Back to school, new school, a marathon run and coast to coast ride :)

With such a long title comes quite a long post :)  So here goes....

The first couple of cards I made for my friend's two boys.

Simon has just started his first year at Secondary School and Steven is starting a new year at his Junior school so I thought I would make them a little card to let them know I was thinking of them and to give them a little reminder to work hard but also have fun at school.  I used a stamp set from Paper Smooches called 'Smarty Pants'.  I stamped and coloured the images and then cut them out using the matching dies.  I used a stitched panel that I cut out using Mama Elephant 'Femme Frame' die set and then added 'Just a note' from Clearly Besotted 'Sweet Little Sentiment' stamp set.  I mounted them onto a plain white card blank.  

Simon's Card

Steven's Card

The next card I have to show is one that I made for Simon and Steven's mum, my wonderful friend Valerie.  Val is a fantastic mother to her boys and an amazing friend to me. Val has a full time job, ferries her boys to and from their out of school activities, is a school Governor, involved with church activities, arranges get together meals with her friends, takes her mum shopping amongst many many other things that just make my tired writing about :)  This year Val has given some of her precious time, energy and commitment to run the Great North Run in aid of The British Heart Foundation and I could not be more proud of her.  I made a little card to wish her Good Luck for the run and to let her know that I would be thinking of her.  The great news is that Val completed the run in one piece and is proudly wearing her medal :)

Val's Card

This card was made using a digital image that I bought and downloaded from Mo Manning.  I printed it out and coloured it with Copic pens and simply cut it out using the stitched Femme Frame from Mama Elephant.  I added a Good Luck sentiment from the same set as I used in the previous two cards and two little pink pearls to embellish it.

And Finally ....


....Kevin and his friend Nick rode Coast to Coast on Sunday, they set off from Bowness-on-Solway and rode across the country to Whitley Bay, it took them 7 hours with stops so not a bad time at all!  The weather was just perfect, dry and sunny but not too warm.

Kevin and Nick on the west coast

As they start the journey

Kevin and Nick on the East coast

Nick's girlfriend and I acted as team support and back up driver, although they didn't really need us except to pick them up at the end :)  We had a lovely day driving along the route, stopping and having cream teas, coffee and cake and a wonderful view of the scenery.  We also managed a visit round one of the Roman Forts along Hadrian's Wall which was fascinating.  The boys actually arrived at Whitley Bay an hour before we did :)  The end of the day was marked by a feast of Fish and Chips followed by award winning ice-cream....Well what else should you eat at the seaside :)

Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to read my blog.

Until next time....

Dawn xxxx

Welcome Little One

Good afternoon folks and thanks for popping by, it's been a little while since I posted on my blog but I never seem to have enough hours in the day :)  My news today is that I have finished working at the tea room in Grassington, the shop has been sold and the new owners want to see if they can run it themselves during the week and have help at the weekends, I can't say I am sorry as it was only supposed to be a fill-in job which lasted 8 months!  I must admit I will miss some of the regular customers but it's quite a busy tearoom and I was exhausted by the end of the day :)  

Anyway, onto my card or cards as it is in this case.  I had to make a new baby card for the new addition to our extended family so decided it was the perfect time to use a stamp set that I have been itching to use for a while but never had a reason to.  I also decided to make a boy and girl version whilst I had the stamp set out.  The set I have used is an Avery Elle set called 'Story Book'  I inked up the cute little bunny and then coloured him with warm grey Copic pens.  I then die cut him out with the coordinating die.  I stamped, coloured and die cut the little birds and then used another die from Memory Box  (I think) to make a washing line between the birds.  I covered each of the baby clothes with different papers, the girl version I used a paper pad that I got free with a magazine and the boy version I used papers from a Carta Bella pad 'Baby Mine'  I stamped the sentiment onto a die cut Fishtail Flag by Dienamics and then mounted all the pieces onto a Spellbinders pierced rectangle.  I popped the top layer onto a matching piece of paper from the paper pads already mentioned.  The little sequins were added as a touch of sparkle.

Baby Girl

Baby Boy

Well that's the cards I have to show today but thought you may like a quick look at a couple of pics from our day at Bingley Music Live Festival on Sunday, I really wanted to see the Pet Shop Boys that were headlining of Sunday evening...They were Awesome!!!

Thanks once again for taking the time to pop by my blog and hope to see you again soon.

Dawn xxx