Hi all and welcome,
It's lovely to be back with you and..... crafting again!  I am still not able to craft everyday as I am still so busy and doing any sort of physical work wears me out completely.  It can take anything from one to four days to recover.  But please don't see that as such a bad thing, it's my life now and I am, on the whole, use to it.  I don't like the pain, I hate it, but after almost 13years I have learned to adjust my life around it so that I can still function, it's just on a slower more delicate pace.  With the big upheavel in my life recently I have had to learn to cope all over again and that is why I am often away from the blog for more than a day at a time.  My daughter and her partner have been helping me restructure the house so that everything has its permanent place, making cleaning & tidying much easier and quicker.  We started on the attic today and ended up with a boot full of unwanted items to go to the skip and a few bags for the charity shop too; so I am feeling really good about it all now.  Hopefully a few more visits from my daughter will be enough to have the bulk of it finished and then I can relax and get on with life.
Well now you know what I have been up to it's time for my card as promised.

I stamped the tailors dummy and cut off the wings.  I used one half of the wings on the sprocket below and the other was used on the notebook I created the other day.  I replaced the wings on the dummy with some metal ones I had in my stash and then I used the Rock Princess cartridge and my Cricut Expression to cut out a winged heart and the clock face..
Next I cut some sprockets & gears using Spellbinder dies and stamped another smaller butterfly to finish off the clock face.  Finally I added some chain, a metal clock and key charm (the key is behind the clock face sorry.  I didn't notice it was hidden till now). 

Here you can see the depth of the layered wings and the key charm is actually visible here.
So there you have it:  grungy, full of created imagery and mechanisms,  do you think it passes for a good representation of Steampunk?   I know some of you are not partial to this type of cardmaking but it is quite fun to do as you can go alittle wild and be a bit messy too, so why not have a little go yourselves and see what fantasy world you can imagine.
I have a lovely CAS card for you next, hopefully tomorrow, but if not it will most certainly be before the weekend.  It is using the lovely Tied together embossing folder from Creative Expressions.

I do hope you all have an inspiring day today and are blessed with a good day too.  Take care,  Linda xx

Winner as chosen by you

Good morning all,
I'm sorry to say but it's a very quick post again today as I must try to get some sleep.  But that's enough of me, I can bore myself sometimes.... lol!!

First I must say a big thank you to everyone that took the time to vote.  You are so thoughtful and such good sports and I am truly grateful.  We had 12 sets of votes in all and from those votes we have a clear winner.

The first place winner is:-

No.5 Andrea Ewen

Congratulations Andrea, please Email me to confirm your win and to let me know which stamp you would like from LOTV as part of your prize.

I have also decided to do a second prize winner as the entries were all so glorious. So without further ado-

The second prize winner is:-

No.18 Helen Mitchell

Congratulations Helen, please Email me to confirm your win and I will post off your surprise gift.

Well that's it for another Challenge, thank you all very, very much indeed.  I have really enjoyed seeing all the entries and the wonderful inspiration.  Isn't it great how we see cards everyday and yet we can still find new and exciting ways to do things.

Tomorrow  I have a Steampunk card to show you, something a little different again.  I have mixed it up a bit using my Cricut expression, Spellbinder dies and some stamped images (including the other half of the butterfly I used on my notebook; didn't want to waste it now did I!!).  I even used some jewellery chain for added dimension and texture.  I hope you can stop by again and give me your opinion; good or bad, your opinions are always welcome.

Have a wonderful day and I hope it stays dry where you are.  Hugs Linda xx

All the Challengers

Hi all,
Well while I was wide awake I had little time to myself.  When I had time, I fell asleep.... can you believe it..LOL!!  Nevermind it may be late as I prepare this post but I am here now and I have decided to make things a little different.
Before I talk to you about the winner of our Almost White Challenge, I would like to show you all the entries once more.

1.Sue Pass  

2.Christine Harrop

3.Jenny Lawrence

4.Jenny Lawrence

5.Andrea Ewen

 

6.Christine Harrop

 7.Christine Hussey

8.Melanie

9.Linda Wescott

 10.Mags

11.Oksana

12.Kim

13.Regena

14.Nicola

15. Patricia

16.Linda Wescott

17.Ani

18.Helen Mitchell

19.Christine Hussey

What a collective of talent and array of ideas. 

These are all so lovely and are all truly winners;  however, one has to be chosen, so I have made a decision to let you chose the winner!  Yes that's right YOU vote naming your top three and I will do the rest. 
Just EMAIL me your TOP THREE and I will post the winner tomorrow.   I will leave the vote open until 10pm tonight, so please try and vote even if you have entered yourself, but please DO NOT vote for yourself.

My final SPECIAL SURPRISE IS:-   

If I receive more than 15 votes I will put up a 2ND prize!!

So now it's up to you, get your votes in as soon as possible and lets see if we can win a prize for a second winner too.

Before I go I have the finished Notebook to show you at last.  I do hope you like my creation, it was a bit of a fight to finish it as I was unsure what to do for the best; I didn't want anything too fussy but I wanted to make it a little special.  I think I got there in the end, see what you think.

First I used my new Memory box swirl die and then started cutting some up to make a bigger swirl.

I cut away the same piece at the bottom of two diecuts, one at an angle and one straight cut.

Then I attached them to the top diecut and glued a reversed one to the bottom (The paper arrows show their positioning).   To be able to reverse the diecut I put each one under a piece of baking parchment and rubbed over firmly with a bone folder. This flattened them so they looked alike.

This is how it looked before I started painting and attaching mica flakes etc.

I used Martha Stewart multi purpose metallic paint on the letters and then sprinkled over silver Mica Flakes for texture and glitz (the paint holds the mica really well).  I love the way they came out, I just wish the picture did them justice.

I finished off with some Spellbinders Sprockets diecuts in silver and black textured card, some keyhole brads and some stamped wings from the Creative Expressions Steampunk Dreams stamp plate.  I used the rest of the stamp on a card that I will show you in a day or two.

I'm so sorry for the extended post today, I seem to have been uploading photos for hours!  But thank you for taking the time to view them all, I truly appreciate it.  Bless you.
I hope you all have a wonderful day today.
Best wishes Linda xx  

Almost White Papercraft Challenge

THIS IS A STICKY POST AND WILL STAY AT THE TOP UNTIL THE CHALLENGE ENDS.  

TO VIEW TODAYS POST PLEASE SCROLL DOWN.   THANK YOU. 

Good morning all,
Well I am doing it again, apologising..... Sorry about that (apology again...lol!).
Unfortunately when I was supposed to be putting up the Challenge post, as promised, I was nodding of on the sofa as I was shattered after having a poor nights sleep previously.  
So to the rules;  well there aren't rules as such because as you know I've never really liked rules (except where my children were concerned), so lets call them characteristics.

CHARACTERISTICS

1.  The theme is  'Almost White' with your base card in white or ivory.

2.  No more than two other colours, one of which should only be a very small amount.

3.   You can make any papercraft item(s)

4.  You may enter up to twice only but they must be different and one item must be a card or tag.

5.  All entries must be linked to my blog by the closing date of Sunday 23rd September.

6. Non bloggers 

 EMAIL the picture of your entry(s), with a little description and I will showcase it on my blog so it can be entered.

Here is my example from yesterdays post.

My Characteristics are:-   Base card of White, two colours of pink with hint of green

Now to the prize.  

The prize will be made up as the Challenge goes along.  Each and every week I will add something new to the prize until the closing date, the final piece being added on the completion day

To start the ball rolling, here is the first piece of the Prize Parcel:-

SPELLBINDERS   LABELS ONE

Update:-  The next prize to be added to the Candy pot is:-
 a £4.50 rubber stamp from LOTV (surprise winner chose Fur Cone stamps!)

Update 11th Sept:- The third prize to be added to the Candy pot is :-
a Wooden House Frame (surprise winner chose a Decorative Pins starter kit)

I do hope you will all try to take part and make this an exciting and varied Challenge.  I am so looking forward to seeing your fabulous creations, all the best.

Have a great day one and all.   Hugs Linda

Please see this POST for the original Challenge post and rules

Final entry

Hi all,
I am expecting my children for late lunch today and so I have little time to blog I am sorry to say.  However this may be rushed but it is still very important.  It is a final entry for the Almost White Challenge from our own lovely Christine Hussey.  So without further ado, here is her  stunning creation.

Isn't this beautifully done, that smattering of red just in the center really pops what was already a perfect creation.
I think the reason I love this so  much is that Christine has used the 'waste' pieces from cutting the Spellbinders Damask Accents border.  If we didn't know better, we could easily have assumed they were diecuts from a die in their own right.  I don't know about you but lately I have found alot of the 'waste' pieces from my dies are more useful than I first thought.  It's great to just sit and play sometimes, you'll be surprised what you find!  Thank you so much Christine, you've done it again, stunning!
Please forgive me rushing off like this.  I will have time to myself later so I will load up the Challenge results and post it for tomorrow morning, AND I have actually finished the Notebook that I started a while back;  I can't wait to see what you think. It's been hard to create something fairly simple when all I wanted to do was something very different indeed! I do hope you can stop by and give me your honest opinions.
Have a great evening all.  Big hugs Linda x

Another Challenge entry

Hello all
I am so sorry to have been away so long, but as I am sure you know,  life gets in the way sometimes and becomes so much of a juggling act we have to take stock.  The casualties for me were the blog and crafting I'm sorry to say, but I am slowly getting sorted and hope to blog a few times a week now.   To top it all off my Android phone then started to play up.  This meant I was unable to do my emails and follow all your blogs when I wasn't able to get to the laptop.  I was totally against having a 'smart phone' at first, I didn't need one......, withing a few weeks I changed my mind; I can't live without it!!  Anyway, I took it into the Vodafone shop and they have said it will be about a week...... don't they understand we need our phones.  I am now wandering around with a battered old phone that does nothing but ring and text.  Ah........!!!

Today I have a non blogger entry for the Almost White Challenge, it is a beautiful card in white and aqua (not sure of the exact colour sorry) with silver as the third colour.  It is by the talented Helen Mitchell.
So without further ado,  here is the pretty card for your delectation:-

The beautiful border die Helen has used at the bottom of her card is the 'Decorative Lace Border'  from Hearfelt Creation (made by Spellbinders) and the delightful flowers 'Prim Poppy' are from Memory Box Dies. You can get these dies from most online craft suppliers.  Helen has used the crinkle edged ribbon and pearly embellishment from Creative Expressions and the coordinating decorative pin Helen has made herself.  Just lovely Helen.

Here you can see how Helen decorated the inside edge using Spellbinders Damask Accents border (still one of my favourite borders, I love it hooked over the edge of a matt/layer.  It is also beautiful if you cut several and glue them together to form a deep lacey border (you can see ideas of this in my Tutorial).

I think you will all agree this card is very elegant and a perfect entry for the Challenge.  Thank you so much Helen.

Well that's almost it for today,  however I would like to end with a Daily Thought by Patience Strong.  I found this while tidying my craft room yesterday and I thought it would be nice to share it with you.  I hope you will bear with me.

NO GOING BACK

The path of daily life is strewn with opportunities passed by _ with beauty trodden underfoot and flowers of friendship left to die.  Good intentions, lofty aims and high resolves that faded out _  in the dust of disappointment, fear, frustration, failure, doubt...... Oh, if we could only turn and go back just a mile or two _ To say the things we should have said, and do the things we meant to do!

                                                                                               (Patience Strong-Thoughts for Everyday)

True?  Definitely!!

Have a wonderful day and remember someone special along the way today.

Biggest Hugs Linda xx

Hi all,
I'm back again with my second post for the day.  As I explained earlier, I want to show you the card that my friend Ellie made.
For those who don't know, Ellie is my neighbours daughter and has been learning cardmaking with me for a while now.  It all started when I was having a clear out one day back last year.  I gave a bag of goodies to two of my neighbours for their children to play with.  Ellie had lots of cardmaking items in her goodie bag and since that day has been having weekly lessons with me and making cards.   Unfortunately I had to stop the lessons for a few months (my health got worse) but on Saturday we managed to get our crafting bits and pieces out and made a simple but stylish Christmas card together.
Here is Ellie's card:-

Isn't it cute.  Ellie stamped the little Christmas bear and then coloured him with pencils.  The papers are from a set I purchased some time ago from QVC and the button is from the Hobby House. All the card used is Centura pearl card in Ice White.  I was unsure at first if the pencil would work properly on the pearlescent card but they took to it well and were infact really rich and vibrant.
I hope you like Ellies card and are able to leave her a comment ot two.

To end, here is my card made using the same layout sketch.  Something simple again as we are trying to find the right style for her Christmas cards for this year.  It has to be fairly easy design for the bulk cards or they will never get finished.

I used some more of the paper pack from QVC, going for the snowy blue & white theme.  I added some white organza ribbon with white pearls and buttons from the Hobby House to embellish
I do hope you liked the results of my teaching lesson this week.  We had fun, chatting and crafting and are planning to do the same thing again back on a Friday evening every week... health permitting of course.
That's it for today. Take care and enjoy the rest of the day. Hugs Linda x

Surprise, Surprise

Hello everyone, welcome and thank you for your visit.

Todays post is to name the winner of the Word Search and to disclose, at last, the SURPRISE that I promised for this week.  After my very silly mistake, I have decided that everyone that made an attempt at the word search sentence will be entered into the draw.    I have thought long and hard about this surprise and I didn't want it to be the same as for last weeks winner (Sue will be receiving the same item as was entered into the Candy Pot) so I decided that the winner can choose their surprise!  So really it's two surprises: you win and you chose what you win.  Can't be bad can it.

Here is the list for our winner to choose from:-

1. Set of my Decorative Pins

2. Mini starter kit for my Decorative Pins

3. A bag of mixed ribbons (including Vintage Seam Binding)

4. A bag of mixed lace (both cream and white)

5. Three Promarkers (colours to be discussed with winner)

6. Two Brilliance Ink pads (handy cats eye style) (colours to be discussed with winner)

7. A selection of fancy cardmaking fabrics (mesh, hessian etc)

and finally 8. A Wooden House frame (as in the Challenge Candy)

We had 11 comments for the Word Search attempt but comments 1.3 & 9 were disregarded as they were either not guesses or double entries.  So I entered 1-8 in  Random Org Generator to find the entrant in position number FIVE.  It chose comment no 7.  That relates to the comment from

CHRISTINE HARROP.

Congratulations Christine.  Please chose your prize and email me with your choice.  If it's an item that has options I will email you back with the colour selection.  

Thank you all for playing along, it has been fun, I just wish I hadn't messed it up at the end.  Ah well, I am but human.

I have a second post later with a card made by Ellie, my neighbours daughter.  Its a lovely sweet card and I would love you to see what she has been learning, so stop by if you can.  I will put it up on the blog for 12noon. 

I hope you have a lovely day today.  Hugs Linda x

Silly Mistake!!

Hi all

I AM SO SORRY EVERYONE BUT I MADE A VERY SILLY MISTAKE!!!

In yesterdays post I was supposed to put in the three words:-  entrant, win and NUMBER.  Well I stupidly put in  'entrant' twice and ignored 'number' completely!!!  I am so sorry, I should have started the post earlier in the day so I was less tired.  I often do my posts late in the evening and schedule them for early the next day as I know I won't be up early enough.
As I have been unable to get to my pc to rectify this earlier today, I have now decided that everyone that attempted the sentence will be entered into the draw.  Thank you so much for all the attempts, you did so well.  Anyway, the sentence should have been:-

TO WIN THIS GAME YOU MUST BE ENTRANT NUMBER FIVE.

I have done the winners post for the morning and I am hoping that I have actually managed to do it right.  So again, please forgive my stupidity and check back tomorrow to see who the winner is and what the surprise is.

I hope you all have a good week.  Take care of yourselves.  Linda xx

 

Challenge Candy

Hi all and welcome to the Challenge Candy surprise update.
I asked you all on Tuesday to look our for odd words among my posts, words that just weren't meant to be there. Hopefully by now you have all the words; all you have to do is rearrange them to make a sentence.  As soon as you have the sentence enter it here on this post as your comment.  The winner will be decided by the usual Random Number Generator.  The sentence contains a number and that position in the Random Number list will be our winner.  I know that perhaps doesn't make sense yet, but it will tomorrow when I have all the entrants in and I do the draw.
So to the fun part, what was all this for?  It was to increase the Candy prizes for our Challenge.  So far we have:-

Spellbinders Labels one

A  £4.50 rubber stamp from LOTV (Sue will win the same as our first 'Surprise' winner)

(winner will receive the stamp of their chosing)

and todays added prize is:-

 WOODEN HOUSE FRAME

This fabulous wooden frame can be painted, decorated and altered to your hearts content.  You can add a picture in the center aperture or you can use alcohol ink and stamps and alter the glass section too.  Basically, you can do whatever you fancy.  

So what do you think, is the Candy Pot looking favourable?  Do you think it is worth an entry into the Challenge.  I am trying hard to mix it up a little, not only with the little surprises and word games but also with the variety of prizes in the pot.  Something a bit different and useful to everyone.

I do hope this will encourage you to have a go and to spread the word on your blogs too.  Thank you to everyone who has entered so far, I am blown away by the beautiful creations.

Well that's it for now.  All I have to do now is sleep (at last!!) and then tomorrow evening I will be back to check on the entries.  

Final note. I will leave this post open for your entries until 10pm tomorrow (Sunday) as I know that Sundays are busy days for us all.  I will then do the draw using the generator and write up the winner with my little  'SURPRISE'  in Monday mornings post. 

Good luck everyone and thank you for playing along.  

Night night.  Linda xx

A Bit of Bling

Good morning all,
A very short post today as I haven't been to bed all night again.  Everytime I change my patches (painkiller meds) I am wide awake for hours and last night was just such a time.
Ok, again before I start I must remind you about the word search.  Todays post is the last one in which you will find words that do not fit in with the text.  There are three final words today, collect them up and use them with the other words from previous posts (since Tuesday) to make up the sentence.  See Tuesdays post for the details and all the requirements.  Good luck all....surprises could be awaiting you

Todays card is a bit over the top with bling for me, but it is for a little one year old and I think she will like it.  Do you remember me telling you about my neighbours daughter who was coming around to learn card making?  Well Seren is her baby sister and she is one today.   I just hope she likes the card.  Here it is for your observation:-

I used my grand entrant circular nesties for the card base using soft baby pink card and matts/layers in ivory linen card.  The papers used here I have had in my Feminine Paper box for a couple of years and as I had already used them they are without names, so I am unable to tell you the manufacturer.
The image is a freebie from a magazine, it is part of the Daisy and Dandelion set from Do win Crafts.

 I decorated the inside to coordinate and shaped the writing area into a pennant to correspond with the front.   I added some white glitter letters to spell out Serens name and a silver number peeloff for her age.  I am not a great fan of peeloffs as you know,  but they can be a real asset for something like this.

I didn't put as much work into this card as I usually do with all my other cards but I didn't entrant think it was needed for a baby's card.  I do hope you like it though.
I'm sorry I didn't get to the blogs last night, but I promise I will be by this evening when I do the Extra Candy post for the Challenge.  Which reminds me, thank you all for the wonderful entries so for the Challenge, your creations are stunning and so varied.
Well I am off to bed now for a couple of hours and then later Serens eldest sister Ellie, is back to do some card making with me.   So have a wonderful day today what ever you are up to and thank you so much for your visit, it means the world to me.
 Regards Linda xx

Bright white & shabby chic?!

Hi all,
Before I start I'd like to remind you about the word search (If anyone has missed it and doesn't know what I am on about you can catch up in Tuesdays post).  Well you don't have to search for any words today because I am giving you them FREE!

There are three words today and they are:- THE, BE, FIVE

I hope you have managed to find the other words I have slipped into my posts so far.  Don't forget, playing along brings an extra prize for the Candy pot and there may even be another surprise for the winner too!  Our first winner was the lovely Sue P. who chose a rubber stamp from Lili of the Valley for the Candy and also, won the first surprise which was a rubber stamp for herself too!!  Sue chose one of the new LOTV Christmas stamps called Fur Cones.

Well it's a busy day at the homestead (hey doesn't that sound grand... just wishing....lol!)  Jake had his first trial day at 'big boy' nursery today.  He thought it was 'exciting',  he told me when my daughter in law dropped him off and later he said 'I like Mrs Adams'.  So I think, from those comments, that his first day went very well.  I know the teachers were impressed, they have said he will finish a little later tomorrow because he settled so well.  He has a breaking in period of a few days and then starts properly next week, finishing everyday at 2.30pm.  Jake will then stay with me till mum or dad collect him after they finish work.
I have looked after my grandson since he was a few months old and it is really quiet when he isn't here and I miss him a great deal.  However, as my health problems progress I find myself needing the rest more, so I take advantage of his time in nursery to get myself sorted at a slower pace and then I have lots more energy to share my time with him when he finishes for the day.

Now to my card (I seem to natter about Jake alot these days, I do hope I am not boring you),
For todays card I have gone back to my newer papers.  I fell in love with these Graphic 45 papers the moment I saw them for the first time and just had to treat myself.   They are all in tones of blacks and peachy oranges.  There are more coloured patterned papers to coordinate too, but I wanted to keep the colours to a minimum for this card.
I used black chalk board type card for the matting/layereing as the dull surface went perfectly with the overall finish I was after.

At first I wasn't sure it the crisp white would work with the shabby effect of these gorgeous papers, but as I continued layering the papers and other elements I just fell in love with it.  The stamp I used was from an Anna Griffin set of border stamps.  Isn't this a most stunning 'border' stamp.  It's so much more than just a border and it's so beautifully drawn you don't even have to colour it to get a stunning effect.  All I did was drag alittle of the dye ink into a few areas with a water brush.
The black lace doily is one of the gift items from Linda W. (I do so love to use the wonderful items Linda sent to me as they always add something special to my cards).  The ivory lace is one my own crochet patterns (I 'will' put these up on the blog soon, it's just that I am still having trouble writing the patterns.  I can design them easily, but writing it down is something I have never done before). 

I had to decorate the inside as it always gives such a beautiful overall finish and it seems to take the card to luxury status I think.  Do you agree?

This is how it looks from the side, giving you the overall effect.  I will be honest I did the ear to ear grin for this one.  I just love how it turned out, I hope you do too.
To finish the card off I used some black gemstones along the border strip and then shaped a few more to make a flourish.  Nothing too swirly,  the flourish I was after had to be simple not flamboyant.  The little flower was a free gift in a parcel I received a few months back, the colour matched perfectly, so I just had to use it.
Well that's it.  So what do you think, did it work for you?  I must dash now as Jake has woken up and is in need of my attention.   I thank you all for your wonderful comments yesterday, I was so pleased you like the colours as much as I did.
Hope you are having a good day.  It's glorious here so Jake and I are off out into the garden for a while.
Have a great evening.  Hugs Linda xx

(PS.  I'll add the recipe as soon as Jake has gone home and I have five minutes.)

Teal 'n' Lilac

Good morning all,
A quick post today as I will be with my grandson again and I won't have time for anything but him soon.
One reminder before I start....don't forget to look for the Candy competition word/s  as mentioned in yesterdays post.  Hint: there is more than one today.

Todays card I have created with one of my all time favourite colours Lilac.  I have teamed it with a colour that alot of people would say could never coordinate with Lilac, but I think when you see it you will be surprised.
So without further this ado, here's my card.  Oh, by the way, the sentiment is actually straight, I think my camera angle has distorted it (come on now, don't mock me, I am trying here....LOL!!)

 So what do you think, does the Teal, cream, turquoise and lilac go together?  I felt it was a success, so I do hope you agree, but please don't be afraid to say if you don't like it.  I love constructive criticism, it helps me grow as a crafter.

I have finished the inside to match, to give it a more professional finish.
Everything I used for this card except the teal and cream cardstock are items I have had in my stash for ages.  I decided last week that it was about time I used up some of my older craft products, alot of which are stunning and should never have been game forgotten.  So all the cards that I have made over the past few days have all been made with papers and flowers etc that are at least 3-4years old.  How good am I? (I know, not very, I should have started using them a long time ago!!)

Ok, that's it for now.  I hope you all have a wonderful day today, I will be round the blogs this evening and look forward to seeing everyones creations.  I'm sorry I missed your blogs last night but I fell asleep and didn't do anything on the pc at all.
Take care.  Linda xx

My Recipe:-
Teal & cream cardstock  -  Papermill online
Papers  -   Creative Imaginations - Butterfly Text & Small Lotus
Vintage Seam Binding in Teal  -   Creative Expressions
Eyelet Edge Punch  -   Martha Stewart Punch around the Page
Leaf punch  -  Woodware
Brad  -   'What' store
Flower  -  From my stash

Non Blogger Challenge entry

Good afternoon all,

Sorry I couldn't be here this morning but I was so tired yesterday I fell asleep before I could schedule a post and then slept late today.   So without further ado, here is our first Non-blogger entry for the Almost White Challenge.

It is a classy and very pretty box by our lovely Christine Hussey.  I am so impressed with the standard of entries.  Considering that so little colour was allowed, you have all created such beauty.   

I have included Christines own description for the entry.

 

 

Description:

1) I cut my box from white card using a pillow box design from one of my CD-Roms as a template extending it a little as I wanted it slightly bigger.

2) I then embossed my shape using Spellbinders M-bossability 'Imperial' Design B and made up my pillow box.

3) I criss crossed some yellow ribbon to one side of my box and added a double bow. Either side of this bow I added some pearl daisies that I made myself..

4) I made a wreath design out of cosmos daisies from WOC and stamped my sentiment onto white card using Ink It Up in French Blue, added clear embossing

    power and heat set it. I then placed my sentiment in the middle of the wreath.

5) I decorated the corners of the box with flat backed pearls from my stash.

 

Thank you Christine, I am sure everyone will be as  impressed as I am.  It is lovely to see another box, especially as the boxes are so different.

Ok, now to our.............. 

Challenge Prize Surprise!

 

As I stated in the Almost White Challenge post, every week I will be adding more prizes to the Candy pot.  Last week the lovely Sue chose a £4.50 stamp from Lili of the Valley to be our second prize.  So what for this week.  Well I decided you had to work for this one,  just a little bit of fun for us all.  So what do you have to do?

 

1.  Starting in todays post (in the section below) and in every post until Saturday, I will be placing a word among the text that doesn't seem to fit.  Find those words and save them up.  There will never be more than two words to find in any one post.

2.  When you have found the final word(s) on Saturday, make up the sentence.  I will give you a clue to the sentence in Saturdays post.  

3.  DO NOT enter the sentence in your comment for Saturdays post.  It must be entered ONLY after 00.00 midnight Saturday/Sunday.  I will put up a special post for that time and all the entries should be on that post only.

4.  On Sunday afternoon I will reveal the winner and also the prize they have won for the pot.

Does that all make sense.  I do so hope you will all play along and help to get another lovely prize for the Candy pot.  

(pssst... there may even be another surprise for all the players on Sunday, so please, please play along). It's just a bit of fun and add to the Candy too.  

Thanks everyone!!

Well I had a wonderful day yesterday with my grandson Jake, he spent ages in the garden showing off his football prowess.  He is only 3 but has been going to weekly football classes for a few months now and he loves it.  He's now showing that he has been paying attention to his coach and also his dad (my son) who also plays football.  He was bouncing the ball and doing high kicks (I apologise for not knowing football terminology..Lol!) and also tackled me when I tried to stop the ball (I can't do much else unfortunately.).  Even though I am unable to join in with the football it doesn't stop him and he giggles and plays must happily as I watch and praise him, giving him lots of encouragement.  As a matter of fact when I praise him for playing well he gives me the biggest, proudest smile and says 'Thank you Nannie' or 'Thanks! in that slow really proud tone'.   

I know I am biased because he is my grandson, but I swear to you he is adorably sweet and almost edible.  He is finding his feet now and can be a little rambunctious at times, as all children, but when he is corrected he looks so sad and says 'I'm sorry Nannie, I won't do it again'.  How could anyone stay cross with a child as gorgeous and as sweet as he ..... I sure can't.  Two seconds of  'Jake you musn't do that' is all I can manage and then I have to turn away because he makes me laugh with the words that come out of his mouth or I fill up as I see his bottom lip quiver.  I then have to  breath deeply and compose myself so he doesn't think Nannie is a push over.  

Grandchildren can make the best times of our lives.  

As a mother I was always busy and didn't prioritise properly (wish to goodness I had!) but now as a nannie (grandmother) I have learned my lessons and will to drop almost everything for my grandchildren.  Oh dear I have just realised I have done nothing but ramble on about my grandson.  I hope you will forgive me but I do so love being a Nannie! 

Ok that's it for today.  I am going to be crafting this evening so hopefully there is a card for tomorrows post.  Don't worry I haven't forgotten the crochet patterns, just had trouble reading my own writing (now don't laugh, I was trying to write the pattern as I was crocheting it!)

Have a great evening.  Hugs Linda 

Twins but not identical

Good morning all.
I did have a lovely quote to share with you today, well it is more of a poem really but I have misplaced it.  I am hopping mad because I kept it so safe, ready to type up today for the blog and then when I need it I can't find it anywhere.   There is no point even trying to retrace my steps, I have danced all over this floor today (been busy crafting for a change... It felt so good too!!).   Ah well, saved for another day now.
Ok, less words for todays post, but definitely more cards.   I was making a card yesterday and because I love the papers so much I decided to make another card, different design but same papers.
Here is the first card I made, hope you like it.

Here is a side view to show the layering and the dimension.  I tried to keep it fairly shallow for posting.

Well, I liked it alot but I had a terrible time with the decision for the matts.  Did I want to do kraft matts or pink?  Well as you can see, I went for pink...................... or did I?

I did, in fact, go for both!  I was so taken with both colours for the matts that I decided to make a twin, but not identical thank goodness.
So as you can see in the following picture, the second card has the same paper and layout but I changed to kraft and used a different greeting also.  I think you can probably see my dilemma  as they are both very effective (although I am drawn to the kraft one alot! but please don't tell pinky or I may have a riot on my hands, these two have to share the same storage box remember...LOL!!)

Ok, thats it for today.  I have a busy day ahead of me as my Grandson, Jake will be here at 8am, so I need to get myself sorted.  Have a good day whatever you are up to.
Thank you all for the lovely comments you left for me yesterday.  I really appreciate your thoughtfulness.  Hugs Linda xx