Hello.........

Hi everyone, well I hope there are still a few of you left to visit me as I've been missing for a while! I've not been very good at commenting on your blogs but I do visit!! I want to thank everyone that was thinking about me and the family after losing Karen, it was much appreciated.The service was lovely and very personal and my eldest son Dominic, gave a wonderful eulogy and it was so nice to see so many people there for Karen.

I have been quite busy with cards for various occasions and had a lovely time recently at Ally Pally meeting up with Chrissie and Gay.  I also was asked back to college to judge the annual hairdressing competition and the winners went on to a regional competition which I attended and the judge was the amazing Patrick Cameron who was brilliant! Hairdressers will know who I am talking about and we won!!!

Anyway I thought I'd share with you a few cards that I've made recently and I promise to get back in the swing of things and visit you all!

card using my new dies from Ally Pally

three crafty ladies at Ally Pally!

the last card I made for Karen with her favourite Hibiscus and her dragonfly logo

Cupcake onesies for my Dil's brother's new baby

Card for a special friend recovering from a heart attack

I hope everyone is enjoying the bank holiday weekend it's been lovely here but tomorrow is not looking so good!

My darling sister.....

This is the most heartbreaking post I have ever blogged and it is a tribute to my sister Karen http://serendipitydragonfly.blogspot.co.uk, who passed away on Monday.
Cancer is a terrible disease and Karen fought it successfully twice, but this last one was horrendous! Karen suffered such pain but you would never have known as she carried on as normally as possible.
For those of you that followed her blog you will know how creative she was. She was skilled in card making, embroidery, felting, mixed media and was a fabulous cook! In fact everything she turned her hand to was successful.

This was the last photo taken of Karen as she lunched with a friend a couple of months ago.

A much loved sister and aunt who will be sorely missed, now pain free and at peace.

NBUS and a few cards......

Afternoon all, where do the weeks go? I've got a few creations to show you so grab a cuppa and sit back.....
Firstly here is my offering for Darnell's NBUS challenge which is an acronym for never before used stuff and we all have some of that! It's not a card but a coaster that I altered using a matching stamp and die set called Teatime by Sizzex and Graphic 45 come and see: Not sure why it's not very clear it looks fine on my camera!

The next card was for my friend who has just had a granddaughter after 3 boys!

The horsey one is for my goddaughter's middle daughter who loves horses and I had fun making this with punches!

This was for my friend's daughter with Irish connections hence using the 3D embossibilities folder another NBUS item!

Finally an engagement card for my niece in Ireland who got engaged on Valentine's Day in Paris, very romantic!

Sorry it's so picture heavy but I'll be back after the weekend as we are off to portsmouth for Charlie's birthday and I'll show his card then.

A touch of glamour......

Morning all just popping in to show you my card for this weeks LIM challenge. I meant to enter last week but the week disappeared so quickly and I was busy making cards for forthcoming birthdays.
Anyway here is the criteria for this week:

The challenge this week is a 

Recipe 

and for that concoction we would like you to include

SOME WIRE

We realise that this is quite a tricky one, so if there's no way you can produce a card with
actual wire on it, an image or die-cut depicting wire will also qualify!

I used freebie stamps from Creative Stamped magazine, gold embossed the dress and used glitter ep for the clapper stamp.

Watercolour pencil and water brush to colour the dress. I bent some wire for the hanger and added some gems at the neckline.

Hope you all have a crafty week!

Less is More week 263-one layer

Hello everyone, wow what a gorgeous day today! I had to scrape the car this morning and it was 1 deg but by the time I emerged from aqua zumba it was 10 degrees! Really perks you up when it's sunny and everything is blooming. Everything except my card for this week's challenge over at LIM towers. This is the criteria:

We are back to a

ONE LAYER CARD

 and we would like to have you

INCLUDE A STEM

Easy I thought, my waste bin thought differently! I've ended up with 3 cards but only one that I think is right, come and see;

I masked off a centre panel and sponged on Victorian Velvet and Bundled Sage DI and stamped text from SU French Foliage in Victorian Velvet. Stamped the stems and sentiment in Brilliance black .

Thanks to a little mistake with the inks I've added 2 corners but I quite like it!!!

We're looking forward to seeing Charlie and Phoebe at the weekend so I hope the weather stays fine.

Happy 5th birthday!

Hi everyone as you might have guessed it's someone's birthday and that special someone is

LESS is MORE! My favourite challenge blog who is 5 years old this weekend.

The challenge criteria is as follows:

Whoo Hoo!

Let's Celebrate!

We are 5 years old!

We have reached quite a milestone! It's 5 years since Less is More began and  we are delighted to say that we are still going strong... thanks to all the wonderful support from crafty bloggers from all around the world!

For our special Birthday Challenge we are delighted to be joined by some of our wonderful sponsors and there are lots of prizes to be had.

It's a colour challenge of course and what we would like to see is 

WHITE ON WHITE
(Accents in metallic or B/W are perfectly acceptable)

I love white on white athough I don't do it very often but it always looks so sophisticated, come and see my card:

The background is embossed with an Embossabilities 3D folder and the die is a MB Peony two stage one with a solid back and the petal one cut from silver mirri card. The stamp is from Hobby Art embossed in silver and it fitted perfectly into the square shaped embossed detail. There is a lot of inspiration from the DT and I'd like to thank them for showcasing my card last week!

Like many bloggers I have lost several followers because to receive notifications of posts and to comment you need a google account. Like all the changes they make it's never for the good of the people that use the service! My email address is on the side if you want to contact me.

Less is More week 260-recipe

Afternoon everyone I've just finished a card for this week's LIM challenge which is as follows:

Our Recipe is for  you to include a 

 SILHOUETTE 

in your creations.

I had a search through my stamps and there were quite a few I could have used, in fact I stamped a few onto the background that I made and so I've a couple of toppers that can be used in the future.

On glossy card I used some DI and water on my mat and smooshed it onto the card. The inks were Tumbled Glass and Crushed Olive. The stamp is from Crafty Individuals and stamped with black Brilliance ink and then the image was matted onto matching card and then on to a Linen card base. For some unknown reason because I popped it upon foam pads the shadow created below looks blue!!

I'm looking forward to the weekend as Charlie and Phoebe are bringing their parents to stay the weekend and we may be off to the London Transport Museum again :o)

I don't think I've posted any photos of Phoebe lately so here she is:

So cute but then I'm biased!

Just had a heads up from Meggy's Way re the challenge over at TIOTs where the theme is silhouettes so I am adding it over there.

Kissing feathers!

Afternoon all, wow hope you've had a beautiful day today, it's been gorgeous here in London! Chilly mind you, brrr....
I've got two cards to share with you, come and see: It's Saturday and a new challenge over at Less is More and this week it's a technique.

For our theme this week we have a technique for you to try. 

KISSING TECHNIQUE

(It's using stamps so don't get too excited!)

It may be new to some of you, so just in case here is a brief set of instructions.

• Choose a solid stamp and a decorative one
• Ink the solid stamp in a lightish colour and the decorative one in a deeper shade
• Stamp the decorative one onto the solid one as in 'kissing'
• Stamp the solid stamp onto the card!

I used a stamp and die set that were a magazine freebie a couple of years ago. I stamped the solid feather in pink and kissed it with the feathery feather in dark blue,stamped it twice and cut them out with the die. I stamped the feather in pink on the card and added the diecuts with a little ribbon bow which IRL matched perfectly!!! The sentiment was part of the set which is all from Hot off the Press.

I saw another christmas cardchallenge called Merry Monday Christmas challenge and the theme was plaid. I didn't have anything resembling plaid so I had a go at creating it myself. Not too sure about the result but it is another Christmas card, come and see:

I drew a grid and used alcohol pens to colour in. I stamped and embossed a bauble on the waste and diecut it and popped it in the middle. I also diecut a Creative Dies sentiment and used bits from a Sizzex pine branch on the corners.

1st Christmas card of 2016!

Evening everyone thought I'd join in with 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge and get ahead for this year! This weeks challenge is a sketch and this is my take on it:

I've used a Tattered Lace Victorian die acrosse the middle, not sure where the tree is from and I cut the frame to be off set. The sentiment is a freebie.

I'm also entering it into CHNC challenge which is asking for a touch of red.

The dreaded one layer.........

Hi everyone and welcome from a wet and dismal London! I'm a little fed up with this weather I'd rather have it bright and cold. Anyway another week has wizzed by and it's time for a new challenge over at Less is More:

It's

One Layer Card

 time again and we are continuing the New Year with a 

Flourish

So we'd like to see a flourish somewhere on your creation.

Don't forget to leave that all important white space and remember...
no additional layers and very minimal embellishments (if any)

I've used a bargain stamp set from Artemio that I've only used once but had to have when I was with Chrissie and Anne at a Portsmouth craft show! Come and see:

I stamped and embossed the flourish with white EP and used Tumbled Glass DI to make the resist pop. The sentiment is an old SeeDee one and I've added three small pearls.

Hope you're having a good weekend :0)

Just had a heads up from Sandie so I'm adding my card to the new Time Out challenge as they are asking for sponging.

Happy New Year......

Morning everyone and welcome to a brand new year! I hope you all survived the festivities and are full of the creative spirit!
Today I'm excited to share with you a card I've made as Guest Designer for Stamping Sensations. I was lucky enough to win the November challenge with a Christmas card that can be seen here and won a hamper full of crafty goodies from Be Creative.
The challenge this month is to use Stamps and Dies and here is my card:

The owl stamp is from a freebie set called Feathered Friends that came a couple of months ago with the Creative Stamping Magazine. The die set is by Xcuts and one of my favourites and the leafy flourish is an old one and I'm not sure of the origin!
 I hope you'll take part in this challenge as the prizes are always fabulous and check out the design team for lots of inspiration.
Good luck!

Less is more week 257-colour

Happy New Year to all my crafty friends and followers! I wasn't expecting to blog before tomorrow but I saw the LIM challenge this morning and was tempted by the theme, come and see:

Today we are at the start of a New Year, with a new challenge and a new sponsor!

We are delighted to welcome Kylie from 

Happy Little Stampers

as our New Sponsor for 2016

For the first colour challenge of the year we have chosen 

NEUTRALS

So we would love to see, creams, beiges, greys etc as the colourways of your creations.

                                                               And here is my card:

I used SU Hardwood stamp for the background and SU French foliage for the leaves and splats and the inks were Crumb cake and Soft Suede.

Hope to see you all tomorrow!

Probably the last post of the year.....

Afternoon everyone, although I seem to have lost a few followers, blogger playing up no doubt! Or maybe they were just bored!!!
Anyway back to today which is my OH's birthday so I have a card to show you and a few last minute Xmas cards that I made:

We usually buy him jumpers, trousers etc but he's been working on a lot of projects this year so we thought we'd update his tools hence the biirthday card. The strange thing was he opened it on it's side as if it was a normal card, MEN! 

One of my Xmas cards won the prize over at Stamping Sensations which was £60 of Be Creative goodies which I should receive soon, so exciting! You can see it here

We are spending Xmas in Portsmouth and the cards I made for Charlie and Phoebe were these:

and here are a few more

Finally a card made with Craft Artist for my great nephew Archie who is a Star Wars fan

Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year and may 2016 be a very good year for you all!

The dreaded one layer.......

Evening everyone I hope you're not suffering unduly with this awful weather.
I've just popped in with my card for this weeks LIM challenge which is

ONE LAYER 

cards again this week and we have a super fun theme for you to adhere to!

It's SANTA!

Apologies for the photo quality! I drew and cut out a bell mask and used a grey ink through it. I stamped my Santa and glittered his hat and added some red berries with a paper pen. The sentiment is embossed in silver. The card stock is white linen but I will try for a better photo tomorrow!

Last weekend we had a big family afternoon tea party to celebrate my SiL and BiL's 80th birthdays. It was a lovely weekend and I'm just sharing a couple of cards with you. My BiL's card is on my previous post but this box card held their present and the centre stepper card was for my SiL.

The last card was for my BiL Tony, Karen's husband who was 70 last week.

Well that's all my news for now

TTFN :0)

Another Christmas card!

Lots of opportunities at the moment for making Christmas cards for various challenges and I thought I'd take part in the latest one over at Stamping Sensations.

******Festive Flowers and foliage******

With so many lovely Christmas floral stamps not to mention all the lovely holly ivy and other seasonal foliage ones available you should not be lost for choice this month. And of course you can use any design papers you wish, you don't have to have those used by the design team.

I loved the freebie stamps that came with the latest issue of Creative Stamping and so here is the card I made with them:

I have gone for a frosty look using blues and greys and some white glitter.

We have 4 birthdays this month, it was my friend Michele's last weekend and also my brother in law who was 80!

I used triple embossing on Michele's card which made a change from triple stamping.

My card for my brother in law was created in Craft Artist

We had a very busy weekend, Keir, Lara, Charlie and Phoebe arrived on Friday morning and I held a lunch party for 12 so that our friends could meet Phoebe. She was a little star and has been sleeping through the night ( 11 hours ) and hardly ever cries. Charlie was a joy and on Saturday we spent the day at a local zoo/theme park which he thoroughly enjoyed and the weather was lovely. 

Dreadfully grey and wet this week which is perfect for crafting!!

Less is More week 248 - Paper piecing

Morning everyone, I'm so excited today as I have been asked by Chrissie to be Guest Designer for this weeks LIM challenge!! Such an honour and I was delighted to accept.
The challenge this week is Paper Piecing and as always there must be lots of white space and few embellishments.
Decisions, decisions! Eventually I decided to go with one of my Acid Drops and Whatnots stamps. They are always such fun, stylish images and the ladies lend themselves to paper piecing, come and see:

I used some paper from a springtime pad which had a floral design that worked well with the stamp. It was double sided paper with a plain side that I pieced the hat with. The corners and sentiment are part of the stamp set and I just added a tiny black heart to the sentiment flourish.

I thought I'd make another card using this technique and a stamp from Imagination crafts.

Very simple, just stamped onto some oriental card, fussy cut and a little wink of Stella on top. There are actually two little ladybirds as well but not very visible on this photo!

I hope you are all inspired by the DT's cards and I look forward to seeing your cards in the gallery.

Less is More week 247 - sketch

Two posts in two days, scary eh?! Decided the sketch over on this weeks LIM challenge would be perfect for a new die that I haven't used and another Christmas card to add to my collection! Come and see:

The die is called over the Mantlepiece and is really lovely. I used the freebie stamps from this months Creative Stamping Magazine to embellish the baubles, coloured the swag and added little red berries with a Paper Pen. The sentiment is stamped in gold, believe it or not!

Here is the sketch that I followed:

Poured with rain overnight and stopped about 11am and we now have a glorious afternoon! Hope it's nice where you are :o)

Celebrations!

Afternoon and it's a lovely sunny, warm autumnal day unlike in Somerset where it is my sister Karen and her husband Tony's Silver wedding anniversary! Such a shame as Karen says it's wet and windy!
Come and see the card I made for them:

So difficult to photo anything with mirri card but you get the idea! I used SU Everything Eleanor stamp set which is a favourite of mine and one that was a present to me from Karen!

I also made a celebration box frame with their details and photos in but I forgot to take a photo!

I'm looking forward to Friday as Keir, Lara, Charlie and Phoebe are coming to stay for the weekend and we have lots planned including a lunch party for friends to meet Phoebe.

I have the pumpkin ready and have made a Halloween lantern for Charlie as well.

I saw these on the DoCrafts post and they are so effective with battery night lights inside.

I hope Phoebe will be attracted to it as well and here is a photo of her having a laugh! Can't believe she is 8 weeks old tomorrow.

I'll be back on Saturday with some exciting news!

Less is More week 246 - Theme

This is the first time for ages that I've taken part in a challenge as I was accumulating so many cards and I do like to make personalised cards for friends and family. Anyway after my crafty refurb I thought I'd get back in the groove and of course it had to be a LIM card! Here is the criteria:

Autumn has decidedly started to make an appearance here in the UK.
There's a definite nip in the air and the trees are really starting to show off their autumnal beauty! 

There were some lovely cards in our gallery reflecting this last week too.

On to this week and our theme is simply

MASCULINE

I double checked and it doesn't specify birthday so I thought I'd make a Christmas card, come and see:

I used a new MB die and the freebie stamps that came with Creative Stamping magazine this month which are lovely.

I have a couple more cards to show you, the first is another pop up box baby card for my friend's great neice

This was a card for my talented goddaughter using the cute House Mouse.

An anniversary card for my OH which it seems was our

 Sapphire ( 45 )

Finally I mentioned in my last post that I was going on the BB afternoon tea tour and thought I'd show you a couple of photos, we were so lucky with the weather, great afternoon! We had front seats upstairs.

Now it wouldn't be right not to show you Phoebe!! Here she is looking gorgeous 

And here is proud grandad with his best friend Charlie :o)

Sorry it's been photo heavy that's the trouble when I don't post regularly!