Totally Gorjuss 116 KISS - Keep it Simple!

Good morning everyone. I feel very lucky to be here today after my computer problems this week!

I had my card made very early this week and posted on the Totally Gorjuss blog. Lucky as it turns out since I now have a fairly empty laptop.

Here's my card

I used :-
Image & sentiment :- LOTV.
DP :- Craft Creations.
Colouring :- Promarkers.
Card Candi and ribbon.

This week we're sponsored by the lovely girls at Lili of the Valley and I'm sure lots of you are like me. I can always find something I want from their online store. I can't resist their sweet images and useful sentiments and the cute squares are so handy when you need a quick card. This is a great image if you need a retirement card and is really easy to colour.

Challenges :-
Simon Says Stamp :- Anything goes.
Creative Inspirations :- Anything Goes.
Lili's Little Fairies :- Oh Boy - masculine card.

I hope you can find time to enter our challenge this week for a KISS card. I don't often do something as plain as this and I thought a male card would fit the theme perfectly.

Thanks for looking and I'll catch you later. After work I'm going to our first crop of 2012. I haven't seen some of the girls since December so it'll be good to catch up again.

Nightmare!!

Nightmare right enough. No wonder people say technology is all right as long as it's working!!

On Wednesday evening I was minding my own business doing something crafty and I thought my laptop was minding its' own business too! I looked over and it had a black screen and the writing at the top said " no internal  hard disc detected". What!!! And that was it nothing was happening with it. Thursday nothing happening. Sent texts to my son for advice. Still nothing. He came out at night and had a look and decided that I definitely needed a new hard disc. So I trotted off to PCW and came home with a pretty new hard disc. Put it in, fixed all the little screws and tried to boot up the laptop. Nothing. Fought with it till time to go to work. Tried again after tea with advice from son. Eventually got it working. What next? Can you guess? Of course you can! No internet. Didn't seem to want to acknowledge the existence of my wireless broadband. After a lot of muttering and threats about laptop wearing a nice new black overcoat I eventually got online.

So now I'm behind with commenting and DT work. Luckily I got my DT card posted on the DT blog before all this happened. So if I haven't been visiting any of my favourite blogs it's not that I didn't want to or was too busy it was technology or lack of it that prevented me.

Now I'm off to try to schedule a post for tomorrow. I'll have to try to find the software for my camera so I can download my photos again. I'll always need to find some anti-virus software. 

See you tomorrow and hopefully I'll be in a better mood by then lol!

Simple Sympathy Card.

Hi everyone, I don't know about where you are but it's pretty cold here. Frosty first thing which isn't so bad, could be worse lol! At least the dogs don't get into such a mess when it's frosty. But later on it started to rain. I can hardly see my car now for mud. It's covered! The road near here gets pretty muddy as they need to get silage bales out of a field to feed the cattle indoors. We used to have a farm so it doesn't bother us, though it would be nice to have a clean car for more than a few minutes.

I made a Sympathy card for one of the girls at work. Her father-in-law died suddenly on Sunday. He was rushed into hospital last Tuesday with a heart attack. After lots of tests they discovered a fair amount of damage to his heart. On Wednesday she said he really wanted to make his 91st birthday on Thursday. So he made it! He was quite a character and we'll all miss him.

I used :-

Image :- Penny Black.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

Sentiment :- Hero Arts.

Ribbon, black stickles.

Challenges :-

Die Cut Dreams :- Sympathy.
Charisma :- Clean and Simple. Hope it is CAS enough!
Papertake Weekly :- Happy Highlights - I used black stickles to highlight the flowers.

I'm off to do a bit of catching up now and finish off my Tesco home shopping.

Thanks for looking hope you like!

Lavender and Lace.

Hi everyone, I'm a bit late with this but I won't have time before work tomorrow! When I saw the challenge at Lili's Little Fairies I knew it was perfect for me. Well they don't call me Lilackat for nothing, I love all shades of lavender, lilac, purple etc.

I used :-

Image :- LOTV cute square.

DP :- Paper Adventures.

Glamour Dust, lace, ribbon, Sakura clear, glitter gel pen, nesties & gems.

Other challenges :-

Papertake Weekly :- Buttons, bows, bling and blooms.
Paperplay :- Ribbon every which way.
Secret Crafter :- Food and/or drink.
Pile it on :- Add lace.
Creative Inspirations :- Use favourite colour plus white.

That's me now, I didn't realise it was so late.

Thanks for looking and I'll catch up later after work.

Totally Gorjuss 115 Welcome.

Good morning everyone. Is it as cold where you are as it is here? Some days it has been really frosty and cold but on the other hand lovely and sunny during the day. Even when it's not frosty it's still very cold but at least there's no snow here yet.

This week at Totally Gorjuss our theme is "Welcome." We have a new sponsor this week, Heather's Hobbie Haven. Welcome could be welcome to a new home or new baby. New baby was the first thing I thought of so here's my new baby card.

I used :-

Image & Sentiment :- LOTV.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

DP :- Crafty Creations.

Martha Stewart punch, Glamour Dust, ribbon and pearls.

I'm entering the following challenges :-

Ready Teddy Go :- In the pink.

I'm going to pick up my new reading glasses this afternoon, at least I think I am. Hubby and I both got our eyes tested 2 weeks ago and he got a postcard in saying his glasses were ready so I hope that means mine are ready too. So I'll catch up later.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your weekend.

Penny Black 184 Anything Goes.

Hi everyone. Well talk about a wasted day yesterday. I spent the whole day tidying.....and still loads to do! But eventually I managed to get a start made on this card. I sneakily dumped my hoover for a wee while to get it finished!

I used :-

Image :- Penny Black.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

DP :- MME.

Sentiment and Card Candi :- Craftwork Cards.

I'm entering the Penny Black :- Anything Goes.

I'll come back later and add some other challenges, I'd best go and find my hoover and then organise tea before I go to work.

Other challenges :-
Pile it on :- Fuzzy Animals.
ABC :- H for Happy Birthday.
Passion for Promarkers :- Humour.
Cute Card Thursday :- Music and Dance.

Favourite LOTV Stamp.

Just a quick post to show you my card for this week's Lili of the Valley challenge. I had it made yesterday and I should have posted it then. But I didn't! So this is the first chance I've had.

What a difficult decision. How could anyone have a favourite LOTV stamp? So this is one of my favourites lol!

I'll be back later when I've made the tea!

I'm back!!

I used :-
Image :- LOTV.
Colouring :- Promarkers.
DP :- Bo Bunny.
Sentiment and Card Candi :- Craftwork Cards.
Martha Stewart edge punch and snowflake punch.
Gems, ribbon and Glamour Dust.

I'm also entering the following challenges :-
Stampin for the Weekend :- Out with the Old - I've had the stamp and the DP for ages.
Secret Crafter :- Anything Goes plus blue.
Sketch Saturday :- Sketch.
Fussy and Fancy :- Let it Snow.
ABC Christmas :- A is for anything Christmas.

My friend came over this afternoon and we achieved more or less nothing! We explored a Craftwork Cards goody bag I had bought. I did a bit of colouring, she finished a card that she had organised all the bits for beforehand. We had a nosey round blogland. And then we had a browse around various online stores as she was keen to find a butterfly die. I think her favourites were the Marianne dies. She doesn't have Internet so she wrote down some items she wanted and some phone numbers. Not sure what I'd do without Internet!!

Talking of shopping I found a card in my mailbox today to say that there were 2 packets for me at the sorting office. Guess it must have been my usual postie's day off as he'd have put them in the shed. He would probably not have been here till after I got home anyway. I know there's one postie who does the round the opposite way round so I guess it must have been her. I went online to ask for a re-delivery but it wouldn't be till Friday so I'll just go and pick them up tomorrow. Bit of a nuisance as I've got a notion to do some tidying up tomorrow. I keep putting it off but I'm sure I'd get on better if I got things tidied up. It'd be quicker & easier to find things for a start!

Thanks for looking and I'm off to check out the entries at Totally Gorjuss. If you fancy joining us our challenge this week is "Be a Star," we'd like to see a star somewhere on your card. How easy is that?

Less is More 50 - Birds.

I made some quick cards for the Less is More challenge. I'm not really into birds so I don't have many bird stamps but I found this little cutie and thought I could make some little notelets. One of my customers makes cards for CLAN a cancer charity for Aberdeen and the North East and I said recently that I'd make some cards too. I made six. Each one is stamped in a different colour of Memento ink. The image and sentiment are both Hero Arts.

I think this might be the plainest cards I've ever made but I think (hope) they work ok for a notelet or thank you card.

I made a Christmas card this evening too but it's too late to take a photo now so I'll do that tomorrow.

Thanks for looking and I'll catch you all later.

Penny Black 183 Case It.

Hi everyone, I'm late again entering the challenge at Penny Black which is "Case It" this week. I've followed, but not exactly, the layout of Beth's card, the colours and the stars.

I used :-

Image :- Penny Black.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

DP :- MME.

Sentiment and Card Candi :- Craftwork Cards.

I'm a bit late this week but I think I've been later! Now I need to make my DT card for tomorrow. I've no idea what happened to my time yesterday lol!

I found some challenges :-
Crafty Cardmakers :- No floral embellishments.
Cute Card Thursday :- You're having a laugh - well it makes me laugh.
Paperplay :- In stitches.
Passion for Promarkers :- Inspired by a song - This says "Born to be Wild" to me!
Simon Says Stamp :- Spots and/or stripes.
Totally Papercrafts :- Spots and Stripes.
Winter Wonderland :- Birthday Wishes.

Thanks for looking, see you all tomorrow.

Thanks Everyone.

Thanks everyone who left suggestions about where I could find some golf images. I've had a look at them all and taken a note of the ones I like best. I liked the male ones and if my colleague likes the one I've made for her Mum she might want one for her Dad who is never off the golf course.

The day after I wrote the post asking where I could find golf images I suddenly realised when I was brushing my teeth that I had a Popcorn Bear golfer image. I think I used it to make a birthday card for my uncle's 90th birthday in 2010. I had a bit of a panic when I couldn't find it. Thought maybe I'd given it away but it was in a drawer I don't often open lol!

So here's the card I made with it. It's not very exciting so I hope she likes it! I hope she doesn't mind the bow as this card will obviously need a large stamp. The 2 I sold on Monday will both need a large stamp. The male one only had a small knot in the ribbon but that's all it needs to stop the envelope going through the letter slot. I'll need to think after this if anyone asks for a card. Belinda probably won't mind as it's a card for her Mum.

I used :-

Image :- Popcorn.

DP :- Craft Creations.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

Sentiment :- Craftwork Cards.

Talking of the difference between letters and large letters I had a bit of a run in with a customer the other day. This particular customer is an obnoxious, arrogant, know-all, little man. He asked if his envelope had enough postage so I reached for the plastic template we are supposed to use for all letters and large letters. It stuck so I told him he needed a large stamp. he accused me of not putting the letter through straight. So I did it again and told him it definitely needed more postage. So he shouted again that I hadn't put it in straight. I said again that I had but picked up the template again and showed him that the letter didn't go through. He insisted that it would so I said it was up to him if he wanted to risk it. Then he insisted I hadn't told him how much more it was. By this time the steam was coming out my ears but I managed to remain polite as I said it was another 29p and stuck the stamps on before giving him his change. If I hadn't done that he would probably have accused me of not sticking on the extra postage and keeping the 29p. As if!! He really is a horrible wee man. The kind that really makes your job worthwhile. To give you an idea of what he's like he came in the "out" door and said to the girl at the till "I thought you were dead!" She was horrified and furious at the same time but didn't bother answering. Not sure why he thought it was clever to say something like that to someone who was minding her own business and getting on with her work. If he'd said that to me he'd have got an answer. And I'm definitely not in the habit of being rude to customers, but there's always a first time!

Enough waffle now I'd best go and catch up with some DT work and see if I can get a card made for Saturday.

Thanks for looking and catch up with you all soon I hope. I didn't get a chance to get near the computer yesterday. Last night was my WRI meeting so after work I had to get my bakes ready for the teas. We had a lady showing us the Faberge style eggs she makes. They were absolutely fabulous. They ranged in size from very tiny (quail I think) to enormous Ostrich eggs. Most of them were very intricately decorated and must have taken many hours of work. We were all very impressed by her skill. I reckon I'm much too clumsy to work with eggs. I got home quite late as she could certainly talk!

Can anyone help please!

I'm looking for a golfing image. Lady golfer preferably but probably best if I could find a man too. One of my colleagues would like me to make a golf themed birthday card for her Mum. Her Dad used to work in the Post Office with me and I have a feeling she might want a card for him along the same lines as he is always on the golf course. Off the top of my head I can't think of a golfer image anywhere. I can see all sorts of other sports but not golf!! Any ideas would be gratefully received. The nearest I've found is a golf bag from Little Claire.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Hearts and Flowers.

Hi everyone, me again! Not like me to post as often as this, I think I'll probably slow down soon! It's my turn for the teas at the WRI on Wednesday so I'll need to bake this afternoon. I have some Christmas cake so that'll do for one thing. I always make carrot cake and meringues and Baileys Rocky Road so that's another 3. I'm going to make shortbread and mince pies so that should be enough choice. My friend doesn't bake so we've been put together and she'll do sandwiches. We always do the teas in pairs and quite often you do half baking and half sandwiches each but it does depend on what you both agree. Our meeting in January last year was cancelled because of the weather but looks like we'll be ok this year.

Last night I decided to try to make another card and this is what I came up with.

I used :-

Image :- Penny Black.

DP :- Marianne design.

Colouring :- Promarkers

Card Candi :- Craftwork Cards.

Ribbon, flowers, gems and Glamour Dust.

I'm entering the following challenges :-

Totally Papercrafts :- Sketch.
Penny Black & More at Allsorts :- Love and Hearts.
Gem of a challenge :- Photo Inspiration.

Hmm this could be a Valentine card for hubby. Not like me to be so organised. The next think I know I'll be making his birthday card. His birthday is in February and so is my son-in-laws. One on the 24th and one on the 25th.

Thanks for looking and I'll catch you all later when I've got my baking done.

Totally Gorjuss 113 Sketch.

Hi everyone, I really thought I wasn't going to get this post done. I was just quietly visiting some of my favourite blogs last night when suddenly when trying to leave a comment I was asked to sign in. Then I couldn't and was told my account was disabled. And then even worse horror I was told my blog had been deleted. Pure panic! I could get a verification code sent to my mobile but of course then my mobile started to act up and it took ages to get it on again. No wonder I'm getting a new one!! Well the verification code seemed to work and I got my blog back but of course then my broadband connection started being iffy. Still all's well now.....I hope, but it was very scary while it lasted.

This week at Totally Gorjuss we have a sketch for you to follow. And of course since it's the first Saturday in the month we're sponsored by the lovely and generous Joanna Sheenwho is offering a £10 voucher to spend in her well stocked online shop.

And here's my take on it.

I used :-

Image :- LOTV cute square.

Sentiment :- Hero Arts.

DP :- Crafty Creations.

Ribbon, sticky backed pearls and Glamour Dust.

I've got a few pink baby cards so I thought it would be handy to have a blue one in reserve.

I'd like to enter the following challenges :-

Pollycraft :- Punch it Out.
Lili of the Valley :- New Beginnings.
Simon Says Stamp :- New something.
Cute Card Thursday :- What's New?
Pile it On :- Anything Goes.

So fingers crossed this appears on Saturday morning. I schedule this post every week and it has always turned out ok so hope this week it happens as usual. I'm sure you can understand why I'm a bit nervous after the case of the disappearing blog.

Thanks for looking and I'll try to do some catching up in the afternoon after work.

Some Birthday Cards.

I was asked by one of my customers at the post office to make a male and a female 60th birthday card for January. I haven't put 60 on any of the cards but I will if she wants me to! I've made 2 of each so that she can have a choice so I hope she likes at least one or two of them.

This is the first male card. I should have asked if the recipient had any hobbies or interests but of course I didn't. I'm hoping that most men like cars!

I used :-

Image :- LOTV cute square.

Card Candi and sentiment :- Craftwork Cards.

DP :-MME.

Button and Bakers Twine.

Or perhaps home decorating or DIY lol1

I used :-

Image :- LOTV cute square.

Sentiment and Card Candi :- Craftwork Cards.

DP :-WRMK.

Ribbon.

And of course we girls like flowers. I thought this would be quick to do but by the time I decided what flower to use, what DP to stamp it on, cut it out, what to use for a stalk. And of course make the background papers. Maybe it looked better in my head lol! And I'm a bit annoyed with how different the colour of the ribbon is because in real life it's almost the same colour as the pink backing card and the flower.

I used :-

Image :- Hero Arts.

DP :- Cuttlebug embossing folder and HA background stamp.

Ribbon, button and twine. The stalk is a piece of ribbon.

The other female card my customer could choose is the DT card I showed on Saturday.

Next time someone asks for a card I'll ask a few questions about what they or the recipient like!

Thanks for looking and I'll try and do some visiting this evening after work.

Blue for a Boy.

Isn't it nice to make a card that's not a Christmas card? Don't get me wrong I enjoyed making my Christmas cards and this year I had them made and ready to go before the last posting date for 2nd class!

I made a card for a workmate who had become a granny for the first time as I had lots of pink cards but only a couple of blue ones. I was going to give one to the proud new parents but I decided to make a tag too so I made this set.

I used :-

Image :- House Mouse.

DP :- Craft Creations.

Sentiment :- Hero Arts.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

Card Candi :- Craftwork Cards.

Glamour Dust, flower and ribbon.

I'm going to enter the following challenges :-

House Mouse :- New....

Allsorts :- New Beginnings.

By the Cute and Girly :- New Beginnings.

Papertake Weekly :- Anything Goes + New.

Sir Stampalot :- Monochromatic. Hope it's monochromatic enough!
Sketch and Stash :- Sketch.

Can't believe I've managed to post every day so far. Probably won't be able to keep it up now that I'm back to work. I'm going to get my eyes tested today so that'll be most of my day off used up but I've got some cards lined up to show you tomorrow.

Thanks for looking and if you want to tell me what you think I'd love to hear from you.

Penny Black 182 Make a Tag.

I made a very simple tag on Monday and a matching card for one of the girls at work's first grandchild. So while I was in the mood for crafting (and had the time) I made another one so that I could enter the Penny Black challenge and also have a tag to use the next time I need a baby girl present. I'll show you the blue set tomorrow but meanwhile here's the pink tag.

I love this image, I think it works really well for a baby card. That hedgie is so sweet with his/her little teddy. The photo hasn't turned out very well, it's just simply coloured with Promarkers with some glitter added to the flowers and butterfly with a Sakura clear glitter gel pen. I also added Glamour Dust around the nestie circle.

So there you have it. not a lot to it. On Monday and Tuesday I managed to make two tags and 3 cards so for me that was quite a lot! I've also managed to read the papers and that is an achievement, I usually only have time to read them when I'm at work! I have to admit to also browsing the internet and catching up with what my favourite bloggers are doing and what the latest challenges are.

I'm hoping to get at least one other card made today as well as my DT card. I was asked to make one male and one female birthday card and so far I have made one female and two male. I just want my customer to have a choice!

Unfortunately I have to go to work this morning so I'll catch up with you all later. Thanks for looking.

The Other Six Cards from 2011.

Here are my favourite cards from July to December 2011. I managed to have a play yesterday so I'll have some new work to show you tomorrow and later in the week.

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Well that's my favourite cards from last year. Probably if I went through them again I'd come up with a different twelve. The most difficult was trying to choose my favourite ones among the Christmas cards. Funnily enough I think I could have chosen the whole 12 from among the Christmas cards. But am I alone in looking at some of my cards and wondering how I thought they were a good idea lol!

Thanks for looking and I'll see you tomorrow with something new.

Six Favourite Cards from 2011.

Hi everyone, hope you've all recovered from your New Year celebrations!

I still have 2 days holiday as in Scotland we have 2 bank holidays. Lots of people are back to work in spite of this but luckily for me the Post Office has two days same as last week.

So here are my favourite cards from January to June 2011.

JANUARY.

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

Last year I said I would choose my favourite card every month. Needless to say it didn't happen! Maybe this year. It's quite time consuming going through a whole year at once. Especially if you find yourself having to choose between 2 or 3 cards every month. So you put off choosing till you've checked the whole year and then have to choose between your choices. Does that make sense?

Since this is probably a bit boring for anyone who looks I decided to just do 6 today and 6 tomorrow.

Thanks for looking and see you tomorrow for July to December.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! Hope 2012 is a great year for you whatever your plans are.