Dandelion Girl

I'm not getting much time to craft, or to catch up with blogging, these days. Dad is very weak now and I can't get over the change in just a month. I'm giving myself an extra day to rest at home before going back down on Thursday so I can get to see the doctor who visits the Nursing Home and is ultimately in charge of his care - although things could of course change before then.

Today I'm sharing a card with you I've taken ages putting together but finally it's finished! The image is one of Sylvia's new Wee digi designs available from Cuddly Buddly, this is the little dandelion girl and of course she is coloured with Copics. I've used a piece of digi paper for the background, pale yellow cardstock for matting and added a double organza ribbon in pink and yellow as well as the pink pearls made with my Waco pearl pen and the diecut pink and yellow Marianne flower embellishments. Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention the touch of Stardust Stickles on the dandelion fluffs and her petticoat.

Copic colours I used:
skintones - E000, 00, 21, R00
hair - E50, 51, 53, 55
pinks - RV0000, 00, 02, 32
yellows - Y0000, 000, 00, 02
a touch of G00
shadow with B63, B60 and an old B60 topped up with blender refill to make it even paler

I'm entering a few challenges with my card: Stampavie and More for pink creations, Paperplay for blossoms and blooms, and Totally Papercrafts for pink and girly.

Thank you for stopping by and double thanks for leaving me a comment - I'm going to try and get around to some blogs this afternoon in between the dreaded housework!

Winter Fairy

Sylvia has 3 new digi images out now at Cuddly Buddly, this one is the Winter Fairy and I've coloured her with my Copics with a touch of Stardust Stickled snow. I've gone for the traditional Christmas colours of red and green but kept to pastel green for a more girly feel and used the red for highlights. I've drawn a white line around the edge of the patterned papers then added pricked faux stitching before matting with textured green cardstock. The fancy edge is cut with a Nellie's Choice die, the poinsettia is created from Marianne die cuts and the holly leaves are a punch. To finish I've added red gems plus a clear sparkle gem to the centre of her snowflake wand.

Copic colours used to colour Winter Fairy
skintones - E000, 00, 21, R00
hair, bird, boots and coat - E50, 51, 53, 55
fur trims and wings - R0000, 000, 00
reds - R14, 27, 29
greens - G40, 82, 24
shadow - C0, 1, 2

The challenge on the A Spoonful of Sugar blog is for wings - perfect! And on the Lollipop Crafts blog it's to bling it - sparkle and gems should do!

Ahoy there!

Today's card is put together with another image I managed to colour last week using the cute Pirate Treasure stamp from Nellie's Choice. The Critter Sketch challenge blog have a recipe to use 3 colours (mine are blue, green and brown), 2 buttons and 1 ribbon - I did cut my one piece of ribbon into little bits though so hope it's ok. As the background of the digi papers I used is a stony colour rather than white, I shadowed my image with E40, 41, 42, and 43 and also coloured a plain piece of card with the E40 before handwriting the Ahoy! text with a blue Sakura Soufflé pen - also used on his dotty headscarf but not showing up too well in the picture.

Copic colours I used to colour my pirate:
skintones - E000, 00, 21, R11
hair and brown bits - E11, 13, 15, 18, 33, 35, 39
greens - YG00, 21, 23, 25, 17
blues - B000, 00, 02, 05
grey on belt buckle, trims on treasure chest and blunderbuss - C0, 1, 2, 3, 5

A while back I joined the Outlawz forum group and each Friday there is a Copic/Promarker challenge - this week it's open so I'll enter my little pirate!

And the Charisma Cardz challenge is for boys creations so here's mine for them too.

As the card is for a little boy I couldn't add any pretty flowers - but I'm on the look out for a little anchor charm or die cut to add in that bottom right stripy square. There are lots of girly challenges around at the moment so I'd better put my little boys away for a bit and turn out the pink stuff!

Oops!

Here's a simple card I've put together with the new LOTV Oops! little boy stamp. He's coloured with Copics and I've used a piece of magazine paper with pricked faux stitching matted with green cardstock for the base, cut a scallop mat from the same card for my image mat and pricked the faux stitches around the edge to tie it together. I've wrapped a lenghth of green seam binding around, stamped the 'boy' and bigger green star with Tea Leaves Versamagic chalk ink and cut out the star to fix with a 3d pad with a smaller punched orange star to zing things up a bit. The smaller orange stars are left over bits from a die-cut border - well we crafters never throw anything away!

Here's a list of some of the Copics I used to colour Oops! - I can't remember all of the details though as I coloured this image last week and my list doesn't seem to be complete .. ..

skin tones - E000, 00, 21
hair and pot - YR20, 21, 24, E33
flowers - YR04, 07
blues - B91, 93, 95, 97, 99
greens - YG93, 95, 97
bat and ball - E50, 51, 53
shadow - W0, 1, 2, 3

The only challenge that I could enter is the one at My Time To Craft where you need to include die cuts .. .. well I die cut my image and mat with Nesties and my little orange stars fell out of a die cut so hopefully that's enough, although I'm sure there will be stunning creations with lots more die cut elements than on my little card.

There's little change with my Dad at the moment, which I guess is good. Hopefully he will move into a new room today at the Nursing Home - yesterday when I visited they were finishing re-decorating and waiting for the paint smell to disappear. He will have a proper hospital bed which will make turning him easier and with a back rest so he can sit up without a pile of pillows that keep collapsing. He's still enjoying his food but is missing Mum and feeling depressed knowing that he is just biding time until the tumour invades more of his brain and eventually kills him. I hope that in the future if I am in a similar situation our government will have legalised euthanasia - we certainly would not let our dear animals suffer beyond the point of loss of dignity, quality of life, and knowing there was no hope for the future.

Little Nurse

Such a bad picture today! I'm up in my re-organised craft room and took the picture a few days ago with my desk lamp and zooming in on the camera .. .. so it's gone a bit fuzzy. The centres of the flowers are sticky-outy too and that's not showing up at all. On the plus side, the computer is at the end of my craft table, although I have to make sure the signal is green before I can go with the internet. On the minus side I wont be getting as much exercise running up and down the stairs between the two!

This is another C6 card for the Marie Curie appeal and I've used more freebie magazine paper along with a pretty blue shade of cardstock from Stampin' Up! for the matting and to die cut the Marianne leaves. I've coloured my LOTV little nurse with Copics, diecut the flowers and punched a little butterfly then finished off with the pearl maker pens in pink and white.

Copic colours I used to colour the image:
skintones - E000,00
hair and bear - E31, 33, 35, 37
pinks - RV000, 00, 02, 32, 34
blues - B41, 45, 52, 93
apron and cap - E0000, 40, 41
shading - C0, 1, 2

The Stamptacular Sunday challenge this week is called BEARnecessities, to include a teddy bear, so I'm going to enter my card with them along with Totally Papercrafts who don't want you to be square, and at Crafty Catz it's an anything goes challenge.

It's been a stressful few days with my Dad and reluctantly on Friday afternoon he was admitted to a nursing home near by. I visited with Mum yesterday afternoon - it breaks my heart to see him now but I need to stay strong for Mum. Thankfully neighbours and friends are able to take her to visit when I'm not around and I have to get some rest as I feel myself teetering on the edge of a major ME relapse, but can't do anything about it. Dad is still quite 'with it' mentally and has a good appetite, and although his room is small the staff seem kind and help him get out of bed into a wheel chair to take meals in the dining room. We weren't able to get him out of bed at home so I keep telling myself that it's a good move ... ... ... The tumour is affecting his mobility and he has lost the use of most of the left side of his body including hearing and eyesight. My sister is arriving at Mum's today so I am trying to rest but find myself drifting from room to room unable to concentrate on anything much. I'm going back on Wednesday but don't know for how long so will catch up when I can.

Lazy Days

I managed to put a DT card together for this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge to stamp and colour onto kraft cardstock. After seeing Wynneth working on her DT card last Monday afternoon, I wanted to have a go .. .. a quick rummage found just enough SU! kraft card for another C6 Marie Curie card and this dotty K&Co paper was the perfect match for it! I've coloured my LOTV Lazy Days chap with my Copics then added white pencil highlights and blue pencil for the background sky. For embellishment I've punched out the MS Hydrangea flowers from the dotty paper and layered them up with a touch of Platinum Stickles in the centres, then punched the fronds from cream card and inked the edges before stickling as well. The little metal clip is from my stash with a snip of seam binding tied around it, then I cut the Marianne die swirl LRO157 from Kraft for a bit of interest at the bottom of the card.

I used these Copics to colour the little chap:
skintones - E00, 21, 93
hair & shoes - E35, 57
cap & shorts - E11 15, 57
paper & socks - E40, 41
greens - YG93, 95

Lily of the Valley's challenge for this week is titled 'here comes summer' - what better than a relaxing snooze on a warm sunny day under the shade of a tree!

Just Cricket!

Here's my scheduled post - I hope! I didn't have enough of the magazine paper to make another C6 card but managed to do a little patchwork for a small 120mm square cream base. This is the LOTV little lad playing cricket, coloured with my Copics then with a plain blue mat before mounting on to the Soft Suede scallop mat. Unfortunately I made a boo-boo when cutting out the image and had to place the Marianne die cut flower embellishment to hide the mistake! I found the blue brads in my stash to finish things off and stamped a little text, albeit wonky! My Dad always listens to the cricket on the radio so this card reminds me of him, although I don't know if he will be around for me to give it to him for Father's Day this year.

Copics I used to colour:
skintones - E000, 00, 21
and a little pink blush that I can't remember
hair and shoes - E71, 74, 77, 79
jeans - B91, 93, 95
jumper and bat - E50, 51, 53
stumps and knee pads - E40, 41, 42
grass - YG93, 95
shadows - W0, 1, 2, 3, 5

There's an 'Anything Goes' challenge on the A Spoonful of Sugar blog this week so this is my entry for them but I will have to link up when I'm back home again.

Abracadabra!

My new little boy stamps arrived from LOTV and in between doing the laundry I've managed to make a couple of cards to share with you - here is the first one. It's another C6 simple design for the Marie Curie charity with more of the freebie magazine papers, a piece of satin dark blue ribbon to hide the join and matting with soft suede cardstock from Stampin' Up! To embellish I've stamped the LOTV circular greeting and punched golden stars that I fixed with foam pads to give a little extra dimension and interest. Today I remembered to make a note of the Copic pens I used to colour the image and the greeting:

skintones: E000, 00, 21
hair and teddy: E11, 33, 35
blues: B91, 93, 95, 97, 99
greens: YG93, 95, 97, G99
socks and book pages: E40, 41, 43
moon and stars: Y13, 15 and Spica gold pen
shadows: W0, 1, 2, 3, 5

The Sweet Stampin' challenge is either a sketch, or to use spots, stripes and sparkle - I've gone for the latter.

I'll schedule my card for tomorrow as I'm back to Mum & Dad's for the day.

Get Well Bunny

I've made this card for the Marie Curie charity appeal that is run at my local Do-Crafts craft store. Dad has had a couple of Marie Curie night sitters recently to give Mum a break so I am very happy to combine my love of craft and donate a few of my cards. They have to be C6 and left blank inside and also fit in a standard envelope so no big sticky out embellishments. I've stamped this cute LOTV sick bunny then coloured with Copics. The spotty paper is from a magazine and I've matted with soft orange cardstock, punched a flowery border and added a stripy ribbon across then added flowers made with a Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch and soft pink handmade paper, then to finish I've added the pearls and Marianne diecut swirls and fronds.

I didn't make the card with any challenges in mind, but then when I looked I found I could enter these: Papertake Weekly for punches and die cuts, Charisma Cardz for under the weather (get well), Crafty Creations have an anything goes theme as do Stamp Something, and Totally Gorjuss don't want to see squares.

I'm not getting around to doing much commenting just at the moment, I do hope you will forgive me for not visiting. When I do have a few free moments I'm trying to craft as the colouring really does help me to relax and takes my mind off things. And now that some new LOTV stamps have landed on my door mat I'll be having fun with my Copics when I can.

Nativity

Well I'm not sure where the first Princess post got too - Mr Blogger said he was putting them back but he seems to have missed mine out. Oh well, onward and upward as they say. I'm jumping ahead to winter with my next card and should get to work on my Christmas stash as I'm way behind this year.

This stamp is called Mary and Joseph from LOTV and, along with the other children's Nativity designs I'm working on, is made at the request of the Landrake Parish Church Vicar for my table at their Christmas fair. I've coloured with Copics: I think I've used the E40 shades for the beige-browns, B90s for the blue clothing, R0s for the swaddling wrap and B0s for the background sheet - I can't remember what yellows I used for the star and bear, sorry. The shadows are done with warm greys 0-3. The background papers are digi scraps from my stash with faux stitches pricked around the edge and I've matted the layers with Sahara Sand cardstock by Stampin' Up! Far less embellishments for this card today, just a snowflake created with Marianne dies. I hope to put a couple more Nativity designs together to share with you next week - I've almost finished the colouring so just need to sort out the papers.

Bah! Humbug! are looking for snowflakes, and Christmas Stampin' All Year Long would like to see stitching, thankfully it doesn't have to be real!

My Dad is slowly declining, he is quite week on the left side now and blind in the left eye. He keeps falling asleep and will, I am told, eventually slip into a coma and fade away. We are visiting again tomorrow and I have my bags packed ready to drive down and stay when we reach that final stage or if my Mum feels she'd like me there to stay. At the moment he still enjoys his food and isn't worrying about having puddings, cake and chocolate treats! So, I'm off to Waitrose to see what could possibly tempt him, and me!

It's my party!

Well it seems that Mr Blogger has lost my post from yesterday, so rather than post another card here it is again! It's getting late and I've had a tiring day, so maybe there's a chance it might pop up again and you can read all about it. If I remember rightly, I've entered into the following challenges (not sure if I should link again as the first link obviously wont work now):

Lily of the Valley for ribbons and bows, Moving Along With The Times for 2 or more 'Bs' - I have brown, blue, brads, bling, a butterfly and a bow, and Stampavie and More also for ribbons. I think there was another one but my brain is already asleep and I'm not 100% convinced Mr Blogger won't loose this post .. .. ..!

Wee Fluffy

I have been able to put this card together this afternoon, it was very theraputic being able to craft today after all the stresses of the past week or so. My Dad came home from the hospital this afternoon, and although I had hoped to be there I've had to take some time out to recover my own strength but hope to go back tomorrow as there are things to sort out. I was lead to believe that the support system would be in place before he was let out of hospital - but there's been NOTHING! The ambulance dropped him off with a bag of pills and his walking frame - that was it! Mum had to ring the ward to find out what tablets he had already had and what/when the next lot are due. The district nurse's office was just an answer machine and we have no idea if anyone is going to turn up to help put him to bed tonight, or if the Marie Curie night sitter will come either - I am cross and will try to keep calm tomorrow when I am chasing them all up!

Anyhow, back to my card. This is the cute digi image of Wee Fluffy on Lily of the Valley, available from Cuddly Buddly coloured with my Copics plus a pearl acrylic wash over the flowers to give a shimmer (not showing up though). The papers are digi scraps and I've used the sketch from the Corrosive Challenge blog for the card layout with flowers and pearls for embellishment. The For Fun challenge is for spring, and the Daring Cardmakers are looking for May flowers, Hawthorn or Lily of the Valley. Every May in Helston, Cornwall the Flora Dance takes place, and for the midday dance the ladies and gentlemen are dressed to the nines with sprigs of Lily of the Valley pinned to their frocks and in their buttonholes - if you'd like to see pictures from last year's dance look here.

The Digital Tuesday blog challenge is entitled 'thinking of you'. Although my Dad is very much on my mind and has influenced the text greeting I have used on my card, I think perhaps I've gone a bit too girly for him with the roses and pearls!

Planted with love

I had this image coloured up on my desk - it's an old Sugar Nellie stamp design by Elisabeth Bell and I've coloured with Copics. I've managed to put this card together for a couple of challenges I've read about: first, the Belles 'n' Whistles blog challenge with the sketch and an Elisabeth Bell stamped image of course, the Corrosive Challenge blog to use turquoise and pink, the One Stop Craft challenge to use stitches - mine are fake, and over on the Papertake Weekly blog it's anything goes.

I've used digi papers from Cuddly Buddly then embellished with ribbon, pearls, a lacy circle die-cut and butterflies by Nellie's Choice, punched flowers and fronds by Martha Stewart and diecut turquoise leaves from Marianne die LR0141.

Thank you for all your kind words of support for me and my family. Dad is still in hospital but hopefully will be able to come home early next week if we can arrange nursing care. I'll be going back to stay on Monday when my sister has to go home, in the mean time I'm visiting on Sunday and trying to rest tomorrow ... ... easier said than done! My GP has given me some sleeping tablets which worked very well last night, so with a couple more nights sleep I should be able to cope with it all again next week.

My Dad

Update: I am home for a few days rest although that might be cut short at any time. Unfortunately the outlook is grim and the time is short. I will know how short later today. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for my Dad and family, we are very grateful and touched by the kindness of strangers, and dear friends too.



I have some bad news about my Dad. He has a brain tumour and as my Mum doesn't drive I am going to be staying with her for the next few days so she can visit him in hospital. After that I expect to be staying/visiting them a lot in the coming months. Consequently I'm not going to be crafting or blogging and as Mum doesn't have internet access I wont be able to visit anyone either. I am hoping that I might be able to craft from time to time, probably as therapy for myself, but for now I'm not sure when that will be.