Time for Reflection and Some Favourite Makes

Hello Everyone

It's New Years Eve and I'm at home blogging, whilst Richard is sleeping in the chair LOL! I haven't even had a drink - as you may have read in my last post, my little girl Eleri is not 100% at the moment, and I'm still worrying that she's going to end up being very ill and have a trip to hospital. We're not sure what's wrong but she is still suffering with tummy pains, also in her back and tops of her legs - caused by constipation the doctors think - she hasn't 'been' now for 9 days - the powders from the doctor haven't kicked in yet. We had to take a 3rd urine sample to the doctors yesterday (she has traces of blood in her urine, but nothing specific showed up in the lab for her last sample). I'm not sleeping too well (though Eleri is!) - I'm just worrying and dreaming all sorts of horrid things!

*** Update on 1.1.12 - a motion has been passed LOL! I hope this means that Eleri is on the mend but I am still keeping a close eye on her. Just waiting for the results from the doctor on Tuesday now. ***

**** Update on 3.1.12 - Eleri's results were clear - she is still complaining of tummy pains but the doctor thinks she will do until everything settles down - she is to continue with the powders for a few more days - and I'm still keeping a close eye on her. ****

Anyway, enough of that. Lots of people have been blogging about their favourite creations of 2011, so I thought I would join in. On looking back at my blog, not all my favourites are cards.

My first choice is the thank you card I sent to the hospital staff who looked after my MIL up until she passed away in December 2010. I have missed her very much this year.



Next up, the card I made for my cousin's 30th birthday. We had a lovely big family get together for her before she returned to New Zealand in January.





I made some gorgeous cake pops for Eleri's classmates when it was her birthday in February. They went down a storm with the children. I really should make them again.



Next up the card I became a Top Five Passionista with at Passion for Promarkers.



It's midnight! Happy New Year to everyone! Just seen fireworks coming out of Big Ben on TV (the fireworks display in London). Wwooowww! That was amazing, but it must have cost a fffooortune!

Back to my post.

A simple, but bright and cheerful card for my Mum for Mother's Day.



Now for some male cards:

I had to put this one in because my Dad made me laugh so much when he opened it upside down, and thought it said 'Pep' then wondered if I was giving him a pep pill! ha ha!







I discovered the Jewellery Maker channel on TV this year, and started making jewellery. This bracelet was shown on the TV show, full screen on telly (wow, that was so exciting!)



Now for a baby card. I love my handmade flowers on this one:



Some teacher gifts:





My Aunty's 50th birthday card:



And, finally, the Christmas decoration I made at a craft class. It is currently on our mantle piece:



Well, looking back, it's a good job I'm not entering this post in any challenges because I could not cut it down to 5 or 10 makes!

So, do you have any plans or wishes for 2012? I hope that Eleri is going to get better quickly. I really want to make more regular contact with friends who I have not seen enough of in 2011. I have got to get into a regular exercise routine.

And, lastly, I wish all my friends, family, colleagues, and everyone in blogland a peaceful, healthy and happy 2012.

Well that was a long post - if you've got through it all - thank you so much!

I'll love you and leave you now!

Lots of love, Andrea xx

I Hope You're Having a Good One!

Hello everyone, and compliments of the season to you all. I hope you're having a good Christmas.

We had a lovely day yesterday - the children are happy with their presents, I was spoiled rotten, and Richard's Dad came over to spend some time with us.

Unfortunately, my Mum and Dad are poorly at the moment, though my Mum is on the mend. They both have a nasty cold that is going around - Dad went back to bed yesterday afternoon, and was not very well when we were there this afternoon. It seems that one of them is always ill on Christmas Day. My Mum has had four Christmases on the trot now when she has been unwell!

I also have a friend in hospital at the moment - she had an operation on 22nd December - so I have been thinking of her a lot.

And Eleri is not particularly well at the moment - she's been complaining of tummy pains for over a fortnight, had three trips to the doctor so far, and will be going again when they open on Wednesday if she's still complaining tomorrow. She's not in agony, doesn't have a temperature, and she is sleeping well, her urine sample was clear so she doesn't have a water infection, but I am really worried about her. I just don't know what is going on. She is fine some of the time, then she starts complaining that her tummy hurts, and when I say that she seems to have been OK all day, she says that it has been hurting all day too. It seems as though she is unable to cope with it so much when she is tired, and was complaining most in the evenings, but the last couple of days she has been complaining at different times throughout the day.

Anyway, the real reason I came on here today was to show the gifts I made for people this year - I hope they all liked them!

I made a door hanger for my niece. This is the front:



The image is a Wags n Whiskers digi, which I used because she looks a little like Caitlyn, my niece. I coloured her with Promarkers. The papers are downloaded from Raspberry Road Designs - Fight Like a Girl, I think.

This is the back:



This image is Prima Ballerina Nora digi from Whiff of Joy.

I made a matching photo hanger for her bedroom:



I would like to enter the above gift set into this week's Charisma Cardz Challenge which is Anything Goes.

I made jewellery for some other friends and for teachers at school, and one for Eleri:















I also made a macrame bracelet for my nephew, and I knitted a scarf and flower brooch for my Mum, but heck I forgot to take photos before I wrapped them - der!!

Sorry this post was so long, but I hope you managed to stay to the end and thank you if you did!

I'm not sure when I'll have something else to post, but I hope I can call to see some of your blogs over the next few days.

Love, Andrea xx

Two Simple Cards

Hello Everyone

Well, this is my last day of leave from work - I have managed to get some things sorted for Christmas - made 7 gifts so far, plan on making another 2 tonight. The presents left to get now are the 'difficult' ones I'm stuck on, such as my Mum who says she doesn't want anything - she would rather see us spend our money on ourselves! What do you do in a situation like that 'cos she really means it? Do I make a piece of jewellery she'll never wear, or a photo calendar she'll never put up??? I'm really stuck!

Anyway, Eleri went to a disco party yesterday for two of her classmates - I think they all had a wonderful time! So I made two similar cards for the girls:





Because I was making two cards, and needed to do them in one evening, I went for a simple layout. But I think it looks very effective - probably looked better in real life than in the photos.

The image is Wags 'n Whiskers Snuzzle Love digi which I bought from Bunny Zoe's. I've coloured her with Promarkers, of course. The mat for the image was embossed with a Cuttlebug Daisy folder - the gingham paper was printed from a Crafters Companion CD onto pearlescent paper. The border punch I used is X-cut Doily Dots. And some added gem stones and stickles - et voila!

Did you notice the little 'boo boo' I made on the yellow card? When I cut the legs out, I started to cut from the wrong angle, so cut into the circle - burk!!! - never mind, I just made the same cut on the other side so it's not too noticeable!

I'm entering these cards in the following challenges:

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Borders and Flowers
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes

Well that's it from me - a bit more checking for present ideas on the internet I think.

See you soon, and have a fab week.

Love, Andrea xx

My Goddaughter's Birthday Gift

Hello Folks

I hope you've had a good weekend - there's another one flown by!

It was my Goddaughter's birthday on Friday, so I had to make her a card and gift, and here they are:



My favourite image again, coloured with Promarkers. I followed this week's Sweet Sketch Wednesday sketch. The papers are K and Co - except the handmade red paper with the dotty pattern on it - I have no idea where I got that from but I found it in my paper stash - I had two small squares of it. Then just added some die cut flowers, adhesive pearls and stickles, and that's about it. The photo doesn't do it justice though - it was taken on a very dull morning!

Here's the gift I made - jewellery of course - a stretchy bracelent and earrings set



My Goddaughter loved them, especially the dangly earrings - well, she seemed to love them anyway! (I always find it nerveracking if someone opens their present in front of me - I thinks it's best not to be there when they open their present in case you see that they don't really like what you're giving - but then that's probably just my lack of confidence coming through LOL!). The gemstones this time are sodalite, black labradorite and jade. Again, a pretty bad photo - no sunshine!

That's probably enough from me. I'm really hoping to have some time off work this week - I had booked a week off from this coming Wednesday, but already I've had to change it, I've got to go back in to work on Tuesday 29th November, and it's possible I'll have to go back sooner! I want to get on with some Christmas shopping and gift making, and I'll have to really pull my socks up and get shifting, because it's possible I'll have to work 5 days a week when I do return to work, right up until Christmas, and maybe beyond that too - things are very much 'up in the air' at work at the moment! And, if I am working 5 days a week it doesn't leave me much time for shopping without the children - I think there's only one weekend left before Christmas that Richard won't be working!

Bye for now - have a great week!

Love, Andrea xx

50th Birthday

Well hello everyone - sorry I haven't posted for a while, but I just haven't made anything for a while.

It's my Aunty's 50th birthday today, and she had a lovely family party yesterday.

So, I'll show you the card I made for her. I've taken a few photos because of the style of card I made - a stepper card. I followed a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers for this card - it was very easy to make. I have to say, I was really pleased with this card.









The image is a Miss Anya from the Greeting Farm - coloured with promarkers. The papers are from Do Crafts of Papermania (I'll correct the information when I can be bothered to hunt the pad out of the cupboard LOL!).

I would like to enter the card in the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - which is red or remembrance.
Truly Scrumptious - a Bingo challenge - I used Gems, Flowers and Punch/Die Cuts

So, can you guess what I gave as a present? - yep, that's right - I made a piece of jewellery.



A simple stretchy bracelet made with real lilac coloured pearls and haematite.

I hope my Aunty liked her gift and card! I'd love to know what you think.

I do have a couple more things which I really need to make this week, so I hope it won't be so long before I share something with you again.

See you soon.

Love, Andrea xx

A Good Weekend!

Hello Everyone

I've just had a lovely weekend - I had my day off work on Friday - Richard was off too, though he went golfing in the morning - left home about 6am! He was home at lunchtime and we went for lunch at a local cafe, before doing the grocery shopping, then collecting the children from school.

Then, on Saturday morning, I went to a Stampin Up Craft Workshop, where we decorated some wooden letters for a Christmas mantlepiece decoration. I love it. When Andrew saw it though he asked "Who's Noel?" - so funny!



We also managed to make a Christmas card - I thought this was a fabulous idea. We made a patchwork of different Christmas papers, then diecut the shape and embossed it, inked around the edges and added the sentiment. I might try this idea on another card, using my own tools.



Then, when I came home, it was such a gorgeous afternoon, we all went for a walk along the river and canal, down to a weir to try to watch the salmon leaping. We did see a couple of salmon attempting it, but they did not manage to get up whilst we were there.

Yesterday, Richard's Dad came for Sunday lunch with us - it was good to see him too.

This week is half term, but I have no idea what we're doing - Eleri is out playing with a friend at the moment. She wants to go swimming sometime in the week. We'll just take each day as it comes I suppose, and the week will fly by!

See you soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Oh Man I Struggle With Men's Cards

Hello Folks

It's my brother's birthday today, and I really struggled with a card for him. I'm not happy with the card I've made to be honest - it looks more like it should be for his son (in fact I did use the same image for his son earlier in the year!) The card turned out OK, but it's just not a man's card!

Here it is



I followed this month's Glitter Fairies sketch challenge.
I'm also entering Do You Stack Up - use scraps (I didn't break into a new piece of card or paper at all for this - amazing!
and St Luke's Charity Cards Challenge which is Let's hear it for the boys.

Must go now as I have to cook tea before going back out to work for a meeting.

See you soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Gift For My Sister

Hello Folks

We're having a bit of a downer week this week - Andrew and Eleri were both sick on Monday evening so I had to keep them off school yesterday. Just typical, yesterday was a day I was supposed to be having training on how to use our new video conferencing facilities - thankfully, Richard's boss is good and allowed him to come home for a couple of hours so that I could go in to work for that (though I don't think he was really too happy about it!). Both children seemed OK this morning, and I was meant to be in the office on my own this afternoon because my colleague had to have the afternoon off for an appointment. But I had a call from the school secretary about 2.30 - Andrew was ill again and could I go to collect him (oh no!). At least I was able to collect Eleri at the same time rather than having to go back at 3.20 for her. But that's put paid to my shopping trip tomorrow as I'll have to keep Andrew off school again. Mind you, I think I'm coming down with a cold today - sore throat, cough that's making my chest sore, runny nose - hopefully I will have fought that off by tomorrow though!

It was my sister's birthday yesterday - the card in my post below was for her. I made some jewellery for her present. A long necklace, a woven bracelet and a stretchy bracelet - all made with labradorite and pearls.







Well, that's it from me - better go make something to eat, and grab myself a honey and lemon drink I think.

Love, Andrea xx

One of My Favourite Images

Hello Everyone

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend. I took Eleri to a show at the local theatre last night - it was a medley of Disney songs by a local musical theatre company. I really enjoyed but I'm not convinced that Eleri enjoyed it so much. But she was very tired - she'd been for her first sleepover with her Rainbows group on Friday night and I wanted her to have a sleep yesterday afternoon. But, despite Mums always knowing what's best, children know better don't they???!! Lol! She would not have a sleep. Eleri wanted to come home during the interval and then, during the second half of the show, she kept asking when the last song would be on. But she says she enjoyed it and I saw her showing the programme to one of her friends this morning.

Well, enough waffle, I wanted to show the latest card I've made.



This is one of my favourite images - Sweet Blossom - which is a digi I bought from Cuddly Buddly earlier this year. I've coloured her with promarkers. The papers are from my stash - from a pile I won in a candy a couple of years ago and I can't remember what they're called. But I love this colour combo.

I followed the sketch for this week's Pollycraft Challenge.
I die cut the image, the mat it's on and the circles for the sentiment with Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle dies, and the flowers were punched using a Woodware punch, so I can enter this week's Fab n Funky Challenge which is Die-Cut or Punches.

I'm also entering:
One Stop Craft Challenge - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes with the option of adding something punched - for their 4th birthday challenge

Well, that's all for now. I hope to see you again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

For My Niece

Hello Peoples - well, what a gorgeous day today - mind you, I was extremely hot by the time we'd walked home from school today - I hadn't realised how hot it was!

My niece was 14 yesterday - she'll soon be as tall as me, she is growing up so fast, it is scarey LOL!

As per usual, I was very last minute making her card, so had to end up making a fairly quick and simple card. And I find that the Labels 10 die from Spellbinders is such a nice shape, and if it's embossed, it doesn't need much more to it really. So I made an easel card, using a Miss Anya image.







I would like to enter the following challenges:

Delightful Challenges - Pearls and Swirls - not sure if this card will count - the blue patterned paper does actually have swirls on it, but the image has covered them up - the embossing folder I used for the base card is a swirly flower one (called Hanoverian from Do Crafts I think)
One Stop Craft Challenge - Easel Cards
Truly Scrumptious - Clean and Simple

I also made my niece a jewellery set as her gift - a long necklace, two bracelets and earrings set. I loved it, and I hope my niece likes it too.



I've used white jade and quartz, and added a haematite heart to the clasp on the necklace and on the one bracelet. This photo really doesn't do it justice - I must find a good way of displaying and photographing jewellery.

Eleri says she wants some 'real' jewellery made by me - so I think I'll have to make her something for Christmas.

Well, that's it from me - thank you for calling by - I hope to see you again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Show and Tell

Hello Everyone - I hope you're having a good week so far - we have had some gorgeous weather the last couple of days, and it is supposed to be good for a few days to come - lovely!

I've finally managed to download photos of the cards I made at the class on Saturday, so here they are:






I think the reflection technique on that last card is fabulous - I must check whether I have any stamps which would suit that technique.

And I've also made some more jewellery. This is a set I've made to go with an orange top I have. A long necklace, bracelet and earrings, made out of grey agate and haematite. Because of the weight of the gems, the necklace does hang straight when it's on, but it looks a bit scrunched when it's not on.



I've decided not to apply for the Advocacy job in our office - I don't meet the essential criteria for qualifications so it's not very likely that I would be shortlisted for interview, and we as a family could not afford to lose money each month anyway - it is a bit disappointing, but I'll soon get over that - better than going to a lot of trouble filling in an application form, and then discovering that I'm not shortlisted! So I'll look forward to working with a new person in the office.

Eleri's complaining of earache again today - I hope there's nothing wrong - I'm keeping a close eye on her at the moment. She says she's definitely not put something in her ear (because she's not been lying down - she's convinced herself that the last bead was on the floor and it popped itself in her ear when she lay on the floor LOL!)

That's all from me. See you soon. I need to make a birthday card for my niece as soon as Holby City has finished LOL!

Love, Andrea xx