Party Time!

Hello my friends and a very happy Friday to you all!

I was missing again last week, this was due to hubby celebrating his 60th and having a rare week off.  The card for today is the one I made for him.

We both love Hedgehogs, sadly not many round here, so this little Penny Black set was perfect.  For big Birthdays I love to make the number the centre of the card and embellish around it.

Card recipe:

DP: First Edition 'Daydream' & 'Dreamcatcher'
Numbers: Cut out with my Brother Scan N Cut
Images: Penny Black 'Party Time' coloured with my Copics
Sentiment: Computer generated using the font 'Harrington
Die (for sentiment): Tonic Studios 'Multi Tag Die Set'
Brads: Doodlebug Sugar Coated Glitter Brads 'Lily White' & 'Swimming Pool'
Wink of Stella brush in clear

The little Hedgehogs were fussy cut and I nearly cut the balloon off the little guy at the top!  I also added a touch of Wink of Stella in clear to the ballon to match the brads.

The Birthday celebrations are well and truly over now, just some cake left, which was fabulous in the shape of a Campervan and organised by my wonderful Step Mom.  My turn next month, but it's not a big one.

I would like to enter this card in to the following challenge:

Crafty Critter Crazies ~ Challenge #18

That's all for today, thank you for stopping by and of course for any lovely comments you might leave.

70th Birthday Card

Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well.

We are trying out a new internet gadget today, something to do with 4G.  Our internet is slower than the old 'dial up' used to be.  It was okay when we first moved here, but something happened last Summer and we lost the broadband for a day or so and when it came back on it was pants.  I have tried to get BT to sort it, but they just keep saying we are within the range of their promised speed.  Just lately it seems to have got even worse and no sign of the promised Superfast Broadband, lots of cabling etc around the area, but it was never finished.  So, we have this new thingy and I have to say WOW, it really works.

So, on to my card for this week.  This was a card I made for a really good friend of ours who also happens to be the breeder we got our Majik Beardie from.

As you can see I wasn't shy of using embellishments on this card, a bit different to my last one.

Card recipe:

Designer Paper: First Edition 'Spring Drop'
The 70 was cut out using my Brother Scan N Cut
Dies: Joanna Sheen 'Mini Curly Flourish'
Flowers and gems from my stash

So, that's all from me.  I am off to play on the super whizzy broadband, maybe even visit a few card blogs!

Thank you for stopping by and for any comments you may leave.

Hello Baby Giraffe

Hello everyone,

As promised a new card to post, well new to my blog, but made a while ago.

As I have been feeling a bit down, my card making has been affected as well, my mojo had well and truly 'left the building'.  So, any cards that I made were pared down as I really didn't have the patience to create anything elaborate.

This one was for my Dad's Birthday.

I adore this image, those eyelashes!  As you can see I loved doing the colouring, it was like therapy, but when it came down to making the card I failed in the embellishment department.  Having said that I quite like the way it turned out in the end.

Card recipe:

Image: A Day For Daisies 'Hello Baby Giraffe' coloured with my Copics
Sentiment: Computer generated using the font 'Fabulous 50's' & 'Britannic
Tag Die: Sizzix Framelits ~ Tags: Sentiments
Leaf Die: Simon Says Stamp 'Clustered Leaves'
Brad: Doodlebug Sugar Coated Glitter Brad 'Limeade'

So, note to self, always write down what you have used to make a card, it has taken me forever to remember what was used on this card and looking at some of my lovely fellow card makers blogs, I need to be a bit more 'artistic' with my photos.

That's it for this week, hope you are all well and if there is anyone still following my little blog, any comments you make are always gratefully received.

SAD NEWS .......

Hello everyone,

I have been MIA for a very long time, I have to admit to have been in a 'dark' place for some time.  On Christmas Eve (24th December 2017) in the early hours of the morning we lost our Bearded Collie Sorrell. She had become withdrawn from the rest of the family in the weeks before and was practically living in our bedroom full time.  At about 3am on that morning she woke us wanting to go out, we have a veranda outside our French doors from the bedroom (our bedroom is on the ground floor, it is an upside down house), she went out and did her business then collapsed.  We got her inside and she had very laboured breathing, I got dressed thinking we would need to get her to an emergency vet, but events took their own turn and with one last huge gasp she was gone.  She was fourteen and a half.

Christmas, as you can imagine, wasn't great.  We were on our own this year and that was probably for the best.

I struggled after New year, with all the problems we have had with the house since moving, trying to keep it all together, at one point sobbing down the phone to my Stepmom that I didn't want to be here any more.  I was extremely fragile and anyone who knows me would say I am strong and always see a way through, not this time.

Then in a cruel twist of fate we lost Bailey our beautiful Beardie Boy.  The week beginning 19th February he started really struggling to get up, we had rugs everywhere as our wooden floors were quite slippy.  Hubby went to work on the Monday morning and wasn't due home until the Friday (a usual occurrence as he works away from home full time).  During the next 48 hours Bailey became unable to get up at all and I was having to help him with a towel under neath him to support him, at this point he was still eating and drinking and going outside for his toileting.  I spoke to hubby and we decided this couldn't go on, so I had to make that call and phoned the vets, arranging for them to come to our home, as Bailey hated the vets surgery, no wonder he had been so many times in his lifetime, I arranged for them to come Saturday so Hubby would be home, Bailey was very much 'his boy'.  By Friday evening when Hubby got home, I was in shreds, Bailey was very ill.  So, on Saturday 24th February exactly two months to the day after we lost Sorrell, Bailey Boy gained his wings, he was two weeks shy of his 14th Birthday.

The grief was immense, I was numb, I couldn't do anything, just getting through each day and almost wishing there wouldn't be another one to follow.

Then one day in April I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline and this picture of a Bearded Collie popped up and it was one of my rescue contacts, Shirley who runs Beardies In Need, posting that this was an 8 month old Beardie Boy looking for a new home through no fault of his own, who had been returned to his breeder.  I showed the photo to hubby and he said 'I think you should get him'.  After a couple of messages and a phone call we got in the car and drove across the country to near Hull (we are in North Wales) and collected our new Beardie Boy.  It turned out that I already knew his breeder (the Bearded Collie world is a very small one) and even stranger still it turns out that this breeder had supplied the first foundation girl Beardie to the breeder we got Bailey from all those years ago, so Merlyn and Bailey are related somehow, it was definitely meant to be.   He was called Bobby, but the breeder didn't like that so she had been calling him Dobby, we didn't like either so changed it to Merlyn!  

That has to be the best decision we have made ever, Merlyn has mended our broken hearts, he is a big fluffy, bouncy clown, I had forgotten what it was like to have a Beardie puppy, it being 11 years since getting Majik.

So, here he is .......

Sorry for such a long blog post, but if there is anybody still hanging in there with me (doubtful), then I felt I needed to explain.  I quite often stumble across someone's blog to find they haven't posted anything for a very long time and I wonder what has happened.

I am going to try and post something at least once a week and hopefully get some people interested in my blog again.

Thank you for listening.

Needle Felted 'Oswald'

Hello Blog friends,

I am still here, not producing many cards at the moment (only for family etc).  But I did go on a days course recently to try something new.  The course was a Needle Felting course run by a very talented lady Heather O'Leary of Craftwerk.

I have always wanted to try this craft, so was delighted to find a course being run fairly near to me.

I had the most enjoyable day, there was only two 'students' so the course was very intimate which suited me not being good in large crowds.  Heather is lovely and made us tea and coffee all day long, offered home made cake (her marzipan cake is gorgeous and I don't even like marzipan) and other goodies.

As there were only two of us, we got to make our own individual felted creatures, so I made Oswald my Romanian rescue.

This could be the start of something new, I already have a kit to do (purchased before I went on the course, but was always too scared to try).

We also came away with loads of wool and needle felting basics, so I can start creating other critters. This means you might see my cards interspersed with little creations like this from time to time.

Let me know what you think?

Thank you for visiting, and for any comments you may leave, I love reading them.

Duke

Hello my (hopefully) loyal blog friends.

I have been conspicuous by my absence once again, I mean seriously, 5 months since my last post!!

I have no excuses, except life getting in the way.

I have been making cards, and have photos of everything, but just finding the time to blog has been beyond me.

This is a card made for a male friend, I absolutely adore this image from Mo Manning and once I had purchased it couldn't wait to use it, I think it is perfect for male cards.

I kept the card simple, as I think the image is quite a statement on its own, plus adding lots of embellishments on male cards never seems to work for me.

There has been another 'small' distraction in the household for the last couple of months .....

Please meet Misty

Misty is a Westie and is now 4 months old, she is such a naughty puppy, but adorable.  I have wanted a Westie like forever and finally I have one (didn't think hubby would let me get her, but he did).

Card recipe:

Image: 'Duke' Mo's Digital Pencil coloured with my Copics

Sentiment: Craftwork Cards (sadly it doesn't look as though these are still available)

Brad from my stash

Wow that was a simple card, hardly any ingredients!!

Thank you for visiting, and I really appreciate any comments that you leave.

Magical Birthday Wishes

Hello fellow Blog friends,

I strongly suspect that you have all deserted me, due to the large absence of blogs from my good self.

All I can say is that I will never EVER move house again!!  This has been the most stressful, emotional and tiring event to happen in our lives for the past 15 years.  For the past 12 months or so I have got along on a wish and a prayer, with one disaster after another, way to many to bore you all with.

One very sad event was having to make the heartbreaking decision to let Holly go over the Rainbow Bridge, she had no quality of life any more and it was so sad.  She did make it to 14 and a half which I never thought she would ~ Fly high Holly 😢

I finally feel like we have come out of a very dark tunnel, but it has left us drained and broke 😔

My card making, unfotunately, became a chore.  Every event that loomed on the calendar filled me with a sense of dread, 'another card to make'.

But, as I said I feel we have turned a corner at last and I am now looking forward to enjoying my cards again.

So, this is a card I made for my Stepmother, she loves fairies and her garden resembles a fairy grotto.

That's it for now.  I will try and be back much sooner next time 'promise'.

Thank you for visiting and I really appreciate any comments that you leave.

Card recipe:

Image: Purchased ready die cut from a seller on ebay ~ if anyone knows what this die is I would love to own it?

Background: Lavinia Stamps Scenescape

Corner Stamp: From a 'freebie' set by Sheena Douglas ~ 'A Little Bit Scenic Silhouette Stamp Set'

Sentiment: CC Designs ~ 'Magical Birthday Wishes'

Flowers and gems from my stash