Snail Mail

Hi there and thanks for dropping by.  

The last week and a half have been a little stressful so I haven't managed to do much crafting lately. We are coping with a very poorly Maisie at the moment :(  Sadly Maisie has suffered a slipped disc which has ruptured and has resulted in major surgery to remove the disc.  The procedure was not straight forward but the surgeon has assured us that she will be considerably better now that the disc has been removed. The following days have been very worrying for us as Maisie seemed to go down hill following the operation and was totally off her food and not drinking.  It has taken a lot of time, love and care to syringe feed her, make sure that she got her medicines so that she was wasn't in any pain and keep her calm, warm and comfortable.  The good news is that yesterday she turned a corner and is now eating greedily, wagging her tale ten to the dozen and wandering round the house....albeit slowly :)  The relief to see her looking brighter is wonderful!  It's a long road to full recovery but we are feeling much more positive now :)

The card I have to show you today is one I made a couple of weeks ago using a Lawn Fawn stamp set called 'Gleeful Garden'.  As always, I have coloured the images with Copic pens and cut them out using the co-ordinating dies.  I used a pale blue Copic pen to create a background sky and then arranged the cute snails, grasses and toadstool to create a little garden scene.  I cut a tiny slit in the snails shell (I can assure you he felt no pain!) and slotted the envelope into the slit so he could carry it :)  The sentiment is a Clearly Besotted stamp from the set 'Sweet little sentiments'.  

I am off to give Maisie a cuddle now and chill out while I watch a bit of Create and Craft TV.  Hope you all have a fabulous week.

Love

Dawn and Maisie

Grandad's Card

Good morning everyone hope I find you well today?  It's a day off for me today, I have been up since 7 and now have my second load of washing on the go.  I spent a lot of the day doing housework yesterday so everywhere is nice and clean and tidy ready for me to craft away :)  

Today's card is one I made for Kevin's dads birthday.  They love to go away in their caravan once the better weather arrives and they have a blue car :)  The set I have used is a set from Lawn Fawn called 'Happy Trails'  I also used a Memorybox landscape die to make the hills and trees and the sun comes from another Lawn Fawn die set called 'Spring Showers'  As always, I have used my Copic pens to colour the image.

Thank you for calling by and have a wonderful day.

Dawn x

I love you...Valentine

Hi folks and thanks for dropping by, we have had a few lovely warm and sunny days here in North Yorkshire, but my day off and the weather has changed :(  it's been drizzling with rain all morning and not a sign of the sun, fortunately the sunshine over the last couple of days has brought the Daffodils out :)  

I thought I would share with you the Valentine card that I made for Kevin (yes I know it was a while ago but just haven't had the time to blog lately) The card has been made using a stamp set from Mama Elephant called 'Purrfect Pair' I have also used the co-ordinating dies to cut out the images.  I just love to have the dies that match, just make the job so much easier.   I have use Copics to colour and added glossy accents to the little die-cut hearts.  The backing paper behind the cut out circle is from Doodlebug.

Well sorry it's just a quick blog today, we are off to my friends this afternoon as it's her son's birthday, so watch out for the card I have made for him soon :)

Thanks again for dropping by.

Dawn x

I'm still here :)

Hi everyone, sorry for my absence lately but it's been a bit of a traumatic couple of weeks.  I had a bad fall on the 11th February while out walking the dog.  I have broken my cheek bone in four places!  I have got to say it is so painful. I have had two trips to Bradford Royal Infirmary to the Maxillofacial ward for check ups and am still waiting for a decision as to whether or not they need to put plates in my face to help support and mend the broken bones.  Although there are four breaks none of the bones have moved too far so tomorrow they will make a decision when I go back for another check up.  At least I now have some decent pain killers that keep the pain under control and a lot of the swelling has disappeared, I just have a face that is the colour of the rainbow from all the bruising :)

Onto the card that I have to show you today...I made this card using a stamp set from Lawn Fawn called Bugs and Kisses. As usual I  stamped the image onto some Person Impressions Smooth White card and coloured with Copics.  The jar is empty and you can stamp a number of other 'bugs' from the set so they look as though they are in the jar.  I used a flower embossing folder to create a background and several strips of patterned paper from Doodlebug which I cut with a banner die from 'Little B'  The sentiment is a Paper Smooches stamp, I use it quite a lot as I love the font and size.

My other love at the moment is my journal and note books, along with pens and anything stationery related :)  I have just got a Passport size Midori Travelers note book cover which is just the softest leather and holds several note books, I use one for just jotting down random things that I need to do or remember.  I have one that I write any Crafting notes, wish lists etc and I use the plain paper one for a sort of art journal to document things in picture form.  There is also a plastic wallet insert that I keep a few stickers and a tiny Moleskine note book that has everyone's birthdays in.  The little pencil case I got at Paperchase yesterday.  I use it to keep my fountain pens in, it's just the right size to hold my four pens :)

I also got myself some sticky notes from Paperchase which I thought were cute and would come in handy to keep on my desk.  The little notebooks in the photo are the Moleskine tiny note books.  I have decorated one with some House Mouse stickers that I have had forever and use that one as my birthday book.  Not quite sure what to use the other for yet :)

Well that's about all I have time for today.  Hopefully I will be back with more news and a card to show you soon :)

Thanks for dropping by...

Dawn x

Just Scooting by.....

Hello there and thanks for dropping by!  Well it's a snowy day here but when you don't have to go to work it's just lovely to be snug at home and see the world outside turn to white :) I've done a little housework this morning and spent some time reading my book, now I am hitting the craft room.  I have a new set of stamps that I am desperate to play with but as I already have a card half completed I must get that done before I start another!

This little card was made for my sister-in-law.  My brother and his wife love their motorbikes and have recently purchased a little scooter, which they are loving going out on. I thought this was just the perfect stamp set to use to make a Scooter themed card for Cath.  The set is from Paper Smooches, it's called 'Spiffy Scooters' I stamped the image onto some white stamping card and then I chose some papers from a paper pad from Doodlebug 'Take Note' I chose a few different designs and then stamped the image again onto all of them.  I then cut out the different parts of the scooter and pieced them all together on the image I stamped onto the white card.  Once I have completed the paper piecing I die cut the full image out with the co-ordinating die.  The background I made using a cloud embossing folder and a piece of dark grey card which i die cut with a Lawn Fawn stitched edge die.  I added a piece of florist wire as the flag post and stuck the flag onto the wire.  The sentiment was from the Spiffy Scooter stamp set. I added 3 little chevron enamel dots which are also from Doodlebug.  

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Stamping Mad - Cute Card Thursday 

Anything Goes - Simon Says Stamp

Well the next card is calling me to finish it off so I better get a move on :)  Thanks again for taking the time to drop by :)

Dawn x

"Hippo Birdie to Ewe" and A New Found 'Love'

Good afternoon, hope you are all well today!  So much for my promised scheduled posts :( (sorry)  I just ran out of time to write them up and before I knew it the time had flown and it's now 5 days later!  I thought I had better get on with my post today as it's a day off from work and I had nothing too pressing to get done today apart from a little food shopping, but that can wait.  I logged onto my blog this morning only to find that the template background I had been using has now disappeared, so what was going to be a few minute update on my blog turned out to take up half my day.  I hope you like the new look and that the colour scheme meets your approval, I'm not too sure about it yet so it could change the next time I update it :)  

Well, onto the card that I have to show you today.  I made this for our friend whose birthday was last Friday.  I used three stamp sets for this creation, the first was a stamp set from Lawn Fawn, it's just entitled 'Year Four' it's one of the little sets that they bring out from time to time.  The sentiment that comes with the set reads 'Hippo Birdie to You' but I remembered that I had a little sheep stamp from Mama Elephant in the 'Carnival Cupcake' set so I thought that if I added that to the scene I could change the 'You' to 'Ewe' The problem then was I didn't have 'Ewe' in either of the stamp sets I was using so that involved a hunt through all my stamps to find a stamp that said 'Ewe'.  Eventually I found one, it was in the Crafter's Companion stamp set by Rachelle Anne Miller 'Love Ewe'  I stamped all the images onto my stamping card of choice which is from Personal Impressions, it's the Premier Quality Smooth White Card which is perfect for colouring with Copics.  I then coloured the images and then cut them out with the co-ordinating dies.  I made a scene with a grass die cut from Lawn Fawn and a cloud embossing folder.  I added some glossy accents to the balloon to give it some shine.  

I would like to enter this card into the following Challenges:

Imagination Crafts - January Challenge

Craft Stamper - 'Take a Stamp'

I thought I would also share with you my new 'love'.  I have recently rediscovered the joy of writing with a fountain pen.  I have decided to try and keep a journal this year (I think it's one of my goals every year and I usually do it for a few weeks and then give up!) I wanted the writing to be part of the experience of keeping the journal so I treated myself to a new fountain pen, it's a Faber Castell Loom Piano and I love it! :) I love how the ink flows and that the pen requires so little pressure to write, not like a ballpoint.  I have invested in the Graf Von Faber-Castell ink cartridges which contain a high quality ink and I am so pleased with the whole experience.  I have even got out my old Parker ink pen that I was given when I was about 16 I think and I have flushed it out and bought some new cartridges for that too.  Hopefully I will continue for longer with my journal....I'll let you know :)

Well that's it for today folks, the supermarket is calling :)

Have a good day and thanks for dropping by.

Dawn x

Monster Hugs

Good morning, hope you are all well and that the weather is being kind to you wherever you are. We had a little snow yesterday which made getting around first thing in the morning quite difficult but fortunately I didn't have to go to work so it was a day for housework and a little crafting :) Last night was really windy and the forecast for later today is strong winds but at least the sun is shining and that always makes me feel better :) 

The card I am showing you today is one I made for my God Son's birthday.  I have used a stamp set from Lawn Fawn, called Monster Mash.  I stamped then coloured them with Copics and the cut them out with the coordinating dies.  I then made a photo frame to pop them into using the Mama elephant Polaroid Fun die set.   I embossed some white card with a dotty embossing folder and then die cut it using a stitched rectangle die.  I have added a googly eye to the blue monster and added some clear 'wink of stella' to the purple monster.  I think these monsters are so cute :)

Well I am a little behind with my blogging lately so I have another couple of cards that I have made ready to show you, I will try and schedule a post for the next couple of days while I have a little time and keep my finger's crossed that the scheduler works :)  

Hope you have a fantastic day and thank you for taking the time to pop by.

Hugs

Dawn x