Dream Valley Challenge 95 - Anything goes!

Ooooops! Guess who forgot to schedule their blog post!!! I'm all over the place at the moment trying to keep the house running smoothly while we're having our new bathroom fitted. There's so much to do.... I was really glad of the excuse to do something a little different for our new challenge at Dream Valley...

ANYTHING GOES!!!!!

I went to the craft show at the NEC recently and picked up a few more bits and pieces to add to my jewellery making collection that I'm starting to build up. I wanted to make a nice Christmassy set.... What do you think?

This is only my second attempt at making a double stranded wire bracelet - a lot more successful than my first attempt! I added a little extension chain with a little Christmas tree charm :-)

And a little pair of earrings to match - I love how quickly I can make a pair of earrings! Absolutely loving my new hobby! Thank you to my friend, Yvonne, for the inspiration :-)

Make sure you pop over to Dream Valley to join in all 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 71 - Anything but a card

Hiya!

Hope you are all well. It's time for another challenge at Dream Valley and the challenge this time is

ANYTHING BUT A CARD!

I've barely had any time for crafting since I've re-started my supply teaching but the last couple of weeks I've had some enforced crafting time! On Thursdays when I don't work I have a physiotherapy class to go to for my hip which is less bending and stretching (like I thought it would be) and more full on gym workout! It has left me pretty much unable to walk for two Fridays now so I've had to sit on the sofa and sew these little cuties :-) Oh well.... Every cloud.... :-)

I started off with the little penguin at my pal Yvonne's (yes, Yvonne, you get another mention - thank you, sweetie!) who kindly re-taught me how to do blanket stitch. I haven't done that since I was in Brownies :-) When I got home I had the bug and cut out two christmas puds and a robin. And then I discovered the christmas trees I had cut out last year but never had time to do anything with....

The penguin and robin - a mixture of xcut dies, nesties and a bit of free-hand cutting....

The christmas puds - again I used nesties for the large circles, and xcut dies for the rest except the icing which was hand cut. I think the holly leaves are a bit too small though but I couldn't find any better ones. Maybe next time I'll cut them free hand too?

Nestie trees which a selection of buttons, gold trim and mini bells....

Hope you like! Now I've just got to decide what to do with them! I might thread them on some rope and make a bit of a garland type thing. What do you think?

Anyway. don't forget to pop over to Dream Valley and join in the challenge :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Dream Valley Challenge 70 - Clean and Simple

Hiya!

It's time for another challenge over at Dream Valley and this time we'd like to see your Clean and Simple cards. Now I've always found these a challenge but I have been working on them behind the scenes - heaven knows, they easily take me as long as my normal cards! My good friend Yvonne has helped me to get the tree on this one just right.....

We tried stamping in white, and embossing with all sorts of inks and powders to get the right effect that showed all the detail in the tree and gave a clear enough image. Finally, using some extra fine white embossing powder I picked up at the craft show at the NEC last week, I managed to get just what I wanted - yay!

A close up of the image from Inkylicious.....

The sentiment was handwritten in white gel pen because, again, I was struggling to find exactly the right phrase and font..... and you can't exactly print in white, can you!?! :-) I added a couple of tiny gems and a hand drawn border. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the results!

Now make sure you pop over to Dream Valley and have a look at the gorgeous creations there which all look far more effortless than this one seemed to be!

Love 'n' hugs,

Teacher thank you cards and gifts

Hiya!

I'm just outside in the garden watching my boys enjoy their first few days of the summer hols! They're splashing about in the paddling pool having a lovely time - long may it continue!

Anyway, I thought I'd share the cards I made for their teachers at the end of term. I've used the cutest little monkey from digistamp boutique - I thought he was perfect to put on cards from my little monkeys :-)

Card 1: Miss Neale

Card 2: Miss Fitzgerald

Card 3: Mrs Mazic

Card 4: Mrs Bromhall

Card 5: Miss Sheppard

And then the little bird gifts I made for them.... I die cut the pieces from felt but I can't tell you the make of the dies I'm afraid because I borrowed them from a friend and then gave them back without noting down the make but as soon as I find out (or if anyone out there can tell me!) I'll add it on :-) So cute though! I'll be borrowing the set again to make myself some, I think :-)

Edit: The dies are a Marianne Design Collectable called "Bird" (Thank you, Yvonne - for the loan of the dies and the name of them!)

Right, I think I'll go and prepare another salad for dinner! Nope, not bored of them yet :-)

Love 'n' hugs,