Sympathy.

Just a quick card before I shoot off to work!

This is the sympathy card I made for my friend after the tragic death of her sister.

I used :-

Flower dies :- Memory Box.

Sentiment :- Hero Arts.

Promarker, pearls, embossing folders, ribbon and Glamour Dust.

I'd like to enter the Pink Elephant challenge :- Sympathy/Thinking of You, with this card.

It's a beautiful morning here, although I did see frost on the grass when I was out with the dogs, so I'm off to hang out my washing.

Catch you all later and thanks for looking.

Wedding Hearts.

Hi everyone. Well as you can see I'm not doing very well this week again. Can't wait for my colleague to come back from her holidays! I wouldn't mind if it was more interesting but I spend a lot of time doing nothing. Some days are worse than others! I'm always glad my day off is Thursday as it's very quiet and Friday isn't any better. It's really tiring hanging about all day. I'm on my feet most of the time as somehow as soon as I park myself on a chair someone comes in wanting a stamp!

I have managed to make one card though. One of the girls in the shop has a wedding coming up on Saturday. Second one this year! Her son got married at the beginning of June and this time it's her daughter's turn. She's getting quite stressed now so it's probably just as well she's got time off now as she'd probably be too jumpy to do much good at work. I made a card for her son so that made me stop and wonder what I gave them. My favourite images for wedding cards are usually LOTV images so I decided to do something completely different.

Mmmm I think it looks better in real life. Hope they like it. My colleague loved it as she had a sneaky peek!

I used :-

Colouring :- Flexmarker.

M-bossabilities folder, Martha Stewart punch, Nestie die, Marianne hearts die, LOTV sentiment, Glamour Dust, ribbon and gems.

Thanks for looking, hope you like? And of course thanks for any comments you have time to leave me. It's nice to get a wee bit of encouragement from fellow crafters.

Kat xx

Another simple Christmas card.

I haven't managed to blog much this week due to working full-time but I found this card that's only got as far as being photographed. So here it is now.

I used :-

Image :- Clarity stamps.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

Sentiment :- Heritage rubber stamp company.

Glamous Dust, Candi, gems, ribbon, tag punch.

I'm entering the following challenges :-
Cute Card Thursday :- Bling it up.
Creative Card Crew :- Christmas.

My little pile of Christmas cards is building up slowly. I've got 26 now so that's quite good for me at this time of year!

The next card I have to make is a Sympathy card. My friend's sister died in a card accident yesterday. Her neighbour phoned to tell me that they had just left in horrible rainy weather to go to be with her Mum and Dad in Aberdeen. I really feel for them all especially her niece who is just in her early teens. I sent a text to my friend and as I knew would be the case they were all in shock. I said I'd speak to her when she felt up to it. It's horrible when something like this happens.  The photos in the papers were awful. I think the weather, lots of rain and surface water, must have had a lot to do with the accident but one of the girls in the shop said that particular bit of the road had a lot of potholes too. It's only a minor road and the speed limit at that part is only 30mph so I don't imagine she or the other driver was speeding.

I'm not sure if I'm going to need another Sympathy card as one of the girls at work was convinced that a lady who's been really ill had died. I'll know tomorrow if she's right or not. I hate this because as sure as you need one Sympathy card you usually seem to need more!

Sorry to be a bit down today. It doesn't help that my nephew would have been 30 on Sunday past but he was killed on a motorbike 10 years ago on the 9th of September. I often think of him as he was just about 3 months younger than my younger daughter. He was a lovely lad and he did pack a lot into his 20 years and I'm glad I was his auntie.

Thanks for looking at my card and I'll be back tomorrow with another card and no doom and gloom.

Totally Gorjuss - 146 - Baby, Baby.

Good morning everyone hope you're all enjoying your weekend especially those of you who have the bank holiday on Monday. Needless to say I don't!! But looking on the bright side after today it's only another seven working days till I get time at home to do some housework. I dare say Irene's having a lovely time in Rhodes but I'm having a pretty boring time here. Some days have been so quiet that I've been really bored!

This week at Totally Gorjuss we have nice challenge for you. The theme is "Baby, Baby" so we'd like to see a baby card - surprise, surprise! We're sponsored by Lili of the Valley. Wish I could enter, I could easily spend money in their shop!! Here's what I made this week, hope you like it. I love this sweet LOTV image and sentiment.

I used :-

Image and sentiment :- LOTV.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

Embossing folder :- Cuttlebug.

Corners :- Whimsy.

Flowers :- Nellie Snellen punches.

Pearls :- Hobby House.

Doily, ribbon and Glamour Dust.

I enjoyed making this it's handy to have a baby card in case it's needed. This afternoon I need to make a wedding card. One of the girls at work is going to be the mother of the bride next week so it's time I got a card made for her daughter. She's had a busy year. Her son got married in June and her niece got married in the Spring. Talk about things happening in threes lol!

Thanks for looking and if you have time to leave me a quick comment I'd love to hear what you think.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Help......how do you stop?!!!!

Hi everyone, me again. I liked the card I did for Less is More last week so I thought I'd try another one along the same lines. I love this image, it's a really fun one. I can't resist House Mouse but I love the Gruffies too. I think I'm liking this kind of quick card!

I used :- 

Image :- House Mouse - Gruffies.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

Sentiment :- Hero Arts.

I'm entering the following challenges :-

House Mouse :- Double Trouble.
Winter Wonderland :- Winter Sports
 Craft Your Days Away :- Anything Goes.
Gem of a Challenge :- Animals or Teddies. Not sure if this fits?

I only managed to visit one church yesterday to see the flowers. I went to my own church and cleverly as it turned out went for my soup and sweet first in case it was so busy the food ran out! It was busy and someone said people had been coming in to see the flowers since about 10am. The floral displays were absolutely stunning. The ladies who did them are very talented. According to reports the flowers in the other churches were beautiful too. I met my neighbour who was there with friends and they'd been out and about since just after 10am and by 1pm or so they'd only managed 2 of the churches! My daughter was out from Aberdeen to have her hair cut so we went shopping so unless I can find someone who wants to see the flowers I'll have to miss the other two churches.

Thanks for looking and I'll try to catch up later. I'll need to do my ironing as usual. Then I've got two weeks full time work in front of me. Oh joy! I think it's going to be a long two weeks. Think I'll take my iPad with me and then I can at least catch up with all my favourite blogs and any DT commenting I need to do. My only problem is that by the time I get home I've usually just about lost the will to live. Not exactly conducive to crafting. But maybe I'm just being pessimistic and I'll actually manage to make some cards.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend.

Totally Gorjuss 145 - Strings the Thing.

Good morning everyone, hope the weather's better today than it was yesterday! It was really wet for most of the day and then really nice in the late afternoon and evening. After work I'm going to visit a local flower festival and have my lunch - soup and sweet while I'm there. It's being held in the three local churches and my church, Cruden Old Parish church is doing lunches. The Congregational church in Cruden Bay is doing teas and coffees etc in the morning and St James Episcopal church is doing teas and coffees in the afternoon.   I think the flowers will be amazing in all three churches. I was speaking to one of the ladies from our church and they've been working on their displays since Thursday so I hope lots of people visit all the churches.

Since it's Saturday again it's time to join us at Totally Gorjuss we'd love to see lots of you joining us for our latest challenge which is "strings the thing." Now how easy is that? We're sponsored by Heather's Hobbie Haven with $10 for the winner to spend. Here's what I made.

I used :-
Sentiment :- Hero Arts.
Embossing folder :- Cuttlebug.
Large snowflake :- Spellbinders.
Snowflake edge punch :- Martha Stewart.
Distress Ink, Glamour Dust, gems and bakers twine.

This was really easy to make. My friend gave me a shot of her snowflake die and I cut out a few so you might see some more cards using it.

I'm entering the following challenges :-
Charisma :- Monochrome.
Stampin for the Weekend :- Monochrome.

Thanks for looking and I'll be round to see what you've all been doing later. Enjoy your weekend.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Yes you've guessed right, another Christmas card! I can never resist this cute little House Mouse image so when I saw the challenge at Less is More this week was fur or feathers I knew this image was just perfect. And since it's a one layer week too this was a really quick card.

I used :-
Image :- House Mouse.
Colouring :- Promarkers.
Sentiment :- Hero Arts.
Glamour Dust.

I'm also entering this card over at Simon says Stamp :- Animal antics.

It's a horrible day here today, just pouring! I had two very wet dogs this morning not to mention a very wet me!! I've been a good girl and done most of my housework already so now I'm off to finish my hoovering and have my lunch. This is my last day of partial freedom as my colleague is on holiday from this afternoon for two weeks. Sob! The worst part of working full time is that I get all the quiet times instead of just the quiet times I usually get. I think I might take my iPad with me and then at least I can keep up with commenting and checking out my favourite blogs.

Thanks for looking and I'll catch up with you all this evening.

Baubles and Trees - in August?

Good morning everyone. Unusual for me to be blogging on a Monday morning but I've got a day off today. It's my WRI outing this afternoon. We're going to a garden centre then to the nearest town to wander round the shops and we finish off with high tea. I'm driving as there are only 10 of us going so we just need 3 cars.

Anyway enough waffle. I thought I'd show you two cards I made at the crop on Saturday. More Christmas cards!

I used :-

Image :- Hero Arts.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

Pearls :- Hobby House.

Embossing :- Cuttlebug.

Sentiment :- Craftwork Cards.

Glamour Dust.

Image :- Hero Arts.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

Sentiment :- Craftwork Cards.

Embossing :- Cuttlebug.

Glamour Dust.

I'm entering the first card in the Pile it On challenge - bingo - emboss, image and pearls. And the second one in the Christmas Card Challenges - texture.

Thanks for looking and I'll try to catch up this evening.

Little Schoolgirl.

I can't believe that Poppy's starting school on Tuesday. Doesn't seem like 5 minutes since she was born never mind nearly 5 years!! Catriona's got her uniform all organised and labelled with her name ready for Tuesday. She's quite excited and really ready for school after her time at nursery. I think Oliver will really miss her. She'll be able to play schools with him and tell him what to do. Nothing new there then!!

I used :-

Image :- LOTV.

Colouring :- Promarkers.

Bunting :- Memory Box die.

Cuttlebug embossing folder, Glamour Dust, Glossy Accents for shoes, ribbon.

I think this fits the challenge at Cupcake :- Bunting.

Thanks for looking, do you think Poppy'll like her card. She usually loves the cards I make for her and Catriona ends up having to put it where she can't reach it as she carries them around and they get a bit dog-eared!

Enjoy what's left of the weekend. See you all later.

Totally Gorjuss 144 - Lacy, Lacy.

Good morning everyone (I hope) and time for another challenge at Totally Gorjuss. We're sponsored by the lovely people at Crafters' Companion. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to find something to spend your voucher on! Our theme this week is "Lacy, Lacy." Now isn't that simple?

I used :-

Image :- LOTV cute square.

Sentiment and candi :- Craftwork Cards.

Embossing folders :- Cuttlebug.

Snowflake :- Martha Stewart punch.

Lace, Glamour Dust, Promarker round sentiment, Viva decor pearl pen.

I'm entering the following challenges :-
Papertake Weekly :- Anything Goes.
Creative Inspirations :- Anything Goes.
Christmas Stampin All Year Long:- Anything Goes.
Allsorts :- Going Around in Circles.
Ready Teddy Go :- Anything Goes.
Crafty Ribbons :- Seeing Spots and Dots.

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

No time as usual!

Well as you can see from the time I didn't have time to blog this card before I went to work this afternoon. No idea what made me think I would have time to do anything  after I finished my housework!!

I can't claim any credit for this card. I've cased a card I saw over at Less is More. It was a beautiful card Chrissie had made to inspire us for this week's challenge. I hope she doesn't mind me using her idea! I was really inspired by her card and I've got all the bits organised for several others in different colours and using different images. I'm going to a crop tomorrow so that'll give me something to do and help my very small pile of Christmas cards to grow.

Now isn't that simple? I'm quite pleased with it and if I make about half a dozen different ones I'll be happy!

I used :-

Image and sentiment :- Hero Arts.

Embossing folder :- Cuttlebug.

Colouring :- Lilac - Promarker, Pink - Spica glitter gel pen.

Glamour Dust.

Now I'm off to finish off sorting out what I need for the crop and I'd best schedule my post for Totally Gorjuss for tomorrow. Hope to see you over there.

Thanks for looking.

Less is More Green and Blue.

Good morning everyone. It's my day off and it's not raining! We've had some really heavy showers earlier this week and some places have had localised flooding. I think it would be really horrible to have your house flooded. A few miles from here two houses have been flooded twice in the last few years. Yuk! I really feel for them. You can't help feeling that something should have been done about this before now! I think it might be better now for a few days so fingers crossed the forecasters are right.

When I saw the challenge at Less is More I knew what stamp I wanted to use. I've never used this gorgeous Clarity stamp before but I'm sure I'll get a lot of use from it. I think it's the sort of image you could use for lots of different types of cards.

I'm off for a coffee now and then I'll see what else I can do. Maybe some more Christmas cards!

Thanks for looking and don't be shy about telling me what you think of my card. It's reassuring when someone takes the time to leave me a comment.

Totally Gorjuss - 143 - Sketch.

Good morning everyone. Saturday again already, but even worse we're into August already. Can't believe how quickly this year is passing. But there's nothing we can do about it so all we can do is keep on enjoying our crafting!

As it's the first Saturday of the month we have a sketch challenge for you at Totally Gorjuss and as usual we're sponsored by the lovely Joanna Sheen with £10 to spend at her online store.

Here's Net's sketch.

And here's my take on it.

I used :-
Image :- Penny Black.
Sentiment & candi :- Craftwork Cards.
DP :- First Edition. The music is part of a LOTV stamp with a touch of Antique Linen DI.
Colouring :- Promarkers.
Martha Stewart edge punch and gems.

I'm entering the following challenges :-

Paperplay :- Layer it up.
Christmas stampin all year long :- A pair of 3s. I've used 3 DPs, sets of 3 candi and 2 sets of 3 gems.
Dream Valley :- Use die cuts and punches.

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day here in Aberdeenshire so fingers crossed for some dry weather at the weekend. I don't want to be too ambitious and hope for sun, just dry would be nice!

Have you all been watching the Olympics? I haven't seen much but even I have noticed that team GB has won a few medals. Congrats to them all especially the Scottish athletes. Has anyone noticed that Royal Mail are bringing out a mini sheet of stamps every time a member of team GB wins a gold medal? Well we have got the first two sets in our little post office. Not sure why because when I checked the system told me that the nearest post offices to be stocking these stamps were both in Aberdeen!

I've not seen much tv as I've been making jam would you believe?! On Thursday I made lime curd and then blueberry jam. On Friday morning I made pineapple jam. Yum, I love pineapple jam on scones. Now I need to make scones!! We have a little sales table after church this Sunday so I'm going to take some to that. I've got lemons for lemon curd but I need to buy some more butter before I can make it.

Thanks for looking and I'll be along to see you this afternoon after work.

Less is More at Christmas.

When I saw the sketch at Less is More this week I thought it would be ideal for a quick Christmas card. Needless to say I didn't make this card quickly! And it's not what I meant to make before I started it either. My friend persuaded me to leave it exactly as it is. So here it is. I love the layout and think I could use it to make more simple cards.

I used :-
Embossing folder :- Cuttlebug.
Edge punch :- Martha Stewart.
Sentiment :- Hero Arts.
Glamour Dust.

I'm in the middle of a DT card now but I'm leaving it for now as I think it's bedtime.

Thanks for looking and catch you all tomorrow.