Cards for Kelly

Hi all as in the previous post I said we had a phone call early Sunday morning to say my sister in law had been admitted to hospital for a kidney transplant. She has had diabetes from childhood and a few of years ago became quite ill and finished up having some of her toes and fingers amputated and went into kidney failure and has been on dialysis since.

It is great news that she has been lucky enough to get a kidney match and we are all very thankful to the donor family even though we don't know who they are.

The cards below are some I have made for family to send to Kelly to help keep her positive and speed her recovery though if all goes well I'm sure she will be feeling better in no time at all.

If anyone else would like to send he support cards I'm sure she would appreciate them greatly as she tells me of all the cards she receives at birthdays , |Christmas and other celebrations the only ones she keeps are the handmade ones she receives, she stores them in a special box. I think it would be lovely if my blogland friends could overwhelm her with cards to save and give her something to focus on when she hits the hurdles of recovery and adjustment that I'm sure she will face at some point over the next few weeks.

She is at present on the renal unit F,

Huntsman wing,

Northern General Hospital,

Sheffield

UK

I  know how precious all your time is but know that you crafting peeps are kind and generous too and I hope you know how appreciative I will be if you can find the time to send a card to Kelly. I know she would be thrilled to get cards from around the globe.

A little bit about Kelly. She's not a girly girl I've only seen her in a dress three times, twice when a bridesmaid ,the other her wedding dress, she usually wears jeans and a t shirt top and jacket. Not really a girly girl but she does like sparklies. She has two jack Russell dogs and one cat and a cockatiel. She use to enjoy gardening though has been limited over the last few years , likes camping, building and flying model planes though again has found this limited since loosing her fingers and enjoys socializing and holidays in the sun.

Thanks again in advance to all you lovely peeps.

I used  a bugaboo image and sentiment which I coloured with promarkers and graphic markers the papers from my scraps folders. Hope its just the not nice nurses that are on holiday and sad to say being a non practicing nurse unfortunately there are some not nice nurses though not very many.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

challenges for everyone-anything goes

suzy bee's bloomin' challenge-anything goes

bastel-traum-get well soon

crafty hazelnuts pattern paper challenge-anything goes

delightful challenges-anything goes

crafty girls-anything goes

For this card I used my new stamp that I was lucky enough to win from High Hopes, it was so difficult to choose one image from so many super cute stamps.

 This cutie comes with 2 sentiments one that arches over the top and a valentines message that sits beneath. I haven't used either but that just shows the versatility of High hopes stamps. i coloured the image with promarkers and mounted him on some blue copy paper.





The sentiment I wanted to keep light hearted so as to keep Kelly's spirits up when as in all recoveries there is a set back. i used a go kreate die as I thought it resembled a dog tag  and the sentiment is from a see-dee set stamped in black ink and added a red ribbon bow to finish it off.

The papers are magazine freebies and as they are bright and cheerful I felt they worked perfectly.

i would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

robin's fetish-animals or birds

suzy bee's bloomin' challenge-anything goes

bastel-traum-get well soon

cards and scrap-use stamps

crafty hazelnuts pattern paper challenge-anything goes

totally papercrafts-hey cuties

abc-challenge-E is for embellish

The third card I have made also uses magazine freebie papers and an image I'm sad to say I can't remember where its from so my apologies for that . Kelly loves to play games on her laptop so hopefully she will find this a fun card too.

I added sticky pads to the back of the image to give a 3D effect and mounted on a larger go kreate fancy square which I matted on yellow card and then onto the freebie papers. I added some gross grain ribbon  to finish the card off.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

allsorts-colours begining with B

suzy bee's bloomin' challenge-anything goes

abc-challenge-E is for embellish

bastel-traum-get well soon

crafty hazelnuts pattern paper challenge-anything goes

feeling crafty challenge-dies and or punches

crafty ribbons-anything goes

Update on Kelly the op seems to have been successful  so far and she came home at the weekend though still has to return to the hospital for daily blood tests but she's happy as its better than dialysis 3 times a week. thank you all for you kind thoughts and support.

What a busy couple of weeks

I'm ready for a rest. Last week our son moved into his new home even though its still not fully decorated he has a functioning kitchen and bathroom and somewhere to sleep. You'd think his arms had been amputated though as he has no internet or TV as yet as he has to decide which supplier of each he wants and sort a date for fitting etc and of course save for the connection fees and the TV license, so for now when he comes home from work with hubby as they car pool he has his tea at home and his fix of internet connection and TV he wants to see, the later being far less important in his eyes.

He informed me at the weekend that he'd like his guest bedroom sorting as well as the rest of the house please as whilst out having a drink after work on Friday his dad kindly volunteered his spare room for a friend to stop at so they can go out for a meal and a drink and I can go too and be their taxi driver as I'm not a drinker. The guest room at the moment is my tool room ,dump room and store room so I wasn't overly joyful as not only does it have fitted wardrobes in that are in need of taking out and water pipes that need boxing in the walls need papering as they are royal blue, sunshine yellow and bright green, with touches of pale pink as well as coffee and latte with dado rails on 3 walls. I have the feature wall paper but have to get the other paper as I think that will be easier than painting over the wide and bright colour array.

I have also had this vomiting bug that my son brought home from work only hubby to have it now then that will be a full house, really good way to waste a weekend when I planned on a little craft time.

I have a birthday card to make for my brother in law for the end of the month and also after a phone call yesterday a get well/speedy recovery for my sister in law ( see next post).

Right off to finish a bit of house work and iron some shirts and then I might get some craft time before preparing dinner. Hope you are all well and that I get chance to visit some of you real soon, thanks for popping by.

guest designer for High Hopes

I was lucky enough to be a winner at High Hopes stamps challenge a couple of weeks ago and part of the prize was the opportunity to be a guest designer for this weeks challenge of a little green. I sadly don't have as many high hopes stamps as I'd like but I think Toubled travis is perfect when coloured in green.

I used promarkers to colour him and mounted him after fussy cutting him out  on bronze mirri-card. The papers are magazine freebies . I added some green sparkly hexagons and the fab high hopes sentiment on a spellbinders oval.

I know with all his injuries that he seems as though he would be great for a get well card but with the fun sentiment I think he'd make a great just cheer up card or even birthday card for someone into sport or is accident prone.

I would like to enter Travis into the following challenges;-

challenges 4 everybody-anything goes

dream valley challenges-men/boys

a gem of a challenge-for the boys

Dis digi challenge- spots and dots

brown sugar-anything goes

frosted friday challenge-polkadots

sister act-anything goes

stampin with the dragon-anything goes

A simple thank you

My son is so enjoying his new job and learning so much too though its still all gobble-di- geek speak to me with acronyms I really don't understand but each to their own. 

Last week he was doing something new and although to me it seemed to be doing ok (I only know as he was working from home) he said he actually had to keep asking questions of his teacher so once finished he asked if I would make him a thank you card for his mentor.

I decided something simple would be best for her as it says thank you and isn't making too big a deal as I'm sure he will need more help as he learns more. 

I decided to use high hopes dunno duck again as I thought this was the perfect image, keeping it simple I matted the image on silver mirri-card using a punch to round the corners and added a 'thank-you'peel-off, card done.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Animal friends-use punches /dies
cards und more-anything goes
Artistic impressions-anything goes/feminine
card mania- anything goes
crafting from the heart-anything goes/button and pearls
crafty boots-anything goes
creative creations-anything goes
lexi's creations-anything goes
challenges for everyone-anything goes
colour me creative-anything goes

Springtime fairy

I saw a card that Amy made at a thousand sheets of paper she made that was bright and sunny and made me smile and really feel that Spring is on the way. I decided that I too wanted to make a bright and cheerful card so I made this.

I used a sugar nellie fairy which I coloured with promarkers and sakura glaze pens and the papers were magazine freebies, stitchy bear and coloured copy paper. The sentiment is also a magazine freebie. Simple but I am now definitely looking forward to spring.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

the sugar bowl-use a fairy

Lothian crafts-female birthday

Ali-craft-anyhting goes

dis-digis-time to celebrate

crafty calendar-lets celebrate

Flying the nest

My son is on the brink of moving into his new home so thought I'd be prepared and make him a card for when he does. I know it won't make that much difference as I will still see him on a daily basis being his carer to help him meet his daily living needs but it will be a big step for him towards his independence and technically he will have flown the nest.

I decided I wanted to make a fun card not the usual new home card and thought this cute High Hopes stamps fit the bill perfectly. It is called dunno duck and as my son thinks I'm quackers at the best of times I couldn't use anything else.

I coloured him with promarkers and mounted the image on a fancy spellbinders circle which I wrote a sentiment around trying to keep it light hearted.

The papers are papermania and bits from my stash, the new home sentiment is LOTV stamped in brown ink, quite simple but I think it will make my son smile.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

jelly park-new beginnings

simply create too-anything goes

sugar creek hollow-something new

A gem of a challenge-something new

addicted to CAS-die cuts

papernest dolls-anything goes

A creative romance-something new

tip top tuesday-clean and simple

love rubber stamps-anything goes
high hopes stamps-use your favourite high hopes stamp

help Audrey reach 2000 followers

Hippi Aud wants to reach 2000 followers and as an incentive she is offering candy not 1 but 2 so why not pop over and help her reach her goal., wish her happy new year and tell her I sent you in the right direction.

 

Christmas birthday

When growing up I always felt sorry for my sister and one of my friends as they both had birthdays near the Christmas season. One on 20th December the other near the beginning of January. I felt sorry for them as not everyone made the distinction between birthday and Christmas and they often had presents for your birthday and Christmas and birthday cards are so hard to find near Christmas. My mums birthday is at the beginning of December and cards are hard enough to find then.

My neighbour and friend has a birthday a couple of days before Christmas her husband jokes that is why her parents called her Carolyn so when I made her birthday card I wanted it to be as little like Christmas as possible.

I'm not good at pink cards but as its not a colour that is associated with Christmas then I thought it would make a good colour to use, it also reminds me of the pink blossom that arrives in Spring and I am so looking forward to the 21st the shortest day as I can then do a happy dance and say the dark days will start to wane and spring is on its way as I hate the long dark days of winter.

I used another image from sugar Nellie this one is a sassy girl and as Carolyn wears glasses and her hair similar I thought it would be a fun image to use.

The card design is inspired by one from Mandy at a sprinkling of glitter, I love her cards but am so far off creating anything as beautiful she definitely has no worries I'll ever make cards as beautiful.

I used a Martha Stewart punch for the card edges and a spellbinders die oval. The image is coloured with promarkers as are the roses and the ribbon as I wanted the colours to blend with the image. The papers were a magazine freebie scrap and the sentiment is from LOTV.

Hope she likes it , have to say I'm still not a pink card fan as I'm not sure I like how it looks but it definitely doesn't look like Christmas.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

little blue button-birthday

cutie pie-for a special friend

4 krafty girls -anything goes

Pennys-feminine with a sentiment

whimsy rubber team-party time

little red wagon-holiday birthday

crafty catz-anything goes

hiding in my craft room-use your scraps

pumpkin spice-ribbons or bows

QKR stampede-3 favorite embellishments( ribbon, flowers,gems)

clean and simple nativity

This is my last Christmas card and a quickie as I realised that I hadn't posted this one to friends who live in the USA. I decided to make a light weight single postcard type card with an attached stand like on a photo frame ,in the hopes it will arrive on time. The image is from LOTV and just super cute. I coloured with promarkers that I used like watercolours by scribbling onto acetate and painting onto the image with a water colour pen. I think it works quite well though you have to work pretty fast before the promarkers dry on the acetate.

The star is coloured with sakura gel pen in silver, well there has to be some sparkle. I also added sparkle with the moonglow mica embossing powder in  ruby obsidian which is a freebie magazine stamp. Quick and simple but hopefully it sends our love and best wishes across the miles.

i would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

crafty girls-anything goes

scribble and scrap-always anything goes

CRAFT-inspired by a movie/TV/Song-away in a manger

happy campers-christmas

passion for promarkers-include a sentiment

ladybug-clean and simple

crazy for challenges-Nativity One layer Embossing Lambs

In the pink Santa

Its that Santa again from Sugar nellie but this one is coloured with my neighbours 5 year old in mind. She already thinks I'm totally silly with the things I say guess she's just 5 going on 50. OOPs maybe I'm 50 going on 5. 

Anyway she is a proper girly girl and loves pink and sparklies so thought Santa ought to dress appropriately just for her. I coloured him with promarkers and added stickles for sparkle- where would we be without stickles or glitter at this time of year?

I added some embossed copy paper brick design made using a fiskars board to make a roof and some paper I think may have been a magazine paper for a night snowy sky. The sentiment is a pink peel-off , card done, just got to hope she likes it although I can just here her say Santa wears red silly Julye and giggle.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

All that stickles- happy holiday

totally gorjuss-Santa

addicted-to-stamps-sketch layout

colour me creative-holiday bash

passion for promarkers-include a sentiment

In the pink-it's Christmas

Creative knockouts-t'is the season

Hanna and friends-Christmas

Snowflake Santa

Another Santa card this time an easel card too this time . The sentiment is from LOTV and embossed in red moonglow ink and a hand-cut snow flake glammed up with stickles for extra impact. The easel card I used a Martha Stewart snowflake punch to fancy up the edges.

The image I used is a forever friends magazine from a magazine freebie set. I coloured him with the grah iy markers i won and some I bought to trry a while ago. I tried to blend the colours firstly paprika and plum for his clothes and lemon and peach for his body. I yhink I need alot more pactice as I found that the blender tended to dilute the colour  so I tried colouring onto the card and blending there. The clothes colours seemed to work quite well but the peach and lemon not so much but I think I quite like the effect. I need much more practice though.

I decided to make this card as an easel card and as the stopper on the base I used a sparkly poinsettia. I used another spellbinders circle for the place to write my message and again added embossed snowflakes paper to the base and punched snow flakes down the sides.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Shelly images-welcome to winter

graph it marker challenge-colour mixing( not sure if I'm in time)

All that stickles-happy holidays

great impressions-glitter and sequins

fitztown-easel card

creative card crew-pointsettia or holly

creative inspirations-traditional Christmas colours

C is for -traditional Christmas colours

paperminutes-typical Christmas symbols

James sledging variations on a theme

I love getting all my old Christmas stamps out at this time of year and because they haven't been used all year they are like meeting an old friend once again after not seeing them for a long time. Pennies are not available for new rubber friends to come and stay at my house as we are helping our son set up a new home .

These 3 cards I made with a cutie having fun from LOTV James sledging. All 3 images are coloured with promarkers and accented with icicle stickles for that hint of crisp fresh snow glinting in the early morning sun of a clear blue winter sky often with the delicate soft snowflakes falling from the sky. 

i again made this background all white using embossed copy paper from fiskars embossing boards . The sentiment is again from LOTV. 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Addicted to Clean and simple-snowflakes

passion for promarkers-include a sentiment

kafty hands-anything goes

All that stickles-happy holidays

My time to craft-cute and cuddle Christmas animals

created with love-anything goes

challenges for everybody-anything goes

My second James card i fussy cut James again and layered him on a snowflake embossed spellbinders circle. I mounted that on a snowflake base of a freebie paper from bird house. The sentiment once again is also LOTV and the ribbon is from my stash.

i would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

crafty boots-Christmas

incy wincy-let it snow

lexis creations-snow

craftin' desert divas-it's Christmas

craft your passion-let it snow

papertake weekly-Christmas creations

oldie but goodie-winter

crafty sentiments-Christmas

The third James card again coloured with promarkers and accented with stickles but this time extra sparkle with a gltter board tree.

I used bird house freebie paper again and a LOTV sentiment , a really quick card to make and I think it makes a cute scene.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

All that stickles-happy holidays

party time tuesdays-winter wonderland

Addicted to stamps-photo inspiration

sweet stamps-simple Christmas

Love rubber stamps-anything goes Christmas

Top tip tuesday-snowflakes

LEJ designs-festive fun

cards und more-10 minute make

saturated princess

many will know I don't tend to use many digi images , I think I prefer rubber stamps though I do see the merit of digis, the ability to make them any size and no need for storage . I do however often run into problems printing them when my aging printer decides to be temperamental when pulling the card through and I often finish up with 1/2 a digi and many decapitations even though I only use the weight of card suggested.

this digi however did successfully print and I do love it. It is a saturated canary image and I love it as it is just so glamorous and a little bit fairy-tale too just what every girl dreams of.

I coloured this cutie with mica inks as I felt they lent themselves well to the feel of a rich evening gown as they have a two tone sheen  and building layers adds depth of colour. I added stickles to the image for added sparkle, well it is the holiday season. I think she looks really glam and off to a very special event.

I decided i'd use he on a card for my husband , not that I will be whisked away to an evening out that would require this kind of attire and its not an outfit for cooking Christmas dinner in either. I do love my hubby though so my card is sent with love and it is always good to tell our loved ones so as you never know whats around the corner.

I added a peel off to a small spellbinders oval which I added a hand tied bow to and a little heart charm too.

I am so loving white on white cards (white is one of my 2 fav colours in everything not just crafting) as they really allow the image to be the true focal point, well that's my opinion anyway. I embossed the layer of copy paper using a fiskars board and stuck to my hand-cut card base. I know the card will be put in place by me once hubby has opened it so for a change I made a plate card and I will ensure it stands correctly on display. Maybe hubby will surprise me and stand it up himself who knows. I finished the card off  by adding pearls to three of the corners always odd numbers these work better as they are what is found in nature.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

paper crafting journey-its Christmas time

saturated canary-untraditional christmas colours

a gem of a challenge-anything goes

Ali-craft-Christmas

sweet stampin-ribbons

Dis digis-non traditional Christmas colours

All that stickles-happy holidays

Robins fetish IDIC-must have a bow

613 Avenue-anything goes, optional create a calendar

kaboodle doodle - non traditional Christmas colours

Oh Christmas tree magic card

I don't have many penny black stamps but of those I do have  i have a set of clear Christmas stamps and love them all as they are so cute. This wee mouse looks like he is greeting the robin with a cheery Christmas greeting , so simple but so cute too.

I coloured  this image with the mica inks so it has a wonderful sheen which just adds some sparkle. I added icicle stickles to both the tree and as snow to ground both the tree and the wee mouse.the sentiment is embossed in green sparkle embossing powder and is from LOTV, the shine doesn't show very well guess that's due to the lighting sorry.

The papers I think might be papermania but I've had them that long that the front cover has gone so I'm not 100% sure, sorry.

The card style is another magic card (from stampArtic) but I have had a play myself and resized the dimensions though the concept is the same. I really love how effective this design is.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges;-

lacy sunshine-celebrations

hiding in my craft room-holiday colours

Animal friends-anything goes

the corrosive challenge-anything goes

OSAAT-seeing red

scriibble and scrap always anything goes

Penny black saturday challenge-Christmas

stickles-happy holidays

crafters cafe-traditional christmas colours

snow business like snow peeps

I love the simplicity  of look that a white on white card gives even  if there are lots of layers or just one or two. I used another sugar nellie stamp coloured with promarkers though it didn't really take much colouring. I added sparkle with sakura gel pen and stickles.

I mounted the fussy cut image on to a go kreate die cut 

and mounted that onto the base card that I had part layered with some self embossed copy paper using the fiskars snowflake board that is getting overworked at present.


I used some holly garland gift tie, the start of the last pack of 3 I bought from Asda several years ago, sad that they haven't had them since. It has a wire base so I used both pva glue and double sided tape to stick it to the card. I think it finishes the card perfectly and ties in well with the garland the snow peeps are holding.

I didn't add a sentiment as I thought it would make a nice card for my newly married niece and nephew (you might remeber I made the wiccan card) apparently I got bad information as they are pagan not wiccan and my niece described the difference as being the difference between Cof E and catholic, but they thanked me for the effort and kind thoughts. I decided that as pagans they are more likely to celebrate the winter solstice although I'm sure they will expect Santa to visit too.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

sarah hurley- create your own background

creative fingers-anything goes optional easel

crafty hands-winter or seasons greetings

winter wonderland-embossing

stampin for the weekend-use some red

QKR stampede-white with a dash of red or green(hope its ok I used both like the DT)

creative knockouts-Christmas splendor

creative corner challenges-traditional christmas

Party dress bumble bee

Another fab sugar nellie stamp this one is a gorjuss girl and one of the stamps that led me to find the house of sugar. I painted this sweeties party dress with mica inks and her dress has a fab 2 tone shine . Her hair and skin is coloured with promarkers and her wings with stikles , well you can't have a sparkly Christmas outfit without sparklies.

The card style is a magic card the instructions I found from StampArtic here and I think it could become a favourite as I love the effect it's really quite stunning.

The papers I used were freebies from the bird house, I used 2 different shades of lilac. The sides I punched with a Mary Stewart snowflake border punch its very effective but in hind sight they are a little delicate for use on this design as they are easily damaged. 

The flower and the rose are from my stash and the sentiment is printed on vellum and mounted on gold mirri card and was from an old qvc kit.

The inside of the card I decorated with the same paper and added a spellbinders circle as some where to write the message.

Definitely a card deign I will be making again.

I would like to this card into the following challenges:-

delicious doodles-Christmas/new year

a creative romance-sparkle at Christmas

alphabet challenge-v is for vellum

milk coffee craft-Christmas non traditional colours

stempelgarten-unconventional Christmas colours

CRAFT-Christmas

wags n whiskers -thinks with wings

jelly park-Christmas

how much is that doggie in the window?

Whilst researching information for the joint 60th birthday card I recently made I found out that the doggie in the window song was a hit in April 1953. Hard to believe that a song I remember singing for fun as a child was once thought of as a hit pop song, and I wasn't born in the 50's I'm talking about singing it in late 60's early 70's.

This is another cutie image from Sugar Nellie and I love colouring it as it just pops to life. I fussy cut the image and simply mounted it on copy paper that I embossed using a fiskars snowflake board. I added a punched snowflake border using a martha stewart snowflake punch just to add more texture.

The sentiment is from some kit I have had ages and only have odd bits left but thought the simplicity fit the card, which I think will be perfect for one of my young nephews or the little girl next door.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

simon says wednesday challenge-create your own background

crafts and me-anything goes

Hanna and friends-Christmas

sentimental sundays-traditional Christmas colours

creative knockouts-christmas splendor

allsorts-inspiration from a song or carol

totallly gorjuss-snowy scenes

paper crafting journey-its christmas time

penguin cuddle

Sugar Nellie at funky kits have some of the stamps I really love, I have many still on my wish list but this is an older one but think its perfect to send to couples at this time of year, be it for Christmas or a winter anniversary.

I used it this time for a Christmas card so for a change used traditional colours. The background papers is one of the fab freebies from bird house and makes a great back drop to this image. I added a scrap of white glitter card to ground the fussy cut image and add some sparkle.

The sentiment is from a LOTV set which I embossed in moonglow embossing powder.I added a matt of blue mirri-card and the card is done quite simple but I think it creates an effective scene.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges;-

Fab n funky-a touch of frost

flutterby challenge-anything with wings

party time Tuesday-Christmas

stamp and doodle-Christmas is coming

paper pretties -its beginning to look  a lot like Christmas

inky impressions-winter or snow

stampin' royalty-snowflakes

cutie pie challenges-cute scenes

a gem of a challenge-winter wonderland

2 sisters -anything goes