and now....

blogger is notifying me of comments.... then deleting them lol and they're not retrieveable oh joy!! so, if anyone had sent a comment I'm not ignoring you or not posting... just blogger being a pain!

Hadn't realised it had been so long.......

One of the girls at school who gives Alisha & Declan a lift home once or twice a week asked me to make some cards for her - something horsey for her friend, a spaniel for her 13 y/o son and twilight for her 9 year old daughter. The penguins is the one I gave her from us - a gorgeous digi stamp coloured with promarkers, mounted onto torn white glitter card and a few peel off snowflakes... simples!
I can't believe how long it is since I made a card so am definitely a bit rusty - and the others I made I forgot to get pics of :(
Hope everyone's had a great christmas and not been full of 'flu like we have here but these things happen lol.

apologies........

for not commenting on anyone's blog for a while and for having nothing to show but I've not been well. Initially started about 8 weeks ago with breathing problems and pressure feelings in my head so off I went to the GP to be told no, its not blood pressure or anything you're depressed/stressed/hyperventilating and having panic attacks (!!) so of course I figured he knew what he was talking about so trotted off with my prescription for PROZAC, which after about 10 days I had to stop taking as I had a reaction to it and worsening symptoms. Went to the out of hours DR who told me I WASN'T depressed, but I did have a stomach infection so put me on antibiotics but it just got worse so after 4 days with no sign of relief I went to A&E where they ended up admitting me, giving me triple dose antibiotics through a drip and doing some tests to tell me yes, I have high blood pressure which I should have been taking medication for, a stomach infection, a small tissue hernia and cellulitis, but they decided to leave the hernia as the op's too risky because of weight issues. Got discharged after 5 days only to come home and find the breathlessness never eased, in fact it got worse and I started swelling from the waist all the way down my legs/ankles. Went back to the GP who said it was just a side effect of the antibiotics so I'd to wait for it to settle, which could take weeks or months:( Left it another few days during which time I continued swelling, visibly putting weight on (12kg in 2 weeks) and barely able to take 2 or 3 steps without gasping for breath before going back to the out of hours DR who said I had water retention and trapped wind - yeah right lol trapped wind was not a problem. After he gave me more meds which didn't work and I suffered another week not being able to do anything and by now barely able to breathe at all my mum and hubby decided it was ambulance time lol - ended up spending another 8 days in hospital having loads of tests done to be told I'm NOT depressed, I DON'T have trapped wind - but did have water retention - lots of it because the problem is actually heart related!!!! Apparently my left ventricle isn't pumping as well as it should and my heart's a bit stretched. It appears that it may possibly stem from me having had high blood pressure while pregnant - but its not been checked in over 3 years! I certainly wasn't expecting that one but don't think its too serious as I've been started on some medication and am being referred to cardiology within 4 - 6 weeks to see where they're going to go from there - the water tablet they gave me is great though I've lost just over 3 stone since last saturday lol - have to laugh or I'll cry, cos as well as all this my washing machine's packed in on me and Darrell got told on Wednesday he's out of a job - it never rains ..............

Chloe's Birthday Card

This is the first time I've entered the pollycraft challenge, but seeing as I needed a birthday card for alisha's friend who turned 8 on Tuesday how could I resist the gorgeous 'Fearn' a freebie from Pollycraft - Even better than that pollycraft's monday blog challenge was an absolutely fab sketch by Sue :) It would have been rude not to make use of such a gorgeous little fairy and a great sketch and turned them into an easel card. I wasn't sure how it would work until I'd finished - but Chloe said it was "the best card ever" so for a change i got something right lol (or maybe that was more to do with the money tucked inside haha)
The image and sentiments were coloured with promarkers, (will try and make a list and add later lol) and I used a Silver Star Sakura Glitter Gel Pen to colour over the wings and some of the sentiment wording (shows up better on the second pic lol). Used dark purple and lilac 'mottled' cardstock, silver spirelli circles I bought in a kit from a craft fair about 2 years ago lol, papermania (I think!) papers, and flowers/brads all from my stash)
I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Sketch
Creative Card Crew - "Happy Birthday"
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - "Things with Wings"
ABC Challenge "S for Sparkle"
Critter Challenge Blog "10 elements" (3 colours of c/s (purple, lilac, silver) 3 flowers, 2 brads, 2 patterned papers)

Another challenge card :)

Wasn't sure where I was going with this one - until it was all put together lol! The image is one of the always freebies from Lauretta over at Lauretta's Digital Stamps. I love how well the image printed..... and coloured beautifully. Thanks Lauretta for such a gorgeous image - and free too :)
I was having a look through some things yesterday for some psychology notes I needed and came across a couple of fiskars circle punches which I've had for about 2 years now - and never used, so after seeing Vix challenge over on Crafty Cardmakers I decided to 'challenge' myself and actually blow away the cobwebs and try to use the punches! I'm not usually a 'punch' person - I can never normally line them up properly or don't seem to be able to have strong enough wrists to punch through properly, but I bought them in a sale at something silly like £1.50 each I think - and its taken until now to actually use them. Not only did I challenge myself to use the punches but I went a step further - and used no backing papers - just off cuts of the lilac & pink glitter card trimmed with a decorative edge cutter and no flowers (shock! horror! I'm still recovering from the pain of that one lol) Used black glitterations peel off dots on the punched circles and the matching lines on the edge of the pink borders (which don't show too well in the photo but if you look closely the glitter just catches the light lol)
I was still unsure about this card when I looked at it again this morning but Darrell assures me that its great as it is - I think its just that it seems bare without ribbons, flowers, bows etc etc. I've decided to go ahead and take the plunge and enter it into the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers "Challenging Challenge"
Allsorts - No DP's
Meljen's Designs Challenge #1 - Anything Goes!
Pollycraft Anything Goes
One Stitch At A Time Anything Goes

Image coloured with the following colour promarkers: magenta, pink carnation, orchid, almond, dusky pink, peach, soft peach, cool grey #1, cool grey # 5, leaf green and berry red

One card, many challenges :-)

I'm on a roll, I think the mojo's slowly creeping back yippee - managed to get another card made which is for my 'study buddy' Cheryl. We planned on having a study day today - unfortunately had to change our plans at the last minute. We didn't get the kid-free time, but did get a lovely 2 hour chat on the phone - not the same as face to face but still great to catch up.
Its not often I enter a challenge these days, but this card fits with in quite a few current challenges so I decided to enter it for 11 which is a record for me lol. The adorably cute bunny and sentiment stamps, the backing paper and ribbon were all free with quick cards mag - it was one of those times when I saw the mag and had to have it - just for the stamp which is versatile enough to use for loads of different occasions. The card, gems and flowers are all from my stash. The bunny was stamped with memento tuxedo black ink and coloured with the following promarkers:
Sandstone, tan, caramel, chestnut, almond, dusky pink, pink carnation, cornflower, china blue, powder blue and honeycomb.

Fussy & Fancy Easter
Townscrapper - Easter
Charisma Cardz - Spring has Sprung
Stampin' for the Weekend - Easter
Colour Create - Pastels
Corrosive Challenge Blog - Easter
Crafty Cardmakers - Spring into Spring
Paper Play - Easter
The Pink Elephant - Pastels
Pile it on - Animal-Riffic
Magical Crafts - Easter

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge

I've decided to enter the teddy card I made for Steph into this week's Saturday challenge over on Secret Crafter where the theme is 'pink, green & flowers'
Well, there's definitely plenty of pink, the patterned paper has green and the teddy image is matted on green - and of course, there's flowers - just for a change on one of my cards :) Now I know, technically you can't link back to older posts but as I only finished this one yesterday morning before I posted it to my blog I'm kinda hoping it's ok lol

a few recent cards

I can't believe I actually got round to making more cards finally woohoo!!! The flower one is made using some papers I've had for so long I can't remember who makes them lol. Used a fiskars border punch to cut a strip of paper for down the side and edged it with some glitter glue. The topper is off a sheet with 12 on for 75p which I bought from a nearby craft shop - perfect for quick cards lol - added a little glitter to the flower vase, then covered with glossy accent glaze to give it an enamaled look. Added a spot more glitter glue to a fabric flower (a bargain bag full of about 20) and used glitterations line peel offs to frame the pic. Used the glitterations again inside along with peel offs and a stamp from my stash - and the best thing is this was made just 'for something to do' so maybe my mojo is starting to slowly creep back!!!

The other 2 cards were made for Hazel's best friend Jack and his girlfriend Steph, who are both 13 today - so happy birthday you guys, hope you both have a fab day!!! Both images were freebie deco sheets from cardmaking and papercraft mag, used a combination of papers and embellishments from my stash - wasn't too sure about the doggy one as it was coming together as its a while since I did a male card - and a teenage boy is just a nightmare to try and get right - BUT Hazel was pleased with it and that's got to say something. The little bear is soooo cute - I have a feeling I'll be buying some of those sheets if I can track them down..... and another success with Hazel woooohooo if I can please my fussy teenager then I can please any lol
One thing I really have to remember and I just noticed ..... I changed batteries in the camera and AGAIN forgot to set the date on the pics lmao - one of these days I'll remember...... or take it off completely lol

mother's day cards

well, i knew it had been a while since I made any cards - but hadn't realised just how long :( I guess its down to a combination of life, studying (or trying to) and my mojo taking a long trip - don't know where it's been but it certainly didn't take me along. After a pleasant trip to the mind, body, spirit fair at Elsecar Heritage Centre on Saturday I thought it would be a sin not to call into the craft shop seeing as they have one there... actually felt a little inspired so bought some die cut decoupage sheets to attempt making mother's day cards for the kids to give their nannans lol. They're nothing special but I guess its a step forwards........... Both lots of decos are Red Hot Bed (I think lol) all paper, ribbon, peel offs, embellishments from stash. Unfortunately due to rushing round like a woman possessed didn't stop to take 'proper' pics so sadly these blurry ones are all I have lol