Sweet 16

Hi All,
Are you having a good weekend?
I have managed to catch up on a couple of 'crafty things' today so I am starting to feel much happier.
Each year, before Christmas, I have a card to make for my Boss's daughter who this year turned 'Sweet 16'.
Every time he asks if I can make one to include a photograph of her, and each year he forgets to get the photo to me. This year was no exception so I was armed with only her favourite colour as my starting point.

I love to make the patchwork backgrounds, so it seemed a rather good place to start.

I chose some background papers from my stash in matching shades of pink and brown, and used a double sided stick sheet to attach the punched hexagons.

I used some of my Grand Nestie dies to create the main card, and then a selection of dies for the sentiments (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)

individual letters and number (Marianne Collectables),

flowers and leaves (Sue Wilson).

The girls always appreciate their cards, which is nice, because it is almost impossible for them to get anything that has their name on, so this makes it very special.
See, I do have my uses lol.

The same evening I was asked to personalise a photo album as a gift for a 60th birthday, so I used up a little more of the patchwork background and some large die cut numbers.
Off to try and catch up on a couple more bits before I call it a day. I'm on a roll so I don't want to spoil it.
Hugs Kimx

It's my challenge at CCM&More

Hi All
It's my turn to choose the challenge over at CCM&More, and I have gone for Circle cards, always a favourite of mine.

I had to make a Diamond Wedding Anniversary card for a friend, so I decided to use my theme as the starting point for the card.

I have used several sizes of Circular Grand Nesties to create the base of the card and decorated the edges with White Frantage powder and Victorian Velvet Distress ink.

I die cut the heart from the main panel and placed a piece of die cut trellis behind it.

I added the scalloped heart over the top to tidy everything up before adding the stamped and die cut banner.

The flowers are die cut from white and handmade glitter card.

I added 'Memories' to the panel using a Versamark ink pad and some white mica powder.

The final finishing touches are some die cut leaves and plenty of tiny diamonds.
I hope that you will join in with my challenge, my team mates have certainly excelled themselves. I can't wait to see all of your creations.
Have a wonderful day, happy crafting.
Hugs Kimx

Shaped cards at Crafty Cardmakers and More

Hi All
Long time no see :O)
There is a fab new challenge starting over at Crafty Cardmakers and More today, one which I should have been hosting.
The last few weeks have not gone to plan, so 'The Boss' aka Lin has very kindly stepped into the beach for me.
I did feel that it was only fair to blog something in support of the girls even if I am cheating a little by using a card that I made a while ago and not a new creation.

Our challenge this time is SHAPED CARDS, so plain squares or rectangles are not allowed, but any other shape is fine.
This card was made for my Godparents when they moved from their family home last year.

My card was made using a lovely LOTV topper cut using a circular nestie.

I created some patchwork background using paper scraps from my stash and a hexagonal punch. This panel was then also die cut using a Circular Grand Nestie.

I added some diecut pieces from my bits box along with a sentiment and some glossy accents.
Don't forget to check out what the rest of the DT have come up with to inspire you, and please forgive me if I haven't stopped by to visit recently, life has been a little fraught of late and the computer has been at the bottom of a very long Must Do list.
Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx

Gelli Plate and Glimmer Mists

Evening Everyone,
What a day to go back to work. It was absolutely chucking it down this morning when I left.
I have to say that I am very glad to have been working inside, not a good day to be outside. And it would have been even better to have been able to stay in bed. Never mind.

Among my new acquisitions last week was a Large Round Gelli Plate.

Fabulous for making backgrounds to be used with my large Circular Nesties.

This particular piece of background was made using the Gelli Plate, some Glimmer Mists (another new purchase) and some Woodware stamps.

I spritzed the Glimmer Mists directly onto the Gelli Plate and then 'smooshed' a piece of cream card onto it.

Unfortunately it is not easy to capture all the beautiful shimmer that you get.
I have lots more pieces of background to use up so I can see lots more Circular cards coming up lol.
Bye for now.
Hugs Kimx

Thinking of You xx

Hi All
I hope that you have been having a great weekend.
We had a fabulous class on Saturday doing Spotlight cards.
I finally seem to be getting back into 'crafty mode' after a rather barren few weeks. I just have to translate that into time spent blogging, but that will have to wait for yet another day as I really must get an early night tonight and there is still so much for me to get done.
Unfortunately my day started with a text message letting me now that the Mother of one of the boys at work had passed away, so here is the card that I have made for him and his family.

 The background is from my stash of Gelli Plate/Creative Palette pieces.

I stamped and embossed the fabulous Stampendous Poem Tree onto it using Onyz Black Versafine ink and clear embossing powder.

The sentiment is from a set I bought years ago at a show somewhere.
I cut the panel out using a Grand Nestie and added some faux stitching and brads. I may have to send this all the way to Sri Lanka, but I will find that out tomorrow.
Off to bed now as I have a very early start in the morning.
Hugs Kimx

Going Round in Circles

Hello there,
They do say better late than never, so I an hoping that you will agree, since this is the card that I should have blogged last Monday for the start of the new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and More.

There is still time to play along with our theme of 'Going Round in Circles'.
For my card I used my fabulous Circular Grand Nesties, definitely my favourites and so useful.

The floral image, by Woodware, has been stamped and heat embossed onto white card stock and then painted with Watercolour Pearlex.

I then dry embossed the image using a dotty embossing folder, one of several that I appear to own, before cutting it out with another circular nestie.
I added a verse, also from Woodware, and a few pearls.
I hope that you find the time to enter our challenge, and I would also like to thank you for sticking with me.
I think for the moment I will continue with my old laptop until I have a little more time to play with the new one. I'm not sure that I could cope with the new technology at the moment, I'll stick with being a dinosaur lol.
Hugs Kimx

Princess for a day

Evening Everyone,
Well it looks like I can finally ditch the thermal top from under my work shirt!!
I think I might keep it in my bag for a little while...... just in case, as you can tell I'm not very trusting of weather forecasts.

One of my numerous tasks at the weekend, was to finish this card for a friend at work to give to her niece.

She had asked me to use coral and orange on the card so I picked this lovely old LOTV topper and then made a patchwork background using hexagons from my box to match it
I layered it onto a fancy circle die cut using a Grand Nestie.

She calls her niece her little princess so asked me to add that to the card along with her name. Good old peel-off letters and a DooHickey cloud.

The number 1 is a Chippie from Woodware that I have covered with a couple of layers of Frantage powder before stamping into it while it is still hot and molten.
I added faux stitching to all of the patches which finishes things off  even if it does take a little extra time.
I do like this time in the evening when it has been hot. The temperture is just right for me and the smell of the honeysuckle coming in through my window is just wonderful.
Hugs Kimx

There is a new Kid on the Block

Hi All,
What ever possessed me to suggest that setting up a blog for Sylvie would be easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well it was when I did it a couple of years ago for Julia at Simply Stamps, at least it was then, this time not so much.
I ended up phoning Lin the Twisted Witch who bravely sorted out two old technophobes and a new blogger is born lol. Of course she will now be forever known as Sylvia London, not King, unless someone can enlighten us as to how to change something once a blog has been set up.
Poor Lin, who has never even met Sylvie, just assumed that London was her surname as we were calling her blog Granny London. In fact it it what her Grandchildren in Yorkshire call her to differentiate between the other 3 Grannies. Never mind, it could be so much worse I'm sure.
Anyway, back to my post for today.
Not only was yesterday my eldest Granddaughters 14th birthday, it would also have been my parents 64th Wedding Anniversary.
Yes, Megan was born on their Golden Wedding Anniversary, and actually attended her first party at the tender age of 8 hours old!!!!!!!!!!

This is the card that I sent to my lovely Mum, just to let her know that we hadn't forgotten her special day, even though Dad is no longer with us.

The central panel has been made using a piece of scrap left over from one of my play sessions with my Creative Palette.
I added some background stamps and distress inks and cut it out using my circular Grand Nestie.

The central image has been stamped and embossed onto the panel using black versafine and clear embossing powder.
Amazingly I found some co-ordinating die cut shapes in my bits box to which I added some more stamping.
I actually have a whole box of die cut bits and pieces which are usually never the right thing, so it was pretty great to find that I could actually use something up for a change.
I would like to enter this into the 'Loving those Leftovers' challenge at Our Creative Corner where they are looking for projects using mainly leftovers.
I wish I could say that it had made a dent in my leftover box, but that would be very far from true.
Don't forget to stop by Granny London and say Hi to Sylvie. I have promised to stop by and try and sort out a followers button for her next week, unless Lin gets to her by e-mail first that is lol.
Hugs Kimx

Happy Birthday Rithika

Hi All

Another wet and miserable day here, so lets throw a little sunshine on the proceedings with this card that I made for my Boss's daughter. At least it made him smile, and her too.

With everything that has been going on at work just lately Sega forgot to speak to me about making a card, but as his daughters are written into my birthday planner I made one over the weekend so as not to be caught out like last year.

The main image is a Lili of the Valley topper, die cut using a circular Grand Nestie.
I added some faux stitching and then mounted it onto purple card stock die cut using my favourite Go Create die.

The main background is a piece of white card which has been dry embossed with dye based ink on the folder before running it through the machine.It has also been spritzed with assorted Glimmer Mists.

The sentiments are all from Lili of the Valley, but her name has been spelt with die cut letters.
The die cut leaves match the stamped images on the purple card stock and are by Penny Black.

Today has seen more rain fall, although fortunately no where near the cyclone levels that they forecast. Long may their predictions be wrong I say :O)

People have still been driving though like lunatics with no care for anyone else. They also appear to be oblivious to the police presence.

I actually witnessed a driver continue to drive through the flood water despite the policeman standing in front of him with his arm raised telling him to stop. There was quite a cheer when the police officer pulled him over and gave him a ticket lol.

Oh well lets see what tomorrow brings.

hugs Kimx

It's Official, a messy desk leads to a Creative Mind

Well Girls, and Boys of course,
It is official. A messy work desk can make you more creative, according to a study done by the University of Minnesota US. (Well it must be true, I read it in the newspaper!!)
Of course that must be where I've been going wrong these last couple of weeks, my desk has obviously been far too tidy lol.
Thank goodness something has worked because I have finally managed to finish Ciaran's card. I can't say that I am 100% happy with it, but I'm not sure why so I guess that it is best to stop fiddling with it.

 Once again I have used a pre-coloured Lili of the Valley die cut image.

I'm really into circular cards at the moment, can't you tell lol.
I used some background papers from my stash and my Grand Nesties and an Embossalicious folder.

I couldn't really find any suitable embellishments other than the grass so I decided that I would add some Glossy Accents to the bike frame and Grey Gelly Roll glaze pen to the bike tyres.
It is definitely too late to give them their cards tonight, so I guess I had better buy some cake tomorrow so that we can have a little bit of a belated celebration.
I'm not tiding up my desk either, it might stop my creativity, I wonder if I can stamp successfully on a very uneven surface :O)
Hugs Kimx

Here Come the Girls.... well one at least

Hi All
No waders needed this morning, although it was a little soggy out there.
It was the Twins birthday when I was away at Janice and Andy's last month and as I didn't manage to get their cards made before I left due to the fire I had grand plans of finishing them while the family were away on holiday. Well that was the plan any way!!
Unfortunately the best laid plans as they say......
I seem to be having great trouble getting back into creative mode, so the pieces for Saskia's card have been pushed around my desk and stared up at me for the last several weeks, until finally it all came together this afternoon.

The image is a pre-coloured Lili of the Valley die cut that I have cut out using a circular Grand Nestie.
The background paper is from a Kaisercraft paper pad that I bought at Sirstampalot.

Saskia is very much a 'Pink Girly' so I thought that this fit the bill very nicely.

The flowers and die cut leaves are all from my stash and the bow has been tied and shrivelled with my heat gun.

I added some glitter glue to her wings and Stardust pen to her hair.
Of course I still have to make a card for Ciaran, so this will have to stay hidden for a little while yet. At this rate they might be nearer their next birthday than this one lol.
I would like to enter this into the Here Come the Girls challenge at Lili's Little Fairies.
Now if I can just come up with Something for the Boys we will be laughing.
Back to the drawing board lol.
Hugs Kimx