Weekend is here again

Well I don't know about you but this week has flown by for me.  It only seems like yesterday that I was thinking about what had to be done on the week off (No grandson this past week) and here we are again at another weekend.

Today I have created a bright summery card with some lovely retro K&Co Papers by Brenda Walton called Neopolitan.  I have had them for a while and I just can't resist them when I need cheering up a bit or the weather is miserable, as it had been all day yesterday.
I used some Deep Toffee card for the base and added some sugar pink for matting using Spellbinders Labels One.  Then I used a white inksentials pen to do the dotty background so the brown card wasn't so bare.  I cut two matching papers with the largest Postage Stamp die for my background and then made a rosette with another, coordinating paper and topped it with one of my lovely pearl buttons from The Hobby House.

The butterfly was from a mixed Metal Embellishment pack at WOC and the American Crafts 'joyful' ribbon slider and the ribbon were acquired at Michaels in Florida, when I was on vacation about five years ago.  I decorated the inside with the same papers and put a Spellbinders Labels One panel in the sugar pink card for writing on.

I hope you like it as much as I do.  This really cheered me up and brought a little bit of sunshine into an awful miserable day yesterday (from both the funeral and the weather).

Just to let you know, the funeral went off really well.  It was quite short, but really nice actually.  They read some lovely, very moving poems, including the one sent to me by Christine Harrop (on the blog last week) and everyone enjoyed them I think.   I feel alot better now.  I think seeing my niece and saying farewell to the little one helped to give me some strength and some closure.  Emma was so brave, scarily so in a way, but brave nonetheless.  We still have no news on the autopsy, but have been told that it can takes weeks to get the coroners report.  So we will not know the verdict of negligence for some time yet.  I am still praying for a natural death for Emma's sake.

Well that will be the last of the updates now,  I hope you will understand.  I need to let everyone recover now and heal.  My brother, his wife and family send their warmest thanks for all your wonderful words and prayers.  They have been truly touched by your warmth.  Thank you, again, from me too.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Hugs and best regards Linda xx

Another bookmark and freebie papers info

Welcome one and all,
Thank you for all the wonderful comments about my last two cards, I was thrilled to know that you enjoyed them.
Before we get to todays creation, I wanted to answer a question possed by a couple of you concerning some of the papers I use.  On yesterdays Mini Rosette card I used some dogstooth (houndstooth)  and a few of you wondered where I bought it.  Well I didn't.  I am a bit of a web hunter and on my travels, hunting through many sites I have managed to find alot of lovely freebie papers, scrapbooking kits and toppers etc.  So, just for you, I spent last night strapped to my laptop hunting them all down,  again...... and after more than two hours I found them (plus a few others you may be interested in).
I really must learn to label my downloads clearer then I can find them again much easier!
To make things easier for you to find any papers I use in the future, I will post the links to them into the FREEBIES section at the top of the page.   The ones you are looking for today are called 'Sprik Space Houndstooth'.
Now, a little info for those new to downloading from 4Shared:   On Sprik Space website,  when you click on the papers (called pattern pieces) they will take you to 4Shared;  To get the papers free you have to download them one at a time, but don't fret they take seconds, and there is no 'wait 30secs before downloading' nonsense either.  When you are done with each one, just close that download tab and go back to the main tab to select your next colour download.  (See also the Pinterest Board-Freebies- he has lots to offer there too).
So girls go up to the top and take a look, I will keep updating the freebies over the next few weeks to include alot of wonderful sites that have lovely freebies for you.  Most of them will have been tried and tested by me so will have at least my seal of approval....lol!
Ok, thats done, now to my latest Bookmark.  Yesterday, I mentioned that the style of the mini card would be great adapted for a bookmark, so I decided to do just that and here it is:-

I thought it would be a bit of extra inspiration for anyone thinking of joining in with the challenge and also I wanted to make one as a little gift for my daughter.
For this one I cut a 4.75inch square of black card, topped it with ivory pearlescent and baby pink gingham (yee haw!), then added the half rosette to come just below the line of the side points.  Using Spellbinders borderabilities I cut a 0.75inch piece of the gingham and layered it onto another piece of black card approx 1.25inch deep, using the offcut piece of the gingham at the bottom.  I wrapped this with 3mm ribbon and secured the ends behind.

To hide the edge of the rosette, I placed double thickness of foam pads onto the base card right next to the rosette ( 1middle, 1each side) and then 1single layer of foam pads to the outside edges and placed the border strip over the top.  This formed a slight dome which gave it a nice finish, slightly hiding the pads.  To finish it off I stamped the word 'Imagine' onto a small rectangle of ivory card and matted it onto black, then I stamped the image of the book with glasses, cutting this out with a slight border and attaching both with a single layer of foam pads. I have fallen in love with the book/glasses stamp, it is lovely stamped on background papers for shabby chic or vintage cards etc (even wizarding wonders).
The back triangular piece is also matted with a piece of  the gingham card and I added a few clear gems to finish it off.
So there you have it, another bookmark quite simply done but very effective I think. 
I have a lovely LOTV image on a card for tomorrow, so I hope you can pop by again to take a look.  I would love to know what you think as I have tried a different technique with my promarkers.
Have a wonderful day.  Regards and best wishes Linda xx

Mini Rosette Card

Good morning all,
Well after a fussy day yesterday, I managed not only to finish my Nevaeh card but also make my mini card below.  I thought I had better get stuck in while I was in a good place, crafing wise, so I had a long hot bath to ease my back and then got straight back to my desk.
Last november, my friends daughter and I were making old book trees ready for Christmas (doing our bit for recycling) and I made up tons and tons of mini, midi and maxy sized rosettes to use as trimmings for the trees (Note to self:- do a tutorial for trees closer to Christmas).  Well I looked in the box this evening and there were two pretty pearlescent ones that just seemed to 'fit' together in more ways than one.  They basically gave me the idea for this card.  At first I was going to use a full sized rosette but it looked a little heavy on the mini card, so I halved it and bobs your uncle, the design took shape.

I used scalloped 8x8 card and folded it to make a 4x4card, so cute!  I layered white card and mini dogstooth (houndstooth to some),  then added the half rosettes.  Now came the problem of how to be able to cover the depth of the folds in the rosette and get a smooth look.  Well I solved that by cutting a strip of scallops off the waste piece of the 8x8 card, (decorated with Tonic Studio flower punch) then I doubled up 2mm foam pads under the main section of the border strip but only 1 layer on the ends.  This covered the rosette and gave it a slight domed shape also.  The pennants were attached again using double foam pads under the center sections and only 1 under the outer ones, to echo the domed shape.

Next I wrapped white vintage ribbon around the top of the pennants and secured it behind the white matt before attaching the layers to the base card.  Last I added a treble bow with the same ribbon (made using the Keepsake bowmaker) and added a pearly button and two small decorative pins to finish it off.
So there we have it, my Mini Rosette card.  I am really pleased with this one.   I think it would also be prefect for a corner bookmark; just change the shape of  the base card.  Which reminds me, please try to take part in the Bookmark challenge.  I have extended the date to the 25th May and I would be thrilled to see what you can do.  I don't have any silly rules other than only two different entries maximum. You can enter it into as many other challenges as you desire.  It's just for a bit of fun for us, doing something a little different and I have some lovely papers from MME for the winner.

Ok well that's it for today, have a good one and thank you all again for your wonderful words for baby Lee.  I haven't any further news at the moment, I think it will be same for a while.  I am just so happy he is strong and fighting to live.
Be happy and craft if you can.    Linda xx

My recipe:-  Papermania 8x8 Scalloped card in rose pink.  White 300gsm Kanban card.   Dogstooth from my stash.  Kanban pearly card for rosettes.  Vintage ribbon from Sam Poole.  Spellbinders Banner Basics Two from Once upon a Stamp.  Pearly button from the Hobby House.   Decorative pins handmade by me.