My Fairy name!

Your fairy is called Oak Iceshimmer

She is a bone chilling bringer of justice for the vulnerable.

She lives in forests of oak and lime trees.

She is only seen when the first flowers begin to blossom.

She decorates herself with leaves and berries. She has icy blue butterfly wings.

Get your free fairy name here!

This is true in that I will defend the vulnerable as I hate injustice. But, I draw the line at trolling round wearing leaves and berries :)

Di
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Butterflies and flowers birthday card

Weeks ago I coloured in a couple of Sugar Nellie images using my watercolour pencils and a little bit of jel pen to add some sparkle - Country Garden was one of them. I finally got round to making a card with the so cute image.

It's another easel card - covered with the butterflies wrapping paper I love. I mounted the image onto embosssed white card topped off with a frame cut using my (few!) Nesties and then popped through the Cuttlebug and embossed with little dots. I ran it through twice but in truth the card would have been just as good without the dots :)

I did similar with the stamped sentiment which even has cute little butterflies on (from Elzybells......there are still stamps to be had in the closing down sale) - then all that was needed was a big perfectly matching lilac 'ribbbon brad' from my stash and some pink organza ribbon threaded through and tied in a bow - to 'prop' the card up on. A few silver corner peel offs and just a couple of Anitas gorgeous silver 3-D butterflies.

I had difficulty taking a piccie though without some of the junk on my desk in the background!

I think this card will be saved for a friend's birthday next month - she's always appreciative of my efforts which does make such a difference doesn't it :)


Di
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Hey, hey, we're the monkeys!

This card is for a little chap who is five years old tomorrow. It's very simple, once I mastered the flipping folding! The background paper is from my stash - I've had it for donkeys years and sadly only got the one sheet although I'm pretty sure it came from Craft Creations. Then I just used silver peel offs for Joe's name and his age - coloured with peel off pens and some googly eyes added to the number 5. These peel off numbers are great for kids as they have little feet as well as big eyes - which just beg to have googly ones added :)) I can't remember where I got them from :( 

I should have put the monkey with the penny whistle a bit lower down but trust me, once they're stuck that's it....no chance of them coming loose....and Joe is only small so perhaps Mummy will put it on a mantelpiece so he can look up and see all of the 'band'!!

Di

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Get well card

This card is for a lady currently in hospital after major surgery. She's on a club committee which my OH chairs and we thought a card from all the club members would be a nice gesture. A funny/jokey card didn't really seem appropriate - so I went for feminine and pretty.

The card itself is quite large (8" x 8") and came ready embossed, with a nice flat patch in the centre, from The Range a few weeks ago on my one and only visit. The pyramage is a Dufex one, I keep a few of these ready made up on standby. Then I mounted the image onto a scalloped square cut from silver linen effect card - which came from Craft Creations ages ago. Then just Pauline's name using peel offs layered onto the same silver linen card and some card with little wisps of silver on....finished off with small aurora borealis gems in each corner - and added to the card using thin adhesive pads.

The finishing touch is an organza bow using ribbon from my stash, but doubtless bought from Hobbycraft**.

Making the insert to go inside was a tad tricky but it worked out in the end - I printed the club logo above a printed message and left lots of room for people to sign at their regular committee meeting on Tuesday evening. The challenge was how to make a double folded insert which was much bigger than A4 folded in half. But, endless careful measuring and some careful joining at the spine of the card worked really well - you wouldn't know what a struggle it had been :)

Di
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** To my absolute delight, Hobbycraft are opening a branch within just a couple of miles of here in October! I'm as happy as a pig in 'you know what'!! Sudden thought, I wonder if a part time job in the new store would be a good, or totally bankrupting, idea!!? :))

Crossword card

This was just a bit of a fiddle around yesterday when there was a brief lull between builders coming and going. A few weeks back I found a box of 're-usable crossword cards' in our local Hospice shop. The kind that come with a non-permanent marker... and a little idea formed in my head as I'm sure we all know a crossword addict!

Making this card was so 'simples', and this just shows the idea as it would be better to have more of a mix of down and across words - and better spaced and different little gems, puffy flowers/hearts or whatever. Apart from all that, which is pretty much everything, here it is for what it's worth as a prototype :)

The crossword grids are on beermat sized, rounded corner, wipeable card. I just matted one onto slightly larger silver mirri card also with rounded off corners, then added it to a glossy black card (from The Works and a snip of a bargain, but the shop is no longer there!). The lettering, my writing is grim but then who does a crossword all neat and tidy anyhow, was done with a permanent pen - which does dry indelible given enough time, providing you resist the urge to keep checking it :)). Then I added a few KanBan gems from my stash....as I said, simples!! :)

Di
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Birthday card for a Pearly Queen!

The other weekend I had a great time with a couple of school friends - we go back more years than I dare to admit :)

This card is for one of my favourite girlies - Moira - whose birthday is today. We're only a week apart in age so her birthday is easy to remember.

I used one of the House Mouse Bathtime decoupage sets to make this card - appropriate as Moira was wearing some gorgeous freshwater pearls last weekend. I used a pretty mauve patterned card which came in a pack from QVC - not a bad match huh?! Then, after assembling the little fellas onto the image I tickled here and there with a bit of Anita's glaze - the drawer knob centres, some of the perfume bottle and bits of the lipstick. Then, tongue firmly clamped between teeth, I added teeny little individual pearl embellies to the strand of pearls - not as glamourous as Moira's freshwater ones but the thought is there! Final touch was a double layer of organza ribbon - blue and mauve - tied into a bow and stuck through with a couple of pearl hatpin thingies. I know they must have a proper name but that's my name for them! All pearls and the ribbon were from my stash. Aren't they cute little meece - I esp. love the one on the right pulling faces!!

Happy Birthday Mo, I'll be catching you up in a weeks time :))........as if you ever let me forget that!

Di
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Stamping Bellas

The SD card on my camera let me down badly this week and I lost quite a few photos - boo, hoo!! Undeterred, I resorted to a free file recovery facility called 'Pirifrom Recuva'. I've had to use it in the past (we never learn do we!) and although I def. have lost some recent photos, all sorts of previously deleted ones popped up! Tee, hee!! Amongst them I found these, taken a couple of years ago just after I discovered 'Stamping Bella'.

The stamps are very simple, I love loads of the images and there are some cute sentiment stamps too, so I duly sent off to the States for some goodies - err, and Mr Import Duty in the UK also loved stung me! Can't remember the duty I paid now but it hurt a bit at the time :( I haven't found a place in the UK that stocks the whole range so had to place my fate in the hands of our nice chaps in UK Customs!

I'm sure I sent the Retail Therapy card to my sort of daughter-in-law - Kai is a lady who loves to shop!

I know for sure that I sent my friend Joy the 'Spa' card as we'd been for a half day's indulgence at Nirvana Spa - we came out so totally chilled out we were almost unconscious! The flotation pool was literally out of this world - once you got the hang of gently floating on your back rather than floundering face down as I did at first :( Anyone ever tasted the 'soothing' minerals they put into those pools?? Yeuch!

To make the cards I used white square card stock with sticky ribbon behind the coloured layer of card (being mean I usually just add little strips to each side taken a little way underneath the coloured card, rather than take it right across the card...just make sure they line up OK!). The images were stamped onto white card and coloured using Whispers pens, the sentiments were stamped in co-ordinating colours onto white card and layered onto the same colour card as the image then added at an angle. Then just a few little touches of co-ordinating Bellas Baubles in the top left hand corner - if you go to the Bella website, take a look at the delicious names all the different colours are given! My favourite image is the Bella in the bath (BubbleBella) - love the bubbles made using lots of baubles, which conveniently come in a packet of mixed shades of aqua. Bit of a labour of love though, sticking all the baubles on :)

Thanks for calling by!

Di
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2nd birthday card for a little chap!

I made this, in difficult conditions, for a friend's little boy who was two years old a little while back. The difficult conditions were having to work on a picnic table surrounded by boxes and bits and pieces whilst patiently waiting for my craft room to be decorated, carpetted and kitted out. It's now all done and I love it - but I also know how fortunate I am, so hopefully I don't take it for granted...after almost 16 years wait it's worth it:) That's all I have to say about that!

Again, it's an easel card (did I hear a yawn?) and really a bit of choosing, positioning and sticking down so not a masterpiece by any means. Mandy, Harvey's Mum, and I share a love of all things Disney so I thought Pooh Bear would go down well as I just bet Harvey is being brought up on AA Milne stories.

The cardboard Pooh Bear Disney images were from QVC, the background papers from my stash (Making Memories Cosmopolitan Collection - which is great as one side is patterned and the other is plain in toning colours so you can mix and match without rootling through tons of card and paper). I used the 'Little bit of rubber missing Happy, Happy Birthday stamp' (I wonder if you can see where I have to do a little bit of touching up?!). Harvey's name was spelt out using gold letters in clear dome squares which don't show up well in the photo - from my stash and the button and ribbon also came from my stash.

Thanks for calling by! :)

Di
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