to pop in to see her in the next couple of days - she wants us to take the children to see her, but I'm not sure that's a good idea really. Richard's Dad is supposed to be checking with the ward whether they will allow it, and letting us know. Poor thing - he's asked us not to ring him to find out how things are - he says he panics when the phone rings - he thinks the worst!

Anyway, that's enough from me - I need to go and clean the kitchen up a bit before starting on our evening meal!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Love, Andrea xx

Aren't Parents a Worry??!!

Hello Everyone - I hope you are enjoying a good week.

Well, never mind worrying about children - parents can be a worry too can't they? My mother in law was taken into hospital yesterday, with fluid on her lung - Richard has gone to see her this evening, so I should know how she is soon! My own Mum has fluid on her lung at the moment too - has been ill since August last year actually - she is about to go back into hospital for a repeat of the operation she had last October - but, on the up side, she said at the weekend that she does think she is getting better! I really do hope they will both be back to good health soon.

Anyway, this is the get well card I made for my mother in law.



The image is from Whiff of Joy - I stamped it 3 times, so was able to paper piece the elephant and the bunch of flowers she's holding. The papers are My Minds Eye Bloom and Grow. I think the card is a bit over the top flowery really, but I am fairly pleased with it. I added some gems onto the flowers in the bouquet and stickles around the image. The die I used to cut the mat and layer for the image is Nellie Snellen.

I loved using this sketch which is this week's Friday Sketchers challenge

I'm also entering it in the following challenges:
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything Goes
Inky Impressions Challenge - Anything Goes

That's it from me for now. Thanks for looking.

Love, Andrea xx

My Very First Blog Award

Hello - I'm back with my second post this evening (please take a look at my card in the post below).

Wooo hooooo! I have received my very first Blog Award, from the very lovely Monica, who makes her own handmade flowers for her cards, and also donates many cards to charity. Please take a look at Monica's blog. And Thank You So Much Monica, you really did make my day today (especially as I'm not feeling 100%!)

And here's my award:



Now I'm not sure if I should pass this award on to someone else, but there is someone I would like to pass it to - the wonderful Mina who not only makes absolutely gorgeous cards, but she usually has something in her posts which really makes me giggle. Mina, thank you for your inspiration and for making me giggle so often!

That really is it from me for tonight - I'm going to have a cup of tea with some paracetamol and then go to bed!

Love, Andrea xx

Oh Flip! Too Late!

Well hello everyone - I hope you are all well - I'm not feeling 100% - had a sore throat for over a week, then developed a headache to go along with it, and now have a blocked nose, which suddenly surprises me and starts to run (yeuch!!!). I should be thankful that I've not had the same as my friend from work, who has a nasty bout of flu at the moment - get well soon Liz!

Anyway, enough moaning - let me show what I made last night.

It's only the second easel card I've made - I don't think I showed the first one as it was for my husband and I wasn't that impressed with it! They're not easy to photograph though are they?

Anyway, back to this one - this card is going to be for someone special. The image is from Di's Digi Downloads, called Party Time, and I've coloured her with Promarkers and Sakura Stardust pens. The shapes have been cut with a Nellie Snellen die. The papers are from a Kate Knight pad. The ribbon was from a gift box my Mum received sometime ago, so I've done a bit of recycling here. And I made the flowers - they are just punched from layers of tissue paper, with some pearl brads through the centre, and then I've curled them a bit by pulling the petals gently between my fingers (hope you understand what I mean!). And I've added some pearly heart shaped ribbon sliders, and used diamond stickles around the image mat. I haven't decided what sentiment to use yet, so that white panel has not been stuck down yet and I will stickle the edge of it when it is finished.

OOwwwwwww! I've just had a bout of sneezing and pulled a muscle in my neck! Actually, I'm starting to feel really rotten :(

And here's a picture which shows the image better I hope - doesn't show the sparkle though! - the crown and beads are quite glittery IRL.

Oh, I forgot to explain my post title - I followed this week's sketch on Fridays Sketchers, but was too late to enter the challenge - flip!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Easel Card
A Spoonfull of Sugar - Sparkle and Shine (lots of sparkle on the image from the Sakura Stardust pens, the stickles, pearly brads and pearly ribbon sliders)
Sweet Stampin Challenge - Punch It Out (punched flowers)
Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Anything Goes

I'm gonna go now - I need to listen to my son reading!

Love, Andrea xx

A Girlie Card

Hello Peoples!

I think I may be on a bit of a roll - I've made some cards that I've been really happy with over the last few days, and this is one of them (although the photo doesn't give it justice really):

The image is one I won in a challenge a couple of months ago, a digi from Fred She Said - from the Little Miss Bitty set and, as I'm not good at colouring, I've paper pieced her dress. The papers are from the summer freebie My Minds Eye paper pad. The heart dies are X-cut, the ribbon was from a local cheapie store, I think the large pink fabric flowers are Dovecraft, the smaller flowers are punched from the paper pad. The sparkly gems are Papermania shimmer dots, and I luuuuuuuuv them! The sentiment is hand written, not perfect but OK!

I've followed the sketch on this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge, and I'm also entering my card in this week's Lollipop Crafts which is Glitter, Sparkle, Gems - I used stickles around the sentiment heart, and the shimmer dots are sparkly.

I've got another card to show you soon. So, see you then. Thanks for looking.

Love, Andrea xx

Doodle Divas Featured Diva

This is just a shout out about Karen's Doodles Doodle Divas weekly Featured Diva contest.

Each Friday, a Featured Diva is represented on the Doodle Divas Blog in a special slideshow. To enter to be a Featured Diva, all you have to do is submit a card, layout, or any project using a Karen's Doodles image - and there are some gorgeous images to choose from. One lucky Diva is then chosen as the Featured Diva for the week and their project is put into the Featured Diva slideshow for all to see!!! The lucky Diva also gets to choose two Karen's Doodles images for free!!!! How awesome eh?

Unfortunately, there was only one entry last week - so they are trying to spread the word. Why don't you go have a look at the past Featured Divas' work, and see if you'd like to have a go! I intend to enter again soon but have a few other projects to work on at the moment! There's just not enough time to do everything I'd like to do!

Love, Andrea

One For Two Boys

Happy Weekend!

Well, Eleri had been back at school less than a week and she'd been invited to a joint birthday party!! The party was this afternoon, and she's had another fabulous time!

So, I'll show you the two cards I made - I decided to use the same idea for both cards, but Eleri wanted them to be different, so just used different colour paper.

The image is Racing George from Dottie Downloads - I've used the pre-coloured version, and added 3D gloss to the face of his helmet. I just cut him out and have added him on the card with glue gel. The flags were downloaded from the internet. The papers are Basic Grey, matted onto some grey paper, and inked around the edge with a black ink pad. I love the tyre marks - I just rolled one of my son's toy cars through the ink pad and ran it across the paper! The gems are meant to imitate the start lights on the F1 starting grid - they don't have green any more apparently LOL!

And here's the other card

I'm entering these cards in the following challenges:

Lollipop Crafts - It's a Boy Thing!
Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes

That's it for now - see you soon.

Love, Andrea xx

I Love This Card ...

Hi Everyone - hope you are having a wonderful week - nearly the weekend ... yay!!

My niece is soon to be 13, and I love the card I have made for her!

Honestly, the photo doesn't do it justice - the colours do all match better irl than the photo shows! The image is a digi from Pollycrafts, called Evangeline Retro - isn't she pretty? - looks a little like my niece actually. I have printed the image twice, once onto the dp so that I could paper piece her dress - I love paper piecing for clothes (much easier than colouring!!). I'm really sorry, I can't remember what the paper is - it's been put at the back of the cupboard again and I can't be bothered to fish everything out at the moment - I'll update this post to name them when I can. The pearlescent card is from Create and Craft - it is gorgeous irl and I haven't got much left :(. The lace was part of the first candy I ever won from Tab, and this is the first time I've used it - I threaded some narrow ribbon through it. The pink flowers started off cream, and I've coloured them with promarkers.

I'm entering this card in two challenges:

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge
A Spoonfull of Sugar Challenge - Anything Goes

I do have some more cards to show you, but I'll leave that til tomorrow.

Love, Andrea xx

Golden Wedding Acceptance

Hello peoples - Happy Sunday - hope you're enjoying your weekend.

The card I am showing today is one I've made for my mother and father-in-law, who will be celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary in October - they'll be having a family meal in a local restaurant.

I've followed the sketch template which is in the Do Crafts Creativity! Magazine this month. I've used the Christmas Tree Embossing Folder which was free with the magazine to emboss the heart and sqare panel - proves it's useful not just for Christmas! The hearts die is an X-Cut one, and the sentiment was created on the computer. I am wondering whether to swipe around the edges of the card with ink and then emboss with gold powder - can't decide!

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes

Southern Girls Challenge - Their first challenge which is Anything Goes

I'm trying to come up with simple Christmas card ideas at the moment that I can use for batch cards - nothing too inspired happened yet so I can just see me buying cards from charity shops again this year! Also got lots of birthdays coming up, so hope to have some more cards to show you soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Such a Sweetie!

Well Hello - it's been a while!

I have finally got around to doing some crafting and blogging. This is a birthday card I've made for someone who would not really appreciate lots of flowers or bling, so it's fairly simple - but I still like it.

The image is a digi by SJ's Little Musings - I've left it as is because it reminds me of a West Highland White dog (I hope that's how you spell it!) - there's faux stitching around the image. The papers are a download from the Crafts Beautiful website. The lacy ribbon was on a pack I found in a local cheap store - it's perfect for this paper. The flower is a punched flower, with a flower gem added to the centre.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday - the sketch I've followed

Crafty Sentiments - use a digi image

That's it for now - I really ought to be in bed! I do have some other cards ready to show you, so I hope you will call by again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

I Managed a Wedding Card!

Hello peoples! Richard and I are going to a wedding party tomorrow evening - I think this will be the second time since Andrew was born that we are spending a night at home without our children (Andrew's 9!) Can you tell how boring I am LOL???

Anyway, I really struggled with an idea for a wedding card - I've finally come up with something that is fairly decent, but the photo is not showing it off to its best at all (for some reason everything looks skew wiff - its not that bad IRL!!)



The image is a Precious Moments Colouring Page - I've coloured with Promarkers, and added some sparkle with stickles and glitter gel pens. I cut the heart shape out free hand and embossed it in the cuttlebug. The sentiment was produced on the computer and diecut. The flowers look much more gorgeous IRL - they have long stamen with pearls on them - they were from my local craft shop. The papers are digis, one from Summer Driggs Beautimous and the other from Crafters Companion Cute Companions CD. The photo doesn't show but the base card and some of the layers are silver card. And then I've added some lush ribbon, a heart charm and adhesive pearls.

Edited to add - the cuttlebug embossing folder I used for the heart is called Kimmy Luvs

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - the sketch - I hope mine counts as I've added some extras and changed the shape of one of the layers
Lexi's Creations - Emboss It
Bee Crafty - Ribbons and Bows

Well, I just need to make the box for the card now, then try to grab an early night!

Hope to see you again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

CES Challenge

Just popping on to let you know that Crafty Emma's new challenge blog is up and running CES Challenge Blog. The first challenge will start on 28th August and, if you pop across to the blog now, you can enter in the candy which is now running. Wish me luck, cos I really want those Aquamarkers LOL!!!!

I'm trying to get my mojo going at the moment as I have cards and presents to make for next weekend - need to get a move on but just can't get going!

Love, Andrea xx

Bedroom Door Hanger

Hello and Happy Monday everyone - I hope you have a fabulous week!

I have spotted a fabulous competition on the Polka Doodles blog to win some of the new Aquamarkers - all you have to do is colour something and then enter your project. Now, I'm not very impressed with my colouring, whatever medium I use, but I would dearly love to own some of the Aquamarkers, so I thought "If you don't enter you definitely won't win!", so darn it, I'm entering the door hanger I have just finished making for my daughter. And, here's the front which has the coloured image on it:



I have used the wonderful girl image from Bugaboo Stamps again - as soon as I saw the image, I wanted to use it to make a door hanger for Eleri, because the image looks just like her when she has her hair in bunches like that! I coloured her with Promarkers and, as I said, I'm not very happy with my colouring. I've tried to give her the same hair colour as Eleri, but I'm especially not happy with the way I colour hair - I've seen so many good tutorials on colouring, but mine just never works like those!

Please forgive me for using the MME papers again LOL (but they just seem to be working for so many of my projects at the moment!) I've used them to cover the base of the hanger, which is actually a page from a Papermania Chipboard album. Eleri painted the outside/edge of the chipboard, and helped to cover it. She also helped with the sticking of the image and flowers, the punching of the small flowers and the glittering of the letters. The large flower is cut using a Papermania template. The heart is a die I found in a craft sale - I think it's X-cut.

And now for the other side:



For some reason, Eleri wanted a dog on the back. I found this cute image on SJ's Little Musings - his name's Nippy. I'm not going to pretend I coloured him at all - I didn't - the digi already had the shading - and I think these dogs are gorgeous when they're white, so I didn't need to add any colour at all. Just cut him out with my Nellie's Multi Frames die. Then added some doodling around the edge of the image. I only had a small length of the ribbon, so only added it to one side of the image, with a heart buckle. Added the same flowers and gems as on the front, ribbon for the hanger, to which I added a couple of beads (these started off clear, but I coloured them with permanent markers). And that's about it!

I am sooooooooo pleased with the way this turned out, and Eleri loves it too! And it has pride of place on her bedroom door.

I'm going to enter it in the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - Whateva!
Creative Card Crew - Cute and Girlie (because my daughter's cute and girlie!)
By The Cute and Girly - Animal Antics (the dog on the back of the hanger)
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - Anything Goes

Well, that's it from me - sorry this has been a long one! I need a cup of tea after all that LOL! Hope to see you again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Sweet Sketch Wednesday and Crafty Cardmakers

Hello folks - hope you are having a good weekend! Back to work for me on Monday :( so will have to catch up with the housework tomorrow (cos I haven't done much housework this week - had family time instead!)

My card today is the card I made for Eleri to give to her friend at her party on Thursday.



The image is from Bugaboo Stamps (just noticed that there is a 50% off everything sale til Aug 10th), and I have coloured her with Promarkers and Copic Spicas. The papers are the freebie pad from the Cardmaking and Papercrafts magazine (again - sorry!). I have followed this week's sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday - I loved using this one. I have used three punched flowers so am also entering the Crafty Cardmakers challenge. Then there is just some added ribbon, papermania gem flowers and some extra gems. The sentiment is a digi from Pollycrafts - I changed the shape from oval to circle in my graphics package and then coloured it with Promarkers and Copic Spicas again to match the image.

Eleri and I have been working on a door hanger for her bedroom, and we are really pleased with it so I hope to show that to you soon.

Thanks for looking - and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Love, Andrea xx

Another Boy's Card

Hello - Happy Thursday everyone, hope you are having a good week! I'm on leave from work this week, but have had a sore throat since last Friday - typical! My husband is on leave as well, so we are having a family week - not doing much around the house, just essential housework like cooking, washing up, etc. We managed a fab day out at RAF Cosford Air Museum on Tuesday, nephew's birthday party yesterday, Eleri's just got back from another birthday party (!) (with her face painted with a beach scene!), and hopefully we're off to the cinema and for a pizza tomorrow!

So the card I'm showing today is what I made for my nephew - Jake was 6 yesterday.



The image was a freebie digi from Whiff of Joy, called Spider Henry - I've attempted to colour him with promarkers! I would love to own some of the new Aquamarkers - think maybe I'd get better colouring technique with them! The netty stuff you can see on the side is from a tub of nectarines - was supposed to represent a web but it didn't really work - should have coloured it black or grey perhaps! I made the ticket sentiment on the computer - but notice the blob? - Eleri was helping me finish the card yesterday and must have spat(! - sorry!) a bit as she spoke, and it took the colour off the sentiment (aaaaagghhhhh! - not enough time to put it right!) - I tried to correct it by colouring over the white spot with the promarkers but it wasn't really the right colour (oh well! - Andrew said "Jake'll only be interested in the present anyway" - not sure if that made us feel better or not! LOL) That's what worries me about using digi papers for projects to be honest - what if little accidents like that spoil the finished item? Anyway, I don't think anyone else noticed when Jake opened his card.

The challenges I'm entering this card for are:
Totally Papercrafts - Going to the Movies - Spiderman of course!
Creative Craft - Animal Antics
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - You're Out of This World - something you wouldn't see IRL

I do have another card to show you - the one I made for Eleri's friend whose party was today - probably post that tomorrow. I'd love it if you could pop back to look-see.

Love, Andrea xx

Kickin It for Michelle Card Drive

Hello Crafters!

Last week of July already - I can't believe it!

Over on A Spoonfull of Sugar, there has been a card drive for Michelle Oatman, who had an accident a few weeks ago. The image I have used is a free download from Whimsy Stamps, especially created in Michelle's honour. I printed it onto BP, and added some extra colour with promarkers. The papers I've used are the My Minds Eye freebie that were with the Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine - I'm gonna be using them a lot, so you might get bored of seeing them! I followed the sketch on Sweet Sketch Wednesday - except my image and the mat were already die-cut, so it's not oval (hope that's OK).

So here's my card - hope you like it - I've still got to add a sentiment, but needed to get it blogged!



Hope to see you again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

For a Little Boy

Hello Everyone - hope you're having a good week.

My nephew is 3 tomorrow, so I have made another card using SJ's Little Musings Finn - the pre-coloured version (my colouring isn't that good LOL!). I decoupaged parts of him up, and added googly eyes again. The papers and all the elements are a digi download too. I don't really like the buttons or the peel off across the centre, but they're there now! Also, I intended adding an extra layer behind the circle panel, but I forgot, so I'm not particularly happy with this card!



I followed last week's sketch on Crafty Creations 'cos I loved it - knew I'd be too late to enter the challenge though.

The challenges I am entering are:

Stamp Something which is Something Digital - everything is digital except googly eyes and string in the buttons
Crazy Challenge which is Boys will be Boys
Crazy 4 Challenges which is Buttons
Fairy Fun Fridays which is For the Boys
Digital Tuesday Challenge which is Happy Birthday

That's it for now! Hope to see you back soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Midnight Madness Sketch 62

Hello, hope you have been having a lovely weekend!

I made this card for Eleri to give to her friend whose party she went to yesterday.



The image is from SJ's Little Musings, called Finn - isn't he fab. I decoupaged him up a bit, and added some blue wobbly eyes. The papers are a digi download, I use them a lot for male cards (hope you're not bored with them LOL!). I made the ticket sentiment on the computer, it's not quite the right brown but it did just about work!

I followed the simple Midnight Madness Sketch, and am also entering the following challenges:

Crazy Challenge which is It's Hip to be Square
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge which is Babies/Children

I have lots more things to make over the next few weeks, so hope to be back fairly often!

And to all you parents whose children are now on holidays, enjoy the summer!!

Love, Andrea xx

Crafty Emma's New Online Store

Crafty Emma has just opened her online store and is giving a £10 voucher to one lucky crafter. Go visit her blog to enter.

Love, Andrea xx

Teacher/Classroom Assistant Gifts

Well, I finally got some little gifts sorted for Andrew's and Eleri's Classroom Assistants. I wanted to cover some notebooks for their class teachers, but both children thought their teachers would prefer chocolates, so I made them the same gifts. I made 11 in total. I'm still disappointed not to have been able to give the teachers the notebooks, but I ran out of time to make them anyway!



For each gift, I used a piece of A4 card, cut to 5" wide, then measured 5" from top, scored across the width, and 5" from bottom and scored across the width. Folded up, then decorated the front. I have used the freebie donkey smiles image from Whimsy Stamps. This image has been designed to use for the Spoon Full of Sugar Kickin It for Michelle Card Drive, for a very special lady who has had an accident recently. I will be using the image to make a card for Michelle - that will by my next project I think.

Anyway, I'm not very good at colouring animals, so I have printed the cute little donkey onto backing paper - some on brown, and some on pink gingham. Then I've added colour using Promarkers. I'm very happy with the way the donkeys turned out. I then cut them out and stuck them over another print of the image - didn't bother cutting around the tail, just cut it off (hope it didn't hurt donkey LOL!), and then coloured the tail on the base image. The matting for the image was cut with my Nellie Snellen die. The papers I've used for the borders are My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary, and they were free with the Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine - thanks Mina for the heads up on this - had to run out and buy the magazine as soon as I knew it had MME papers with it LOL! I think all the papers in the pack are gorgeous. Then it was a case of adding some flowers and gems, eyelets and ribbon for closing, and fastening the little packs of chocolates inside.



Ooh! this next one was for the male trainee teacher - obviously not MME papers - they are a download.



With this next photo, I've tried to show you what the inside looked like.



I'm entering these in the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers, which is Animals (hope my entry counts, as I did not colour the full image!)
and the pink one is entered in Charisma Cardz Challenge which is Pink!

I have just finished making a card for another of Eleri's classmates who is having a birthday party tomorrow - I'll probably show you tomorrow, as there is absolutely no way I'll get a decent photo now LOL! I thought we'd have a break from birthday parties over the summer holidays, but Eleri's been invited to two more in the holidays, the little party animal - she has a far better social life than me!!

Hope you managed to stay with me to the end - I must pack all my craft stuff away and go to bed. Goodnight, and have a fabulous weekend!

Love, Andrea xx

Card for Headmistress

Hello again everyone, and thanks for popping by!

My card today is the one I have made for the Headmistress at school. The image is from The Greeting Farm Hope and Grace set - I've paper pieced her outfit - this is the image I decided to use for all the teachers' cards, sorry if you're fed up with seeing her LOL!



The papers are from my Kay and Co bumper pack. I did some faux stitching around the image, and added some sparkle with stickles. Not sure if you can see, but there are three ribbons used - an ivory organza ribbon under the turquoise one, and another narrower ivory organza next to it. I've added the gorgeous shimmer dots from Papermania.

I've followed the sketch on Friday Sketchers, and used the photo inspiration at Crafty Cardmakers - I took inspiration from the colours and the hearts (the heart button, which I have written the sentiment on and then sprayed with clear varnish to make it permanent).

I would also like to enter the following challenges:
Stamp and Create - Stitching
Stampavie and More - Anything Goes
Lexi's Creations - Real or Faux Stitching

Thanks for looking. I'm in the middle of making little gifts for the classroom assistants now - hope I don't have to stay up so late tonight!

Love, Andrea xx

Gosh - Have You Seen These?

I've just spotted a sneak peak of some new stamps being released by Crafters Companion. I think they look absolutely gorgeous - am I going to be able to resist hmmmmm??!





For your chance to win the SWALK collection candy, pop over to the Crafters Companion Inspiration blog. But, I hope I win LOL!!

Love, Andrea xx

MMSC ~61 - Am I Too Late?

Hello People

This is going to be quick. My second teacher's card was made following the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge, but I forgot to post it. I'm not sure if I'm still in time to enter!



The image is from The Greeting Farm Hope and Grace set, and I've paper pieced her outfit. Papers again are Kay and Co - I bought a bumper pack quite a while ago from QVC (about 350 12x12 sheets) - and it's still going strong - lots of papers in it that I like. I made the sentiment using shrink plastic - cut a smaller circle this time, and punched a hole in it, so that it could hang from the flower like a charm! And added some more Papermania adhesive shimmer dots, which I love!

This is the card for my daughter's teacher, and Eleri chose the papers - she said Mrs Jones likes yellow. I am so pleased with the way the card turned out. As this is a teacher's card, and it has a gorgeous yellow paper on it, I'm also entering it in this week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge, which is School's Out for Summer.

Be back soon with another teacher's card, and then hopefully the teaching assistant pressies. Cripes, just realised I have so much still to do, and only 3 nights to do it, and not able to have a day off work this week aaaagh! Was about to go to bed, but maybe I need to craft - no, I'm tired!

Must go! Sorry, not as quick as I thought I'd be LOL!

Love, Andrea xx

Mojo Monday

Hello Folks - hope you are having a fabulous weekend!

This is going to be a very quick post as I should be cleaning the bathroom and hanging out the washing!

I am showing the first of the teachers' cards I have made for my children - this one is for Andrew's teacher. I'm entering it in this week's Mojo Monday Challenge as that is the sketch I've followed.



The image is from The Greeting Farm - Hope and Grace set (I think, not got time to double check LOL!), and I've paper-pieced her clothes with the Kay and Co paper I've used. I'm a bit unhappy with the sentiment - it's a bit big for the flower really - I wrote it on shrink plastic, and used too large a circle really, but did not have enough shrink plastic left over to make another one! It was coloured with watercolour pencils before being shrunk. I've added Papermania adhesive dots - and I've fallen in love with them on cards.

(Note: my children attend a Welsh medium school, so the sentiment is Diolch yn Fawr - Thank you very much - I think LOL! (I'm not a Welsh speaker myself).

Thanks for looking - be back to show my other teachers' cards over the next few days. But still racking my brain what to do for teaching assistants - got to be something that doesn't take long as I'm fast running out of time LOL!.

See you soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Little Girlie Card

Hello Everyone

I hadn't realised until I was looking at photos that the card I have made for my niece's birthday this coming weekend is very similar to one I made for a friend of Eleri's a few weeks ago.

The image I have used is Fairy Fun from Karen's Doodles - I've coloured her with promarkers - I seem to love pink and yellow for this fairy, don't think I've coloured her in any other colours! Not happy with her hair though - I just can't colour hair :( The BP is Kay and Co, and I love it, so bright and cheerful!. I embossed the lemon card in my Cuttlebug (doesn't look like it matches in the photo but it does IRL!), and made some bunting. Added a punched daisy flower, some gems and a sentiment onto the circle in the bottom right corner.



I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday - the sketch I followed (but I rotated it)
Prairie Fairy Designs - Anything goes (but I'm not sure if you have to use a prairie fairy image - so not sure if my card's eligible)
Creative Craft Challenges - Summer Lovin (I've used summery colours)
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Nice and girly (but I couldn't see the closing date so not sure if I'm in time to enter)

I'm racking my brain at the moment trying to come up with some nice ideas for teacher cards and presents, but not coming up with much yet!!

Hope to see you again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Out of This World

Hello - hope you're all having a good week - I have so far, had my day off today and didn't do housework again (yippee!!) but it does need doing desperately - aahh well, never mind!

Anyway, the card I'm showing today is one I made for my friend's son, who is 7 today - Happy Birthday Harry!

The background is embossed using a Cuttlebug folder (snow something or something snow!) - once embossed I rubbed a silver ink pad over it - I think it makes a brilliant starry sky. The images are digital, all from the space collection from Digistamp Boutique, which I stuck on with 3D glue gel for a bit of dimension. I added clear glaze to the windows of the rocket and the space ship, but don't think you can see that in the photo. I didn't stamp the sentiment very well - not doing very well with clear stamp sentiments at the moment!

That's about it - I hope you like my card.



I'm entering it in the following challenges:

Sew Many Challenges - Anything goes
Crafty Catz - Go digital
The Crafty Pad - Embossing
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Circles and dots

I hope to be back again soon!

Love, Andrea xx

For a Few Challenges

Happy Hump Day! I've had a day's leave today, and not done any housework (yaaaaay!!!!). I spent ages this morning looking for a present for my sister in law, and still haven't decided what to get :(

But, this afternoon, I managed to make her a card - although I'm not all that happy with it really - not sure why LOL! I do wish I'd used eyelets to feed the ribbon through on the image instead of just cutting a slit.



The BP is Kay and Co, and the image is Demure stamp from Sugar Nellie (coloured with promarkers). I received the lace in a RAK, ribbon from my stash, and the flowers, brads and sentiment stamp are Papermania.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

The Sugar Bowl - the sketch I followed
Speedy the Cat's Friends - flowers
Magical Crafts - flowers
Quirky Crafts - ribbons
Creative Craft Challenges - stamp it up

I do have another card to show you - not sure whether to keep it for tomorrow or post it later tonight (LOL!)

Anyway, thanks for popping by and I hope you come back sometime!

Love, Andrea xx

Wedding Acceptance

Hello



Firstly - I apologise for the colour of this card - it looks nothing like as yellow IRL, and the colours do all match really!

You would not believe how long it took me to make this card! First of all I made a large flower out of the gorgeous deep purple tissue paper, but thought it did not look right for a special acceptance card - look out for the flower on another card soon though. So then I could not decide what to do. I wanted to use a C6 landscape card and emboss the base card, but of course the Cuttlebug embossing folder I wanted to use is not the right way round to emboss the bottom half of a card, so I had to look for a separate sheet of paper to use. I've seen other people separate their folders, but I was not brave enough to do that - I really have an aversion to 'breaking' things LOL! Then, the folder is not wide enough for this size card. So I had to move the paper across and emboss more than once for the full width - which left a mark where the join was - unfortunately, you can still see the line a bit.

Then, after lots of fiddling, I made the paper flowers out of tissue paper using a daisy punch - each flower has about six layers of tissue paper. I love them - definitely gonna do that again! Didn't have a stamp with Acceptance on it, so had to use peel offs.

I was really pleased with the finished card, but my photo really does not do it justice.

I'm going to enter it in the following challenges:

Freshly Brewed Challenge which is Anything Goes
Allsorts Challenge which is Embossing

Well, that's it from me for now - better wash up before going to bed!

Love, Andrea xx

Andrew's First Trip to Minor Injuries

Well, my son had his first trip to Minor Injuries last night (pretty good for a 9 year old boy huh?). Eleri had her first trip to MIU when she was 2 or 3 (she bit a nasty hole in her tongue when she fell off a little chair at nursery)!

Anyway, we were invited to my brother's barbecue yesterday evening. After eating they got out my nephew's battery powered motorbike, and went down the field with it. I was just popping out with my camera to grab a few photos, to see my two brothers and my Mum laughing their heads off, and Andrew coming limping up the field holding his ribs and his leg!! Apparently, he'd hit the throttle a bit too much, and the bike went off a bit too fast, and he was dragged along behind it - he was still holding the throttle back - think he didn't want to damage the bike by loosing go! He was shaking like a leaf when I got to him, so I got him to sit down for a moment before taking him in to get cleaned up - then I spotted the nasty little gash on his leg, with the skin kind of pushed back a bit (it was only about 2cm across in a kind of triangle shape), (sorry - hope you're not squeamish!!). So I thought I'd better pop him up to the hospital to have it looked at. By now, cos he'd seen the blood (which wasn't too much!), Andrew was really upset - so were my Mum and brothers actually because they'd laughed!!

Anyway, he ended up having 3 stitches, and we've got to pop back to hospital to get it checked for infection later today.

I'm so proud of him - he did get pretty upset when he had to have the local anaesthetic injection - but he's not moaned since - in fact I think he's pretty proud of his injury LOL! I think he can't wait to tell the boys at school he's had a motorbike accident!! And he's very pleased that he's got out of School Sports this week, and swimming lessons - he doesn't enjoy sports and he's been trying to get out of his swimming lessons since he moved up to a different instructor. He's not allowed to do any running around til he's had his stitches out (7-10 days), and he's just said "Having a leg like this is a bit boring!" It's normally a devil of a job getting him to go out to do some running around LOL!

Hope to finish a wedding acceptance card this evening and show you soon, and I have two birthdays this week to make cards for. So, see you soon! Enjoy the rest of your weekend - meant to be very hot here in the UK again today, but it does look like there is a lovely cooling breeze!

Love, Andrea xx

All Male Cards

I hope you are all having a fabulous week and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine those of you in the UK!

I have four cards to show you today, all male cards! The first card is one I made for my son's friend who is 9 today. I have followed the sketch on Friday Sketchers this week - I just turned it upside down. I have used Gray, a freebie from Little Musings, and coloured him with Promarkers. The papers are Hot Off The Press, which I've had for years - that means I can also enter this card in Lexi's Creations Challenge which is Something Old, and also Paper Play Challenge which is also Something Old. The Cool Dude sentiment is from Pollycrafts, and that is a penny slider, but I don't think you can tell from my photo. I decorated the inside to match but didn't take a photo of that as Andrew had already written in it when I was takng the piccies! I was really pleased with this card, and Riki and his Mum loved it too!



Now to my other cards, and the confession I mentioned in my previous post. I've been struggling to get into the crafting spirit lately, so I was really late making my Father's Day cards - had to make three on Saturday night!!! So, of course I cheated, and used the same sketch I used last week for all three cards. I used Spider Henry from Whiff of Joy for my hubbie's card, and images from Fred She Said for my Dad's and FIL's cards. I made the ticket sentiments on the computer - found a fab ticket shape in my word programme!







Now, to my confession if you're still with me ... My Dad's birthday was on Father's Day and, because I hadn't got my bottom into gear to make the Father's Day cards and his birthday cards in time (not that I craft through my bottom of course LOL!) ... the birthday card I gave my Dad was actually a card I gave him a few years ago, and was in a pile Mum returned to me so that I could recycle them ... I just put in a new insert ... how bad is that???? LOL! I'm not sure if Dad realised as he hadn't opened his cards when I left on Sunday!

Anyway, that's it from me! Hope to be back again soon.

Love, Andrea xx