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