Fight Over

Dad finally gave up his fight and slipped away peacefully at 9.50pm last night.

All his family spent the day with Dad talking to him and he knew we were there.

I have to be strong now for Mam & I'm holding up OK, just have that awful numb feeling.

Christmas Freebies

You are free to use these for personal use but please do not share my designs instead link back to my blog for people to download them they are copyright to me.

Click on the images to download at full size.

Waterfal Pictures

Background Sheet

Dad - Update

Dad has took a turn for the worse and is now on the high dependancy unit, The doctor has said that his kidneys aren't working , he is not getting enough oxygen and they think he has had a heart attack so this on top of the pneumonia that he has developed makes it highly unlikely that we will get him home now.

So we are playing a very heart breaking waiting game.

I want to thank all that have sent my family well wishes, also those that have phoned. Please don't think I'm ignoring you by not returning messages and calls but life is a little more than manic and calls and messages to family are coming first.

The Good Life - Thomas Kincade

Just a simple stamped card with a couple of leaves and a ribbon to embelish.

Teal Beauty

Started with a 15 x15cm card stamped in ocean tides ink by Papertrey Ink and a feather image by Clarity Stamps and created a background for the base of the card, I used a teal and pink paper by HOTP down one side and stamped the lady image onto cream card stock with the ocean tides ink, I used the same ink to colour the shawl added a pink ribbon and a floral craft blossom and a couple of pearls to finish

October Blog Hop - Polka Dot Parade

This was very tasking for me this month as normally I use dots without thinking as accents but to use them as a main focal point was a different ball game all together so my first make was a long Jotter book having a play on words, I also anned the polka dots to the pencil afer giving it a good sand paper rubbing so that the ink would stay once stamped.

I also made a matching card and figured one would compliment the other.

Products used

Polka dot basics Stamp set, swiss dot ribbon both by Papertrey Ink

Silent Night

I love this dark damson card, it was bought from the Papermill Shop, I only wished I'd got more of it.

I used the Silent Night stamp set by Papertrey Ink to stamp the flourish and wording and then the Penny Black Prancer for the focal topper.

All stamped using versamark and heat embossed white detail powder. Some simple layering with gold edged the base card wih a gold marker and a gold ribbon and some stickles glitter glue to finish.

Toilet Humour - La Pashe

This is the newest of the Flippin' Men decoupage by La Pashe.

It is unique in the fact that you get both front and back designs so that when you flip to the inside of the card you see the rear view of what is on the front.

Both Jim (artist) and myself (designer) heartily belly laughed all the way through creating this one.

Even picking the title for it gave us lots of giggles, some of the suggested names were Flippin' Curry, Flippin' Hurry Up and Flippin' Think Tank and they were the clean ones that I can tell you about.

We finally settled with the name Flippin' Peace.

They will soon be in shops near you.

& the inside of the card with the watermark aptly placed

The Old Boot

Such an easy stamp for a mans card, the old boot stamp is a clear stamp by Dimension Forth, stamped in black versafine then coloured with water colour pencils & layered onto cream card a black base card, scored with the Scor-Pal a bit of torn paper and a ribbon to finish

Poinsettia - Peace on Earth

It seems an age since I posted a card as I've had this on the verge of being complete since my Dad had his accident.

I used the Penny Black Poinsettia and the Serendipity Peace on Earth Stamps onto matching cardstock and embossed with gold powder, I cut them out using Nestabilities and layered onto Gold Card stock befor adding them to the base card I finished with a contrasting ribbon.

simple but effective.

Just back from Visiting

We're are just back from visiting and the operation went well, although dad is still very poorly, which is only to be expected.

I feel much better knowing it is all done and we will have him back to his cantankerous self again soon.

I spoke to his nurse who is lovely and sh said it took a little longer than expected as he went to theatre at 9am but didn't come back till 12.55pm but since she has been pleased with him.

He was very sleepy still and we didn't disturb him as we thought at least while he's sleeping he is not feeling the pain.

I have managed a to get a card finished but light has beaten me so tomorrow I'll get that on here (fingers Crossed)

Dad - Update

I thought I'd better update on whats happening with my Dad, poor soul didn't get to theatre last night they are hoping he will be first down this morning.

The surgeon is going to replace half of his hip, the socket seems fine so he is going to add a new ball joint onto his existing bone, hoping that it will fuse nicely as he doesn't think pinning it would work.

I imagine he has had a terrible night but hopefully will be on the mend later today after his operation.

I has had very little sleep so I'm a bit groggy this morning and I know my Mam will be pretty much the same, Mam also has to go to hospital for more tests today and my brother is taking her.

Oh Dear! what a bloomin day. My poor Dad.

The day started well and I got to work without any problems. There was no milk so no morning cuppa.

Then my mobile rang & it was a call from my husband (Chris) to tell me my Dad had fallen and they had to call for an ambulance. I was so wound up I actually got to the hospital before the Ambulance and as Mam is disabled she was left at home worrying.

The upshot of all of this is my poor Dad has broken his hip and is expected to go to theatre this evening. I have to try to get to work tomorrow so Natalie (daughter) is going to stay overnight at my Mams to look after her but she also has to leave early in the morning to go to college, so, not sure about tomorrow.

I left the hospital around 3 ish and i have to say my Dad is looking very poorly. We have to ring before visiting tonight as he may not be up to visitors.

Below is a Picture of me and my Dad last year at Botton Village.

Christening Card

I wanted to make a card with the true meaning of a Christening and not a cutie card which is what you see mostly of these days, I think it is really important to remember why we have our children Christened and when my niece contacted me asking if I could make her one as they were God Parents I thought (hoped) that this would fit the bill.

Finished card 15 x 15cm

Stamps - PTI Everyday Blessings

Snowflake - Copper Magic

I found the Metal Magic sheet in my craft stash and thought a snowflake in it would be lovely, it is a pure copper sheet, I used the Cuttlebug snowflake die and cut the shape and embossed it then the fun part, the snowflake started as a true copper colour and then I used my heat gun on it untill it started to change colour, it now has reds and purple colour ways running through it.

If you click the image it will enlarge it so you can see the beauty of the copper.

I stamped the background snowflake and the joy stamps and embossed with Blonde Moments powder.

Finished card 15x15cm

Sweet Pea Take Three - Floral Craft

This is the next flower that I've created from the Sweet Pea punch, I used the side wings of the punch for this flower I'm going to say it's a wild rose but flower experts feel free to correct me, I just know that I was very pleased with the results.

I am beginning to enjoy making new flowers from punches as I'm one of those people that once I've cracked what I'm doing I move on and very rarely re-use the punch so this is opening up many more possibilities.

The centre circle was an idea from Amazing Paper Grace who has a video tutorial here

Using the same coner punch (corner adorna) I punched through the top of the card and tied a matching ribbon.

Sweet Pea Take Two - Floral Craft

I decided to play with the sweet Pea Punch again as I like value for money and thought it was a shame just to make 1 flower from 1 punch so I came up with 2 different flowers this is the first one, it is very similar to a pansy I'll try to get the other flower posted tomorrow

Flippin' Artist

This is Jim Harker our artist for La Pashe he is busy in this photograph working on the new images for Flippin' Men, we have a brain storming session when starting a new project and lots of laughing and enthusiasm thinking up new images and ideas often changing them along the way until we are completely happy.

I love to watch Jim work and to be honest it is rather magical thinking of images and watching them come to fully blown art work, Jim has a style which I love.

He once told me never to wash the paint palette as you may make a new colour from colours you have already blended I'm a bit hopeless on this front as I don't like to get my trays dirty and tend to wipe them clean as I'm going but when I see Jim painting and blending an array of colours I understand fully that I'm doing it wrong.

Below is a few palettes that Jim has been using whilst working on the Flippin' Men. You can see just how many colours he works with.

Flippin' Men

La Pashe has a new baby.
Flippin' Men
A new decoupage concept
Artist Jim Harker and myself (Designer) have been working really hard on an idea that we are sure will sweep you all of your feet.

Flippin' Men has been designed so that you can achieve perfect front and back decoupage to make spinner cards or fabulous aperture window cards.
The front and back images line up perfectly and the images are all fun and quirky men.
The first in this line is Flippin' Santa with a pint in one hand and a sack of toys in the other I think you'll see this is a typical man dressed in a Santa suite and bringing home the Christmas cheer along with the pillow stuffed under his Santa Suit.

Below is an aperture card with an acetate window I've took shots of both the front of the card and the inside to show you how it works.
The sheet is on sale now at http://www.imag-e-nation.com/

Anemones - Floral Craft

Seeing this flower made by a friend was probably my first love of this craft so I thought I'd give it an airing and make a card. The base card finished size is A6.

I used the Remember stamp set from Papertrey Ink to create a background pattern on the base card and stamped in black versafine ink, I cut a couple of long rectangles from the Nestabilities Dies and mounted one on top of the other using foam pads and attached then to the base card.

I made up the Anemones and glued them along with stems on the top of the rectangles and tied it all together using the Pure Poppy Top Notch Twill by Papertrey Ink.

Now for the good bit the friend (Peejay) who made the first ones I saw has an easy to follow tutorial on her blog to make the Anemones so why not nip over there for a lesson be sure to leave feedback for her.

Pine Cones - Floral Craft

I always start something thinking it is a good idea and this was one of those projects, the pine cones are made using the small pear punch 20 pears to be precise moulding and shaping each pear then a large blob of silicone or glue gel and then building up the pear shapes in layers until you have a pine cone.

So the first cone was born then the reality set in that I had another 2 to make and also I needed something to represent the needles.

The needles were made with a fern punch and I cut off all if the little leaves until I was left with spikes.

For a closer look at the Pine cones click on the image below.

Swirl Christmas Tree

I love this clear stamp set Leigh Hannan Snowflakes and the stamped Holiday wishes by Papertrey ink The base card is cream 14 x 15 cm and the holiday wishes is stamped directly onto that, the tree and matching border were stamped onto black card stock then carefully cut out a few pearls added to the tree and a ribbon around the base of the card then layered it all together and it was finished.

Free Christmas Sheet

After spending most of my day with my Mam and worrying about her most of yesterday I didn't get a card prepared for my blog before daylight faded so not to disappoint those of you that support my blog I made up a free Christmas sheet for you to download and make up a card.


You are free to use it for personal use but please do not share my designs instead link back to my blog for people to download them they are copyright to me.


Click on the images to download at full size

Vintage Rose - Flower Craft

I had a creative day and bought a leaf punch that I thought would make the perfect flower so I set to and after a little bit of tweeking here and there and a little bit of water colour for the centre this is what I came up with.

The finished base card is 15 x 15cm.

by clicking on the image below you will be able to see a closer view of the rose.