Busy me!

Ok I hold my hands up I've been a neglectful blogger lately.  While I enjoyed our break away to stay with friend's it's really affected me since I've been back, everything seems to be taking me ages to complete and I don't seem to get through a day without gaining another injury. Yesterday I managed to cut myself & burn myself. One positive of my conditions is that I don't 'feel' such injuries in a normal way. Not good though when I don't realise I've done it until I see blood everywhere!

Another reason for my poor posting is I've been making birthday pressies for my good friend Debs, owner of Deb's Pen Pot blog so I thought my first post in ages would be to share with you the gifts I made.

 I bought this black mirror and got to work Paint Fusioneering it with daisies.

 I found these fab paper mache books in a craft shop while away and had to have them for Debs. She is a writer and a reader so knew that they'd be perfect.

I also made Debs a selection of cards using Paint fusion, some painted and some, like these two, coloured with my Spectrum Noir pens.  To celebrate Deb's birthday we went to our local farm shop/restaurant for lunch, where we had a cream tea! Yummy scones, copious amounts of cream and lashings of jam. Topped off with plenty of tea, coffee and chat. A very enjoyable way to spend a few hours I can tell you.

Don't forget to look out for the new challenge blog starting Monday 5th September over at Crafty Boots challenge blog where I'm proud to be a DT member.

Thanks for looking & hope to catch up with you all soon
Take care Zo x

Just a quick post

Hello everyone, I'm home!

We've enjoyed a lovely few days up in Yorkshire staying with our very good friends. We got back earlier today safely but now I'm shattered and hurting lots but it was worth it to have a change of scenery and spend time with our friends. They are more like family to me than friends really.  Think I'll be in bed by 7 tonight!

Will try and catch up with all your posts over the next few days.

Take care Zo xx

Imogen's Mirror

Wow go me, 2 posts in one day!

Making up for the fact that I haven't posted very much lately.  My good friend's recently had a baby daughter, and as a present from me I agreed to decorate an old mirror in the same style as their chosen theme for the nursery. It was a difficult job as I only had a photo of the border they had chosen. So I got to work picking out the colours and drawing the characters. I admit I cheated in the fact that I drew and painted onto watercolour card not straight onto the mirror. I was worried about messing it up and thought at least if I did go wrong on the card I could start again with no problems.  I decided to put Imogen's name on the mirror too. As you can see some parts are painted onto the mirror and others are stuck on. I did spray over the top a light dusting of Crafter's Companion's Spray & sparkle to give the mirror a bit of bling (it is a little girl after all!) and also to hopefully protect it a bit.

I also added Card Candy, I had just the right colours and wanted to give the mirror that crafted feel. Overall I'm pleased with it, the trees and characters are as good and as near to the design as I could managed, plus I wanted it to have that child-likeness about it. Thanks for looking, let me know what you think. Take care Zo x

Time Flies!

Can't believe it's Monday afternoon! It only seems five minutes ago that I was in hospital with my lad, Keagan. He had a heavy fall while horse riding on Thursday. He fell off mid-jump so was about 6-7ft in the air. He landed heavily on his shoulder and an x-ray Friday evening (he was ok to begin with) showed he had dislocated a small joint in his shoulder. Ouch! So now he has a sling to use when he wants to have more support and to take the weight off his shoulder . Hopefully the joint will sort itself out as there isn't anything that can be done apart from resting and supporting it. But definitely no riding for a few weeks!

Well as you know I've been busy making ruby wedding Anniversary cards so I wanted to complete the set by sharing with you the cards I've made for the special couple to give each other.

The first is made for the wife .  I've used this gorgeous Humphrey's Corner stamp coloured with Spectrum Noir pens.

 The rose is made using MCS Paper flower expert, but I coloured the basic shapes with my Speccie pens to get the colour I wanted. Then I sprayed it with Crafter's Companion's Spray & sparkle varnish.

 The next card is for the Husband. I know he's a lover of vintage cars so thought this Creative Expressions stamps suited the occasion as it reminds me of a old fashioned wedding car. I embossed it on to the background which I created using watercolour card with distress inks before I stamped the script writing onto.  The Calendar month is from Tim Holtz and I ringed their Anniversary date

Right off to sort photos to share with you a mirror I've decorated. See you soon. Take care Zo xx

I'd like you to welcome.....

one of my closest friends to blogland!

Deb's is an incredibly creative lady; words are her passion, but she's slowly realising that creativity comes in all forms and has been exploring a spot of crafting too.

I'd so love it if you could spare a moment to welcome her to blogland and maybe follow her too. I'm sure once Deb's has got the hang of this virtual world, she'll be sharing real gems of creativity with us all.

Deb's Pen Pot

Thank you! Take care Zo x

More Ruby Wedding!

Well as I said in an earlier post, I'm in the middle of making quite a few Ruby Wedding cards for a special couple. They're like my second mum & dad really.  They treat my son like a grandson and have been good friends of my parents for many years.

So I thought I'd share two more of their cards, one from me & mine and the other I've made for their son & his wife to give them.

 As you can see the card above is from me, and it's an acetate card. My first one ever. Am really pleased with it.  The image is from Debbi Moore's Paris cdrom and I created the text using MCS.

This card shows an image from Humphrey's corner cdrom, and papers from other Crafter's Companions cd's and stash I have.  The ribbon which I seem to be using on most of their cards, is from the local shop I have nearby. It's a huge reel which was being sold for £1! So glad I bought it.

Right still got a couple more to make, for the special couple to give each other! Then I've a mirror to decorate before next Thursday. Best get on with it, so if I'm quiet it's because I'm crafting or resting up in between! Take care Zo x

Anniversaries galore!

What horrible weather we've got here in Somerset. Rain and Thunder for most of the afternoon. Thank goodness for my Ottlite as it's allowed me to carry on crafting despite the dull gloomy light.

Well at the moment I'm making Anniversary cards galore!  I've quite a few this month but one special one as good family friend's are celebrating their ruby wedding.  Not only have I my own to make for them, their son and  DIL have asked me to make their cards too, one from them and one from their baby daughter Imogen.
Here's the card I've made for baby Imogen to give her Granny & Grampy.

As you can see I've used the Popcorn Romance CD for the papers and decoupage.  I thought this image suited the card for a granddaughter to give her grandparents.

Plus the couple in question have both asked me to make their cards as well. So I've got 'for my wife', and 'for my husband' to do too. LOL They both asked when the other one was out of the way so it's going to be a challenge to come up with something totally fresh and different not only for their cards, but for all of the rest too.

It's also my parents anniversary, plus my best friend's and also Imogen's mummy and daddy are celebrating their anniversary later this month, the day after their parent's Ruby wedding to be exact!  This is the card I've made for them, this is their 2nd anniversary. Their wedding was blue and white so I like to use blues when I design their cards.

For their card I used pyramage from Debbi Moore's Regency cd together with Tim Holtz papers.

Phew - hope that all makes sense? You should see my craft room, I've got notes stuck on the wall with lists of whose anniversary I have to make for and from whom!

It's been a fab weekend, my team Bristol Rovers were live on Sky yesterday, so I spent most of the match shouting at the TV! We won 3-2 in the end so it was a good start to the season. No doubt you'll find I'm not on here much on Saturday's as I'll either be at the match or will be shouting at the tv/radio if we're away and I'm unable to go.

Take care Zo x

Buckles the Budgie

Hello, what another beautiful day. Well last night we had a new arrival in the family. As I said we lost our Budgie Timmy last week. But yesterday evening we welcomed Buckles to our home. He's 6 wks old and already very friendly and calm. I've been stroking him and have encouraged him onto my hand. I was very pleased when he stood on my finger and allowed me to stroke his wings this evening. So calm. Timmy was very frightened of everything and only let me stroke him, could never get him onto my hand. I think Buckles will be a lot different and I'm looking forward to playing with him and teaching him to be kind and hopefully to talk.

His name was chosen in honour of the Bristol Rovers Manager Paul Buckle! Lol well you know me and my football team. Take care Zo x

Too nice!

Well it seems we're all melting in this warm weather! Lol  It's too nice, plus the football season starts Saturday and I don't want my boys melting out there when we need a good start to our season.

Right today I thought I'd share the third card I've made at my friends request. This one is for her Daughter-in-law. She wanted a lovely card that shows she's made the effort but without all the soppy words and D-i-L written on it. So I hope this lives up to what she wants.

 I used Tim Holtz Shabby vintage papers and Core-dinations card stock. The reason I chose this Sheena Douglas stamp is that she told me her DIL was an outdoors person who loved water and climbing.

I coloured this image with the new Spectrum Noir pens. Wow! I loved the effect I created, and while I know I could've probably achieved it with Promarkers I love the size of the Speccy pens as they're chunkier, and don't roll around.  My pictures don't quite pick up the Turquoise-ness of the papers or the image but I'm really pleased with it, considering it was my first attempt with the Speccies! Haha love calling them that.

Well enjoy the rest of your evening. Take care Zo x

It's a beautiful day!

Hello!

What a fantastic day, hope it is where you are too?

Anyway I thought I'd share a couple of cards with you all (hello to my new followers, I see I've gained quite a few from I'm A Crafter's Companion, hopefully I've followed you all back).

A friend recently asked me to make a few cards for members of her family. Some are Christmas cards, but haven't started them yet! The rest are needed for August and September so I thought I better get cracking!

The first is an anniversary card for her son and his wife.  They like diving so I thought this beautiful image from Joanna Sheen's Enchanted CD-ROM fitted the idea. I also used a Tim Holtz backing paper and MCS to do the text work.

The second card is right up my street! Lol It's a Bristol Rovers card for my friend's daughter. She has supported Rovers for many years like myself so I got to work and basically made a card that I'd love to receive.  As you would've seen from yesterday's fun day post, I have now got the new shirt and images for this season so was able to use them in this card.

 I took a photo of my new shirt and using MCS again put Natalie's name as the sponsor! I created the backing paper again from my own photo.The insert was made using a team image in MCS to add the verse and fade the picture.

I think Natalie is going to be thrilled with it, I hope so anyway.

Keep an eye out over the next few weeks for news of the brand new Crafty Boots challenge blog that will be running, and I'm excited to say I'm going to be a DT member! I'm so looking forward to working with the team to bring you all fortnightly challenges and hopefully lots of inspiration too.

Take care Zo x

Rovers Fun Day

Good afternoon, everyone. What a hot and humid day it is. Hope you're all ok?

Thought I'd share a few pics with you taken yesterday at the Bristol Rovers Fun day.  However, the day started out rather sad, as our budgie, Timmy, had to be put to sleep. He was an elderly gentleman, but no less it was horrible to make the decision that it was better for him to go to sleep than see him suffer. At some point during the night he obviously had an accident that saw him damage his leg rather gruesomely, beyond help. So myself and Keagan went from our initial excitement of looking forward to the day ahead to feeling rather sad.  Keagan broke his heart as he said goodbye to the little fellow, and I found it hard to stay unaffected as I comforted him. It's horrible seeing your child lose something for the first time.

Late morning we picked up Keagan's friend Travis, and made our way to Bristol. The fun day is an annual event that takes place at the Memorial Stadium, home of Bristol Rovers. The players, management and board are there mingling with the fans all day.  The event is free, and offers fans a chance to wander around the stadium, meet the players and grab some autographs and pictures.

We managed to meet most of our new players, and had a chat with some of them who've been there a while. Firstly we met the new manager!

Not such a good picture of me, but am really pleased we had chance to have a chat with Paul Buckle before he ended up surrounded by fans all day.

  After that we made our way to the changing rooms. You get to wander down the tunnel and enter a part of the ground that is usually off limits to fans. In the changing rooms we met a number of players and Keagan saw the new goalie shirt, which he can't wait for it to go on sale as he wants to buy this rather fetching orange shirt!

 We had pictures with Stuart Campbell (sat next to Keagan) and Scott McGleish (sat next to me)

 You can see Keagan holding flag/pendant which we bought in the shop first and then got all of the players to sign it for us. Keagan then had his picture taken with Bryon Anthony, one of our players that has been at the club for a number of seasons.

 Keagan then met Cian Bolger, one of our new defenders.

 Followed by Kanye McLaggon and Michael Boateng.

 We spent ages then trying to find the two players Keagan really wanted to meet.  All day the players moved around the ground and it seemed we were deemed to not find them as we seemed just miss them each time.  But finally we found them! So here's Keagan with Matt Harrold, one of our new strikers,

 and here with Scott Bevan, our Goalkeeper.  Keagan wanted to meet Scott out of all of the new players.  Most boys Keagan's age seem to follow the strikers but my lad loves playing in goal and always chooses a goalie over a striker as his favourite player.

All of our new players were friendly and great characters, but I think Scott Bevan will become one of our favourites. We spent quite a while chatting with him, had a giggle as he's 6ft 6" and I'm only 4ft 10" so he towered over me!

We thoroughly enjoyed the day, though I came home in a lot of pain and was very tired. But it was all worth it to see Keagan smiling and happy after seeing him so sad earlier in the day.

Take Care Zo x