WOYWW 277 - yay, back again!

Thanks everyone on WOYWW and others for being so patient whilst I've been AWOL....!!!  I've had quite a few problems on dialysis and not much energy to catch up or the inclination to be honest. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but boy, this has totally knocked me for six.

So what cards have I made? Well I've done a few and will post them for you all to see. I can't show you my Workdesk, as it's my bed and I've put it all away before realising I'd not taken any photos. So for now, I will show you some of the cards I've made.

This one was a special request for a friend of mine. I made the little vegetables myself drawn freehand and then coloured with PM's and then used glossy accents on them. I used paper which looked like the skin of vegetables but you can't see it very well from the photo.

This one is a little blurred but it's used up some of my 'Sale Bargains' in my stash.  I've been trying to use up as much as I can to make space for new stash!!!

I made this from some of the leftovers from a kit I purchased for one item for someone special.  I'll be showing you what I made soon so you can see.  I had lots leftover, so decided to use it with an easel card and the last of my adhesive borders.

 I just love these embossing folders (free in a cardmaking magazine a while back).  I used Cor-dinations and distressed them with an old nail file someone gave me at a Cancer Conference I went to. I had some flowers in my stash so used them with co-ordinating gems too.  The Happy Birthday was from a Justrite set I had for Christmas last year I think. (Don't rely on my memory, but if you need to know I can check for you!).

Another little kit for someone special who loves cats. Underneath the topper it has a gorgeous poem. Sadly there's only a couple left.

Another kit from a magazine and used up some of the backing papers in it too. The lovely die cut is from my good friend Gill so I'm not sure of the make etc. I just added the gems to it!

I'm really pleased to let you all know that I've now raised over £100 for charity in the last few months with my cardmaking. I donate 100% to the charity and this time I'm sending it to the South West Thames Institute for Renal Research and St Helier and Surrey Kidney Patients Association (SHAK).

It's too late for me I think, but it might save others going through dialysis after having chemotherapy and radiotherapy.  Even if it helps just a couple of people it will be worth it.  To save someone else going through this is what the researchers are working hard for.

If you go past a collection box for Kidney Research, please donate generously! It all helps as they say!

WOYWW 266 - catching up again......

Hi Everyone and welcome to WOYWW again.  I'm still playing catch up here with dialysis being sometimes OK and sometimes definitely not OK......!!!

You can see some of my latest cards in the blog post below this one. 

So what has been on my workdesk then? Well it's a special box card made from A3 size card!!!! Biggest one I've made so far,  but it was for a special friends daughter so I really went to town for her.

The photo is not brilliant but you can get the idea of the card and what was one it, cats, flowers, singing, fish, pawprints, more flowers, bows, letters - I really got my little grey cell working on this one!

 

Hope you like it and I'm now going to have a quick nosey at all your workdesks.

 

Keep smiling and keep crafting!

WOYWW 254 - Still here.....!!!

Well as it's WOYWW I thought I'd best post some of the Easter cards I've been making. I must admit this dialysis has slowed me down and made me very tired....zzzzzzz.....zzzzz but I just HAD to make some cards.

I can watch Craft TV whilst on dialysis and it's given me loads of ideas, I just haven't had the energy to do them.

However I really wanted to make some Easter cards and was determined to do it, so got everything ready and had a marathon session with lots of rest breaks too.

I wasn't prepared for the tiredness of dialysis, and it's going to take some adjusting to the good/bad days, but hey, I'm still here after cancer, diabetes, two DVT's and everything else thrown in to the mix, so I'm gonna make the most of it! As Darnell says, LITS!!!!

Have fun everyone, and have a great Easter break too!!!

Keep smiling :-)))

WOYWW 247 -- popping by again..!

Another WOYWW and I was determined to make this one!

Well here I am in between dialysis again! Phew it's certainly life changing and sure does take some getting used to. One minute you feel fine, the next really rough. I think I felt better before I started dialysis as I didn't realise how bad it was getting, my body just kept on adapting to the changes of failing kidneys without me realising.

So what have I been up to then? Well I've been doing some paper piecing and made a Get Well Card for a friend of mine who is having a tough time.

I've also got some Birthday cards to make, and here's one of the toppers I've just created, waiting for the Glossy Accents to dry in this cold weather. At least the floods are going down now which is a good sign as long as we have no more rain.

I've also got some Thank You cards to make, but am just deciding on the design. I've got to get a conveyor belt going as I need quite a few! Any ideas for some 'quick makes' would be appreciated!

Talking of "Thank You" I'd just like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Gill (and your friend who did the knitting!) and Lunch Lady Jan who have sent me these gorgeous wrist warmers. I mentioned after my operation my left hand/arm is sooooooo cold all the time. It's one of the side effects apparently. My hands go very cold then numb and I have to try to get the feeling back in them before I can do anything!

Hope you all have a lovely day and keep on crafting!!

WOYWW 243 - I'm back...kind of.....

Well after a long absence, which included two operations and numerous dialysis treatments, I'm now starting to get into a sort of routine. It's life changing having dialysis, but I'm getting used to it I suppose.

 

The main thing I missed was crafting and my crafting buddies on WOYWW, but I'm trying to get back into doing some small items. Mainly colouring as I'm not allowed to lift anything with my Fistula arm after my operation on Wednesday.

 

It didn't go well as the regional block didn't work and I felt every cut until they knocked me out with a general...phew....thank heavens for that!!!

 

So here's one of my efforts, a little elephant, stamped twice and decoupaged with some glitter. Boy do I miss our little old lady kitty Domi when using glitter. She usually ended up with more on her than I did and that's saying something!!! We miss her every day.....

Here's a completed card I made for a friend who is also running a charity and I make crochet blankets for her. I'm hoping to start doing some when on dialysis, should get loads done with just sitting for hours on end, unless the machine gets set off by the movement I suppose. Will have to try it and see, have a test run!

 

Another question, does anyone have a pattern for lacy wrist warmers? My hand is so cold after the fistula operation and it might get worse so anything to keep them warm and stop them going numb would help! Thanks!

 

It'd be great to hear from anyone who remembers me after all this time!

 

Happy Crafting everyone! :-)

WOYWW 228 - I'm back.....!

I'm back for WOYWW again and sorry as I've been away for so long. Not for anything delightful like a holiday or a gorgeous surprise but for health reasons/problems.

 

Rather than go into everything, let's just say not much time for crafting, but I've now managed to get in a little and have enjoyed it so much! It's amazing how better you feel for doing a little crafting!

 

Our Domi has been to the vet but he is still amazed how remarkably well she is for a 21 year old, and described her as "feisty" after she had an in-stay for some extra help with her fluids etc. She never lashed out but has now started to growl a bit if she is kept waiting for anything she wants LOL!! She had her 21st Birthday Party at the weekend (yes, I know it's a cat but she IS family to us and we love her dearly bless!).

 

Above are the beginnings of two cards I made for her.  I've not got much else to show you but hopefully things will start to improve with some fingers crossed!

 

Enjoy WOYWW and keep crafting!!!!

WOYWW 224

Hello WOYWW'ers!! Check out the link to find out why we're posting photos of our work desk, work cupboard, work trays etc. It's very addictive, so give it a go and join us!

So on my little work tray (and including my bed this time as it kind of spread out a bit) are some Christmas cards I'm working on for the charities I support.  I've had some lovely toppers sent to me by Gill and they are SO cute! 

Unfortunately I cut the top off two of them as I didn't realise I had two pieces of CS in the trimmer, oops.  I managed to save most of them though and will be using them on other cards. A crafter can fix anything huh! I'm a bit accident prone at the moment, my hands don't belong to me!

In case you missed it, my previous post shows you the Golden Wedding card I was commissioned to make. Hope you like it!

Have a great day!

WOYWW 223 (Goldfinger.....!)

 

Now why did that song come into my head? Well it could be because my work trays are full of all things golden!  Yes, I've been asked to make another Golden Wedding card.  What an achievement huh! (The golden wedding, not my cardmaking efforts!).

 

Another achievement is making it here to WOYWW as my screen is going kaput....!  I'm not sure how much longer it will last.  It keeps turning itself off when I'm using it. 

 

As I was using all things gold I also took the chance to make some other gold things I might need for my next Christmas card. 

Oh yes, you see those lovely golden flowers? Well they don't look like it anymore!  After taking the photo, I put my trimmer across the little tray and cut some card.....then after taking it off, noticed my flowers were all squished!!!  The glue hadn't dried totally and they were all ruined...! Cue sad face!!  I only have one piece of the matt gold card, so it's cutting it a bit fine (no pun intended!).

Before I wear out my !!!!! key, I will now leave you all to go snooping around the world...have fun!!!

Oh, don't forget to check out my previous post to see the "Bird Sympathy Card" I made.

Enjoy!

WOYWW 222

Hello and welcome to WOYWW 222! Another week gone by and someone told me it's now only 111 days until Christmas! 

I had good intentions of doing some crafting but hospitals and illness got in the way again. Never mind, I did manage to do this.  It's not a card we all like making, but sometimes they need to be done.

My bestest Auntie rang me to tell me her little cockatiel had died, she'd had her for 12 years and as she came from someone else they didn't know how old she really was.  I know it may sound daft to some of you making a Sympathy Card for a bird, but birds are also part of our families as well as cats and dogs and when one dies it is like losing a member of your family.  I'll miss her I know that.

If you come back later in the week you'll see the finished card.  Talking of finished cards, check out the posts below and you'll see the Wedding Cards and also some different style Christmas Cards I've made. I'm trying to get outside of my comfort zone and try different styles.

Happy WOYWW everyone!

Enjoy!

WOYWW 221

Here we are again, another WOYWW Wednesday here. Some peeps are already counting the sleeps until Christmas!!! Well I suppose it is the end of August and soon Christmas will be in the shops!

Talking of which, as you can see from the above photo, I am still in the Christmas mood!  I made a couple of Christmas cards at the weekend and also made some "Thank You" cards too.

Thanks for the glue Julia!!  I don't know why but I was expecting it to be thin runny glue, so when I blobbed a great big blob on my tiny little embellishment I was totally surprised I can tell you. You are right though, it's a great glue and it stuck those Poinsettias on to the cards with ease!

One important thing I forgot to tell you last week you can see in the above photo (sorry it's not very clear!).  I am in print! Yay!  In Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine!!!  They asked me to send in some photos of my cards and I chose a few and they decided on these two - the one I made for the lovely Gill for her and hubbies Wedding Anniversary and one I made with my gorgeous Magnolia stamp.

As I was the "Star Letter" I won £50 worth of crafting items!!!! Yes £50!!!  I received in the post a huge parcel containing loads of pads of DCWV (I think that's how it's spelt!). Gorgeous shapes and colours, all wonderful and will be using some of them soon!!!!!

Keep an eye out as I'll be posting the Wedding Cards soon along with a few of the Christmas ones too.

WOYWW 220 - not a Christmas Card anywhere!!

Welcome to WOYWW - check out the link to see what it's all about - but be warned - you WILL become addicted! It's a lovely addiction to have though!!

So what is on my little work trays on my bed today?  Well some partly made vellum flowers!!! It's taking me ages to do these as each individual petal has to be embossed, then you take two flowers and put them together with a little pearl and/or gem in the middle. The leaves are easy, just one quick line with the embossing tool and they're done. Some of them don't look too fantastic at the moment, but believe me, when they're finished they look beautiful. I had my doubts when I made the first one, but seeing the finished article really made my day!

I've been asked to make a Wedding Card, I'm actually making two so the lady can have a choice - one CAS style and one more traditional in style. Nothing too OTT.

You'll have to come back soon to see the finished articles - when all the flowers are finished - phew.....!!!

Happy WOYWW!!

WOYWW 219

Welcome to my new follower - hello Evalila!!

We're back on another WOYWW and today on my little work trays there are pretty flowers everywhere!  I'd seen something on a blog about making faux stained glass and as you saw my beautiful church stained glass I thought I'd have a go and here are the results.  I used this flower as I didn't want anything complicated for my first effort!

After cutting the flower I stuck some vellum on the reverse side and then coloured it with my Promarkers.  My first effort went wrong when I decided to add some more colour onto it and it turned into a river with splodges everywhere. I corrected this by just rubbing it with a tissue. Voila!  All done!  You'll see the finished card soon!

Being a crafter, I decided to use the cut out parts of the flower to make another card for my charity box of cards.  I actually made two out of them and you can see one idea in the first photo.  I seem to never do one thing at a time, and usually have at least a couple on the work trays!

Enjoy!

WOYWW 218

Well here we are again already - WOYWW time again!  Check out Julia's page on the link to see what we're all talking about!  You WILL become addicted believe me!

 

So I finally decided to go with the "Blinging Everything" option ready for the Christmas cards!!!  I took you all at your words and glittered everything I could find.

Including - our little Domi - she had glitter on her tail, her head, her body, everywhere!  I was trying to take a photo here and you can see she was determined to stop me by putting her paw up on the camera and giving me her 'hard Paddington Bear stare!'.

Anyway, I'm off to have another Blood Test now, had about six in the last week or so! Lucky me huh!

Have a great day everyone!

WOYWW 217 - it's still Christmas here!

Welcome to WOYWW everyone! They sure come around quick! Can you believe we're nearly into August!  Yikes!!

Anyway, so what am I up to on my little work trays on my bed.  Well not too much to be honest with you!  As it's so hot still and my body doesn't cope with the heat too well, I've been trying a few little ideas out for Christmas cards.

This time, is it best to keep the Poinsettia flowers plain or add the glitter on the edges? What do you think everyone???

I won some gorgeous Blog Candy as you know (with all the glitter strips in it amongst many other things!). Also in there were some gorgeous mirri type cards and envelopes in Christmas colours - they are fabby!!  I've used one of them here with the Poinsettia backing paper on it. 

The pearls, now I don't have a glue gun, only a Quickie Glue Pen, a cheapie imitation Pritt stick someone gave me and some Anita's glue which is quite old now but still works!  Can anyone tell me how I can get them to stay on a card without spending lots of money on doing it???

That's it for now and I hope you all have a great WOYWW!
Enjoy!

WOYWW 216

Welcome to WOYWW ladies and gentlemen!!!  Another Wednesday comes around and it is still too hot for me!!!  We had a brief time with a little rain and thunder and lightning, but sadly it didn't last long enough for me. So back to the crafting it is then! 

My little helper is still helping, as long as there is some chicken or other such delights at the end of it for her she's quite happy to sit and wait....for a while....anyway!

Here's an idea of the snow globe I was making before.  I've not glued anything down as I'm not sure about it yet.  I think the snowflakes are a bit big after laying them above the Christmas trees.  Good job I haven't stuck it down and I might need a re-think on this one.

Good job I've got another idea for Rudolph Day isn't it!!! LOL!!

Keep cool everyone and Happy WOYWW!

WOYWW 215 and it's a hot one....phew....

 

Phew...this is way tooooooooo hot for me, I don't know about you, but I need to find a walk in freezer, and quick!!! I'm still on the idea that by making Christmas cards, it'll make me feel cooler, but it doesn't seem to be working just yet...!! LOL!!

 

So here is another WOYWW and wowser, is it a hot one!  It's even, dare I say it, too hot to craft isn't it.  I did have a go at the weekend, but ended up eating a nice fat free yoghurt frozen ice cream type treat and watched some mindless TV and thought about what I should be doing! My body just shuts down on me in the hot weather.

 

Even my little helper isn't so keen as you can see her disappearing off my bed to find a cooler spot to hide.  As she needed some new meds we took her to vet this morning for her check up too.  However, it wasn't such good news sadly.  She's almost 21 and they haven't advised doing any biopsies or anything at her age.  She's still fine and dandy, eating M&S chicken slices no less! Well the vet did say if she didn't want to eat cat food, then let her eat whatever she likes even if it's not the healthiest of foods, like cheese or Tempura prawns (don't ask! I know, she's really really spoilt!).

She's also really really loved as you can tell and I know I spoil her a lot, but she's worth it.  My brother said we'll do our shopping in any old supermarket, but her food comes from M&S!!!  As you can tell, she's loved a lot. Bless, such a sweetie.

So I hope you all manage to keep cool, I'm thinking of what I'm going to do craftwise at the moment, so when (fingers crossed!!!!) it cools down I'll be all ready!

Keep smiling and keep cool!

WOYWW 214

Hello everyone and welcome to another WOYWW! A bit different this time as I have sun here with me,  which is a bit cooler today (which I love! - I'm definitely a Winter Girl not a Summer one that's for sure!). Someone told me if you're born in the Winter you love Winter weather and vice versa for Summer babies. Not sure if it's true, but it is for me! Is it for you?

So as it's way toooooo hot for me, what am I working on? Christmas!  LOL!!! I thought it might make me feel cooler!  Seriously now, I saw some lovely looking snowy acetate and decided it was way too expensive for me, so my little grey cell, it is working, yes.  Yes!  I got out my acetate and looked at what was on my craftbed. The little grey cell, it woke up and voila.  It doesn't look much in the photo, but I used my Cosmic Shimmer white bottle and dotted it over the acetate and it looks a lot better IRL!!!!  You will see it being used soon!

So here it is - As you can tell I'm making a snowglobe.  I have an idea in my head but I don't quite have all the equipment to do what I need, so I'm going to improvise with it and see how it turns out!!

Finally, I have my little card to show you where I used all those glitter strips up and made my background.  I decided to keep the image plain as well as the card too.  I think with that much glitter you don't need much else!!!

So have a great WOYWW whatever you are doing and enjoy!

WOYWW 213

 Firstly welcome to my two new followers, Gibby and Annette!

Secondly, Happy WOYWW everyone!!  As you can see I've got a few things on the go at once on my little work trays!  It seems to be all purple and silver, but believe me, the rest of the bed had more things on it too.

Namely Domi!!! Our little old lady!  She wanted my attention and the best way of getting it is to lie on top of whatever I'm crafting with at the time!!!  It usually works and here she is sneaking a peak at me to make sure I'm getting off the bed to go and attend to her requirements (remember dogs have owners and cats have slaves?!?!?!).

Finally here is what is resting against my pillow on the other side of the bed!  A bit of everything really and just to show you all it's not always neat on the trays and the bed, sometimes it's neat on the trays and chaos on the bed! LOL!!!

 

So hope you all have a very Happy WOYWW and will be around later to have a peak at your workdesks!

 

Enjoy!

WOYWW 213 - What IS That...?!?!

Welcome to WOYWW! So what is this mess on my work trays you ask???  Well, I won some candy and in it was lots of lovely strips of glitter paper - my first thought was - what the hell am I going to do with those? Then I stopped, thought about it and .....

Voila!!!  I came up with the idea of putting them on a piece of waste cardstock from some packaging I had (Recycling Queen does it again!). At first I interwove them but I didn't have enough of the colours to do a whole piece of cardstock, so I just decided on the stripes instead.  You will see this soon as a backing on a card I've got plans for!

Lastly, here is the card I made which you saw on my WOYWW previously.  Julia - you are right - it was a bone.  I added the little bones all over the card - you can just see them in the photo (sorry light wasn't too good).  I just love this stamp set, so many good uses for different cards.

Gill, you might recognise the bone from one the lovely packages you sent me.  I always use every last bit if I can!  Recycle Queen again!

Have a great WOYWW everyone and I'll be putting on my best Visitors Hat soon!

Enjoy!

WOYWW 211

Hello and welcome to WOYWW!!!! It's our chance to snoop at desks around the crafting world and see what everyone else is up to!  Don't worry if you don't have  a desk, I work from trays on my bed, so anything will do!

Sorry I didn't make it last week, a good friend of mine died after a seven year fight with cancer, it certainly puts everything into perspective and every day I am so grateful my cancer is stable and I am still here to help raise funds for charities with my cardmaking.  I also had a bad outer ear infection and the tennis elbow is still playing up, but hey, I'm still here and that is the main thing.  You just learn to live with pain and get on with life and crafting helps me a lot to cope with that.

So what is on my tray today?  It's a card I've just put together with offcuts and the backing paper was free in a magazine for Fathers Day.  It's ideal for a male card and this one is going to be so ta-dah - perfect timing!

I've got a few ideas in my head so as usual I've got a few things on the go at once.  It keeps my little grey cell working!

Happy WOYWW everyone!

Enjoy!