'FRIENDS FOREVER' 12" x 12" Scrapbook Layout (entered for my first blog challenge)

I wanted to start making a scrapbook of happy memories of Deb, my dearest friend who died in October, it would have been her 56th birthday yesterday (18th November). this is my first entry for a blog    chalenge,inspired by Linda's sketch on Just Tracys Crafts Challenge blog (finally sussed how to link my challenge to the blog thanks to instructions from Kathleen Mc on craftbloggers.blogspot.com)

For this layout I used:

K & Co 12" x 12" LJ Button Printed Embossed Vellum

BasicGrey SweetPea Alyssa Collection Journal Tags

Anita's gold peel-off letters

Papermania pink brads

Vintage buttons from my granny

12" x 12" backing paper (no makers mark)

lace, die-cut, sentiment, fabric flowers from my stash (makers unknown)

I would like to enter this layout into the following blog challenge:

November sketch on Just Tracys Craft Challenge Blog 

Had a fab crafty day, made 6 Christmas cards (letters O-T)

After a difficult week, (we buried my best friend Deb on Tuesday), I'd not felt up to crafting recently but yesterday I got into the craft mode again and made 6 challenge Christmas cards and really enjoyed the day, it was a very relaxing, therapeutic time.

                                                                 O is for Ornament

                       House Mouse Christmas Eve decoupage, Dovecraft 'Christmas Blues' paper, A5 card

 P is for 'Penguin, Presents & Polar Bear'

First Edition 'Christmas Joy' glittered card, Hot Off The Press acetate sentiment, A5 card

                                                     Q is for 'Quiet As A (House) Mouse'

House Mouse Christmas Eve decoupage, My Mind's Eye 'Snowed In' winter paper, Tim Holtz 'Fired Brick' distress ink, 6" x 6" scalloped card

                                                              R is for 'Robin Redbreast'
7" x5" Anna Griffin Christmas card, HOTP acetate sentiment, TH 'Fired Brick' distress ink, decoupage

 S is for 'Santa'

HOTP acetate sentiment, TH 'Fired Brick' distress ink, 6" x 6" scalloped card, decoupage

                                                                       T is for 'Tree'

7" x 5" Anna Griffin Chritmas card, Papermania felt tree, Papermania 'Monochrome' Capsule Collection gems, HOTP acetate sentiment.

(All other elements on cards not listed are from my stash, makers unknown.)

J - N (6 Christmas cards for Ginny's A-Z daily challenge on DC)

                                                                    Joy to the World

                                                                                Kiss

                                                                        Let It Snow

                                                                   Lili Of The Valley

                                                                  Merry Christmas

                                                           Naughty (House) Mouse!

A new baby boy card for Ezekiel

You may remember me telling you my dear friend lost her eldest daughter Jo to cancer this year. Her younger sister Jemma was 5 months pregnant at the funeral with her first child and on 31st October she gave birth  Ezekiel, a healthy little boy to bring happiness to a family who have had so much sorrow this year. I made this card a couple of weeks ago but didn't want to upload it until he was born and safely home with mum and dad. Jemma was my daughter Anne-Marie's best friend growing up but now lives a long way from us, but her mum and little younger sister live across the road from us and we see them several times a week. Welcome to the world Ezekiel, may you bring much happiness and joy to your mum and dad and to all your family xx

The buttons are Papermania Capsule collection min buttons, all other elements of the card are from my stash.

RIP MY DEAREST FRIEND DEB

It still doesn't seem real that my dearest friend Deb has died. I was with her just before she died peacefully, surrounded by her family, early this morning, my heart goes out to them I their loss. We all loved her so much, and will miss her forever. Four amazing years knowing this strong, independent, kind, generous, courageous lady, wouldn't have missed a single day, just wish we had had longer together. Here is my favourite photo of Deb with her beloved dogs Riley and Meg. She was the best friend anyone could ever wish for. Goodbye my darling Deb, RIP, Fi xxxxxxxxx

4 more Christmas card (F - I in Ginny's daily Christmas card challenge on DC)

I'm really enjoying the daily challenge of making a Chrsiistmas card for each letter of the alphabet, it helps to take my mind off stresses around me, crafting is so relaxing and therapeutic, just love it. Here are my latest cards made this week from F to I.

                                                          F is for 'Frosty The Snowman'

A decoupage card, embellished with snowflake brad & ribbon, tree topper, blue glitter card & blue foiled holographic card, Christmas backing paper & sentiment, all on an A6 silver pearl card bought from QVC several years ago, all elements from my stash.

                                                                     G is for 'Gifts'

a decoupage card embellished with Christmas ribbon & backing paper, red foiled holographic card and a gold fabric star, all on an A6 gold pearl card bought from QVC, all elements are from my stash.

                                                                     H is for 'Holly'

Anna Griffin holly Christmas card base, silver holly border & corner peel-offs embellished with tiny red gems from Poundland; decoupage, peel-off greeting, red & green foiled holographic card, all from my stash.

                                                               I is for 'I Believe In Santa'

decoupage, dark green pearl card, red foiled holographic card, gold peel-off letters, santa topper & 5" x 5" square white card all from my stash.

Five challenge Christmas cards & another Christmas card

This year I am taking part in Ginny's (AsIDoRodos) daily A-Z Christmas card challenge on the DOCrafts forum, all we have to do to take part is to upload one card each day for each letter of the alphabet, starting on Sunday 16th October, the winner will receive a crafting book as their prize, here are my first 5 cards for A-E. Pledging to take part in this challenge has really got my Christmas cardmaking MOJO back, I'll upload more challenge cards as I make them.

                                                                  A is for Angels

this is a twisted pyramage card, backing paper from a C & C Christmas kit, Glitter Girls gold holographic Grande border peel-offs. the gold glitter card, 5" sqaure cream pearl card * peel-off greeting are all from my stash.

B is for Bauble

Papermania felt bauble, Anna Griffin Holly leaf card,  holly paper in October goodybag swap, red foiled peel-offs  from my stash.

C is for Cracker

Pyramage/cracker kit in October goodybag swap, Brenda Pinnick pink polkadot card, (from a QVC scrapbook kit), edged with TH Fired Brick distress ink, DL card from my stash.

I also made this card in blue

blue embossed card & diecut snowflakes donated by other crafters recently. Blue holographic card and DL card from my stash.

D is for Dancing On Ice

Cross-stitch kit

                                                                E is for Excitement

Christmas Eve House Mouse decoupage & co-ordinating sentiment toppers matted onto pink glitter card. Backing paper is from Dovecraft 8" x 8" Christmas Blues (2007) paper pack. Pink organza ribbon and A5 white card from stash, 3D Christmas tree topper from October (Christmas) goodybag swap.

Had a lovely afternoon crafting, made 2 more birthday cards

Decided I really needed to crack on my with my customer's order for 10 decoupage birthday cards, here are numbers 2 and 3.

Decoupage sheet & backing paper donated by other crafters, all other elements from my stash.

the backing paper is from the 6" x 6" Papermania Creative Tones 'Olivine Essence' paper pad, the decoupage sheet was sent to me by another crafter, the opther elements are from my stash.

Just made one card this week

On Tuesday this week, we received a handwritten thankyou note for the handmade wedding card I made for hubby's workmate for his wedding 3 1/2 weeks ago, so glad they liked it.

Due to poor health and being in a lot of pain, I've barely crafted this week, but I have managed to make one birthday card, its the first of 10 I need to make for a customer. I used decoupage & backing paper sent in a recent craft goodybag swap and all other elements of the card are from my stash.

A birthday card and an anniversary card

this week I've made a decoupage & gems birthday card for a friend's 40th birthday, I chose to use all elements from my stash within the lilac/purple spectrum.

I also made an anniversary card

this card is also decoupage, inspired by the bright, cheery flowers I chose warm tones to complement them, a pearl shaped & embossed card in cream, a bright greeting and mint green pearls to finish the card off, all elements from my stash.

2 Christmas cards using new stash

As part of my wedding anniversary treat to myself I bought Issue 96 of Carmaking & Papercraft magazine, a real treat as craft magazines are usually not affordable, but this was even more of a treat as the Free gift was a 36 sheet 6" My Minds Eye 'Snowed In' winter papers pack, along with co-ordinating chipboard pieces. I also went to the Range and for the first time bought scalloped cards (6" square). On Sunday i sat down to play and came up with these 2 Christmas cards.

'Winter Wonderland'

I edged the cardbase with Tim Holtz 'shabby Shutters' distress ink, layered the MME tree paper with bronze pearl paper and embellished the card with MME chipboards & mint spotted ribbon, layered on chocolate gingham ribbon.

'3 Robins'

I edged the cardbase with Tim Holtz 'fired Brick' distress ink, added an Anita's maroon organza ribbon to the MME paper & added 3 MME chipboard robins.

TODAY IS OUR 27th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY & ANDY's 50th BIRTHDAY!

On a blustery September 22nd 1984 at 2.30pm, at St John the Baptist Church in Alresford, Hampshire I married my husband Andy, on his 24th birthday. I have made a double layout of the day, I made it last year before I had my blog but on this our 27th wedding anniversary & his 51st birthday I'd like to share these layouts with you.

               An unashamedly ornate and romantic layout of our wedding day in 1984

12 x 12 PM gold foiled cardstock, layered photos, Making memories mottos, heart gems, heart brad and red adhesive pearls.

`Our Going Away OutFits`, an unashamedly romantic LO

backing paper is 12 x 12 chocolate coloured engineering design
photo and journalling matted and layered on blue and red paper
2 red gems are the circles, on Anita`s silver peel-off flourishes
3 tiny PM red flower brads attach 2 Posies sentiment tags to the LO
2 red PM heart brads and a 3D embellishment on another layered matt.
a donated blue flourish over the photo
LO also embellished with silver flowers from Anita`s peel-offs, adhesive heart gems and felt hearts.

Here are the cards I made for Andy for today

A Country Companions  anniversary card embellished with red heart gems & glittered paper ribbon.

Andy is mad on bike's and has a Honda VFR750 red sports bike, so I thought this decoupage would be perfect, I embellished the card with blue holographic card, printed sentiments & peel-off letters. The backing paper is from the Forever Friends 'The Good Life' Retro Paper Collection.

Happy 27th anniversary and happy 51st Andy, you are the love of my life, so supportive and hard-working and I hope we have many, many more happy years of marriage to look forward to, Fi xx

Mark & Emily's wedding card - for 17th September

On Saturday 17th September, my hubby Andy's good friend, workmate  and fishing buddy Mark is getting married to Emily, we are going to their wedding. I made this A5 card for them. I was unsure whether to make or buy a card, (shocking I know, just the thought!) as they are a young couple and I wasn't sure I could make a card suitable for them, but Andy reassured me that they will like it, hope they do.

the idea for their card started with the wedding topper, using co-ordinating  colours to matt and layer and the card grew from there. I used purple card, gold pearl paper, lilac pearl paper, a wedding day 6" x 6" backing paper, I added sentiments from another 6" x 6"wedding day paper & finished off the card with a lilac flower & ribbon recycled from a wedding invitation & a chipboard topper. I decorated the inside of the card with the same lilac pearl paper and added the front of their wedding invitation (not shown).

First stamped card for ages - A5 Autumn leaves anniversary card

My comfort zone in card making is decoupage, but I decided today to have another go at stamping. I started with a white A5 card blank and matted onto it  pearlescent card and papers. Inspired by this wonderful season of autumn I've made an anniversary card featuring a horsechestnut leaf. I stamped the image onto VersaMark and added heat embossing powders & inked the other images. I stamped onto a combination of patterned card and pearlescent paper before cutting out the leaves, then adhering them with Wacky Tac Adhesive sheet. I finished the card with gold peel-off letters.

Stamp used - Personal Impressions 377F - Horse chestnut leaf

Inks used - VersaMark watermark ink
                - VersaMagic  'Mango Madness' Archival chalk ink
                - Tim Holtz 'Fired Brick' distress ink

Heat embossing powders used - Dark green glitter, gold, yellow (make unknown)

6 Christmas cards made in a crafting session with Carrie

This week, Carrie (my 7 year old grand-daughter)and I had a Christmas card making session. she made 2 beautiful cards, she chose the backing paper, images and sentiments, all I did was cut the backing paper and stick in on for her, here are her 2 cards.

The Docrafts 3D penguins and snowflake stickers were given to Carrie by a very kind Docrafts designer earlier this year.

I made 4 Christmas cards, all from existing stash

Photos from Rachel & Tony's wedding - 20th August 2011

After torrential rain and floods in the morning the rain finally died down and by the time the wedding was over and the photos were taken, the sun had come out. Here are some photos of my family on such a joyous family occasion.

                                                                  The happy couple

Rachel & Tony with her parents & a dear family friend George, next to Rachel, who flew over from Canada especailly for the wedding!

with their bridesmaids - Amy, Tony's daughter & Donna, Rachel's daughter

my beloved husband Andy, a very proud brother with his little sister, my beautiful SIL Rachel.

Us

Our beautiful daughter Anne-Marie and her lovely partner Toni

Our handsome son Dan with his beautiful partner Sorrel. (Carrie and I recently visited them in Bristol, where they are about to start the 2nd year of  law degrees)

Our 3 gorgeous nieces, Rachel's daughters -

Donna, bridesmaid

her twin Rebecca, 4 months pregnant

their younger sister Valerie, 7 months pregnant

all looked stunning!

What a wonderful day we had and the weather was glorious, thankyou for sharing this special day that we will remember always.