Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

Or for those of you who aren't Welsh speakers "Happy St David's Day! When I saw this Hobbyart stamp at the Make It show on Friday I knew it would be perfect for cards for Roy and his brother for today.
The first card was for Roy's brother. The sentiment was computer generated!

The second one which was actually the first one I made was for Roy. I fussy cut the stamp out and decoupaged one fo the flowers, then added a liberal coating of Wink of Stella which unfortunately doesn't show in the photo, which seems to be a bit wishy washy.

I'm entering this one into the following challenges:
Pixies Snippets - which is to use snippets
Darnell's NBUS challenge - use never before used stuff
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
 

Military Birthday Card

I’m afraid I’ve been MIA for a while. The reason? I’m doing an online drawing course and it’s taking up a lot of my time, so card making has taken a bit of a back seat.

A friend of Roy’s recently had his 87th birthday so I made him a suitable card. He’s ex military and also collects model soldiers as Roy does. 

I was really pleased that I was able to make use of the stamp I’d bought for Roy’s birthday card as I thought it might only get used once. The badge and sentiment were computer generated.

Challenges:

Seize the birthday

Roy's birthday

The beginning of April brings a number of family birthdays, all fairly close together. The first one is Roy's. As many of you will know he is a keen collector of model soldiers, so when I came across this stamp from Picture This last year I had to buy it, and had been waiting to ink it ever since.

I coloured him with a mix of Copics and Promarkers then fussy cut him out. The background is made up of snippets of scrapbooking paper. I thought the stripy one looked a bit regimental! The sentiment strip is computer generated as I added his old Regimental cap badge to either side. I'm pleases to say it was very well received.

Challenges:

NBUS 

Snippets Playgound

Happy Little Stampers Birthday Challenge

"The Wedding", Rudolph Day and Happy Little Stampers

Well we were so lucky to have great weather last Saturday for our wedding. Yep, I've finally gone and done it!  Just a few phone photos for you as I haven't got the official ones yet.

Signing the Register 

With some of the grand kids. From L-R Dylan (Roy's great nephew) Declan (my eldest Grandson) Pollly (Roy's great niece) and Jack (my other grandson. Missing is Daisy - Polly's sister who didn't want her photo taken and ran away!

Pretending to cut the cake which was quite small but looks positively minute in the picture!

And now here's my card for Rudolph Day and also Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge which is to use embossing. I'm also hopping over to the Playground as the red card was a snippet. The die is from Memory Box and the EF is a retired  SU one.

Card in a box!

I'm sure you've all seen these very popular cards in a box - they are all over blogland at the moment, so who am I not to join in! I'm actually going to show you the third one I made for one of Roy's colleagues. Apparently she was really impressed with her Christmas card which was black and silver(and according to Roy had red in it as well. I've no idea which one she got as I just gave him an assorted boxful. The only way it might have had red in it would have been Rudolph's nose). So he thought I should do the same for her birthday' even though I'd said she was getting a box card. I like to do the one's he gives at work all very similar, ie same stamp set, that way I know they won't get the same the following year! I had already started on the box cards - made two and prepped two to make at card club this week - but none met his criteria so I set to and made, what will be the last one, but first to be given.

I uses Secret Garden and Fabulous Florets for the flowers. The leaves are from Fabulous Florets and the Sizzlits Little Leaves die. It doesn't really show in the photo but the darker leaves were stamped in black then gone over with a Wink of Stella. The lighter leaves are actually silver shimmer card. The next photo shows the shimmer a bit better.

Today has been ....

.....a good day! I have had a day off from hospital visiting and for once have achieved what I wanted to do!! Other days off have either not gone to plan or I have just been too tired to do much.
But today I have done mundane things like changing the bed linen, getting it washed and dried (not ironed yet - my ironer (Roy) not being available I'm going to have to do it myself and I hate ironing), sorted out the fountain in the pond as it was clogged up and done the shopping. I also called in the garden centre for a couple of plants for the garden and some craft stuff just happened to fall in my trolley.One item was sa Sheena Doudlass stencil of hills and I've even managed to have a play with it and made a card for Less is More!!

It is more colourful IRL but the light wasn't very good when I took the photo. The house is a Clarity stamp, coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils. I stamped the sentiment in sepia but think it would have been better in black.

I'm pleased to say Roy is improving albeit VERY slowly. He has been assessed and put on the waiting list for a bed in the neurorehab centre in Woking. It's further away for me to visit but he will be getting the specialist rehab he needs, and hopefully will improve faster.

I am so grateful for all the positive vibes and good wishes I have had from fellow bloggers - you really are great!
 

Owl with Balloons!

It's Roy's birthday next weekend and usually I try to make him a card which relates to one of his interests, but I'm running out of ideas!  However he used to collect owls ( not real ones😄) so I thought I'd try a bit of punch art.

I love the owl punch - it's so versatile, so that together with the new balloon punch and matching stamp set formed the basis for my card. I glossy accented the balloons which is why they look a bit cloudy - they didn't photo well!

The good news is that he had a follow up appointment at the rehab unit this morning and they don't want to see him again, as he had made such good progress. There's still a lot of improvement needed but that will only happen over time and if he keeps doing his exercises.

I'm entering this into the Playground as it was made entirely from snippets apart from the card blank.

Less is More - OLC At Sea

I made this card a few days ago for this week's LIM challenge but have only just got round to uploading it. We had a few ups and downs this week - Roy managed to move his neck awkwardly with the result we had to have an unanticipated trip to the chiropractor followed by an unexpected visit from a friend from France.

Anyway on to the card I used a stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. I stamped the waves with Adirondack Denim and the boats with black Versafine. I was going to paper piece them but wasn't sure that it would qualify as one layer, so coloured them instead with Spectrum Noir pencils.

I'm entering this as well into the following challenges which all have a "sea" theme.

Shopping our Stash
Make My Monday
 

Update!

After dozens of blood tests, x-rays, scans etc the doctors have finally decided that Roy has encephalitis. He's being pumped full of antibiotics, antivirals and painkillers and has now just left intensive care and is on a ward. Thankfully he can now speak again and is coherent but is still immobile. His right hand has still to be sutured but that probably won't happen for another week, and he has to have another lumbar puncture. He's also getting fed up so must be feeling a bit better. His daughter is still here with me so at least have company and don't have time to sit and brood! I could do with a decent night's sleep though.

Another layout and update.

I have another layout to show you. This is the opening page of my Australia album.  I am so glad we went to Australia last year ( Note the wrong date on my page - I have changed it since I took the photo!) instead of waiting till next year or sometime in the future, as it is unlikely we would be going after the events of the last three weeks.

I have actually been in my craft room today but only tidied away the debris from the last time I was in there. But its a start! My mojo and inspiration are definitely lacking despite having new stash to play with. But I have got a tidy desk for when inspiration strikes.

Roy is continuing to make good progress according to the doctors and they are transferring him soon to the local community hospital for rehab. The rehab  is going to take a long time though as at the moment he still can't stand on is own let alone walk. His right hand is splinted and left hand very weak. Although he is now speaking and coherent his voice had almost disappeared as though he had a bad case of laryngitis but I think its through lack of use! A 10 minute drive to visit will be better though rather than the current 20 mile round trip in queuing traffic!

I have greatly appeciated all your supportive comments and good wishes. The crafty bloggers are a great community! It was also a lovely surprise to receive a "thinking of you" card yesterday from a blogging friend (you know who you are!) which really made my day although it did bring a few tears as well! I seem to be having a few weepy days this week - think it all must be catching up with me.
 

Golden Birthday Buddha

It was recently Roy's birthday and as he is very fond of oriental things having lived in Hong Kong many years ago, I wanted to make a suitable card. He is particularly fond of Buddha's and when I saw this stamp last year, I knew it would make a perfect card for him. I have to thank Jane for her enabling post here.

I stamped and embossed on gold mirri card and then mounted it onto a leafy background, made with a Uniko background stamp and inked around the edges.That should have been the finished card but I made a mess on the inside! So cut the front off and mounted it on to a gold A5 card, then was much more careful stamping on the inside. I'm sharing this at the NBUS challenge and Watercooler Challenge.

Happy Birthday Darnell

Hope you have a very happy birthday Darnell! Sorry no card as haven't had time to get in the craft room - been hospital visiting today and yesterday was shopping for PJs and shorts for Roy  to wear in rehab! Enjoy your celebrations!

 

Unicorn Birthday

Today I have for you two of the 'same but different' cards. Roy;s great niece is obsessed with unicorns, so I went looking for unicorn stamps and found these sweet ones from Lawn Fawn. I decided to make two cards while I had them out as the little girl next door is 4 later this month.

 

I used some lightish blue card from the snippets box and stencilled some darker blue "clouds"as a background. The unicorns, fairies cake and clouds were all stamped on snippets of white card and fussy cut before being arranged. Some glitter stars added to one and the fairies' wings were also glittered.

 

Challenges:

Snippets Playground

Happy Little Stampers Birthday Challenge

NBUS

Sad News!

I'm sorry to say I am going to have to take a blogging and possibly crafting break. Roy, my partner has been taken to hospital after I found him on the bedroom floor on Thursday night unable to get up. He has some sort if infection in his hand and they think in his brain as well. He's currently in intensive care and is due to have an MRI today to try and find out exactly what is wrong. So far the tests have all been inconclusive. So I'm sure you will understand the need for a break.

May Rudolph Day

It' s the 25th of the month which means it's Rudolph Day again. Last month I didn't take part as events overtook me. This is the card I had made but not photographed so I'm using it for this month instead, and also taking it over to the Playground.

Whether I will get to play next month remains to be seen.

Roy's recovery seems to have slowed down. We are still waiting for him to be transferred for rehabilitation but it will not be to the local hospital unfortunately, but to a neurorehab unit which is even further away. I may be able to go by train though instead of always driving.  Yesterday was not a good day - he seemed to have taken a step backwards and was certainly not co-operating with the occupational therapist. He told me he'd switched off from her!  He seems to have a down on all the therapists, which is not helping! This morning I've just cancelled our next holiday as he is obviously not going to be fit to travel. I just hope that he will recover and that this is not going to be as good as it gets. I'm not having a good day either as I can't stop crying - think it has all just caught up with me and Fiona is not here either this weekend. She has got even more problems as her much loved elderly cat has kidney failure and I think she is going to have to have her put to sleep this weekend.

Must get my act together and think positively befoer visiting time this afternoon.
 

Oporto Port House

I hadn't realised how long it has been since I last did a blog post. Note to self - must do better!  no cardmaking has been taking place but I have done some more scrapbooking, an online art course and some major clearing out of books and magazines stored in the garage!  Now I only have to contend with the fact my craft room is like a sauna, despite having the window open, blind down and fan on! Anyway on to crafty things and here is another layout for my Canaries Cruise scrapbook.

Our first port of call was Oporto where we did an excursion to a Port House( I had to look up what they were called) which included sampling some of their products. As Roy is totally teetotal I had double tasteing!

The embellishments were cut out on my Cameo.

Messy card for a Teen!

The new challenge at Make My Monday is to use a messy background. Now I always think they look great when other people do them, but I'm never so sure about mine! Anyway I had a rummage through my box to see if I had anything ready made and found the last piece of a Brushos background created at the HLS retreat back in November.Having found it I then had to think of something to do with it! I decided a large sentiment was the way to go and dcided to emboss it with  a metallic green embossing powder. Needless to say it was a disaster - I just couldn't get a decent image. Back to the drawing board.

So I mounted it on to orange then cut a band of the same orange to cover up the disastrous embossing, stamped the sentiment in black, fortunately using the Misti as I had to stamp it three times before getting a clear print. Some enamel dots finished it off and it went on its way to Roy's great-nephew who has just turned thirteen!

August Rudolph Day

I'm sorry I've been MIA and been lacking in commenting but life has been a bit busy since Roy came out of hospital just over a week ago. He still needs help doing most things although he can wash and dress himself, but that is about it and will be for some time. He had an outpatients appointment this morning with the orthopaedic surgeon who was very satisfied with his right hand and doesn't need to see him any more unless we have any concerns. But of course he still has to wear a splint for a few hours a day to straighten the wrist and massage the hand where they operated. His mobility is very limited and although he can walk short distances and go up and down stairs I have to supervise him doing it.
So my time is very limited but now we are sort of getting into a routine I'm hoping to find some time in the afternoons to get in the craft room rather than falling asleep on the sofa!

Fortunately when I made last month's Rudolph card I had the foresight to make a couple more, so here's my card for this month.

The topper is an upcycled card from last year which I thought was too nice to throw away. I mounted it onto holographic silver card and cut the sentiment from that too, then mounted it onto a black card base.So off to see what others have made for Scrappymo's Rudolph challenge.

Anniversary!

Tuesday was the 15th anniversary of being together with Roy. There were times earlier this year when I really didn't think we'd be celebrating.

As he has always been keen on owls and has quite a collection of them (nor real or stuffed ones!) I thought this stamp, which was free with Creative Stamping magazine, would make a perfect anniversary card for him. I inked it with walnut stain distress ink and pulled the colour out with a water brush, then fussy cut round it. The heart was cut out of some paper from a Simon Says Stamp monthly kit. The little red hearts were punched out of snippets of red glimmer paper using appropriately the SU owl punch! 

I am going to take it across to the Playground to see if I can get a go on the swings! 

Graffiti!

Hi I'm back with another layout for you.It's a good job I hadn't blogged any of these as I wouldn't have anything to post! I've had little time to get in the craft room and when I did have some it was like a sauna, so there was no way I could sit in there!

these photos were taken in Melbourne where they have specially designated lanes and alleys for graffiti artists to display their talents. SU's Grunge stamps came in very useful for this!

I'm pleased to say that Roy has now been transferred back to the neuro rehab unit in Woking and is making good progress. When he left Frimley Park he was unable to even stand unaided and certainly couldn't get himself off the bed. Yesterday he walked with a frame and a little help from the phsyio from the ward to the gym for his therapy session. He can get himself off the bed and into a wheelchair with a little support so when the weather is good I can wheel him out into the garden there, so he has had his first taste of fresh air this last two weeks since April! I'm hoping I can get into some sort of routine now with the visiting so I can find a bit more "me" time!