Purple Rain

Everyone who knows the Prince song please sing along, purple rain, purple rain. When I bought the Bo Bunny Penny emporium papers and saw this purple paper with umbrellas on it I knew I had to use the purple splash background with this cute penguin. Both are from the new range at LOTV.  I used Copics and an old Memory Box umbrella die and MFT stitched clouds die. The sentiment is also from MFT.

I have another penguin to share with you tomorrow.

A trip to the hairdresser

Had a rare day in the city today. In the morning I had an appointment for a two year eye test and ordered some new glasses. Then we had a delicious lunch in a nearby restaurant before I headed to the hairdresser for a much needed haircut and colour. I couldn’t believe how much my hair had grown. The back was really irritating me that length as it refused to straighten or curl under.

I feel more like my old self again and it will be so much cooler.

Poorly penguin

I have used one of the just released digis from LOTV, coloured it with Copics  and teamed it with one of the handwritten sentiments. The papers are some new ones I bought on Facebook, Bo Bunny penny emporium.  I added a bow and some enamel dots and that seemed enough.

We had a lovely afternoon out yesterday visiting some gardens. Apart from the hand sanitising and avoiding people occasionally it almost felt normal.

Time for tea and cake

It feels so good to back in my craft room. There is just the bookcase to paint which Graham is going to do downstairs probably next week and then next Thursday afternoon and Friday morning we will be taking everything out again to have the carpet laid. At least we won't have to strip the shelves this time. I will take some photos once the carpet is down.

Si I had a play with some LOTV digis. The sentiment is from It's time to party set. I added the bunting, tepot and cakes from the new Tea Party set. The diecuts were made using Joy dies and I found some bunting ribbon in my stash which may be from Crafty Ribbons.  Back tomorrow with a penguin.

Sneak peek

I managed to get a card made as I didn't need access to much. The inky background is one of a range of new background digis which are perfect for people like me who don't do inky. I like to use papers for my cards but I do love these. They are transparent png files so you can merge images over them and then colour. The penguins are also from a new range. Both the background and penguins are from LOTV and will soon be available. I coloured the image with Copics, using a white wink of Stella pen on the snow and snowflakes. I diecut a banner using a die from The Works and glitter card and added some glittery enamel dots.

The craft room should be finished on Monday apart from the radiator and bookcase being painted so I hope to move back in on Tuesday. Next week I should have some cards to show you.

Hello

We had our first trip into Norwich yesterday as Graham had a haircut booked, lucky him. Mine is 20th July. We were both wondering how safe we would feel but it was quieter than normal. I didn’t feel like lingering in the shops but the few we did go in because we needed a few things were well prepared. One way systems, hand sanitiser everywhere and most people social distancing. We wore masks but the majority of people didn’t. Of those who did some wore them under their chins or under their noses which were no good at all. We even felt safe enough to have lunch in a small place we like. There were only two other couples in there and we were well spaced apart. Everything was sanitised before and after use and it was so nice to have a meal someone else had cooked.

Well whilst hubby is painting my craft room my stuff is spread between the craft room and spare room and I thought I would be able to work like that but I just can’t. I can’t get to lots of stuff easily, hate working in mess in a small space, my chair won’t move across the bedroom carpet and there is nowhere to put things whilst diecutting etc. So I decided the best thing is just to do some colouring. I have a box of images and my Copics and will at least have them ready to make into cards. I hope to be back sharing some cards with you very soon. 

Snowball fight

You may have seen a Humphrey card I made recently. I bought whilst I had the coloured toppers out I would use one of the Winter ones to make a Christmas card. I used Your Next Stamp Winter plaid papers and MFT layered snowflakes. The red and white striped wooden tree was left over from a plaque I made a couple of years ago.

My Christmas pile is very small so I really must try to get some more made. Crafting is a bit more challenging at the moment as my stuff is spread across two rooms whilst Graham is decorating. No decorating this weekend though, he will start again tomorrow.

Bluebells

I am really loving playing with these new Tea Party digis from Lili of the Valley. I love all the extra images which you can merge with the main images. I used Mouse and Rabbit and added the owl and bee. The extra are transparent pngs so easy to use. I custom rotated the bee to get him at the angle I wanted. I distressed the edges and added some doodling with a fineliner pen.

Medium - Copics

Papers - Maja Denim & Girls

Dies - Gummiapan leaf, Joy flowers, Doohickey tab

Lace - from stash

So more places can open from today. I know some restaurants aren't opening yet and many are opening with reduced hours. I just hope that people are sensible and the pubs aren't crowded but having seen the scenes on the beaches and at protests I think some people leave their common sense at home. We won't be venturing out particularly as people can now come on holiday from other parts of the country. Saying home and staying safe.

Scruffy Edward in the frame

I ordered some more frames for my cross stitch and when they came I was able to frame Scruffy Edward with his balloon, a cross stitch pattern from The Little Stitchery. I felt there was a lot of white space so added some star brads which I must have had about 10 years. I have used most of them over the years, they are good for felt snowmen's buttons. Back tomorrow with a card.

Tea party

The new tea party stamps from LOTV are out now at a very special offer. I used bunnie and mouse and added some bunting from the extras. I rotated the bunting as I wanted it to match either side. I coloured it with Copics using a MFT small cloud stencil for the sky. The papers are old oddments. I used Lawn Fawn bunting. The Works stitched square, MFT stitched scallop border and Crafts Too mushrooms and grass dies.

The craft room painting is coming along well. Graham has painted the airing cupboard door and frame, undercoated the other door and frame and painted the ceiling. I have some stuff in the spare room now so crafting is a bit of a challenge working between the two rooms. Once he starts doing some more painting in there it will get even more challenging. Luckily he has been painting the doors on a table in the conservatory so we haven't been in each other's way.

More beer

I was asked to make another card using the coloured printable from Pink Gem but this time for a 40th Birthday. I used various papers and a new Joy hinge die I bought from someone on Facebook.  I diecut it in kraft and added some vintage photo distress ink.

Apart from the few dies I bought from her craft clearout I think since lockdown I have only bought 2 other dies which were on offer at Dies to Die For and a pack of blank cards and envelopes from The Range. I am enjoying using up some of my older stash. I sorted my 6x6 paper pads out and discovered some I had forgotten about which had got to the bottom of the drawers.  The orange backing paper was in one of those pads.  I really want to use some of my old stamps when I get the chance.

Sneak peek

As well as the tea party initials Lil of the Valley are launching a set of cute mice and bunnies along with lots of little extras like butterflies and bunting so you can create your own scenes. I used Mouse and Bird along with one of the general sentiments. 

Medium - Copics

Dies - Go Kreate frilly 10, Memory Box clouds

Punches - Xcut  corner punch, MS fern, umbrella (no brand)

Flowers - Wild Orchid

papers - Crafters  Companion vintage lace

We are off to see my Mum this morning so that will be nice. Tomorrow Graham is going to paint my craft room ceiling so we will have to move some of the stuff out. As he is doing it rather than a decorator it means we don't have to have everything out at once. Crafting this week will be a bit more challenging though so will have to see how I get on depending upon where things are.

And the good news is I have an appointment for a haircut and colour on 20th July, hooray!

Keeping fit

I made this card for a friend who likes to keep himself fit and also likes a takeaway coffee. The backing paper is from First Edition and the striped paper from MFT. I used another Pink Gem coloured printable and added some wooden stars.  Keeping it simple.

Tea party

Lili of the Valley re launching a set of tea party initials in a few days. I added the end of the words from the Alphabears set. I coloured them with Copics and diecut with a Lawn Fawn pierced rectangle die. The flower dies are my much used Hunkydory fabulous florals. I bought a few dies from a crafting friend having a clear out on Facebook and love the stitched butterfly dies I bought from her. I don't know the make unfortunately.

I am not liking this hot weather though it was lovely indoors yesterday with windows open and fans going. We wen for a walk at 8 o'clock last night when it cooled down a bit outside.

21st Birthday commission

Another commissioned card asking for a 21st Birthday card.  I have used another coloured printable from Pink Gem.  I added some gold glitter to the wine glass for a bit of bling. The papers are Craftwork Cards edged with broken china distress ink. The guipuire lace and flowers are from Wild Orchid. I added a wooden butterfly coloured with the distress ink.

Keep calm and drink beer

I had an order for a card for a man who likes beer and remembered I have this Pink Gem coloured printable digi. I added the two sentiments which are part of the kit. The papers are First Edition Man Mad and Grand Plans. I added some hemp cord and threaded some buttons. 

Graham has decided he is going to decorate my craft room rather than waiting for when we can have a decorator in to do it. So today he is taking the airing cupboard door off and going to paint that in the conservatory. I said he doesn't need to do much this week as it is going to be very hot. At least by having him do it we don't need to strip the whole room out at once. It will just take longer for him than a professional decorator but that doesn't matter.

Beach babes

I had a request to make a few more cards from someone who normally buys from me at the hospital craft fair.  She asked for a beach scene with bunting. I wondered what to use and came across some old Humphrey's corner coloured images from Crafter's Companion. I have had these for years and now I have found them I think I will be using some more. I always loved the cute elephant images.

I used First Edition Beyond the Shore papers, some old glitter bunting, enamel dots, an old Craftwork Cards sentiment and used a seagull die.

Bunny moon

This is the baby card my friend asked me to make. She wanted a special card so I made a 7x7 card using a coloured simply print from Lili of the Valley. The backing paper is Trimcraft Pretty Posies, lace from Crafty Ribons, ribbon from stash and flowers from Wild Orchid. I used a Fiskars tag punch and paper from MFT to make the little banners. The baby banner was made with a Memory Box die and MFT paper.  I used weathered wood distress ink around the edges, added some cheesecloth, enamel dots and pearl heart pins. I also used a clear sparkle pen on the moon, stars and flowers.

Another Teddy

This is another of the new digis from Lili of the Valley which I used on a card for a friend. I coloured it with Copics using chalk and a MFT cloud stencil for the sky which doesn't actually show too much in the photo.  The papers are MFT and the flower dies are Tim Holtz small tattered flowers which I also coloured with Copics.

We had our first visit to the coast since lockdown and it really lifted our spirits to see and hear the sea. It was very quiet, unlike the weekend I am told. We had a lovely walk along the prom and enjoyed a takeaway lunch. I had a freshly made crab salad sandwich and it was delicious and such a change from preparing a meal ourselves.  The weather was nice, not too hot and then we went to see some friends in their garden, social distancing of course. They had asked me to make a baby card so I took that round and will share that with you tomorrow.  It almost felt like a normal day yesterday.

James and butterflies

I made this one for a friend whose Birthday was yesterday. It is of course James and butterflies from Lili of the Valley. I coloured him with Copics and used paper from The Works.  The sentiments are digis from LOTV. I coloured the toadstool diecuts with Copics too and added white dots using a gel pen. The dies are MFT lattice fence, Your Next Stamp border and Crafts Too toadstools. I also added some wooden butterflies.  I also used a MFT small cloud stencil for the sky.

Golden Wedding #3

This is the last of the Golden Wedding cards I made, this one for my friend to give her husband. I used a large coloured simply print from LOTV called mouse and champagne as the card is 8x8.  I diecut the image with a Go kreate frilly #10 die and inked the edges with wild honey DI.  I used paper from LOTV and added some burlap. I found some gold glitter washi tape in my stahs and used the Dovecraft adhesive gold glitetr card again with a large heart die. I added a few of the waste hearts around the image.  I kept it quite simple as it was for a male, personally I don't like adding flowers to male cards.

Golden Wedding #2

This is the card I made for my friend to give his wife. It is from LOTV called Bunnies, clouds and champagne. I coloured it with Copics. The papers are from an old Santoro pack. I cut the image using the out of the die technique and a Lawn Fawn stitched circle die. The striped paper was cute using dies from the Works. The lace is from my stash, flowers from Wild Orchid and I used an old La La Land banner die adding the waste dies around the image.

Vintage style butterfly

I had this idea in my head for a couple of days and love how it turned out. The Doohickey butterfly die makes a beautiful diecut but is rather large so I made it the focal point of the card. I cut it from lilac card and used Dusty Concorde DI on some of it. The paper is from an old Gorjuss Girl pack and the lace is from Crafty Ribbons. I added some cheesecloth, flowers, metal corners and enamel dots.

This afternoon we off to form our bubble with my Mum. It will be so nice to go into her house and not worry about social distancing and we can give her a hug at last. Mum usually only goes into town for a few things once a week and we have hardly been anywhere and when we do we all very careful about handwashing and sanitising so feel perfectly safe to do this. It will be nice to have a bit of near normality.  There comes a point where we have to start doing more but we will be taking that very slowly and won't be rushing into the city to go round the shops any time soon.  

Card-io card

I decide to have a play with some different products this weekend and yesterday got out some of my Card-io stamps. I haven't used these for a while so really enjoyed making this. I found my old circle which I diecut from card with postits on the back. They had dried out so I added some new ones and I was ready to play. I used a couple of different foliage sets with a sentiment stamp I found in my stash. I added some red liquid pear;s for berries. 

I have cards to share with you every day until Friday and who knows what else I make this week.  I have 2 cards ordered and 2 I need to make to send.

Golden Wedding card #1

This is the card I made for our friends' Golden Wedding yesterday using a coloured simply print from LOTV. They asked me to make cards for them both to send each other so I had to come up with three different designs. 

I am not into lots of gold and bling but I did find a gold doily in my stash and used the Dovecraft adhesive glitetr card which I normally only use at Christmas. I found some gold ricrac but that wouldn't stick and I didn't want to wrap it round the paper as they would have made it bulky. I remembered I have a MFT stitched ricrac die so used my adhesive glitter card with it. I also used the card with a sentiment die and my MS fern punch. I have never found glitter card which punches well but this works perfectly. The flowers are from The Hobby House.

Pots of Love

 

I have been posting using the old blogger format but I couldn't insert an image when I tried it yesterday so here I am using the new format. It seems ok once you get your head round how to do things on it. This is another of the new LOTV digis called pots of love. I coloured it with digis and used various paprs and a Lawn Fawn pierced rectangle, MFT stitched scallop border  and Hunkydory flower dies.

The colours are brighter in real life but it was such a strange murky day yesterday with just brief glimpses of sun so my photo doesn't show the true colours.  It's our friends across the road Golden Wedding Anniversary tomorrow so we are taking our chairs and drinks over to their garden this afternoon.

Scruffy Edward without his balloon

I loved sewing Scruffy Edward with his balloon so much and realised if I made him without his balloon he would fit into a 4" hoop. the pattern is available from the Little Stitchery.  I sewed him in purple first and then aqua.

I planned to make some cards yesterday but after finishing one of these off I then spent at least 2 hours trying to sort out my emails. My main account is an old Yahoo one and it needed to be switched to the main BT server but after trying everything on one iPad I had to ring BT. It took a while to get through but got it sorted so two iPads, two iPhones and the laptop all changed successfully. But that was my cardmaking time gone. Oh well, click and collect shopping this morning, change the bed and then hopefully cardmaking.

New release

Lili of the Valley have released 12 new digis, some images were rubber stamps before and some are brand new images.  I have used Teddy single flower which I coloured with Copics and diecut with a Lawn Fawn pierced rectangle die. The papers are some of my fave MFT hearts and stripes and I used a butterfly from Poundland and the Sue Wilson sweetheart flower dies.  

I found some scallop edged cards in my stash which I forgot I had so thought I had better use some of them. I haven't used these for years but must have got them from a craft show, another thing I am missing this year. I normally sock up on ds tape and card blanks at one.

Thanks for all the Anniversary wishes.  Unfortunately it rained all day so we didn't go out. We had a lovely day at home, doing a jigsaw, listening to records, cross stitching and watching Netflix and Amazon. We cooked a nice meal in the evening and had a bottle of wine. You just have to make the best of things at the moment. We badly needed rain but it rained most of the weekend too so we have had enough now. Hopefully it will be dry today and we can get out for some fresh air.

Our Wedding Anniversary

Today is our 49th Wedding Anniversary and this is the card I made for Graham. I used a cute Penny Black stamp which is part of a set a very kind friend sent me. I coloured it with Copics. The papers are some old LOTV country lady 8x8 ones as the card is 7x7.  I used a Marianne wooden tree and dune fence and Memory Box butterfly dies.  The wooden hearts are from Hobbycraft.

This won't be the anniversary we had planned. We should have been in Cornwall for 10 days with an overnight stop either way making a lovely 12 night holiday. Instead we will be a home, depending on the weather we hope to venture out somewhere local and quiet. We would have been going out for a nice meal tonight but instead we will be cooking at home. Whatever we do we will enjoy ourselves.

James and snowman

We had a lovely visit to my Mum's on Monday sitting in the sunshine in the garden. We took our own chairs, mugs, handwash, toilet paper and towel so that we touched the minimum of things inside when we had to go to the loo before we left. Mum sanitised it all before we arrived and again when we left. It was lovely to have a proper chat and share a cuppa together.

I have a few Birthdays and Anniversaries in June so have cards I can't share yet but I did manage to make another Christmas card using an image from one of the coloured art pads that LOTV used to sell.  He is available to buy as a digi stamp and a coloured simply print.

I teamed him with First Edition jolly holiday papers, some Christmas ribbon and a LOTV sentiment. I used MFT Winter trees and layered snowflake dies as well as stitched square dies from The Works. The adhesive glitter is from Dovecraft.

Planning on doing some gardening this morning as it should be cooler today and we went to a garden centre yesterday afternoon for some more plants. We feel quite safe at the garden centres during the week as they are not busy at all and of course most of the time we are outside. Weekends tend to be busier everywhere so that is when we don't venture out except for a walk.  Last weekend's scenes at the beaches were unbelievable ween't they. Much as we would love a walk on the beach we haven't been near the coast at all.