Well, blow me...

...I'm posting on my long suffering dormant blog.  Not a lot has happened since my last post. Life goes on. I have often wanted to add a little project or two but have been put off by all the photo editing and stuff. You all know what I mean. I've made loads of things but my style hasn't really moved on. I don't much care for all the die cutting stuff that's out there. I have a die cutting machine, The Wizard, one of the first but I don't quite get the die cut thingy. I like to see them on other peoples cards but I can see me owning hundreds of dies and only using them once. Anyway. I decided to post a few things now and again. sometimes from my phone camera, without the faffing, partly for my own record. Here's the first couple.

The image is from Meljens designs.

And another Meljens. The papers for this one are from the DCWV Girl stack which I got from TK Maxx ages ago.    xx

Speedy recovery cards.

A quick update on Speedy. Wednesday and Thursday were not very good days for him. They took him off the morphine and replaced it with paracetamol which isn't as strong. He was in quite a lot of pain as morphine causes constipation, as well as the fact that they "inflated" him to do the op. He was warned of the windy pops before the op, but there wasn't much of that happening. It was just staying inside and bloating him even more. Today he felt much better, and when the doctor asked him, ( this is so funny.......well I think it is anyway ), had he passed any wind this morning he said " a little bit". At this, the bloke in the next bed poked his head through the curtain and said. "You did two bloody big uns in the night, nearly frightened me to death"! Needless to say this was why he's feeling better today,lol.

I made him and his sister,Diane matching cards. This is Speedy's.

And this is Diane's.

The images are Meljens Digis again and the paper was free in a mag a few months ago.

I added the caption on the computer.

More cards arrived this morning but I left the house before they arrived so I'll take them tomorrow.

Few Christmas cards.

My hand is back to normal and I've started making my Christmas cards. I'm sticking to variations of the one design this year because for some reason, I don't really like making them.

The image is a Meljens digi and doesn't require a lot of fancy colouring in or a fancy layout. I added the sentiment on the computer.

The red and blue papers were free with a magazine a couple of months ago and the green is from my scraps.

The holly sprigs are also a Meljens digi which I scaled right down and cut out. The little mittens stamp is Hobbycraft's own brand. It is one of the little clear ones they do for about £1 each. I put a little blob of liquid pearls on the marshmallows and a sprinkling of glitter glue. The cards are 5"x5".

The lovely Speedy is having his Kidney transplant on Monday. Him and his sister both go into Liverpool Royal on Sunday late afternoon. There is not much sleep going on at the Speed household lately I tell ya. He's terrified of doctors and hospitals,( as most of us are)  which is why he got into this state in the first place. It's not just the operation, it's the worrying about whether his body will reject the kidney. With modern medicine this shouldn't happen though. I want you all to keep your fingers, and legs crossed for the next week or so!  I'll keep you all informed. Thanks to the ladies who have sent him cards. He's made up with them. There are more to come so I'll do a  "show post" when they have all arrived and have been opened.

Bit of a slow start.

Hello all. Guess what I woke up with on Sunday morning.

Something bit my knuckle in the middle of the night! It wasn't too bad at first but by midday I noticed a "tracker" making it's way up my arm. I went to the pharmacist and he sent me off to A&E as he couldn't prescribe antibiotics. Two and a half hours later I got home with some pills to pop and strict instructions to go straight back if it travelled any further. I had to go back at 8pm as it had gone up past my elbow and after IV antibiotics and some lovely black pen marks ( if it went beyond the marks I was to go back) they finally let me go at 11pm. As I couldn't grip anything and it looked so horrible I've had to take a few days off work already. I called in the shop to show my boss because if I had a new member of staff calling in sick with an insect bite I would think they were taking the pee. It's much better today though but still a bit ugly.

I managed to make a card last week before the attack.

Meljens had a digi stamp sale on last week and I couldn't resist nipping back for just a couple more as I love them. The circle sentiment is by TLC and the ticket is one I forgot to take note of. The papers are from the papermania summer bloom pad and the card base is 6"x6".

A couple of Christmas cards.

Quick post before I get ready for work. These are a couple of cards I made for an order. They are both in my easy "go to" layout.

Both images are by Meljens designs from Whimsy Stamps.

 A few scraps, a bit of ribbon and plenty of Stickles and we're done.

Weight this week still 9st 3lb, one over target.

Another spice gift and some measurements.

Here's another little stocking filler for the cooks in our lives. Again, a bargain from Tesco on special offer. Not sure how much but around the £1.50 mark.

The image is from  ( oh no! I left a space here to add a link later only to find it was one of those 24 hour freebies but you may find something suitable HERE, another useful site)   and the caption is by Meljens Designs HERE. 

The instructions on the packet says " rub into poultry, meat, fish or anything else you can get your hands on " so look out speedy, lol.. I peeled the use by date off the back and stuck it onto the card so people can see it without pulling the packet off as it's stuck on with double sided tape. The piece of card is 11.5 cm x 24cm,  Score at 2cm, 13cm and 14cm.As you can see I've put some staples close to the bottom fold so the flap stays in better.

 I've also worked out the measurements for my little box on my last post;
The lid is 17.3cm x 20.3 cm and scored at 4cm on all sides.
The bottom ( slightly taller) is 21cm x 18cm and scored at 4.5 cm on all sides.
 Happy gift making.

More Christmas Quickies.

Morning all. A quickie post and some quickie cards.

Meljens digi stamp again.This design would be great for hot chocolate gift sets.The cards are five and a half inches square again.

I added the sentiment before printing out then coloured with Promarkers and added some stickles.

I'm off to work now. Channel 4 are filming a programme about small businesses in Chester today and they are coming to our shop early this morning. I hope they've gone by the time I get there as I hate cameras. Besides I'm on the wanted dead or alive list at the cop shop...........just joking.  Oh, and we have already been filmed for don't tell the bride in November. Me and Patrick must have looked right nerds as we didn't know what was going on. We thought it was an OTT stag party who had bought an amateur film crew along until they finally told us what they were doing. That should be entertaining, lol.

Weight today 9st 2lb, (Target weight).

I'm back !

Well. I don't know what happened but my blog has been poorly for a few days. I had one of those " malware" warnings flashing up and no-one including me could get into my blog. My mate who sorts peoples computers out for a living said Google would spot it and sort it out and not to worry about it. The good news is that he was right and according to Webmaster tools I'm clean as a whistle. The not so good news is that i didn't give a monkeys if my blog never came back.I felt relieved at not having to update it, not that I "have to" anyway but I feel I should. It's not the writing of the posts as much as the photo editing and trying to get a decent pic in bad light etc. I think I really started to get fed up of it when I started entering challenges as I find it such a pain finding suitable ones and linking up and so forth. It turned my hobby into a job and I've already got one of those. So I've decided not to enter any more for the time being and see if  that helps me. I don't want to stop blogging. I'd get fat for a start, if I didn't do my friday weigh ins, lol. Anyway, I hope i'ts just a temporary feeling and that it will go away soon.

In the meantime I've made a few simple Christmas cards.

It took me long enough to get these photos too look ok. The cards are five and a half inches square and are from Hobbycraft.

The image is by Meljens designs. I don't remember where i found the sentiment tickets but there are loads if you look in Google images/line drawings.

Here's a close up of the image with a dollop of Stickles to finish.

I've got a huge slow cooker full of beef, tomato and olive casserole to sort out now. I'm trying to get the freezer full of "ready meals" for the winter . Tesco 3 meat items for £10 are 4 items for £10 at the moment so I'm making the most of it while it lasts.
EDIT. Sorry it was 4 for £12 at Tesco but still good.

Birthday gift.

Hello there. Has anyone seen my mojo? I seem to be having a little  "I hate card making and blogging" phase at the moment. But that's ok because I know it won't last long and in the meantime i can blitz the flat. I have got a couple of unblogged cards to keep me going and here's one of them.

The image is from Meljens and the paper is by Papermania.

I downloaded the ticket sentiment when i had my stupid head on and forgot to copy the webpage addy. If I'm bored enough tonight I'll try and track it down. I know i got it through the free digital stamps website and the date is in my file so we may be in luck.

Edit. I found the ticket sentiment freebies at SG Stamper HERE. There's a whole page of them too.


 Challenges. My  Mums Craft Shop.  Layer it up.
                   Cards for Men.  G is for.......( gift ).

Meanwhile I've got to go to Liverpool later as Speedy has a hospital appointment.

Today's weight 9st 2lb ( target weight).

Another Anniversary Card.

A quick post today as I need to get ready for work. Another anniversary card, this time for my mum in law to give to her son.

Made with another Meljens digi image. The paper is from Craftwork cards. I got it earlier in the year when they were doing those goodie bags for a fiver. Card base is 6" x6".

Challenges.  Sweet stampin'  Anything but birthdays.
                   Alphabet challenge. P,  pretty pastels

Target weight 9st 2lb.  Today,  still 9st 3lb.

Love is Sweet.

Evening all. I'm a bit late today as I've been out shopping. I still had birthday money ( yes, from July ) which I hadn't spent as I've been waiting for the Autumn stuff to come into the shops.  I got myself a couple of nice knitted tops and some jeans. I got them from Wallis. They are boot cut with just enough elastic in the waist to hoist them over my bum. There's no sticky out bit at the front where the button would be so they make my stomach look quite flat. I got a dark navy pair and another pair the colour of............wait for it..........Caramac, lol. I' ve got quite a few creamy and beige tops and they look good with teal green too.
When I did get home I had to knuckle down and make a couple of cards I'd been putting off. It's my sister in law's Anniversary on Monday so Mum in law asked me to make one for her to give.

This is the one for me and Speedy to send. I don't really have much stuff for making wedding/ anniversary cards but Meljens came to the rescue with this image. The hearts are also Meljens which I resized to fit. I coloured them and added glossy accents before cutting them out.

The paper is from Craftwok Cards and the card base is 6" x6".

Challenges.  Creative Card Crew. Anything goes.
                    Deep Ocean Challenge blog. Hearts.
                    Do you stack up.  Friendly critters.

My name is Diane and I'm an addict..........

.....................to Pinterest!!  Do NOT click on the link unless you've done all the housework. Loads of people already know this site but I was always the slow one, lol. So many nice things to look at and loads of crafty inspiration. Go there if you dare...........

Today's card share is a bit out of my comfort zone as it's a C6. I usually do square ones but I bought loads of these last year as they were in a sale. I tend to struggle a bit with layouts for rectangular cards but I really must use them or they weren't such a bargain.

The image is from Meljens Designs. The bones paper is DCWV from stack 6 and the dotty paper is by Papermania.

I coloured a fabric flower with a promarker and added a circle sentiment from Craftwork Cards. I have at least 120 of these cards left so I'd better get used to them.

Challenges,  One stop craft challenge. Anything but square.
                    Polka Doodles, Spots and dots.
                    Do you stack up. Masculine

A few more Christmas cards.

Mornin' all. Guess where I went yesterday?

Yep, that's right. I went for a mammogram, lol. It was my first time and one of the girls I work with said she'd rather give birth so I was dreading it. When she calls in for her wages today I'll throttle her. There was nothing to it. A bit of a dull ache but that's all. They do not squash your boobs to within an inch of your life as I was expecting, just a small squash and she kept asking if it was ok to squash a bit more before she went any further. So if anyone's wondering, it's not bad at all and I'll definitely be going for my 3 yearly checks without getting worked up. While I was looking for info on the net I found this beauty.

It made me titter. I bet there'd be no shortage of women applying for that job. Revenge would be so sweet.

Anyway,  on to my cards.

Just simple ones with a Meljens image and some scraps of paper. The sentiment stamp is from a Penny Black clear set.

That's it from me for now. I'll look for some challenges when I get home from work.

Paulette at TLC Creations will be adding a free digi image to her blog every time she gets a new follower until sunday, so what are you waiting for? Get following.

Challenges. Craft us Crazy. Anything goes.
                  Moving along with the times.  Birds.
                  Divas by design. Christmas

Target weight 9st 2lb.  Today's weight, a naughty 9st 3lb.

Early Bird.

Yes that's me on Fridays. Up at 5.45 to get ready for work. Good job I'm not going in search of bread.

I made up the sentiment because I think I'ts so true of most supermarkets. The image is by Meljens Designs available from Whimsy Stamps.

There is a link in my side bar to the free digi buttons. You can't really tell in the pic but I've coated them with glossy accents. The paper is from my stash of unidentified scraps.

Time to get ready to go and sell newspapers to the early birds now, lol.

 Challenges. I love promarkers. Things with wings.

Todays weight 9st 2lb ( target weight ).

Feeling Fruity.

I thought I'd make a nice summery card today as the weather is so nice. Mind you I did trash my room in search of my mojo.

 This card is the result of thinking "oh well, I'll just do some colouring while the mojo is away". It all fell into place when i remembered this caption from Ginger's House  HERE. The image is also a freebie and is from Meljens Designs HERE.  The flowers are also Meljens and there is a link to them at the top of my sidebar. I coloured them, added glossy accents and cut them out. Another thing that gets done when the mojo takes a hike.
EDIT. OMG!  How freaky is this, I've just been to TLC blog and apparently today is............wait for it............National watermelon day!!!!!!


Challenges. For fun Challenges. Anything goes.
                  Little red wagon. Put a Critter on it.
                  Tuesday Throwdown. Summertime
                  Craft your passion. Anything goes.
                  Penny's papercrafty. Watermelon
                  The Playdate Cafe. Watermelon, sorbet and lime.

Would you believe it ?!!

After slating my new camera in my last post, I take it all back. I was taking pics of this card with my Sony and the batteries went. I hadn't got any more charged up so i had to "resort" to my new one. I don't know what it was playing at on Sunday but these photos have turned out much better. On the same settings too.Oh, well, sorry Mr Fuji.

Maybe it was the dull light on Sunday. I'm so glad I haven't got to take it back to the shop as it had quite good reviews. Anyway, the card. The image is of course one of Meljens. The paper is from my very first paper pack which i bought 4 years ago. Lord knows what it is as I don't have the packaging. 

The little "jingle all the way" caption is from TLC. The card base is 6"x6".

Christmas is quite a way away yet but the days are getting shorter and it will soon be dark by mid afternoon so I've spent quite a bit of time sorting out my stocking filler ideas. I've made quite a few samples to make more of but i feel it's a bit too early to blog them yet as they might get forgotten along the wayside so I'll leave them for a few more weeks. There'll be a few cheapie ideas for cooks this year.

Time to look for some challenges then see to something for dinner.

Challenges.  Meljens. Buttons and bows.

                   Simply Create, Christmas time

                   Crafty Emmas. Christmas.

                   Creative Inspirations, Christmas in July.

                   KB Cute Monday, Use a digi.

Stripy Gift Set.

I've been a busy little bee today. I've been into town to get some bits and pieces this morning. I got some little hand creams from M&S for mums  gift bag and made her a necklace to but in her little box. I've just got to wrap her main pressies to take to her tomorrow. It's Speedy's birthday on sunday so I've made him a little gift bag and matching card while i'm on my day off.

There's more info about this bag on an earlier post HERE,  and instructions at Splitcoast Stampers HERE. After making a few of these bags i found that making the first 2 folds half an inch instead of an inch made them a little bit taller and made all the difference when finding things to put inside as they have to be fairly flat

You can just about see the side view of the bag here but my 2 links will show you better.  The little boat is a Meljens digi image.

Here's the matching card which is 6"x6". The paper is from DCWV stack six  12 x 12 papers. The " AHOY" is also by Meljen's.

And here's the set together. As you can see by the pic, the bag is about 5" square.  Things I've got for the bag so far are, a Thorntons  4"x4" bar of chocolate with ginger, a Cadbury's kids size bar of dairy milk ( the flat one) , a Caramac, some wrigleys chewing gum and a small 2" square Thorntons trial size white chocolate. I'm going to get a Scratch card and a lottery ticket as well.  Big kid he is, lol.

Challenges,  Meljens  Stripes ( how could i not )
                   Totally Papercrafts. Stripes and spots.
                   Sisterhood of Crafters. For men.

Speedy's Home.

Just a quickie to say Speedy's home and well. They told me at midday yesterday he was being discharged so i had to get the next train as i didn't want him coming home on his own. We got home at about 5pm. He's wired up to a portable heart monitor. He's got to go about his life as usual, then go back with it on Monday so they can see how his heart has coped. His heartbeat is back to normal. It was the beta blockers which were a too high dose.

Thank you for all your well wishes and here's one i made earlier. Image is a freebie from Meljens Designs.




Target weight 9st 2lb.  Today,  9st 1lb.  I'll have to run around Liverpool more often, lol.

New Job...........

.....No, not me, lol. A friend of mine asked me to make a card for someone who is a qualified midwife but has just started a new job as a doctor at an anti natal clinic. Much cleaner I'd have thought. He suggested a stork with a baby so i had a Meljen moment.

The main background paper is K&Co  and the spotty one is My Mind's Eye. The good luck was added before printing out and the "you go girl " is from TLC.  I bought a license from Paulette to be able to sell cards with her sentiments. It;s all too easy to "sneak sell", but i wouldn't feel right in this case. Paulette uploads every day, sometimes more then once and does fabulous sentiments for free. She also has a shop with digis for sale but up to now all I've done is to snag the freebies with the odd thank you, so i thought a licence purchase was in order and well worth the tenner. I've got £2 back already with this card ( no fancy colouring on these £2 jobs) and I've made loads more this week. The right words make such a difference.

Challenges, Papercrafting journey. Feathered friends.

Target weight, 9st 2lb.  Today's weight,  9st 2lb.

Take Note. It's Friday.

I don't know about you but Friday always seems to come around quickly. That's alright though because i get paid on Fridays. Weekly, old fashioned in the little packet,lol. So easy to manage your money when you get paid this way.
Yesterday i had such a card making frenzy it was unbelievable. Speedy has a little pint at the local catholic club on the way home from work (cheap ale ), and they are planning to start a weekly indoor "local produce" market in the next few weeks. They said i could have a table for my cards so i need to get my act together. If they don't sell at least I'll have all my cards sets to give as Christmas gifts made nice and early. It's supposed to be on Thursdays which is my day off. I just hope some big git doesn't change the day or i'm stumped. I'm determined that these cards are all going to be made from stuff i would normally chuck in my scrap box and be dead simple to make and will be posting here regularly.
 Meanwhile here's some notebooks I've altered. I found them when scratting around for bits & bobs.

The digi image is from Meljens and i added the "NOTES" in Back to School font. I added a panel of paper on the back to match the front, mainly as i couldn't get the label off,lol.

 The coloured books were from Woolies and the black and grey from Wilkinsons all 50p each.

Challenges.. Pink Elephant,  Teacher Gifts.
                   Stamp something, Use a digi.

Target weight 9st 2lb. Today's weight 9st 2lb  :)