BT DISASTER FINALLY OVER

Disaster day arrived on Friday.   I haven't had the internet or telephone for FIVE (VERY LONG) DAYS,  after cutting me off on friday and attaching me to someone else's line and then cutting me off completely, I firmly believe that BT have it in for me.
I have come to the conclusion that they have no idea how to run a business and the call centres can't do a thing for you except aggreviate you.    Finally this afternoon an engineer arrived, thankfully he was good and told us exactly what was going on.
So I have missed all your marvellous blogs and have suffered terribly with internet withdrawal.  So happy days are here again.

Dress for the occasion

Last year I had an afternoon crafting with a friend, but we talked so much that we just stamped out images. I had completely forgotten about them until I came across the box yesterday.  This was one of the images coloured and ready to go, so felt it needed to be on a card.

Dark Pink card from Papermill
Flower papers from Papermania "Rose Garden"
Ribbon from Dovecraft
Leaves from stampin up punch
Flowers and pearls from stash
Stamp from See D's set

February birthdays

Lots of birthdays coming up so aim to be ready this year.  Last year I had to buy a couple - shame on me.
My Mother in law has her birthday at the end of the month and I decided to go with a flower card as she loves gardens and flowers.
 
For the card I used the following:
The pink card from stash
My Mind's Eye  Quite contrary (summer papers) - this was free with Cardmaking and Papercraft (gorgeous prints in this pack)
Marianne die
Ribbon, glitter glue and brad from stash
Pearl gems from Kars
Digi was freebie from Birdscards.com - this site has some lovely freebies.

I have eight birthdays coming up over the next couple of weeks so have plenty to do.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Just Tracys Crafts Challenge - Girls card with ribbon
Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge - Spring is in the air
The ABC Challenge - J is for Jazz (Glitter, brad and pearls)
Totally PaperCrafts  - Ribbons and Bows
Cute Card Thursday - Flower Power
Allsorts - Anything Goes

Penny Black Papermania!

Ages since I made a romantic card, loved the cute stamp from Penny Black.  Won the Papermania Paper Packs over a year ago and hadn't got around to using them; now I look at the papers and see how pretty the colours are and wonder why it has taken me so long to use them.

Background papers - Papermania Rose Garden 9x9 Pad, Nitwits Cotton Candy Kisses collection
Red card - The Papermill
Stamp - Penny Black "Micey Day"
Button twine - The Works
Heart Charm, brads and mini envelope - stash
Flowers - Marianne Die
Sentiment - Papermania Rose Garden 12x12 pad
Colouring medium - ProMarkers
Distressing Ink - Whispers Straw Mat Ink

I'd like to enter this card for the following challenges:
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Week 188 Theme Love and Kisses
The Crafty Pad - Challenge #157 - The Letter "B"
Make It Monday - Anything Goes
Pollycraft - Challenge #127 Theme Reds, Pinks and Creams
Passion For Promarkers - Week 136 Theme Distressing
Fussy and Fancy - Challenge 56 Theme With All My Heart
Sketch n Stash - Challenge 81
Truly Scrumptious - Challenge 74 All Creatures Great and Small
Crafty Ribbons - Challenge 13 Theme Paws For Thought
Fresh Brewed Designs - Challenge 81 Theme Love

Craft Show at Glow, Bluewater

I went along to the Craft Show at Bluewater at the beginning of February, it was a lovely day out with my friend Dawn and my daughter Christine.  Obviously I had to spend money and found I spent rather more than I had budgeted for.   There were some lovely stalls and I could have done with a few hundred pounds to buy all the things I really wanted.  I purchased some of the Lili of the Valley stamps, Martha Stewart punch set called “Bubble bath” and other items which you can see in the pictures below.

January came and went

Not sure what happened to January this year, I was all prepared to be crafting from day one but hadn’t counted on everything else getting in my way.

I was asked to make some birthday invitations for an in-laws Mother and I have managed to get these done. I did make up a few samples and we finally settled on this design. As soon as I said yes to making the invitations I realised I didn’t actually have much in the way of stamps or dies for invitations. Obviously a terrible oversight on my part and I have told my husband that it will be a necessity for me to spend a little more money in the future on stamps for invitations. Betty is amazing for her age, always manages to look smart and elegant in mostly black and white clothes. After a few discussions we decided that black and white would be the ideal colour scheme for her.  These cards would be my little contribution to the preparations for her birthday.  

The glass was a clip art picture; I used Ivory Letraset promarker for champagne in the glass and a red pen for the ribbon. Both the white and black card had a lovely linen effect and I used Martha Stewart “Bubble Bath” corner punch.