Something for a Child at MMM

The challenge this week at Make My Monday is "Something for a Child" which fitted quite nicely with making a card for Roy's great-nieces's 7th birthday. I decided to make her a girlie card and used the SU T-shirt set.

The banner is a Little Claire set that I've had for ages and never used. I really wanted to put Happy Birthday Polly but couldn't fit it in.

Look forward to seeing what you come up.

70th birthday

 It was Roy's 70th at the beginning of the month and this is the card I made him instead of this one. The digi image was another from Dr Digi, coloured with copics in what I hope were the Welsh Rugby team's colours. I even added a very small splodge of white to represent the Prince of Wales Feathers.

I cut the numbers out with SU dies and added 3 thicknesses of card to make it stand out.  He seemed to like it!!

Shades of Brown

It's time for a new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week we are looking for Shades of Brown. I was originally going to use this image from Dr Digi for Roy's birthday  as  part of his therapy is to do some exercises every morning using a weight. But I went down a different route for that!  However I thought it really lent itself to this challenge.

I coloured him with copics and fussy cut him out. The background papers are out of my stash and the sentiment is from Penny Black. Do try and join in the challenge but remember your makes must be for a male.

Pop out card!

I recently had to make a quick card for Roy's great-niece who was just about to be three when she came to our wedding. I had some perfect girly paper from a pad that I had won some time ago, with fairies, princesses and castles, which doesn't get used much as I have all boys!  One sheet of paper for the card front. Then I found some snippets of pale pink card to diecut the letters and number for the front of the card.

For the inside I found a larger snippet and used a SU die for the inside. In case you can't quite see it, it says Happy Birthday

I'm popping over to the Playground with this as snippets have been used. Wonder how the Christmas preparations are going there? 

"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.

Rudolph Day - June

Well Rudolph Day really took me by surprise this month, as I didn't have a card ready. So a quick visit to the craft room resulted in this.

The stamp is from Hobbyart bought at this year' s Make It Show. The fat robins really appealed to me when I saw their samples. The backing paper was a plain green out of a very old Christmas pad, so I stamped on it with a small holly leaf from the set with a brilliance pad to give a bit of shine. The robin us coloured with Copics and some Dazzling Details glitter glue added for the white sparkle.

I'm afraid my blog posts may become even more erratic than they already are over the next few months. We have really got to concentrate on getting Roy's flat emptied and put on the market, and at the same time I need to clear out my garage to make room for the men to install new garage doors.No mean task as it's been used to dump everything in just in case it becomes useful. I do have a few things saved in drafts which I'll post from time to time and I'm sure I'll fit some crafting in, just tokeep me sane!!

I seem to have lost my signature as well, will have to create a new one but meanwhile, a temporary one.



Sue

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
 

Less is More - New baby card

Wonders will never cease! Two posts in one day from me! The reason is Roy went out with some former work colleagues so I had a whole FOUR hours to myself!!!

The theme this week at Less is More is to leave plenty of "white Space" but not white! I have a number of coloured card blanks, bought many years ago when I first started cardmaking, that are now sitting unloved at the botom of my card blank box, so a perfect opportunity to use one!

I diecut the little suit from some dsp and hand drew the seam lines then diecut the hanger.  Very simple card but I rather like it. No new babies to give it to though so it will go into my box of cards - just in case! I'd better make a blue one as well!

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.

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
 

Rudolph Day - February

Goodness these Rudolph Days do seem to come round very quickly! I made this card a while ago fortunately, as I've had no time for crafting this week at all.  Well I could have done some this afternoon as Roy went out with a friend for coffee which gave me a much needed break for an hour or so, but instead of crafting I sat and watched Barbara Gray, something I haven't done since he came out of hospital.

Anyway back to the card which was made from the Simon Says Stamp December monthly kit again. 

Tomorrow I'm off to the Make It show so I expect some goodies will fall into my bag! 

Last of the Christmas Cards

It's been a while since I blogged - I blame all this Christmas preparation. The cakes are made, marzipanned and iced, mince pies made, decorations up, a ridiculous amount of shopping done, not a spare inch in the fridge! So time to blog the last of this years Christmas cards.

First off I made a one layer card for the LIM challenge last week but never got round to blogging it or entering the challenge. I used a Clarity stamp, stamped and embossed with white.

 So I adapted it as I wasn't too fond of it as an OLC and gave it a white base, much better I think.

Next up two stepper cards for my grandsons. The toppers were some old Kanban ones from my stash.

Two more cards for Roy's great-nieces, again using some old decoupage sheets and another Kanban topper.

Some tags for all the presents. I can't take credit for the design as they are shamelessly cased from HERE

Next I made seven cards all simiLar for members of the card group I belong to.

I have to say I think these were among my favourites for this year, alongside these ones.

And finally a card made using the Simon Says Stamp December kit. It arrived very late this month, not sure what the PO had been doing with it! The papers in it are gorgeous and I have a few more cards in mind, ready for next year!

Lots of snippets were used to make the tags, nativity cards and fireplacee cards so Im off to join in the festivities at the Playground where not only is ist Christmas but also Di's fourth anniversary and there are lots of prizes to be won.

So that's it from me till after the big day, all that's left is to wish all my readers and bloggy friends

 A Very Happy Christmas!

Less is More - Green and Blue

When I read out what this week's Less is More challenge was to Roy last Saturday, he commented " I'll be interested to see what you do with that!" Well this is what I did.

I used a NBUS die from Simon Says Stamp and cut it out twice, once in blue and once in green then pieced the bits together. The blue paper was the backing paper from a Clarity stencil and the green was a snippet of holographic card. I'm off to make a second one with the remaining die pieces - obviously in reverse colours. Thee sentiment is a peel off coloured with a green copic pen. The snippets used mean that I get to have a go on the swings at the Playground!

LIM 249 Colour Challenge

The colour challenge at Less is More this week is to use the colours of "Fire". I immediately thought of autumn leaves and started making a card on Sunday.

After stamping lots of leaves my mojo went for a walk so I didn't finish the card until yesterday  - then I saw that lots of others had used leaves as well. I thought of doing something else but as my crafting time is very limited these days and the creative juices seem to have gone into hiding, decided to stick with the original plan. I used SU's Vintage Leaves and I think the background is from the You've Got It set. I added some gold embossed splats to the background as well. The leaves are actually shiny as I covered them with Versamark and clear embossd them. I think my photography skills, which were never very good, have also gone for a walk.

Roy is making slow progress but every day he can do a little more. He does get very frustrated though and very irritable, which is so unlike him. Unfortunately encephalitis can cause changes in personality, so I'm hoping it is just the frustration which will get less as he improves.  I do find some time to craft but blogging has taken a bit of a back seat I'm afraid.  And some days I'm just too tired to do very much at all.

I'm also going to join in at the Playground as the leaves were snippets of white card.
 

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! 

The Blues!

I managed to find a little time to craft over the weekend and made this card for Less is More who want us to use sprays and mists.By a happy chance it also fits the theme for Addicted to Cas who want "Blue"

 Stampin' Royalty who want "circles" and as it was also a snippet used for the butterfly I'm going to take it over to the Playground as well. WOW - four challenges with one card, not sure I've ever managed that before.

Roy and I are slowly getting into a sort of routine between various outpatients appointments, but most of my time seems to be taken up now with food shopping (ugh!) and cooking! need to get it more organised!
 

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.

A Happy Post!

Last week the physios treating Roy came to do a home visit with him to see how he managed in the house and what aids he might need. It was a successful visit and he managed quite well. I just need to have a second handrail put in to help him with the stairs. So after a follow up meeting with the doctor and other medical staff he's coming home tomorrow!!!

I've been busy making a thank you card for the team which I'll show another day. But thought I'd post another card I made some time ago when I first got the Crazy Bird stamps.

 I coloured him with Spectrum Noir pencils then fussy cut him out( I didn't have the dies then) and mounted him onto some blue backing paper. It doesn't show up very well in the photo but the smile diecut and mat are yellow. As snippets were use I'm going to head over to the Playground to see what's going on there. I've been away too long.

Rudolph Day

Well goodness time does fly past as its time for Rudolph Day again over at Scrappy Mo's. Here is my card.

I used a new Christmas embossing folder from Sheena Douglass, brayered over it very gently with Versamark then embossed with WOW embossing powder. I think I need a bit more practise at the technique as I got some ink in the middle of the leaves. 

It's time for another Roy update - he's now walking unaided and is getting a little bit of use back into his right hand. That will be an ongoing process for about a year as all the nerves were damaged. The even better news is that they are hoping to do a home visit in the next two weeks to see what help he will need and all being well they think he should be home by the end of August. I can't wait!

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!