Dream Valley challenge 69 - Humour

Hiya!

It's time for another challenge over at Dream Valley and after all of those spooky Halloween creations it is quite nice to get stuck into something a bit funny :-)

Our challenge this time is:

HUMOUR!

We are sponsored by Bugaboo and I have used this fab image of Gus - I love it! And the sentiment is brilliant :-)

I just wanted to show you a close up of the image so you can see where I used my 3D gloss on his glasses and moped :-)

If you want to see some more funny creations made by the rest of the DT, please pop over to Dream Valley and have a little giggle :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 68 - Halloween

Hiya!

Hope you are all having a fab weekend :-) It's time for another challenge over at Dream Valley and this time we want to see your Halloween creations.

I'm really enjoying making my cakes at the moment so I thought I'd make some floating ghost cupcakes for this challenge:

I started off by making the eyes with a little bit of help from Hubby :-) I piped LOTS of small dots of royal icing onto greaseproof paper while Hubby followed and added little black specks of writing icing. After we let them dry for 24 hours, we had a little box of eyes to decorate our ghosts.....

The ghosts were really easy. I just melted some white chocolate and piped little ghostie shapes onto lollipop sticks on greaseproof paper and let them set in the fridge.....

The cakes were just a normal vanilla cake mix that I topped with chocolate buttercream and then dipped into crushed malteasers. Then I just stuck the little ghosties into the top and ta da!!!! :-)

My boys really enjoyed them!

Anyway, I must be going. Make sure you pop over to Dream Valley to check out all the spooky creations by the rest of the DT.

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 67 - Buttons

Hiya!

Hope you're having a fab weekend!!! Well, not content with just a fab weekend (I'm currently enjoying one of my regular crafty days with my pal, Yvonne), I'm actually having a fab fortnight.....

Firstly, I'm back at work..... For most people, not a reason to celebrate, but I've been out of teaching for about four and a half years now, and while I've loved being at home with the kids and Paul (and all the crafting time it has given me!) I've always enjoyed my teaching. And now I get the best of both worlds - part time supply work lets me spend half the week doing my usual Mom/wife duties and crafting, and then I spend half the week teaching and earning a few pennies to keep me in crafty stash :-) I'm loving it!

Secondly, I am finally beginning to enjoy the results of my operation on my dodgy hip.... I have had a fairly pain-free fortnight and even managed to get back in my heels again - yay!!! And that is thanks to the fab staff at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital. This card is for the fab team in the hydrotherapy department who have looked after me, pulled and twisted and stretched me until I was fit enough to be pulled, twisted and stretched on dry land :-) I did pop in to drop off the card in person but, alas, it was deserted, so I just left the card on the desk..... Should they happen to find their way to my blog, I just want to make sure they know just how much I appreciate what they have done. Thank you!

Anyway, the card..... A little more clean and simple than my usual offerings but I really wanted the emphasis to be on the sentiment.....

I hope you like it.

Now, make sure you pop over to Dream Valley to see what the rest of the DT can do with buttons!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 66 - Autumn

Hiya!

Well it's all happening now, isn't it? The nights are drawing in, I've dug out my cosy pj's and I've even started sorting through that hat-scarf-and-glove box.....

AUTUMN is on it's way!

I've had a really lovely summer this year, despite everything with my poor old hip (which, I'm very happy to say, is now almost better....!) but there's something really comforting about Autumn. Everything is a bit cosy and snuggly. Yummy stews and casseroles after coming in from the cold. Hot chocolate at bedtime. And I love the beautiful colours of the leaves. Every year we go hunting for conkers and pine cones with the boys. I'm looking forward to this year's trip :-)

Anyway, you may have guessed that this card has an Autumn theme for Dream Valley's latest challenge!

This card is for my lovely Father in law whose birthday it is today. I've used a gorgeous pic from one of LOTV's art pads - Vintage Boys.....

And I used one of their lovely Country Gent paper pads too - both bought on my recent shopping trip to Leeds.... :-)

A bit of ribbon, some card candi and a bit of raffia to make the sheaf of wheat and hey presto!

Please pop over to Dream Valley to find out what the rest of the DT have made!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 65 - Purple and Green

Hiya!

Well it's just about time for another challenge at Dream Valley! This time we've got a little colour challenge for you....

Purple and Green!

Well, this colour combination always makes me think of Halloween but I'm not ready for that just yet - I'm not ready to give up on Summer yet :-) So instead I decided to use one of my other purchases from my little trip to the Lili of the Valley shop......

I teamed it up with some papers by Wild Rose Studio that were just made for this challenge and then a little bit of ribbon and card candi....

A close up of the image.... as you can tell, I had a bit of fun with my glitter again :-)

Anyway, I'd better get on with things - lots to do again now the kids are back at school. Homework, spelling tests, reading books.....

Don't forget to pop over to Dream Valley and check out all the other purple and green creations by the rest of the DT :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

My shopping trip to Lili of the Valley....

Hiya!

I thought it was about time I started showing you what I bought on my wonderful trip to Leeds to visit the Lili of the Valley shop - which, by the way, is the cutest shop I have ever visited! I could have stayed all day! I must have gone round it three times - first to find where everything was, then to make my first decisions as to what I was going to buy and then again just to make sure I hadn't missed anything and I'd made exactly the right choices :-)

And this stamp, and the papers I have used were the first things I wanted to play with when I got into my craft room.....

Sooo cute! I couldn't wait to colour in the little fella! And the papers are gorgeous to work with :-)

A close up of the images.....

I also added a paper pieced "Mum" from another LOTV stamp I already had cos this card was for my Mum's birthday.... I added a little bit of glitter too..... :-)

Anyway, I'll show you some more of my purchases over the next few posts :-) Hope you like!

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 64 - For a Child

Hi there!

I've just got back from the most wonderfully relaxing holiday in Yorkshire - absolutely beautiful! My hip is on the mend and I managed to get back in my craft room yesterday for the first time in aaaages :-) It wasn't this card I was making - I had to make sure I had this one ready before my op in case I wasn't able to craft - but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I went to the Lili of the Valley shop on my way up North and spent all of my holiday money before I even got to Yorkshire :-) Beautiful, beautiful shop. I could have spent the whole week there. I'll show you what I bought over my next few posts.....

Anyway, it's time for another challenge from Dream Valley and this time we'd like to see your creations

For A Child!

Now, this one is easy for me. With two young boys at school I'm always making birthday cards for their friends, so this is for my little Charlie's friend, Poppy!

I've used a cute little image from Digistamp Boutique....

I've cut out the letters and number using my fave Bang! Zoom! alphabet dies from sizzix and added a little faux stitching. Hope you like!

Please pop over to Dream Valley to see what the rest of the DT have made :-)

Love 'n' hugs,