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 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 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 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 58 - Sports!

Hi there!

Wow! Have you been enjoying the beautiful weather??? We've had a lovely few days. Yesterday we went to Chester zoo - absolutely fantastic! The place is huge! I ache all over and my dodgy-old-lady hip (as I call it!) isn't thanking me today cos I'm not as fit and active as my lovely hubby..... He's a runner..... He did the London marathon a few years back and regularly takes part in local runs. Not something I could ever do - partly cos of my dodgy-old-lady hip, but partly cos I couldn't deal with being hot and sweaty in public :-)

Anyway, so that's the background to this card..... It's my hubby's birthday next week and I've made this card for our boys to give him. It's just the ticket for our latest challenge at Dream Valley:

SPORTS

A close-up of the image.... He's called Race Tom from Digistamp Boutique....

Right, now I've got lots to do today. The garden has been neglected while we've been away, the kids need to finish their homework before school starts again tomorrow and George has got a birthday party to go to this afternoon. Busy, busy, busy!

Don't forget to pop over to Dream Valley if you need some sporty inspiration!

Love 'n' hugs,

For a little boy I know....

Hiya,

Yes, I know, still going! This is the last card I've got for you at the moment though (well it's not, but I've "misplaced" the photos of some of the others and I can't very well post without the photos, can I???)

This is for a friends little boy who had his birthday at the beginning of June.

Luke is one of the sweetest, friendliest, most helpful boys I've ever met (and being an ex-teacher, I've met a fair few!) I just hope he stays that way when he becomes a teenager. I've got a teenage son myself and he.... erm.... is different from before his teenage years. Still special, but definitely different! :-)

You may have seen my monochrome version of this a few days ago.... I don't mind doing a red shirt. I just won't do blue! :-)

Tomorrow's post will be a little bit different from my usual stuff....

Hope to see you again!

Love 'n' hugs,

Father's Day card - number 3

Hiya,

I'm still in the process of showing you all the cards I've been making over the past few weeks so even though this is now aaaaages late, here is my third father's day card. And this one is for my very own Dad.....

When I bodge something up (which is pretty often!) I can always rely on my good old Dad (I can hear him now.... Less of the old, Melanie!) to help me out so this is a perfect image for him :-)

Back tomorrow!

Love 'n' hugs,

Father's Day card - number 2

Hiya!

My second father's day card was for my step-dad, Chris. I'm so totally jealous of his recent holiday to the Maldives with my lucky Mom.... When I saw this image it just had to be for him :-) I even found some little wooden sandals in one of my craft drawers!

Of course he's another LOTV cutie :-)

Back tomorrow with my Dream Valley DT card....

Love 'n' hugs,

Father's Day card - number 1

Day 2 of show-you-everything-I've-made-because-I'm-completely-rubbish :-)

And here is the first of my Father's day cards....

This is for Paul's dad, Ken. Unfortunately he supports the wrong team :-( We are a Villa household while Ken supports Birmingham City. I found myself quite unable to colour a blue shirt for him so I thought I'd opt for the monochrome look :-)

Love this gorgeous cutie - one of my latest additions from a little LOTV spending spree I had to console myself. We had planned a visit in the Leeds area and I was hoping to pop in to their shop and have a good old nosey.... but alas, EVERYTHING was closed over the Jubilee bank holiday and LOTV was no exception so I had to buy online instead.... :-) Oh well, I'll make another visit soon!

Love 'n' hugs,

Trying to sort myself out....

Hiya,

I've decided I really need to get some of my cards put on my blog so I'm scheduling some posts for the next few days to show you what I've been up to.....

This is the card I made for Paul's birthday a couple of weeks ago - I was determined to use my "Husband" stamp (now that I can!) and so I decided to make it the focus of my card....

I'm still being pretty pants about visiting other blogs and commenting on your gorgeous cards and that'll probably be the way it is for another week or so cos I've got a few things to sort out - I apologise hugely and hope you'll forgive me.

I really appreciate you all sticking by me while I disappear off the face of the Earth :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 34 - For that Special Guy

Hiya!

It's time for another challenge at Dream Valley - yay! We want to see your gorgeous creations

For That Special Guy

and they don't come any more special than my lovely hubby :-) Today is his birthday and this is the card I made for the kids to give to him:

I love this cute little LOTV bear - perfect for this occasion but also with Father's Day coming up, you can't go wrong :-) Expect to see a bit more of him.....

The sentiment is also from LOTV (I had a bit of a spending spree so I've got lots of new lovelies to be showing you over the next few weeks!)

No time to hunt for challenges today.... We've got a lovely day planned so I'd better get on with it! I'll have a bit of time to come and visit you all when the kids are back at school this week and I really need to give you an update on my "lack of picture space/do you pay for your blog" saga so watch this space!

In the meantime, pop over to Dream Valley to grab some inspiration for those necessary, but not always easy male cards!

Love 'n' hugs,

40th birthday.....

Hiya!

And an especially big HELLO!to my new followers :-) Nice to have you on board....

I still haven't quite resolved my lack of photo space on blogger/Picasa although I have managed to increase my space by deleting a few duplicate pictures..... And I've also discovered that many of my photos are pushing 2Mb in size!!! But a minor cropping operation in paint can reduce them to 500kb.... I don't understand :-( Thank you to everyone who has offered advice - I really appreciate it. I'm going to explore each option in turn and see if I can find a way around it before I give in to monthly payments! I'll keep you updated....

Anyway, I do have a card to share with you:

One of my fave LOTV images - oh, who am I kidding??? I love them all!

I tried out my most recent purchase.... A sizzix photo corner die - I'm quite pleased!

Challenges:

Cards for Men - Kicking back

Sketch 'n' stash - Fab sketch (ooops! Missed the dealine!)

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - In the garden

Paperplay Challenges - Destruction (Iwas just in the mood after my nasty blogger problems!)

Moving Along With The Times - Keep it real

Back again soon - and I might get round to posting a piccie of the new car (which is fabulous!) if blogger will let me!

Love 'n' hugs,

Time for coffee....

Hiya!

Well am I glad to be back in blogland!!!  I'm relieved to finally be crafting again! After all the excitement of the wedding and the honeymoon, it's taken me a little while to settle back into normal life. I'd thought about going to my craft corner several times but the umph! wasn't there and neither were the ideas! So I visited some of my fave blogs to get some much needed inspiration and it seems to have done the trick :-) 

And just in time too.... it was my son, Marc's seventeenth birthday yesterday. I think he's a bit too old for all the kid/teenager images I've got now so I had to think of something a bit different. After trawling through all my digi images I found this one which pretty much sums him up most mornings :-)  I have had this image for ages - it isn't conveniently organised with a name or where it's from so it must be from when I was quite new to blogland so if anyone can tell me where it's from, that would be great!

I was quite proud of myself for using only card and papers from my scraps folder so I'm not quite sure where they're from either (although I'm pretty sure the paler spotted paper is Daisy and Dandelion). I embossed the background with a papermania mini polka dots folder and added a sentiment from Sentiments 4 You.

The image is coloured with promarkers and I've added a little 3D gloss to his nose :-)

Challenges:

CRAFT - Animals

Cards for Men - Texture

Creative inspirations - Anything goes

Forever Friends - Embossing

Ladybug Crafts Ink - Birthday

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Sketch 'n' stash - Fab sketch (I've turned it upside down), unused/neglected stash - digi stamp

Right, time to make lunch for my little man! I'll be back again on Sunday with my DT card for Dream Valley so see you then :-)

 Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 26 - Just for Men

Hiya,

This is just a brief visit to blogland between wedding prep (been making place cards, table plans, favour bags..... Piccies to come after the big day!) just to show you my latest DT card for Dream Valley.  We're looking for those male themed cards this time so get your thinking caps on!

One of my fave LOTV images....

A close up of the image.... I wish the sky showed up better in the photo - I was really proud of it! Oh well.... :-)

I used:

Image - LOTV, Lazy Afternoon

Sentiment - Sentiments 4 you

Promarkers

Papers - unknown, sorry!

Kraft card

Nesties

Ribbon from stash

Challenges:

CES challenges - spots and dots

Sarah Hurley - Die cuts

Stampin' for the weekend - Photo inspiration

Wags 'n' whiskers - Masculine birthday

I've got more wedding stuff to do so I'll be off.... Don't forget to check out all the fab inspiration over in Dream Valley!

Love 'n' hugs,

A card for the box....

Hiya!

I always seem to run out of make cards so while I was doing my Dad's birthday card I coloured a spare image and this is the card I've made with it :-)

The image is of course from LOTV and coloured with promarkers.

The papers are Clare Curd's It's a Man's World, and then some more Smirk ribbon - simple!

A close-up of the image...

Challenges:

LOTV - Creature Comforts

C.R.A.F.T. - Cute

Right, despite my trip to the craft show at the NEC at the weekend, I need some more crafty supplies.... I'm off shopping :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Best Dad Ever....

Hiya,

Just a quick post from me tonight.... It was my lovely Daddy's birthday yesterday and I used my lovely new LOTV stamp that I won recently for his birthday card :-) Coloured of course with my promarkers....

The papers are from Clare Curd's It's a man's world collection and the ribbon is from Smirk.

Challenges:

Cupcake Craft Challenges - Textalicious (text on ribbon)

Forever Friends - Something old, something new (old papers, new stamp)

Moving along with the times - Food & drink

Hope you had a lovely day, Dad!

Back again soon.... :-)

Love 'n' hugs,