Need to get back to work now....

Oh yes, we're still amidst the holiday season but time to get back to work again as I have 2 birthday cards to make now & a new home card....

Mind is buzzing away with ideas & after tea I'll be sat in a nice comfy sofa starting away with at least 1 design... OMG does this mean that I may actually upload a card tomorrow.... oh well I sure hope so....

Hope you're all having a lovely lazy time over the holidays & not like me... eaten too much food & now have a big swollen tummy.... lol...

See ya all soon.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Merry Christmas to you all.....

Well the day has arrived as has Santa with his big old bag of goodies.... this is.... if you've been good over the last year... lol

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas filled with fun & laughter.

Thank you so much to everyone who has shown me support over the last year... it has been rather a difficult one for us so it's been lovely to know that there are always friends out there in blogland who I can turn to. Thank you.

Now go have lots of fun & enjoy the day with friends & family.

Merry Christmas

Lorraine

xxx

Nationwide Appeal.............

Well I've been dashing around like a mad woman (no doubt like most of the women in the country) getting prepared for Christmas & now I am almost there.... got a few little bits & bobs to tend to but nothing major.... and finally got the last of my cards delivered today... I must be more organised next year.... hopefully I will be able to get a pic or two uploaded tomorrow before Brianna & her boyfriend come to visit....

However, I do have one final appeal for this year relating to "Support our Soldiers".

To show our respect for all of our troops, no matter where they are & also for those who given their lives in the name of our country, is it possible for you to give up just 1 minute of your time on Christmas Day to think of them...

Can our proud nation unite at 2pm on Christmas Day & every household light a candle & stop for just 1 minute & think of all our guys & gals.

This is the 7th year running that "Support our Soldiers" have been lighting candles & I for one don't think it's a great deal to ask.

Please join in with many others around the country at 2pm on Christmas Day. Thank you.

Seasons joy to one & all

Lorraine

xxx

My wee mammies birthday

Morning folks... long time no speak.... lol

Well it's my wee mammies birthday today so I'm up nice & bright & early to get a load of stuff done so I can spend some time with her later.

It's been a rather white weekend here... oh yes... we've had snow probably like most of the rest of the country going by what the news is saying.

Amidst all the snow & house cleaning this weekend, I've also managed to make about 60 cards... with a little help from the Nitwit collection that is... I am completely new to digital card making so it's a learning experience for me, but I'm getting there.

Promise I will do my best to get the dust blown off of the old camera later & see if I can get some piccies uploaded.

Hope you all had a fab weekend & by this time next week we'll all be prepping for New Year... gosh how time flies eh!!!

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Still no pictures... sorry

OMG.... yes it is snowy outside but it's been snowing inside too....

My household is certainly seeing the year out in fashion as if you read my previous posting you will see that we've been having to deal with the results of a fire... update on that one... police caught the *********** who done it.... wonder if they'll get anything more than a wrap on the knuckles!!!!

BUT....... yesterday....... someone rammed something right through the back window on Rob's car so yet another issue to deal with.... thankfully on the phone to Admiral... quick dealings with them... then Autoglass called & asked if we would like to garage the car overnight in their facility... yippee.... out of the elements so we couldn't have asked for more than that... hopefully the glass will arrive today & Rob can get his car on the road again... in the meantime I'm running him back & forth to work in my wee Aygo.... which may I say, held the road very well this morning in all the ice & snow.

Skip is due to be taken away today so I'm gutting the last of the cupboards then I have to sort everything all into it's new place... also got some new side tables & lamps the other day... golly gosh.... I'm generally quite good with flat pack but these flaming tables took me almost 6 hours to build.... thought my hand was going to blister by the end of it all but thankfully it was fine the following day.

Right I'm off to throw the rest of the trash out, hang the washing up, vacuum, shop & then hopefully squeeze in some study & card making.

With any luck my blogging may get a little better next week....

Crafty hugs to one & all.

Lorraine

xxx

Man have we been on fire this weekend.... literally

Sorry I haven't been around over the weekend folks but oh yes it was one of those weekend... firstly I had to finish off my OU assignment which is now done & about to be submitted as soon as I finish this posting. In addition to that Rob took the weekend off & we hired a skip to do the old winter clear out (it's almost full!).

Lastly but by far the worst event of the weekend was that we received a call from Rob's business partner to tell us that their building had been set on fire... Here we go again.... the office is in a tenement building thankfully so the walls are very thick stone ones... There are 4 companies operate from the same close & apparently on Saturday night one of the juniours in the hairdressers was left to lock up... unfortunately he failed to actually lock the door..... oh great let's leave the building wide open eh!!! As there is no lift in the building there were a few chairs set out on the landing so older people could take a rest & yes you guessed it... these were set alight. Fortunately the building faces into the back of the local police station & some police officer spotted the flames going up the inside of the building so they reacted quickly & put the back door of the building in to exterminate the flames... Thankfully no-one was in the building at the time. The hinges have literally been taken off so a whole new door & frame will have to be installed... the chairs.. well the only part of them left is the metal frame so they are now binned... some windows have blown out with the heat & will need replacing & the close is black with the smoke so the insurance company have a fire cleaning company coming out today to assess the damage & price the job up...

Hence why I have not been blogging... I have managed to make a few quick cards but haven't gotten around to taking any pics yet... will try to do it today if I get time.

Hope all is well with everyone & that you're doing loads of lovely crafting.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Pneumonia update....

Yes I know... I never managed to get back with anything else yesterday as the day just flew by & last night Brianna & her boyfriend were over to visit so nothing done then either...

Had to make a trip to Asda yesterday even although my Tesco delivery arrived just the day before... what for... well Rob has decided that he is making sweet potato pie for christmas... but not just one pie... oh no... 1 for us, 1 for my mum & Eric and then 2 for friends as a special thing for them on christmas day.... what a nightmare.... cinnamon, nutmeg, evaporated cream etc.... but I also had strict instructions to buy 4 tins of cream so that he can give a can over with each pie... what a man... when something gets in his head, there really is no stopping him...

Anyhow, today has been spent running around & now I'm off to do a little bit of my essay whilst the house is nice & quiet but before doing so I thought I'd give you a wee health update... this morning started with my attending the doctor in relation to my pneumonia... and yippee.... I've been given the all clear.... the pneumonia has left my body and long may it stay away.....

However.... oh yes, if you know me at all, then you will know by now that my life never runs smooth... apparently due to the pneumonia & xrays it has now been highlighted that I may in actual fact have asthma.... see told you there's always something going on with me... with this discovery I will now have to take some breathing tests so I have been put on the waiting list which is apparently about 6 weeks or so & my doctor has now put me on an inhaler 3 times a day... what a start I had to the day eh!!!

Well I sure do hope you are all doing well out there in blogland & if I do well with my essay then I might be able to squeeze in some card making later.... fingers crossed.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

For a mini crafter

This is for a little mini crafter on her 11th birthday. She is my friend's niece Danni & this year she has actually started making cards... yippee.... another one to join the clan.... she lives down south but comes up here a couple of times a year & when she does we all sit down & get the crafting goodies out to have a play. On her last visit I gave her a whole load of stamped images away with her that she could colour in & use on her cards... low & behold.... the following week I received a handmade thank you card from her... what a darling she is.

I thought this card would be a good way of showing her how to use ribbon in a different way. Teaching from afar you see.. lol.. but it's also a lovely bright card for a little girl who loves pink.

All elements of the card are from a Brenda Pinnick kit I bought from QVC.

Hope to be back again a little later with something else to share.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

Bauble duet

This was a hard one to catch on the camera due to the sun as you can see in the bottom corner but I have done my best... albeit the image is a little dark but it's better than loads of reflection.

A quick run of glitter along the bottom, silicone to attach the baubles & sentiment, silver peel offs to hang my baubles & some gems for the finishing touch... a big thank you once again to Kanban as if it wasn't for this set, a whole load of people would be getting shop bought cards from me this year and that really just wouldn't do...

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx

All striped to go....

Oh yes, another Kanban quickie for you all... still not managed to make a start on those special cards yet... hopefully next week after I've got my first essay completed...

So, here I took my base card (Craftwork Cards), used 4 rows of double sided tape & glittered them up black then simply added the bauble with silicone & a little silver peel off.... voila... done.

Now today I have the grocery shopping being delivered, some christmas pressies also being delivered that I ordered online yesterday, housework & washing as usual, some pet cages to clean, need to do a few hours studying & see if I can squeeze in making a few more cards...

Will pop back later again & upload another little something.

Hope you all have a fab day filled with love & crafting.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Basic Styling

Another quick make card thanks to my new Kanban kit.... Here I took a white card (Craftwork Cards), put a strip of double sided tape across the card & covered with black glitter. Used one of the baubles & sentiment disc which were attached used silicone, and a silver peel off for the string. Three self adhesive gems finish the whole card off...

Yippee, another one bites the dust....

Happy crafting

Lorraine

A splash of colour

The time sure does seem to be flying by now that we are into December & before we know it Christmas will be all done & dusted & we'll be looking forward to the start of another new year.

This weekend Rob & I went & got some Christmas pressies.... it's a very cheap year for us this year as there's not a lot of spare cash but hey ho... Christmas afterall is not about the monetary value is it... and would you believe this is the first pressies we have gotten... best get my skates on I think... lol... He also treated me to lunch which was lovely, good old steak pie on a cold winters day... and I need some new tinsel for my christmas tree so got that too... will try to take a pic later to share with you all.

Yesterday... well like most other women in the country... not only do we have the spring & autumn cleaning to do, but we have this requirement to do the Christmas clean out too.... Oh yes, my day yesterday was filled with scrubbing... floors, tiles, oven (yuck!)... so at least I've got a start made on that now too.

Today, hmmm well that's a different story... I'm due another phone tutorial tonight as this week I have to make a start on my first T.M.A (Tutor Marked Assignment)... oh yes.... I have to have completed a 1000 word essay by the start of next week... my hands are sweating right now just at the thought of it. Thus, once I've placed my Tesco order (forgot to do it yesterday) then I'm off to bury my head in the books for the rest of the day.

Well, best dash now & get myself organised so I'll catch up with you all later on again.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

Poinsetta Pleasure

Close up of the layering

Yes I know this is yet another plain card & is certainly not extravegant in any way whatsoever but it was another quick make which is passable for my neighbours who at the end of the day will most probably only receive boxed cards from everyone else...

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

All wrapped up...

I just think this is such a sweet little image that I am going to give this card to my friends daughter who is 5 years old... I can just see her sitting on her own bed ready to dive into her pressies on Christmas morning... still got a little glitter to add to this one... especially on the stars in the night time sky.

Hugs

Lorraine

xxx

Morning Beauty

Sorry the picture is a little off focus but I was trying to snap the wee critter before he ran off...

Isn't this just the cutest little fella to see when you open the blinds in the morning & I was lucky enough to have him in my back garden today... he is munching away on some left over bunny food as when we empty the bowls we just put it on the grass for the birds etc but now I have a new little buddy to keep my eye open for.

Obviously I've called him Sammy..... lol

Well I've had a really busy last few days hence why I've been awol & at the moment I'm shattered... today will require a bit of rest & pampering but I do have some cards to share with you all so I'll pop them on later.

Happy crafting

Lorraine

xxx