Valentine's cards

This is a new one for me lol - valentine's isn't really my thing at all -I can't remember the last time we did anything to celebrate - definitely before kids lol! How terrible is that!! Its not that I'm not into the whole romance, hearts & flowers things - just don't confine it to only one day a year lol!!! Think hubby would have heart failure if I actually gave him something on valentines!!!!!
This year though over on England Stampers Kathy came up with the idea of a valentine mingle - so we all sent/received 3 cards - what a great idea I thought - until it actually came to putting them together - first it was deciding on images, then colour combos - all the time stressing whether or not they were 'appropriate' for valentines without being overly soppy or sentimental as they're all for ladies!!

The precious moments card was a last minute my 9 y/o daughter wanted me to make for her boyfriend!!!! Honestly, kids lol! When I was 9 boys were just these strange smelly creatures who made life hell (ok, so here I am at 36 - and opinions haven't changed a whole lot lolol) I found the image on a colouring page, so reduced it and printed - then coloured with prismas, added a bit of ribbon, brads and a printed greeting - and hey presto one happy little girl lolol

The others are the cards I made for the mingle so hopefully they're ok.
The tilda image is one I had sent a while ago, had it coloured but never used lol, sat her on a little heart tag (hanglar I think - found it amongst all my images lol) and put her onto the embossed swirl background which I painted with shimmer paints - similar to H2Os but lots cheaper lol Paper is papermania, heart brads, beads and little heart charm from stash, ribbon from local market!!!

Used papermania papers again for Melinda - had to ink this one and use it as soon as it arrived - which luckily was in time for valentines!! Again, ribbons from stash - little red hearts are cut from the centre strip of a ribbon, printed a greeting and added a few peel offs to 'finish'

Finally the cutest little kitten I've seen for a while. Used prismas to colour the image, cut around and mounted onto a piece of embossed heart card I had in my box of tricks!!! added a couple of white heart brads to the corners and to the ribbon, backing paper was a freebie download, but can't remember where from lol. another printed greeting, silver die cut swirls - fitted together to make a lovely heart lol and of course peel offs!!!!

Thought I'd share the cards I made for Hazel's birthday on 9th Feb - I can't believe she's 12 already - and she's a proper madame with it lololol!!!!

The black & pink card is a penny black image (i think!!) but it just suited her perfectly - her favourite weekend pastime is shopping with her friend so as soon as I discovered this image in my collection I HAD to use it!!! And yes - it does look just like them lol - Hazel with her long dark blonde hair & Amy with her shorter, brown hair - always got silly grins & surrounded by shopping bags!!! Image is coloured with prismacolors and some sparkly H2O type paints that I bought for about £3 a couple of years ago, papers are papermania, the fibre is from my box of bits and the shopping charms & brads are from poppicraft.

I absolutely love Whiff of Joy stamps and wanted something sweet for a card from her brother & sisters so couldn't resist using Melinda blowing hearts for this one. Coloured with prismas & sakuras with a nice coat of glitter on the top & wings lol!! Papers are papermania again, sister tag & flower from stash, making memories heart brads.... and red hearts are cut from the centre of a ribbon I bought from the local market!!

another quick card

Was really fond of this one - then had an accident with the pva lol - ended up spilling wayyyy too much - hence the glitter on the white oval, sentiment and the flower lol.

paper is one i downloaded months back - but can't remember where from, fairy is a download from scrapbooking mad, gems & ribbons from my quickly depleting stash, flower one my mum made and sentiment printed of computer - doesn't show too well but found a great font to use lol - the capitals are fairies!!! just how cute is that!!!!!

pawfect!!!! well,not really!

wanted a quick card for a RAK and found this sheet I bought months ago - ended up taking more time than it would with a stamped image lol cos when I put it together I decided it was lacking and didn't look finished...... added a few outline peeloffs and found a clipart bone and printed a sentiment - then added a bit of ribbon!! still not sure about it but think its just because I'm so out of practice with decoupage lol

Finally made a card !!!

Can't believe this is the first thing I've made since before christmas - how bad is that!!! I think my creative streak has either gone into hibernation or got swamped with all the college assignments!!!

This one's for a flower swap in one of the yahoo groups I belong to. The image is from an image swap we did a while back over on sbs 16, coloured with prismas & white spirit, with a nice coating of glitter glue for an added bit of sparkle. papers, ribbons and flower from my stash, sentiment is a stamp I bought a while back and thought it would be appropriate! Not sure if its one of my best cards, but seeing as I'm a bit rusty I'm fairly happy with it :-)

I know things come in 3s......

but all 3 girls have been ill together - what joy!!!!!! they seem to have picked up some kind of virus, started with alisha getting up in the night screaming with headache, stomach ache, feeling sick....... then its moved on to laura and Hazel! Alisha had 1 day off school at the end of last week, hazel's had 2 days off and poor laura's been off all week. she went in to school wednesday and by 10.30 they'd sent her home!!! so as you can imagine its been a bit chaotic to say the least - juggling sick kids, college and assignments is no easy task - but fortunately i've got very understanding tutors!!

I know I'd planned on going into nursing but not this way lol - though after what I've heard about the degree course from my friend who had her uni interview last week I don't think I'll be bothering - its not family friendly at all - especially as I'll need days out every few weeks for Declan's hospital appointments. Soooooo uni's on hold now while I decide exactly what I want to do!

Happy Birthday Declan!!!!!

Happy birthday Soldier!!!

Mummy's little man is 2 already! Can't believe how quickly the time's flown! For those that don't know, Declan was born by emergency caesarian as he was in distress, which was scary enough, but at 2 days old he was on the operating table having an emergency ileostomy, as unknown to anyone he had a perforated bowel and everything was poisoning his system and he came close to not being here! It was touch and go for a while, but he finally came home on 27th Feb 2007 aged 5 weeks and 3 days and boy did I celebrate.

No-one's sure why the perforation happened but the hospital seem to think its Cystic Fibrosis although tests done before and after his stoma reversal are still inconclusive so they're treating him as CF until they know either way, even though he's showing none of the expected symptoms - ie not growing/gaining weight, constant chest infections etc

All that matters to me though is he's here, he's fit and healthy - has barely had so much as a runny nose lol - my chest is worse than his, he's got an appetite like I've never known and he's certainly growing!!!

a few of the christmas cards I made......

But was in such a rush to get them out I mailed them, and gave them to friends at college - without taking pics. these are a few which friends who received them in a group posted so I snaffled some pics!!! serves me right i guess for leaving everything to the last minute. i'm gutted really though as they were some of the nicest cards i've done :-(

pollycraft candy

This one is absolutely amazing!! Take a look here for Paula's candy and if you haven't seen the pollycraft range of stamps and downloads you're in for a real treat!!!

candy

Claire is celebrating over 36,000 hits on her blog by giving away the most amazing candy!!! go check it out here and take a look at her fab cards!

congrats Claire and here's to the next 36,000