Dream Valley challenge 96 - True blue

Hiya!

Hope you are all well! We're still having our bathroom done at the moment so things are still a little chaotic at home but I did find time for a little play in my craft room :-) And just in time for our new challenge over at Dream Valley:

TRUE BLUE!

It really is about time I got stuck into my Christmas cards - they're never going to get done at this rate! Luckily, while I was at the craft show at the NEC a few weeks back I picked up a couple of the Christmas art pads from LOTV - they're so handy when you're as disorganised as I am :-) I love this little cutie and teamed her up with some of the yummy Christmas papers from LOTV and a gorgeous fluffy ribbon I'd got in my stash :-)

Right, I've got some presents to start wrapping while I'm feeling all christmassy :-) Make sure you pop over to Dream Valley to join in the fun and to enter our DT call.....

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 94 - Getting ready for Christmas!

Hellooooo!

I'm back! :-) Sorry I've been away so long - you may remember that I was packing away all my craft things ready for our house move when I last posted on here.... Well now we're all moved and settled in and (after 6 weeks of waiting!) we finally have internet connection - woohoo! :-) Things are still a little topsy turvy - not all of our boxes are unpacked and put away, and our bathroom is in a dreadful state awaiting new tiles and new plumbing and... well, new everything really. But the important stuff is unpacked so I can get back to my crafting and join in with my teamies over at Dream Valley again :-)

Goodness me! Last time I posted it was all sunshine and flowers and now we're:

Getting Ready for Christmas!!!!

So here it is, the first of my Christmas cards this year (I'll never learn to start in January, will I?!?)

And you won't be surprised by my LOTV image and papers.... I'm hoping they'll be at the NEC when I visit next week so I can top up my stash a bit more! :-)

Anyway, make sure you pop over to Dream Valley to join in all the festive fun!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 89 - Flowers

Hiya!

Wow! Things are busy at the moment! We're right in the middle of trying to move house and I've had to pack away all my craft things into boxes - sob! I just managed to get this card made before everything needed to be packed away and it's just in time for the latest challenge at Dream Valley:

Flowers!

It's my lovely Mom's birthday this week. Don't all Moms like a lovely vase of flowers??? :-)

I love this LOTV image - so pretty!

And I took a pic from a slightly different angle so you could see the gloss on the vase....

I went for a nice pink and blue colour scheme - I'm refusing to let go of summer, despite the weather!

Anyway, my house move has been delayed slightly (which is a nuisance cos the boys start their new school next week and I really don't fancy 3 hours of driving back and forth each day when it's only a 3 minute walk from the new house!) so I don't know when I'll be able to unpack my crafty stash - boo hoo :-( And it will more than likely interrupt my internet connection too, so if you don't hear from me for a while, don't worry! I will be back soon! :-)

In the meantime pop over to Dream Valley to join in all the flowery fun :-)

Love 'n' hugs, 

Dream Valley Challenge 88 - Weddings!

Hiya!

We have a lovely new challenge for you over at Dream Valley.....

WEDDINGS!

Now I don't now about you but it seems like everyone is getting married at the moment.... This is the first of three wedding cards I've made just recently and I've still got one to go :-) I love taking the opportunity to personalise a card to make it something the happy couple can keep and treasure....

Sorry the picture is a little blurry - I couldn't get it to focus properly no matter how hard I tried! :-(

Gorgeous little piccie from LOTV - you can't see all the glitter on the flowers etc either - grrrr!

This is better - in focus and glittery - yay! :-) Computer printed personalisation....

And again....!

Please pop over to Dream Valley and add your beautiful wedding creations to our challenge!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 87 - Favourite colour combo

Hiya!

Hope you are all well and having a lovely day :-) It's time for another challenge at Dream Valley. This time we would like to see your 

favourite colour combinations!

This lilac and turquoise colour scheme is a recent fave of mine thanks to the beautiful paper pad from LOTV. They're so pretty!  I recently made a birthday card for one of Charlie's school friends and his Mum really liked it and so asked me to make a few cards for her. This is the first I have to show you:

A close up of the image. You can just make out the sparkle on her skirt :-)

I love these pretty bunting stamps I have - fab for personalisation :-)

Anyway, I'd better be off. I'm suffering from a distinct lack of sleep after spending a chunk of the night at the hospital with my youngest son, Charlie, after he had a fit last night. It was so scary. If any of you have experience of this sort of thing, please feel free to tell me how everything is alright and I have no need to worry! The doctors told me all that last night but I think it will take time for me to believe it. Charlie is a lot better now and playing as if nothing ever happened :-)

Please pop over to Dream Valley to join in all the fun!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 86 - Summer!

Hiya!

It's time for another challenge at Dream Valley and this time our theme is

SUMMER!

I chose a pretty little image from LOTV - it doesn't matter how old I get, I think I will always enjoy going on the swings in summer. I just hope my boys stay young enough for me to tag along with them to the park for a good few years yet! :-)

A close up of the image....

Make sure you pop over to Dream Valley to see all the other summery creations by the rest of the DT!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 85 - Inspired by a song/movie/book

Hiya!

Hope you are all well and you're enjoying some beautiful weather! I love this time of year and being able to get out and enjoy the garden or going for a drive somewhere new. My hubby loves going out somewhere in the car so this LOTV image was perfect for his birthday card and for our new challenge at Dream Valley:

Inspired by a song/movie/book

The song is, of course, Driving in my Car by Madness (I can't even type it without wanting to add in the horn noises....!)

A close up of the image...

I love the creations put together for this challenge by the rest of the DT. Make sure you pop over to Dream Valley and join in the fun!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 84 - Monochrome

Hiya!

Hope you are all well. I've had a lovely weekend including a really nice Father's Day picnic. Paul had to work so I took the boys to meet him in his lunch break and we went to the park for some fun and a lovely picnic - beautiful! :-)

The challenge this time at Dream Valley is

MONOCHROME

I'm going through a bit of a brown thing at the moment - virtually every card I make has a shade of brown in it, so when I was making my monochrome card it just seemed to be the way to go!

Some of you may know that we're in the process of selling our house and moving to be nearer to my Mom. The amount of paperwork involved is horrendous - not at all the sort of paper I like to be working with! So when I eventually got some time in my craft room I was totally in the mood for duffing up papers and letting them know exactly how I feel about them at the moment :-) This is the result....

This card is for the anniversary of my very good friends Yvonne and Graham - I hope they had a lovely day!  They have a huge amount of books so this LOTV image was perfect for them :-)

Anyway, I have a fair few cards I need to be making at the moment so I'd better get off the computer and back into my craft room :-)

Don't forget to pop over to Dream Valley to join in all the fun!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 83 - Baby!

Hiya!

It's time for another challenge over at Dream Valley and this one is one of my faves.....

BABY!

There's so much I love about this challenge. I love being able to do a really cute little girlie card.... And I LOVE this LOTV image.... And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! that there's a gorgeous new person in the world :-) Congratulations, Robyn, on the birth of beautiful Frankie. I hope she brings you endless joy!

It was really nice to get my flowers out again too. They don't see much daylight these days with all the boys cards I end up doing :-) That's the way it goes for a crafting mom of three boys!

A close up so you can see the sentiment better and all the sparkle..... You can just make out the clouds in the background....

Anyway, I hope you like it. Don't forget to pop over to Dream Valley to join in all the fun! :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 81 - Anything goes!

Hiya!

It's time for another challenge over at Dream Valley :-) This fortnight's challenge is the ever-popular

ANYTHING GOES!

Well it was my beautiful sister's 10th wedding anniversary this week so my card is for her and her husband. Happy anniversary, Nic & Ty! Love you both :-)

My card has another gorgeous image from one of LOTV's pre-coloured pads (always handy when I don't have a lot of time to colour myself - I just added a little shading and shadow to it) and some of their gorgeous papers too....

A close-up of the image....

Please pop over to Dream Valley for some inspiration and to join in the fun :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 78 - Mothering Sunday

Hiya!

Oooops! I had a busy day yesterday and forgot to schedule my Dream Valley post - sorry!

Well here it is - better late than never, eh? :-)

The new challenge at Dream Valley is all about Mothering Sunday and our very special Moms. Now I'm sure you would all argue with me but I actually do have the best Mom in the world. And if you knew her, you'd agree with me :-) She's a very hard-working nurse but always has time for us kids, no matter what. There have been many occasions recently when I just needed a friendly ear to listen and she is always there. Thank you, Mom. Love you xx

Here is one of several Mother's Day cards I'm making this year.  I decided to make a pot of flowers in my frustration at not being able to find exactly the right stamped image of a vase/pot/container of flowers :-) You may already be familiar with my scrunchy flowers....? The papers and sentiment are both from LOTV.

A close up of my scrunchy flowers....

Anyway, I hope you like it! Please pop over to Dream Valley to see what the rest of the DT have made for Mother's Day :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 77 - BIG birthdays!

Hiya!

Well, dare I say it? It seems that Spring may have arrived! Yay! :-) It has put me in a lovely mood so the cards been making over the last few days all seem to be pretty, cheerful, pastel colours. The new challenge at Dream Valley is all about

BIG Birthdays!

I've gone a bit 'pink' with this card..... Once I started I couldn't stop so everything ended up pink - except the bear :-) There are a few BIG birthdays coming up in my family this year, but of them all, the 90th birthday of my Father-in-law's mom is probably the biggest. Now you don't get to celebrate birthdays that big very often, do you? :-)

I haven't used this Fizzy Moon image for quite a while but I really do like it. He's so cute! The sentiment is one from LOTV. I was gutted though. It's a really sticky one and it was stuck fast to the acetate sheet it was on and as I was peeling it off it got two little tears in it :-( It took ages to position it onto my block so I could stamp it without the tears being visible. I've never had that happen to one of my stamps before and I was quite upset about it! Must be more careful in future!

A close up of the image showing glitter I added.... Can you see the 3D gloss on his nose too???

Right, I suppose. It's about time I tidied my kitchen - it always looks like a bombsite at the weekend.  But with the nice weather I can send the boys out in the garden to play so I can sort it out in peace :-)

Don't forget to have a look at the other BIG birthday inspiration from the Dream Valley DT!

Hope you have a fab weekend.

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 76 - Vintage

Hiya!

Hope you’re all having a fab weekend J It’s time for another challenge over at Dream Valley. This time we’d love to see your VINTAGE creations!

This really isn’t my style so I’ve had to try really hard – but I guess that’s what a challenge is all about, eh? J But I’ll tell you something, I haven’t enjoyed making a card so much in ages! I really enjoyed distressing all the edges and using my lovely new paper pad from LOTV. This card is for my fab Slimming World consultant, Denise. Such an inspiration! Happy birthday, Den!

The image is one I’ve had for ages but never got round to using. It’s called Busy Doing Nothing from Sheena Douglass.

Anyway, I hope you like it! Don’t forget to pop over to Dream Valley to see all the beautiful vintage creations from the rest of the DT J

Love ‘n’ hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 73 - Boys/Men

Hiya!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a happy new year :-)

Dream Valley is back with another challenge and also a DT call so you fancy joining our crazy bunch, make sure you pop over and take a look!

Our challenge this time is all about the men!

I've used a really sweet image from LOTV and added the word "cowboy" using my letter tile stamps :-)

Hope you like it. Don't forget to pop over to Dream Valley and take a look :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 72 - Christmas!

Hiya,

Wow! I am rushed off my feet as I'm sure you all are at this time of year. I'm amazed I've even managed to get one Christmas card made.... but i have! And here it is.... And just in time too because our challenge at Dream Valley really could be nothing else other than....

CHRISTMAS!!!

A LOTV image, sentiment and papers.... You'd never guess I'm a fan, would you? When I'd put the image with the kraft background together, it made me think of a christmas pudding so I added the sprig of holly :-)

And then on to my other christmas creations.... When I went to the craft show at the NEC this year, the cake show was also on at the same time so I had a bit of a peek and went along to a demonstration where Tracey Mann was making these....

so I had my own little attempt. Not nearly as polished and beautiful as Tracey's creations but I enjoyed making them and will be using chocolate transfer sheets again - what fun!

Right, I must be off. Busy, busy girl!

Have a fab weekend.

Love 'n' hugs,

Happy birthday, Madison!

Hiya!

I just wanted to share with you a card I made for my beautiful niece, Madison, whose birthday it is today :-) Happy birthday, Mads!

My sister has bought her a toy puppy for her birthday so when I saw this Lili of the Valley image, I just had to use it for her card:

The papers are also from LOTV - they're so cute!

A close up of the image.....

I really enjoyed making this one - I hope you like it!

Love 'n' hugs,