Thursday 31 July 2014

Vintage Style at CCT


Hello!  I am back with a little C6 card to share with you .. .. but oh boy has it taken an age to load the pictures, fingers crossed I can do the post.  This week at Cute Card Thursday our theme is Vintage, and our sponsor is a new company, to us, from Finland called Sunflowerfield - please stop by the the CCT blog to read all about it.

I recently treated myself to a couple of Sylvia Zett's Wee stamps digital images, at least my new printer works after a fashion .. .. still need to fiddle about with settings to get the sizes right. Anyway, here is the little Rowan Fairy, coloured with Copic pens.  I've kept things very simple as this card will either need to be posted, or will end up as one for the Children's Hospice charity shop.

Here she is on the card:

 I've used a kraft base and papers from the Marianne Design French Roses pack PK9106 with inked embossed faux stitching around the edges.  A little beige satin bow and the pale amber liquid pearls around the image mat finish it off - simples!

It's impossible to link up to any challenges, my internet wont load the blogs, even my own takes forever!  So, sorry for not visiting and leaving a comment, sometimes I can manage to see the top post but the pictures aren't always there .. .. I'm going to have to save up for a new machine.

Wednesday 16 July 2014

My newest Marianne Design things!



Life is definitely difficult at the moment!  My internet is virtually non-existent some days (today being one of them) and even on a day when it's working reasonably well, posting can take all day!  I am still not convinced it is all my machine's fault, DH did manage to get about faster with his laptop at the weekend but even he found it slow at times.  I'll have to struggle on for a while .. ..

So, here is my DT card for the next Marianne Design Divas challenge to use your newest MD goodies.  There are two prizes each month, this time Cuddly Buddly and Marianne Design - stop by the challenge blog to see what they are and see the rest of the DT's creations.

I've used a new to me Snoesjes Christmas stamp and coloured him/her with Copics .. .. I think this image could be either a girl or a boy.  Here's the card and the list of MD goodies I've used:


I'm having to keep this short and sweet as I'm likely to loose the connection at any time .. .. so here's the list copied from the Marianne Design Divas blog:

Snoesjes Freezing Cold stamp HM9452 - new stamp
Collectables: jingle bells COL1363 - new die
Craftables: circle CR1248
Creatables: Poinsettia straight LR0122, text LR0225, branch LR0286
Papers: PK9089 and  PK9100

I see that the Divas by Design challenge is for Christmas in July so I'll try to link up with them.

Sorry I'm not able to get around to commenting with the internet connection problems I'm having at the moment. Also, having a few problems getting used to the new diet my GP has put me on .. .. but I hope once I understand what I can and can't eat it will be worth the hours of research, cooking from scratch, and shopping trips to find the ingredients that are ok to eat!

I'll take a break for a couple of weeks then hope to be back with you again.

Thursday 10 July 2014

CCT with Pretty Papers


I am back with my DT card for this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge to create something with pretty papers.  Our sponsor is Whiff of Joy and you can read about the prize and see what the rest of the DT did on the CCT blog.

My card was one I made as alternative for last week's theme, hence the stars, but knowing that this week was going to be pretty papers, I thought it would be better to share with you now.  The papers in question are new from the Marianne Design Garden Party pack PK9108 - and here you can see I even put paper inside too!

The die cuts I used are all by Marianne Design too so here's the list:

star layers with CR1226
flowers with dies in LR0188 and LR0145
leaves from LR0226
Birthday and text stamp COL1349
tag from LR0187

The Charisma Card challenge is an anything goes theme so I can enter my card with them.


I've been having a lot of problems connecting to the internet and after contacting EE on several occasions I'm told it's my machine that's not up to scratch .. .. but since last night things have picked up so I'm not altogether convinced about that.  It has meant that I've not been able to do much other than wait 5-10 mins for each page to load and then just look at pictures .. .. hopefully now I'll be able to leave comments too!

And after trips to the doctor for blood tests and prodding, I'm on a couple of regimes for a month's trial.  The asthma one just needs me to remember to take my steroid inhaler night and morning - but the specialist nurse thinks I might need a different kind as the one I'm on only lasts 8 hours.  I've been doing it religiously for a week now and notice my dips are early morning before I take it, and early evening just as it's time to make a meal, take a walk with DH and the dogs or water the garden .. .. I have a review in August so will see how that goes.  This morning I started on a low FODMAP diet as recommended by the GP, but perhaps shouldn't have eaten all the 'bad' stuff yesterday afternoon to use it up as I'm really suffering now! It's going to be hard not having any stone fruits with all those lovely cherries, peaches and plums in the shop .. .. but perhaps it's my over-indulgence on the cherries recently that has really upset my system, along with the hummus, beans and of course lots of onion/garlicky things too.  I'm doing research trying to find more information other than the list the doctor gave me .. .. the first question being: can I have those little baby french beans?  I know that beans in general come under the Galactans heading that I have to avoid but haven't found info on the runner or french beans.  And what about peas?  Ah well, hopefully in a few days I will start to feel much better.

Saturday 5 July 2014

CCT Seeing Stars



As promised, I'm back with my DT card for Cute Card Thursday's challenge to reach for the stars!  I've not added it to the CCT blog, just in case I mess up the entries so far .. ..   Our sponsor for this challenge is Nikki at Bunny Zoe's crafts, and Nikki has a 15% off weekend sale currently running .. .. I must go take a look!

My card is a simple little 5" square that I make for the Children's Hospice shop in Tavistock (DH delivers them when he's over that way) so there's not too many embellishments and no specific text.  I started out with the Handyman Don stamp from the Don and Daisy collections by Marianne Design then after I'd stamped him up I masked him and added the fence from the Summer scenery set.  I've coloured with my Copic pens, and added my signature faux embossed stitching around the edges of the layers then highlighted with a sandy-brown chalk ink.  Here's the card:


I couldn't resist using some of the papers in the new Garden Party pad PK9108, even if some of the bits are cut off left-overs from another project I've been working on - don't waste a thing!  I even used the tiniest pieces to punch out the stars for the theme - stars always work well with masculine designs I think. I've only used a couple of Marianne Design dies on this card:  the text comes with the banner die set COL1324, and then the corner is cut from COL1342 with the bit I cut off added at the bottom.  I'm always snipping my die cuts apart to create more looks, I'm sure Marianne wouldn't mind.

The Creative Card Crew are looking for masculine cards and Marianne is one of the sponsors this time too, fingers crossed then!

It's Saturday already!

Where does the time go .. .. it's been a strange week here, with the work in the garden still on-going and the workman coming back 'dreckly' so goodness knows when that will be!  I planted some of the new plants for the sunny side myself, but either I got them too close together or I'm going to need a lot more!  This morning I had a tidy up after the rain and picked an assortment of blooms for a summer bouquet, it probably wont last long and the colours clash, but it's nice to have flowers in the house.

I managed to have a day off with hubby on Wednesday, although it wasn't a day off for him, but at least we got to spend some time together even if most of it was in the car.  The last couple of days I've been battling technology and on the phone to EE to figure out why my internet connection is so slow .. .. actually it's the BT line that is slow and there's nowt can be done about it.  This part of Cornwall has beautiful scenery and gorgeous sandy beaches, but is pants for phone signals and internet connections.


I was happy to see one of my cards on the Snoesje blog today - this one I blogged a while ago back in May and you can see it here if you want to know what's on it.

I wasn't able to add my DT card for the Cute Card Thursday stars challenge .. .. but I do have one so will share with you later.

Enjoy your weekend, we have the sunshine back and I have more plants to put in before I can relax and catch up with everyone.  Thanks for dropping by, and thank you for leaving me a comment if you have the time.

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Wee Emily

twice my post has disappeared - probably just as well as I was having a right old moan about it - technology that is and the stresses of life that are getting to me again just now.  So perhaps I'd best not go back there and keep the spiel short and sweet.

My image is one of Sylvia's Wee Stamps digi designs called Emily, also available in rubber from Whimsy Stamps.  I've coloured her with my Copic pens and added a touch of sparkle around the edge of the die cut image.  I've also added sparkle with the Marianne Design snowflake card, but am slightly disappointed that it's ivory rather than snow white although in the picture it's looking brighter so not so bad!  Here's the card:

My base is a scallop square I've turned to make a tent fold and the papers are old K&Co from my stash.  I rounded the corners and added some stitching with a white marker - that's also more ivory so ties in with the sparkly card.  The die cut elements are all by Marianne Design and I've finished off with the stamped bunting, also from MD, a double bow and the pearls I've coloured with Copic RV69 to match.  No flowers on this one as I just couldn't make any that matched in with the image and that I liked, and I wanted to keep the card fairly flat for posting.

So, here's the Marianne Design die list for you:
buttons from LR0188
butterflies from LR0261
leaf spray from LR0150
lace edge CR1250

The Moving Along With The Times blog are celebrating their birthday with bunting and buttons, hence the embellishments on the card for them.  At both Crafty Catz and Papertake Weekly it's an anything goes week, Allsorts are looking for summer girls, and the Fussy and Fancy Friday girls are looking for summertime creations too.

Due to technology problems with internet and my pc, along with the stresses of life here just for the moment, I'm not getting around to commenting on blogs very much - I am sorry.  I do appreciate your visits, and doubly so the kind friends who leave me a comment as reading them does cheer me up, so thank you all.