SO EXCITED

It's The Blackpool Air Show this weekend and I am so excited....
its not because of the airplanes not even the unforgettable Red Arrows display or the Wing-Walkers (although they are awesome).

It's not because of the Blackpool seaside resort (I only live  down the road in the next town!) the reason I am so excited is because the family are coming again \o/ wahoooo 2 visits within less than 2 months that is a real record. Once a year my family usually come to visit and we all have a seaside weekend together, Ethan, my grandson loves it here,  Blackpool tower, the piers and especially the trams. We have a unspoken rule that Ethan gets a tram ride every time they visit!

This year has been special and I am so grateful for that! I feel a lot closer to my family, we have spent a lot more time together this year which has been a deep desire of my heart.

So here they come travelling north up the M6 in the morning! hope watch this space for the photos after this weekend

Baby Bear Centre Step Card

I have been very busy designing some baby cards which I will be selling. This version is a centre step card with a personalised greeting featuring my sitting down Boo Bear, here's a close up I think he is so cute!

Greetings changed to your requirements!

The centre step card base is created using good quality white linen card which has been embossed with swirls then the pretty mock lacy blanket background is cut and embossed using baby blue card, baby feet, stars and the banner are also cut from the same pastel baby blue card

The cross is cut from white card. Faux Pearls accentuate parts of the finished card

as you can see this card is made with a greeting for grandparents to give to their baby grandson on his Christening day

But I can make this greeting for the occasions of

Birth, Dedication, Christening, Baptism, Adoption.

The baby names will appear on the banner as supplied by the customer when ordering but if the names are too long the font or font size may need to be altered to make them fit!

the greeting can be changed to 

"Congratulations on the Birth of Your Beautiful Bay Son

or anything else that fits

The cross will only be added onto

Christening, |Baptism, Dedication cards. 

or by customer request on birth or other cards

I am just going over to Etsy now to create a listing for this card

and my other cards as I finalise the designs

all of my cards unless otherwise stated are available in white with pale blue, pale pink, lemon, lilac and pale mint green accents

other card designs will include..

baby pram  die cut

baby in a sling die cut

baby bear stamped images

baby bear die cut (as this one is)

Boo Bear (die cut) with age numbers for children

die cut bunting names

watch this blog for more information 

and samples as the become available

All of my cards are created in my smoke free studio 

I have a West Highland Terrier (LULU)  but she doesn't play 

with my card making stash as she doesnt have any thumbs1

Thankful, Blessed and on Track!

I'm so thankful and so blessed. At the beginning of the year on new years eve I always make lists after praying through the Christmas period. These lists will include what I want to stop doing and what I want to do more of! what I want to achieve and where I want to go! Goals for the coming year! even which rooms to decorate or new furniture etc we want to get. Not new years resolutions! that doesn't work for me, but goals to work towards. One of the major goals for 2015 was to spend more time with my son and his family. We set our goal at every 6 to 8 weeks. well I am glad to say we are well on track with that as we got together in  March & April for 4 birthdays, May and June for fun and Matt came and decorated for me in February so that was almost every month so far \o/

I have particularly enjoyed spending quality time with my family this month as firstly they came to stay with us for the weekend
(24-26 /06) so that Ethan could go to the Lytham Club day procession, Matthew & Michaela needed a break too.

He enjoyed the  procession and the time on the beach at Fleetwood on a beautiful summer's day, it was just what the doctor ordered for all of us as there had been stress and severe battles in all of our lives.

It was such a special relaxing time. Then on Sunday before returning home to Wednesbury, Ethan and Michaela popped into the church BBQ to meet the folk that have been praying for Ethan. Wow that made my heart sing!!!

Ethan went to get a burger and came back with a plate full of them, I gasped, Ethan you cant have that many!!! "Nanna" said Ethan "I am serving" then he went round and offered them to folk...I smiled so much I beamed! that made my day! I spent the rest of the week with them at there house and although I was poorly with a bad cold then chest infection I enjoyed staying with them. Michaela really looked after me and we caught up on our favourite programme "Don't Tell the Bride" Bless you Michaela xx
2015 New years List...
Here are some of the other things on my 2015 list.....

• I want to go to the Isle of White for our holiday never been there bt always wanted to.
• I also would love to see a white Peacock in real life, although I will have to find one !!? 
• I have already lost some weight although not dieting as such.
• I am still trying not to jump into situations and say the wrong thing without prayerfully listening first that's mostly working!
• But to be honest the no chocolate rule hasn't worked yet! 
• We have decorated the lounge 
• And have a new cooker 

So I am very happy that most of the list is being or has been acted upon, just gotta book that holiday now! so, even though I am still feelin very rough I am thanking God for all that's been achieved in this first six months of 2015.

And for my awesome husband Kev and family Matthew, Michaela and Ethan who give me many reasons to be a joyful wife, mother and grandmother...Thank You Jesus!

Independance Day Step Card

I'm sharing an Independence day card with you today....
Two weeks ago I was searching for a suitable balloon die for the new baby cards I will be selling soon. (all will be revealed lol), While searching I found a die set from Sizzix designed by Stephanie Barnard, I watched a youtube video to find out more

I bought this set which arrived last Thursday. There are 23 dies in the set. In comparison with buying just one balloon die I really have found myself a bargain. In the set are the main dies for creating the base and an L shaped layering piece for the front, then 3 different sized balloon dies and three shadows for them. also 3 different tails for the balloons, There are also 3 dies to cut patterns in the balloons and a die which cuts a tiny row of balloons too. The words "Happy, Birthday, For, You" and their shadows complete the set, such a versatile collection of dies.
So the first make with this set had to be a card for my American friends who will celebrate Independence day on July 4th

Stars stripes and plain scrapbooking papers were used to die cut the balloons and other pieces after cutting the main piece from plain white card, 

a star punch was used for the star embellishments and my Sizzix Alphabet Framelits set was used to cut the letters and numbers. The card came together very easily, I am very happy with the results

I am entering this card into some challenges as follows...

Crafty Creations: Red White and /or Blue #292
Pile It On: Flag Colours #75
Creative Craft Cottage: Spots or Stripes #42
Craftin Desert Diva's: Red White & Blue

Magic Window Card

 I love it when I find a shape or technique which I have never tried before. This week I found a magic window card, I found inspiration for this card from You-Tube. After Googling it I realised that some folk called it a shutter card too! I knew this interactive card would be just right for the encouragement card I needed to make for friends who are going through some painful health problems.

I followed a tutorial HERE at first without embellishing it to just make the card and learn how the shutter part worked, but it was a bit small at 4"x4"so I made it again to measure 6 x 4, a size I felt happier with.

I love the way this magic circle (or shutter) card works ...as the card is opened the shutter inside opens to reveal the "Thinking or You" message, it reminds me of a camera lens shutter in slow motion, . I found it hard to stop playing with it LOL! The "think bubble" was made using a die from an X-Cut speech bubble set which looks a bit like a cloud, I cut it from a piece of card then cut around it to make a frame around the aperture. I used tiny flower and scalloped oval punches for the bubbles!

The dark blue and green colour combo is one of my favourites especially when the green is somewhere between sage and lime!
I had a dotty theme going on inside with the scrapbooking papers and embossing folders I used, all the papers were from K&Company "Hopscotch" 6x6 scrapbooking paper pad.

This was also a good opportunity to use the fabulous Owl Builder punch from Stampin' Up, I love this cute little owl it's fab for using up the scraps of card and papers which I cant bear to throw away! I used tiny black sticky flat back pearls to complete the eyes, are these owls cute or what? they always make me smile LOL
I also used the Stampin' Up embosslets butterfly folder which die cuts and embosses 5 different butterflies at the same time, such a useful thing to have! I layered the butterflies and used flat back gems to complete them. The bellyband (first picture) uses the Stampin Up framelits labels collection and the matching pricking template.

The "We Are",   "Thinking of You"  "& Praying" were all computer generated. I didn't want the card to become too fussy and lose the simple message that "We Are Thinking of You & Praying" so I didn't add any more embellishments.

I find it hard to see family and friends go through stuff, I wanna wave my magic wand and make it all better and easier for them. but I don't have one!!! I do have something far far better though.....My faith in God! and the power of prayer! and the hope that brings.

I'm entering this card into some card making challenges...
Get Creative: "Butterflies"
Creatalicious: "Butterflies"
Dragonfly Journeys: "What's the word, Bird"
Crafty Hazelnuts: "Patterned Papers"
AAA Cards: "Woodlands + Something New

Cards Galore: "Anything Goes"

Craft Your Passion: "Anything Goes"
Sisters of Craft: "Anything Goes"

I think I have ticked all those boxes! I have butterflies, birds, the woodlands is an owl and the something new is the magic circle card itself, I have used patterned papers and yes anything goes!

here's hoping for a win! but have to say i had mega fun wth this one.

thanks for dropping by, I love  to see who has visited so please leave comments, God bless you and all you set your crafty hands to do! xx

to pin

this post is just to enabLe me to pin the photo's of my accordion card posted previously, The images that I posted  bit oversized would not pin to pinterest so just posting this to sort that issue! if you want to see the origina post and details of the dies I used then scroll down to the previous post, thank you

Accordion card for Barbara

I am very pleased and proud of this Accordion Birthday card which I finished yesterday. I love it...

This one took an age to do mainly because apart from knowing I wanted to have Barbara's name running through it I couldn't decide on how to embellish it. so just stared at it for quite some time LOL

Then I raided my collection of dies and punches and found inspiration to bring it all together. Once I actually got going I really enjoyed getting back into my creative card making flow.

so here's what I did...

The base was cut from white card seven times. The framelit type die set is the Elizabeth Craft Fancy Labels Accordion Dies by Karen Burniston. this would give the card stability! I then cut the same die shapes again with scrapbooking papers eight times, (the extra cut was for the other side of the first one! I then cut the centres from the frames and stuck them on to the base card mixing the patterned papers. I didn't want to use big bold papers because the style of the card needed to be more feminine, kinda soft and elegant just like Barbara.

I used the smaller label dies from the set using pink and white card to layer onto the centres and used my set of Sizzix Sizzlets Curlz alphabet to cut the letters for Barbara's name..... then I was a bit lost for a while but finally after thinking for far too long! I used the Petite Petals rubber stamps from Stampin' Up with the matching punch to create the flowers they are just the right size for this project. The bird builder punch was just right for creating the leaves and  I added sticky back pearls for the flower centres (I noticed one had fallen off before I gave it but after the photo's had been taken ggrrrr!!).
After sticking all the little tabs to assemble the concertina of the
accordion card I used my Tattered Lace Rose corner die for the swirly bits and used the Tattered Lace Dove, and a Butterfly die on top I also used my Marianne Design little bird on branch die and some more butterflies some of which were cut using the Stampin' Up Butterfly Embosslits such a useful little thing which cuts and embosses at the same time 5 differently sized and styled butterflies.
I chose not to put happy birthday on it as first planned so that if Barbara choose to, she can display it after her birthday  the final step was to print a message for the back of the card and job done!

This was quite a time consuming card so I don't think I will ever make them to sell but to be honest Barbara is well worth it...Happy Birthday Barbara. I always make her a very different card, last year it was a box card with lots of sunflowers in it but to be honest I haven't a clue how I will beat this one!

I'm entering this creation into some challenges as follows
Fantastic Tuesday : Anything Goes + Flowers
Crafty Gals Corner : Flowers
Wags N Whiskers : Lots of Layers
Penny's Paper Crafty : More Than One Fold
Pink Gems : More Than One Fold
Inspiration Destination : Anything Goes
Suzy Bees Bloomin' : Anything Goes + Pink
Sister Act : Anything Goes
(click on the challenge name to go to their website)
Well its definitely pink, has some stamped and die cut flowers and much more than one fold and lots of layers!...
here's hoping for a win, I find it so encouraging when i win even if there's no prizes :o)

thanks for dropping by!
please leave a comment before you leave :o)

I thought I would just share a few photo's of my little trip out last Sunday. we had a wonderful time at church and felt we wanted to go out somewhere afterwards but not too far so we went home got a snack and a drink and our doggy "Lulu" then made our way to Scorton. Usually we spend a lot of time at the Barn in Scorton where we have a bite to eat and a browse around all the gifts and the garden plants but this time we went straight to the picnic area a little further on, we had a fabulous time out in the country with the sweet aroma from the bluebells...

some other flowers in the woods...

not sure what this yellow flower is below but it was very bright

 and the freedom my mobility scooter gave me (wasnt easy on the gravel paths at times) its nice to be silly sometimes especially when theres a little hill to scoot down LOL!

we felt so chilled out it was nice to just relax and enjoy each 

others company out in the woodlands

Lulu had a lovely time too,

she wanted the birds but they were too fast and high up lol

Then when we sat on some logs to have our snack she started digging. She could smell a rodent or two! she loved digging but didnt like that as soon as we returned home she had to have a bath 

My Kev always pulls faces when I want a nice photo! but this one turned out ok and below is the river which runs alongside the path. the water was quite a lot higher than our last visit

The only thing I regret was not taking my camera so all these photo's were taken using our phone camera's but we still got some nice photo's

after such a good time we did go to the Barn before it closed and enjoyed one of their speciality ice creams, 

a perfect end to a lovely day out

Spotlight Technique, Sheltering Tree

I've been doing a lot of crochet lately as I have been a bit low but made a card today so thinking I am nearly back on top again!

I have been looking at cards on pinterest using the spotlight technique, it is a lovely way to pick some detail out of a stamped image and mke it a focal point. There seems to be two ways of creating a spotlight card. The way I have tried first here is to make one with an aperture...the image is stamped then an aperture  is cut from the image focusing on particular point then another image is coloured in or changed somehow then lined up beneath the aperture to the first image.. I used the fabulous Stampin Up Sheltering Tree stamp set. 

I created a plain bare tree on a grey background, I wanted to emphasize the change in seasons from winter to spring.I used the leaves/blossom stamp to create a cherry blossom type tree in full bloom. 

I think this is a good card to give to encourage anyone who is going through a hard time, a bereavement or a long term struggle to rimind them that seasons change, even if it feels like winter in your life with very little hope or positivity thats not the end its just a season! and we all know that our times and seasons are in God's hands!

The sentiment is created using an Our Daily Bread Designs stamp cropped then re-stamped in full inside. the butterflies were cut using stampin up embosslits butterfly folder.

I first saw a similar card on Pinterest HERE it inspired my first spotlight card ;O)

its good to get back into challenges, here where i entered this card
AAA Cards Game... #38 "There's a hole n my card"
Crafting from the Heart... #58 "Anything goes"
Make My Monday... Trees or Leaves
Stamp and Create... May Flowers
well my card fits all four of these challenges so lets hope for a win!