For Another Teacher Leaving

Hello again - the card below was for another teacher who has just left our school - she would have been Eleri's teacher in September so we were sad to see her leave.

I've used a Rosie image from Digistamp Boutique again, coloured with promarkers.  The papers are My Minds Eye A Happy Heart - the first time I've used them - they are gorgeous, such rich colours.  And the flowers are from my stash (I've had them for ages), and they matched perfectly.  I've also had the Lakeland sentiments for ages - I did decide to trim the sentiment down before giving it.  I've also used the Macarena Corner die.  The dark red paper was actually an envelope from a card I received - I can even re-use and recycle on my cards sometimes LOL!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Kaboodle Doodles - Whats In - I think the corner dies are 'in' at the moment
Crafts and Me  - Anything Goes
Waste Not Wednesday - Use neglected stash
Simon Says - Anything Goes

I haven't shown the presents I made for teachers yet - so here they are - I made jewellery of course!

I made little gift boxes, using Crafters Companion CDs (I typed onto the boxes "Diolch yn Fawr Iawn" - which is Welsh for Thank You Very Much, because my children attend the local Welsh language school):

I thought I should show how a bracelet looks when it's on!

That's it from me for now.  I hope to see you again soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Sparkle for a Very Special Teacher

Hello

I wanted to pop on quickly just to show you the card I made for the Deputy Head of my children's school, who retired last week.  She will be missed soooo much - probably the favourite teacher in school!  Apparently there were many tears during her leaving service in the afternoon - unfortunately, the room was not big enough to allow all parents to attend, it was just open to the parents of her current nursery class.

The image is a Wee Stamps digi, coloured with promarkers.  The backing paper and shimmer dots are Papermania, the glitter card is Dovecraft, the flowers were all from my stash, the sentiment was from a pack from Lakeland ages ago, and the sparkly beads on the wire were from my local craft shop - I twirled the bottom part around a pokey tool just because I didn't want to cut it off, and it's poking out from under the flowers just under the sentiment!  I added some stickles around the image circle.  I don't think the photo does it justice really - it certainly doesn't show all the sparkle!

I would like to enter this in the I Love Promarkers Challenge - Sparkle 

That's it for now.  I still have the teacher gifts and another birthday card to show you soon.

Love, Andrea xx

Girlie

Hello Everyone

Well, the weekend is over and we've actually had some summer weather - today has been gorgeous, sunny and warm with a lovely breeze.

Today I'm showing a girlie card I made for my niece:

I seem to have a thing for Digistamp images at the moment LOL! - This is Rosie and Flower from Rosie Collection 1 - isn't she a little sweetie?  And a very simple card, using some glitter card, one sheet of patterned paper Fancy Pants Beach Babe, one swirl from a Stampin Up die, and one die-cut flower, plus a gorgeous wide organza ribbon which I picked up in a local supermarket.  And that's it!

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - All Things Girlie
Cardcrafters Circle - For Children - this was for my niece who has just turned 7
Digistamp Boutique - July challenge

I did promise myself an early night - haven't made it :) but I'd better get to bed now!

I'm not working tomorrow - yay! - I might not be cheering by the end of the day though - the girls in the neighbourhood are not getting on very well - problems started on the first day of the school holidays.  Eleri wasn't involved during the day as our school was in for an extra day, but she got caught up in it in the evening, and she is completely stuck in the middle.  There are two girls who do not get along a lot of the time - but Eleri likes to play with each of them - if she is playing with one of them, she has started to say that the other can't play because she doesn't like it when they fall out or one storms off.  I am saying to Eleri that I want them all to play nicely together and that she mustn't say that someone can't play - but I think this is a very difficult situation, and I don't really know what to do - stay away from home as much as possible might be the best solution LOL!

See you soon.

Love, Andrea xx

A Leaving Gift

Hello folks - I've managed to pop back again this evening.

Eleri's Brownies leader is moving away so it was her last session this week.  I made her a card and a gift.

This image is from Digistamp Boutique - called Daisy and Flower, coloured with promarkers.  The flowers were from my stash.  The little butterflies are from a border die - do you like the way I added one little butterfly onto one of the roses?  The papers are Fancy Pants Beach Babe.

I'm entering this card in the Love to Create Challenge which is to use Three of Something - so I've used three little flower buttons and added three little pearls.  I will also enter it into the monthly Digistamp Boutique challenge.

And this is the gift I made:

I just love the way these white quartz gems are faceted and the way they catch the light.  This bracelet took me ages to make as I wanted to use rose quartz, but I couldn't get the blinking thread to go through the gems even after using a bead reamer to try to make the holes larger - I think I managed to get three on the thread and then couldn't find any others that would fit, so had to start again.  Lesson learned - make sure all your beads will fit on the thread before you start :)

So hopefully I'll be back again over the weekend with another creation.  See you then.

Love, Andrea xx

A Flower Bracelet

Well hello peoples - sorry I haven't been around for a while - I've been busy making end of term cards and gifts, and a birthday card.  I'll be showing them over the next few days I hope.

But first, I've just spotted that the challenge this week over at Fab n Funky Challenges is to make your own flowers.  I thought I would show the bracelet I have recently made for myself (I hope it counts for the challenge but don't hesitate to discount my entry if it doesn't meet the rules because it is not a card).

These are made with black shell, dark grey shell pearls, and rose quartz.  This is my first attempt at making a flower like this with gemstones and I'm very happy with it.  I especially like the charm which I added to the clasp of the bracelet.  And then I just adore these long dangly earrings which have real movement in them - it's just a shame I don't go out very often to be able to wear glam dangly earrings like this LOL!

That's all for this post - but you will see more from me over the next few days.  Its been 2am on me going to bed for the past few nights so I really must have an early night tonight.

'Night 'night!

Love, Andrea xx

Birthday Card For a Friend

Hello All

The weather in the UK has been dreadful and I truly feel for all the people who have been affected by the heavy rain and the floods - I hope things settle very soon.

It is the birthday of a friend from work today - she's off work at the moment, and we miss her very much - but we all wanted to send her a lovely card and bouquet of flowers - she has received them safe and sound today.  This is the card I made for her:

This is Daisy again from Digistamp Boutique.  I paperpieced her dress and the little heart she is carrying.  The papers are Do Crafts Hanoverian, the embossing folder is Cuttlebug Flower Fantasy, I think I won the roses in some candy a long time ago, and the sentiment is from a pack from Lakeland ages ago.  I used two Memory Box dies for the swirls under the flowers and the sentiment - one is the Macarena Corner and the other is Ivy Tendrils  (first time I've used that one and I cut it in half).

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers - sketch
Digistamp Boutique - July competition
Waste Not Wednesdays
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

That's all for today.  We're hoping to take Andrew to the cinema tomorrow to watch Spiderman - depends on whether Richard is playing cricket, and whether the roads are flooded.  I do believe it has stopped raining now though, so fingers crossed the roads are not flooded but the cricket pitch is too wet to play LOL!

Love, Andrea xx

For a Special Someone

Hello Fellow Bloggers

It is my sister-in-law's 50th birthday today, so I'll show you the card I made for her.

The image is a Mo Manning digi called Whats Cooking - isn't she a little sweetie?  She's coloured with promarkers.  The backing paper is from Do Crafts Hanoverian pad, and I bought the glitter card yesterday in town.  The lacy flowers were purchased from my local craft shop, as were the pearls.  I used an Anita's alphabet die to make the word Fifty.  On studying this card after I'd finished I felt as though there was something missing - maybe I should have added leaves or a swirl under/around the flowers, but it was just too late by then (LOL!)

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

One Stitch at a Time - Use a digi
All Sorts Challenge - In Bloom
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes
Delightful Challenges - Celebration - 50th birthday
Stampin for the Weekend - Show us your style - I like to make the cards individual and personal by using an image which somehow reminds me of the recipient or depicts something that they do (eg my sister-in-law is a school cook so I wanted to use a cooking image of some kind for her card this year), and I try to colour the hair in a similar way to the recipient's hair (not sure I manage that every time, but I give it a go LOL)
Fab n Funky Challenges - Cute and Girly

It is supposed to be Sports Day at school tomorrow but the forecast is not too good (again!) - I have the day off but I've had to bring work home so, if sports day is off, I expect I'll be working at home!  Richard is off tomorrow too - he's got to have a steroid injection in his elbow - I hope it does the trick and eases his pain!

Better go - I should be ironing!

See you soon.

Love, Andrea xx