Special Thanks

Sunday and the end of July already, where is the time going?

Another card that I quickly whipped up before I left home to share today. I used the same Craftwork Card kit as yesterday and started off with a 4x4 kraft card blank and added a background mat in navy to both the background paper and the topper. I made a navy organza bow and added that to the topper which I stuck on the card with foam tape (got to use some up). I added a few gems to add a little bling and added some wink of Stella to the trees on the topper, however some of the ink blobbed out and despite wiping it off left a mark. A left over butterfly to the rescue, which I actually thought made the card look better, a definite happy accident.

I've had a lovely day today (although I probably should have worn sun cream judging by how red my face is). I met up with 15 other bunny mad women at the home of a plant historian and bunny rescuer to learn about which plants we can forage for to feed our bunnies and which are definite no-nos. we spend the whole time either out in the garden or in the hedgerows looking for plants. I learnt so much and it's amazing how many different plants there are in a hedgerow when you really start looking. We were spolit with fabulous food and as you can see we had company.

There are 6 rabbits that have free range in the garden, the rest have large "chalets" that they live in in bonded groups and take turns to roam in a large enclosed area.

You might just spot a tiny white and orange bunny in the bottom left corner. This gorgeous bunny was kept in a tiny cage for 9 years before he was rescued and his owners hadn't even realised that he was blind. He has a tendency to fall over and be unable to right himself but he's now enjoying his retirement wandering around the garden, nibbling whatever he fancies and was lapping up the attention today, tooth purring whilst having head rubs. 

He's one of over thirty bunnies that have now found their forever home here. I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of someone's kindness this week and so was able to "pay it forwards" and make a donation towards their hefty vet bills. Thank you for allowing me to do that x 

With love

Well, I'm safely tucked up in my premier inn in Peterborough after a 3 hour drive, not driven that far for ages! Hubby insisted on checking my car tyre pressures, oil and windscreen fluid before he left for work, bless him. I had a moment of panic when I got here, when couldn't find create and craft on the telly in my room, but eventually found it on channel 36. Phew. Should Hubby worry that I'm away from home with crafting telly, free wifi and a credit card?!

Today's card is one of two that I quickly made last night so that I had something to blog over the weekend. I used a Craftwork Card kit that had been untouched since I bought it, I think it's called something like Enchanted Woodlands. The paper pad is 8x8 and I cut out the owl and leaves from the bottom right hand corner. I then trimmed the paper down keeping the printed leaves to fit on a 6x6 kraft card blank, with a white mat under it. There is a bit of the square of paper missing, but it's hidden behind the owl etc, which I stuck on with some of my ample supply of 1mm foam tape to give some dimension. The kraft card sentiment was knocking about in my box of rejected die cuts, and I think it's a tonic die. I added some bling to two of the corners and a gem to add the dot to the i.

I think that took longer to blog than it did to make!

I was hoping to catch up on some of your blogs and comment on them, but the drive has left my shoulder and neck sore, so another early night it is. Hope you're all having a fab weekend, I will visit you soon I promise. I love seeing all the wonderful things you've been creating and catching up on your news.

Oldie Friday

It's Friday and so it's time to join Erika to share an oldie. Today's oldie is a Christmas card that I made with paper nation/jolly nation decoupage and matching papers about 10 years ago now. Very simple, just like me! Right, bed calls x

With Sympathy

Yay, it's Thursday. I took today off work to catch up on myself after yesterday's fun as I'm off to Peterborough at the weekend. Just one day of work to go and then a week off. Double Yay! Don't worry, I'm not joining a shopping telly craft channel, although I did consider ram raiding the warehouse (I am joking, honest). My trip is all mad bunny woman related and I'll fill you in with the details whilst whiling away the time in my hotel room. 

A really simple and easy card again today. I die cut the io sentiment panel twice once in black and once in grey and offset them slightly (a different grey might have been better as it looks like your eyes are going funny) to give a shadow effect. I mat and layered black and white card on a 6x6 card blank and stuck the panel on. I did consider adding a grey mat, but I didn't think ahead and so had cut the panel out of the side rather than "gutting" it and so ran out of the colour. A few black gems to finish. Apologies if I haven't visited you yet this week, I'm back on my catch up mission! See you tomorrow for an oldie.

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge

(Apologies for this not appearing at noon today, blogger apparently forgot I'd scheduled this post!)
This week over at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge blog our theme is "Anything goes."
Our sponsors this week are Lacy Sunshine and Lemon Shortbread who've given us some wonderful prizes. My card today features a beautiful Lacy Sunshine image which I've coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils and die cut out with a spellbinders label. I created a frame using the decorative label die in matt silver mirri and used lili of the valley background paper. The flowers are heartfelt creations arianna blooms which have been stamped in holographic embossing powder on white vellum with a tiny dazzler in the centre. My favourite Sue Wilson Ivy is tucked behind the flowers to give the impression that the fairy is tucked down in the flower beds.

We'd love to see your creations this week.

Another variation on a theme.

Happy Wednesday? It's all downhill from here on in, well, it certainly is on this blog anyway!

I spent a wonderful lunch at Knutsford with Darnell and about 13 other lovely ladies and a very well behaved 2 year old. Darnell is very bit as generous and entertaining as I'd previously heard and it was lovely to meet up with lots of other bloggers and crafters and form new friendships. Thank you Darnell for organising your British tour and introducing us all. I need a nap now to recover!

Today's card is another one that was requested by a colleague, who saw my previous cards in the same style. It's her parent's diamond wedding anniversary tomorrow and she wanted the card in white but with colour behind the panels so it was reminiscent of a church window. I had a play about but it lost the elegance on the card, if I'd changed the panels to grey it would have worked, so instead I used a different type of pearl card behind the panels which reflects differently. Hopefully you can see the effect in the other pics. 

I cursed doing the lettering though. I had a crafters companion "On your" die that I used on the previous wedding card but the "Anniversary" die had been out of stock in the shop and I only remembered to order it online last week. My colleague told me on Monday that she needed the card for Thursday, she probably had told me when she needed it for, but I hadn't remembered. I checked the estimated delivery date for the die. Thursday. Bottom. I had the Britannia upper and lower case alphabet dies so figured I could use those to write the words, and as the font would be different I'd have to do the "on your" bit too. Not too bad, until I remembered that I had to layer the letters up 3 times... I did wonder about using funky foam to get the depth, but had none in white. I thought that using stick it would help to stick them together easily, but hadn't figured on how fiddly peeling the backing off tiny letters would be! I got there in the end though. 

I added some bought AB gem numbers to the front and an insert to finish off with the Memory Box Tiny Wedding couple on the corner.  I dropped it off at work on my way to lunch, so just made the deadline. Remind me to write down when people want cards by in the future will you?

Down with Christmas!

Another quick post tonight as bed calls. This card uses another turkey and accessories from the Hobby Art Quirky Turkey set. Stamped on Sheena's stamping card and coloured with distress reinkers again, with the sign and interchangeable sentiment added before fussy cutting him out. Simon says Stamp stitched rectangle in white card with the fence from the set repeat stamped on it. Hand drawn holly (nothing to do with me sticking the stamped holly on and then moving it and ripping the card slightly and so needing bigger leaves to cover up...) and a few gems to finish. All mounted on a card base that the lovely Rahmat sent me.