Another award,thank you Sharon.

I recieved this award a few days ago but have only just got round to posting it. It's from Sharon at Bonkers about Buttons. Thank you very much Sharon. Part of the deal is that i have to tell you all seven things about myself, so here they are.

1. I am an unidentical twin.
2.My dad was my sunday school teacher...........no truant there then!
3.I can't drive nor do i want to.
4.I hate hairdressers and have been cutting my own hair since i was fourteen
5.I'm scared of anything with more than four legs, more so if they've got wings.
6.I'm vey broad minded and laugh at the dirtiest jokes.
7.I want to win the lottery,lol.

So there you are. What i'm supposed to do now is pass it on to my seven fave blogs. As i already did that with my last award i'd like any of the blogs in "my  blog list" in my sidebar, to help themselves as you all deserve it. And don't forget to peep at Sharons lovely blog.

A quick thank you.

I've not made any cards for the last week so i've had to throw one together this morning, and it is thrown together,lol.I don't usually do any card making on a sunday as me and Speedy are severely joined at the hip when we're off together so apologies for the lack of creative effort.

Even the photo isn't that good but i plan to have a good old session when i'm off on wednesday. The dotty paper is from Clare Curds Signature pad. The background words stamp and the sentiment stamp are both Penny Black. I made the flower with a small scalloped circle punch.
I'm going to give this card and the little spotty tote bag(with some chocs inside) from a n earlier post to my sister in law. We went to her anniversary celebration meal a week ago and didn't realise until the end of the night that it was all paid for. Thanks Pam and Tim.
We're off into town soon for a little wander then we'll be going to our local which is actually a hotel, for a bit of a scoff. I'll be good though and have my usual prawn salad with just a few chips. I've done my 7 miles on the treadmill this morning so that should shift some of the calories.
Enjoy your bank holiday.  Di.xx

Another doggie card.

This is the last elzybells card for at least a week, promise,lol. I've actually have got no new cards done this week due to the shopping frenzy so i'll have to get making.

It's a girlie version of the last one. The paper is Papermania Henbury Lane and the sentiment is from a Papermania clear set.
Well i trudged round the shops all day yesterday. I went to Cheshire Oaks first but with no joy. The main problem is that the brides mother is wearing red and the grooms mum is wearing blue so i didn't want to hijack their colours. there are some lovely red dresses out there but they're forbidden fruit, it's not as if i can pretend i didn't know because they know i do. So i came back into Chester and tried every dress i could find. I was about to give up when i found one in Next.Hallelujah!! I'ts very fitted which is what i wanted,there's no point in losing the best part of a stone and then wearing something baggy is there? It's black with coral pink polka dots so now i hope i can find one of those daft dead bird things for on my head with a bit of coral in it and some jewellery to match. Well it's friday so that means................

..............The friday weigh in. 9st  4lb. Another one off, total loss 12lb. I thought i'd either put one on o stay the same this week as we went for that meal last friday but 30 miles on the treadmill and all that shopping paid off.

Happy day doggie.

Quickie post today as i'm off to a fashion parade starring yours truly.  I'm going into town to try a load more dresses on and hopefully actually buy one this time, so i'll have to get cracking before the rain starts.

Oh look, it's another Elzybells card,lol. I hope you're not sick of them yet. The sentiment is from a Papermania clear set and the paper is Papermania Hampstead. The butterfly punch is X Cut.

Wish me luck with the shopping!  Di.xx

Blog Award.

I received this lovely award from my blogging buddy Kay on Crafty Spider. Thank you Kay. Now i need to pass it on to 7 other bloggers. It was very hard deciding which 7 but here they are.

1. Coops Cluttered Corner.
2. Rainbow Days.
3. Always With A Heart.
4. Vixx Handmade Cards.
5. Crafting All Day.
6. My Inky Hands.
7. Wishcraft.

I wish i didn't have to stick to 7 as there are loads more blogs out there which inspire me.

Cute little bag.

I've seen no end of these little tote bags on Splitcoast Stampers but when I go to peoples blogs to get the info they all seam to be made from a template which you have to pay for, how rude !! I was having none of that so I made a make shift version using THIS tutorial.

Instead of using a square piece of card for the base I used a 51/2" x 31/2" rectangle and still scored and folded 1" all around. It looks small but don't worry it won't be when its finished. I folded the design paper over onto the inside by an inch and a half. It strengthens it and makes it look better. The bag is 4" high. The black pieces on the bottom are punched circle halves (a bit too big) and the handles are strips of heavyweight paper folded in half. There's loads more inspiration HERE. I put a bit of self adhesive velcro under the flap. Don'tcha just love it when you get away with having to pay for stuff?
 Off out now to buy some loo rolls and pop in to see little Michael who is getting bigger and bigger.
Thanks for visiting.  Di.xx

Yummy cakes.

Well, my 2 days off soon went,lol. I just pottered yesterday but wednesday i spent a good few hours in town looking for my dress for the wedding. I actually tried dresses on which i thought would look awful but loads of them looked really nice on, so i'm now faced with the dilema of which one to buy. Still, i'm a step further.
Part of my pottering was done in my den and i made a few things for the next week or so.

Here's the first one. The stamps are from the Woodware tea for two clear set, coloured with promarkers.The papers are DCWV Retro stack. The ticket shape is from one of the flippin' men sets and the "temptation" stamp is Elzybells, well i had to sneak one in somewhere,lol. The happy birthday is by personal impressions and the card base is 6"x6". A bit of stickles and we're done. Except for.............

The friday weigh in, 9st 5lb, another one off which takes me back to where i was before i had that weekend away, total loss 11lb. I can see a huge difference though,it was all on my stomach and now it's almost flat. You can tell the difference on my face too. I wouldn't mind losing a couple more pounds just to "play with".
I'm going out for a meal tonight though for my sister in laws 25th anniversary. Oh dear...................

Another christmas card.

My Elzybells sentiment stamps arrived yesterday morning. I haven't had time to play with them yet as i went to Liverpool to try and find a wedding outfit. I came back with just a box of white card from The Papermill Shop,lol. I saw a few dresses i liked but they were a bit much for the kind of low key wedding Neil and Nina are having.Then there's the ones which look great until you put them on. I'm petite and these shops seem to think we're all frumps.I did try a lovely one on but couldn't justify the £145 price tag, as i'd probably never wear it again with my modest lifestyle,lol. Still i've got 6 weeks to find something.
In the meantime here's a christmas card.

The fruits of my previous Elzybells order, i hope you're not sick of them yet. The paper is papemania (i think) and the card base is 6"x6".

The image is coloured with promarkers and i added a few white punched snowflakes. The stickles isn't blue as it looks in the photo.These stamps are unmounted so i decided that as i would soon tire of using a pritt stick, to order some E.Z. mount from Joanna Sheen, and... erm.....9 promarkers fell into my basket! I've nearly got the set now but as i was saying on Docrafts last night they seem to be lacking in ordinary non reddish browns and hopefully they might bring out some new shades. I'll get saving just in case.....
   I'm off to work now but i cheated and drafted this post last night.  Thanks for looking.  Di.xx.

Spotty Dog.

I've just ordered another load of stamps from Elzybells, mainly sentiments as they stamp out really clearly if I remember to use versafine ink on Rymans coated card as memento can slide a bit. In the meantime I've had another play with the little dog. I'm going to have to whisper this so as not to upset my Penny Black dogs but I really like this little chap.

I got the paper in Hobbycrafts sale, it's by Crafts House, called Allsorts and it's quit shimmery although it doesn't show on the photo. Image is coloured half heartedly with promarkers. If peeps only want to pay £1.50 they get slap dash, lol, they don't know any different.

A close up of the little dog. And what do I use to thread the fibres through the buttonholes? Nothing! Life's too short, I just tie a knot and glue it on top! The leaf is done with an X Cut botanicals emboss punch.
 Enjoy your Sunday, love Di.xxx

Silver wedding anniversary card.

I don't know why it took me hours to make this easy card but it did ! I started by using the silver embossed card (from Payperbox) as the actual card base but decided i didn't like it, so i used a white 6"x6" card instead. then i decided it needed another layer between the white and silver but couldn't decide what colour so opted for black.

The heart stamp was free with a mag about 2 years ago. I stamped it in silver and embossed with clear powder, and yes you guessed it took me a few goes to do it without singeing the paper,lol. I don't heat emboss very often so i'm not used to how far i can push it.

Then i couldn't decide on flower colour and where to put them. I started with a large silver bow but decided on lilac flowers with a small bow in which case i could have used purple card instead of black. I got there in the end though. Funnily enough i actually enjoyed making it! It is for Speedy's sister and brother in law for next week.There are 50 of us all going out for a big scoff, luckily it's on friday after my weigh in lol.
  Speaking of which.........................

The friday weigh in, 9st 6lb.  The pound i put on last week is back off, total loss back to 10lbs. I do hope i'm not going to be playing with the same pound on and off all the time. And i've told Patrick if he buys me a cake today he'll be wearing it, he still bought me one last week even though i'd put a pound back on, naughty boy!

Stocking fillers.

Or stocking stuffers as they call them in America, not that many people actually use stockings anymore, it's more likely to be a big gift bag these days. All the more reason to make you own stuffers.

So i've had a bit of a post it note holder frenzy as you can see. The instructions can be found HERE. These are so quick and easy to make and are great for using up scraps.

The post it notes are a bargain at 25p and the stamp was free in the Creativity mag last year. I just used a plain and a scalloped circle punch. No colouring involved. I bought some self adhesive velcro circles from Aldi ages ago. I cut them in half  and stuck them under the flaps to keep them closed.
 Well, i'd better go and get ready for work now, love Di.xx

Forever Christmas.

Time to make a few more Christmas cards i think before we lose whats left of the precious daylight. I can remember struggling to match colours at 3 o'clock in the afternoon last november. Even a craft lamp didn't help much so this year i'm determined to get them all done early so i only need to make gift boxes and stocking fillers later on.

The image is a forever friends half price bargain from Hobbycraft last january coloured with promarkers. The sentiment stamp was another bargain papermania clear set.The papers are Papermania and the leaves are made with an X cut botanicals punch which also embosses.

A bit of stickles for the snow and we're done.
Were going to see little Michael later on today, we decided that as he already has lots of pressies, and daddy has one big pressie in the pram that we should get mummy a voucher to buy herself some new clothes.I think after all she's been through(22 stitches and a hernia) that this was the best idea.We thought the wedding in september would have to be postponed but Nina is healing well and i'ts going ahead as planned.
 Well, that's me for today, time to wake the sleeping beauty with a cup of tea.
  thanks for visiting.  Di. xx

Perfect Men.

If only hey! Speedy suits me fine though, he's a big softy and as sweet as any gingerbread man, i can live without the shape and the tan,lol. Well, i've been playing willy nilly yesterday with no pressure to get something ready to blog and i got a few things made.I bought this little gingerbread man stamp from Elzybells 2 weeks ago then wished i'd bought the little verse to go with it, so i ordered it and it arrived on wednesday.
There is a link to Elzybells sale in a post further down the page, hurry though, stuff is running out fast.

I'm going to to loads of these for my bulk chistmas cards, as you can see i've not been too fussy with the colouring as they'll be straight in the bin in January. The card bases are 5"x5".

Remember this tag stamp i got for 50p at WHS last week? Well, i saw some mini gingerbread men at M&S so i'm going to get some a bit nearer the time and put them into cello bags with a tag to give as stocking fillers.I like to give certain customers a little something and these should give the old dears a bit of a laugh. I chalked it up as it looked a bit stark,it's a bit more sagey green than it looks in the pic.
I saved this as a draft last night so all i have to do now is..................

.............The friday weigh in. 9st, 7lb...that's a pound back on!!!!! This pound has appeared overnight. I've not had anymore calories than usual, i spent all yesterday afternoon trudging round shops trying to find a wedding outfit and this week i've walked 28 miles on my treadmill as fast as i can go without actually running as it's bad for the old knees. There's only one thing for it.......i'll have to start walking on my hands!!  Just joking, maybe 2 pounds will disappear just as mysteriously next week..............

Cupcakes revisited.

Here is another "remake" card. It is one i made for a workmate about 18 months ago. She was heavily into cakes,...well any food really!

I think the cakes are by Inkadinkado, i'm not sure as they aren't in their original packaging.Once again they are coloured with watercolour pencils. The paper was a download from the days before my printer decided to play up, i think it could have been from Summer Driggs.

Here is the updated version coloured with promarkers. the gingham paper is from an old pack by Habico.The sentiment is from the Woodware "tea for two" clear set.It looks smudged in the photo but its not really.

A bit of stickles and it's done. The card base is 5"x7".
I didn't really enjoy making this card. This is happening quite a bit lately, i think it's partly mojo but also the pressure of needing 7 items a week to put on my blog is taking some of the pleasure away.The stuff turns out ok in the end but not until i've torn my hair out and trashed my den,lol. Also the thought of having to take pics, upload, edit and tweek them all doesn't fill me with glee at the moment. So i've decided to do the sensible thing and "go part time" for a while and just do posts, say, 4 or 5 times a week. Hopefully the thought of only needing to make 4 or 5 cards might remove some of the pressure and wake up my mojo. I was going to stick to certain days but i think even that may seem a bit restricting. I'll definitely be doing fridays though because that's weigh in day,lol. Oh and this is another thing that gets me. I'm not too good on the old keyboard so i have to look at my fingers all the time only to look up and find out i've done a whole sentence in CAPITALS, IT DRIVES ME MAD!!!!   Part time is deffo "on the cards" for me for a while.I'm off to get something to eat and hopefully later i'll wander willingly into my den with my head full of ideas and make 50 cards,lol.
 See you soon. Di.xx

Gift bag for Nev.

It's our mate Nev's birthday today, we usually just give a card but I had the urge to make a gift bag today so I'll give that to him too.

I love making these bags as they are so quick and easy. the instructions are at Splitcoast Stampers HERE . As I've said before don't be tempted to make the base bigger or your 12x12 paper won't fit around it. The paper is DCWV and the stamp is of course Penny Black. I printed the little tag from my computer. I've got rather a large stash of sugar free Werther's Originals because of the diet and as he's a diabetic they'll make a safe treat for him so i filled a cello bag and put them inside.
I have made another " revisited" card but decided to let the stickles dry before taking any pics, lol, so that's for tomorrow.
Time to go and earn some rent money now. Thanks or visiting. Di.xx

Unidentical twins.

Actually i was referring to these two cards, then i remembered, that's exactly what i am, an unidentical twin! I have a twin sister. In fact these two cards just sum us up so well. Same design, different styles, lol.

I said i was going to spend the next few days digging out old cards and making new versions of them, it seemed a good answer to my naughty mojo. This version was made about 2 years ago when i had less stash. The image was coloured with watercolour pencils which i thought were the bees knees, but that was before i discovered promarkers. It was also my first and best loved Penny Black stamp.

This is the new updated version. The papers are DCWV stack 6 and Papermania Hampstead.The card base is 6"x6". I really enjoyed doing this ,it's almost like redecorating the living room if you know what i mean,lol.

I managed to take a close up of the little dog before i knocked the card over face down. What's wrong with that you ask? The stickles on the scarf was still wet thats what, i'm off to sort it out with a cotton bud now!
 Bye for now.   Di.xx

Baby girl card.

Another dull day. I sort of kidded myself that August would be better than July but how wrong could i be.I'm so glad i didn't buy a load of new summer clothes, all you need in this country is an trendy umbrella,lol. It's not a case of  is it going to rain today, but what time will it rain today. And it's getting darker!!!!
Enough of that depressing talk, here's a girlie version of the baby boy card i made last week.

Elzybells stamp, paper from stash and stickers from Accessorise. My mojo is really suffering lately so i thought i'd play safe and "copy" a card i'd already done rather than risk a trashed craft room. In fact, that's an idea, i think i'll spend the next few days or so " casing" some of my older cards, yeah good idea, that's made me feel a bit better. I could maybe put a link to the original too.
 I'll be off out later with Speedy for my usual sunday barmeal. Ive been really good lately and having prawn salad.................and,erm.....................a bowl of chips, lol. At least i only let myself eat half of the chips and Speedy is banned from finishing them off!
     Bye bye for now. Di.xxx

EDIT for Gay, i get my Elzybells stamps from here but you need to be quick as she's closing down and is having a huge sale.