THE SUGAR BOWL CHALLENGE

WOOHOO...... Not perfect yet I know but I'm managing to find my way around the picture cropping issue a little so hopefully things will get back to normal over the next few days... as they say... practice makes perfect...

Well it's another basic card from me again, but some form of card is better than no card at all... right...

This one is for the challenge over at The Sugar Bowl where there is a wonderful sketch to work with & the theme being Thanks.... be it thanking someone or giving thanks....

Papers I used are all K&Co... some were distressed & inked a little whilst others were left alone... just so they were a little different.

Image was coloured using ColorBox inks.

Sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

Ribbon, flowers & gems from stash.

Let's hope that by the time next week comes my old mojo starts to rejuvenate itself & I can perhaps stretch myself to something a little more involved, but for now, I'm just happy to be crafting again.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

PAPERTAKE WEEKLY CHALLENGE

Morning folks... I've finally managed to make a wee card...

Apologies in advance for the state of the pictures but since my computer was repaired I haven't been able to sort out my editing yet but hey ho... better with a crap picture than no picture at all.

This little card is for this weeks Papertake Weekly Challenge. Well I wanted to start off easy again & decided that this was a good place to start as I was open to use any elements I wanted so I could keep it simple for myself.

Here I have used some beautiful papers from K&Co, ribbon from my stash and the owl image, sentiment & card candy are all from Craftwork Cards.

To colour my owl I simply used a Koi water brush along with some ColorBox inks.

Well hopefully this is the start of me getting back to normal again... thank you so much for all your lovely well wishes & I am happy to say that although progress is slow... I am starting to feel better now... worse part of it is still the having to sleep in an upright position but I'll survive...

Happy crafting hugs to all

Lorraine

xxx

A wee update

Hi folks just a brief note to let you know that my meds are kicking in well & there is some improvement to be seen in me... nothing drastic but at least I'm heading in the right direction.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments & emails... they are much appreciated & have helped cheer me up over the last few days.

Just keeping fingers crossed that I will be back to normal soon.

Happy spooky Halloween.

Hugs

Lorraine xxx

DOCTORS DIAGNOSIS....NOT GOOD....

Well you know if it weren't for my bad luck, I've have no luck at all... here's a prime example...

Apparently the back pain appearing when Smithy jumped on me was nothing more than a coincidence...

Well I've been to the doctors & hospital this week for some chest x-rays & am now on a pile of heavy medication.... doctors diagnosis... are you ready for it... I've got PNEUMONIA !!!!

Needless to say I am doped up most of the time with anti-biotics & pain killers whilst I must rest as much as possible to assist my recovery.... I am not allowed to lie down for a minimum of 2 weeks so sleeping has to be done in an upright position (which is not very comfortable may I add) and hopefully once the medication gets into my system at least the coughing & pain will ease up a little.

Hence, I will try to pop on & off when I can but if I'm missing for a few days then you know why.

Right I'm off to take some more yummy tablets now & hope you all have a great day.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Done my back in.....

Sorry I haven't been posting at all but unfortunately this is the first I've been able to get to the computer...

I had an absolute catastrophy occurred on Friday night whereby my kitty decided to jump on me whilst I was sleeping... giving me the shock of my life.... and what happened... I jerked & done all the right hand side of my back in... very painful indeed.

Well I got doped up to the eyeballs etc & finally made it to the SECC around 10am ready to give it my best shot for the day... I thought that I could manage with the pain medication... but alas that was not to be the case.

Instead I ended up in a very embarassing situation where I was gunning for the toilet so quickly as I was ready to vomit everywhere... oh yeah... it is embarassing let me tell you...

One stall holder very kindly gave me some baby wipes to help clean myself up & sadly I had to call it a day early as there was no way I could continue working.

Well I've been in agony since but thankfully it seems to have eased up just slightly over the last hour so I'm hoping I'm on the road to recovery now.

Anyway, fingers crossed it won't be too long before I'm burning on all cylinders again.

Hugs to you all

Lorraine

xxx

IF YOU'RE GOING TO THE SECC

What a lovely day I had today at the SECC.... managed to meet up with my bloggy buddies & have a look around all the stands... only bought a few things right enough.

However... the biggest surprise of the day was when I received a message asking me if I would like to demo... what a silly question to ask me... would rather be working the show any day of the week... I'm going to be covering someone for definate tomorrow & there is a 99.9% chance it will also be on Saturday & Sunday.

So... if you are visiting the SECC please pop along & see me on the "Samuel Taylor" stand as I would love to meet all of you.

Big hugs for now & huge thanks to everyone I've spent time with today as I've had a fab day.

Lorraine

xxx

A DAY AWAY....

Yippee.... I'm off to the SECC today along with my dear buddy Gayle & then around lunch time we are having a meeting of the craft buddies so we can have a good old natter & catch up with what all is going on in everyone's life...

Hope that you all have a lovely day too in the land of blog...

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

MR POSTIE ARRIVED TODAY.....

I'm so excited today as on Sunday I signed up to The Open University to start studying Psychology & Mr Postie arrived today with my stuff...

Immediately I ripped the box open & in I dived... got so carried away with it all that I have spent 6 hours looking through everything & have already had a look through the first 2 weeks work... fantastic if this keeps up....

Now I have taken a pic but since my computer was in for repair last week I've lost my camera details so I'm gonna have to reload all the software for it... fingers crossed I may get it done tonight.

Well hubby has just arrived home from work so best get myself downstairs & put his dinner on a plate...

Hugs to you all

Lorraine

xxx

TODAY.....

Like a lot of people during this mad credit crunch I have had very little spare time on my hands to fit in much crafting as I've been helping Rob a lot with his business, but thankfully today I'm stuck at home waiting on a delivery that can arrive anytime up until 7pm tonight....

Fortunately this means that I can set about some much required cleaning in the old craft room & yippee.... I can make a card or two.... at last...

Back with you all later

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

SUPPORT OUR SOLDIERS... NEED YOUR HELP

Now I know that many of you are extremely generous when it comes to helping support our soldiers with sending them loads of lovely handmade cards for them to send home to their family & friends.

However... a new request has just come from Save Our Soldiers... they are asking if it is possible for people here in the UK to send Christmas cards out to our troops.... I.e. sign the actual card with your own name... this time we are supporting them by showing we are thinking of them at Christmas...

Obviously some of the troops only have a small circle of family & friends so it would be nice for them to receive some Christmas cheer from complete strangers.

If you feel you can help... here's what to do...

1. Make your card & sign it from yourself

2. Drop me an email & I will give you my address

3. Post your card in an envelope to me & I will ensure they reach the troops...

Many thanks in advance to all those who decide to participate.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

I'm back online...

Thank heavens for that... unfortunately my computer died a sudden death on me mid afternoon on Thursday... thankfully Rob has a super duper guy who managed to take a look at it for me yesterday & even though I truly thought that I had lost everything... these miracles workers managed to save everything for me.

I won't tell you what caused the problem in the first instance as it's just far too embarassing... let's put it this way.... I was a silly silly girl.... dim witted infact...

Alas I am now heading into the office with Rob to put in a good few hours work, but will try to get back later with a little something now that I'm back online...

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

2 minute make...

Now I'm relying on good old Mr Blogger to post this for me today... as I'm off to Motherwell College to have a look around & talk with someone regarding signing up for a course in psychology.... oh yes... I've decided to plunge myself back into the old study mode & get myself a degree... only thing is I'm not sure if I want to study at my local college or if I want to do it through Open University who also have a very good course.... hence why I'm off to start my investigations today. Fingers crossed it will help me make the final decision.

This was a quick 2 minute card I made using some more of my fabby snowmen.. very plain & simple as you can see... some ribbon tied around a pale blue card with a knot attached on top using silicone... then 3 wee glittery snowmen in a row.

Snowmen

It does look really bland in the picture but believe it or not it's really nice in real life...

Wish me luck for today... lol

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Quick Make...

By the time I finally sat down last night I was shattered... but withdrawl symptoms were too much for me & I simply had to make something... albeit quick & easy so my new embellishments came out to play....

I took a plain blue then tore strips off a white card, inked & attached to the base card... then used a Sakura Real White glaze pen to create the snow fall. Next up I inked up 2 white snowmen & added a bright pink one so it catches the eye.. these were attached to the card using 3d foam & finished off with some gems for the eyes... Inked around my full card & attached a bright white star embellishment.

Quick, cheap & cheerful....

Sakura pens

Snowman & Star Embellishments

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Fire complete

Well with the exception of the new paint job to be done on the fireplace itself... still haven't made a decision on that one yet... but at least my new fire back is now secured in place & boy did it make a difference to the room temperature last night... it was so much more snug than before... just wish we had gotten rid of the fire years ago & we'd have saved ourselves a fortune in gas bills by now.... we've still got the vent to close over but that will be tackled over the next few weeks as it means plastering & redecorating... yuck... I hate the mess that causes.

Rob did cut the backing for me but apart from that I completed the whole job myself so I'm rather proud of my handy work on this one... lol

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

A year ago today....

Aren't these just gorgeous....

They are from my mums friend who done all of my ironing for me after my surgery which was 1 year ago today.... oh yes.... this time last year I was lying in a hospital bed with a stomach held together with staples... not very pleasant & something which I hope I never have to go through again... far too distressing for little old me & my fear of hospitals.

Sandra very kindly gave me these flowers to celebrate my 1st anniversary after surgery & to say how pleased she is with how I've gotten back to normal again...

Now if that's not a real act of kindness then I have no idea what is...

Off to batter on with this fireplace now & with luck I'll be able to show you the finished project soon...

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Fireplace Mishap!!!!!

Well I started off yesterday all ready to get my new back panel in place on my fireplace but whilst sliding it in I had nicked the paintwork at the bottom.... out came the old blade to tidy it up before continuing... now this is where it all began....

Oh yes... when I tried to take off the little chip marks... the paint just came away.... you see my fireplace used to be waxed so although the paint had dried it was not really attached underneath... what does this mean.... well it meant I had to strip every piece of paint off of my fireplace yesterday... hell it took about 6 or 7 hours... but not one to be defeated... I won in the end... finally managed to sit my bum down around midnight last night.

Thankfully today I only have a little work to do before I can actually attach my back panel in place then I can take a break from it until I decide what I am now going to do with the fireplace itself... although I do having a feeling it's going to be either stained or varnished.

Can you believe that this is the remains of my handy work from about 10 years ago.... one thing you can't say is that it didn't stand the test of time... lol

See ya all soon

Lorraine

xxx

So glad it's a new week....

Yippee... here's to the start of a new week & hoping that it's a much better one than last week...

It's been a busy old weekend here with looking after Buddy who is back to his old self again thankfully... eating & drinking normally though he is getting used to all this extra attention & when he doesn't get it he is playing up a bit... fly wee thing that he is.

In addition to that we've been working on sealing off our fireplace which I will be finishing today & I must admit that even last night without the final seals in place our living room was a lot warmer than it usually is... hopefully that means our gas bills will be a lot lower this winter.

We also got some new lights for my hallway & staircase... nothing spectacular but they were badly needed... now it looks nice & fresh again.

Rob is doing his final prep at work today for his FSA audit tomorrow & we worked on that for quite a few hours on Saturday... I was pretending to be the FSA & was grilling him on all aspects of finances... he done extremely well as I knew he would... but like everyone else he just panics when it comes to things like this.

Got quite a few things to do in the next few hours but I am so determined to get back here with at least 1 card later today... feels like I haven't made anything for ages so have to make changes to that today...

See you all later

Lorraine

xxx

Buddy update...

Good morning all... thought I would give you a quick update on Buddy as I never managed to do it last night.

Got him home from the vet around 6pm last night & was going to put him straight in his cage so that he could just chill out... poor wee thing was so stressed.... but when I took him out he went everywhere... still under the effects of anaesthesia... so back out he came so he didn't injure himself. Onto the sofa we went for some major cuddling in then after about an hour I tried him on the floor to see how he was... not too bad & he made his way to a spot where he just lay flat out for the next hour... after this we had a little hop around for a half hour before going to bed.

He is doing well this morning & has been eating & drinking which is a very healthy sign.... might be fun later though as he has medication to get & I don't think he's going to appreciate me sticking syringes in his mouth... oh well... has to be done.

Now I'm off to get ready as have to go into the office with Rob for a few hours & then hopefully I can have an hour or two later on to make something.

Have a great day

Lorraine

xxx

Poor Buddy... He's having an op today!!!

Oh my poor wee Buddy had to go back to the vet this morning again as last night I noticed that he was starting to drool again...

Up we went & upon inspection by the vet... his tongue is now looking much better & so the vet managed to get a better look around this time & discovered that he has a massive spur on his 2nd molar which is protruding into his cheek.

Poor wee man...

Seeing as he is still eating just now etc the vet decided that she would rather operate today than wait to Monday whereby his condition may have worsened... thus.... poor Buddy has been left at the vet so that they can operate today.

He will then need to be on antibiotics for another week & require loads of TLC... I'm very good at that with animals so no worries there...

There is always a high risk when a bunny is put under anaesthesia but I am hoping that he may not need to be under for too long & that I can bring him home later today...

Will keep you updated.

Lorraine

xxx

A little better today

Just a quick note to say I am feeling a little better today... had a really good sleep last night which I think helped quite a bit..

Today I've had the gas man in capping off my gas fire & also had to get the toilet repaired as part of the flush system had broken so you had to pump the handle... shocking... but it's all mended now thankfully.

Not sure if I'll get anything made tonight as I may have to head back to the office with Rob after dinner as he has an audit with the FSA next week so massive amounts of work to be done in preperation for that. He may however just go in mega early in the morning..

Well just got a text from him to say he's heading home now for dinner so best dash & get that sorted for him arriving.

See ya all soon

Lorraine

xxx

Under the Weather I am....

Well I haven't managed to upload anything today, nor do I have anything ready... felt a bit poorly as the day went on yesterday... crap by last night... hardly got a wink of sleep during the night... and have spent most of today curled up on the sofa...

One of my friends had popped in last night before she went on holiday & said that funnily enough her husband wasn't great last week for a few days but nothing really came of it & he soon recovered... must just be something to do with the change in the air or something...

Well... I am going to tidy up a little as nothing has been done today & Rob is buying me a chinese tonight to help make me feel better... after that if I feel up to it I'll tackle a card or two...

In the meantime... happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

GET FUNKY CHALLENGE

I'm not really a person who's into Halloween cards but when the challenge is set... off we go... and this month over at Get Funky... that's exactly what we've been challenged to do.

Must admit I did enjoy making this one & even hubby was having his say over where he thought the bats should be... now that says something about the challenge when he's joining in...

First up I layered some black card onto a white base card & then onto this I layered some very funky black & white paper which is from the Funky Seasons 2nd Edition Black & White Collection download. My letters are from the Now That's Funky lower alphas download & are a combination of Pumpkin Patch & Rockstar (added a little doodling myself). Next up I drew a set of batwings & cut out 2 of them from dark blue glitter card, the top one is attached direct to the card & the bottom one has been mounted with 3d foam so they appear to be one behind the other. Finally I decided to give my little bats some funky faces... so drew around a 5p piece & cut 2 of these out... inked them with an orange ink pad, edged with black & then doodled the faces... and attached with 3d foam.

Hope you're all going to be joining in the fun over at Get Funky.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

What a shopping day...

Well after all of the chores were done today... housework, bunny cages etc.... we set off on a shopping trip... the aim of which to get a toaster & kettle...

I will try to remember & post a picture of our new toaster tomorrow... it's so cool as it has an egg cooker attached to the side of it... oh yes I can boil, poach or scramble my eggs at the same as I am making my toast... how cool is that.... gonna try it out tonight for my supper so will let you know how it works.

Next up the kettle... now you would think this is a relatively easy task... into Argos we went, chose a (RAPID BOIL) kettle, paid for it & when we got home.... plug it in & guess what... it took over 3 minutes to boil.... RAPID BOIL my butt..... so back in the box it went & back to Argos I went... explaining that my reason for the return was due to product misdescription. Right.. let's have another look for a replacement kettle... yes I got one... same process again coming home & plugging in... this time it took over 4 minutes to boil my new RAPID BOIL kettle.... would you believe it!!!!

I noticed that the item numbers on the boxes had been changed so I pulled out last years catalogue & strangely enough they were not listed as rapid boil.... then again they were infact £5 cheaper then.... hmmmm makes me wonder if to compensate for the price increase they are simply changing the facts....

Needless to say I quickly packed up the 2nd kettle & returned it directly back to Argos... so with this done I simply asked for my money back as they obviously have an issue with product misdescription...

I will be very alert to this in future & will be wary of what kind of products I buy from them now...

So before I say good night... I'll let you all know that I'm now off to place an order for some new coffee tables, side lamps, throws & yes you guessed it... a kettle... this time putting my trust in Tesco direct... keeping my fingers crossed these all arrive safely & that I do infact receive a rapid boil kettle... lol....

Until tomorrow... toodles....

Lorraine

xxx

Blog Candy.... Silhouette Machine worth £299

Oh yes you are reading this correctly.... this amazing Silhouette Machine worth £299 is up for grabs in a blog candy giveaway.... what are you waiting for... you just have to join in...

You have to pop over to visit Jak Heath at Crafters Kitchen and follow the very simple instructions to stand a chance of winning....

You have until October 29th to join in the fun & the draw will take place on October 30th...

Good luck to everyone who enters.

Lorraine

xxx

I'VE WON......

I have to admit that I am one of the most unluckiest people... I really do not win very much at all so can you image my shock & surprise when I found out that I've won... not one but 2 things...

When working my way through the challenges & checking all the delicious winners I found that I have been chosen as one of the Fab 5 over at Get Funky... and for my prize I have won a yummy blinkie... can't wait to upload that to my blog as I am such a big fan of the Funky Hand designs... then next up when I arrived at the Stamp Something challenge blog I found that I was the winner of last weeks prize which is 5 digi stamps from Gina at Hand Crafted...

Can you all see the massive smile I have on my face today...

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

COLOUR CREATE CHALLENGE

It's been so long since I last joined in the fun at Colour Create that I feel totally ashamed with myself... and don't dare to think of all the fun colour combo's I've missed... but.... at least I've managed it today which is a bonus...

The current challenge is to use, hot pink, dusky pink & ice chocolate...

Time for a little fun I thought so used some hot pink card which I distressed to show the dusky pink core... then I used a Craftwork Cards template for my branch & owl. This was cut from a lovely paper which if memory serves me right is by Daisy Bucket... attached this to my card using a Sakura quickie glue pen. Used some card candy for the eyes & Fiskars mini punches for my moon & leaves.

What a fun little card to make...

Well I'm off to watch some tv with my hubby... not been a very good day for him so he needs to get some attention paid to him....

See ya all tomorrow again

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

2sketches4you challenge

Boy has my computer been playing up today or what... was beginning to think I wouldn't getting posting at all but thankfully the problem seems to be clearing up slowly but surely.

Here is my entry for the challenge this week over at 2sketches4you and what a fabby sketch it is to work with... (as always)...

Very simple this one.. some matting & layering with black, white & pink cardstock, some of which has been distressed to show the core colour. Next up the baubles were made using a free template that came with one of the craft magazines & I simply traced, cut, distressed then added some funky fibre. These were mounted using 3d foam. My snowflakes were made using a Fiskars punch & attached using my beloved Sakura quickie glue pen & a few gems to finish off.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy as you may very well say...

Got another one to share with you later but right now I'm off to get hubby's dinner on the go as he's due home around 8pm & no doubt will be starving.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

STAMP SOMETHING CHALLENGE

Well I didn't make it back yesterday as I had planned... unfortunately some things happened that turned a good day to bad & there were higher priorities in life than blogging... sad but true. Does anyone have a magic wand they can wave to make this credit crunch go away???

Alas I attempted to put this card together last night just to take my mind off things... didn't quite turn out like I wanted but hey ho... that's the way it goes sometimes.

Biggest thing I don't like about the card is my inking.... yuck....

As for the layout... that's all my own work so it fits perfect for the challenge this week over at Stamp Something challenge blog.

Image is one of the Popcorn christmas stamps & I have water coloured it using Sakura Metallic pens so it has a nice shine to it.

Christmas trees are made using Cuttlebug die cut & embossing plates.

Card Candy obviously from Craftwork Cards

Ribbon & snowflakes from my stash

Would you believe that I've had to take about a dozen pictures to get one where you can see the true colour of the trees... for some reason they kept showing up as deep red on all the pics... needless to say my apologies for the strange angle etc but it's the best I could get today....

Now I'm off to finish another challenge card which is about 60% done at the moment, some housework & shopping to do also but hope to get back later... yesterday really sucked so I fancy quite a bit of crafting today to cheer myself up...

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

NO I'VE NOT GONE AWOL AGAIN...

Sorry I didn't manage to get anything posted yesterday but I had rather a lot of paperwork to catch up on... thankfully I got some time to play with stamps last night so I will be posting today... hopefully on more than one occassion too.... fingers crossed.

Signing off just now as mum just arriving for lunch but will hopefully be back with you all again in an hour or so...

Ta ta for now...

Lorraine

xxx

PENNY BLACK CHALLENGE

Well another fab challenge has been set this week over at the Penny Black challenge site where the colour combo is CHOCOLATE, YELLOW & PINK...

Oh no probs there... after all I drink nothing but Hot Chocolate in the evenings... hmmm a thought has just entered my mind.... LOL

Now I have been collecting an array of tins to use for storage so I decided to make a start upon one of them... yes you may have guessed already... the base of my project is a Cadburys Hot Chocolate tin.

First up I took some Core-dinations papers from the Chocolate Box collection which I sanded down to show the yellow background & then attached this to my tin. Next up came some pink ribbon which was attached flat to the tin with some yellow ribbon tied around this.

My faithful "Whispers" stamp came into play again.... this is such a versatile stamp as I can now create any colour flower I wish using this stamp & I simply chop off the remainder of the foliage. I used some Brown Colourbox ink to stamp the image onto the yellow side of my core-dinations paper & then added a little shadow. Also stamped onto some pink DCWV paper from the Blossoms & Butterflies collection. Cut all my flowers out & attached to the tin using silicone then to finish off I tied some chocolate brown ribbon in knots to use on the centre of my flowers.

This is a fun little project to do whilst I was sitting on the sofa watching Dirty Dancing....

Well it's time to go again as dear hubby is off today & we're off out to have a look at some cars... our main car Chrysler 300C is due to be traded in March of next year but we are looking to see if we can find a good enough deal just now that will allow us to make the switch sooner. This way we hope to save a couple of hundred pounds a month in car payments which would be a great help at the moment during this stupid credit crunch...

See ya all later....

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

SUGAR BOWL CHALLENGE

Yes well I know it's a bit late in the day... but hey... better late than never... right!

Gayle has provided us with a lovely sketch this week over at The Sugar Bowl & in true Gayle fashion she has added an extra which we all too often pass on... paper piecing... well I personally had fun making this little cutie... then again I do so love this image as she's mega fun to play with.

Here I done my matting & layering with papers to meet the sketch criteria & then onto my image... I stamped her Versa fine onto white card stock & also patterned papers... cut out different sections & pieced together as required.

To colour in the remainder of the image I used Sakura Metallic Pens, added some flowers, pearls & gems and another challenge is now complete...

Image : Sweet & Sassy

Colouring : Sakura Metallic Pens

Flowers : Prima

Ribbon : Dovecraft

Papers : K&Co (Classic K Bailey)

Pearls : From my stash

Must dash now so I can get my hot chocolate made & bum settled on the sofa before my old favourite Dirty Dancing begins...

See ya all later...

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

ADOPTION UPDATE.... GOING HOME

Just a quickie to let you all know that after a "getting to know each other week"....Mummy & Daddy have now left the foster mother's home & are en-route home with their beautiful new baby daughter...

How exciting must that be for them knowing that tonight they do not have to hand her back to anyone but instead they will be doing the bathtime, bedtime story & laying her down to sleep...

Sure hope that they have many happy years ahead, together as a family.

My friend did pop onto my blog the other day & read through all the lovely comments you left & she has asked that I thank you on her behalf... this is such a special day for them & she can't believe that complete strangers are offering up their well wishes.... so THANK YOU....

Right I'm off now to have a quick look at challenges before dashing around doing the normal Saturday duties...

See you all again later.

Lorraine

xxx

WHERE HAS THE DAY GONE...

Heck I so cannot believe the time right now... I've been on the go since 9am yet it's one of those days where I don't feel like I have really achieved anything.

However... I have done my good duty for the day...although I have not managed to make any cards.. I did do my friend a massive favour.

You may have seen me mention about my friend who lives next to me.. she has a little boy & girl who call me auntie Lorraine... both adorable may I add... well 6 years past in July they had their first little boy (Adam) who sadly died when he was only 7 days old.. hospital blunder... which made things worse as my friend was a radiographer in the same hospital & her husband is a GP.

Obviously they still miss their little boy dearly & sometimes my friend just cannot go to the cemetary to visit him... that's where auntie Lorraine comes in... she is currently going through one of these periods so today she asked if I could go visit him... not a problem I said... so off I toddled to the cemetary for a nice relaxing hour... I'm one of those who always find it very peaceful & a place to clear my head... they had just cut the grass so I washed all his headstone down so it's lovely & clean again.. cleaned all his little ornaments & night lights, removed his old flowers & gave him lovely fresh white & lilac chrysanthymums. At least now if she decides to go visit it will all look lovely & fresh for her.

Whilst there I toddled over to Dads & my brothers graves too... yet more scrubbing & fresh flowers for them too...

Now when my Dad died he was buried next to an old lady & I often spoke with her husband when he was tending her grave... funny thing was he knew my dad & in the beginning this old man said many kind words to me that help make bad days good... well unfortunately this old man passed away last year & is buried along with his wife... so what did I do... oh yes you may well have guessed... they had a good old scrub & polish too... if anyone had actually watched me today they would probably have thought that I was bonkers... hmmm well perhaps I am... but I'll leave you to be the judge of that...

Right I'm off again to organise dinner this time... hubby has kindly agreed to me ordering a Chinese so yippee no pots & pans for me tonight...

See you all tomorrow again

Lorraine

xxx

PAPERTAKE WEEKLY CHALLENGE

What a super sketch we have to play with this week over at Papertake Weekly... and I had heaps of fun making this card...

This is one of the new Popcorn the Bear christmas stamps & by the way he is popping his head through the wreath... I'm not quite sure if he's waiting on Santa to arrive or if he thinks he has just won the Grand Prix...

The matting & layering I done with some DCWV cardstock to which I added some patterned paper (sorry but I have lost the cover page so have no idea who makes it) and attached these strips to my base card. Next up I stamped my image onto some card stock & watercoloured using Sakura Stardust Pens . This was then layered onto some more DCWV cardstock & attached to the base card using silicone glue. The "Peace" epoxy sticker is by Creative Expressions (think it's from a kit on QVC last year) and finally some red gems to finish off.

Well I must dash now as I have a few more things to squeeze in & due to get my hair cut at 1pm.

See you all again soon

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

PENNY BLACK CHALLENGE

This week over at Penny Black the challenge is to use lace & pearls.... well I can use the pearls no problem but to be honest I am so not a lace person... this did prove to be a little difficult for me but finally I made it there... decided that if I kept the style simple it may help a little.

Just for a change I decided to do a long thin card onto which I layered some lovely Efco paper. Next up I wrapped some lace around a piece of blue card & attached onto the centre of the card. Used my stamp to create 9 flower heads which were then water coloured using Sakura Glaze Pens and slightly curled before attaching to the card using silicone glue... now to complete the challenge I added some pearls to the centre of the flowers... phhheeeewwww. so glad that one's done now as it sure was a challenge for me...

See you all again soon

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

THE PINK ELEPHANT CHALLENGE

You may remember that last week I told you how a girl I know sadly lost her husband... well what's worse is that they have a little girl who is now going to have to grow up with the love of her Daddy... there is nothing on God's green earth that can make up for this... but I thought I would send her a nice bright card made just for her.... so I decided to incorporate it with the challenge this week over at The Pink Elephant Challenge.

This is a fabulous sketch by Robin & it worked perfect for my card. Firstly I took two strips of some bright orangy coloured card from DCWV, inked the edges in blue & added some doodling then attached to my base card. Next up some blue hand writing paper by Efco which again I inked & doodled on before attached to my card. Next came the mount for my image which is a deep pink by DCWV... here I simply sanded the card to show the core & some doodling of course... mounted onto base card. For my image & flowers I used Messy Rabbit as he is cute & adorable & looks very very huggable... they have been coloured using a mixture of Sakura Stardust & Glaze pens.... my favourites of course... The images were then cut out & attached to the base card... Messy is laid almost flat whilst the flowers are slightly higher mounted using silicone glue. I curled a little piece of wire & attached under one of the flowers & for the sentiment I used a large Fiskars hole punch for the circles which I then inked & doodled before writing the letters inside using a Sakura Pigma Micron pen. Attached these using some glue & voila.... my finished card....

Well I'm off now as another list of duties to do today... shopping, work, antibiotics to give to Buddy.... thank you for all your lovely kind comments & he is doing much better today... finished off all of last nights dinner so he's now on to a fresh batch.. looks revolting but he's loving it...

Hopefully if I get things in the right order I'll make it back later with another little creation.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

ADOPTION UPDATE.... WOOHOO!!!!

You may remember that several weeks back I posted about my friends who were trying to adopt a baby girl....

Well they have been in front of the final panel this afternoon for the decision to be made on whether or not they are a suitable match....

Yippee...... I'm gonna be an auntie.....

They have been successful & the panel have agreed with the match... so at this moment in time they are en-route to meet the little girl....

They will spend every day with her this week in order to get them all used to one another... and then on Saturday they will be bringing her home to live with them as their daughter...

This truly is a dream come true for them & would you believe it is their 10th wedding anniversary on Friday.... what a present to receive.... certainly there will never be another present so precious to them for the rest of their lives...

I'm ecstatic & already designing her card to welcome her to her new home... obviously there will also be a need for a scrap book so we can record her life year by year....

Well I'm off again... got some friends to call & spread the good news then onto the card making before it's dinner time.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Poor Wee Buddy Rabbit

Now this is how our little Buddy likes to be... in his Daddy's arms getting belly rubs & kisses...

However... yesterday & today he's not quite in a mood for it... on playing with him yesterday morning I noticed that he had been drooling from one side of his mouth... (just like a baby does when it's teething)... he didn't want to eat or drink from his water bottle... which is death to a bunny as they must have constant access to food as they have 2 stomachs which shut down very easily... oh my what to do... not a problem really... simply saturated his food pellets in water which softened them so he could easily eat them then & it also gave him access to water.

This morning he was bundled up in his city carrier & off we went to our vets... what a wonderful lot they are & I'm very dedicated to them as they have been treating my animals with loving care for about 17 years now.

Buddy was very well behaved as always & lay back in my arms whilst the vet stuck her scope in his mouth to see what exactly was going on... poor wee thing is not feeling his best.... all through the fact that wait for it.... he has bit his tongue.... LOL...

Oh yes... he has somehow managed to bite the right hand side of his tongue which is now swollen & is a little infected... he is now on antibiotics twice a day for the next 7 days to remove the infection, reduce the swelling & hopefully get him back to normal again.

Well... need to do the housework now & then make up my cards...

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Almost There...

Yesterday we were busy cleaning animals, doing the weekly shop, visiting the local DIY store etc and then last night my step daughter & her boyfriend came over for a visit... alas I had to wait to the house was quiet last night before I could get anything crafty done... On Friday night I got some images stamped & coloured... but didn't have time to make them up yesterday.. then last night the old brain wouldn't function enough to create... so done some more stamping & colouring... thus, I now have enough ready for to make 3 cards which I hope to get put together later on... keep your fingers crossed for me.

Also got loads of car problems at the moment... Rob's car was in for an MOT on Friday & they pulled up some major work relating to his suspension column... basically if we were travelling at anything kind of 40mph or above & the suspension snapped then we could well have lost a tyre & been involved in a very serious accident... what's worse is that it was only serviced in July & according to the paperwork.. this work was carried out under warranty then... Numerous phone calls later & the Chrysler dealer who carried out the service say there was a breakdown in communication & the work was not infact carried out... thus the car has to be fixed under warranty now on Friday coming... hubby & I will have to share my wee Aygo for the next few days to be on the safe side....

In addition to that.. when Brianna left last night I noticed a huge pool of water on the driveway.. Rob done the sniff test & it doesn't appear to smell of anti freeze & it's not oil... so she seems to be leaking water from her engine somewhere... needless to say she got an emergency phone call last night to tell her to get the car back over here today so we can check it out...

She did say she topped up her windscreen bottle yesterday... so we're hoping that perhaps she just overfilled it & then there will be nothing to worry about...

Also hoping to make it to The Fort today for a nosey around the shops & to pop into Hobbycraft... I checked out the Penny Black challenge & this week it's lace & pearls... what do I not have... lace... what an excuse to go shopping eh.... lol

Right I'm off now in the hopes that I get back later on with something that is actually complete...

Heaps of hugs in the meantime

Lorraine

xxx

Spending & Scrubbing....

Sorry I haven't posted anything since Wednesday... but yesterday I had some running around to do but I also popped in to Crafts at Home in Blantyre to pick up some goodies & whilst I was there I also met with Alison & Sue as well as some of the other ladies who go to their craft group.

Some pounds later I left the shop & joined the girls for a wee cuppa coffee & a chat which was lovely & a nice pleasant change for me.. might very well need to do it more often.

Today I am at home waiting on a delivery to arrive so am using my time to get some Autumn cleaning done... oh yes the light shades etc are being scrubbed along with skirting boards & doors... I know I curse housework like most other people.. but I do have to admit it is very soul cleansing once the job is complete & you see everything gleaming.

Perhaps tonight I will come up with a little something... we'll see...

Hope you're all having a good

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

GET FUNKY CHALLENGE

Okay dokey folks... here goes with today's challenge card... this time it's for GET FUNKY....

True to form Anice has set us yet another fantastic challenge this month with the theme being to make a creation (card, atc etc) for a boy...

No problem I thought as I immediately had an idea spring mind so off I went to the computer & threw in my Funky Daze CD... clicked on boy word book & printed off the letters I needed... again in true Anice fashion no time wasting involved as it was simply a case of click & print.

Once my letters were printed I cut them out & highlighted the brown with a Clear Sakura Stardust Pen & added some Card Candy which I also highlighted with the pen.

Next up, stamped my Sk8 boy image by Dimension Fourth & water coloured using Sakura Metallic Pens. Used several images which I then layered up for added depth.

Finally to attach the whole book together I puched 3 holes down the side & tied some hand spun string through the holes... this also gave some additional colour & texture to my word book.

A wee close up of my boy all layered up.

Word Book : Funky Daze CD - Funky Hand

Image : Dimension Fourth

Card Candy : Craftwork Cards

Sakura Metallic & Stardust Pens : Markingworld

Hand Spun String : Ebay

Off to enter the challenge now & see what I can find to work on tonight...back with you all tomorrow with yet another card...

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Kath & I at the SECC.....

Well folks this afternoon I was rummaging the old ribbon bag for something to finish off my challenge card for Get Funky... I will post it later... just waiting on some silicone to dry...

Now whilst in the process of doing so I decided that my bag had to be cleaned up so out came all of the ribbon all over the floor in front of me... whilst pulling my way through all the mangled up bits my dearly beloved Blackberry buzzed aloud with an email... what was that email...

Sadly... Fiskars have decided to withdraw from all Autumn shows....

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!

A mixture of shock, disappointment & rather a little peeved off as the show is only 4 weeks away & there is now very little chance of catching a demo job with someone else... demonstrators are normally booked months in advance... so sure does suck...

Right away I got on the phone to Kath & told her all about the email... she was straight into her inbox to read the email for herself... afterall... she did just purchase her train tickets yesterday..

All I will say is the call last around an hour & a half so there was certainly plenty being said between us... and you never know... Kath may share some of it with you all later...

This is such a huge disappointment as Kath & I were so looking forward to working together again & instead we are just going to have to content ourselves with a walk around the show & some fine dining for lunch.

Oh well... not much more I can say on the subject...

Back later with my challenge card

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Penny Black Challenge

Finally as promised here is my entry for this weeks Penny Black Challenge where we have been assigned to work with a fabulous sketch.

First up I inked the edges of my base card in brown. Cut a circle from some lovely paper from Efco & inked edges. Cut a rectangle from some matching pink paper, chopped off the corner, inked the edges & attached to the green paper. Used some self adhesive ribbon from DCWV to go across the papers, trimmed & attached it all to my base card. Stamped my bunny image & the coloured using Bruynzeel water colour pencils, inked the edges & attached to my base card using 3d foam pads. Finally I added 2 Prima flowers & some card candy.

Efco papers : Craft Creations

DCWV adhesive ribbon : Local craft shop

Image : Penny Black

Prima Flowers : Local craft shop

Card Candy : Craftwork Cards

Bruynzeel water colour pencils : Markingworld

Off now to check out some more challenges... and have just remembered that I've still to join in this months challenge over at Get Funky.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

What a boy.....

Now how the dickens am I supposed to work on the computer when this is the sight that is sat next to me... big old lazy boy that he is....

Would you believe that this is the norm for him when I am working on the computer. Likes to make sure that he doesn't miss out on anything I think.

It really was just too adorable a pic not to share with you all.

I know I said that I planned to do my Penny Black card at some point yesterday but I never quite got around to it... unfortunately I heard some very sad news yesterday that really did shake me up a bit. There is a lovely craft shop that I visit where I am always made very welcome & treated to my coffee & biscuits etc... the girl who owns it is younger than I am & has a lovely little girl too... well would you believe that yesterday I heard the devastating news that she has just lost her husband. Well there are no words I can find to say to this poor lass as it still hasn't quite sunk into me yet & I can only imagine how the family must be feeling at the moment... Even worse now is that I have to do a sympathy card for her... my heart really does go out to them & I can only hope & pray that she finds the strength to come out the other side of this tragedy supported by her friends & family.

This will not be a card I will be posting on my blog so I will try & catch the PB challenge later today. Why not make a point today of taking just a minute or two to sit & reflect on just how good our life really is... yes we may be in the middle of a credit crunch etc but in comparison to some people's lives.. our's is but a breeze.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

The Sugar Bowl Challenge

Now I did tell you all on Thursday night that I was off to sit down & do some stamping & colouring in... well I was true with my saying... that's exactly what I done... so why has it taken so long to upload a card.. well.... the weather has been so wonderfully gorgeous that I've had problems keeping my bum in the house... lol

Oh yes... I've been up in the morning... washing on, housework done... all the crap daily household duties that us poor ladies have bestowed upon us... then as soon as is possible my bum has been outside in the garden... well this may be the last bout of sunshine we have this year.. never quite know do we.. so I'm making sure that I'm getting the garden under control before Autumn creeps in.

Must admit right enough that yesterday we did do a few household requirements like hang a new curtain rail to replace the one that fell out of the wall... new houses... never again... it has taken us a while to find a lightweight one that we feel will hold but to be on the safe side we have now added a piece of wooden beam... the way it used to be done... and the curtain pole will be attached to this. In addition to that we had to replace the shower head & hose as we had developed a bit of a loose spray that was going right over the top of the shower cubicle. Lol...

Anyhow... last night I finally kept my bum in place long enough to start using my complete images to make a start on my challenge cards...

First up is The Sugar Bowl.

We have a lovely sketch to work with & the added extra is the colours pink & brown.

I decided to use my "MacBeth" stamp as he is just adorable & perfect for the colour combo... little old him is brown & I gave him a lovely pink plant pot & flower. Seeing as his flower has a green stem I also threw in a green Prima flower for a little added colour.

Image was coloured using Bruynzeel Water Colours.

Image : MacBeth

Papers : Efco (bought from Ashby Designs)

Card Candy : Craftwork Cards

Prima Flowers : All good craft shops

Self adhesive ribbon from stash

Well... it's time to get my bum back downstairs now... next load of washing is ready to be hung out to dry & oh... not sure if I smell a BBQ firing up for dinner tonight...Lol

Hope you are all having as good a weekend as I am & with any luck I will manage to make another little card later... hmmm me thinks that Penny Black will be next on the list.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Sorry for being AWOL...

Yes yet another apology flowing from my lips for being MIA this week again...

Had lots of paperwork to catch up on as well as hospital appts etc...

Seeing as it's been dry here the last 2 days I've also been giving the windows a good old spit & polish... no doubt it will rain tomorrow now... normally does just when they are looking so lovely & sparkly...

In the hopes that I may manage a challenge or two over the next few days.. I'm off now to have a relaxing night in front of the tv doing some stamping & colouring in.

Will do my best to catch up with you all soon.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

What a fabulous weekend...

Sorry there was no posting over the weekend but I was far too busy having fun...

Both Saturday & Sunday were spent at Craftology in Hillington, Glasgow demoing with my trusty Sakura Pens & the lovely new Popcorn Christmas Stamps.

There were 12 demonstrators in total & one of them just happened to be the lovely Cass so needless to say I spent rather a long time admiring all her new cards & scrap pages. May I also add that I had several large hugs from her adorable son Louis.. he is so loving & full of fun. One of the funniest things he done was in the mornings there was no way he was kissing Mummy goodbye as she had her lipstick on but as soon as he came through the door in the evening she was more than welcome to get a huge big smacker as he knew her lipstick was worn off then... how sweet is that...

A fab time was had by all & the staff certainly looked after us all to a very high standard... checking if we wanted a tea/coffee on a regular basis... taking our lunch orders etc... absolutely wonderful they were & a credit to Craftology... so much so I'm now going to have to take them in a huge box of chocs & thank you card.

Anyway, seeing as I was working with Chrsitmas stamps & we don't have 2 hours to spend on a card if we are making 50+ of them... (gosh that would be 100 hours)... I was focusing on quick make cards & the one above is just a little sample of what I done.

Firstly I attached some patterned paper to basic card stock (one which has a lovely lustre to it) and then I stamped my Popcorn image onto another piece of the card stock using Staz On.

Now comes the fun part of colouring in...

I water coloured Popcorn the Bear himself using a Sakura Metallic Pen "Sepia"

To colour the hats & Popcorns scarf I used direct to paper a Sakura Stardust Pen "Red Star"

The shadows on the furry parts of the hats was done using a Sakura Stardust Pen "Clear Star"

Snowman's scarf is water coloured using Sakura Stardust Pen "Lime Star"

Souffle the Duck was water colured using a combination of Sakura Glaze Pens "Yellow" & "Orange"

Shadow on Snowman was created using Sakura Stardust Pen "Sky Star"

Once the image was finished I inked the edges to soften with a brown ink pad & attached to the front of my card... to finish off I added some red gems to the corners & 2 black gems for the snowman's eyes.

Well now I guess I'd better get around to tidying the old house up... then I've got some commission cards that I must finish off today.

Catch up with you all again soon.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Cute Daisy May Challenge

Here's another little challenge card... this time it's for Cute Daisy May and the theme this week is to say Thank You.

Here I took 2 strips of paper & layered them onto a co-ordinating square of paper & attached to my base card. Next I layered another piece of paper onto some black cardstock for the background to my image. I printed off one of the Cute Daisy May images & trimmed to size. This time around I decided to water colour her using Sakura Silver Shadow pens & added some doodling around the edge using a Pigma Micron Pen. Attached this to my mount & wrapped some ribbon around the bottom corner. Took a piece of white card & layered onto black, added some doodling & hand wrote the Thank You sentiment with a black Sakura stardust pen. A few black gems were added for the final detail.

Personally I think the Gold & Silver shadow pens from Sakura are very much overlooked & very rarely appreciated for their extensive versatility. If you own any then get them out & have a good old play... be adventurous & you may well find you are surprised at just what you can achieve with these fab pens...

Silver Shadow & Pigma Micron Pens : Sakura

Papers : Paper Cellar

Image : Cute Daisy May

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Penny Black Challenge

Well here is yet another christmas card for me to add to my pile... seems like that's all I've made for the last month or so.... if it keeps going at this rate I'll be well organised which will make a change for me..

Obviously the challenge this week over at Penny Black is christmas so off I set to look out the old PB stamps.

The papers I used are Paper Cellar & they were edged with a gold calligraphy pen and if you look closely at the red holly on the paper you will see I created an embossed effect by outlining the leaves with a Red Sakura Glaze Pen.

Now the image was done in super quick time... stamped with Staz On then coloured using

Red, Green & Grey Sakura Glaze Pens... direct from pen application so really quick... only part that I water coloured was the shadow... then used a Quickie Glue Pen and once it turned clear I sprinkled some glitter on. Edged again with a gold calligraphy pen then layered onto some black card which had also been edged. Attached to the base card using silicone.

To finish off I used a quickie glue pen to attach the gems to the snowflakes & a little silicone to mount the snowflakes themselves.

Hope you likey... not bad for a quick make eh...

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Gosh where does time go....

I so can't believe that it's almost mid week again. Rob was off work yesterday so off we toddled to Ikea to get a few bits & bobs... albeit we were there for a few hours... must have my coffee & cake you know... LOL....

Well I've been catching up all day with housework... am I the only one who's house becomes a dump when the hubby is at home for a few days... had to do some shopping etc but the good news is I have managed to make a start on some challenge cards... at the moment I'm working on one for Penny Black & Cute Daisy May.... need to check out the Sugar Bowl too as I can't remember if the new challenge is due out this week & if so then I'll try & catch that on Thursday.

Best sign off now if I'm to stand any chance of finishing these challenge cards eh...

Look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.

Happy crafting one & all...

Lorraine

xxx