For my mum

How the weeks are flying by? Autumn really is hitting us fast, though I do hear of a warm few days this week coming, perhaps it's best not to tidy away those vest tops just yet.

This Tuesday coming my mum will be 60 so, of course, I've made her cards from myself, my son and from my dad. I wanted to share them with you and give you a sneaky peek. (Don't worry mum doesn't go online!)

 This card, from my son, uses one of the Flower Fairy images from the Fairyopolis CD ROM combined with TIm Holtz paper, distress inks and core-dinations card stock.

 This one, from my dad, uses image from Debbi Moore Regency CD ROM with Tim Holtz paper, distress inks & core-dinations card stock.

This one, from me, uses an image from the Card creations - Touch of Magic CD ROM with Tim Holtz paper, distress inks & core-dinations card stock.

They are all 8 x 8 in size and all, I hope, different from what people will buy her from the shops!  I used MCS to create the text sentiments.  All of them are finished off with flowers, charm, ribbon, glossy accents and glitter glue because that was just necessary!

Hope you're all ok this weekend? I'm not feeling so good as I had my flu jab yesterday and it's left me with a very sore arm, hot & cold spells and generally feeling foggy and yuck. Never mind it's better than catching full blown flu etc.  I'm off to rest now, going to catch up with tv programmes I've recorded.

Take care Zo x

Wings! My 2nd DT card

Good morning everyone - hope you all had a fab weekend?

My weekend was fairly quiet apart from going to football on Saturday - we lost, so came home disappointed but never mind, there's always next week!

This week I'm going to be busy making 60th birthday cards for my mum. Will share these with you once I've made them.

Right today I want to share with you my 2nd DT card for Crafty Boots.  The new challenge launches today and you can join in here craftybootschallenges.blogspot.com - Things with wings.  We were overwhelmed by the amount of fabulous entries we received - so a big thank you to all of you who took the time to join us. Hope to see you again this time.

My card is a simple one this time which I made for my friend's birthday, using Tim Holtz vintage shabby papers combined with Creative Expression's stamps.

 The sentiment stamp above reads, 'May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun, And find your shoulder to light on, to bring you luck, happiness and riches, Today, Tomorrow and beyond.'  It is an Irish Blessing.

This sentiment is by Gustave Flaubert, author, who wrote Madame Bovary. The classic novel that, at the time, was seen as scandalous and both Flaubert and his publisher were prosecuted for irreligion and immorality.  However they were acquitted after a sensational trial, which saw the book enjoy immediate success!

I topped the card off with an Anita's sentiment topper dedicated to friendship, plus butterfly punches over stamped butterflies & added Glossy accents to create texture and interest. And, of course, a bit a ribbon!

Hope you all have a good week, thanks for looking.
Take care Zo x

Poppies

Hello everyone - can't believe it's Friday again!

I've been rather slow making cards lately, and it feels like it was ages ago that I shared a card with you all. So I wanted to share this card with you.  I've been working on it for a few days. It's a simple card in design but the real work is in the poppies, the colouring.  Many layers went into this, and it all resulted in me having a bad head. My fault for forgetting to open the window while using my Promarkers!

As you can see it's a sympathy card. I was inspired to use my Sheena Douglas poppy stamps when I heard someone say how they would make ideal images for a sympathy card. I wanted to keep the image sombre and thought the grey tones and a monochromatic theme would suit. I printed the sentiment out using MCS. The image and sentiment are both matted and layered onto Coredinations card stock.

I wish to enter this card into the following challenge:
Glitter Geeks - In The Garden challenge
Die Cut Dreams - Flower Power.

Take Care Zo x

Irene - Our WOW Gorilla

Just thought I'd share with you a couple of pics of Keagan, my son, with Irene, the Bristol Rovers WOW Gorilla.  Irene is one of 60 Gorillas that have been sponsored as part of a fundraiser in partnership with Bristol Zoo.  The 60 gorillas have spent the last few weeks in various locations around the city of Bristol. A trail was set up and many thousands of people spent their time trailing around the city finding the WOW Gorillas.  The event is now coming to an end and the gorillas will be auctioned off to raise money for charity.

Irene spent her time on Gloucester Road, but for one night only and before she returns to the zoo, she made the short trip to the Memorial Stadium to join Gasheads for our match versus Shrewsbury Town last night.

Here's Keagan with Irene before the game.

I hope Irene enjoyed the match which we won 1 -0!
Take care Zo x

Some Advice if I may ask

Hello everyone.

Thought I'd just ask your advice. I'm thinking of giving away some blog candy (perhaps when I get to 100 followers) but have never done anything like it before so was wondering what is the best way of going about it?

I've had a bit of a clear out, and I've some cds & bits' and bobs that I would like to offer as candy. But I want to make sure it's all fair etc.

Just thought it might be a good way of getting myself some more followers too!

I also thought I'd share with you a Pop Art style picture I painted of my son, Keagan.  I chose blues as it fits with our colour scheme in our back room.  It was fun to do and I've been told by many friends and family it's so like him it's spooky! Lol  Definitely one to treasure.

Thankfully Keagan likes it and doesn't mind having it on display. His friends think it's cool!

Take care Zo x

My First DT card!

Good morning - well it really is an exciting day.  The launch of the Crafty Boots Challenge blog is finally here and I'm so proud to have been asked to be on the Design Team.  I'd love it if you could join us over at Crafty Boots Challenge Blog for the Anything Goes challenge. That's right, Anything Goes for the first challenge.  All the details are on the blog of how to enter.

Right so here's my 1st DT card

It's an 8x8 square white card, the 1st layer is core-dinations card which has been embossed and distressed, I've used two colours pink & brown throughout.  I used a Martha Stewart punch to create a small ribbon strip to hide the join of the 2 embossed card pieces. I added complimentary ribbon to opposite corners to complete the base layer.

I'm really enjoying playing with Tim Holtz products at the mo, so I couldn't resist using his Shabby vintage paper in pink along with a piece of his Kraft resist paper. Both of which I tore, distressed & inked to my heart's content!

To top it all off I used a Creative Expressions stamp showing the Eifel tower, which I again inked & distressed.  Do you think I'm a bit obsessed by inking & distressing? lol

The ticket is a Tim Holtz ticket form his idea-ology Adage Tickets book. The sentiment is a Creative Expressions stamp & the Butterfly is punched out from core-dinations card.  I've recently bought myself my 1st bottle of Glossy Accents (I know, where have I been?) so I added drops here and there to add extra dimension and interest. Finally I added Card Candy (available from the Crafty Boots online shop).

I really enjoyed making this card and hope it gives a little inspiration.

Hope you join in with the fun over at Crafty Boots, I will be sharing my creations with you as each challenge commences. Take care Zo x

Tomorrow - Crafty Boots!

Just had to pop by and say Hello to everyone.

I've been looking at your creations and there are some fab ones out there, very inspirational. Anyway wanted to tell you all about the launch of Crafty Boots challenge blog which starts tomorrow!  I'm very honoured that I've been asked to be on the DT, so I'll be sharing my creations with you as the time goes by. So pop over to Craftybootschallenges.blogspot.com to see what we've come up with and to join in the fun. Will be looking out for you all!

Right as you know I recently had a little break up in Yorkshire. While there we went to Macclesfield to watch Bristol Rovers, so I thought I'd share my pics from that day with you. Below are pics from Moss Rose, home to Macclesfield Town FC.

 As you can see I had a pitch side view, the people were so friendly and helpful. The match finished 0-0 but at least it's another ground I can tick off of my list!

 This is Keagan with our mate Dave.  Dave now lives in Yorkshire but has been one of my good friends for many years.

My boys warming up before the game.  I took these pics well before anyone really came into the ground. It was quite surreal as I didn't see a home fan until nearly the kick off! The attendance was only about 1,800 with nearly 500 Rovers fans. I was also a little bemused at the length of the grass, it was long compared to our pitch. But it did the job of stopping us passing the ball quickly I suppose!

Right, enjoy the rest of Sunday and please pop over to Crafty Boots tomorrow.  Take care Zo xx